FreshEd

Thanks for listening to FreshEd. It’s rewarding to produce for the thousands of listeners around the world. But it takes a lot of work to make regular episodes. What sustains our effort are voluntary memberships from paying supporters. If you are enjoying FreshEd and would like to join our membership community, please sign up at www.freshedpodcast.com. You can also sign up to join our 10th anniversary celebration on October 18. -- Today we explore ed-tech philanthropy inside schools in South Africa. My guest is Amy Stambach. Amy Stambach is Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her new book is The Corporate Alibi: Capitalism and the Cultural Politics of US Investments in Africa, which was published by the University of California Press. freshedpodcast.com/stambach/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Today we dive into universities and their futures. For many people, universities are in crisis. Public funding has decreased. Mounting pressure to move online and offer complete flexibility to students. Job cuts. And whole courses and programs that are on the chopping block. My guest, Cris Shore, unpacks the state of universities and critically explores their futures. Cris Shore is emeritus professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He’s recently published a book with Susan Wright called Audit Culture: How indicators and rankings are reshaping the world. freshedpodcast.com/shore/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

FreshEd turns 10 in October! Join the celebration: www.freshedpodcast.com/10years -- Today is the last installment for this year in our mini-series called the FreshEd Questionnaire. I’ve been asking guests a set of standard questions after each interview. These questions focus on some of the hottest topics in education today. For today’s episode of the FreshEd Questionnaire we focus on future directions in research. I always love to hear where scholars think research should go in the future. There are so many opinions and ideas. I hope this will be valuable to PhD students or early career researchers looking for some inspiration. I asked a group of academics and researchers the following question: Where would you like to see education research go in the future? Here's what they had to say. Guests include: Rakesh Rajani, Lynn Paine, Laura Chávez-Moreno, Augustina Paglayan, Xavier Dumay, Daniela Romero, Tore Bernt Sorensen, Horward Gardner, Paula Mantilla-Blanco, Gustavo Fischman, Sara Ruto, Brad Olsen, Stephanie Kim, Tim Jackson, Katie Anderson-Levitt, and Garnett Russell. freshedpodcast.com/397-questionnaire/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

FreshEd turns 10 in October! Join the celebration: www.freshedpodcast.com/10years -- Today we continue our mini-series called the FreshEd Questionnaire. I’ve been asking guests a set of standard questions after each interview. These questions focus on some of the hottest topics in education today. For the next instalment of the FreshEd Questionnaire we focus on online learning. It seems since Covid-19, universities around the world have embraced online learning. More recently, we hear talk of flexible learning. That is, giving students a choice in how they want to study-- either online, in person, or a bit of both. What does online and flexible learning mean for the university? For the quality of education? And for the very nature of learning itself? I asked a group of academics and researchers the following questions: What are your thoughts on universities embracing online/hybrid/flexible teaching? Here's what they had to say. Guests include: Rakesh Rajani, Lynn Paine, Laura Chávez-Moreno, Augustina Paglayan, Xavier Dumay, Daniela Romero, Tore Bernt Sorensen, Paula Mantilla-Blanco, Gustavo Fischman, Sara Ruto, Brad Olsen, Stephanie Kim, Tim Jackson, and Katie Anderson-Levitt freshedpodcast.com/396-questionnaire/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Today we continue our mini-series called the FreshEd Questionnaire. I’ve been asking guests a set of standard questions after each interview. These questions focus on some of the hottest topics in education today. For the next instalment of the FreshEd Questionnaire we focus on the value of enrolling into a PhD program. Is investing years of your life to purse a PhD worth it? While many of our guests find personal fulfilment in doctoral journeys, they're also brutally honest about the structural problems plaguing higher education today: exploitative funding models, unsustainable debt loads, and academic job markets that have fundamentally shifted. We dig into these issues and explore the tension between the intellectual rewards of doctoral study and the harsh economic realities that make the PhD increasingly inaccessible. Guests include: Rakesh Rajani, Lynn Paine, Laura Chávez-Moreno, Augustina Paglayan, Xavier Dumay, Tore Bernt Sorensen, Horward Gardner, Gustavo Fischman, Sara Ruto, Brad Olsen, Tim Jackson, and Katie Anderson-Levitt. https://freshedpodcast.com/395-questionnaire/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Today we continue our mini-series called the FreshEd Questionnaire. I’ve been asking guests a set of standard questions after each interview. These questions focus on some of the hottest topics in education in today. For the next few weeks, we’ll mash up the answers to each question and put them into single episodes. For today’s episode we focus on Artificial Intelligence. It seems every day I read a new article on how AI is transforming teaching, learning, and research. The college essay is dead, I hear. So too is peer review. I hear edtech gurus shouting that the very purpose of higher education is undermined when GenAI can be a tutor, therapist, research assistant, and writer all in one. So, I wanted to find out from academics and researchers themselves what they think. I asked the following question: how are you managing Generative AI in your research and teaching? Here’s what they had to say. Guests include: Rakesh Rajani, Lynn Paine, Laura Chávez-Moreno, Augustina Paglayan, Xavier Dumay, Daniela Romero, Tore Bernt Sorensen, Horward Gardner, Paula Mantilla-Blanco, Gustavo Fischman, Sara Ruto, Brad Olsen, Stephanie Kim, Tim Jackson, and Katie Anderson-Levitt. https://freshedpodcast.com/394-questionnaire/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

FreshEd will return with new episodes next week. Today's episode is a re-run from 2021. -- In 2021, UNESCO held a high-level segment of its Global Education Meeting aimed at galvanizing political commitment towards mobilizing additional investment in education. The goal was to encourage countries to develop strong domestic systems to fund education. My guest today is Borhene Chakroun, Director for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems at UNESCO. He has been working with UNESCO to spearhead the effort to bring conversations about financing education to the highest levels of the international community. Resources, transcript and more: freshedpodcast.com/chakroun/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: www.freshedpodcast.com/support

Claire Maxwell, a sociology professor at the University of Copenhagen, discusses the complex themes of school internationalization. She examines the impact of elite education on privatization and racism, while also reflecting on how COVID-19 has transformed the experiences of international students. Maxwell highlights the urgent need for institutions to acknowledge their ethical responsibilities and support diverse student populations facing emotional and racial challenges. Her insights emphasize a shift towards a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape.

In this discussion, Amy Shuffelton, a philosophy professor at Loyola University Chicago and author of "Collaboration: Philosophy of Education in Practice," explores the dual nature of collaboration. She highlights a creative program where kids build miniature towns, learning about community dynamics. Shuffelton contrasts youth perceptions of democracy, showing how historical context shapes these views. She also examines the delicate interplay of friendship and authority in collaborative efforts, advocating for a cosmopolitan approach to group dynamics.

FreshEd is away for the next few weeks. -- Today we talk about what it would mean to queer higher education. My guests are Louise Morley and Daniel Leyton. In their new book, they disrupt some of the norms and common ways of thinking in higher education today. Louise Morley is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex and Daniel Leyton is a Lecturer at the University of Exeter. Their new book is entitled Queering Higher Education: Troubling Norms in the Global Knowledge Economy. freshedpodcast.com/morley-leyton/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: www.freshedpodcast.com/support