G’day
The year flies by and it’s raining. Not only heavy and persistent on the garden, but also on the new National Polytechnic system! Originally called the National Institute of Science and Technology.
As I pointed out when it was first suggested, it will be a top heavy unworkable system spending heaps of tax payer’s money and spraying confusion and uncertainty on its way; and so it has come to be.Should be re-named “National Institute of Technology and Science (NITS).
We(hopefully the enlightened ones) are all scratching our heads as to who dreamt up such a monolith: ‘A large powerful organisation that cannot change quickly and does not consider the ideas or feelings of the people it affects’.
See: https://www.ldoceonline.com/Government-topic/monolith
Letting politicians loose on organising education and you ask for trouble. It’s like putting hot mustard on your custard, why would you do that?
Mystery surrounds the first CEO, being on special leave almost from day one and has now resigned after six weeks in the shadows, on full pay of course 🙁 Watch this space
Words convey meaning and the use of the term ‘Instructional design’, sends a message to me that learning is a series of steps to be followed; 1.2.3.; a, b, c. It’s essentially a ‘do this’, ‘do that’ philosophy with no room for variation, innovation , experimentation or creativity. Whereas ‘Learning design’ has learning as the focus and enables creative thinking to embrace variation, innovation and experimentation. Bit harsh you may say? Plan a lesson and think about it from an instructional point of view and then a learning point of view. Semantics maybe, but does effect a shift in thinking.
Seems ‘Architects of learning’ are also growing in number. Maybe the learning designers and architects of learning can get together and become constructivists, using constructive alignment as their building block to produce meaningful learning experiences:-) Now that’s a novel idea
In this posting, there are links to Student resources, Metacognition, Artificial intelligence, Augmented reality, Online assessment, Engagement framework, E-learning Rubric, conferences, publications and the Odd one out.(plus picture from my own archives to bend your brain :-))
Keep up the good work:-)
1. Always useful to find websites that provide resources to help and enable students to find the information they want. This is one of many and deserves to be shared ( other content may be of interest but not always in their interest]
https://studycorgi.com/blog/google-search-tips-tricks-for-students/
2. Augmented Reality is becoming part of mainstream discussions on the future of learning and teaching. This website provides some useful insights into its role and potential within the education arena.
https://online.maryville.edu/blog/augmented-reality-in-education/
3.Sometimes defined as ‘thinking about thinking’, metacognition is something that needs more exposure and explanation as to how it effects and is involved with, the learning process. This website is a good start on the journey
https://theelearningcoach.com/learning/metacognition-and-learning/
4. More Metacogntiom
Some more information on metacognition from and impressive website which derives to be bookmarked and perused for more gems
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/metacognition
And
5. An Online Engagement Framework for Higher Education. An interesting article worth reading if you want to look at how you can ‘engage’ your students more effectively and efficiently to the benefit of their learning
https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1175/370
6. Considerations and strategies for effective online assessment with a focus on the biomedical sciences. An article with some considered strategies for online assessment. Although the focus is on biomedical sciences , much of what is proposed and debated is probably applicable to most other disciplines.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8728109/
7.Framework for the Quality Assurance of e-Assessment
Frameworks are often useful as guidelines (not tramlines) and this one can be used to help develop resources and methods for effective quality assurance of assessment using electronic means.
https://www.kwaliteitszorg.vluhr.be/files/D4.7-Framework-screen-TeSLA-2606.pdf
8.Rubric for eLearning Tool Evaluation
I have always been a fan of Rubrics, although they need to be extremely carefully crafted to avoid ambiguities and subjective interpretation. This one is a very comprehensive rubric which could be useful for your own deliberations and decision making.
https://teaching.uwo.ca/pdf/elearning/Rubric-for-eLearning-Tool-Evaluation.pdf
9.EDUCAUSE Review:Special Report Artificial Intelligence:Where Are We Now?
Artificial Intelligence , just like AR and VR continues to gain traction. There are some that believe it’s all hype and others who can forsee the potential for educational analytics and improving assessment and support for student learning. As always a good review from Educause
Conferences
1. The annual ALT conference is shortly underway; always one of the best events on the educational calendar! You can access all details from
2. ASCILITE 2022: 39th International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education.
If you are on this side of the world, easy to get to, otherwise come for a holiday and indulge in some professional development at the same time 🙂
Publications
1. Just released: The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research. This could be a very useful handbook to have to guide student research efforts.
Odd one out: Tinkering
How many of us have wiled away some happy hours tinkering in the garage, workshop, study, studio, etc, with the aim of creating something unique and revolutionary? Great for mental agility and relaxing(as long as the hammer doesn’t hit the thumb). The Exploratorium has been producing innovative stuff for years and even if you can’t get there, there is plenty to watch and do online. Have a look at some of the tinkering projects for a laugh and for some inspiration.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/tinker
From my Archives (1997), tinkering with concepts:
Take care, say safe
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand