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AI CMM Digital transformation (Dx) ed tech higher education

Ed tech must reads: column #64

First published in Campus Morning Mail 13th Dec 2022

The AI future for lesson plans is already here from EduResearch Matters

Unsurprisingly, one of the hot topics for discussion (if not papers, given how new this is) at the ASCILITE conference last week was the impact of AI tools on teaching and learning. Much of this has centred around student use of tools and how we may need to rethink the very idea of knowledge. The use of AI tools by educators is also getting some attention and this interesting post from the Australian Association for Research in Education explores AI generated lesson plans. Currently they seem a little basic, but we have to assume they will quickly become more sophisticated.

The College Essay Is Dead from The Atlantic

The ramifications of these technologies are being seen in mainstream journalism as well. This thoughtful piece from Stephen Marche in The Atlantic uses a decent overview of the current state of play to springboard into a reflection on the larger rift between the humanities and sciences that it represents. It also offers some interesting possibilities for ways that this new technology might strengthen the humanities in the long run.

Non-academic providers take over credential landscape from EdScoop

I went to a Noam Chomsky lecture once and the one thing that he said that stuck with me the most was that he always reads the business news to get the most accurate information on the state of the world. This post is brief but telling – describing an analysis of more than a million educational  credentials offered and noting that the majority of them now come from non-traditional education providers.

Top 10 IT Issues, 2023: Foundation Models from Educause

This is a deep dive into the way that IT works in Higher Education, and some may not necessarily see the relevance to learning and teaching – or feel concerns that these issues take undue priority over the core purpose of the university. For an institution to function effectively though, I would suggest that getting IT right is as fundamental as solid buildings. This article captures insights from more than 20 HE tech leaders and ranges from having a meaningful seat at the decision making table to creating a frictionless student experience.

3 ways to use Mozilla Hubs, a VR platform that’s accessible and private by design from Dist://ed

And after all that seriousness, something fun to play with over the break. Mozilla Hubs lets you build and share 3D virtual spaces in a web browser and/or VR headset. It’s open source and this post showcases some wonderful examples of use in education, from building art galleries to exploring the human heart.

I hope you have a safe and relaxing break and I look forward to sharing more things in the New Year.

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Uncategorized

Clicks on the ASCILITE papers from the CMM column

This is just a quick supplementary post to the last “must reads” ones. Stephen Matchett, the publisher of the CMM newsletter is kind enough to provide me with data on click-throughs from the email each week.

As of Saturday 10th Dec, this is how many people had followed the links to ASCILITE papers that I included in last week’s column. There was no information other than the title, so this represents a combination of interest in the subject matter and the power of a catchy title. (There is a small tail-off as people progress down the list but the second most read paper is right near the bottom)

TitleAuthorClicks
Scale-up of the Artisans: Creating practices, systems & tools for a team of learning designers  Tim Klapdor87
Developing a micro-credential for Learning Designers: A Delphi Study  Kathryn MacCallum Cheryl Brown124
Online Assessment in Australian University Business Schools: A Snapshot of Usage and Challenges Andrew Cram et al85
Quasi-synchronous discussions: A proposal to measure the effect of Teams on cooperation, belonging, emotion and interactionsAdrian Norman et al61
How can EdTech support graduate employability?Kirsty Kitto71
Defining a next-generation ecosystem for online learning: from changing the platform to shifting the paradigm Sarah Thorneycroft61
Challenges in deploying educational technologies for tertiary education in the carceral setting: Reconnecting or connecting? Helen Farley34
Technology’s Role in Inclusive Work-Integrated Learning for Students with a DisabilityMollie Dollinger et al58
The impact of an anatomy and physiology open textbook on student satisfaction and engagement in a regional Australian universityAnna Chruscik et al74
‘Made good connections’: Amplifying teacher presence and belonging at scale through learning design and personalised feedback Lisa-Angelique Lim et al79
Learning from ‘failures’ in the development of mobile and technology-enhanced learning initiativesElisa Bone29
Bridging education to employment through virtual experience placement Sabina Cerimagic et al45
Diverse definitions of engagement: Personalised learning analytics to support staff and studentsAlix Thoeming et al65
Educational Designer social influence: changing teaching and learning practiceIngrid D’Souza et al65
Developing feedback literacy capabilities through an AI automated feedback toolLaura Tubino, Chie Adachi69
‘As long as you use the template’: fostering creativity in a pedagogic model Barbara McFarlan, Jo Hook105
Re/Connecting university teachers with digital teaching tools for “jobs to be done”Meg Colasante et al65
Calendar Connections Wendy Taleo53
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Accessibility AI ASCILITE CMM competences conference digital literacy Digital transformation (Dx) ed tech ed tech implementation edtech education design Education Support People Education Technologist employability engagement higher education Instructional Designer learning designer mobile learning online learning pedagogy students usability UX

