On writing - reflections

I have made good progress across almost two months of writing, sprinkled with a little bit of reading.

This week, I will be doing the final sweep and proof reading of the book I have been working on since late last year. It has been an interesting and mostly fulfilling journey. The work that went into the book was mostly squeezed in between all the usual activities and challenges of a busy work schedule. However, pecking away at the writing meant I could consolidate my thoughts as the writing progressed. Some ideas had to be tossed out and other more relevant options brought in to help substantiate and support the narrative and argue through the book.

The last couple of months have been devoted to the polishing of the many chapters. My grateful thanks to Professor Stephen Billett for the time he put into supporting my endeavours last month. It was good to have him critique each chapter and for me to tighten the many themes woven through the book and to ensure each theme was well supported and argued through.

The next two months will be targeted at aupporting and working with several other tutors towards publication of their work on the eassessment project. I also hope to get a few journal articles started off as next year is already shaping up to be rather busy!!

The priviledge to be able to write for several months has really been useful. Being able to concentrate on  wrestling with the tasks of writing and its accompanying 're-writing' process has been productive. I have been able to put more time into reviewing the progressive work in greater depth and to make adjustments / improvements as they fit in. In the past, through a lack of time, I have had to usually 'park' this aspect. Often, the 'additional' items can be reworked into other articles etc. but not always.

So on with the next stage of the study leave :) I hope to fit in some R & R as well - biking and tramping - as these opportunities refresh the brain and provide the opportunity for mulling through thoughts and ideas that percolate through the process of physical activity.

Exploring Virtual expeditions

The introduction of VR into classrooms is now possible through the lowering of the cost of hardware and a building range of open resources to support VR field trips / virtual expeditions. Here in NZ, we are not short on natural landscapes but visits to culltural and historical sites are more challenging. Therefore, there is a need, in some discipline areas, to explore the possibilities of applying VR to enabling access to physical resources which are more engaging when learners are able to 'be there'.

Here are some resources to inform the processes of introducing and supporting virtual expeditions.

For a start, teachhub provides a good overview of virtual field trips possible with the use of Google. There is a link to a spreadsheet of shared virtual trips, mostly geographical but several historical as well.

Hardware for VR is summarised by techradar, although a bit dated from 2016. There is also a good list of alternatives to Google cardboard from vrlife.

Pros and Cons are discussed by pcarstensen.

Reform of Vocational Education - NZ - amendment bill

As part of the NZ reform of vocational education, the wheels have begun to move with the first official step - the passing of the Education (Vocational education and training reform) Amendment bill. This bill sets up the regulatory framework for the future structure and governance of the sector and is going through its first reading. When all sorted, the structures commence 1st April 2020 and the bill sets out transitional arrangements to shift the entire sector.

The bill will establish:
- the new framework
- workforce development councils (to replace some of the standards setting function of current Industry training organisations
- the one entity NZ Institute of Skills and Technology (combining the 16 current institutes of technologies and polytechnics)
- the transitioanal arrangements for a smooth transfer.

Submissions are being gathered through parliament and there will be some 'tweaks' before the final passing of the amendment bill.

Research week - Ara Institute of Canterbury - DAY 2

Sessions on day 2 held at Manawa, the Ara Institute of Canterbury campus for health focused studies. Manawa is situated about 10 minutes walk from the city campus, and is situated next to Christchurch Hospital. It was opened just over a year ago and features state of the art teaching spaces, including specialised facilities for running learning through simulations and VR. Programmes located at Manawa include nursing, midwifery and medical imaging.

Kelly Kara – (3 min thesis) Water immersion with complex pregnancy and birth. Kelly presents on work undertaken towards a Master in Midwifery, through Otago Polytechnic. Overview of research question and the supporting rationale, including little research in the area. Qualitative inquiry with descriptive interpretive approaches. Water births seen to be less stressful on mother and baby. People who select this usually have strong views around their choice. Endeavours understand choice and relationship to actual experiences.

