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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TEC webinar - Enhancing online teaching practice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sandra provided a broad overview as several participants had not had time to read the reports yet.

Many other institutions have not been informed by their management about the reports and the opportunities for feedback. 

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

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

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

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

Online assessments - Matthew Hillier podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Educational technology - textbook - free download during pandemic lockdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tony has summarised key points in his blog.

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

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

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

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

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

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

NZIST - work stream report summary - education services and online learning

The report, out of 7 workstreams. most relevant to my current situation, is the one providing recommendations on 'educational services and online learning'. This report combines two of the workstreams into one report and is of relevance to the day to day teaching and learning activities for NZIST.

The report takes a future focused view. In particular, the impacts of the future of work on vocational education. There is an emphasis on both ensuring outcomes for learners, especially Maori and Pacific; and meeting the current and future skill needs of employers and industries.

Therefore, there is the provision of learner support at NZIST envisioned as 24/7 learner support services and the formation of a learner digital home. The employer interface is more inter-relational in the form of an employer digital support service and the connection to a network of applied research that can be drawn on to support industry innovation.

On the teaching and learning front, there will be the formation of a distributed (but with centralised oversight?) network for Learning design and development. This will be underpinned by the learning library or repository of learning objects/resources. Teaching staff and academic leaders/management will be supported by a network-wide staff training and development service.

In the technology front, there will be an amalgation of all the usual services supporting education including student management and learning management systems including learning analytics.

Overall, the plan makes sense. The scale of integration and the complexities cannot be taken for granted as each of the current 16 subsideries (i.e. existing ITPs) have been independent entities since their inception. As such, it is often not so much the mechanics and strategic solutions which are the barrier, but the 'hearts and minds' of the people who will be operationalising the many proposed items.

Common 'ways of doing' need to be tempered by the flexibility to encourage and maintain innovation and 'thinking out of the box' solutions. As NZIST is essentially a monopoly, there will also need to be care taken to ensure that complacency does not set in, muting forward thinking and progressive developments to meet the challenges posed by the future of work.

The pandemic has shown the way forward for teams to work in a distributed network. This sets up good learnings going forward. There are many advantages in having common curriculum, shared resources, 'master qualifications', standardised processes and academic regulations and collaboration across the sector to support teaching and learning, curriculum development and research. The challenge will be the size of the undertaking. Smaller institutions will perhaps be most likely to feel their individuality is lost us various practices are subsumed into the standards of the large entity. It is important to not wrap processes into to many layers of red tape. All this does is stifle inventive and timely responses to local learner needs.

We now watch with interest how the recommendation encapsulated through the various working stream reports are intepretated. Submissions are invited and close on 15th June. The final strategic documents for NZIST will then be formulated. From experience, much of what is in the current reports will go forward unless there is a large volume of feedback to shift the direction and intent. On the whole, the direction makes sense. However, they do recommend centralised 'top-down' approaches. Management and leadership are essential to ensure the NZIST formation runs well. There will be challenges, especially given the current global and national impacts wrought by the pandemic. So, it will be a 'watch this space' scenario as the NZIST establishes governance, systems and management to meet the vocational education needs of NZ.

NZIST - publication of work stream reports

The reports from the workstreams set up to inform the establishment of the NZ Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST) are now available.

A very short timeframe is provided for feedback by 15th of June.

The reports are from the 7 workstreams which include:
- the learner journey mapping
- a model to engage with employers and communities
- education services and online learning (2 workstreams into 1 report) of most relevance to my current work as it proposes centralisation of much of of the work of my current section - programme and curriculum design and online delivery
- work-based learning centred around the merger of Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) and the polytechnics (ITPs) and how Workforce Development Councils will work.
- new academic architecture - setting out the academic board/committees structure and reporting lines.
- international education.

Feedback is invited for the direction of the various proposed models, frameworks and structures including agreement/non-agreement, gaps and issues.

Will digest the relevant reports over the weekend and do a summary next week.

Hyflex - hybrid-flexible learning - elearning for the covid-19 age?

NZ has now moved to Level 2 whereby small groups (up to 10 people) are able to congregate. At the moment, Ara's courses will still be offered mainly through distance. However, if covid-19 case numbers remain low and community transmission a lessened threat, there will be a staged return to face to face (f2f) teaching.

Our challenge, as learning designers and educational developers at Ara is to maximise the gains from moving in to distance learning, achieved through much hard work, and the transfer back into the 'tried and true' of f2f  vocational education.

