Degree apprenticeships - overview

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has begun a series of consultations which will lead to reviews of the NZ qualifications system. The first one is on microcredentials and I overviewed some of the definitions and implications on this blog a few weeks ago.

Another initiative may be the concept of degree apprenticeships i.e. a degree qualification completed primarily through workplace based learning. Degree apprenticeship is not a new concept but have undergone a recent revival, particularly in the United Kingdom. At the INAP conference in Washington DC late last year, there was a large contigent from Ireland, presenting on their first roll out of their degree apprenticeship, situated within the insurance industry context.

The revival of qualifications completed through a 'learn while you earn' system, is a response to the increased costs of degree qualification completions. Especially given there is evidence to suggest that the payback via completing a traditional apprenticeship in the trades / technology provides similar economic gains to degree completion - see this report for NZ perspective.

In NZ, the engineering industry, has had major challenges finding sufficiently skilled and qualified engineers, especially at the 'technician' level which supports engineers with technical support and expertise. A pilot study, undertaken by Massey University suggested good returns for both industry and individuals. Findings were also presented at last years NZ Vocational Education Research forum by Professor Jenny Poskitt.

The main advantages of situated, authentic learning apply for study whilst working. Many people complete degrees through part-time study which provides similar opportunities. However, workplace learning has always had inherent challenges. There is a large corpus of literature on how to ameliorate the issues and to support practice-based learning in busy workplaces. So, simply doing small tweaks to institute based / structured and designed learning curriculum, does not perhaps deliver the best opportunities for learners or to industry. There is a need for innovative design of learning to encourage the development of important 'soft' skills and most importantly, the skill to be able to learn/ relearn continually to keep pace with the rapid change many industries are experiencing.

Therefore, as always, important to look clearly at what is expected of a graduate who has been accredited a qualification. How can many of the graduate profile outcomes be met through 'naturally occurring evidence' of learning and how can rigour be assured, especially when it comes to 'knowledge' when workplaces each have their own, idiosyncratic 'learning curriculum' best suited to their own needs.

Education reform in NZ - continued - University sector views

Another flurry of activity through the media as the various NZ tertiary sectors submit views to the new Minister of Education's mandate to reform the NZ education system.

Following on from posts over the last couples of weeks on vocational education and the school qualifications, there is now perspectives from the university sector. These are recorded from the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) convening of a workshop from the NZ university sector with submissions also from unions and students. The Ministers perspectives are found here and the summary of the recommendations arising from the workshop are reported here.

All the above signals the Labour Government's intention to move away from the decades of emphasis on market-let economics - the neo-liberal agenda. In NZ, a good overview with regards to neo-liberalism's effect on education is the book - Children of Rogernomics - a neo-liberal generation leaves school. Aspects of the perspectives collected in this book are also reflected in this survey on 18-24 year olds - worried about the prospects of the digital future on work. In particular, on the precarious world of work with poor prospects for tenure, intensive demands to continually retrain / re-skill / re-invent oneself and the dated career advise the currently receive.

Discussion on the effects of neo-liberalism on education is not new. See this 2006 book mostly on the American context. The world-wide push back on the negative effects wrought by neo-liberalism is a decade old. It has taken time for people to understand what the effects are and research and explore alternatives. In NZ, under an MMP (mixed member proportional) electoral system, the current Labour Party came into government at the end of last year, due to the decision made by 'king maker'. The decision was based on his feeling of the electorate seeking a change towards a more balanced social system.

 Therefore, now important to explore what other governments have been doing with their education systems. Especially ones which encourage collaboration across the sector instead of a competitive market-driven ethos. Interesting times ahead for all NZ educators which is perceived by those at the chalk-face to be under-funded, with teacher shortages in the compulsory school sector and a need to shift curriculum and pedagogy to reflect the needs of the future.

NZ school qualifications - review

There has been discussion for several years in NZ, on how to reform the NZ school qualification structure. There is already a high level review of NZ education system, signaled by the new Ministery of Education, with movement in the vocational education sector as summarised in my last blog.

