G’day
the weather is on the turn, but at least we have had an excellent ‘Indian’ summer.The raspberries have succumbed to a load of marauding parrots, so I’m now just left with lettuce and beetroot to finish the season. Hi ho.
I’ve been reading several articles on eportfolios. Their popularity and use appears to wax and wane even though they have been around in various formats for over ten years. The link to an article in this posting looks at some of the issues relating to understanding their purpose and use. I think they are a good idea as long as you are sure what outcomes you want and the users can see benefits accruing from their use.
I have been asked on numerous occasions when the Annual NZ Shar-E-Fest will be. Sadly it is likely to be suspended for this year.
Several changes have occurred in my current educational environment which have now left little time to organise the event. One of those things I guess, so I hope people are not too disappointed. Gives you plenty of time to polish that presentation or workshop for next year.
In the posting this month there are links to visualising and sharing networks, Tech and emotional disorders, collaborative expertise,eportfolios, eassessment,MOOCs, Andragogy, Analytics, new search engine,latest conference list,NMC and Australian Universities technology report, NMC and BPOC technology trends, selected conferences and the odd one out.
Can’t believe that July is just around the corner
1.OPEN IDEAS AT PEARSON: WHAT WORKS BEST IN EDUCATION:THE POLITICS OF COLLABORATIVE EXPERTISE by John Hattie. If you haven’t read this , it might be in your interest to doso. It’s a comprehensive dissection and analysis of of collaborative expertise and what it means in teaching and learning. John Hattie is well known to many educators, and as is usual ,his work is thought provoking, relevant and eminently useful.
2. Debategraph: I came across this site whilst looking at interpretations and application of loop learning. On the debategraoh site,the more you explore the more one learns from a variety of sometimes detailed ‘maps’ on a range of subjects. Looks like it could be a very useful teaching tool. Extract from the site:
‘DebateGraph is an award-winning web-platform for visualizing and sharing networks of thought and opening reasoning and action to collaborative learning and iterative improvement’. Worth perusing and maybe using in your own learning environment?
3.Is tech creating new types of mental and emotional disorders? This page is termed a ‘charticle’ it provides a wide range of possible ‘disorders’ created by the use of modern technology. The author asks: ‘How many do you recognise?’ Well. I don’t think it will take you long to ponder on one or two or maybe more and probably hide your technology under something for a while. Some really fascinating and interesting descriptions which hit the mark!
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/intermental/
4. From the JISC stable: eAssessment survey Final report May 2016. Extract from the document: ‘The primary driver for this report is the Government’s (UK) response to the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG) report and its target to increase use of technology in assessment by 50% by 2018’ Some useful insights into the uptake and use of e-technologies for assessment and maybe some lessons to be learnt about what best suits practice and how to effectively and efficiently implement it.
Read in conjunction with the Blog post: Technology enhanced assessment and feedback in further education and skills how is the sector doing?
5.MOOCs: If you are an e-vangelist for MOOCs and want keep up to date with what’s happening , peruse through this wide range of articles on the subject (definite bent toward USA educational Institutions, but probably relevant to any MOOC initiative?): MOOCs: the future of higher education, or a passing phase?
6.Eportfolios: I found this particular article quite useful for its straightforward common sense approach to the subject; more are to follow. Have a look at ‘ePortfolios for apprentices: A guide for providers and employers’
7.Adult learning: The five key assumptions of andragogy by Darcy Nicholson on the eworks Blog. I thought this was an interesting blog as it is a clear and straightforward overview of critical aspects of Andragogy. Useful as a reminder of the nature of adult learning.
8.If you are interested in Analytics, peruse the following : Big Data Visualization: Review of the 20 Best Tools [thanks to Edoardo L’Astorina for the link]
9. New search engine : Jelly. A very different type of search engine. Explore and decide if it’s for you. Seems that there are some good answers to some interesting ‘every day happenings ‘ type questions. Hopefully all the questions submitted will be meaningful as well as useful.
10. 35th version of the educational technology and education conference list from Clayton Wright. [crwr77[@]gmail.com]. Always useful to know what’s happening , where and when , just in case someone might give you the money from their professional development stash, to go.
http://www.downes.ca/post/65309
or
http://repository.alt.ac.uk/2362/
11. NMC and Open Universities Australia Release the 2016 NMC Technology Outlook for Australian Tertiary Education. Are we (NZ) going down (or up) the same pathway? and what about you?
http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-technology-outlook-au.pdf
AND
NMC and BPOC Release of the NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Museum Edition
http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-horizon-report-museum-EN.pdf
12. Conferences
12.1 ascilite 2016
The ascilite2016 conference will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 28 to 30 November 2016. The conference is being hosted by the University of South Australia.Make a note of the dates.
http://2016conference.ascilite.org
Call for submissions is open:
http://2016conference.ascilite.org/program-2/submissions/
12.2 ALT Annual Conference 2016: Connect, Collaborate, Create ‘Early Bird’ Registration now open.
The 2016 Annual Conference of the Association for Learning Technology will take place at Warwick University, 6 to 8 September 2016.The conference provides an international platform for Learning Technology research, practice and policy work from across sectors. Confirmed speakers include Josie Fraser, Ian Livingstone CBE and Lia Commissar.
Early bird registration offers a significant discount across all conference fees and is open until 30 June. ALT members are also entitled to a further 20% discount on attendance.
To book please visit:
http://go.alt.ac.uk/2016altcReg
12.3 Innovate and Educate:Teaching and Learning Conference ANZ will be held in Sydney from the 28 to31 August 2016. Education leaders, educators, course designers, system administrators and eLearning managers who partner and innovate with different Learning Management Systems such as Blackboard Learn, Enterprise Moodle and Moodlerooms, from across Australia and New Zealand will come together to share their knowledge and expertise in the field of online teaching and learning.
Find out more and register:
http://experience.blackboard.com/TLC-Sydney/
Make a submission:
http://events.blackboard.com/TLCSydney2016CFP
13. Odd one out: Cats, you either love ’em or maybe not. They certainly can be entertaining. Have a womble through these ‘gifs’ and have a laugh or two.
‘Have a break , have a ? Cat’
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand