AVETRA - DAY one - morning

 At the annual AVETRA conference in Melbourne which runs for 3 days. Workshops focused on specific topics were head yesterday afternoon.

Today, there is a full programme of activities.

The conference is opened with a welcome to country and the conference with the AVETRA president Kira Clarke. Kira thanked the conference sponsors, the conference committee, and the conference abstract reviewers. New membership directory was launched to help people find VET research experts. Niall Smith provided a demonstration of how the site works. 

The first keynote is with Craig Robertson, presented his thoughts on 'when robots replace VET, what's next?' Discussed the springboard into the digital, the challenges of competency in Australia, the new potential for VET and the research challenge. Used the example o Kodak and their rejection of moving across to the digital and how that ended up in their demise in 2012. VET needs to meet the challenge now, as the implications for its future role and direction, need to be considered now, at the cusp of great change through the rapid changes which will impact not only on work but also across society.

Suggested looking at the special issue in 2016 of the International Journal of Training Research on competency education to review the challenges through the system. Summarised the way in which so much of our lives of being changed by the digital economy. Use Frey & Osborne (2013) - 47% of the jobs in the US at risk of automation over the nes 10 - 20 years. Australian Computer Society 2021 report that proposed that by 2034, automation would displace 2.7 workers, 56% who are male. David Autor proposed the hollowing out of the labour market and the delayering of the middle-management layer, in assessing the impact of digitisation, there is the move from skills substitution to task substitution. 

The OECD - do adults have the skills they need to thrive in a changing world, summarises the types of skills needed to move into the future. Challenges of the current competency regime for VET in Australia include 'designing down', constrained learning and unitised standards. The 'outcomes' education model is too focused on 'education's contribution to the economy' and that they contribute to 'increasing efficiency'. Therefore, there are to many 'products', too many unclimbed qualification ladders, outcomes for the labour market are too near-term, and inputs are proxy for quality.

So are 'robots' here yet? There are over 200 data centres in Victoria with plans to build another 3 +. Although some skills will become obsolete, there is still a need to be able to work with non-routine tasks and the demand for new workers is still high post-CoVID. Therefore VET needs to re-orientate towards thinking more about the types of application, skills and knowledge (ASK) that enable workers to move to work tasks that are not always clear cut. A progressive VET qualifications system needs to uncouple from division of labour, transferability, tertiary harmonisation, and manageable product set.  Research needs to shift towards an educational focus, have a cultural component, capability needs to be rebuild and collaboration is required. We need to bring the best aspects of capability and competency together. 

Following is a panel discussion on - the rise of applied research in TAFE - 2017 to 2025. The panel was chaired by Karen O'Reilly-Briggs. Karen opened with a overview of the nature of applied research and its journey across the TAFE contexts. 

Panel consisted of  Teressa Schmidt, Melissa Williams, Katrina Jojkity and Sam Duncan. Sam began with an overview of the work undertaken at Holmsglen. Provided an overview on TAFE's role in the research and innovation ecosystem. TAFE provided a point of difference as it is often hands-on, industry integrated and solution orientated. The objective is to use applied research to solve real-world industry problems. Often conducted by educators with industry expertise rather than traditional academic researchers. Often with SMEs and community organisations. The doing-using-interacting (DUI) model ensures applied research translates into practice. Investment and recognition needed to support along with clear role and strategy and the need to build capability among educators.

Summarised the evolution of the Centre of Applied Research and Innovation at Holmsglen. The centre raises the profile of applied research and innovation and develop a culture of applied research. Shared the outcomes and outputs over the last decade.

Katrina presented on the International Specialised Skills Institute (ISS )institute international practitioner fellowship programme, funded by the Victorian Skills Authority over the last 23 years. 196 fellowship programmes awarded leading to continuing improvement and innovation across the VET sector. Provided details of the fellowships, their foci and the role of applied research fellowships. Presented several examples, their work and the impact and the repository of the fellowship reports. 

Melanie shared the work undertaken at William Angliss Institute to encourage practitioner research. Melanie completed an ISSI fellowship in 2019 to bring the Basque County's EHAZI model of collaborative challenge-based learning. Then piloted the pedagogy in 2024, ongoing evaluation to inform the review of the Diploma qualification in 2026. Presented on the challenges and lessons learnt towards supporting practitioner research. 

Teressa on 'what is needed to elevate the potential of applied research in TAFE'. TAFE is already doing applied research, mostly unfunded or underfunded, not always well supported and has limited promotion. There are many benefits including innovation, building capability, future proofing, and opportunities for industry partnerships. Challenges are the need for resources, the precieved value, capability development and the 'cloak of invisibility'. New opportunities include TAFE Centres if Excellence, recognition of TAFE's expanded capability, Government initiatives to build and increase R & and engage more stakeholders in research with impact. Used Canada as an example where by the Canadian colleges and institutes are valued as critical Canadian R & D. Specific funding is available to colleges for R & D. Encouraged the connections with SMEs which make up 98% of businesses in Australia. Shared the TDA recommendations to encourage applied research. 

After morning tea, presentations begin. The sessions are organised into three streams.

First up, Don Zoellner on 'theorising the elusiveness of an integrated tertiary education system: mirage, chimera or talisman?' Presented his 'plausible probe' into the unrealisation of the integration of tertiary education. There is a need to test the theoretical constructs to advance policy development and implementation. He applied Foucauldian post-structualist discousres to analyse policy artefacts and used institutional logics to explore VET and HE governance through the plausiblity probe. Caveats include that there is no absolute truth but to identify knowledge/power types and who gets to say it. Who and what knowledge/power are made visible. Introduced institutional logics debates with origins in North America which is unrelated to European logics - but which were applied to Australian VET analysis by Wheelahan. Shared the orders - state, profession, market, corporation, family, religion, community and elemental categories - basis of norms, source of legitimacy, source of authority, sources of identity; basis of attention, basis of strategy, informal control mechanisms and economic system.   Explained the differences between theories, frames, narratives and entrenched practices as building blocks of institutional logics and ideologies (which guide political norms and actions). 

Summarised the historical background that make VET different from HE. Until the late 1990s, integration of VET and HE was not a problem! After that, VET training packages were built on a very restrictive interpretation of competency-based training and assessment. VET reform arose from industrial relations rather than education and training! unitised VET knowledge that fit with industrial awards could be monetised and sold in a competitive market. HE knowledge also monetised but at the course level, Introduction of the hierarchical Australian Qualifications Framework created further VET/HE integration as a problem.

Compared the governance of VET and HE with HE being bureaucratic, hierarchical, managerial capitalism. Fundamentally, VET and HE is conducted through different perspectives which have little in common, Harmonisation is difficult as each is structured differently and the social actors have deeply held feelings and perceptions of who they are, how they are constituted, their objectives and purpose etc. However, harmonisation may not be a good thing as each contributes in a different way.

Then 'Action research as professional development for VET teachers with Suzanne Francisco from Charles Sturt University. Detailed the study based on four action research teams. Today, focused on two - in beauty therapy and nursing. Focused on what enables and constrains middle-leaders in supporting the development of quality VET pedagogy. In the presentation discussed, how, what and why action research was used. Data analysis using inductive/deductive approaches including the practice architectures framework. Summarised the advantages of learning in and through action research. Presented the enablers and constraints of action research. 

A good range of learning this morning :) 

Future orientated learning and skills development for employability - book overview

 This book ' Future-oriented learning and skills development for employability: Insights from Singapore and some Asia-Pacific contexts', is edited by A.N. Lee and Y. Nie. The book is open access (via UTS) and published by Springer in 2024.

Most of the chapters report on work undertaken in Singapore, to enact the government's support of continuing skills development to ensure the populace is kept current in the face of rapid change.

The book has 21 chapters, organised into three sections -

- Future oriented learning and the development of graduates' work competencies

- enhancing adult workers' employability through ocntinuing education and training

- supporting workplace learning and skills development for individual and organisational growth

with an opening and closing chapter by the editors.

Some chapters of relevance to my own work:

- Innovative curriculum and instructional approaches for work and learning: Practical pathways and research perspectives by S. Chue, S. Billette, R. Tan, W. Goh, A. Leow and A. S-H. Chen. Postulates, through gathering on the work of the authors, the need to integrate the curriculum which prepares people for work, with career guidance to help them envisage their goals, post higher education. There is also importance in ensuring that the connections between the world of education/school and the world of work are kept current, accessible and effective.

-  Developing adaptibility for workplace preformance by S. Billett and A H. Le discusses the need to ensure that adaptive practices remain central to individual's future employability. Draws on the PIAAC data to argue that all workers need to maintain opportunities and skills to problem solve. In doing, individual workers' are able to maintain agency and continually hone, adapt, and innovate. Cultural and social factors create or limit affordances.

- Knowing in practice in situational sensemaking by R. Mazlan. Argues that sensemaking arises from experiences encountered within context.

All in, a good collection of contemporary chapters on the state of the play, mainly in Singapore, but also across to Australia. 

