G’Day
2022 is shaping up to be even more bizarre than last year; Covid rules and there are Covid rules.
However, it is interesting to follow the plethora of presentations and papers addressing approaches to ensuring that students have the opportunity to continue with their studies through mainly an online dimension.
Learning technologies and associated systems are enablers. However, if students and learners haven’t been provided with the time and opportunity to learn how to use the technologies, then the educators are planning to fail in their attempt to provide an effective and rich learning environment.
I have said it many times, don’t assume that students of all ages are technologically competent and will seamlessly use any technology you throw at them. Time spent on ensuring students are digitally competent and understand the technology they are expected to use, is time well spent. Underpinning all this, is of course, effective responsive feedback and time management.There are plenty of resources on the Web to support your endeavours in this regard; the current Jisc guide is one excellent example.
Metaverse is also being mentioned frequently. What is its future in education? Several new articles and reports are beginning to explain and comment on the Metaverse and its implications and potential for education.
Hybrid learning is also gaining some traction and worth perusing and exploring.
To sum up activity in the garden to date :Total of 5.25Kg French runner beans, 7Kg potatoes and 4kg of tomatoes, along with Chinese cabbage , spring onions, red onions, Boc Choy, spinach and beetroot. So, reasonably productive. Lack of rain and water restrictions meant that some veggies went by the wayside
Torrential rain last month has improved matters somewhat
The posting this month has links to : Several site relating to the Metaverse and Education, Teaching in a digital Age, E-moderating,Evolution of Learning Technologies, Immersive learning, An overview of MOOC’s, Online learning in Covid space,Principles of good assessment and feedback,Hybrid learning, Conferences/Webinars etc and the odd one out.
Next edition of the Watch will be June
Enjoy and maintain your passion for helping student to learn and achieve!
1. Teaching in a Digital Age
This is a short course on Teaching in a Digital Age, developed using the Open Textbook with the same title and 12 videos prepared for Commonwealth of Learning by Dr. Tony Bates. This is a self-paced open course that anyone can join to learn and receive a certificate of competence. You can self-enrol in this course to learn basics of online learning.
https://tell.colvee.org/course/view.php?id=20
2. Online Learning: A Panacea in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis
Shivangi Dhawan
One of many articles about online learning, Covid and opportunities
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7308790/
3. Principles of good assessment and feedback. Once again JISc has produced a valuable resource which will be a very useful guide for all educators. Well researched and presented, of excellent value. A must read
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/principles-of-good-assessment-and-feedback
4 E- Moderating. Published a few years ago, I think it is worth a revisit especially as the world of education and learning has evolved to become an ever increasing online environment. Articles like this one serve to help focus on ensuring students get the best support possible on their learning journey
https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/450183/emoderating.pdf
5.A whole new world: Education meets the metaverse. A very interesting and useful report own the potential impact of the Metaverse in education, with some useful comment on learning in general in a technological world.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-whole-new-world-education-meets-the-metaverse/
6. The future of education in the Metaverse. Interesting overview /opinion piece to add to your growing knowledge of the potential of Metaverse.
https://www.latigid.pt/en/blog/the-future-of-education-in-the-metaverse
7.The Evolution of Learning Technologies. Always interesting to know how we got there
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/evolution-of-learning-technologies
8. Metaverse for Education: How will the Metaverse change eduction? Another useful article with insights and comment on the future of education in a Metaverse world; adds some more information to the other sites.
https://101blockchains.com/metaverse-for-education/
9.A series of blogs relating to the world of immersive learning. There are several here that provide some very useful comment, ides and insights into how immersive techniques can be used to ehance learning and versus environment.
https://www.futurevisual.com/blogs/
10. A Decade of MOOCs: A Review of Stats and Trends for Large-Scale Online Courses in 2021
A very interesting report on the life of MOOC’s and their future trends.
11.Hybrid Learning. What is it ? Have we been here before? or is it a real transformative approach for Education? Derek Wenmouth has been around for a while and has been an inspiration for many. So is he leading a revolution?
Decide for yourself
https://futuremakers.nz/hybrid-learning/
And
What is Hybrid Learning?: Very good overview and explanation along with some comparisons.
https://www.viewsonic.com/library/education/what-is-hybrid-learning/
Publications
1. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology: An issue has been published.
https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/issue/current
Conferences, workshops, Seminars
1. Seventeenth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning
Educating for a new future: Making sense of technology-enhanced learning adoption
The European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL) engages researchers, practitioners, educational developers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and policy makers to address current challenges and advances in the field. EC-TEL 2022 will take place on 12-16 September 2022 in Toulouse, France with the theme “Educating for a new future: Making sense of technology-enhanced learning adoption”.
We invite contributions for research papers, posters, demonstrations, as well as workshops. A doctoral consortium will be organised concurrently with the workshops. The topics of interest for the conference can be found here.
https://ea-tel.eu/ectel2022/cfp
2. Equity and Inclusion in Flexible Learning: Challenges across the sectors
On Tuesday, 5 April 2022, FLANZ will hold part two of the panel conversation ‘Equity and inclusion in flexible learning: Challenges across the sector’ and you are invited to this free webinar. We are delighted to be talking again with Claire Amos (Albany Senior High School), Steve Leichtweis (University of Auckland), and Stephen Marshall (Victoria University of Wellington). The moderator will be Kwong Nui Sim (AUT).
Bringing different perspectives to the conversation, our panelists will critically discuss our current situation in education and look into the future. Where do they think we are going in Aotearoa New Zealand? What does the education sector need?
Register for this free webinar on 5 April 2022,2-3pm NZST.:
You can watch part one of this engaging conversation.
3. Free AAEEBL workshops
The AAEEBL Task Force on Digital Ethics in ePortfolios is offering a series of free workshops this year.
The next workshop on evaluation and ePortfolios from a digital ethics perspective will be held on 11 April 2022, 2-4pm EDT. Find out more on the event’s page.
https://aaeebl.org/event/digital-ethics-evaluation-april2022/
The Task Force organises a free workshop every other month.
Subscribe to the AAEEBL events calendar:
4. This is worth attending considering the shift in the way exams are held because of Covid
SoLAR Webinar “Online and automated exam proctoring: the arguments and the evidence”.
Time and date: 6pm 27 April 2022 CDT / 9am 28 April 2022 AEST
Location: Zoom (meeting URL provided in the registration email)
To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/online-and-automated-exam-proctoring-the-arguments-and-the-evidence-registration-293560857427
(Also, make sure you follow SoLAR’s Eventbrite page to get updates for the future events).
Odd one out: Information is beautiful
Here are links to an amazing array of infographics on an equally amazing range of topics. It would appear that the large number relating to the Covid virus are the most accessed.
And, as an added extra to occupy Covid downtime, an excellent approach to mapping monthly global temperature anomalies between the years 1880-2021; sobering
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4975
That’s it for now
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand