NZ qualifications framework - NZQA second round of consultation on review

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) began a review of the NZ Qualifications Framework (NZQF) late last year. The overall objective is to update the NZQF given the challenges posed by the 'future of work'. The intention is to ensure the NZQF is 'fit for purpose', flexible and adaptive to reflect future needs of learners, employers, communities and iwi.

In the first round of consultation, the NZQA sought perspectives on four high level proposals. These were:
 1: include a wider range of education products on the NZQF
 2: more explicitly embed transferable competencies into the NZQF (e.g. critical thinking, communication, collaboration and citizenship)
 3: address some long-standing technical issues in the NZQF
 4: make the NZQF easier to use and more relevant to all stakeholders. This includes ensuring that mātauranga Māori is reflected throughout the framework and that mātauranga Māori qualifications are recognised

Results from this first round of consultation have now been collated and a second round of consultation is underway. Submissions are called and close on the 9th of September.

The further consultation are to find out views on eight proposals:

1. Including a wider range of quality assured education products onto a broader qualifications and credentials framework
2. Embedding transferable competencies into the NZQF
3. Ensuring that vocational qualifications can be listed at higher levels of the NZQF
4. Addressing the level 7 Diploma issues
5. Addressing the level 8 Bachelor Honours Degree issues
6. Supporting the development of degree apprenticeships
7. Addressing other technical issues raised in the review
8. Making the NZQF easier to use and more relevant to all stakeholders.

The consultation paper, provides rationale and commentary on each of the proposals. Following on from this second consultation, the NZQA will undertake the technical design work on the architecture of the NZQF. These will then be circulated for another round of consulation.

The longer timeline is to ensure oucomes of various other reviews are aligned. Notably the Review of Vocational Education (RoVE), the review of the school exit qualifications for the National Certificates in Educational Attainment (NCEA) and Tomorrow's school (on school governance).

Hypothes.is – annotating web pages

This tool - hypothes.is - was recommended as a possible back up for OB3 - which allows for quick upload of 'content' and seamless entry of discussion on the content.

hypothes.is ia a web annotation tool. Content is accessed via a weblink or similar and the annotations are then viewable by others.The target users are scholars and education. The site has examples and tutorials.

There is a critique at the chronicle along with a range of alternatives for web-annotation here.

Neither tool appears on Jane Hart's top 200 tools.

There are differences between the user interfaces for OB3 and web annotation. OB3 is more of a wiki type interface. Althought content can be 'protected' so that new entries are possible but no changes to existing entries. Web annotation works more like the addition of comments or notes as per Kindle or comments via Word. Both have a roled to play and the underlying pedagogical approaches may be similar. However, how each works, is different.

Going forwward, we will have to identify a list of 'tools' as our current LMS, Moodle, is starting to show its age and there seems to be limited work on the platform to update or maintain currency with the needs of our learners.

Ara Kick off day -

Ara’s ‘Kick-Off’ day brought together all the staff of the Academic, Innovation and Research (AIR) division to launch the creation of the new entity- which was formed late last year through combining all the teaching departments with the academic division.

The day begins with welcome and key messages. Formal karakia and the Ara waiata begin the proceedings with George Nelson – Deputy CE and the Ara management team leading the waiata. Hemi Hoskins, Head of Department explains the significance and meaning of the karakia.

George provides the welcome and details on the day’s activities. Plans for the event to continue into the future at the beginning of each semester. First activity based around the AIR theme from Araport with learners on a journey on the AIRplane. Vision shared on the way forward for the Ara education ecosystem. Overviewed the current and proposed the future, using airports as a metaphor. Need to move beyond what we currently offer, to be more flexible and agile – meeting needs for the working population to continually develop their skills and knowledge as the future of work evolves.  Ecosystem includes shifting to supporting enterprise / entrepreneurial opportunities, seminars and workshops from staff after professional development participation and as ‘thought leaders’. Detailed some of the current and planned activities going forward into the next few years.

Executive team updates follow through a series of ‘pods’ to be worked through. Tracey Berry our customer experiences DC provided an overview of her team’s work to support successful students. The involvement of students as co-creators of various processes and systems is the main approach. Then Tony Grey our CE provides summary of strategic direction through building and support of climate and culture, moving from good to great, forming and continuing community and belonging, increase responsiveness, innovation and sustainability. Belinda DCE for People and culture than summarises the stategy to empower our people for tomorrow’s world. Dean our Chief financial officer summarised his role in resourcing the many current and future initiatives. Te Marino Lenihan, Ara kairahi used the harakeke bush as the metaphor for the importance of supporting the improvement of success for Maori students.