Guides from Deakin University - Gen AI in work-integrated learning

The Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University has published a series of guides on Gen AI in work-integrated learning.

The resources are for Higher Education/University staff, students and workplace industry partners. There are four sets of guides:

- for ensuring academic integrity and assessment security with online delivery

- assessing work-integrated learning programmes - a guide to effective assessment design

- inclusive assessments

- reimaging exams - workshop resources.

All in there are good recommendations. Although pitched at the higher education sector, the work-integrated and inclusive assessment sections are easily generalisable to other contexts.

Webinar notes - Trade Routes: Charting new pathways from secondary school to industry

 Attended the webinar organised by the NZ Initiative. 

The event provides an overview of a report on 'Trade routes: charting new pathways from school to industry training'. 

The webinar's description - Drawing inspiration from Germany's successful dual-training model, Josh Williams and Dr Michael Johnston will discuss initiatives in secondary and tertiary education to enhance the status and quality of trades and industry training.

Notes taken:

Oliver Hartwich provided overview, introductions to Dr. Michael Johnston and Josh Williams and chaired the webinar.

Sli.do hosts the Q & A -

Observed that 65,000 Students leave school each year and about 1/3 go to university. Only 6% take up apprenticeship and 7% are NEETs (sigh).

Cultural aspects in NZ mean most take the university as there is lack of visibility of alternatives and much lower esteem for trades work.

Education is not cohesive. The pathways from work into alternatives to university are not easy. Vocational pathways need to attain parity of esteem with higher education. Proposed several ways to bring this to fruition.

It will take time but there is a need to start the pathway at school, rather than post school.

For apprentices, starting on lower pay and moving to full pay will encourage employers to take on apprentices. A bonding system may be useful for apprentices to stay a few years with employer, post completion of the apprenticeship contract.

Also suggested the fee free for degree students be diverted to apprenticeships, which will cover most of the training costs for the 6% of school leavers moving into apprenticeship.

Work Development Councils need to be given wider scope. Instead of appointment by government, they should be appointed by industry and not only be responsible for standards setting but also approval for programmes/ and supporting providers (secondary schools) to set up themselves.

Need to be a progression from school on to tertiary / apprenticeship rather than a abrupt shift.

Josh contributed the Forward for the report. Important to not just 'drag and drop' the German dual system across but to think through the things that will work for us in Aotearoa.

Provided a background on how a decade ago, Youth Pathways was launched, along with Arthur Graves. There are initiatives - STAR, Gateway etc. but they not always well coordinated. Specialising at high school may be difficult later on, but they provide a good start.

Provided some examples of schools that are doing good work in this area. Important that all the ones who are successful have good connections and networks with their local communities, employers and industries.

The ecosystem to support change in this area needs to be undertaken but requires multiple connections and a holistic understanding to work out what will work.

Q & A ensured of the 30+ questions collected on sli.do.

Interesting presentation and some recommendations make good sense. Had to leave to be at another meeting so missed the bulk of the Q & A.

AI in education: The intersection of pedagogy and technology

 This book published 2024 by Springer is edited by P. Ilic, I. Casbourne and R. Wegerif.

It is an open access book which brings together educators, engineers and experts to explore the implications and affordances provisioned through the arrival of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI).

There are 13 chapters, detailing studies in the higher education context.

The first introductory chapter, by the editors, calls for 'a constructive dialogue' between technology and pedagogy. In doing, the two may contribute more towards enhancing human potential. 

Following on, an interesting selection of chapters:

- AI enhanced ecological learning spaces by P. Ilic, and M. Sato-Ilic.

- reimagining learning experiences with the use of AI with D. Guralnick

- Gen AI integration in education: challenges and approaches by S. Watson and S. Shi.

- Navigating AI in education - towards a system approach for design of educational changes by L. Yuan, T. Hoel, and S. Powell.

-AI in the assessment ecosystem: A human-centered AI perspective by A. A. von Davier and J. Burnstein.

- The role of AI language assistants in dialogic education for collective intelligence by I. Casebourne and R. Wegerif.

- AI powered adaptive formative assessment: validity and reliability evaluation by Y. Bimpeh.

- Decimal point: a decade of learning science findings with a digital learning game with B. M. McLaren.

- Leveraging AI to advance science and computing education across Africa: challenges, progress and opportunities with G. Boateng

- Educating manufacturing operators by extending reality with AI by  P-D. Zuercher, M. Schimpf, S. Tadeja and T. Bohne.

- Pedagogical restructuring of business communication courses: AI-enhanced prompt engineering in an EFL teaching context by D. Roy.

- AI in language education: The impact of machine translation and ChatGPT by L. Ohashi.

Overall a good collection of case studies, providing some good examples of integrating AI into specific disciplines. The discussions are congruent to our current work, in that although Gen AI is a tool for all, there is still a need to match Gen tools to the learning outcomes to be achieved. Most importantly to maintain the human element and contribution towards AI responses and to remember that AI is a tool and it is the tool user who much always take responsibility for the outputs. 

AI NZ AI blueprint

 The AI forum in New Zealand - has published a blueprint for charting NZ's AI powered future. 

It is a follow up from a blueprint published in 2024. The blueprint is a high level strategic document providing rationale and recommendations.

The main items are:

- supporting and encouraging adoption of an AI strategy for Aotearoa by government

- making good governance possible for responsible, accessible and affordable AI for all.

- Encouraging upskills across the existing workforce.

- providing Māori with voice and guidance for the intersection of Te Tiriti, Te Ao Māori and AI.

- telling stories that bring life to how AI is used across Aotearoa.

The blueprint then shares the frameworks , recommendations and guidelines to action the main items. 

Developing curriculum for deep learning - overview of open access Springer brief

 In tandem with the recent blogs with overviews of recent scholarly books on embodiment and being and becoming through higher education, this book 'developing curriculum for deep learning: the knowledge revival' brings a school-based context. 

The book is open access and written by a range of authors from Europe (T, More - Belgium; N. Crato, Portugal, D. Muijs, UK; D. Wiliam, UK; P.A. Kirschner, Netherlands), Australia (J. Hattie) and New Zealand (E. Rata), many with scholarly contributions to the educational literature across many years. 

There are five chapters, beginning with a summary and ending with a chapter of concluding remarks.

The second chapter argues for the need to ensure that the pursuit of knowledge is not left out in a curriculum crowded with many needs. The third chapter sets out the relationships between knowledge and the school curriculum. The fourth chapter has concluding remarks to close the argument.

The last executive summary lays out the reasons knowledge matters from the perspectives of learning (developing our minds as humans); sociology (knowledge contribution to society); democracy (to bring about better lives for all). The importance of the curriculum in ensuring knowledge is included is then discussed with the need to establish a knowledge rich curriculum through the school years. 

Overall, good background on the aspect of knowledge in education. Its importance, role in learner's formative years, contribution to societal function. and the future of the human race. 

Being and becoming through higher education - brief overview

 This blog follows on from the previous which summarised a book on embodiment and professional learning.

The book - Being and becoming through higher education: Expanding possibilities was published 2024 by Springer. It is edited by G. Dall'Alba and is another timely book as we wrestle with our humanness in the age of AI. 

The book is Open Access via UTS and has 15 chapters, beginning with the introductory chapter by the editor - Embodied being in Higher Education. The main message is the importance of keeping to the main purpose of higher education i.e. to develop students' learning and enable them to become part of professional communities and to contribute to society at large. 

Four chapters in the first part, introduce the concepts and perspectives informing the focus of the book.

Firstly, a chapter on the 'ontological turn in HE' by the editor and R. Barnacle. Challenges the 'knowledge acquisition approach' towards determining who they become. 

Then a chapter by the editor on 'learning professional ways of being: Ambiguities of becoming. Rationalises the need to not only teach skills and knowledge, but to enable the types of learning which lead to students 'becoming'. 

Following on is another chapter by the editor 'towards a pedagogy of responsive attunement for HE' sets out the practical applications and implications. Here, the chapter focuses on how students can be directed towards the salient issues, principles and practices of their field or profession. The role of pedagogy and curricula is achieving these goals is also presented.

The last chapter in Part 1 by T. T. Vu and the editor is 'becoming authentic professionals: learning for authenticity'. Redefines authentic learning as not only involving real-life applications of knowledge but to ensure learners engage with tasks, learning environments etc. that help them become more fully human.

Part Two has three chapters around embodied learning

Begins with 'bodily grounds of learning: Embodying professional practice in biotechnology' with the editor and J. Sandberg. Foregrounds the need to be cognisant of the role of the body in learning, becoming and being. Embodied skilful performance and how it is attained is not often researched. Yet, there is importance in understanding how we perceive and feel in a sensual and tactile world.

Then a chapter on 'embodied learning in online environments' by the editor and R. Barnacle. Uses phenomenological perspectives to understand the use of ICTs in programmes to shift these from the predominant Western epistomology where knowledge and skills are often decontextualised from the practices they belong.