One avenue explored is from this report by the NZ Initiative, titled "Spoiled by Choice".  The NZ initiative is a non-partisan 'think-tank' which is on the 'right' of the political spectrum. It seeks to promote competitive, open and dynamic economies and a free fair and cohesive society through uncovering policies and ideas.The report, provides a good overview and history of the National Certificate in Education (NCEA), which was introduced between 2002 and 2004. Both my children just missed the changeover and finished their secondary school just before NCEA began, so I was spared the angst of having to understand the 'new' system. The report details the promises and how some of these became challenges. One aspect being the process of 'credit harvesting' and the shift of teachers and students to 'teaching / learning for the assessment'. The report also proposes that NCEA has not lessened the socio-economic divide and that a 'one size fits all' system has been difficult.

Stuart Middleton, who has been a supporter of NCEA provides a summary In particular, he has always advocated the 'flexibility' inherent within NCEA to meet the needs of student who are 'non-academic' and seek a different pathway through school towards work or tertiary study which is vocational.

The main recommendations in the NZ Initiative report are:

Raise English and te reo and maths requirements

Expect a broader core of subjects

Reduce number of standards

Make it harder to teach to the test

Reduce reliance on internal assessment

Use comparative judgment software 
Commission independent analysis.

Another report which is connected is one commissioned by the Children's Commission in NZ. This report - titled "Education matters to me: key insights" provides for the student voice. A summary is provided through Stuff. In the report, there is a call to listen to students and to be cognisant of their needs. In particular, their individuality, what they bring with them to school, an end to racism and to 'teach me the way i learn best'. 

As any change in the school system impacts on tertiary education, it is important to keep up with what is happening. 

Vocational Education reform - New Zealand

The coming few years will be interesting times for NZ educators across all sectors from early childhood to tertiary. The new Labour government has launched discussions into an overhaul of the NZ education system. The Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, announced late last year, sweeping reforms of the sector, including review of National Certificates in Education and scraping National standards at primary school level.  There will also be a study into the funding model for the 16 NZ Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs).

The last major reform in NZ of education was 30 years ago when the then Labour government devolved centralised control of schools through the 'tomorrow's schools' changes. As with all reforms, there have been pluses and minuses and winners and losers. The National Centre for Educational Research NZCER has a series of reports on impacts through the years.

It is timely to look into how NZ's education system is coping with the advent of 'future of work' impacts and 'Industry 4.0'. As will all reforms, there will be compromises and people with strong opinions along the right / left continuum.

One of the initiatives into seeking opinion on how to go forward with vocational education in NZ, was a workshop convened in Manukau a couple of weeks ago - the Voices of Tertiary Education forum. The workshop gathered representatives from the teacher unions, students, and ITP leaders to produce some recommendations for the NZ VET sector. There was another workshop for the university sector as well.

The outcomes from the workshop include:

·        - Work with staff, students and sector leaders to develop a new funding model

·        - Ensure a new funding model guarantees the regional provision of tertiary education, so all people can access learning opportunities in their communities

·        - Take the immediate step in Budget 2018 of changing the Student Achievement Component funding under-delivery figure to a more reasonable level

·        - Host further forums dedicated to discussing the future of the vocational education and training sector

·     -    Build a system that recognises and provides for diverse learners – including, but not limited to, Māori, Pasifika, second chance learners, sole parents, mature students, students with disabilities, and LGBT

In general, responses from the sector have been positive, to need to re-vitalise and re-evaluate IPT funding systems. For example, Toi Ohomai CE was mostly optimistic. TEU also collected responses from Kirk HOpe who is CE of Business NZ - who called for better alignment between qualifications, educational outcomes and industry and Sandra Grey, National TEU president response of a call to action to make the NZ educational system better. Chris Whelan, Executive Director of Universities NZ, provides the university perspective.

All in, there is a need to keep up with what is happening as the sector submits proposals and various committees are convened to discuss and feedback on recommendations. Exciting times ahead :)

Industry 4.0 - challenges and implications to education - NZ context

The term Industry 4.0 was coined in Germany around 2011. It has roots in the manufacturing industry and the term is based on societies move into the 4th industrial revolution. First one being the use of water power and steam to drive machines, second the shift into mass production and the use of electricity, and the third being the info. tech. computer and automation revolution. The fourth industrial revolution is premised on 'smart technology' with the leveraging of AI and robotics, the internet of things (IoT) and integration across machines and devices.