 Kylie Short – (3 min thesis) Do patients understand? A review of health education provided to adult patients following a cardiac event or new cardiac diagnosis before discharge home. Overview of PhD study. Overviewed rational and research question. Seeks to correlate individuals’ and health professionals’ perspectives of the information and whether these are congruent. Convergent mixed method design used to analyse the data.

Kate Norris – registered nurse prescribing, examined through the lens of Bourdieu. Another PhD study in progress, a professional doctorate through Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Summarised background, rationale and methodology. Registered nurses may now have a prescribing role but there is not much literature. Selected Bourdieu’s theory of practice as framework – habitus / capital and field = practice. Using semi-structured interviews and observation of team meetings.

Dr. Rae Daellenbach, Mary Kensington & Dr. Lorna Davis – sustainable rural midwifery in NZ / Aotearoa. Presenting on collaborative work with AUT and the University of The West of Scotland. Explores realities of midwifery provision for rural communities. To apply knowledge gained to inform the optimisation of equitable and sustainable rural maternity care. Outline methodology. Reported on themes including joys and challenges; courage and fortitude; and securing the future of rural midwifery. Summarised recommendations include preparation of all midwifes for rural practice to increase empathy; and learning the unique skill sets required for rural midwifery.

Research week - Ara Institute of Canterbury - 2019 DAY 1

The annual Ara Institute of Canterbury has rolled around for another year. Programme offers short snapshots of work undertaken by colleagues through short 6 minute overviews. There are about 5 – 6 presentations each day. 

Day one presentations summarised below:

Dr. Allen Hill – The role of education outside the classroom (EOTC) in environment and sustainability education. This is a Ministry of Education funded project. EOTC encompasses any learning outside of school ground and related to all subjects across the NZ school curriculum. Multi-phase project began with 500 schools out of 2500 responding to National survey. Then focus groups with teacher professional groups. Then school specific case studies and focus group interviews with teachers and students. Provided overview of findings. Survey identified key themes from perspective of schools. Majority (96%) indicated EOTC as being extremely important to their school. Student engagement, authentic learning, curriculum enrichment and capability were the most important factors.

Dr. Tony McCaffrey – Resistance and care: the shifting but necessary place of disability performance in the city as site of disaster and recovery. Used contemporary challenges faced by Christchurch residents, earthquakes, shootings, climate change etc. as base and rationale for the need to support the artistic and performing opportunities, across all sectors of society. Hospitality and inclusion are hallmarks of an excepting community. Work with ‘different light’ the actors with intellectual challenges used as a way to bring the themes together.

Lynette Winter – Tutors’ characteristics of embedded numeracy teaching as practice at an ITP. A brief overview of her M Ed thesis. Briefly summarised embedded numeracy premise as practiced in Aotearoa/NZ – i.e. subject teachers will embed numeracy. However, works better is vocational tutor and specialist maths teacher work together. Sought to find out how embedded practice was actually enacted through interviews with 6 tutors, each teaching in a different programme. Used the know the learner, demands and what to do as framework. Collectively, tutors good at know the learner and what to do in their context. However, depth was perhaps not achieved, especially with programmes that do not have natural opportunities for numeracy practice.

Dr. Selena Chan – I guidelines for developing e-assessments for learning. Summarised e-assessments, the pedagogical concepts underpinning the project, the research process and the guidelines. Report now avaiable at the Ako Aotearoa site.

Dr. James Murray – death and digital assets. Collaborative project with Deakin University to explore what happens to digital assets when death occurs! Defined digital assets and challenges. Currently, unless individual has registered company, videos made by individual are difficult to be accessed by dependants. Current law not keeping up. Lawyers also not up to date, as survey of law websites, indicates poor and contradicting advice. Account access varies with different platforms, apps and social networks.

Armit Sarkar – Information systems resilience in time of crisis: lessons from NZ. Collaborative research with Ara, University of Canterbury and Jade (software development company). Provided overview of difficulties in defining resilience and the need to create framework relevant to the IT industry. Current theories checked to see how these fit with the actual need for resilience, i.e. through experiences through the Christchurch earthquakes. Software for gauging IT resilience also part of the potential from the study. Summarised briefly the Q method quantitative method used to analyse the data.