The third chapter in Part 2 is on 'international education and (dis)embodied cosmopolitanisms. Critique of international education which have not met their promise. International students are regarded as disembodied learners with littler regard for their cultures they bring with them.

The third in the book revolves around pedagogy and learner focus

First up is a chapter by the editor and S. Bengtsen on 're-imagining active learning: delving into darkness'. A discussion on what is active learning and its purposes in HE. Active learning is often invisible, unfocused, unsettling and may leave learners being more confused. Suggests the use of 'dark learning' to help improve and alleviate some of the disadvantages of active learning.

Then R. Barnacle and the author contribute the chapter 'committed to learn: student engagement and care in HE'. Advocates for the need to help students attain a capacity to care about others and things, rather than the focus on neoliberal directions on economic benefit to individuals.

'Authentic assessment for student learning: an ontological conceptualisation' is presented by T. T. VU and the editor. Instead of 'authentic assessments', the focus should be on the quality of educational processes which engage learners to become more fully human.

The last chapter in Part three is with the editor on 'evaluative judgement for learning to be in a digital world'. Argues that an important aspect of education is to develop the capability to judge the quality of one's work and the work of others. 

The last part has three chapters on enacting the concepts and principles presented and discussed in the previous chapters. They are written by the editor.

First up, 'improving teaching: enhancing ways of being university teachers'. Proposes the need to ensure that university teachers integrate their knowing, acting and being into their teaching and to make these visible to learners.

Following on is a chapter on 'making the familiar unfamiliar: re-thinking teaching in HE'. Explores the ontological turn required to bring meaning back into university teaching. Draws on the work on Heidegger and Irigaray to inform the conceptual underpinnings for the proposal.

The book ends with a chapter on 're-imaging the university: developing a capacity to care. Reiterates the need to understand the purposes on HR towards helping students to 'interrogate possibilities of being' in ways that help themselves thrive and also to contribute to the society they live in. 

Overall, the book sets out to encourage a rethink of the objectives of university education as not just to provision knowledge and skills to learners and meet the economic direction of nations. Instead, the importance of developing learners sense of being and to deploy pedagogy towards supporting learners to become, are required as we move into a future where by humanness is being challenged by digital agents.

On blogging - twenty years and still going!!

At the beginning of 2015, I posted my reflections on a decade of blogging. The precepts I discussed, still hold as I come up to the end of my 20th year of blogging!

One would think that in this age of AI and short communication forms (Snapchat, TikTok, X etc.), that blogging would have faded. However, SEO's article, written at the beginning of 2024, indicates that blogging is not dead! Readership of blogs is still high and seem to be a mainstay of marketers, influencers and commentators. 

However, for me, the purposes for continuing with this blog remains very similar to what was summarised 10 years ago. The blog becomes a 'one stop shop' for archiving notes and reflections from readings, found resources/websites, conference musings, and occasional rants. Having somewhere to park items one comes across in a busy work and scholarly life means that it becomes easier to organise thoughts and ideas as they consolidate. With the increase in open access articles and books, links to these resources can be archived, along with brief notes to trigger relevant searches when topics being worked on are required. 

So continuing on with blogging is more to meet my individual cognitive needs, rather than to provide a forum for others to read. If nothing else, this blog is a record of a mostly productive academic life and long may it continue :) 

Embodiment and professional learning - open access book - brief overview

 This 2021 book - Embodiment and Professional Education : Body Practice and Pedagogy is published by Springer and edited by S. Loftus and E.A. Kinsella.

Through learning, humans attain not only knowledge, but also appropriates practice. With the current discussions on AI and its impact on teaching and learning, one of the impacts is that AI replaces some of the 'doing'. It is in actual practice that we consolidate knowledge through application. Deliberate practice is required to bring mind and body into active enactment of what has been learnt. Therefore, in the current circumstances, discussions on embodiment and how this makes us human have great relevance.

The book is is open access (via UTS) and has 17 chapters.

The first chapter by the editors, summarises the main themes of the book. It calls for promoting the significance of the body in our lives as to date, it has been much neglected. 

Chapter two by B. Green introduces practice theory and concepts of corporeality and its role in professional education. The practice turn recommends bringing the body back into professional learning.

E. Swartz contributes the next chapter on 'To act as one body? collective and embodied judgement within professional action and education'. Through professional practice, which includes human relations within a social sphere, collaboration amongst professionals contribute to practical wisdom or phronesis. The chapter introduces and discusses the concepts.

S. Loftus then writes on how embodied knowledge and thinking should be the hallmark of professional education.

Two chapters on 'embodiment and professional practice' follow. T. Chemi with 'the genealogy of the actor's laboratory: making kin as embodied pedagogy' and S. DeLuca on 'theatre of carnival: a classroom for the vigilant embodied healer'.

The three chapters on 'embodiment and reflection'. E.A. Kinsella and K. S. Smith with 'I listen to my body more': embodied mindfulness in professional education; 'Body mapping to facilitate embodied reflection in professional education programmes' by H. F. Harrison and 'Ethics and embodiment in health professions education' by A. M. DeBaets.

Following on are three chapter on 'Embodiment and professional knowledge'. S. Loftus with 'Goethe and embodiment in professional education and practice'; B. Roberts with 'Neurophenomology and Professional education'; and 'Embodied learning and two-eyed seeing: indigenous and feminist perspectives in professional education' by E. Cupchik and M. Schnarr.

The last section has four chapters on the theme of 'embodiment and technology. First up, W. Kupers with ' (Re-)embodied digital education practices: Empirical vignettes about teaching and learning in 'tele-co-presence'; B. Delgarno with 'Technological affordances for embodied learning in authentic contexts'; K. Mahon on 'neoliberalised (human) bodies and implications for professional education' and R. A. Gardiner and J. Chisholm on 'Its not just one bad actor: Tracing the embodied effects of institutional sexism in the implementation of gender-based violence policies and practices.

The editors close with the last chapter to present 'implications for practice'. Overall, the book makes important contributions to better understand the processes of human learning. With the advent of AI, it is important to evaluate what makes us humans and to appreciate that processes of learning, involving holistic experiences, to prepare us to live and be in the world. Without doing and by abrogating our responsibilities to AI agents, we become less able to grapple with the complexities of life. Given the VUCA world we now live in, it is to our detriment if we place all of our reliance on using AI rather than take up the work required, to be proficient and skilled at cognitive, evaluative, tasks and critical thinking which are the hallmarks of being human.

 

NZ Government framework for AI - Public Service guidelines

The NZ Government has launched its public service AI framework. It is part of the overall NZ Government work on establishing guidelines for its National AI Strategy. The public service guidelines draw on the OECD AI principles of:

- inclusive, sustainable development

- human centred values

- transparency and explainability

- safety and security 

- accountability.

The NZ framework layers in the important concepts of the nation's biculturism. Commentary on this aspect along with the ways the principles above require much more work internationally provide material for critical reflection. Guidelines and frameworks may set the scene but it is how they are supported, adopted and persistently worked on to actually make a difference which is the important ongoing effect.

Developing curriculum for deep thinking - book overview

In this 'age of AI ascendence'  more than anytime perhaps in human history, the importance of how we learn knowledge and what is required to learn it, is more important than ever.

This Open Access Springer brief - Developing curriculum for deep learning:The knowledge revival has chapters written by authors from Europe (T, Surma, C. Vanhees, M, Wils, J, Nijlunsing, N. Crato, D, Muijs, D. Wiliam, P. A. Kirschner) Australia (J. Hattie) and New Zealand. (E. Rata).

Although the chapters have the school context at the forefront, the many concepts introduced and discussed has relevance across the all educational sectors. The books main premise is that it is important to ensure curriculum is 'knowledge-rich'. In doing, the attainment of knowledge helps to drive the learning (acquisition and practice) of crucial cognitive or thinking skills. 

There are five chapters.

After a short introductory chapter the following chapters discuss:

- How knowledge matters

- knowledge and the curriulum

Then two chapter - concluding remarks and an executive summary close the book.

Therefore the book is a short treatise (less than 100 pages) presenting the argument for the importance of ensuring that knowledge is made visible across the curriculum, and the need for content richness, coherence across the curriculum, and clarity of purpose for learning knowledge. 

Future of work report 2025 - World Economic Forum

 This year's future of work report from the World Economic Forum, provides some good information as the world of work moves into the AI age. Summaries are provided for many countries by Aotearoa New Zealand is not included.

The forces contributing to the shifts are summarised as:

- increased digital access and advances across technologies (AI, information processing, robotics and automation, energy generation, storage and distribution), all influence the ways work is carried out and how work is structured.

- cost of living and other economic impacts of inflation, economic slowdown etc. will affect job creation.

- climate change mitigation leads to the need for new skills and generates new types of work and occupations.

- demographic shifts including worldwide aging of the workforce and increasing numbers of older people, living longer puts strain on economies.

-geoeconomics and geopolitical tensions make for an unpredictable future.