I encountered hyflex - hybrid-flexible learning - some years ago. It is a relatively new model developed as a sub-set of blended learning. At that time, I thought the effort to put into developing and offering both a f2f and a distance learning course, concurrently, with the same cohort of students, to be too big a challenge. However, the events of the last few months, has caused the hyflex model to be a consideration.

The advantage of hyflex for learners are many. It allows for students' mired in a complex work/learning/job availability scenario, to perhaps begin a course f2f, move to distance when they take up a job offer and perhaps move back to f2f should the job not work out. Similarly, for insitutions, enrolments are retained despite the challenges of a fluid job market whereby students may have to accept work if and when available, given the coming economic recession wrought by the pandemic.

The hyflex model is now being considered by many institutions as one way to support their students, to maintain fiscal viability and to ensure positive outcomes. However, there is a need to ensure the way in which courses are 'converted' to hyflex is planned. In particular, how courses have synergistic connections between the f2f and the distance learning delivery aspects. F2f classes may be videoed for distance learners. Resources prepared for distance learners may be useful as 'flipped learning' resources for f2f learners. Therefore, it is important to map out, learning outcomes and learning activities and identify which resources are may usefully deployed in each delivery mode or would be 'shared' between the two modes.

All making for another lot of work going forward. Hyflex will require resourcing to ensure it is effective but provides a degree of resiliency for institutions. Going forward, should the need be to move between f2f and distances delivery as the covid-19 situation evolves, then having two 'versions' of a course - distance and f2f - may be the norm.

Writing and the need for persistence

Last week's blog provided the link to the book 'Writing for publication', an excellent resource for those starting off on the academic writing journey with many suggestions also of relevance of experienced writers.

The book provided a insider's viewpoint of the writing and publishing process enshrined in academia. One item perhaps missing, was the need for aspiring and current authors to establish the mindsets necessary to presevere with the writing process.

Whatever the genre, the skills of writing can be learnt. What sets apart dabblers and people who make a living from writing, is the need to continually hone their skill and to keep at it. Academic writing is no different. It is perhaps even more important in academia, to develop good routines and habits, to continue with scholarly reading and writing. Most people writing for academic publication, so this on top of teaching and research. To fit in the volume of reading, research project work and writing, requires good time management and planning!

The need to work from home as a result of the covid-19 pandemic has caused my routine to be changed. Instead of cycling to work each morning, using the time to reflect on and plan, and then do some writing; I have used the time to prepare for the workday, now filled with development and facilitaion of professional development workshops for our lecturers, moving rapidly into distance teaching. However, after 6 weeks, NZ is about to move into a more relaxed phase, allowing for us to move back to work on campus in a few weeks time.

The pause in writing has provided a time to take stock and to think through possible direction for writing and projects into the future. It will still be important to get back into the routine to keep up the writing habit. Without keeping to a routine and to some objective, it will be easy to loose momentum and find it difficult to get started up again! So here is looking forward to a return to 'normal routines' and a refreshed writing routine.

Writing for publication - free download until July 2020

Via Springer's facebook page, an announcement for the free download of the book - Writing for Publication - from no until end of July. The book was written by Mary Renck Jalongo and Olivia N. Saracho in 2016. Provides a good overview, with recommended web resources, to support the process of academic writing for publication.

There are thirteen chapters, across 3 parts: Professional roles and publishable writing; conference proposals and article types; and writing as professional development. Each provides tips and recommendations for moving into the world of academic publication.

The book is written in assessible language. There is good advise for beginners and even experienced writers will gain some insights.

An opportunity for educational change

Via Derek Wenmouth, comes a link to this blog - not just any 'new normal' will do - by Lesley Murrihy a NZ primary school principal. It is a call, like several other blogs/articles, for the current Covid-19 'rapid change in educational delivery' to be a lever for change within the educational system. Lesley, writes well about the need to use the learnings, wrought by the pandemic on society across the globe, to be an opportunity to sit back and think about what the actual objectives of education are. In particular, the role of education in addressing the societal equities brought about by the shifts in the last several decades to globalisation and marketisation of everything.

As someone who has benefited through the social mobility availed through access to education for my parents' generation through the sacrifices undertaken by my grandparents, I have always been aware and a supporter of the advantages conferred by being literate and 'educated'. We the benefits, also come the responsibility to 'feed it forward'.

In NZ, the reform of vocational education (RoVE) has provided a once in a life time opportunity to create a vocational education system which 'puts learners at the heart' of their learning. Due to the 'Level 4' restrictions in NZ across April, the formation of one of the pillars of RoVE, the merger of all the polytechnics and institutes of technology in to one NZ Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST - interim name) was decidedly low key. There were no major announcements apart from the main NZIST board being formed and individual boards appointed for all the 'subsideries'.