Then a series of workshops 7 workshops convene. The workshops centre around AIR activities including assessment, programme evaluations, programme development, teaching and learning plans, and online teaching and learning.

I participate in the session on assessments, with Glynnis Brook, manager for portfolios and assurance and facilitated by fellow educational developer Jane Bates. The session was an opportunity to review the development of powerful and authentic assessments. Began with reiterating that assessment is for gathering information and also evaluation as the interpretation of the information gathered. A good discussion eventuated around the difference between summative and formative assessments and the need to explain the importance of formative assessments to students. Overviewed the principles of assessment and practice.

After lunch, two sessions of workshops of 45 minutes each follow.

In the first round, topics include developing cultural capability, getting started with research, AR/ VR, innovation, inquiry base teaching and the students’ portal MyAra App.

The second round of sessions include getting research published, e-assessments for learning, neuroscience of emotions, agile development of programmes, Microsoft tips.

Firstly, I joint facilitate the session on getting started with research with Dr. Isabel Jamieson from Nursing. We collect questions from the participants, sort them into ‘themes’ and workshop the answers, using the available institutional resources.

Then, facilitate the session on eassessments for learning  - as an output of the Ako Aotearoa and NZQA funded project. The session workshops using templates for designing assessments of learning and how to match the learning outcomes to the types of digital tools which are relevant to provide the most useful forms of feedback.

The event closes with a wrap up with George. Thank you to all the presenters and the planning team.

A good opportunity to network with colleagues from the different campuses and catch up progress on various projects completed over the last few years. Also important to reinforce the organisation messages and policies so that the institution is in a good position to connect with or critique the outcomes of the coming NZ Review of Vocational Education (ROVE) announcements.

ADKAR organisational change model - overview and reflection

Last week, attended a workshop on the ADKAR change model. This was created by Jeff Hiatt from Prosci.com. The site has free guides to the process and  a list of resources and articles.

ADKAR stands for the steps in change 'management' which are Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. People will not necessarily cycle through these step by step and there is often a loop around Desire, Knowledge and Ability which helps people come to grips with change and shift their Desire (motivation) towards new processes and systems.I could not actually find the difinitive study / research informing the creation of the model. However, it seems to be relatively well known in organisational management as it comes up in reviews of change model reviews - see below for some reviews.

There is also a book, written in 2006 by Hiatt with most of the first chapter available on Google Books. Also a youtube video explaining the key points.

There are actually many models about. For example K. N. Tang has published a Springer Brief comparing 4 models - ADKAR, Lewin's three stages change model, Kotter 8 step change model and Jick's 10 step change model. Lewin's, Kotter's and Jick's seem to be slightly more recent and seem to have recent studies anchoring their models.

An article by - Rosenbaum, D., More, E., & Steane, P. (2018) 31(2),Journal of Organisational Change Management, 286-303, has a literature review of 14 models!! 

Another more humanistic model is Glasser's choice theory - Here is a recent article -

“digital tools will never take the place of a good teacher”:understanding teachers’ resistance to using technology through Glasser’s Choice theory. Wilson A., Fuhrman, O. and Turner, K. in the International Journal of Learning Technology, 14(1). Glasser's theory has origins in psychology and seems to be used in the schools sector. 

ADKAR is very much an organisationally directed / focused approach, taking an 'the organisation knows best' type assumption. Tools like ADKAR provide the organisation with a shared language for managers to better understand and work on the challenges inherent in change management. The process seems 'common sense' and is relatively easy to understand. As with all management, it is how the model is applied which is important. 

I am not sure how well ADKAR fits into an educational management environment. Time will tell as to how useful and efficacioius application of ADKAR to organisational change is within the NZ ITP context. We are already experiencing a large volume of continual change and this is set to only increase as the outcomes of ROVE  (which is still being worked through) become operationalised. 

Unbundled university - webinar summary

Yesterday evening, listened to Prof. Laura Czerniewicz's presentation on unbundled learning - hosted by flexible learning NZ.

The blurb for the event indicated a micro level project on -  the intersection of increasingly disaggregated curricula and services, the affordances of digital technologies, the growing marketisation of the higher education sector itself and the deep inequalities which characterise both the sector and the contexts in which they are located.