Jobs predicted to grow in volume include farmworkers, delivery drivers, construction workers, sales people and food processing workers, Care economy jobs in nursing, social work, counselling etc. also to grow significantly. Technology related roles including one related to data management and green energy transition roles also set to grow.

In contrast, clerical and secretarial work is set to decline along with jobs in the postal service, banks and data entry roles.

There is a great need to ensure that analytical thinking as a core skill is attained. Other skills include workers being resilient, flexible and agile. Understanding AI and big data are also important to leverage off the potential of these technologies. 

All in, a good overview  and reference source on the current state of work and what may come in the near future.

Gen AI strategies for Australian higher education - emerging practice

 The Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TESQA) published a practice toolkit for Gen AI in November 2023. 

The guide covers three dimensions of tertiary education - Process, People and Practice. Each dimension is introduced and the implications of Gen AI are detailed, discussed and evaluated. Examples from Australian tertiary institutions are provided to provide case studies. These provide good templates from which individual institutional processes, policies and procedures can be contextualised and synthesised. 

All in a good resource to mine for relevant concepts as Gen AI takes hold across the tertiary landscape. 

Plans for 2025

 It looks like another busy year coming up.

Details of what post Te Pūkenga looks like will help clarify what is likely to occur at an organisational level and some of these may affect the composition of my current work team, our lines of management, and our objectives. Whatever happens, there is still a great deal of work to do!

Firstly, we have many programmes in review. In Aotearoa, all programmes of study are reviewed every five years. The responsibility for these, devolved to Te Pūkenga 2 years ago, but only a small number of programmes were 'unified'. Hence, we now have a substantial backlog of programmes, several over 3 years beyond their review timelines, to work on and have presented to NZQA by July. Therefore, my  educational development team (down to 5 from 8) are fully occupied with working through all the programme reviews.

Secondly, AI is not going away. Capability and professional development for our teaching colleagues, has been patchy, as lines of responsibility for who does what, have been unclear since Te Pūkenga disestablishment was announced late in 2023. Te Pūkenga was at the beginning of bringing together a consolidated approach to capability and development but this all came to a halt and individual institutions have been working on financial stability, maintaining quality etc. before looking at capability.

Thirdly, I am now about half way through scoping another group of scholarship of teaching and learning projects for this year. The focus will be on integrating AI into programmes with strong practice-based learning as currently, AI has text/writing focus. Multimodality of AI is not as common as integrating AI through text. Also, it is important to have AI available in practice-based learning environments - i.e. workshops, training kitchens / salons / studios etc. plus the need to have customised / bespoke or 'wall-garden' AI tools as the generalised AI (e.g. ChatGPT, CoPilot) often do not use specialised occupational vocabulary, with information drawn on being very North American-centric.

Therefore, it looks like there is quite a bit to do, making it difficult to even think about retiring for the moment!!

2024 review

 A rather busy year, filled with leading an interesting project - supporting foundation/bridging learners using AI -, a flurry of work in curriculum/learning design as all of this returns back to us post Te Pūkenga disestablishment, and participation in a range of relevant and important professional development opportunities.

As I write this, there is no greater detail on what happens to the various polytechnics and industry training organisations (ITOs) post Te Pūkenga disestablishment, apart from the brief details from the consultation information provided in September. The government's budget going into the next few years provide some inkling of what may happen to the Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) and Centres for Vocational Education Excellence (CoVEs). WDCs funding ends 2026 but they will likely continue due to their essential role as standards setting bodies. However, their actual roles going into the future are unclear. The CoVeEs for construction ((ConCOVE) and FF CoVE (food and fibre) will likely cease to exist beyond 2025. Both the CoVEs have funded a range of important vocational education and training research projects and it is a shame that they will not be continuing on to act on the recommendations and findings.

AI has been prominent across the year. At my institute, we have run a number of department focused and institute-wide research tools or teaching and learning AI integration workshops. Our staff capability runs the usual gamut from utter rejection of AI to having several with high levels of understanding and application towards using AI to support research or teaching/learning. 

VET like all other education context, must make key decisions about the role of AI and how it should be/ or can be leveraged to support teaching and learning. The 'holy grail' of education, personalised learning for every learner' is availed if AI is used carefully to augment and support learning - see this summary, one of many models, that shift teaching and learning from 'factory - one-size fits all' to individualised mastery learning for each learner.

Hence, another busy year but looking forward to next year, when hopefully, we begin to have productive conversations in shifting the current way teaching and learning occurs, towards a more learner and learning-centred model.

ACDEVEG - day 2 notes

 The day begins with reflections on the last ten years of ACDEVEG conferences with Darryl South and Erica Smith. Shared the conference themes across the decade and data on number of presentations, panels etc. An overview of each conference then presented. A summary of similar conferences before the 2015 ACDEVEG from the 1990s. Convassed the participants for ideas for themes and venues for future conferences. 

A panel session chaired by Annette Foley follows. The panelists are John Tucker (CE of TAFE QLD), Angela Dean (AEU Federation TAFE secretary), Evelyne Goodwin (Manager Policy and Projects for Community Colleges Australia) and Andrew Shea (Director, ITECA). The panel works through a series of topical questions. First question is on the importance of teachers /trainers in VET, followed by the challenges posed to TAFE teachers to meet inclusive/equity directions, what is done to promote the career of VET teachers and the knowledge/skills required of VET educators. Questions then opened to the floor with robust conversation undertaken!

After morning tea, presentations collated into 2 streams commence.

I attend the following:

'Diploma of VET at William Angliss Institute: Four ways to make a difference' with Melissa Jennings. Reported on the projects used to support teachers to complete the Diploma. Projects included project-based learning, then application of training and assessment practice; professional practice, and instructional designer to work on resources for teaching (f2f and online). All the projects require portfolios and demonstration/observation. Porfolios include professional development plan, trainer and assessor competency evidence, annotated bibliography, sample learning activities, supervised teaching practice, peer partnership, training log, elearning strategy and session plans. Projects go for 12 to 18 months. The process helps develop cognitive and technical competencies with contemporary teaching and learning processes. 21st century skills rubric used to map their competencies attained. 

Shared challenges around the the progress of these projects. May be better next time to run projects consecutively rather than concurrently. Workshop ensued to work through personas and their experiences on a project.

'what makes VET teachers want to stay in the job?' with Erica Smith, Darryl South and Annette Foley. Overviewed the context and background which was presented at last year's conference. There is almost no literature on VET teacher retention, so this project seeks to develop a robust evidence base to inform policies going forward. In the presention covered the motivations for entry and factors affecting decisions to remain. Received 146 valid responses to a survey with 47 questions. 

Most respondents over 50, slightly more females, 1/3 new, 1/3 5-9 years and 1/2 over ten years in teaching. 2/3 employed full time. 73+ % have diploma qualification or higher. Routes in teaching included 28% directly into full-time, 20% started part-time. 

58.6% identified as VET teacher, 3.4% to discipline and 37.9% as both. Mostly committed to staying and teaching. if likely to leave, 2/3 said they would return to industry and 1/3 to a difference industry. Those who identified as VET teacher less likely to leave. 

Participants value seeing learners develop, enjoy engaging learners and making a difference. Factors encouraging people to leave include workload, dissatification with management, too much compliance, poor workplace culture, pay, on-going change. 

Pay mentioned but not actually a major issue. Conditions of work more important, with management and compliance seen to be major challenges. Recommendations on balancing compliance and to help increase status of VET teachers. From the data, more likely to leave if they identify with occupation,, have another position outside of teaching, under 30, males, regional areas and those who have been managers before. 

Shared future work including on how to attract people to the VET workforce, providing better early career support and reducing administration and compliance.

The conference continues but I leave to catch a train to the airport :) All in, good presentations on issues which are similar to NZ. 

Australian Council for Deans of Education - Vocational Education Group - 10th annual conference - notes DAY 1

 At the annual ACDEVEG conference today and tomorrow where I have been invited to give a keynote. This is the first time I have attended this conference but many who are attending, would be familiar faces from the NCVER no-frills and AVETRA conferences.

The ACDEVEG is an inportant lobbying and support group for educators who work towards educatiing VET teachers. As such, these VET educators, are the teachers that ensure good teaching is a key part of the Australian VET system. 

The conference begins with Darryl South, the convenor for the conference welcomes all the conference delegates.

My keynote 'the importance of VET teacher education at a time of rapid change: some learnings from Aotearoa New Zealand' is based on the book chapter, recently published - Chan, S. (2024). Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) in Aotearoa New Zealand: Implication on educators of VET teachers. In T. Deißinger & O. Melnyk (Eds.). Partnership-based Governance and Standardization of Vocational Teacher Education in Ukraine pp.79-94). Germany: wbv Publikation. 