As always, an ecletic selection and always interesting to find out what researchers at Ara Institute of Canterbury are involved with.

Review of Vocational Education (RoVE) - Minister's address and op ed from ed central

Discussions continue following the Minister of Education's announcements last week as to the outcomes of RoVE.

Yesterday, the Minister, Chris Hipkins, gave a short keynote which was broadcasted live via the Tertiary Education Union's facebook site. He was at a 'voices of the sector 19' hui (meeting). The presentation was short and time was set aside for questions, with answers providing more detail. The advantages of RoVE were reiterated, especially the return of students and educators to have representatives on the 'one entity' council; guarantees of provision in the regions; and the longer transition period to ensure the shift of workplace learning support from the ITOs to the 'one entity' does not disadvantage current apprentices / trainees, their employers and industries.

This morning, I caught up with two op eds written by Roger Smyth and published on the Education Central site.

The first,  summarises the outcomes as announced and overviews the ways work-based education are supported in NZ presently and what will happen next. There is discussion on Workforce Development Councils and weights up the pros and cons of returning the support of work-based training back into the polytechic system.

The second, details the significant challenges and risks in bringing all the polytechnics into one large entity. There will be economies of scale but this will come with a great deal of complexity. Both Southern Institute of Technology and Otago Polytechnic are mentioned as examples of viable polytechics who have been innovative. However, they have developed work cultures and systems to support their diverse portfolio. How to balance diversity and niche provisions for VET with a system seeking to consolidate into common systems will be a major challenge.

Plans for sabbatical / academic study leave

Things are coming together with plans for my sabbatical which began last week and runs to the end of the year. The main objective will be to complete work towards completion of a book with the interim title of: Processes, pedagogy and technology-enhanced: Learning and teaching a trade. The book will be published by Springer.

Another goal is to assist several co-researchers from the eassessment project to publish the findings from their sub-projects.

Additionally, I have a book chapter on ‘tacit knowledge’ with an apprenticeship learning context, sue end of September.

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If time allows, it will be good to start up a few articles to be completed into 2020 and beyond.

I will be presenting at the upcoming NZVET research forum in mid-October in Wellington. Also the yearly Ako Aotearoa academy conference, at the end of November.

Apart from the above, there will be travel to Queensland in at the end of August to briefly escape the Christchurch winter for a couple of weeks and to catch up with Professor Stephen Billet at Griffith. We will work through the final draft of the book and I will then return to do the final polishing before submitting the book at the end of September.

All in, if last week has been something to go by - the opportunity to concentrate on writing  will be productive. I can maintain focus on the main objective - completing the writing for the book, have some time to catch up on reading the backlog of relevant, accumulated articles and some clear thinking time to plot proposed articles. 

Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) - initial reactions and updates

 A flurry of news items from the various stakeholders on Thursday's announcement on RoVE. Overview at the official NZ government site.

Announced on Friday 2/8 the members of the establishment board for the new entity – provisionally named – NZ Technology and skills Institute. The board will be based in Christchurch. The board is made up of a range of industry, ITP / ITO board members and tertiary union representative.

The Tertiary Education union is positive, especially with one of the establishment board members being ex-TEU President, Dr. Sandra Grey. The focus is on maintaining staff and student consultation to the establishment of and transition into the new entity.

Students union back up the above. In all, signalling a shift away from the market driven neo-liberal policies and into a more consultative approach.

There is a more guarded response from main union representing Service andFood workers, flight attendants and related services and the engineering, printing and manufacturing industries. Tone still supportive.

ITPs responses have been positive with provisos. For example from Ara Institute of Canterbury CE - positive with proviso on the importance of how and who is appointed to the establishment board for the ‘one entity’ ITP and clarification on funding. Eastern Institute of Technology reflect similar views.

ITOs are more mellow as their organisations are the most affected by the reforms. Competenz provides overviews for their stakeholders and a statement from their CE - expressing disappointment but assuring their employers and apprentices / trainees of a planned transition.