The principles driving Industry 4.0 are interoperability, information transparency, support of human work by cybernectic / cyberphysical systems, and decentralized decision making (i.e. AI).

In NZ, Callaghan Innovation convened a meeting of industry leader to discuss the impact of Industry 4.0 on NZ manufacturing and wider industries. Industry 4.0 is envisaged eventually to encompass all aspects of manufacturing across the supply chain. For example, NZ primary industries have been working for many years on a 'farm to fork' system to better meet customer needs but also to maintain sustainable practices. Industry leaders across NZ have had many occasions to catch up the implications to their businesses - including this article (2015) and this conference on the internet of things. (2017).

The impacts on education are many. Firstly, there is the push towards STEM as Industry 4.0 hinges on the interface and interconnections between machines, materials and digital technologies. However, understanding the implication to humans, the society at large and being able to see the big picture, requires a high degree of critical thinking. The humanities need to be proactive in representing the 'human' in how industry 4.0 evolves. Secondly, there is the need for all to understand the promises and possible threats of IoT, in particular, the pervasive effects across future lives. Education needs to prepare people for collaboration not only with others but to include 'non-human' entities. Included is the need to be able to work across a networked world, whereby cultural competency includes others who view the world with different perspectives. Thirdly, there is a need to help all individuals become savvy about how to proceed in a world which changes rapidly and where 'careers' across a lifetime, shift constantly. This NZ Herald 2016 article calls for the need to prepare 'kids' for the robot revolution and recommends an optimistic approach to meeting the surge of change. As the new Minister of Education announces reforms in the NZ education system, it will be important to contribute to the discussion as this is a crucial time for how countries shift their education systems to cope with the challenges of Industry 4.0.

Microcredentialling - overview

Microcredentialling is one of the ‘buzz’ items now rapidly becoming a ‘must have’ within formal institutions’ portfolio. In NZ, there have been growing interest in, see this and this, and the NZ qualifications Authority (NZQA) is undertaking a series of pilots – edubits – to work out how micro-credentials could be implemented.

However, there are many interpretations of what actually are micro-credentials, see here for one.

In general, microcredentials belong within established suites of qualification options. They may be useful in the following segments of learner journeys:

As a precursor to entry into a programme, or shift to slightly re-configured job etc.

Within a formalised programme of learning to enable greater flexibility – i.e. through ‘stacking’, RPL or recognition of ‘soft skills’ etc.

For continual professional development – e.g. programmers up-skilling to new programming language.

An established case study distilled some principles for development and implementation of micro-credentials within a teacher professional development programme.

Within the NZ context, Mischewski from E2E completed a report for the Tertiary Education Commision to find out how micro-credentials can be used to improve engineering as an educational option, in particular at diploma level. Figure 5 – page 23 provides an example in engineering – for how microcredentailling may be useful for beginning, developing, upskilling and expert engineers and the types of learning including micro, work-based and formal that can be credentialed. The report also summarises pros and cons within the NZ engineering industry and education contexts.

Future skills for work - NZ context

The NZ Heraldreported last week, that NZ education came up tops with regard to preparing people for the world of future skills. These skills include:

• interdisciplinary skills

• creative and analytical skills

• entrepreneurial skills

•  leadership skills

• digital and technical skills and

• global awareness and civic education.

We need to move from thinking about employability skills etc. to focus more on preparing people for being able to understand, navigate and survive the coming challenges wrought by AI and robotics on work – see one example Frey et al.

Many exponents of solutions promote the adoption of Universal Basic Income (UBI), including the current NZ government on 'the future of work' summarised in a previous blog. However, the UBI only goes part way. Individuals still need to be proactive and have the wherewithal to work out for themselves, their aspirations and carve a career 'pathway or trajectory' for themselves. The provision of UBI may be seen as a soft landing cushion for individuals seeking to or are forced to re-evaluate their work options

See two previous book reviews summarising the need for individuals to be assisted - Book by Gratton on the shift to the future of work and Thompson on 'smarter than you think'. Both, along with this paper by Dr. Gog Soon Joo, advocate for a shift in thinking from the current model of education to skills to employment to one which is centred more around the individual being prepared to take ownerships of their trajectory – the entrepreneur to professional to leader career.