The book chapter argued for the importance of VET teacher education and the need for VET teacher educators to keep up with the play and to especially model bicultural practices, which are foundational in moving into Te Pūkenga. However, even as Te Pūkenga is being disestablishes, the principles and need for continual professional knowledge and skill development, are still important. The presentation covered a brief overview of the reasons for the strong bicultural focus in Aotearoa and the ways the intended, enacted and experienced curriculum have transformed or have to adapt to keep up and move with the current and future national and social aspirations of Aotearoa. 

Then, Annette Foley presents a preview of the second editions of the ACDEVEG text book on 'teaching in the vocational sector in Australia'. The first edition 2014 was edited by Roz Kemmis and Liz Atkins. A second edition is now being published with updated chapters and the addtion of 2 more chapters with chapters on contemporary VET pedagogy and VET the economy and society. Publication date planned for June 2025. 

After afternoon tea, two steams of presentations are provided. Sessions are 45 minutes long so the participants are able to drill deeper into the topic being discussed. Notes below:

First up, a workshop on 'teaching VET teachers academic writing and integrity through Gen AI with Anthony Pearce from Federation University. The workshop helped participants explore academic integrity; connect AI to academic integrity; and assessment design considerations/frameworks. Shared a worked example ( course on writing and analysis for study and work - using AI to help teachers write resources. Shift from detection to integration of AI into assessment strategies to enhance student learning. Introduced the AI assessment scale (leonfurze.com). No AI, AI planning, AI collaboration, full AI, AI exploration. Design assessments which are diffcult for AI to reolicate, focus on higher order thinking skills, solve problems and create. Assessment tasks that require students to work at the higher levels in Blooms taxonomy. 

3 assessment tasks for from the example - compare and contrast sources (choose a topic, find academic sources, generate AI essay, find quality source and compare); reference and plagirism (use citations in text, write a reference list, discuss the academic and ethical issues in adding citations to AI); academic essay (submit academic essay, own work, focus on argument and critical thinking). Shared feedback from learners on the course. 

Note, there is nothing out there on using AI in competency based learning. 

Then, presentation with Sweta Singh and Michael Cowling on the work by Ke (Kelly) Xu, their PhD student, on 'upskilling and reskilling vocational educators for VR--based training environments. Shared the background, research question and methodology. Literature review shows VR used mainly in medical, military and workforce training. Digital literacies are essential for using VR but not all VET teachers have the right levels. Therefore, important to find out how to equip VET educators with the  knowledge, skills, and attributes to be able to confidently leverage VR. Shared the research methodology and next steps. The context will be on VR training on tunnelling units of competency.

Last up for the day, a round table with Wendy de Luca and Marg Malloch on 'learning and teaching: Vocational educators for the twenty-first century'. Shared the plans for an up and coming book. Sought feedback on the proposed content to see if there are other possibilities. 

OPSITAra - day 2 - notes

 The day begins with a keynote from Dr. Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed who speaks on 'empowering through education:meaningful refugee participation in NZ society. Mazhar began overview of the various communities he is involved in including the joint research group on Islamic New Zealanders. He summarised his participation in the Royal Commission formed to look at what happened during and after the mosque shootings. Followed with his development of a deep sense of belonging to Aotearoa. 

Proposed that meaningful refugee participation in includes voice in policies and in education begins with lowering educational integration barriers. For many refugees, their host country also contributes to atrocities occurring in his home country. Shared the stories of Bariz Shah to illlustrate the challenges refugees faced before and after their arrival.

Discussed why people migrate and summarised history of immigration across the millenium. Refugees are displaced not through choice, making it more challenging as the move is not through choice. Refugee intake in Aotearoa is still very low. For refugees, it is a long journey to Aotearoa. When they arrive, there are many continuing challenges and stress etc. Summarised why NZ is seen to be a good country to settle in. 

Shared the Aroha project he initiated after the mosque shootings. Used the murmuration of starlings as an example of the contribution of individuals to the wider activities - they do not have a leader as such. After the mosque shootings, it was individuals' actions which made a difference for the people affected. 

As a small country, NZers have 2 degrees of separation. We are born to be kind and care about others. Hate comes because we are taught to hate! The role of teachers is one key towards shifting from hate to love. Important to help students understand cognitive biases and what to do to check their own biases. Arts of bias lead to a downward spiral towards attitudes which support genocide! hence important to create opportunities for learners to understand the influence of bias.

Therefore, encouraged the need to be kind as it is contagious and good for our well-being and contributes to a better society.

After morning tea, I follow the Education 1 stream.

First up, Jamie Vaughan (Institute of IT professionals), Samuel Mann and Henk Roodt from Otago Polytechnic present on their work 'Hiapo framework - weaving professional identity in IT'. Sam presented work from Jamie's Doctoral work. Ongoing challenge of AI as being 'cowboys in suits'. In Jamie's masters, he found a mismatch of IT professionals and what was required in organisation practice. A comparison between nursing - 90% describes nursing IT but SFIA IT skills international) focuses 90% on technical skills. Applied Porter's value chain to bridge the nursing approach and SFIA. How to layer identity and values associated to bicultural practices (for example) is a output of Jamie's work as it is not only adding more 'skills' to SFIA but looking at holistic ways to integrate professional identity. The Niuen Hiapo (tapa cloth) to weave in meaning and narratives of 'being'. 

Following on we have, 'winning, doing and finishing: an account of externally funded research, with pointers for colleagues' with Cath Fraser and Judith Honeyfield from Toi Ohomai. Began with the challenges represented through the aged care industry and the rationale for studying older adults and aging. Study participants were Māori and Chinese people. Study looks at how health care education is constituted and delivered to look at how aged care  curriculum is enacted and student perspectives of older people. Ako Aotearoa project about to be completed. Provided and discussed research methodology and some findings. Shared some of the narratives/video resources as part of reporting the project. 

Then, Graeme Harris from Ara shares his work 'looking at teaching practice to develop a new high interest course'. He introduced the topic 'engineering systems analysis motorsport flavour'' how the level 7 course was developed, reflected on and reviewed. Described the rationale and process of drawing on industry expertise and feedback to select the content for the course (that could be logistically possible with current lab /industry equipment). Course is 2 and and half week block course and 50-100 hours to complete a specific project. Block course is hands on to learn the principles of testing, use the equipment, CAD software etc, to solve a problem along with industry visits. Block course finishes with a test and the post project project to complete the course is progressed through the semester and worth 35% of the course. Course outcomes are good with many students obtaining jobs with the industry supporters. Shared improvements going into the future. 

After morning tea, the last group of presentations:

Faye Wilson-Hill and Niki Hannan (Ara) with Hemi Hoskins (Te Wānanga o Aotearoa) and Hēperi Harris (Hawaiki Hou) present their ongoing work on 'Māui te Pūkenga: the evolution of the expert kaiako. The project sought to understand the experiences of kaiako as they expereince Maori culture and integrate these into their teaching, Data was collected through collaborative narrative inquiry yielding over 50 narratives. These kaiako were always travelling in the direction of learning and developing their culturally responsive pedagogy. They were already engaged in creating culturally responsive teaching environments. A re-framing mindset was also crucial to continually recognising and understanding bias so that indigenising and normalising mātauranga Maori continued. Not knowing was ok, but the important approach was to be comfortable with not knowing. 

Narratives were read out for the audience to better understand the concepts discovered, recognised, and honoured. 

Then with the team from Otago Polytechnic for the last two sessions in Education 2 stream. 

Layered drivers framework with Samuel Mann, Ruth Meyers, Dave Guruge, Jamie Vaughan and Mawera Keretai (University of Otago). Shared data collected from two participants, with their stories of working through disconnections between their individual identities within a discipline and organisational practices. Introduced the concept of levers in practice from the work of Mawera. Using stories of people subjected to decolonisation and ask participants to redo these stories to remove biases participants already hold. From there, the values required for inclusion into a curriculum can be distilled. Shared website with the information on the project.

Genre prompts as reflective tools in professional practice with Samuel Mann, Dave Guruge, Ruth Meyers and Kylie Wright. Modelled how the prompts can be useful to help people tell the stories of their practice / reflections  / challenges etc. 

The conference closed and moved on to join the Ara 'Blues and Brews' end of year celebration. 

OPSITAra - Day one - notes

 Today, the OPSITAra conference begins at Ara Institute of Canterbury. The conference brings researchers from Ara, Otago Polytechnic, and Southern Institute of Technology predominantly and with other ITPs, to together to share their work.

The conference begins with a Powhiri (Māori welcome) followed by catch up networking with morning tea :) Darren Mitchel, the Ara CE  and currently also for Rohe 4 for Te Pūkenga, welcomes all conference participants. Dr; Jamie Smiler, research / rangahau director for Te Pūkenga reiterated the welcome and updated on the activities across the week with similar conferences at Unitec, the Pacific forum and a virtual conference yesterday. He encouraged research to be relevant to our communities and that research should not just live on a bookshelf, but be applied to supporting and improving the lives of many.

