Bonny Norton, University of British Columbia and Espen Stranger-Johannessen, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences Globally, 750 million youth and adults do not know how to read and write and 250 million children are failing to acquire basic literacy skills. Literacy is central to education and plays an important role in development and peace. In response to this global educational challenge, our team based at the University of British Columbia developed the open multilingual literacy portal Global Storybooks. This portal hosts custom sites with multilingual open-licensed books for over 40 countries and regions on five continents. Our vision is to…
Author: Pride Team
Simon Duncan, University of Bradford For many couples, moving in together signifies a big step in the relationship. Traditionally, this meant marriage, although nowadays most cohabit before getting married, or splitting up. But there is a third choice: living apart together. Not only is it surprisingly common, but living apart together is increasingly seen as a new and better way for modern couples to live. Surveys have previously suggested that around 10% of adults in Western Europe, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia live apart together, while up to a quarter of people in Britain statistically defined as “single”…
I had a different thought to be written today, one that would have been another female-cheer article. However, something more thoughtful interrupted that line of thought and I’m grateful that it did. Nearly two years ago, my beautiful father passed on. Losing a loved one is never easy, but I’m not here to pry open emotional wounds. A few days ago, I opened his wardrobe for the first time after his passing; I wanted a shirt and I found one. Although, I noticed the sleeves had been clumsily mended by an obvious sewing amateur – my dad. The shirt was…
Technology is a big deal in today’s world, still, there are a good number of people who are lagging behind when it comes to personal usage or as an acquired, applied skill used to aid the growth of businesses. Our Woman Crush Wednesday, Chioma Agwuebo is the founder of TechHer. According to their platform, TechHer is “a platform set up to demystify technology and provide support, learning and collaboration for women in an encouraging and conducive environment. We provide a platform for technology knowledge exchange amongst women, providing real-time solutions to their tech-related problems and improving the quality of their…
Sheriffdeen Tella, Olabisi Onabanjo University In its latest report on Nigeria, the World Bank issued a stark warning: that the country risks becoming home to a quarter of the world’s destitute people in a decade unless policymakers act to revive economic growth and lift employment. Wale Fatade, from The Conversation Africa, asked Professor Sheriffdeen Tella to explain what can be done to avert such an outcome. Why has President Muhammadu Buhari’s government failed to get the economy growing in a way that creates jobs? The Nigerian economy is public sector driven. This simply indicates that public sector pronouncements, particularly with…
Holy Humour Wrong Denomination Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I…
As he did the opposite of his birth, Giving the cries to us, And taking the smiles, And after the lightening, He slept. So peaceful he seemed, Too peaceful for a normal slumber. I nudged him. No breath, no sound, Just eternal peace. In my sleep, I see strangers walking on the clouds, I recognise one of them, It is him. I shed a tear, and he sees it. He tells me not to cry, But to celebrate his life. I watch him at heaven’s gate. The man before him had been condemned. I pray for him. I awoke, not…
Reading Ex 2:1-15a A certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, who conceived and bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the riverbank. His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the riverbank. Noticing the basket…
Judith Seaboyer, The University of Queensland Public anxiety about the capacity of digital-age children and young adults to read anything longer than a screen grab has come to feel like moral panic. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest we must take such unease seriously. In 2016, the US National Endowment for the Arts reported the proportion of American adults who read at least one novel in 2015 had dropped to 43.1% from 56.9% in 1982. In 2018, a US academic reported that in 1980, 60% of 18-year-old school students read a book, newspaper or magazine every day that…
Sheetal Soni, University of KwaZulu-Natal Gene editing technology allows scientists to make changes to an organism’s DNA. It has made it possible to create cattle without horns, tomatoes that ripen slowly over time, and even mosquitoes that are incapable of transmitting malaria. The next frontier is human gene editing. Its potential is undeniable, and it provides the opportunity to edit disease out of the human genome. Gene editing in humans takes one of two forms. In somatic gene editing, changes are made to DNA in a person’s body cells. In germline editing, changes are made to the DNA in embryos,…