Ed tech must reads: column #63

First published in Campus Morning Mail 6th Dec 2022

Good morning colleagues, this is a special edition of the ed tech reads column, coming to you “live” from the ASCILITE 2022 conference in beautiful Sydney. There is an absolute wealth of ed & tech goodness in the papers and they are already available online. This is a very quick list of the ones that have caught my eye. 

Scale-up of the Artisans: Creating practices, systems & tools for a team of learning designers  Tim Klapdor – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Developing a micro-credential for Learning Designers: A Delphi Study Kathryn MacCallum Cheryl Brown – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Online Assessment in Australian University Business Schools: A Snapshot of Usage and Challenges Andrew Cram et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Quasi-synchronous discussions: A proposal to measure the effect of Teams on cooperation, belonging, emotion and interactions Adrian Norman et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

How can EdTech support graduate employability? Kirsty Kitto – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Defining a next-generation ecosystem for online learning: from changing the platform to shifting the paradigm Sarah Thorneycroft – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Challenges in deploying educational technologies for tertiary education in the carceral setting: Reconnecting or connecting? Helen Farley — ASCILITE 2022 paper

Technology’s Role in Inclusive Work-Integrated Learning for Students with a Disability Mollie Dollinger et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

The impact of an anatomy and physiology open textbook on student satisfaction and engagement in a regional Australian university Anna Chruscik et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

‘Made good connections’: Amplifying teacher presence and belonging at scale through learning design and personalised feedback Lisa-Angelique Lim et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Learning from ‘failures’ in the development of mobile and technology-enhanced learning initiatives Elisa Bone – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Bridging education to employment through virtual experience placement Sabina Cerimagic Natasha Arthars et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Diverse definitions of engagement: Personalised learning analytics to support staff and students Alix Thoeming et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Educational Designer social influence: changing teaching and learning practice Ingrid D’Souza et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Developing feedback literacy capabilities through an AI automated feedback tool Laura Tubino, Chie Adachi – ASCILITE 2022 paper

‘As long as you use the template’: fostering creativity in a pedagogic model Barb McFarlan, Jo Hook – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Re/Connecting university teachers with digital teaching tools for “jobs to be done” Meg Colastante et al – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Calendar Connections Wendy Taleo – ASCILITE 2022 paper

Categories
Accessibility CMM digital literacy students usability UX

Ed tech must reads: column #62

First published in Campus Morning Mail 29th Nov 2022

What has been the biggest change or evolution of your digital learning ecosystem in the last 18 months? from Twitter

It’s an understatement to say that the teaching landscape in Higher Ed has changed in recent years and the discussion around this can often focus on the negative. This discussion, started by Neil Mosley on Twitter, turns the focus toward the positives that have emerged. These include a better focus on accessibility, engagement and building communication and collaboration through a range of tools.

UDL Masterclass – Beyond Curiosity: Developing a sustainable roadmap for UDL implementation within your organisation – Workshop Dec 12th Melbourne from ADCET

On the topic of accessibility, Universal Design for Learning (UDL – not the drink) is a framework for better design of learning experiences with a particular emphasis on breaking down inequities in learning. This upcoming workshop from the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training brings Canadian expert Frederic Fovet to our shores for what should be an enriching session. There is also a free Zoom component for the last hour (2.30pm AEDT) summarising the work of the day.

How to write an image description from UX Collective

A fundamental part of good accessibility practice online involves adding meaning text descriptions / ALT text to images. These are important in the experience of blind and visually impaired people that rely on text to speech screen reading software to navigate the web. It can be difficult to know what to focus on in this text but this valuable guide offers clear steps to take.

Digital Competence of Educators – self-assessment tool from the European Union

If you think you have room to improve in your use of technology for learning and teaching but aren’t sure what to focus your professional development efforts on, you might find this tool useful. (If you don’t think you have room to improve, you should definitely try it out). You can self-assess against 22 competencies related to Professional Engagement, Digital Resources, Teaching and Learning, Assessment, Empowering Learners and Facilitating Learners’ Digital Competence. (I could do better on sourcing digital resources)

Relational Pedagogies: Connections and Mattering in Higher Education from Karen Gravett

This book isn’t released for a few more weeks but it came up in my feed and looks like one to keep an eye on. The human side of learning and teaching practice isn’t commonly discussed in educational professional development, with educators left to simply work it out. I can see value in considering the importance of our authenticity, vulnerability and trust with students.