Dr. Gog's context is Singapore, which is mentioned in two recent reports prepared by the World Economic Council on the future of work. The first report - future of work - accelerating workforce reskilling fro the fourth industrial revolution - features the Institute of Adult Learning (IAL) and the second report - a white paper on reskilling - uses the Skills Future as one of the case studies of a whole government initiative to provide citizens with information, incentives and advise on continual professional development.

With the Labour party forming the current government in NZ, some of the recommendations proposed from their future of work project, will no doubt inform some of the ways forward. Over the last five years, career pathways (see vocational pathways) and careers information through careers NZ (which was recently res-structured) have improved markedly. However, there is still a focus on the 'education to skills to employment' approach with some modicum of preparing the individual with skills to move their own career on - the role and agency of the individual, still needs to be made more overt though. See this 2011 paper by Vaughan on shifting the NZ system to enable individuals instead of concentrating on skills development. 

SEED (Sharing Educational Experience and Development) - Ara Institute of Canterbury

Here are notes taken at the first Ara’s annual SEED (Sharing Educational Experience and Development) for 2018.

The theme for this session was technology in the classroom.

First up is Melissa Barber, programme leader for LevelCertificate in Study and Career Preparation for pre-health and medical imaging pathways. She presents on ‘the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in the pre-health programme’. Began with background on the programme and focus of the presentation – to improve students' on-going engagement and revision as the programme progressed. Implemented a series of summative on-line quizzes on 2 courses, to increase engagement. Six quizzes in total, usually held every 2 weeks and with each having 15 items. Time limit for students to complete the quizzes and best score of 5 out of the 6 used to calculate final mark. Replaces a high stakes 90% exam. Still an exam but lower weighting (40%) and the progressive quizzes provide feedback on progress so students are able to access support with weak areas.  Second iteration being run this semester and will be evaluated to obtain feedback on efficacy of this approach. Included will be monitoring beyond this programme of students as they move across to degree programmes. To ensure there is authenticity of student undertaking the quiz, the time frame is over weekends and questions and multiple choice options are randomised. Each student then goes through a different version. The quiz is open book but students only have 30 minutes to complete. Questions ensued on robustness of our LMS and challenges of running summative assessments on it. Keeping to short quizzes and time delimitation helps. Need to ensure students are provided with proviso that they may have to resit if LMS fails.

Nathan Walsh provided a quick overview of OneNote Classnotebook and how it can be used to support learning.

Secondly, Dr. Isis Carter from Applied Sciences on ‘the use of Moodle forums for engagement and formative assessment in applied science’. Used forums for level 5 course on Industrial biomolecules. Was keen to improve students' ability to communicate and collaborate to prepare them for work in science – which is premised on high levels of collaborative work. Important to also provide formative feedback to students. Used forums (weighted at 10%) as the tool to encourage students to communicate clearly in writing on complex content. Students commented (at least to two peers) on each other’s postings to help each other refine their ‘final’ submission. Has run for two years (but with small number of students) and adjusted assignment to match learning outcome. The forum provided a means for the tutor to model good writing practice and scaffold students to the level of writing expected. These then useful for completing written report as students could use initial work from the forum and also from other students (but credited). Students needed confidence to undertake feedback, they had to learn the language of science and for feedback. Student feedback indicates need to build student confidence and student engagement increased when grade added for timely responses.

Smarter than you think – book overview

Here is an overview of the book - Smarter than you think; How technology is changing our minds for the better - by Clive Thompson. Published 2013 by Penguin Press.

Positive review from nytimes.

The book proposes humans are innately wired up to learn. AI/ robots / AI agents etc. are only as good as their programmes. When both machines and humans work together, they are better than all human or all AI efforts. Therefore, it is important to leverage off the potentialities of AI etc. rather than fearing the coming onslaught.