Employers’ and manufacturers’ association supports with the need to ensure confidence is maintained in the capabilities of ITPs and the proposed Workforce Development Councils (WDC) – replacing ITOs – to deliver on promises for consultative partnerships.

So overall, no surprises. As always, the devil will be in the detail and how the transition pans out. On the ground, we will expect changes, not all positive but most will hopefully contribute to a more effective VET system for New Zealanders.

Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) - announcement from Minister

The Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, announced the outcome of the RoVE at lunchtime today.

Summary provided by Stuff and on NZherald

Detailed documents and summary brochures on the RoVE website.

Main items in the proposal seem to have remained. There will be ONE entity to replace the 16 ITPs - interim name - NZ Institute of Skills and Technology. The new board will decide on the name as a first priority. Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) will be replaced by Workforce development Councils. 

Transition period will be several years. The one entity will come into existence in April next year. Current provisions will as per usual for the beginning of 2020 and then shift as the new entity is established and beds down.

Work force development councils (4 – 7) will be set up by 2022 and these will work with industry, iwi and providers and become replacements for the current ITOs.

The details are still to be worked out but at least we now know the direction of NZ VET for the near future.

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.

A cultural economic analysis of craft - book overview

This book came through via my Google Scholar alerts. Some of the discussions and material in the book, are relevant to my work on craftsmanship.

The book is edited by A. Mignosa and P. Kotipalli and published recently (2019) by Springer.

Cultural economics studies the contribution of craft to the economy, as well as society at large. Craft work is especially important to the non-industralised sectors of country economies. Craft work often being used by agricultural workers, to augment their income and also to support the longeavity of various cultural, religious and social practices.

The Westernised approach to craft has viewed craft as being inferior to the arts. Whereas in may Eastern countries, craftsmanship is still respected and often treasured as representations of cultural practices.

There are 21 chapters in the book divided into 4 sections.

The introduction by the editors, sets the context. The book sets out to provide examples of the role of cultural economics on understanding and analysing the craft sector. The traditional approaches are discussed, policies to avoid short term effects on craft culture are proposed to help ensure crafts culture is sustainable into the future.

Part 1 – Definitional issues

Defining craft : Hermeuneutics and economy by R. L Brulotte and M. J. R. Montoya. Takes on a qualitative definition. Acknowledging the socio-political-historical origins of viewing craft as an economic problem. Emphases the ‘meaning-making relations between human production, art, and concepts of skill and mastery’. Evaluates the ways craft are defined by various institutions.

Then I. Vencatachellum with ‘UNESCO approach to crafts’. UNESCO was the first UN agency to recognise the socio-cultural and economic role of crafts as the world moved into globalisation. UNESCO views crafts as cultural heritage with the creative industries connected to artisans.

P. Kotipally writes on ‘making sense of craft using cultural economics’ brings the book back to the ‘cultural economics’ aspect. 

Part 2 – policies for craft

The chapter on ‘policies for crafts: rationale and tools’ by A. Mignosa is followed by chapters discussing country contexts.  These are ‘crafts in China’ by L. Jiang;  F. Cominelli with ‘arts and crafts policies: heritage vs economics in France’; T. Fjeldsted with ‘ Handwerk: crafts and trades in Germany’; R. Sethi provides ‘the building of craft policy in India’; followed by K. Goto on ‘craft policies in Japan’; ‘crafts in the Netherlands: from an economic to a value-based perspective’ by M. Hofland-Mol and M. Poortvliet; J. Bennett on ‘craft policies in the UK’ and the last chapter in this section with M. J. R. Montoya on ‘craft: economic policies in the United States 1896-2006.

The next section is on ‘economic issues’ with 4 chapters.

S. Ellis and J. Lo on ‘an economic assessment of Asian crafts’. Then, J. Ballyn with ‘a cultural economic analysis of craft: A view from the workshop of the world’. A.  Chatterjee writes on ‘the invisible giant: economics of artisanal activity in India’. Lastly, S. Ellis with ‘measuring the economics of traditional craft production’

The last section is on ‘future development’, also with 4 chapters.