The need to rapidly then shift to distance learning, due to having to be in 'lockdown' and work from home for over 5 weeks, created a mass professional development objective across the entire educational sector. Therefore, we now have two unique 'once in a lifetime' opportunities to go forward with.

The blog by Lesley, indicates the need to be circumspect and to identify the objectives of education. In NZ VET, some of this was completed through the RoVE process. It is now important to perhaps review these objectives, in light of what has now taken place across the pandemic. NZ will have to remain, for the near future, 'an island of itself'. The NZ government's decision to 'go hard and go early' has led to the possibility of eliminating the virus. However, to keep the virus at bay will mean keeping external borders closed and strong social distancing measures. High earners of income like tourism will struggle and other parts of the economy, will have to shift to meet new challenges. VET's role is to support training and education and be 'agile' and flexible to meet industry needs as many may have to seek retraining.

The mass 'training' of the VET workforce to be able to 'deliver' to learners remotely, will now be an advantage. How this is leveraged will be important. The opportunity is now there to provide education 'when and where' learners require the learning. Instead of institutionally directed learning, the possibility of co-created curriculum with learners, is now even more achieveable. What is now required is time to think through the best ways to meet learners' needs given the access we now have to wider understanding and capability of technology-enhanced learning.

Returning to LinkedIn as a resource - distance/remote learning

I joined LinkedIn quite a few years ago but never really participated until a couple of months ago.

The reasons are many, but one would be the 'corporate' or 'organisational management' focus for many of the posts in my feed due to the people I am linked in with.

However, the international effects of Covid-19 has meant everyone has been affected as people scramble, in their own contexts, to cope with the need for rapid change.

The effect on having to shift education online has therefore created a large amount of activity and LinkedIn has been a source of many good articles, resources, think pieces and guides on how to cope.

Here is a small selection, gleaned over the last couple of weeks:

- Inge de Waard has provided some 'quick guides' on shifting from f2f to remote/distance learning, albeit from a higher education context, but still good templates to customise from.

- Alison Miller who consults in the elearning arena, provides links to a range of resources.

- Mark Nichols work on distance learning is always good to keep up with.

- Derek Wenmoth often helps educators see beyond the present and presents implication for current decisions.

- Michael Sankey's work is focussed on bigger picture and organisation strategy  related to on-line learning.

- Peter Mellow often links to useful resources for educators.

- Joyce Seitzinger is a go to for learning design in the area of distance/online learning.

- Mark Brown provides a mix of links to the big picture and educator practice.

Therefore, tapping into the present social networking opportunities, provides for a way to benchmark what we are doing at Ara. In particular, some idea of what others are doing, the important theoretical underpinnings for decisions made on curriculum and learning design, and reflections on things that have worked and challenges. All in, a good way to be supported and not feel that we are not the only ones caught up in a massive shift from the known into the unforseeable.

Holding on to institutional learning in response to swift change

We are now into our third week of Level 4 'lockdown' in New Zealand, with another week to go. Indications are promising, with a decline in number of covid-19 cases in the last several days. A decision will be made Monday next week (20/4) on what will happen next. Whether the country will continue at L4 or move progressively to L3. Even at L3, most schools and VET institutes and universities will likely remain closed for the short term.

Therefore, we continue with distance/remote delivery for the short term, with plans to move back into normal delivery soon. Planning for the next month or so, will therefore be difficult, given the uncertainties. At the moment, after 3 weeks of intense activity providing professional development and support to our lecturers to move to distance delivery, we move into the next stage of ensuring distance delivery challenges are provided with sufficient advise and information to solve these. Coupled with this work, is the next step of ensuring learning and teaching for the rest of the semester is also well resourced and supported. One key task will be to help lecturers re-configure summative assessments to allow for distance learning. We have begun looking into on-line invigilation/proctoring platforms. These tools come at some costs and summative assessments online have not been encouraged. However, there will be a few programmes requiring traditional exams, due to registration board requirements and we will need to find, evaluate, test and implement a process very quickly, if exams have to be run online.