Additionally, the way we perceive the world and ‘knowledge’ has changed with the widespread availability of information and the ubiquity of ‘smart devices’. Instead of being passive consumers, large numbers now create and share their efforts. People who would not have written / shared experiences beyond their friends and families 30 years ago, now upload opinion pieces, instructions, reflections etc.

The book has 10 chapters and is written in an accessible prose. Notes (30+pages) and index round off the book.

By way of introduction, chapter 1 ‘the rise of the centaur’ sets the scene. The chapter uses the well-known late 90’s batter between chess master Gary Kasporov and the IBM Deep Blue to introduce the concept that both humans and computers have their own strengths and weaknesses. In 2005, ‘free-style’ chess tournaments saw two relatively lower ranked chess players, who were able to ‘collaborate’ with a chess computer, win the tournament against teams made up of grandmaster chess players or chess computers only. The ability to integrate machine assistance into the decision making process of chess, is argued to be the defining factor. This chapter also presents how the author has shifted positions, from being pessimistic about the future digital future, to being optimistic about how humankind has been able to leverage off the many opportunities afforded.

The second chapter, ‘we the memorious’ overviews the ways people remember and discusses the pros and cons of recording ‘life blogs’ or ‘video blogs’ of daily happenings. Technology allows us to have ‘infinite memory’ but too much is perhaps not always good.

Chapter 3 is on the theme ‘public thinking’ summarises the rise of ‘citizenship journalism’. How some ‘accidental bloggers’ became conduits for information when dictatorial regimes imposed news blackouts and the ways this form of communication has changed our lives forever. For large segments of society who never really did much reading or writing, the advent of blogging has shifted many into becoming much more literate to cope with a mostly text based internet. There is evidence first year students write longer pieces and more complex pieces when compared to two decades ago.

Of interest to educators, the chapter on ‘new literacies’ overviews the shift from the focus of literacy on reading and writing to encompassing multiliteracies. These include all the usual needs to become digitally fluent but also the visual literacies and ‘3D literacies’ which new tools and platforms bring.

Next chapter extends to the previous with discussion around ‘the art of finding’. Opens with a discussion on how being able to google, helps us surmount the ‘tip of the tongue’ syndrome but also may cause some to lose confidence when the internet goes down or their smart phone is unable to connect with the internet. Discusses how access to anytime/ anywhere information changes the way we prioritise what we learn and how dependence may affect our creativity. Too much information is a distraction but selected digital memories can amplify our access to brain functions.

Following is a chapter on ‘the puzzle hungry world’ which tracks the rise of digital games and the shift in how games are used by people. In particular, how games which require collaboration and harness collective thinking changes the way people play, work and learn.

The next chapter is also useful for educators as it discusses the potentialities digital technologies bring to the ‘Digital school’. Khan academy is used as an example of how primary school children learn advanced mathematics when they are allowed to become self-directed and learn for their own fulfilment. Uses example from NZ school on how blogging improved reading and writing for students as their work was being read by others beyond their own community. Also discusses the pro and cons of teaching children to code.

The chapter on ‘Ambient awareness’ adds another technology assisted capability / potentiality. The digital trail collected across our lives lead to data patterns, allowing analysis to reveal our routine life flow. Included are the networks we are part off and our perspectives on life. Collection of ‘self-talk’ and broadcasting these, help understand the perspectives across a team. The pros and cons of ambient awareness are discussed.

‘The connected society’ is the penultimate chapter and brings together the ideas from the previous chapters. Uses citizen instigated protests against the state in China / Egypt / Azerbaijian as examples of how technology, tapped through the expertise of a few becoming mainstream practice, is able to create social / political change.

The epilogue returns the discussion to AI with Watson, an IBM programme able to play Jeopardy - requiring AI to take intuitive leaps based on experienced living. At the moment, Watson runs on a supercomputer but predictions are for supercomputer processing speeds will be available within a decade on a laptop. If Watson is a precursor, that some of the quirks and idiosyncrasies humans are capable of, may no longer the sole domain of humans. 