Here are notes taken through the presentation, tidied up a little this morning:

Summarised the emergence of online provision over time especially dramatic growth of online education since the introduction of MOOCs.

Overview of the marketization of education including the competitive market as education is pushed into becoming a business rather than public service for greater good.

Universities moving into and soliciting for paid services. Students are viewed as clients and consumers. Language of business pervade institutions.

Increased income inequality means access is now difficult for many.

Unbundling the degree from all sectors occurring.

Shared landscape of course provision in the online space with traditional lectures / tutorials becoming blended / flipped and the increase in micro credentials. NZ being the only country at present to have a nationally agreed system for the accreditation of microcredentials.

Funding models have shifted towards fees for services and full service partnerships.

Online programmes require a whole new strand of support to be resourced, developed or extended and implemented.

Course design has to be more robust and course student support requires greater investment.

Provided overview ofstudy – researching emerging models of unbundling.

Unbundling relatively new and largely conceptual and theoretical with a focus on critical theory and little empirical work.

Digitisation and marketization have become more extensive in many countries.

Sample of 6 universities in South Africa and 7 in the UK plus 6 private companies (e.g. MOOC providers).

Data from publicly available information, interviews (policy makers and senior decision makers), focus groups (academics and professionals supporting online learning) and student surveys.

Findings mapped relationships across universities and private companies as to online learning networks.

Provided examples from interview data to report on themes:

Reasons for unbundling from senior decision makers included increase in access/reach and a 3^rd stream of income. Pragmatic approaches to working with private companies. Tension between core business and global competitiveness. SA more concerned about social justice than UK who supported marketization.

Private companies considered universities to be slow and inexperienced, saw themselves as pioneers and preferred universities that were entrepreneurial. Felt they understood students’ needs, profit making was couched in terms of new markets of students. Saw themselves as brokers between technology and student learning needs. Paid attention to the importance of university brand, rankings and reputation and building trust with university.

Academics were much more sceptical and concerned about their agency, top down decision making and serving the neoliberal agenda. Concerns about inequalities – digital and in general.

Alignments and tensions and issues of agency, control and negotiation were also themes coming through.

There were few incentives for exploiting the affordances of emerging models and there are continued risks in increasing digital inequalities.

Overall, provided an update on how marketisation has impacted on ways higher education responds to the outcomes of neo-liberalism, at the expense of learners - especially those who have been already marginalised.

Shifting to an Android phone

The Windows phone issued by my work, which I have been using for many years, has now been retired –RIP. A month or so ago, I resurrected my son’s old Samsung Galaxy 5 and have now sorted out some of its ins and outs. The phone is already dated as it was released five years ago. However, I am finding it adequate for the things I use a phone for. 

Porting across and updating any app with a cloud based storage option has been easy. Using my google gmail account name means all the apps in the google ecosystem, recognise who I am and there is a seamless shift across to gmail, youtube, google photos, blogger and any apps attached to this account. Ditto with facebook, whatsapp etc. Uploading postings on to facebook and inaturalist have been straightforward as well.

Galaxy store does not seem to have a good search function and I have switched to google play or use chrome browser to download other favourite apps.

One function I am learning how to use is to track my weekend tramps using the NZ topo maps app. Still experimenting and will report progress in a future blog.

Another function I will need to put some time into, is the AR/ VR via mobile phone. My work with our students still indicates a digital divide, with many of our students studying in levels 1 - 4 not having access to a laptop, PC or WiFi at home. Almost all have a phone, with many only able to afford the most basic smart phone. Therefore, there is still a need to ensure various 'blended learning' initiatives, are still mobile phone capable. 

New tech and jobs

Two articles from last week's papers.

First one on 'what to do when new tech changes the rules of your job'. Takes the 'be proactive' approach. If your job is being threatened, then you need to ensure your current work provides sufficient professional development to upskill as in the NZ context, it is the employer's responsibility to ensure employees keep you with the play and remain productive.

Second article on 'why cyborgs are coming, but they will not kill us'. For the moment, cyborgs need humans. The current crop of cyborgs are specialised in what they are able to do. Programming is required constantly to ensure these entities are able to carry out their functions. AI plays a role. However, AI which allows cyborg's to learn as they go about their work, is again limited to specialised functions. The key here is to understand present limitations and also the potentialities.

Therefore, the role of education is to prepare learners for a world of constant challenges and change. Understanding the impact of technology is an important competency.