Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Vocational and Professional Education and Training econference -

The Vocational and Professional Education and Training sector  (VPET) in Hong Kong, held an e-conference on the 15th of May

Video of the keynote and panel presentations, along with accompaning presentation slides are now availed via this link.

Of note - Olli-Pekka Heinonen's (Finnish National Agency for Education) presentation on 'Six seismic shifts in VPET'. These are:
- Shifting the education system to a Learning system
- Focus on mass education to personalised learning
- Individual professionalism towards shared and dynamic professionalism
- Instead of recruitment based HR to supporting learning organisations
- Shift from fixed mindset to growth mindset 
- Instead of providing a map, ensure the skills required to be able to use a compass

Good overview on how to meet the challenges posed by the future of work.

On a similar vein, Professor Chris Hubbard (Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University in the UK) on 'Making vocational education work in a changing world'. Stressed how work was changing faster than education change. Detailed the 4 steps to gear up education systems to cope with the rapid change in work:
- Put the individual learner at the centre
- Create multiple 'pathways' to prosperity
- Buld connections between government, employers and educational institutions
- Ensure accountability measures drive flexibilities

There were plenary/thematic sessions on:
- applied education and future skills in the digital era
- why workplace learning counts?
- Skills change lives
- AI, data analytics, cybersecurity: Are digital skills enough for workplace?

In these, a selection of presentations were made with some accompanied by presentation slides.

A reflection session closed the econference.

Good to see the layout of an e-conference. I particularly liked the reflection session at the end but may also be useful to have small reflective sessions after each keynote/thematic session. 



Friday, June 26, 2020

Tertiary teaching and mental health - Ako Aoteoroa Academy Talking Teaching webinar with Professor Marc Wilson

Attended the inaugural Ako Aotearoa Academy Taking Teaching webinar presented by the Acadmy president, Marc Wilson. The topic was  'making sure you've got your mask on before helping others': post-secondary teaching and mental health in the context of a pandemic.

About 30 participants from across the NZ tertiary education sector. Recording of the session uploaded to the Talking Teaching website in due course.

Mark covered mental health and well-being as it is a topic he has done work on. Began with rationale for the talk - with an increase in studies being undertaken on the effect of Covid-19 and associated changes to the way learning had to be shifted. Mental health of students, given faculty are not counsellors, has risen. There is a call to make online learning 'less brutal' and to provide sufficient support for students to cope with the change. 

Had participants do a quick check using the University Stress Scale (Stallman, 2008) on 'how much have the following caused you stess in the past?' 60% of students score indicates university study as being stressful. Academics teaching in university perhaps no different (UK stats in 2019 report 40% of academics there are stressed by expectations and workload, supported by Times Education 2017 survey).

Important to ensure well-being not only for students but also for tertiary educators - see TWANZ for background and Okanagan charter. 

Discussion centred around coping with continual, unremitting change and the stresses associated with challenges not only at work but, home, the ongoing pandemic, economic fall-out post 'lock-down' etc. plus the unknowns of the near future.

The progressed to strategies for teaching and learning that worked or were difficult. There was impetus to share resources and to continue the conversation. 





Tuesday, June 23, 2020

TEC webinar - Enhancing online teaching practice

'Attended' the webinar offered by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) last Friday. 

Recording of the session now available (2/7/2020) at thislink which includes video. transcript and presentation slides.

The topic was on enhacing online teaching practice. Two presenters, Dr. Mark Nichols, Executive director for Learning Design and Development at the Open Polytechnic and Ali Hughes  Learning expererience and success Manager from the Tertiary Alliance NZ (TANZ) presented for about 15 minutes each. Question and answer session followed. The session was ably facilitated by Sara Williams, Principal Advisor at the TEC and had 500 people registered.

Mark provided an overview of several online learning theories for practice including the SAMR model and TPACK. He reiterated the importance of context. What works well in one course or cohort of student, may not work with another. Also reiterated that teachers cannot always be content, pedagogical and technology experts. Hence the need to ensure there is a collaborative, co-constructed relationship between instructional/educationa designers/developers and subject experts to create the best means to engage with and support learners.

Ali Hughes' presentation charted the learner experience. What worked and did not and the importance of understanding learner needs. She detailed the TANZ process and how learners were supported through distance learning. Especially important given TANZ courses range from level 3 to 7 with many learners first in family and second chance learners, seeking to attain the first step back into tertiary learning.

Both presentations were good overviews and the Q & A session worked through various questions posted on the chat function.


Wednesday, June 17, 2020

NZIST - summary document - extension of feedback date to 15th July


Attended a zoom meeting(hui) or zui convened by the TEU on Friday (there was another zui on Monday) to gather members feedback on the proposals. The zui was facilitated by TEU National Secretary, Dr. Sandra Grey. Another zui was held on Monday as well.

The overall purpose of the zui was to gather feedback from members on the proposed direction and work streams for the NZIST. A summary of all the workstreams is found here.

