Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.
Monday March 2
Last week, we published an article asking if it’s time to ditch group assignments at uni. We invited comments on this story, so here’s a selection of what some of you thought.
“This topic has been the subject of op-eds in the media in the past and rightly so. The use of group assignments enables some students to literally do nothing while others do the main work and are the winners of the high marks. In some degree courses the loafers can even pass core subjects without having done any of the work and obtain a degree on a falsehood. The argument often cited by academic staff is that group assignments reflect the collaborative environment in the workplace. This is a furphy of an argument, for in the workplace disciplinary action can be taken against freeloaders, including termination of employment. Efforts by myself and others to raise concerns about the conduct of some freeloading students have been met by silence and inaction.”
Charles Latimer 
“Surely the essential problem with group assessments is that there is no way to ensure that all members of the group have contributed? People may be getting a good mark when they have done none of the work.”
David South
“It’s pretty common practice to include reflections about the process and the contributions of team members. There are even dedicated ed tech platforms designed to support this (e.g. FeedbackFruits) which provide options for students to provide peer feedback and evaluation on the quality of the work undertaken by group members as well as the effort they all expended.”
Colin Simpson
Tuesday March 3
Why group assessments are everywhere
“The uncomfortable reality is that in many institutions, particularly those that treat teaching primarily as a revenue stream rather than a craft, group assessments are driven less by pedagogy than by workload management. Universities are under constant pressure to make teaching more ‘efficient’, and academics are expected to deliver subjects with progressively fewer resources. This has had significant consequences for teaching practice, including the widespread use of the group assessment. The inclusion of even a single group task can substantially reduce the marking load.”
Hassan Vally, Associate Professor in Epidemiology, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University
Hanson’s doctors orders
“If One Nation wants to force doctors to do a regional stint to get a medicare provider number they need to consider how to accommodate these people. Many small towns do not have rental properties that could be leased short term (or even sufficient rentals for long term for that matter!). And how does a beginner doctor afford to pay another rent when they are probably paying rent in the city of their training? In addition, many rural folk come with complex conditions that would challenge doctors straight out of medical school. We as patients prefer doctors with a few years of experience, and so do rural practice leaders.”
Kirsty Harris, Upotipotpon, South VIC
Realities of a discouraged worker
“I am a discouraged worker. I’m 63 with some chronic health issues and have worked the last 2 decades at 2 of the big four banks. I left both due to their resistance to part-time work and sexist and ageist work cultures. The thought of going back to work in an environment that is dismissive of experience and only values young males ‘with potential’ is soul destroying. I understand why the government wants us to work later in life, but they’re not realistic about what it’s like in the work force.”
Jane Davis, Naarm, VIC
Wednesday March 4
Negotiating with the US
“If the reports about negotiations between America and Iran were correct, namely, that progress was being made towards an agreed position, then Trump’s decision, aided and abetted by Israel, to bomb Iran trashes the credibility of the US negotiating team, now and into the future! Who will ever seriously trust any negotiating proposals from and by the US again?”
Ron Anderson M.A
Training nurses back in the day
“When I was a lot younger the hospital system of training nurses appeared to work very well; with nurses working their way up the ladder. First year nurses emptied bed pans etc, with their responsibilities being increased as they worked their way through the years of training. I do not understand why this system was ever changed. Now people have to go to uni with some not being able to afford to do so, ruling them out of a career they might have wanted and putting more pressure on our limited number of nurses. There is no better way to learn than on-the-job training.”
Jill Weaver
AI warfare
“The news about ethical AI is indeed worrying. The CEO of Anthropic, among others like Geoffrey Hinton, have been at the forefront of spelling out the existential and imminent threat that super intelligent AI could pose not just to democracy but to humanity itself. They suggest there is a real risk of such an AI going rogue or terrorists with tech expertise manufacturing virtual weapons of mass destruction with it. That most of these decisions are made by a few corporations in Trump’s America is the opposite of reassuring for the rest of the world.”
Gary Barnes, Mossman NSW
Thursday March 5
Rising oil prices
“It’s about now, looking at this latest war, I wonder why successive Australian governments haven’t accelerated energy independence. There’s long been a clear pathway to radically reduced dependence on imported oil and liquid fuels.”
Julian Lawrence, Karana Downs QLD
Hate speech ruling
“I read this article about how the Victorian magistrate determined the line ‘all zionists are terrorists’ was hate speech. It was a very nuanced decision. The way the article reports the decision makes it very clear why the judgement was made, it was able to describe legalese to the average person. Thank you Jeremie Bracka for such a good explanation.”
Lee Barron
Australia’s first high speed train
“Phillip Laird suggests Sydney to Melbourne would be better for Australia’s first high speed train. But population density maps of the Australian east coast show there is a bigger need for high speed rail from the Sunshine Coast down to the NSW south coast to Wollongong. A rail along this length of the east coast would provide substantial benefits to a very large population well beyond Newcastle and Sydney.”
Uto Pia
Friday March 6
Our honey’s history
“Thank you for all the wonderful articles you publish in the Conversation. But in this interesting article I was disappointed that the researchers didn’t consult First Nations’ peoples who’ve been using honey from native plants for healing for thousands of years. Instead, the researchers referred to Egypt, Greece and China, all ‘civilisations’ much younger than Australian Aboriginal societies. Please pay the medical experts in our Australian Indigenous communities the respect they and their deep knowledge systems deserve.”
Carol Flynn, Mawson ACT
What’s really going on in the US?
“Nick Bisley is absolutely correct to declare that the ‘the domestic sources of the illiberal turn [of the US] has deep roots and will remain central to US politics long after Trump’. However, understanding these deep roots requires much more than just focusing on the current elites and acolytes who inform, shape and execute American policies. The deep roots are class-based, class-driven and intricately connected to great variability in accessing quality education at all ages. Pursuing Australia’s best interests requires honest acknowledgement of the changes occurring in the US. It’s essential for our leaders and policy framers to look below the top strata and engage with what is happening at grassroots level.”
Dr John Halsey, Emeritus Professor, Flinders University
The high-speed rail question
“The reader from yesterday entirely missed the point of Phillip Laird’s article. High population density is a negative for high-speed rail. It limits where new tracks can be built and slows trains down when going through areas with lots of road crossings. It also wouldn’t service these areas because the whole point of high-speed trains is that they make very few stops. A Sydney to Melbourne train with a single stop in or near Canberra would be the best option.”
Sonja Davie, Canberra ACT