Podcast - Tony Bates on Future of online learning and higher education - post covid-19

Listened to the podcast from Mark Nichols podcast series - Leaders and Legends in online learning with Tony Bates. Tony spoke about the future of online learning and higher education. 

Tony has summarised key points in his blog.

Covered many points relevant to NZ, especially given the formation of NZIST (the NZ Institute for Skills and Technology tasked with providing vocational education) but much of the chat grounded in the Canadian and North American higher education context.

Firstly, he emphasise that leadership is required in strategising and making decision with regards to the future of learning. How much should online learning be supported and promoted requires planned approach rather than happen due to having to respond to 'forced change'.

To deal with the rapidly evvolving needs of work, learners need to learn the transversal or 'transferable' skills  required to cope with changes wrought by technological, social and economic changes. In NZ, the emphasis on graduate profile outcomes assist with this process but still needs to be supported and promoted more deeply within the sector. Critical thinking was identified as something all employers desire of graduates. Yet, critical thinking is difficult to pin down as it is a mixture of skills, application of knowledge and specific attributes and therefore difficult to be taught and measure. Online learning has a role to play

Thirdly, there is a need for better stucture to ensure lecturers have the skills to teach (f2f and online) and keep up to date as technology and pedagogy progress. 

Then, the role of instructional designers need to be scaled up, not only having one on one relationships with lecturers/faculty but creating templates and working on courses/programmes with wider reach. Has implications for NZIST.

Warned about the need to take care in how online education is promoted as campus based/high costs programmes might become only attainable by the rich and online becomes the option for thoses unable to afford tertiary education. 

Reflections on 2008

It has been a busy year! I have learnt much via the mobile portfolios project. Working with the capabilities that ‘cloud computing’ offer has led to many ‘lightbulb’ moments as I come to understand the possibilities for using the many tools available online to enhance learning opportunities for students.

Attending & presenting at both mlearn2008 & handheld learning 2008 provided opportunities to network with many kindred spirits. It was heartening to hear encouragement from many people including Andy Black, Inge de Waard & Tony Bates on the concept of combining mobile with web 2.0 to compile eportfolios. I think that it does take people who have a good understanding of the concepts to appreciate what the CPIT mobile portfolios project is about.

Presenting workshops & papers at many conferences this year has made me realise how far our project is ahead. Especially when we speak to educators who have never looked a bebo page OR to enthusiastic tutors who cannot access web 2.0 sites from their workplace and have to read their student’s blogs at home! OR to teachers from schools where mobile phones are banned and who have never sent a text message. Yet, there is much room for optimism. Most people now have heard of youtube and a large majority have watched youtube videos. Youtube videos have replaced actual video tapes as the main way to entertain students when there is a lull in a theory session! It’s these tutors that I now nab to work with on using web 2.0 tools that require them and their students to become active participators & not just spectators. Students & tutors could make their own vodcasts or podcasts, work collaboratively on concept / mindmaps or comic strips as alternatives to blogging and make better use of the innate creativity their students have to learn together.

So I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of rest & re-creation. Just returned from an 8 day tramp around the Cobb Valley and now looking forward to celebrating Xmas with the family. Then another 3 day trip to Black Hill just before the New Year & a 5 day camping /tramping trip around the Mt. Richmond Forest park at the start of the year. After that it will be a good three to four weeks of thesis writing, working on the final draft J before the 2009 work year begins.

Tony Bates seminar on elearning in training and education

I attended & presented usual spiel on mlearning @ CPIT at another CORE organised seminar. The seminar was pitched at both tertiary & workplace learning practitioners.

The guest speaker was Tony Bates who spoke on eLearning and vocational education and training, an International Perspective. Of interest to me was the British Columbia project on using elearning to improve completion rates in trade training. The project is still in its planning stages but the concepts behind it’s development are of interest to the NZ voc. Ed. context as well. Will need to keep an eye on how the project develops.

Besides Tony, there was also a presentation from John Clayton which provided a New Zealand overview of eLearning activities in industry in NZ. John provided a very good ‘back to reality’ presentation on how workplaces were basically focused on compliance, competence which had to be demonstratable and how elearning needed to be ‘just in time, just enough and just learn’.

Short presentations were also given by:-

• Andrew Preston representing Tobi Gefken, lead developer, HitLab on their project using virtual-reality technology for the teaching and assessment of clinical skills. Andrew presented various ‘learning objects’ to help students learn pharmacology & other medical content.
• Nick Ford for Dr. Tracy Kirkbride on the CPIT / University of Canterbury VIPER project which is a tool for formative assessments or revision of student learning using mainly images. The tool has been used mainly in the context of radiography so that student radiographers are able to learn how to practice reading xrays, MRI scans etc. but has wide uses in any other field.
• Phil Garing, Synapsys on mulit-modal company induction programmes provided examples of how to use simulations & other learning activities in ‘ different contexts, with different drivers & different results’. A reflection on John’s presentation from the point of view of an elearning development company.
  

The seminar concluded with a workshop that discussed the following questions ‘what are the benefits for and barriers to embedding eLearning in industry training? National and international perspectives’ & ‘what are the benefits for and barriers to embedding eLearning in industry training? '

Good discussion followed. The seminars provided me with an opportunity to view the world of elearning from a wider ‘non-educational’ perspective.