Sandra provided a broad overview as several participants had not had time to read the reports yet.
Many other institutions have not been informed by their management about the reports and the opportunities for feedback. 

Discussions were made on the various issues the TEU will be submitting on. The original feedback date of 15th June was seen to be unrealistic, given that many TEU members were still working from home and communication channels in some institutions still centred around the logistical and management of covid-19 related issues. On Monday, the NZIST proposed an extension of feedback to 15th July.

Two items of interest to my work. One, a call for the formation of some form of vocational education 'pedagogical focus' unit as the scholarship of teaching and learning within VET in NZ has been patchy, fragmented and lacked strategic direction. Innovation (or even the study of present approaches) requires work to uncover the approaches working best for the NZ VET context.

Secondly, the proposal to ensure all actions are aligned with the NZIST charter. This should inform all actvity undertaken by NZIST and the present set of working documents require study to ensure there is connection between the proposed workstreams and the intend of the legislation underpinning the new institute.

All in, interesting times ahead as the various councils and academic board/committees find their feet and the new CE takes up his role in July and the HQ in Hamilton is set up






Monday, June 15, 2020

Online assessments - Matthew Hillier podcast

Another podcast from the Leaders and Legends podcast series recorded in May with Dr. Matthew Hillier on the topic of online exams and assessments.

Began with background and how he became interested in e-assessments. He has worked in several universities and started working on e-assessments with Geoffrey Crisp. 
The focus of the podcast is on online exams/assessments as summative assessments.

Provided a summary of the evolution of e-assessments from over a decade ago, moving from using USB sticks to learning managements systems, virtual environments (second life) etc. or conducting exams via distance.

Sees covid-19 as a tipping point in having to pay attention to online learning which could be disregarded in the past. Designing for good online learning does not have to have so many synchronous sessions. Exams do not have to be synchronous and expensive on-line proctoring systems are not necessarily the solution. Shifting to distance needs to be carefully considered and not rushed - as is happening now. Provided an example of University of New England's 5 year journey to implement on-line proctoring and this did set them up well for the current challenges.

Supported the 'not all have to do the same' scenario as each discipline, student cohort, accreditation requirements etc. Therefore important to understand the 'needs' and work at finding a good solution.

Covered the important underpinning systems to be taken into account which include authencity, security and scalability. Difficult to have all three in place and each requires careful consideration. Security may result in usability issues. Authenticity of assessment and learner is key. To ensure both authencity and security makes scalability difficult. Cost effectiveness is also difficult if both authencity and security are to be met. Effectiveness of these also need to be balanced with pedagogical approaches.

Therefore, need to look at assessments and how innovation can be used to shift the way assessments are carried out. Example is the use of augmented reality exam (on second life) and to collect spatial data as the evidence of learning. Authencity of the activity and the learner's reactions and interactions is possible using this form of assessment.

Ethics needs to be considered and some online proctoring platforms are being resisted due to the challenges of ensuring privacy for the learner. Exams are passe and other ways of assessing must be considered. However, accreditation agencies etc. still require exams :( so educators need to think of ways to modernise exams which still have rigour. Opportunities are still to be explored, including the use of workplace practice, oral 'exams' etc.

Overall, a good summary of the challenges, potentialities and update on online exams and eassessments.


Monday, June 08, 2020

Educational technology - textbook - free download during pandemic lockdown

The book 'Educational technology - a primer for the 21st century', published in 2019 by Springer, and authored by Ronghuai Huang, J. Michael Spector, Junfeng Yang, is available for free download during the pandemic lockdown period.

It is a handy reference guide and textbook for learning instructional designers and academic developers. The main pedagogical theories and approaches are covered with brief overviews. As the book is structured as a textbook, each chapter begins with main topics, the learning objectives and suggested learning activities. Therefore, the book can be usefully applied for self-study as well as supporting courses in instructional design, teacher education and technology-enhanced learning. The subject matter is generalised to all sectors/levels of education.

The first three chapters provide a good background introduction to the subject and covers the main pedagogical theories - behavourism, cognitism and constructivism along with a chapter on the importance of connecting learning objectives to learning activities and assessments (i.e. constructive alignment).

Part 2 with 4 chapters on -perspectives of education - is recommended reading. The perspectives are the system, educational technology, user and learning experiences. Roughly tracing the trajectory of using technology to support education.

Then Part 3 with 5 chapters, cover the 'how to' aspects of implementing and integrating technology to support teaching and learning. A chapter on learning spaces is included.

The last chapter looks into emerging issues. A bit dated already by covers the technologies of learning analytics, wearable devices etc. ethics, security and privacy and emerging issues.

Overall, the book is useful as a text book. It is not a scholarly work on educational technologies as such but more of a guide and 'how to' which is useful for practitioners interested in understanding the underlying theories to support their teaching or learning design.