I’ve had an uptick in correspondence reflecting on articles in Future Campus over the past month, which is great, but has also made me reflect on why we exist.
Future Campus was never set up to be a money making machine – I edit and write in my spare time and the generous contributions of our partners – UQ, Griffith, Western Sydney, UNSW, ATN and Unimutual – now cover enough of the production costs to make us sustainable. That works, because our purpose is to fill the niche’s others don’t – in particular the need I see working in the sector each day across many different organisations to ask questions, share insights and build discussions that otherwise wouldn’t happen.
Three paragraphs in and all pretty self-serving content so far – the classic self-serving editorial spiel which is why I rarely read them – but if you have stuck with me to here, this is the gold.
When Jason Lodge sent across a piece on Generative AI, last week, I was stoked – the piece is really good – but also conflicted. He introduces the piece with some interesting and important context, but for me the hook is in the seventh paragraph, introducing a really important, under-discussed issue.
This raises a fundamental question about education’s purpose: Should we prioritise
getting students from point A to point B with minimal effort, or does the true value lie in
the mental exertion required for that journey? The cognitive effort – the mental sweat –
involved in learning plays a crucial role in developing understanding, critical thinking
skills, and long-term knowledge retention.
I have conducted media training for academics and execs across the country for a couple of decades but I am trying to resist my own instinct to turn always your thoughts and expression into media form. A colleague told me a while ago that my zeal for editing meant that everything was going out to the world in my voice.
I typically edit to maximise readability and accuracy for Future Campus, but also see a need to celebrate different approaches to expression. It needs to be voices from the sector, for the sector, first and foremost. Just because my instinct is to stick the lead at the top does not mean it is always the best approach – as Jason’s article demonstrates.
We try to do the same thing with our events, which make them a little unconventional – other people can provide a platform for long form celebration of self, but we want to champion fresh voices and or insights, moderated by people with serious journalistic and or sector cred who ask the questions you won’t hear in other fora.
I figure if we keep questioning how the sector operates, we also need to shine a mirror on our own processes and motivations from time to time.
