Pukenga Aotearoa - up for discussion, the proposed name for the joint NZ polytechnics from April

Via the Tertiary Education Union's  this afternoon, is the link to the NZ Institute of Skills and Technology's  (NZIST)establishment home page update. An embedded 4 minute video with the proposed name of the new entity as - Pūkenga Aotearoa. The many meanings of pūkenga include skill, skilful, versatile, intellectual and technique.

The video also lists many other alternative names both in Maori and in English, but Pūkenga Aotearoa is the preferred choice from the establishment board. There will be consultation from mid-February across the sector and with the many stakeholders involved, to come to consensus.

Techological change and the future of work - NZ Productivity Comission draft reports

The NZ Productivity Commission has released 4 draft reports on Technological change and the future of work.

The reports are informed by two pieces of work carried out by the NZ Council of Educational Research (NZCER). The reports are titled - Subject choice for the future of work - insights from the research literature carried out by Rosemary Hipkins and Karen Vaughan and an accompying report featuring data from focus groups by Jan Eyre and Rosemary Hipkins.  The findings from the report are not unexpected. At the moment, there is still a wide gap between formalised education and the needs of industry. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds struggle with the culture and practices of school. Schools lack flexibility in offering a range of pathways to learners. Parents are not always well informed about pathways and the future of work. Thus, rather a lot has to be done to the structure of school and to 'careers education' across NZ society.

The four reports were released at the end of last year, with submissions required through the beginning of this year. As always, a short timeline challenged with the Xmas/New Year summer break in NZ.

The four draft reports are:

- NZ, technology and productivity - technological change and the future of work.
- Employment, labour markets and income - reports informing this include 'measuring the gig economy', occupational drift in NZ, the impacts of job displacement on workers by educational level, and unemployment insurance - what cant it offer NZ
- Training NZ's workforce 
- Educating NZ's future workforce

All interesting reading. Will keep track of final reports as these influence NZ political decisions down the track.

Technology enhanced learning - into another decade

Put some time into catching up with various 'readings' on how technology is moving along and how this will impact education.

Edsurge provides a series of short articles reviewing the past 10 years of technology introduction and use within the education sectors - with a US of A K-12 slant. The overall premise is that is is NOT about the technology but about teachers and human connection. Therefore, technology is the tool, not the destination.

The World Economic Forum provides an overview of the effects of 5G on the world. There has been mixed views on 5G ranging from warnings that the pervasive effects of 5G will lead to poorer health outcomes for people exposed to 5G continually and the 'big brother' possibilities afforded to governments for observation and control of citizens TO the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT). As usual, there will be a 'balancing out' and some of the hyped up possibilities may never eventuate. For education, 5G brings many possibilities and promises but as with the Edsurge article, it is the human factor which will and should prevail. 

311 Institute provides an overview of smartphones and the future developments over the next 50 years!! 120 pages with some good discussion albeit mainly supporting forward momentum rather than critical take on what may actually occur. The usual promises of 3D printing, AI, blockchain, quantum computing, robotics, synthetic biology and VR are rolled out as drivers informing where smart phones possibilities will go. 3 horizons are proposed for the next 10 years. Then the following decade and a more 'future gazing' 2040-2070 horizon.

Possiblities for 3D printers are summarised in this video including the 'printing' of houses, boats and complex / intricate components. However, plastic is still the key material and environmental concerns around the use of plastics need to be thought through.

As it is, education is still, as always, ,many steps behind the introduction of technology into supporting learning and teaching. Articles in this blog provide a summary of possibilities but also the important need to remember that human learning is founded on sound relationships. Technology may assist the building of relationships and access but is still someway from providing 'authentic' learning environments, especially with regards to vocational education contexts.

Using inaturalist - citizen science and vocational education

As blogged earlier in 2018, I have been using inaturalist(previously naturewatch) to archive photos of plants found on walks in the NZ outdoors. Photos are taken on my phone (currently a Samsung Galaxy s5) which automatically transfer to my Google photos. I sort these when I have wifi access and shift the best shots / notable plants into my flora and fauna album.

I then work through the photos, providing an indicative identification. The date and location is captured on the phone although I input locations manually when the phone is used off line.

When I get home, I transfer the photos along with my ‘best guess’ identification on to inaturalist. The site has a ‘suggestion’ feature which is about 50% accurate. Given photos of plants are often ‘busy’ with lots of other plants lurking in the background and being photo bombed by strands of tussock /ferns or lichen, the AI on inaturalist is actually quite good at honing in on the target plant.

The version of inaturalist on my ipad has a google lens feature which does a similar thing but is perhaps not as focused as google lens is not specialised on plants only.

A check on location is also important as many plants have regional specialisation.

Once the post is up, there will usually be affirmation or suggestions within the hour. The main identifiers on inaturalist NZ are more often then not, professional botanist. Some plants, exampled by orchids, are shifted automatically into the NZ native orchid site. No doubt, many botanist use the site to build distribution maps of the species they are studying / interested in. An example of citizen scientists' contributions is provided in this article and a NZ example from NZ Geographic. Therefore, for novices / amateurs like myself, there is ready access to expertise which is timely and collegial. I have learnt much about the nuances of plant identification, along with the challenges of identifying plants which are comparable.

Field trips, bio blitzes, nature 'weeks' etc. are all hosted on inaturalist, providing a means to archive a portfolio of learner generated data for later reflection and reference. Therefore, inaturalist provides a good exemplar for similar endeavours in other fields. Vocational education project-based learning approaches will be well supported if there is availability of related platforms. 

Plans for 2020 - a new decade to look forward to

Its back to ‘normal’ after 4 months on study leave and the annual Xmas / New Year break. 

2020 promises to be an interesting year, with all of the NZ ITPs being brought together into one entity from the 1stof April. Details of the general workings of the new institute are still hazy but one certainty is that there will be changes, all with major and minor consequences on my work into the foreseeable future.

For the moment, I will pick up ‘new’ projects as they begin to accumulate on our work register. The projects I handed across to my colleagues when I embarked on study leave last year, are now either complete or progressing well. Therefore, best to make a fresh start with programme development and other support projects.

I have submitted an abstract for the annual AVETRA conference,to be held in Melbourne at the end of April. No other conferences planned for the moment accept for the end of year Talking Teaching conference convened by the Ako Aotearoa Academy.

There are now articles to be honed for submission to various journals and networking across the ITP sector to gauge the likelihood for joint research projects in the VET space. The plan will be to scope up a worthy approach and direction for submission in the 2021 year. By then, some of the details with regards to my educational development work and possibilities for VET research will be better known.