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Analysis Interviews PhD qualitative quantitative survey

Notes on: The coding manual for qualitative researchers – Saldaña Chapter 1

Fair warning – this is very much just a post for me and is more about how I store my notes to search later than publicly examining this highly regarded book about qual data analysis.

Open coding -> Axial coding

‘A code is a researcher generated construct that symbolises or “translates” data’ (P.4)

Can be a single word capturing the primary topic of a paragraph – e.g. security – even if that word isn’t used

When a code is taken from the transcript, it is put in quotes and is an in vivo code

Eclectic coding – open ended process

Decoding – reflecting on text to decipher the core meaning
Encoding – determining and applying an appropriate label

Patterns demonstrate habits, salience and importance in people’s daily lives (routine, ritual, rules, roles, relationships) (P.6)

Simultaneous coding – multiple codes applied to the same text, indicating that one theme is part of a larger theme

Data can not always be precisely boundaried – it is fuzzy
Characteristic patterns:
Similarity – things happen the same way
Difference – they happen in predictably different ways
Frequency – happen often or seldom
Sequence – happen in a certain order
Correspondence – happen in relation to other activities
Causation – One appears to cause another

Patterns aren’t the only show in town
Anomalies and deviations can also intrigue us
It is ok to have stray/orphan codes

My theoretical lens may shape the codes I use

Coding is a cyclical act – first cycle of coding rarely gets it right. Can be a 2nd, 3rd even 4th cycle of recoding

[I think I need to do some of my survey analysis in tandem with interview coding. I’m also curious if i have used data about blended roles in the survey – closest may be % association with a role. Quartiles/Quintiles? (or above 50%)
The whole knowledge/activity thing seems particularly relevant]

Saldana – Codes are essence capturing that you cluster together by similarity and regularity (ie a pattern) to develop categories and thus analysis of their connections.

Analysis is searching for patterns in data and ideas that explain why these patterns are there

[What can I take from interviewee’s survey responses to inform this analysis – working on the assumption that survey takers are trying less hard to write their own hero narrative]

Grounded theory approach to coding – Initial -> Focused -> Axial

Harding says some codes can be applied to multiple categories. This conflicts with domain or taxonomic coding but works with ‘fuzzy sets’ which acknowledges overlaps. (The risk in this if overused is of weakening category boundaries) P.11

[Did I ask enough/anything about edvisor’s personal strategies for making work relationships better? Bit of quals/accreditation maybe. This possibly should have been informed by the main survey]

Data – Code (+ subcode) -> Category (+ subcategory) -> Themes/Concepts -> Assertion/Theory

Theory comes from the interrelation of themes and concepts
(but it doesn’t always have to – we can also apply existing theory to the process)

Themes can be outcomes of coding but shouldn’t be the code itself. Codes should be more explicit and descriptive.

I will likely see themes as I code – just put it in Scrivener as an analytical note and move on.
(Other phenomena may also emerge, depending on the approach, like participant processes, emotions and values)

Jess has recommended ‘open coding’ as my first step – Saldana doesn’t list this specifically but I think ‘eclectic’ coding is the closest version. Also seems recommended for ECRs

Interviewer questions/prompts/comments aren’t coded
BUT
if the interactions are significant – e.g. meaning making – it may be appropriate.
[I can think of times I said something and they agreed and said it added to their thinking]

Code irrelevant sections as N/A (not applicable)

Code my own reflective notes during interviews and transcription [I probably need to find a way to make stuff from me clear]

Preparing data for coding

For manual (pen and paper) coding, format the page so there is a good wide (50%) white space on the right to add codes and notes.

Break the text into digestible stanzas

Abbreviate participant names to an initial

Put non-code bits (e.g. my questions and comments) into brackets

This can also still have value in Nvivo but I should see what the software needs.

Pre-coding

So I have done some of this in highlighting/copying key quotes while fixing the transcript.
When bringing these into Nvivo, I should codes all of these bits as QUOTE to make them easier to find.

It may also be worth me putting all of my text into italics.

