Dr Sandra Austin
@sandracaustin.bsky.social
160 followers 210 following 130 posts
Educator. Scientist. Gardener. Cyclist. Sustainability Lead, @MIE
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Reposted by Dr Sandra Austin
carlzimmer.com
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
sandracaustin.bsky.social
@dannagal.bsky.social ? Don’t want to make you too jealous, but…
Reposted by Dr Sandra Austin
phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
Giving students thoughtful, personalized feedback and instruction is not a problem that originates from the difficulty for an instructor to generate feedback, it is a problem that originates from institutions pivoting to student:instructor ratios where that dynamic is not logistically feasible.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
👇
nathankhensley.bsky.social
The thing regular people don’t often grasp about ‘academic freedom’ is that if you don’t allow experts to research & teach in their fields of expertise, guided by their professional judgment & decades of training, you have effectively given up on the concept of knowledge & shut down your university
bestonetx.bsky.social
Universities are moving rapidly to comply with laws that don't exist.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Do they pay money for these or does someone offer to do them for free? Either way, Catherine was robbed.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Hello there, Mr Lombardi!!
What a thrill to see the 2025 Vince Lombardi trophy here in Dublin. We promise to take good care of it for you, @philadelphiaeagles.bsky.social 🦅❤️🦅
Reposted by Dr Sandra Austin
trevvie.bsky.social
Really enjoying the current re-runs of #BritainsLostMasterpieces on #BBC4
with the wonderful @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
Art combined with mystery and intrigue - what’s not to like?
Reposted by Dr Sandra Austin
christhebarker.bsky.social
Bugger me! Were nearly there! Thanks everyone. Still need a few more pledges to get it over the line but it looks like this might be actually happening…

www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...
The Lost Films of Hollywood Calendar 2026
The greatest movies never made – brought to life in glorious technicolour
www.kickstarter.com
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Heading to the TFI #SmarterTravelCampus roundtable. Hope I’m looking smart enough!
sandracaustin.bsky.social
That’d be great. Important thing is to get it over the line and into the world! 🤞
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Have backed without any hope of reward because I live in the wrong country 😭
Looks fab, though, and worth supporting!
Reposted by Dr Sandra Austin
mehr.nz
this is a very sharp piece on why it makes no sense to run universities as if they are businesses. They're not businesses.

www.afr.com/work-and-car...
The net result is the worst of both worlds. Universities invoke the rhetoric of business discipline, but they lack the governance structures that give that discipline bite. They operate without the checks that private ownership provides, yet subject staff and students to the cost-cutting and efficiency drives that profit-maximising firms pursue. The result is waste at the top and insecurity at the bottom.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Ferris Bueller’s day off - I think 5th June?
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Delighted to attend the launch of the redeveloped Irish Primary Curriculum specifications today
Minister Helen McEntee speaking at the launch of the Primary Curriculum NCCA colleagues with Karin Bacon and me, holding copies of the new primary social and environmental education specifications that we helped to develop.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Great gig tonight, Marty! Still singing on the DART home…
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Really enjoying this, @peteralanross.bsky.social
No better way to spend a rainy Saturday morning!
sandracaustin.bsky.social
This thread, 👌
smittermeier.bsky.social
Universities:
- Stop offering workshops on how to use ChatGPT to write papers
- stop using DeepL to translate your websites or make it sound useful for our research
- stop pretending AI usage is inevitable.

I don‘t want to work for institutions who can‘t employ critical thinking to new tech.
irisvanrooij.bsky.social
“university leaders … must act to help us collectively turn back the tide of garbage software, which fuels harmful tropes (e.g. so-called lazy students) and false frames (e.g. so-called efficiency or inevitability) to obtain market penetration and increase technological dependency”

3/🧵
sandracaustin.bsky.social
📌
cajunblue.bsky.social
📌 Do you have 8 minutes? A must watch for those of us struggling. 🫂
sandracaustin.bsky.social
I’m completely sucked into this story and now need to read it! It’s ringing bells so I think I must have come across it before
sandracaustin.bsky.social
The article quoted is essential reading for anyone caught up in the argument about the weight given to student module evaluations.
radiofreetom.bsky.social
I wrote about this problem in The Death of Expertise. (My solution, despite years of good evals, was to have other faculty observe my class and give me feedback, even when I was senior and tenured.)

by @rosehorowitch.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
sandracaustin.bsky.social
Definitely #5 ❤️Can’t wait for the new series…
januszczak.bsky.social
This film is specially for:
1/ People who’ve never seen me head a ball.
2/ Art lovers
3/ People who play scrabble.
4/ Etymologists.
5/ Waldy fans
6/ Ross Webber
7/ All the Johnsons in the world.
8/ People who want to know more about ZCZ Films.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
That is a mighty tee!
Safe travels.
sandracaustin.bsky.social
I loved the film! First thing I’d seen with Matthew Modine. Great soundtrack too.