These are ‘The importance of craft culture’ by A. Klamer;  L. Guiliano with ‘design and craft: the practitioners’ view’; ‘Material is the mother of innovation’ with M. H. G. Kuipers and the last chapter by J. Frater on ‘education for artisans: beginning a sustainable future for craft traditions’.

Overall, the chapters provide another perspective on the importance of craftwork. In particular, the economic contributions accrued from participation in craftwork across different societies. The discussions on the importance of craftwork and their contributions, provide good rationale for the support for understanding how craft skills and learnt and taught.

Work-based learning as a pathway to competence-based education - overview of 'report'

Read this over the weekend. A 'report' / book compiled by UNEVOC on Workbased learning and competency based education.

The report is edited by A. Bahl and A. Dietzen and published earlier this year.

There are 18 chapters collated into 5 parts. Also included are a foreword, introduction and a closing chapter on 'prospects'. Chapters are written by international VET scholars, each of whom brings their national context into the milieu.

Brief summaries of chapters follow:

Part 1 – Setting the frame for a global perspective on learning

Begins with S. Billett’s overview of his work – ‘securing occupational capacities through workplace experiences: premises, conceptions and practices’. The chapter is a good summary of Billett’s work. The central concepts underpinning his work are summarised. In particular, his work on workplace constituted curriculum, the pedagogy of workbased learning and the types of knowledge learnt at work are presented.

Continues with M. Mulder on ‘the global need for competence: competence-based VET and implication for policy and practice’. This chapter summarises the precepts of competency-based VET. The historical origins, CBT structures and characteristics and the theoretical approaches underpinning CBT are also provided.

Part 2 - conducive factors for learning on the level of the individual subject and work environment.

Chapter with A. Fuller and L. Unwin provide an application of their expansive framework with ‘improving workplace capacity as the prerequisite for effective work-based learning: a co-production approach’. Champions the need for both workplaces and workplace learning providers, to work together to create more meaningfully useful programmes. The expansive – restrictive framework is used to assist in shifting workplaces with limited workplace opportunities towards ones with more affordances for workplace learning.

Then C. Harteis on ‘supporting learning at work in an era of digitalisation of work’. Emphasises the importance of cognition, motivation to learn and emotion in ensuring workers are assisted to become prepared for the future of work. There is a need to explore the impacts on work transformation and to better prepare workplaces and workers.

Followed by S. Velten and A. Schnitzler on ‘assessing work-based learning in German dual VET from the apprentices’ perspective – the development of an inventory’. A questionnaire, developed to assess the quality of work-based training is presented in this chapter.

Part 2 – Curriculum development for work-based learning schemes

A Chinese contribution from Z. Zhao and Y. Shen on ‘striving for competence: China’s way of work-based learning curriculum development for VET institutions’. Describes the Chinese experience of adapting VET systems from other countries e.g. DACUM, dual apprenticeships and a way forward to find a distinct ways which fits in with the socio, cultural, political and historical contexts presented by the challenges distinct to China.

Then G. Spottl and G. Loose on ‘conducting work-process analysis for the development of advanced detailed curricula’. Details the work-process analysis methodology whereby instructors and workplace experts, collaborate to design flexible programmes and learning approaches.

Followed by B. A. Ogwo on ‘global perspectives and trends in work-based learning of TVET programmes in sub-Sahara Africa’. The informal economy is a challenge not just particular to Africa. The chapter discusses how to best support this informal, community-based learning approach without destroying it’s efficacy. The support of a range of work-based learning approaches is presented in this chapter.

B. N. Ezekoye on ‘integrating gender issues into work-based learning programmes of higher education and Nigeria’. Guidelines are presented towards assisting women to enrol in male-dominated programmes.

This section closes with chapter by A. Akoojee on ‘work-based learning in, and for, the informal economy: an African perspective’. Argues for the need of the formal learning sector to better understand the contributions made by the informal sector. In particular, how learning occurs in the informal sector and how this may inform better pedagogical approaches in the formal sector.

