AI in education: Friend or foe?
News 24 AprilA message from Executive Dean of Education and Arts Professor Mary Ryan: While Artificial Intelligence holds tremendous potential to enhance various aspects of human life, its deployment raises critic...
21 September 2015
Share
Malcolm Mackerras is an unlikely member of the staff at ACU because he is not, strictly speaking, on the staff. He is a visiting fellow at the ACU Canberra campus, working in the Blackfriars building.
He has full use of all the facilities and even a modest allowance for secretarial work. He behaves as though he is a full-time non-teaching academic.
These days he seems to spend most of his off-campus time lobbying politicians for his enthusiasms. When he next appears before a parliamentary committee he will describe himself thus:
“I am a 76 year old politics academic whose qualification to lecture politicians is based on having the letters AO after my name,” he said.
If pressed to say why he was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2006 he will quote the citation for his award which was: “For service to the community by raising public awareness of and encouraging debate about the political process in Australia and other western democracies, and through commitment to reform and improvement of the electoral system, and to education.”
He used to be a teaching academic. For thirty years (from 1974 to 2004) he taught politics to the future army, navy and air force officers of Australia and New Zealand.
His location was first at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and then at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Among his former students are Andrew Wilkie MP, Stuart Robert MP, Senator David Fawcett and the current Australian Electoral Commissioner, Tom Rogers.
His titles were lecturer, senior lecturer and then associate professor. People instinctively call him “Professor Mackerras” but when they do he corrects them by telling them that the PhD thesis he submitted in 1977 was failed by the examiners.
He has both admirers and detractors. One of his admirers is financial and economic guru Peter Switzer who was so impressed at the ability of Malcolm Mackerras to make good political predictions he was made the “politics expert” of the SWITZER television programme on Sky News Business.
Consequently when Mackerras feels he has an opinion to express he writes that opinion on the SWITZER website. Otherwise he writes academic and newspaper articles. For all these he describes himself as: “Malcolm Mackerras is a visiting fellow at the Australian Catholic University’s Canberra campus.”
As to how he won this position is an interesting story. When he retired from teaching politics at ADFA his then actual employer, the University of New South Wales, made him a visiting fellow at ADFA for seven years. When that expired in November 2011 he offered himself to ACU where he has worked since.
When he has nothing better to do he writes a book which is designed to collect all his writings over the past 60 years. (His first published newspaper article was in August 1957.)
It is likely to be a magnum opus. He is not at all sure it will be publishable but he writes it nonetheless. He has already thought up a title: “It’s not the Voting that’s Democracy... " For those who do not know him that may sound a strange title. It comes from a play called Jumpers written by Tom Stoppard in 1972 in which one of the actors says: "It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting."
A message from Executive Dean of Education and Arts Professor Mary Ryan: While Artificial Intelligence holds tremendous potential to enhance various aspects of human life, its deployment raises critic...
Gratitude is a word that can often be both over-used and overlooked at times. But this simple word can be powerful in our personal and professional lives.
Register for information sessions on using the Online Course Completion Assessment (OCCA) portal. Sessions will be held on 9 and 14 May and are open to all staff.
ACU are leading a national study, PROSPECT, to understand what Australian university staff and students believe are the priorities for research in learning and teaching. You’re invited to participate.
Eligible academic staff will soon be able to self-nominate to join the Academic Promotions committees to assess applications for promotions. Keep an eye out for the email if interested.
ACU Library is running a session ‘Research Essentials: Get Published - strategic publishing for success’ on 18 April - book now.
ACU is proud to announce the official launch of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program, and to introduce the Sunflower Champions who will support individuals with hidden disabilities.
Several improvements have been made to this year’s round. These include a reduction in the number of academic domains, an enhanced Notice of Intent process, revised committee structures and more stre...
A message from Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Abid Khan: A comprehensive roadmap will chart our research future in line with Vision 2033 and Australia’s higher education se...
Include an additional survey item in the Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching (SELT) survey for units that are offered in Semester 1 (202430) and Professional Term 3 (202415).
The process to determine a finding of Poor Academic Practice following an allegation of academic misconduct has substantially changed. Read more to learn about the key updates.
Introducing the new Research Ethics, Research Integrity and Research Compliance webpages.
The first Aquero lecture of the year is kicking off this week on Thursday, ‘You are what you eat and how you sleep!’ divulging the lessons learned from 50 years working with elite athletes.
All staff are encouraged to participate in ACU’s annual flu vaccination program to help maintain their health and wellbeing. All staff, including casuals and sessional staff, are eligible to participa...
Register to attend and hear our newest professors from the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Laura Miller and Professor Gert-Jan Pepping, speak about their impactful work being undertaken in teach...
All staff and students are invited to a commemorative prayer service ahead of ANZAC Day, to remember and honour our service men and women who exemplified courage and self-sacrifice in service of our c...
Last call to recommend a process improvement - survey extended until close of business Friday 19 April
The Professional Services Hub model provides portfolios and faculties with a greater level of proactive coordination and integration across professional services. This ultimately improves services for...
The Centre for Education & Innovation is hosting virtual Q&A sessions with Assessment Panel Chair, Associate Professor Alison Owens to assist you in the preparation of your application.
Are you considering undertaking a systematic or scoping review? ACU Library has two one-hour introductory webinars designed to get you started.
Visit Service Central to access Corporate Services.