The Word doc for preliminary jottings could have 3 columns:
Raw data (transcript) | Preliminary code | Final code

Keep a page with research questions, theory framework, study goals, main issues etc at hand to stay on track

Questions to consider as I review the transcripts:

  • What are people doing/trying to accomplish?
  • How exactly do they do this? What specific strategies do they use?
  • How do they talk about, characterise and understand what is going on?
  • What assumptions are they making?
  • What do I see going on here?
  • What did I learn from these notes/transcript?
  • Why did I include them?
  • How is what is going on here similar to or different from other interviews?
  • What is the broader import or significance of this incident or event? What is it a case of?
  • What strikes you?
  • What surprised me? (to track my assumptions)
  • What intrigued you? (to track my positionality)
  • What disturbed me? (to track tensions with my values)

Coding contrasting data

The codes from the 2nd transcript may make me go back and tweak those for the 1st, so code a contrasting data source (e.g. don’t do all ETs in a cluster, go AD – ET – LD etc)

Lumper VS Splitter coding – Lumper uses minimal codes for a section, catching the essence of the category. Splitter is more line by line, greater detail but this may be overwhelming.

How many final codes / categories / concepts?
Huge variance in the literature about this:
Codes – 30-40 OR 80-100 OR 50-300
Categories – 15-20 OR 25-30
Concepts/Themes – 3 or 5-7

[Do I have text questions in the survey that could or should be coded? Did I already do that informally in Survey 1? Do I need to describe that process better in my Methods section?]

Quantitizing the Qualitative

Generally reducing codes and categories to quant data isn’t needed but it can have value in corroborating quant findings from the survey (maybe from an aca/prof, role type, gender perspective?)
This is paradigmatic corroboration and can add trustworthiness. P.27
Look for quant data in the survey with statistical significance first.
Hypothesis coding is designed to test differences between 2 or more participant groups P.27

[Check what statistical tools Nvivo has – Dedoose is also suggested]

Make a codebook / code list
Separate file – may be done in Nvivo though
Code-Description-Data examples for reference
Could also include inclusion/exclusion data and atypical examples

Categories
AI CMM ePortfolio Learning design students Students as Partners video web2.0

Ed tech must reads: column #61

First published in Campus Morning Mail 22nd Nov 2022

10 Pedagogical innovations from Business School Professors around the world from Business Education Innovations

While there are often specific practices or pedagogies that are more relevant to teaching in one discipline over another, in my experience there are far more universalities relevant to all disciplines. This report outlines 10 case studies of innovation in teaching business, with what looks like a strong focus on authentic learning and simulations, and is well worth a look for any educator wondering what is going on right now.

Student partners as co-contributors in research: a collective autoethnographic account from HERD

Bubbling away under the surface of Australian Higher Ed, we have long had a movement dedicated to democratising learning by bringing students into the process in a meaningful way. This recent paper from some of the shining lights in this space discusses experiences and challenges in the next step – engaging students in collaborative research. (Maybe there are also lessons to be applied to working with Third Space education workers in similar ways)

The Power of Portfolios: Evidence-based Assessment Design for Lifelong and Life-wide Learning: Webinar from Open Learning Fri 2nd Dec 12:45 AEDT

As Higher Ed continues to emphasise the importance of authentic learning experiences and workplace skills, ePortfolios continue to offer a rich yet underused platform to support this. This workshop from Beverley Miles as part of the free OpenLearning Forums 2022 promises a dive into creating meaningful assessment with this tool.

Make-A-Video from Meta AI

It seems only natural that as the AI generated art movement has exploded, it would move into ‘video’. (By video I would say it looks much more like animated GIFs than Citizen Kane but baby steps). Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is releasing a tool to support the creation of video from text and this site showcases some examples and associated papers. Sign-up for the beta program has closed though.

How Kepler Invented Science Fiction and Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial While Revolutionizing Our Understanding of the Universe from The Marginalian

In some ways this read feels like a stretch for this column, but at its heart is the idea of using stories to teach complex new ideas in a yin yang blending of STEM and HASS. This entertaining read takes you on a wild journey across astronomy, 17th Century politics, helio-centrism and witchcraft in making a credible case that Johannes Kepler actually wrote the first science fiction book.

Are you the ultimate LMS designer? From ASCILITE TELedvisors Network

If you are going to the ASCILITE 2022 conference (or know someone going) and fancy yourself a dab hand with the LMS, you might consider this fun design challenge that is part of the Battle of the LMS event. Entries close Tuesday 29th.