The Easter 'break' has also provided some time to reflect on the swift changes. I have been ambivalent about the range of on-line tools we have been supporting our lecturers to use. In the main, these tools (LMS, video conferecing, video lecture capture), provide a way for our lecturers to replicate f2f teaching on-line. The 'push' content out to learners model, is still the majority approach instead of a 'pull' and co-constructed model of learning which is possible. Digital literacy challenges and some equity issues with learners access to hardware and infrastructure (wifi) mean some programmes have been able to move into a holding pattern of sorts. However, in the main, we still see the teacher directed model as predominant. Therefore, in a way, as with the earthquakes, the opportunity to sift practice has been lost, due to constraints of time and capability.   However, there will be pockets of innovation, these we need to record, evaluate, celebrate and disseminate.

Derek Wenmouth provides some ideas for moving forward. There is need to think through what is to be emphased, going forward. Is education to meet compliance/'quality'/learner outcomes? or should we transition to something better? In the VET sector, the combination of the sudden move to another mode of delivery, unfamiliar to many institutes, and the formation of the NZ Institute of Skills and Technology, provide a once in a generation opportunity to shift practice. We learnt much from coping with the earthquakes, almost a decade ago. However, may initiatives moved back to the status quo once the market driven model of education took precedence. After all, Canterbury providers had to compete with all the other institutes and 'doing thing differently' was often 'less cost efficient'

Hopefully, this time around, some of the learnings from having to move to another form of delivery, will provide the nucleus for really actioning the mantra of 'the learner at the heart of learning'. As meeting the covid-19 challenge has shown, we have the technology and much of the capability with some innovation being shown. These need to be tapped into, going into the future, to ensure VET is 'seamless' as far as the learner is concerned and that 'delivery' is driven by the learner, not by the educational provider, as has been the case thus far.

Are you zoomed out?

I think I can speak for many when I say 'I am zoomed out!'. Last week, our team ran 4 workshops for our lecturers as they prepare to embark on distance learning. We had daily zoom team meetings to coordinate the workshops, debrief and additional meetings with our learning technologies to work out the technology. Average number of video conferencing meetings - 4 per day! All of this activity, left little time to do actual work.

This week, we are only offering one workshop this morning, to tie things together and bring the series of 'distance learning teaching' workshops to a close. However, we will be supporting the learning technologies team with their workshops covering our core learning platforms, Moodle, Panopto (for video sharing) and zoom (for video conferencing). They are offering 5 workshops this week, Taking that is a short week as Friday is a public holiday, it will be another busy week on-line in virtual meetings.

Therefore, it was good to read through this blog by Daniel Stanford on iddblog on alternatives to video conferencing. Our lecturers have become attached to zoom as it provides an easy entry into distance teaching. However, the 'stage on the sage' delivery approach is prevalent when all you do when you move to teaching on-line, is replicate the lecture. Therefore, the blog provides a platform for thinking through, more critically, the other ways possible to connect with and engage our learners.

A week of working from home and 2 days into NZ 'close down'

It's been a hectic week. After a series of meetings on Monday, my division headed home due to NZ being put on L2 which required as many people as able, to work from home. Levels 1 - 4 are NZ responses to the spread of covid-19 into NZ.

Then, just after lunch on Monday, NZ prime minister raised the level to 3 - requiring as many people as possible to work from home and a shutdown of all non-essential commercial activity (Level 4) as from midnight Wednesday.

So today, is day 2 of the 'shut down' which sees all schools, community facilities, non-essential commerce closed. The entire population is not to venture from their homes except to shop for groceries or pick up meds at the pharmacy. Going for a walk is OK but has to be within your neighbourhood. Driving to the Port Hills for a walk is not allowed :( Today, it is wet, so staying at home, warm and dry, and getting lots of work done is not a hardship. It is the sunny, blue sky days which are difficult, when the hills or beach beckon.

The shutdown is to last 4 weeks. With Ara closed, my work team will be working with our teachers to get their courses running as distance learning courses - by just after Easter. Hence, we have been busy setting up resource sites and there will be a series of workshops on 'how to teach from a distance', next week.

I checked linkedIn just after lunch and see some of our heads of department have posted. Nigel Young, head of department of business and computing, who is relatively new to Ara but with a strong background in developing elearning posted good hints.  Michael Edmonds, head of department for engineering and architecture, reminded us about how we in Christchurch are well practiced in dealing with the unexpected due to shared experiences from the earthquakes and mosque shootings.

Also from linkedIn is Mark Nichols advise on shifting modes of learning.  Mark was elearning leader for the Open Polytechnic in NZ for a time and well-recognised for his expertise in 'distance delivery'. He has practical advise for 'administrators' and 'educators'.

Derek Wenmouth posted on 'connectedness' and some tips on ensuring that 'remote' discussions can be undertaken by being prepared and a summary of the protocols for non-f2f interaction.