Overall, the book can be seen to be counter to other books on a similar vein. For example - The Shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains. My thoughts are than humans have survived due to their adaptability. Adaptations can go either way and most people will experience, learn and adjust. Not to the polar opposites of technology will make us all become subservient or we become part cyborg, but a sort of middle ground whereby some will have to work through 'addiction' to the less advantageous aspects of technology and other will overly embrace the perceived advantage. Education has to play a role in assisting people to understand the pros and cons, attain the literacies to make use of the aspects of technology which will enhance their lives, and continue to be vigilant as to how AI develops (i.e. the ethics of AI). 

The Shift: The future of work is already here - book overview

The Shift: The future of work is already here by Gratton, L. Published in 2011 by Harper Collins.

Briefly browsed through this book a few years ago when it arrived at the Ara library. Over the summer, completed a deeper read of the concepts proposed. In part due to the paucity of literature proposing solutions beyond UBI (universal basic income) as a panacea for the implications wrought by AI / robotics / globalisation / neoliberalisation etc. on the future of work.

Generally positive reviews from aidnography blog, management today magazine and financial times. The tone of reviews indicate the book to have a business / organisational management slant.

The book is readable to a lay audience and written in a conversational style. There are 11 chapters plus preface and introduction with 5 parts dividing up the book into themes. Due to the rapid movement in this area of research, the bibliography is already dated. At the end of the book, there is also a ‘follow up’ section with author contact etc., acknowledgements and comprehensive notes for those keen to explore various items further.

The introduction details the rationalisation and the ‘how the book came about’. In particular, the metaphor of quilting is used to illustrate a way forward. The introduction is a caveat in part, outlining the challenges inherent in predicting the future and the ways the used to try to circumvent some of the pitfalls. Two assumptions are used to anchor the various themes, firstly is that generalised skills may not be the panacea, instead there is a need for specialists to constantly ‘reinvent’ themselves; secondly, individualism is replaced by collaboration and networks.

Chapter 1 makes up the one chapter in Part 1 ‘the forces that will shape your future’. The five forces are: technology, globalisation, demography and longevity, society and energy resources. Each of the forces is discussed and extended to provide deeper detailing to make a total of 32. Nothing new in these but the thematic collation is useful. Suggests individuals need to craft their own future by discarding items no longer required, embroidering the items of importance, discovering and collecting new pieces, sorting to prioritise and continually looking for patterns.

Part 2 is made up of 3 chapters which summarise the ‘dark side of the default future’ with the increase in fragmentation as we experience our world in sound bites, facebook likes and random wanderings around the web. Of importance is the effect on how we learn and progress as our lives becomes challenged by having to deal with a deluge of information and expectations. Our concentration to allow for the building of mastery is compromised, our capacity to observe and learn is reduced and the opportunities to ‘play and create’ are removed.

The flip side is the isolation individuals then feel as actual social interaction declines. In part due to the erosion of ‘the family’, the neighbourhood/ village, and opportunities for ‘easy friendship’. The economic consequences of exclusion through the rise in the ‘new poor’ is covered in chapter4. There is a widening gap between the haves and have nots due to a shift to ‘the winner takes all’ syndrome and the celebration of the individual.

Part 3 then takes on a proactive slant with ‘the bright side of the crafted future’ Each chapter proposes a solution. These include, co-creation, social engagement and micro-entrepreneurship.

A series of narratives gives life to these three chapters. The examples provided are contemporary and describe live, as it is now, for many. In summary, these three chapters discuss how the forces can be used to make life better and how individuals need to be aware of how to leverage off the forces, instead of being overwhelmed by them.

The fourth part spells out ‘the shift’. Each shift is defined and extended. The shifts are: from shallow generalists to ‘serial maser’; from isolated competitor to innovative connector; and from voracious consumer to impassioned producer. Here, solutions offered are argued through. Firstly, it is important to build deep mastery in a discipline, but the caveat is to ensure the discipline has potential for future career development. Deep mastery requires investment in time and effort to attain. Affinity, passion, and resilience are important. Serial masters constantly ‘rework’ themselves by sliding and morphing’, as work shifts and mastery increases. Then ensure there is an emphasis on connecting with others, organisations, etc. and making use of technology to crowdsource, network and self-market. Importantly, becoming a ‘producer’ / crafter/ maker so one becomes a contributor, not just a consumer.