Section 4 – the role of tutors, fellow workers, and instructors in work-based learning

C. Jacinto and J. Pozzer on ‘work-based learning as a concept “under-construction”: evidence from two internships schemes in Argentina’. Compares two types of work-based learning programmes, each overseen by a different government body. Argues for the need for both these to be more collaborative and to undertake dialogue as the challenges are similar.

Then A. Bahl with ‘workplace training as social practice: How trainers experience the structural dynamics of German apprenticeship’. Collates the perspectives of trainers, their beliefs and narratives to better understand the dynamics of workplace based learning and training.

P. Rushbrook contributes ‘embedded research and learning at, for, and through work in Singapore’. Uses two studies to illustrate the situatedness of work-based and workplace based learning. Learning opportunities are influenced by occupations, work conditions and the personal motivations of the learner.

R. Harris with the last chapter in this section on ‘enhancing work-based learning: different ‘trainer’ roles, different types of guidance?’ Draws on three studies to present details on the support availed to workplace learners and these are influenced by personal, organisational and sector characteristics.

Part 5 – Boundary crossing: transfer and recognition of knowledge, skills and competence.

Begins with N. Kersh on ‘learning from knowledge transfer and recontextualisation of experiences in the context of workplace learning: insights from the UK’. The experiences of Further Education (FE) teachers are studied to provide better understanding of how people who have occupational expertise, ‘transfer’ these skills and continually ‘boundary cross’ between the occupational and the pedagogical.

Then, L. Nieuwenhuis, A. Hoeve, W. Kuijer and A. Peeters with ‘ bridging demands on education, innovation and practice-based research: the case of Dutch vocational and professional education’. Presents a model to assist students to move between the boundaries of work and higher education.

Last chapter in the section with C. Bose, A. Dietzen and C. Eberhardt on ‘challenges of formalising the informal in German VET – validation, certification and recognitions of competences’. Details approaches for people, without vocational qualifications, to enter into Germany’s tightly bound occupational systems. Offers three approaches, two of which are to support better recognition of prior and current skills and the third is to provide accelerated training to meet occupational certification requirements.

The final chapter is by B. Chakouri on ‘work-based learning: a research agenda for new policy challenges’. Proposes the need to support on-going research to ensure the sustainable development of workplace learning contexts.

Creativity - a human skillset

Creativity does not get much attention in vocational education. Competency based outcomes often discount the input of creativity as the need to quantify aspects of aethestics or 'taste' is difficult. Many trade occupations require learners to attain creativity in their practice. The most obvious being chefs, hairdressers, florist and joiners.

I came across this article via my Google Scholar alerts this morning. The duality of a pastry chef discusses the need for pastry chefs to be both creative and also technically strong in the knowledge of baking sciences and the manual skills required to work with a range of organic materials (i.e chocolate, sugar). The article uses interviews (through the research method of portraiture) to try to understand how top pastry chefs create desserts and showpieces. The participants were all members of the Malaysian pastry chef team. This year, the Malaysian team won the Coupe de Monde, the world pastry competitions.

The article is published in a new journal from the Events and Tourism Institute at Indiana University. The Institute's research area have a strong slant towards events and tourism management.

Humanics - a way to robot proof your career

Here is an interesting article from the BBC - recommending several ways to ensure your career is 'robot proofed'.

The article summarises the usual future of work scenario with between 9 to 47% of work to be automated.

Accounting and low skilled production line type jobs are the most vulnerable. Some jobs thought to be safe due to its variety, are still at risk. For example, the openning of an all robot run restaurant in China. This hot pot restaurant opened late last year.

The article defines humanics as technical ability, data discipline to navigate the see of information generated by machines and human discipline. Also includes creativity, cultural agility, empathy, ability to take information from one context and apply it to another. 

Recommends education is a key with less classroom, more experiential learning as the half life of a skill was 26 years a generation ago, now it is 4 ½ years! There is still too much focus on 4 year undergraduate courses at university. Interdisciplinary studies should be encouraged.

Therefore, future-proofing your career is less about picking a safe job and more about constantly updating your skills throughout your career.