Categories
academic integrity AI CMM ed tech implementation Twitter video web2.0

Ed tech must reads: column #60

First published in Campus Morning Mail 15th Nov 2022

Not drowning, waving: The role of video in a renewed digital learning world from AJET

Most discussion of video for teaching in Higher Education centres around specific applications but this insightful study from Meg Colasante (Deakin) offers a multidimensional typology which should be invaluable for anyone with an interest in the bigger picture. She examines the use of video through functional purpose, academic focus (knowledge type) and pedagogical strategy to support educators and educator advisors in taking video far beyond a passive learning experience.

The effect of prequestions on learning from video presentations from APA PsycNet

Asking students questions about concepts or information that they have not yet been exposed to (‘prequestioning’) has long been considered a useful tool for signposting and demonstrating contextual value in teaching. Carpenter and Toftness point out that some studies on the use of prequestioning with reading exercises can have mixed results but see a positive overall impact when it comes to the use of video in this interesting article from 2017.

Ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in teaching and learning for educators from Publications Office of the European Union

The seeming explosion in AI tools this year has left many of us scratching our heads at how this will reshape learning and teaching in the near future. Fortunately, the EU continues to lead the way when it comes to meaningful action on emerging technologies and has published this handy overview as part of current work towards developing a regulatory framework. The focus is more on the use of AI to enhance learning, it doesn’t really touch on the swathe of academic integrity issues presented by automated generation of text, but it is encouraging to see how these tools can be used well and justly.

“Do we have to use a wiki, Miss?” How Web 2.0 technologies can support students as inquiry learners in a secondary school from Lynette Hay (Thesis)

Evidently I am in a 2017 kind of mood this week, as this rich doctoral thesis from Lynette Hay (CSU) is also from that year. This thesis explores the factors shaping student usage of a range of collaborative Web 2.0 tools that position users more as a web creators than as passive consumers. She offers handy suggestions on how to best support learners in finding the tools that best suit their needs.

Making the Move: Shift from Twitter to the Fediverse from Around the Corner

While the shenanigans on the Twitter side of the web continue to be hilarious, for those of us that have found community there, concern continues to grow for the future. I must admit that I haven’t spent much time yet in Mastodon and it still feels not quite right but hopefully some of the tips in this migration overview will help.

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academic integrity CMM ed tech implementation feedback learning analytics nudges students

Ed tech must reads: column #59

First published in Campus Morning Mail 8th Nov 2022

Suggestions on dealing with AI-generated papers that don’t get flagged by plagiarism-checking software from Twitter

Umar Ruhi (@Informatician) raises the question that won’t go away in this Twitter discussion about how he might investigate a student submission that doesn’t feel quite right. The explosion of high quality AI text generation tools this year is having a major impact on the integrity of assessment and without a clear technological solution in sight, rethinking the design of assignments is the only logical step.

How do we do effective feedback?: A practical example from Teaching Matters blog

Feedback is routinely identified as an area for improvement in discussions of good learning and teaching practice in Higher Ed. Providing and using meaningful, actionable feedback is time-intensive and requires a certain measure of feedback literacy on the part of both educators and students. This post from Jane Hislop and (my soon-to-be colleague) Tim Fawns from Uni of Edinburgh outlines a way to build peer feedback into rich assessment activities that draws on students’ inclinations to compare their progress with their peers.

Student support spotlight cards in Education Insights from Microsoft Teams for education

Many big tech firms have been steadily establishing beachheads in the education space in recent years and Microsoft’s appears to centre around their Teams communication and collaboration platform. This post on their support site outlines their upcoming learning analytics functionality, which mostly just tracks changes in student interaction with the system and generates a report for educators to follow up on.

Lessons from Treadmills and Owls: The Most Important Feature in Educational Technology Products from Improving Learning

This short post from David Wiley explores the idea that education technologies can add all the rich data tracking and analysis tools in the world but these don’t matter that much if nobody is using them. He argues that the thing that makes the greatest difference is the behavioural nudge, outlining the way that popular language learning app Duolingo strategically reminds learners to continue to engage with the platform. (And it has worked for me, 668 days into a French learning streak).

Leadership and Management needs of Australasian Higher Education – Webinar 1/12 4pm AEDT

Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a UK based organisation behind the increasingly popular HEA fellowship accreditation scheme for Higher Ed. They also support research into the sector and this promising looking webinar at the start of December covering a July 2022 study by Dr Jo Chaffer looks worthwhile. (ACODE also has a decent set of interviews with Oz HE leaders on their site if this grabs your interest)

Categories
CMM ed tech implementation innovation students Twitter

Ed tech must reads: column #58

First published in Campus Morning Mail 1st Nov 2022

How to make students read? From The Educationalist

One of the most universal complaints that educators have about their students, regardless of the discipline, is that they ‘never do the readings’. For some, this is where the issue begins and ends. This thoughtful piece from Alexandra Mihai delves into some of the possible reasons for learners not engaging with readings and offers some useful strategies for sparking their interest. She reminds that academic reading requires learnable skills and that educators can ease this path.