Scott Klenner, research manager for Otago Polytechnic and Ara introduces the first conference keynote Dr. Waikaremoana Waitoki, who discusses 'growing researcher practice and praxis' - He piko he taniwha, he taniwha rau -on every bend a chief. Began with a tribute to Professor Angus Macfarlane, who passed on last week and who shoulder tapped Moana to present this keynote. Moana summarised her whakapapa and her research objectives. She wanted to ensure the kaupapa of supporting research impact was followed through. What does it mean to conduct research that critically engages with the lived realities of communities?How can researchers ensure their work meaningfully contributes of societal transformation? and also covered some of the critical indigenous research methodologies emphasise relationality, reciprocity, cultural integrity and the co-creation of solutions, rooted in community values. Anchored work in 'the politics of distrction' - especially in the current political climate. Referred to the work of Smith (1999) - the indigenous research agenda - what are the factors that support self-determination? 

Posed the challenge to researchers to think through what is indigenous Māori? what is mātautanga Māori and how these inform ethics, funding proposals, student research, responses to complaints from lobby groups etc. Discussed racism and what happens when different groups of people, think of others as different and classify them. Used the example of the government's cutting humanities and social science research through the Marsden fund, to devalue Māori research. 

Shared a recent Marsden funded project on mātauranga Māori in psychology. Explained what was Mauri - as the energy that influences the emotional and spiritual aspects of life. Developed the concept of Mauri Ora Tai Pari - a awareness of how various influences from other people, environment etc. activates and arouses us and these cycles are now applied to mental health, alcohol/drug addictions etc. to inform care and support. The Mauri ora tako is a consolidation of the many frameworks to support wellbeing (Waitoki & McLauchlan, 2020) and applied to the work of psychologists. with a inter-relational and holistic approach. Application of the approach during the Waakari (White Island) eruption.

Then shared several other projects including raranga, raranga taku takapau: Hapū ora for tamariki and examples of implications. Recommended 3 books to follow up and the people we should be reading. Shared that Mauri books also available online and for tamariki - children. Shared current project and work. Encouraged researchers to ensure Te Tiriti is honored and the importance of making a submission to the current treaty principles bill submission.

After the keynote, I chair the first sessions in the Education 1 stream.

First up, John G. Mumford from Southern Institute of Technology on 'machine learning rules interpretability: critical perspectives for postgraduate IT students. Shared the research scope, background, focus of the presentation, implications and conclusion. Study explored the application of critical thinking to understand how cognitive biases play a role in hindering the interpretability of machine learning rules, some of the ways debiasing strategies can be used, the existence of the interpretability / accuracy trade off, and shed light on the black box of AI. key themes brought together through a scoping literature (2020 onwards) review. Key cognitive biases - awareness of selected cognitive biases, awareness of interpretability/accuracy trade off, debiasing strategies, clarifying ML rules and enhanced interpretability and the ML black box. Cognitive bias through primacy effect, information bias, and misinpretation, ambiguity aversion and insensitivity to sample size. Implications include helping students to navigate the black box, apply logic and statistical knowledge to Ml roles, navigate teachers and students biases and help learning techniques for debiasing. 

Then Robert Nelson, Sam Mann and Ruth Meyers from Otago Polytechnic  (OP) present in 'raging with the machine: Collaborating with AI in learning.' Sam presented on a chapter from Robert's Doctorate in Professional Practice thesis, studying collaborative project-based learning. Context is a one semester course where a project is formulated and 'solved'. The actual way the brief is formed, impinges on the context, collaborations and authenticity of the project. AI now pervasive and authenticity requires that AI is deployed. AI can be part of how the work is undertaken but AI can also be a collaborator with more that one AI possible in the project. Another option is to get AI to do the work and the human is the 'conductor' or the human could just be the observer of AI as they complete the project. Experimented with a project and found that the job tasks have accelerated! - from weeks to 2 hours. Raises the challenge of why we take a project across a whole semester. With AI, several projects can be undertaken in a semester! and is this desirable? 

Third presentation is with Bruno Balducci from OP who updates on his ongoing project with 'AI-safe: An assessment design tool for the safe use and against the misuse of Gen AI.' The focus of the project is about assessment validity and reliability but not about AI integrity. Information on the applied findings are at the aisafe site. This has a 'thinking tool' for use by vocational education teachers that was user-friendly, efficient and effective. AIsafe is not for or against AI in teaching, it provides a practical solution by focusing on non-exam assessments. Defined AI misuse and AI safe design. What is being assessed, how and why are the basic principles whether AI is used or not. Concepts include context-specific, authentic, collaborative, process driven or generative (as in new information being created). Provided examples of the importance of the concepts. 

After lunch, I continue in the Education stream.

I begin by presenting the outcomes of the many projects undertaken at Ara from mid-2023 to the present with 'AI in vocational education: pedagogical support vs academic literacies'. I overview the many projects taken - most drawing on the work of Sharples (2023) whereby AI plays a role to support socially constructivist learning. From the many projects, from foundation through to degree learning and across many disciplines, the main purposes of introducing and integrating AI include modelling industry practice, using AI to support pedagogy and/or to support academic literacies. However, there is a natural tension between pedagogy and academic literacy skill attainment as using AI to 'do the learning' may mean practicing academic writing skills is compromised. Therefore, important to have clear learning outcomes, with regard to using AI to support teaching and learning. 

Then Marie-Louise Barry (Ara but now at University of Canterbury) and Gus Walken (Ara) present their work 'reflection on using Gen AI in tertiary education: the case of a project management and marketing course. Summarised the learning activities using AI in project management and marketing. Project management level 6 needed to be updated, especially for currency. Used ChatGPT to develop new resources, templates etc. Learning how to prompt and fact checking required and subject expertise is imperative. Also used AI to create quizzes using XML for Moodle :) Gus described how he used ChatGPT to engage learners in a Level 6 customer engagement marketing. Asked ChatGPT to suggest 4 padlet active learning activities. Selected best, implemented and edited version. Ran this and recorded the class. Ask ChatGPT to identify any student misunderstandings from transcriptions of the recording. Then used ChatGPT to create a quiz for students to revise from analysis of the transcript. 

Following is Michelle Simbuland, Jaikaran Narula and Nick Cordery from Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) who share their work on 'teachers' perceptions on the validity, reliability, and fairness of assessed tutorial as an assessment method: addressing AI-related challenges in designing assessments.' Assessed tutorials used as classrooms unavailable due to closure of the campus from Cyclone Gabrielle. Proposed the used of assessed tutorials as an option to also meet the AI challenge. Assessed tutorials are an oral assessment. Students research the topics covered and share insights and understanding of the tutorial. Peers can also critique answers from others. Students given a list of questions a week before. For each question, there will be a first, second and third responder but the students will not know which questions will be asked and whether they will be first, second or third responder. Session is recorded for moderation. Assessor ask the question and selects the student responders. 

Semi structured interviews with kaiako to find out their perspectives of the validity, reliability and fairness of using assessed tutorials and thematically analysed the data. 79% agreed validity can be achieved but questioned if 3 questions sufficient to evidence. Ditto with reliability but requires carefully designed marking rubrics and active cross moderation. 87% agreed that the method is fair, oral assessment increases modality of assessments. Agreement that this method addresses AI related issues. Next step is to collect learner perspective.

The last presentation before afternoon tea is with Vanessa Scholes (Open Polytechnic), Rachel van Gorp (Otago), Jessica Tupou (Victoria University) and Grayson Orr (Otago). They share their work on 'can AI assist us to address cognitive load for neurodivergent online learners? starting our journey. Began by introducing AI, the concepts of cognitive load, neurodivergence and online learning. Tested the hypothesis if brief summaries of online course content could reduce cognitive load for neurodiverse learners. Summarised the key points from the literature review - cognitive load and neurodivergent learners and online learning. AI's potential role to support the challenge and the risks of of using AI. Approaches include learner led - but may be patchy as the learner has to find the tool, work out how to use it and may obtain poor quality outputs. Provider-led will provide tools but quality may still be inconsistent. Educator-led is a balance between but entails more time and work from teachers. 

Tested AI tools to see if feeding course content would yield useful summaries. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Brave's Leo AI. Both Leo AI and Copilot had some problems with large amounts of content. ChatGPT seems to produce succinct summaries and Claude also worked but more verbose. Next steps shared - ongoing testing and development, collaboration with learners, teachers and tech to test, more research and evaluation and advocacy and awareness of using AI to support neurodiverse learners. 

After afternoon tea, the last group of presentations for the day in the Education stream were presented.

First up, 'advancing pedagogical strategies in Chinese transnational education: lessons from Te Waipounamu with Jeremy Taylor from Otago. Introduced the concept of transnational education - international education delivered in a different country. Over 1200 programmes at degree level but 35 + joint programmes between NZ and China. Study occurred in China (Chengdu and Dalian) with interviews, 8 in each city. Comparison between what the UK does in this space as they have large numbers. Study investigated teaching practices and learner motivations in business management in Chengdu and mechanical engineering in Dalian. Participants were learners, teachers and programme managers. Push/pull factors established for how learners select/or have selected for them, the programmes they enrol in. 

