Review of 2019

This has been the year of the book. The book, titled 'Identity, pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning: Supporting the processes of becoming a tradesperson' will be published by Springer early next year. Almost all of my time, not taken up with educational development duties, have been devoted to writing the book. In a way, the work has reminded me of the two to three years of concentrated effort put into completing my PhD thesis. I hindsight, a productive period of intense scholarship. Much of the writing for the book has come from the studies completed over the last decade. My main task has been to refresh the work and to collate the various studies into themes which come together into a smooth narrative. It has also been a good opportunity to re-engage with newer literature. The experience of being steeped back into scholarship has been enjoyable J

Apart from the book, the final report for the eassessmentsfor learning report now completed. Several conference presentations and papers have been completed in disseminating the findings and guidelines. The 4 months of sabbatical has also provided time to do some in-depth reading, the completion of a book chapter on ‘tacit knowledge’ and to draft several articles coming out of the e-assessment project.

The writing has been interspersed with short 3 – 5 day rest and recreation opportunities. Time out in the outdoors, biking, tramping or travelling has provided for much needed thinking time. In particular, to workout a strategy for moving on ‘post-book’ and to make some decisions about the future. Included in the decision making process will be how long I will engage with work before retiring. There are many personal reasons for retiring, not least of which has been the arrival of a grandchild. However, it has taken several decades to amass sufficient competency as a scholar and researcher. The sabbatical has provided some weeks when work and study have been put on hold, to think about life beyond work.

So, this year has provided an opportunity to take stock and to reflect on and refresh the work undertaken over the last decade. The outcomes of the NZ review of vocational education (ROVE) will colour any future prospects of VET research and funding. These will influence my short term decisions regarding research direction and work. The two weeks of leave over the Christmas and New Year will provide for another opportunity to reflect on and plan for the year ahead.

On writing and future VET research possibilties

I am about to complete almost 4 months of academic study leave. Most of this time has been devoted to getting a book completed. This period of intensive writing has been productive. I have also submitted a book chapter on tacit knowledge and drafted the structure and initial plans towards several articles. Along with the writing, has been the opportunity to catch up on reading. Some of the books read will now appear as summaries in blogs across the next few months.

I have been inspired over the years by other bloggers - one of which  - brainpickings.org - has been motivating and stimulating. She encourages reflection on the process of blogging and uses the process to work through how to blog and to use the process of writing as a springboard for collating and ruminating on thoughts and initiatives.

My challenge going forward for next year, is to try to maintain mometum with scholarship. How to fit into a busy work programme, the time to read, reflect, think and write. At the moment, there are no official 'research projects' in the pipeline. Although I have several ideas, it will be best to await the outcomes of the current reforms on vocational education (ROVE) in NZ to better gauge possibilities and potentials. I have learnt it is best to 'go with the flow' in times of change and some of the outcome of  ROVE, will create opportunities for better collaborative VET research efforts. However, there is need to allow for the initial settling in period as the new 'mega polytechnic' entity, finds its feet.

I will put aside at least 1/2 a day a week towards 'writing'. In part, to keep up the number of 'outputs' expected to maintain research capability and to ensure currency with the contemporary VET literature. The other objective will be to keep a close eye on the outcomes of ROVE and network sufficiently to be able to put forward the right kind of research proposal, the the appropriate funding body, when the time is ripe. Noting that the 'new entity' is focused on VET and that it will be an opportunity to ensure appropriate and useful 'research' is undertaken to inform and challenge VET teaching and learning.

PISA 2019 results - some reflections

The latest Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) results are out. Carried out every 3 years since 2000, the number of countries participating has increased at each iteration. The assessment was carried out with 15 year olds in 2018 for 3 subjects - reading, maths and science and included survey of student attitudes to study and their school experiences.

Various countries reported on their country's results, most defending their results and offering critique of the type of assessment process being used to quantify school students' learning.
China, pipped Singapore  for top spot. NZ schooling has always fared quite well  but there was a drop in the ratings across all three subjects, similar to the results from other similar countries - Australia, Uk (slight rise) and the U S of A.

Mass hand wringing from parents and 'teacher blaming' ensue as a result of the PISA results, leading to some governments working towards supporting policies to improve results. In NZ, the top students perform at as high a level as in other countries, but the difference between the strugglers and the top strata, is wide. Closing this gap across the almost 20 years PISA has been running has been a challenge as social equity has declined across many countries across the same timeframe.