Strategic directions in the what and how of learning and teaching innovation—a fifty-year synopsis from Higher Education

Either learning and teaching innovation in the last fifty years has been so minimal as to fit into a fifteen-page article (with 4 pages of refs) or Griffith’s Rob Ellis has the skills to sum up five decades of increasing complexity succinctly. Happily, it appears to be the latter. The paper focuses exclusively on the discussion within this particular journal in this time, taking us from early calls for research into HE learning and teaching to be undertaken to the inevitable discussion of the pandemic response. It offers a rich overview of HE history.

Moving to Mastodon from Steve Fenton

Now that his Muskiness has officially taken over Twitter, many of my online colleagues are looking around warily for what this might mean for our favourite online space. Having been a twit for 11 years, it would be a hard ship to abandon, so, for now, I’m just watching with interest. I know more than a few people are exploring Mastodon, the peace, love and mung beans alternative option. This article offers some useful advice for those considering the change. I also found this handy tool for re-following your Twitter friends, as long as they put their new username in their Twitter bio.

Does the Educause Exhibitor’s Floor Plan Reflect Market Trends in HigherEd IT? From listedtech

Where there are large education conferences you will inevitably find people with things to sell. The US based Educause conference easily fits into this category. This clever piece of data analysis examines the amount of floor space taken up in the vendor hall by businesses in a range of categories to map broader trends in the sector. Among these we see conferencing tools, general consultancies, customer relationship management systems and general hardware sellers in the ascendent and LMS providers taking 1/7th the space they did a decade ago.

Slowroads from anslo

This is more something for a moment of zen than anything. Slowroads is a simple driving simulator – that looks a lot like a Tesla – taking you through picturesque procedurally generated landscapes in your web browser. You can drive yourself or just set auto-pilot and zone out for a little.

Categories
Accessibility AI AR/VR/XR CMM ed tech implementation research

Ed tech must reads: column #58

First published in Campus Morning Mail 25th Oct 2022

The combination of segmentation and self-explanation to enhance video-based learning from Active Learning in Higher Education

The received wisdom when it comes to the use of video in education has long been to chunk it into bite-sized chunks to give learners breathing space between concepts. Over time I have read assertions that these chunks should be a maximum of 20/15/7/3 minutes, depending perhaps on how distracted writers feel students can be. Zheng et al. don’t go into chunk size but do make the valuable point in this pre-test/post-test based study of 121 participants that segments definitely appear to lead to better learning outcomes than continuous viewing of a long video. More importantly, they observe that building in activities between segments – even simple summarisation tasks – is more helpful than not.

Higher Education Leaders’ Perspectives of Accessible and Inclusive Online Learning from Distance Education (Pre-print)

Addressing the barriers experienced by disabled students in online learning is work that is commonly acknowledged by universities as vitally important but which sometimes lands in the too-hard basket. Gradually things have improved but there is still work to be done. This paper from Lomellini et al. discusses their interviews with nine HE online learning leaders about the current state of play and how to do things better. More agency for learning designers, better faculty development, quality standards and accessibility checkers are all identified as ways forward. Most interesting for me though was the small note that while the literature suggests pushing the learning gains in advocating for support from the executive level, they pragmatically suggest that legal obligations, recruitment, retention and satisfaction are more likely to get their attention.

Accessible IT Procurement from CAUDIT (and co.)

From an operational perspective, working smarter to ensure that institutional technologies are accessible is clearly an important step. Last week, this guide was launched, part of a collaborative project involving a number of high level sector bodies from IT, Disability and Education. It offers detailed guidelines and some useful sample clauses for tender documents for better IT procurement. Anyone with an interest in how Higher Ed IT really works would be well served by looking over this valuable guide. 

A journey through time and space – Mixed reality media in teaching (Webinar – Thursday 27/10 12 noon AEDT) from ASCILITE TELedvisors Network

One of the greatest benefits of technology for learning and teaching is the opportunity to do things that would simply not be possible in person. Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality, 3D models, video games and simulations and even simpler tools such as Light Boards extend our ability to share experiences and ideas. This webinar showcases two innovative examples of the use of these teaching tools in practice from Greg Dorrian (UNE) and Carmen Vallis (USyd)