Cite what you like

Wahey! A useful tool: I'm always looking for another way to organise all the journal papers I intend to read but somehow seldom get around to ... thanks, Jill!

Maintaining standards

General reaction to De Montfort effectively lowering pass marks is of horror, but it seems to me that it's also a good advert for the systems of quality assurance (government review & external examiners) that exist at every university in this country. If we tried something similar we'd get hammered, not just by our externals but also by our internal QA <shudder> people ... at least I fervently hope we would because it'd demonstrate that all the bloody paperwork our QA people keep making us do does serve a purpose ;-)

IMO it's an essential part of the job (as an academic) to maintain standards & that means failing people who should not pass! It surprises me regularly when students complain because they are "close" to passing so feel they should because "they worked hard" ... sorry, I appreciate the hard work but it's tough: Meet the grade and pass! Fail to meet the grade and you should expect to fail!!

The Zen of CSS Design

Now this looks like a fascinating book ... and if you haven't seen the CSS Zen Garden -- why not?! Go there now ;-)

Marking joy

OK, so it's usually marking hell but today feelings of joy: four of the 80 or-so assignments I'm marking have copied students who did the same exercise last year in a clear, unequivocal way <grin> ... gives me a (brief) happy.