The last part consist of a series of ‘notes’ which summarise the recommendations to targeted audiences. The notes are to children, CEOs and governments. In conclusion, the book advocates for individuals to be proactive and to take control of their working lives. However, agency on the part of workers is fraught with social / economical / political obstacles, sometimes difficult for individuals on their own, to navigate or get around. Therefore, some support may be a key to empower individuals to think through, plan and realise goals to ensure they are able to continually adapt to the challenges.

Learning through social media - becoming part of a learning community

In an effort to attain better work / study / life balance, I have started to bring some organisation into one aspect of my informal learning, which is of New Zealand flora and fauna. Having tramped (hiked) around most of the South Island for almost forty years, I learnt, through a process of osmosis, some of the common plants, birds, insects and lizards/skinks commonly encountered in NZ's diverse natural landscapes. As I near retirement, I am in need of an intellectually challenging hobby and my long standing forays into ‘naming things’ may become an avenue to take up time released through retirement from work.

My initial attempts to bring structure my botanical instruction began by collating photos of plants taken on various tramps / walks. To date, after 2 years, almost 300 plants archived on Picasa, now Google photos, with identification sought through references to a range of books on my shelves, library books and then an increasing array of digital resources found through Google. Of which botany has extensive resources, with this site a good one archiving the myriad links.

All the above makes use of my current research skills, albeit in a more visual medium. I also sought out botanically trained, or inclined walking companions, many of whom patiently explained the nuances of identifying the rather large corpus of plants in NZ. Including a wide range of small leaved shrubs - with this book by Hugh Wilson and Tim Galloway an essential reference.

Several months ago, on advice from one of these ‘teachers’, I subscribed to Naturewatch. The contribution of networked learning has increased my learning several fold. I have also been able to observe how the on-line community on Naturewatch interact and support kindred spirits. So now, I try to upload photos a day or so after I have recorded the specimens. I usually attempt to identity the plant/s as I upload them, so would have made an effort to find the plant in my ‘hard-copy’ or digital resources first or use the nifty visual matching facility on the site. Then, usually within ½ a day, my sample would either be confirmed, or alternative identification would be offered. Through this process, I have learnt to be more careful with my initial identifications and to especially take note of seminal identification features and regional aspects.

Remembering the names of these plants is a major challenge. However, I have found associating the plant to the place where the photo was taken, provides a good initial anchor into my neural framework. Then, repeating the plant name when I encounter another sample, helps to reinforce the memory and lead to better recall on following occasions. Plants which have been contentious and have led to a discussion on Naturewatch have also been helpful. The experience of interacting with others and discussing the rationale for identification, again assists with future recollection.

All in, a good foray into the realm of possibilities opened up by the internet. When I shared the above with a good amateur botanist friend of mine, who is in her eighties, she was impressed by the ease of information sharing. Replacing the time honoured method of snail mail correspondence and asynchronous interaction. So, my learning is work in progress. 

How we will earn money without jobs? Will robots, enabled by quantum computing, take those jobs?

Three connected readings from last week.

1) Had a look at the TedTalk by Martin Ford which summarises his book - The rise of the robots: technology and the threat of a jobless future (2016).

The book summarises the challenges NOW and proposes ways to support workers through the transition. In short:

• Jobs will be taken away
• Jobs will change – new jobs created – see Today online for similar
• jobs will become more interestin as robots remove the mundane, repetitive aspects
• Jobs will disappear – e.g. horses at the turn of 1900.

There will be and already is an encroachment of machines on to things that make humans unique, including the ability to think, learn and create – some machines can now do these things.

Advances in technology now undergoing exponential change, increase in cognitive capability with an improvement on the ability to learn (e.g. winning at Go)

Proposes the result will be a  lose of jobs, stagnant wages and precarious job. However, the global economics hinges on consumerism / market, therefore, if no one has money then economies decline.

Rationalises basic income (UBI) as a solution to decouple work from income.

