In the article we analyse the structuring of time among academic employees in Iceland, how they organize and reconcile their work and family life and whether gender is a defining factor in this context. Our analysis shows clear gender differences in time use. Although flexible working hours help academic parents to organize their working day and fulfil the ever‐changing needs of family members, the women, rather than men interviewed, seem to be stuck with the responsibility of domestic and caring issues because of this very same flexibility. It seems to remove, for more women than for men, the possibility of going home early or not being on call. The flexibility and the gendered time use seem thus to reproduce traditional power relations between women and men and the gender segregated division in the homes.

No abstract

No abstract

In the labour market women’s jobs have frequently been conceptually and literally tied to housework and hence thought of as unskilled and therefore undervalued. Although academic institutions have undergone changes, the fact that women still carry the main responsibility for domestic and caring tasks continues to follow them into the academic work environment. In this explorative study we focus on the gendered aspects of undervalued work in academia by examining how academic housework manifests itself in different academic contexts and how early career academics in six European countries contend with it. We will link the undervalued academic work to housework in a double sense. Firstly, we will discuss how domestic housework affects the working conditions of academic women and men differently in their early career. Secondly, we will approach academic work through the lenses of academic housework, hence making use of the notion of ‘housework’ in a transferred and more figurative meaning. The discussion is aimed at developing a new conceptual framework in the analysis of gendered academic careers. In this way the topic of academic housework, which seems to be accompanied by social taint, may become more easily discussable within the academic work environment.

The flipped classroom offers a new approach to student-centred teaching and learning by moving the lecture out of the classroom. Research on the topic reveals that the flexibility of viewing the recorded lectures at a time and speed that is convenient to the student is what students appreciate mostly in the flipped classroom. This article examines the viewing pattern of students regarding recorded lectures in a course that has been flipped. The findings reveal a decline in the number of students who view the recordings over the duration of the course semester. Furthermore, the findings support earlier research results revealing that women and older students rely more on recorded lectures than other students. In addition, the study shows that there is a positive correlation between viewing the recorded material and the final grade of students in the course. It is thus surmised that even if in-class activity is very important for the flipped classroom to work, the recordings do have additional value, which is reflected by higher final course grades for students who view them. The flexibility of viewing recordings more than once and at the most relevant and convenient time seems to increase students' understanding, and is regarded an important asset of flipped classroom teaching.