PISA results also do not account for the wider emphasis in many countries on wider competencies and skills required to be learnt. There is a place of 'drill and repeat' processes in the learning of fundamental skills but PISA does also test beyond these with questions that challenge students beyond 'set answers'.

However, the future of work does not depend on school leavers being able to be exam savvy or able to perform well in a test environment. Future workers need the skills to be resilient, flexible and able to continually learn, un-learn, re-learn and innovate. Having good reading and maths skills provide a good foundation. Reading, especially the ability to quickly understand, interpret, evaluate and operationalise (if that is the case) processes, concepts and complex information is a key to future success. So, as always, PISA ratings need to be taken circumspectly and are not always good predictors of future learners' success. 

Design of Technology-enhanced Learning - Integrating research and practice - book overview

Bower, M. (2017) published by Emerald Publishing Company.

After the preface (rationalisation for the book and summaries of chapters), acknowledgements and foreword (by J. Hedberg), there are 12 chapters.

1)     Technology integration as an educational imperative

Begins with setting up the broader context for the need to design learning with supporting TEL. Introduces, rationalises and details the role of ‘design thinking’ and the field of learning design and argues that teaching is a design science (as per Laurillard’s work). The work of Laurillard, Siemens and Conole are compared, discussed and critiqued. The six approaches of learning design are introduced – technical standards, pattern descriptions, visualisations, visualisation tools, pedagogical planners and learning activity management system.

2)      The Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and its implications

Here the TPACK framework is introduced and critiqued. Provides examples of TPACK in practice and recommendations on how teachers are able to develop the capacities for applying TPACK. There is a comprehensive literature review of TPACK as well.

3)      Pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning

Provides an overview of the relevant pedagogies. The pedagogies include the usual – behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, socio-constructivism and connectivism. Pedagogical approaches are also overviewed, including collaborative learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, constructionist learning, design-based learning and games-based learning. Each is described with examples and brief critiques. The role of the teacher in applying the relevant pedagogical approaches is summarised.

4)      Technology affordances and multimedia learning effects

In this chapter, the two frameworks applied to the use of TEL – affordances and the learning effects from multimedia are introduced, detailed and discussed. The focus with ‘affordances’ is to understand the potentialities of the multimedia with relevance to the learning objectives to be achieved and matching both to maximise learning. With learning effects, the different ways for using text, images, audio, video etc. and their impact on understanding and learning are introduced and discussed.

5)      Representing and sharing content using technology

Applies the taxonomy of learning, teaching and assessing (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) towards how technology may be used to represent and share content. The representational requirements of core subject areas – English, maths, science, history, geography, IT) are presented.

6)      Design thinking and learning design

Introduces and substantiates the principles of design thinking, design science and learning design as ways forward to integrate TEL into teaching and learning. The educational design models of Laurillard, Siemens and Conole are revisited.

7)      Design of Web 2.0 enhanced learning

Reviews the work on Web 2.0 and its impact on teaching and learning. Defines, Web 2.0, defines opportunities and presents a typology to assist with matching the benefits to learning outcomes. The advantages and challenges are also presented. Two case studies are provided to underpin the typology.

8)      Designing for learning using social networking

A review of social networking in education from a design perspective us provided. The various benefits, issues and implications for using social networking are presented through the chapter.

9)      Designing for mobile learning

Mobile learning is rationalised as one forward to engage learners. Examples in school and higher education are provided. Benefits are summarised along with issues. Recommendations are synthesized towards the development of mobile learning. Examples from school and higher education are provided and recommendations for learning design, implementation are provided.

10)   Designing for learning using virtual worlds

Virtual worlds are defined and contrasted. These virtual worlds include Second Life, Active Worlds, Open Sim and Minecraft. The benefits are distilled from the literature along with other forms of virtual worlds including 3D simulations, role-plays, construction tasks and immersive learning. Examples from school and higher education are provided and recommendations for learning design, implementation are provided.

11)   Abstracting technology-enhanced learning design principles

From applying learning design to the design of learning through Web 2.0, social networking and virtual worlds, design principles are synthesised.

12)   Technology-enhanced learning – conclusions and future directions

Brings the various discussions through the book together through presenting some future scenarios for TEL.

The book fills a gap and brings in academic research across the last two decades, to inform the deployment of TEL into teaching and learning practice. Research and teaching and learning inform each other and one should not take place in isolation from the other.

The book is well-structured and readable with pragmatic application of research towards the integration of TEL for the improvement / enhancement of teaching and learning.