G’day
It’s ‘bean’ an excellent summer so far. With beans making a runner from the garden in Kg lots; tomatoes are a gathering force and blueberries are to die for. Apart from the delights of the harvest, Xmas and the new year celebrations passed very pleasantly and now it’s onto the year ahead. Not too sure what I will be up to yet, however the Watch will continue a while. Chinese Year of the Monkey is upon us half way through this month. Happy New Year to all our Chinese friends and colleagues.
Came across a quote from Albert Einstein,’I never teach my pupils, I only provide the conditions in which they can learn’. Like it!! Similar to one of my own, methinks,
‘We don’t deliver education, we design and create environments in which students can learn’. Great minds eh ?
Moving on. In the posting this month there are links to JISC guides, citizen maths update,feedback and design,elearning for health, improving moodle experience,reimagining the Role of Technology Education,Engagement through partnership,online versus face to face,resources for biology,physics,maths, medicine and computer science, conferences and the odd one out.
That’s it, until March is on the horizon.
‘Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you’. (anon)
1. JISC GUIDES. Over the years the JISC people have produced some very useful and valuable guides for all sectors of education.The latest productions continue its excellent work. Even if you don’t agree with everything,JISC provide excellent resources to guide your thinking and they certainly serve to progressively improve the way in which student learning environments are planned,created and managed for the benefit of student learning and achievement. Peruse the latest and glean some insights and help with your learning and teaching aspirations.
a. Presentation and multimedia technologies:
b. Technology and tools for online learning:
c. Curriculum design and support for online learning:
2. Designing ELearning for Health. If you are looking for something to do for 3 hours a week for five weeks and are keen on elearning design, go no further than this free online course from the University of Nottingham. It indicates that whilst the focus is on health the principles and practices are easily transferable to other disciplines.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/e-learning-health
3. Higher Education Academy. A very useful document contributing much to the concept of partnership between the learners and their facilitators. From the executive summary:
‘Engaging students and staff effectively as partners in learning and teaching is arguably one of the most important issues facing higher education in the 21st century’.
Couldn’t agree more. Read, digest, learn and apply.
Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education:
4.iLumina: Educational resources for Science and Mathematics. A comprehensive resource bank.
Extract from the site:
‘iLumina is a digital library of sharable undergraduate teaching materials for chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science. It is designed to quickly and accurately connect users with the educational resources they need. These resources range in type from highly granular objects such as individual images and video clips to entire courses’.
AND
if you are looking for more resources, have a womble through PLOS:
The Zika virus is topical at the moment:
http://collections.plos.org/zika
5. Citizen Maths is a free open online level 2 maths course,resource for adults funded by the Ufi Charitable Trust and developed by Calderdale College, OCR, and UCL Institute of Education. It continues to develop and improve and is well worth a visit or two times two =’fourward’ thinking.
6. From the JISC stable: Technology for employability. A timely and very useful document. Extract: ‘This study will provide an initial exploration of the role of technology in supporting the development of student employability skills. It aims to provide an overview of the key skills employers are looking for, and the opportunities offered by universities and colleges to provide those skills’. Relevant in any country.
http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6249/3/Technology_for_employability_-_full_report.PDF
7. Five Steps to Getting Better Feedback on Your Design Projects. A useful and interesting article, opinion piece on feedback; much, I think, will resonate with the reader not only from the design perspective but from education in general.
8. Differences Between Online and Face to Face Learning. What are they and how much of a difference does it make to student learning?
http://jabba.edb.utexas.edu/it/fc_resta_courses_files/itpm/m0_7.html
9. Improve your Moodle user experience. A useful little guide (from eWorks, Australia), to thinking about how you can help the learner get a better experience with their use of Moodle:
http://eworks.edu.au/blog/2015/12/improve-your-moodle-user-experience/
10. Future Ready Learning:reimagining the Role of Technology Education. From the Office of Education Technology. This is the 2016 NATIONAL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY PLAN from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. Perhaps the comment on page 5 sums up the focus: ‘The conversation has shifted from whether technology should be used in learning, to how it can improve learning to ensure that all students have access to high-quality educational experiences.’ The document is well worth reading to gain some insights into the various aspects and elements associated with the use of technology in education both within and without the ‘school’ environment.
http://tech.ed.gov/files/2015/12/NETP16.pdf
11. Conferences
11.1 DEANZ conference 2016
DEANZ2016
17-20th April 2016
The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Conference Website:
http://conference.deanz.org.nz/
The DEANZ2016 conference covers research and practice in open, distance, flexible and mobile learning across the compulsory schooling sectors, vocational, tertiary and professional development settings.
Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in DEANZ2016.
We look forward to welcoming you to Hamilton in April 2016!
For the latest update on speakers sponsors and activities:
DEANZ gratefully acknowledges the support of its sponsors. The main sponsors include, Massey University
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/home.cfm
, Open Polytechnic
http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz
Ako Aotearoa
Panopto
Blackboard
http://anz.blackboard.com/sites/international/globalmaster/
ECHO 360
Cyclone computers
University of Waikato
and
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/wmier/
University of Otago
eTV
Other sponsors are Ministry of Education
University of Canterbury
InternetNZ
and Good George
11.2 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. Website coming soon.
Initial details available from:
https://ascilite.org/2016-conference/
11.3 ALT Annual Conference 2016: Connect, Collaborate, Create
6 to 8th September 2016, University of Warwick, UK:
12.0 The odd one out. Time to reflect on the nature of education and these quotes should get you contemplating your own experiences:
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/04/20/21-inspirational-quotes-on-education/
Richard
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic
Auckland
New Zealand