Then John Howse from Toi Ohomai sharing an aspect of his PhD with 'exploring vocational education and training's role in just transitions: a practice-based approach to researching VET through a case study in apiculture. Began on the way 'transitions' fit into the vocational educational system. VET is couched as an economical requirement. However, VET's constant change, makes it difficult to keep to the fundamental objectives. Summarised how theory of practice architecture  applied to explore VET practices. Applied the theory beekeeping practice. Worked as a bee keeper and completed the studying of bee keeping in a formal institution. Compared his experiences with what was observed at work and what the qualifications required. Found qualifications can not encompass the nuances of practice, especially 'the affective dimension of care' which underpin bee keeping. Summarised plans to continue similar studies across other industries. Stressed the importance of connecting authentic practice to the qualifications. 

OP's Rachel McManamara, Amy Benians and Helen Mataiti share their work on 'planning a practice focused inquiry in Universal Design for Learning utilisation: questions we asked ourselves. UDL used mostly in the compulsory sector and there is a need to understand how UDL can be better aligned to VET. Project still in planning stage but as the conversations came about, the questions that arose became important to also analyse. Questions were looked at individually (thematic, linguistic and discourse) and to identify commonalities and differences. What does each know already? How to narrow the analysis tool? Where does UDL sit? What are the strengths in each researcher to see things differently? what is not being seen? A focus on this initial practice, has build relationships and shared values. 

Last session for the day is with Neeru Choudhary and Muhammad Arsian from Open Polytechnic with 'AI for higher education - trends, future challenges, and opportunities. Systematic literature review to identify gap to inform future research. AI is not new, perhaps since 1943 but Gen AI in 2023 has popularised the concept. AI in education used in profiling and prediction, intelligent tutor systems, assessment and evaluation and adaptive systems and personalisation. Rationalised the use of systematic review. Inclusion and exclusion criteria important - last 10 years, written in English and peer-reviewed in higher education. Used PRISMA methodology to refine to 246 papers. Current AI technologies include personalised leanring, administrative efficiency and language learning support. Future trends include, high precision education advanced learner tracking, collaborative learning environments and development of sophisticated educational platforms. Challenges are the ethics, data privacy/security and the digital divide. Opportunities to improve educational outcomes, personalised student support, reduced administrative burdens and transformin the educational landscape. Important to better understand student performance and engagement when AI is introduced. Quantitative study planned. 

A busy day with many good presentations to unpack. 

Toitū te Tiriti - Staying the course of Te Tiriti honouring - session notes

 Was unable to get to the presentation, from Allen+Clark yesterday. The webinar is provided free by Allen+Clark to help organisations upskill in cultural competencies

The recording was made available and here are the notes taken as I listened to the presentation from Dr. Kathie Irwin and Jen Margaret.

After a traditional welcome /karakia with Jacqui Taituha Ngawaka, the presentation began.

The presentation went through experiences and insights from Tangata Whenua (the people of the land) and Tangata Tiriti (people of the treaty) on organisational, tiriti honouring and practical strategies and actions to take to honour, commit and thrive with the Tiriti,

Allen+Clark staff undertook training and development across 2023 including in-house, online and workshops with Kathie and Jen.

Both Kathie and Jem introduced themselves (in Māori).

Katie begain with summarising the significance of the Tiriti for both Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti. There were 25  questions for the presenters to address. Katie summarised these.

Provided the background from the creation story to provide the foundation of how to better understand the Māori perspective which informed Te Tiriti as it was written in 1840. The creation story frames the previous and current actions around Te Tiriti, anchored in Māori epistomology and perspectives.

Aotearoatanga - how nation building occurs into the future, helps direct us in how the Tiriti is honoured into the future. Used the kohanga reo as a case study of the future focus and direction of how Māori vision is not limited to one stream, but how this is interwoven across many other initiatives, to develop and support te reo from birth, through to life span. 

Explained how decades of policies - the machinery of government - have been misaligned with the intents of Te Tiriti and even now, is work in progress. The current government's review of many of the alignments between Te Tiriti and public policies, is a step backwards, which may take many years to reverse :(  In essence, western perspectives' differences with Matauranga Māori, create many tensions, which require great effort  and co-operation, collaboration / partnership to shift. A braided river (Professor Angus MacFarlane, 2015) is one way to compromise but also to have each stream coalesce as they come together. Other ways include the Tiriti Whare decision making model by Professor Whataraingi Winiata and E tipu, e rea, with Sir Apirana Ngāta.

Jen continued with the work undertaken, as a Tiriti Tangata, to how she came to better understand her whakapapa and how this is drawn on to inform her ongoing journey to understand Te Tiriti. Explained how the relationships between the British Crown and Māori can be better understood. Stressed the important of all, to honour the treaty within the whanatanga sphere. In the past, the Crown/government has applied their power and in the present, finding a balance that respects both, is the important objective. 

Constitutional transformation is required (check Matike mai Aotearoa). At an organisational level, there are structures and processes than be followed (Check Ngā rerenga o Te Tiriti) to help shift from a monocultural to a pathway that recognises bicultural ways to practice.It is important to find a starting point and to travel the pathway. Tangata Whenua are allies (Haumi) with relationships. Self-determination is an important precept, so moving forward as an organisation requires good relationships and cooperation.

Important to have conversations not only in the professional sphere, but with family/friends etc. Use the current controversy presented by the Treat principles bill to open conversations and to help others understand the importance to Te Tiriti to Aotearoa future.

 Q & A / Patai followed. 

Cogniti mini symposium - notes from a few presentations and summaries from some recorded presentations

 Cogniti users and administrators organised a mini symposium, offered both online and f2f on 5th November 2024.

Three streams of presentations taking place over 2 1/2 hours. I could only get to a few in between meeting and facilitating workshops.

Notes taken from a few presentations.

- Personalised exam preparation using AI in large cohorts - Dr. Helen Mcquire and  Dr. Angela Sun (University of Sydney) context of microbiology/ immunology course. A bespoke AI agent was used to increase teacher presence with students. Went through the rationale and processes to build the chatbot. The important learning from this one, is how it is used by the lecturers, to identify knowledge gaps amongst their learners. Shared AI limitations - repetitive questions, Ai not providing direct exemplar responses. Invited potential collaborators to get in touch.

- Practice makes perfect: AI powered oral assessment preparation with Jim Ennion from Toi Ohomai. Presented on how a virtual client prepares students to become immigration advisers.Used Cogniti to help students prepare for an oral assessment. Cogniti was set up to act as a client. Prompts were set up with scenario information, set the tone to informal/not educated, have uncertain outcomes. Unfortunately, the agent hallucinated and provided incorrect information. However, student engagement was high with positive outcomes. assessment outcomes were marginally better for students who took the opportunity to use the agent.

- Always on teacher: AI brings business studies to life with James Cooper from Scots College, Sydney. Here the teacher formed an AI version of himself  (Cooper Jr.) to support students learning business at school (Year 11 and 12). The AI tutor could provide practice questions, mark student responses and help deepen content understanding. The curriculum is very prescribed, so that helped to ring fence the content. Main guide was to provide student support - replacing emails to students, generate revision questions and generate sample responses that are achievable by the students. Described process taken to built the agent. Student feedback was positive. Challenges around imprecision and working beyond the sylllabus scope. Short answers were 'double barrelled' and 'US style'. Shared the work currently to refine the agent, improve short-answer reliability, and mark essays and reports.

Last week, the various recordings of presentations was made available. Below are summaries of a few of relevance at present to my projects.

Notes from videos of presentations

- Reimagining research and writing learning through AI assistants with Dr. Lucy MacNaught and Dr. Kiri Hunter from Auckland University of Technology. Used Cogniti to help guide Masters of Nursing Science students to write research proposals. An intensive programme with many assessments. The view was that students did not have time to even look at feedback from one assessment to the next. Cogniti agents were used to encourage drafting and ongoing gradual improvement of their research proposal. Used Humphrey (2016) teaching and learning sequence to ground their work. Basically, used AI to provide feedback at each stage of the research proposal workflow. 

Christie Oldfield from Auckland University of Technology presented on 'enhancing subjective interview skills through AI role-play' in a physiotherapy context. Health care interviews are important to establish rapport with the patient but also to ensure that patient information is obtained to support the therapy sessions. Agent was created to monitor how student progressed through a patient interview. 

Plenary closed the symposium. This is presented by Danny Liu, Leitizia Wan, Sam Clarke, Minh Hubyn and Kria Coleman from the University of Sydney DVC (education).

Reflections from the symposium and work undertaken and ideas to take things into the future were covered. Overall, good examples of using Gen AI to support constructivist learning. 

instructional design unleashed - link and brief overview

This is an open access book (provided through UTS library). Th book is authored by A. J. Mangtani and published by Springer.

It is quite a large book - over 600 pages long with chapters collated into two sections.

