“The bluestocking is the most odious character in society…she sinks wherever she was placed, like the yolk of an egg, to the bottom, and carries the filth with her.”

That’s the thoughts of 18th century English writer, William Hazlitt, on the Blue Stockings Society of England. These upper-class British women – or “blue stockings” as they were derisively referred to at the time – formed this circle because men wouldn’t let them into university. These women adopted the moniker of blue stocking as their own, and formed a group. There they debated literature, and fought for women’s education.

It’s this fight that the National Tertiary Education Union is continuing with its Bluestocking Week 2016. And while things have certainly changed since the 1700s, a glaring gender gap still persists in higher education, argues Jeannie Rea, NTEU national president.

A new program is getting students to play to their strengths in the academic environment, and it has the potential to engage staff.

This week on a jam-packed Episode 11 of Talking Eds, the team from Early Learning Review, Education Review and Campus Review unpack the new STEAMy new Sesame Street initiative, dissect the US college sports scholarship system and discuss solutions to this sedentary century, courtesy of some interesting UQ research.

In Part 1, Loren kicks us off with a discussion of how Sesame Street is leading the new STEAM revolution. STEAM is like STEM but with an extra kick of A for Arts thrown in to be more inclusive. James leads Part 2 by chatting about how former wheelchair basketball Paralympian Bridie Kean is hoping to replicate some of the US’ highly evolved intercollege sports systems uses scholarships to increase competition and participation. Part 3 involves me (Patrick Avenell) reflecting on a UQ researcher’s findings that we all need to increase out exercise output 5-fold.

Nick Stanley, managing director of Tribal Group Asia Pacific, says universities are very good at collecting data, but not great at the analysis part.

Despite recent data revealing first-year undergraduate student drop-out rates have hit their highest point in eight years, the Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor has sidestepped concerns about these figures, calling data-driven learning analytics the solution.

Despite recent data revealing first-year undergraduate student drop-out rates have hit their highest point in eight years, the Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor has sidestepped concerns about these figures, calling data-driven learning analytics the solution.

Nick Stanley, managing director of Tribal Group Asia Pacific, says universities are very good at collecting data, but not great at the analysis part.

This week on a jam-packed Episode 11 of Talking Eds, the team from Early Learning Review, Education Review and Campus Review unpack the new STEAMy new Sesame Street initiative, dissect the US college sports scholarship system and discuss solutions to this sedentary century, courtesy of some interesting UQ research.

In Part 1, Loren kicks us off with a discussion of how Sesame Street is leading the new STEAM revolution. STEAM is like STEM but with an extra kick of A for Arts thrown in to be more inclusive. James leads Part 2 by chatting about how former wheelchair basketball Paralympian Bridie Kean is hoping to replicate some of the US’ highly evolved intercollege sports systems uses scholarships to increase competition and participation. Part 3 involves me (Patrick Avenell) reflecting on a UQ researcher’s findings that we all need to increase out exercise output 5-fold.

An expert has warned of a looming "discipline war" among the STEM subjects, with engineering coming out on bottom.

An expert has warned of a looming "discipline war" among the STEM subjects, with engineering coming out on bottom.