So, time away from the physical busyness of the workplace, has allowed many to also do some reflection and consolidation. It will be interesting to see how things are, at the end of next week :)

Working from home

We live in challenging times. Although the number of covid-19 cases in NZ is still low and almost all originating from returning Kiwis or tourists, the government has raised alert level to 2 on Saturday, out of a 4 level scale.

Following have been persistent calls to raise the level to 4 , basically to snuff out any possibility of virus spread NOW rather than wait until there is clear evidence of community dispersal.

Given the dire experiences in China, Europe and now Australia (with a lockdown imminent in NSW and Victoria), it is perhaps best to pay attention to the calls for lockdown now rather than later :(

As part of level 2 alert, all employees who are able to are called to work from home. So today, after a series of planning meetings, all of my division will be working from home. We have had several 'tryout' days in the past two weeks. Zoom, our video conferencing platform and microsoft Teams have been mainstays for work productivity along with email and the Teams 'chat function'. As an institution, we are better placed than nine years ago, when the Christchurch earthquake struck and we lost all access to our internal networks and physical entry to our main campus for a whole semester.

However, many of our programmes, due to their vocational nature, will be hard pushed to go fully on-line. The practice-based / hands-on emphasis for our courses makes going fully into on-line and distance delivery, a major challenge. The focus for these courses is to develop small and well-structured 'projects' or inquiries for students to apply what they have learnt so far, to complete. We will evaluate how this approach has worked after things calm down.

For the moments, it will take some adjustment for all our team and the wider Ara community to adjust to working from home, whilst still being able to support each other as we move through the challenge.

Identity, pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning: supporting the processes of becoming a tradesperson -- previews access

Apart from the short previews of each chapter on my book's publisher's website, other means of access include:

• Amazon - hardcopy of book - has preview of parts of the Foreword written by Professor Stephen Billett and the preface which has summaries of chapters.
• Google books - has portions of chapter 1 and 2.

Happy reading :)

Horizon report 2020

The latest issue of the Horizon report is now up on the Educause library.

There is a good infographic, summarising the various emerging technologies and trends.

This year, there is a change in how the report is structured. The familiar 'horizons' of xx years to adoption, anchoring past reports, are not used. Instead, wider social/global trends - political, economic, social, technological, and higher education trends are reviewed as the influences and future trajectory for emerging technologies and practices.

The usual suspects featured in pass reports show up but this time around, rationalised better against the wider influences listed above.

The main technologies are also reported in a broader sweep. These are:

• Analytics for student success
• Adaptive learning technologies - related to above of applying analytics to enhance learning
• artificial intelligence and machine learning - ditto
• Open education resources 
• extended reality - ie. XR = AR/VR/MR (haptic)
• Elevation of instructional design - to bring pedagogy into the planning, development and deployment of promising technologies.

All in, a good summary, as always of potentialities. This time around, better linkages to the many societal influences on how technology may assist learners. Plus the need to attain expertise in understanding the pedagogical issues related to introducing the many enablers of technology enhanced learning.

Identity, pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning: book now published

My book, a product of last year's academic study leave, is now published and available on Springer website. The book's subtitile: supporting the processes of becoming a tradesperson, draws from my framework of trades work learning as being a phased journey of belonging to a workplace, becoming  and eventually being a trades person.

It's a significant milestone for me, being my first monograph. I enjoyed the process of writing the many chapters and am grateful to my colleagues and my ex PhD supervisor, Professor Stephen Billett from Griffith University. for support as proofreaders and advisers.

I am hopeful the book fills a gap in the literature of work derived from a practitioner's perspective, both as a tradesperson and a teacher of trades work. No doubt large component of scholarship is also consolidated in the book. However, it is the learnings attained through my apprenticeship and work as a pastrycook/baker that inform the direction and premises woven through the book. My aim through each chapter being to answer the query - how is this useful to a trades teacher? and what can be applied to teaching trades work from these concepts?

I am now working towards bringing together a collaborative project to leverage off the coming merger of all the polytechnics in NZ into one entity - tentatively called Pukenga Aotearoa/Skills NZ. A 'small' project to gauge the digital literacy and affordances of vocational education learners will help be bring together a team of vocational educator researchers. I am hopeful this initial project will pave the way to a larger, externally funded project to implement and consolidate the system/process of consolidated off and on-job support for trades learners. In essence, if we are to 'put the learner at the heart of the learning' then we seriously need to 'hear the learners' voice' and to support their learning from their perspective (i.e. the experienced curriculum) and not impose from logistical/institutional/funding requirements.