The first section has 5 chapters covering the science of instructional design. Chapters include overviews of the anatomy of instructional design, the science of learning and its theories, learner attributes and learner modalities, pedagogical, andragogical and heutagogical approaches and Universal Design of Learning (UDL). All in, these chapters provide good coverage of the foundational knowledge and applications for instructional design. 

The second section has 6 sections and these cover the 'art' of instructional design, that is the 'how to' aspects of instructional design. Chapters cover instructional design models, objective taxonomy, storyboarding, assessment, feedback and evaluation approaches, publishing the learning journey and AI in instructional design.

Overall, the book covers the essentials of the traditional approaches to instructional design and would be useful as a text book for instructional design students and a reference for educators who are designing meaningful and engaging learning.

Becoming A scholarship in teaching and learning scholar - book overview

The Centre for Engaged Learning at Elon University, North Carolina has published an open access book - Becoming a SoTL scholar.

The book is edited by Janice Miller-Young and Nancy L. Chick.

After the introductory chapter (Chapter 1) - developing sustained SoTL journeys and identities by the editors, the book has 17 more chapters, organised into 4 sections. 

Section 1 has chapters on 'beginning a SoTL-centric career. There are 5 chapters in this section. Each worth reading. with one chapter (chapter 6) set in an Australian context.

Section 2 covers 'shifting focus towards a SoTL agenda'. This section has 5 chapters including a chapter (Chapter 9) by H.L. Marsh and E. De Courcy on - from industry to SoTL: Making the case for taking the leap.

Section 3 - sustaining SoTL engagement has 4 chapters detailing the challenges and supports required to engage in SoTL through the academic career.

Section 4 - becoming a SoTL scholar has 2 chapters. The book closes with the last chapter as an editors' epilogue.

The book is worth dipping in and out of. Although much of the work is in the North American contexts and with Westernised perspectives, there is much across the many chapters in the book to inform the development and nurturing of SoTL practices. Of note is how many academics 'fall into' SoTL, gain interest and passion from the processes of SoTL'. There is also need to have formalised and planned support for SoTL has in doing, SoTL leads to enriched academic careers, enhanced outcomes for learners, and contributes much to our understanding of learning and development.

AI index report

Came across this series of reports produced by Stanford University.

It is an AI index, tracking the reach and implications of AI. The reports go back to 2017. 

In the 2024 report, ten 'takeaways' are distilled as to the status of AI adoption, utilisation and recommendations.

The takeaways temper the hype revolving around AI currently, reminding us that AI still has a way to go but has started to make accelerate scientific work.

The takeaways are:

- AI is able to do and beat humans at some tasks. Tasks include image classification, visual reasoning and English understanding. However AI still lacking in 'common sense' and not able to undertake complex tasks exampled by competition-level mathematics.

- Industry continues to dominate AI research, instead of academia.

- Training costs for AI models are expensive. ChatGPT-4 costs $78million and Gemini Ultra $191 million.

- The US leads as the leading source of AI. China, EU and UK also active.

- Robust and standardised evaluations of LLM responsibility lacking.

- investment in Gen AI skyrockets.

- AI helps make workers more productive and can lead to higher quality work. 

- scientific progress accelerates, facilitated by AI.

- AI regulations in the US of A increases sharply.

- Greater awareness internationally of AI's potential impact, and more people report becoming more concern rather than excitement.

Will keep an eye on these reports as they help provide a holistic picture of AI's rise, adoption, and challenges. 

Driving Workforce Success: Solutions for Apprenticeships -

Notes from Webinar - on how training advisors can transform outcomes for apprentices (in the construction and infrastructure industries) using the six conditions of systems change. 

Summarised the comprehensive information and findings from the report- investigating training advisors in work-based learning in the construction and infrastructure sector.

The ConCOVE funded project conducted by Allen +Clarke covered the following: 

- Mastering the six conditions of systems change

- Uncovering the challenges hindering apprenticeships

- Applying the six conditions methodology to ensure effective, lasting changes.

- Targeting changes to enhance apprenticeship outcomes.

Katherine Hall, the Executive Director of ConCoVE, Tūhura hosted the session.

A panel - Stuart Beresford, Georgia Jackson and Sean Stack presented the study. 

To begin objective of the study was introduced - to explore the support provided by training advisors to apprentices in the construction and infrastructure. Training advisors are employed by training providers and the study also explored what sort of training was provided to advisors for their roles.

The six systems conditions (policies, practices, resource flows, relationships and connections, power dynamics and mental models) used to understand the structural (the first 3), relational (the next two) and transformational change (the last one) required to bring about system change.

Began by understanding how training advisors could be trained - literature review included review of 72 papers and understanding the 2022 training provider data. Primary data collection from 235 survey responses, 5 focus groups (plust 2 interviews) and 10 key informant interviews.

In general, the system was working well but 7 key challenges were identified. Training advisor roles, responsibilities and scope was varied. Numbers of apprentices supported ranged from 30-40 to more than a hundred. Some also covered large geographical areas and diversity of apprentice needs was also varied.

The tripartite relationships between apprenticeship, training provider and training advisor and the employer is a common structure. A consolidated approach across these relationships is important. 

The conditions for system change were matched to 10 recommendations. Discussion followed on two of these recommendations:

- use the title 'learning navigator' for the training advisor role.

- enable transfer of apprentices across different trades and training providers.

All recommendations summarised in a table on page 6 of the report.

Q & A followed.

World Federation of Polytechnics - Statement on AI

 The World Federation of Polytechnics has released their statement on AI. 

The report or statement is titled - Harnessing AI in Professional Technical Education and Training.

The statement begins with a short introduction, followed by a section on opportunities and case studies for AI in the sector. The main approaches used thus far include the generating of resources for teachers and learners; powering personalised and adaptive learning with AI; providing insights into decision making, supporting learning inclusion through the use of assistive technology; supporting teachers' professional development; and assessment of learner performance.

Following is a section on the risks inherent in using AI. Discussed are issues around the digital divide/digital equity; the unreliableness of AI; cyber-security risks; the uncertainties around the legalities of AI; little evidence at the moment at AI leads to better learning outcomes; in turn, the danger of reliance on AI and percieved negative impacts on learning and social interaction; and the challenges of academic integrity and plagiarism.

A practical ethical framework is then proposed for AI in education.

The report closes with two sections on work - AI and the labour markent and workforce implications on professional development, along with a conclusion.

 The report is relatively short, and the recommendations proposed are pragmatic and of relevance to the VET and PTET sector. The 10 recommendations include - using AI to help solve challenging problems to obtain improvements; being intentional as to how AI is used; reflect industry use and labour market demands; provision retraining opportunities for workers impacted by AI; ensure AI introduction is evidenced through piloting; digital infrastructure needs to be assured; AI literacy is a priority; integrity of assessments must be protected; but use of AI to assess learning must be used cautiously; and implementing Ai solutions must be transparent, with attention to cybersecurity, robust governance and with policies in place for staff and students using AI to share concerns, with a process for reviewing these.

All in, a pragmatic look at the opportunities/possibilities and challenges presented by AI.

The Technological-Industrial Complex and Education - book overview

 This book, published in 2024 by Springer and written by S.M.S. Curtis, V. Desimoni, M. Crumley-Effinger, F.D. Salahan and t.d. Jules is titled 'The technological-Industrial complex and education: Navigating algorithms, datafication, and artificial intelligence in comparative and international education. 

The authors are academics from Universities in the US of A. 

There are seven chapters.

The first chapter - AI in comparative and international education (CIE) in the age of the anthropocene, sets out the rationale for the book and lays out the argument for a human-centred approach to AI. 

Chapter 2 'the rise of the technological-industrial complex and education 4.0' summarises the connections between Education 1.0 to 4.0 and Web 1.0 to 4.0. The chapter argues that education is connected to the developments and expansion of the Web. Education tends to lag behind the Web developments. In the context of CIE which began as colonisation projects, the process of decolonisation is important to help assure justice and equity for the benefit of all.

The third chapter 'the emergence and progression of AI in CIE) summarises the evolution of AI and cautions the utilisation of AI with the need for ethics.

Chapter 4 then continues on with 'beyond the anthropocene: ethics, equity and the responsible use of AI in CIE.

Following, 'using AI for educational research: methodological implications. Various ways AI may be useful including AI-powered conversational robots, machine learning, natural language processing and predictive analytics tools, provide opportunities for education research. Ethics is a key to how these are deployed.

Chapter 6 'regulatory responses and emerging global scripts in the governance of AI in education (GAIE). Various efforts at regulation are presented and discussed. Countries include the EU, Turkey, China, UNESCO and the US of A. 

The last chapter 'capturing the potential of pluriversal AI ecosystems' summarises the preceding chapters. Discussion is undertaken as to how decolonising AI in in the Industry 4.0 era has implications for CIE.

Overall, the book provides a good summary into the current understanding of AI and education within the CIE context. Discussions on future implications are useful, providing cautions but also possibilities when AI is deployed meaningfully, purposefully, and ethically.