Basic income is not a panacea but a start. UBI needs to be followed up with incorporation of incentives into basic income so people still thrive to achieve social, individual, community and meaning and fulfilment in our lives. Therefore, it might be more politically acceptable if some differentiation allowed in basic income. 

2) Article last week in the NZ Herald on 'don't be afraid of robots taking your job'. 

Proposes, more automation = more opportunity to develop high-value service or products especially in relationship based services. Time saved in not having to do boring and routine tasks can be diverted to development of niche premium products; personalised services; ability to be nimble and adaptive to market changes and to be the disruptor, not the disrupted.

Encourages jobs in the trades, personalised assistance type roles and the importance of continually developing excellent communication and relationship-building skills.

Provides examples in retail of how above already being put in place. - American context. 

• Robotic shopping carts – or no carts at all
• Digital mirrors to visualise new outfits, lipstick, sunglasses etc,
• Prices that change by the hour – digital tags on shelves
• Technology to help you find better fitting shoes and coordinating outfits
• Robots that restock shelves and guide you to what you need

3) Then a NY Times article providing a background and summary to quantum computing.

Proposes quantum computing to be well on its way, with use of quantum with ‘normal PC’ via cloud and processing speeds improve up to 100,000 faster than now.

Implications include the importance of ‘life long learning’ so everyone able to keep up with changes. Quote from article:

“Therefore, education needs to shift “from education as a content transfer to learning as a continuous process where the focused outcome is the ability to learn and adapt with agency as opposed to the transactional action of acquiring a set skill,” said McGowan

“Instructors/teachers move from guiding and accessing that transfer process to providing social and emotional support to the individual as they move into the role of driving their own continuous learning.”

All the articles concur there WILL be major impacts on how jobs are constituted. There needs to be leadership and direction from governments to cope with the coming social impacts. For individuals, it will be a time to ensure one does not keep one's head in the sand but to be aware of what is coming and to try to plan ahead. Individuals with the literacies and wherewithal to be flexible and continually able to keep up with shifts in the job market, will be the ones who will survive the coming challenges. 

A day in the life of the brain - book overview

Book by Professor / Baroness Susan Greenfield, A day in the life of the brain: the neuroscience of consciousness from dawn to dusk, published in 2016.

Read this intermittenly across the summer break, and wrote this up, in snatches across last week from digital notes taken after reading each chapter. I have tidied to provide continuity and have added the book into my list of 'need to read through another time' as the book deserves another read to pick out the applicable information to teaching and learning.

For the moment, this overview is a work in progress. 

There is review of the book from the Guardian which is mostly positive. The book has 9 chapters plus notes and references – 66 pages or about one third of the book.

The main thread of the book is the identification of what actually makes up consciousness from the perspective of images taken of the brain as it is active. The various aspects of what makes up consciousness is unpacked through the various routines in a ‘typical’ day.

The first chapter is titles ‘in the dark’. This introductory chapter tries to define ‘consciousness’ by summarising the various approaches taken thus far to understand the concept. The chapter argues that although there has been much progress, we are still some way to understanding how consciousness works. There is still no distinct brain area, or network of brain cells / neurons or clusters of brain cells in which consciousness can be found. Recent advances in neuroscience has concentrated on identifying the various contributions of different brain cells, parts of the brain etc. See connectomeetc.  The book tries to come up with a model or conception of what is consciousness and how it works, to provide some grounding for further work in neuroscience to validate the idea. The model promoted in the book relies on unravelling how ‘neural assemblies’ work. Theses assemblies are posited to be ‘deposits’ from which consciousness ripples forth.

The book then works through a series of explanatory chapters, loosely tied to the ‘day in the life’ theme. Chapter two delves into states of consciousness when we sleep and undergo anaesthesia. There is discussion on what is consciousness and the variability of this state of being. The concept of neuronal assemblies is then introduced through its historical evolution and a summary of present hypothesis which come through advances in MRi. The analogy of stones thrown into a pond and the ripples that occur is then used to provide a visual anchor for neuronal assemblies.

Chapter 3 explores consciousness in non-humans and uses this to further expand on the details of neuronal assemblies. For example, the variables and effects – using the analogy of ripples on a pond – of a bigger / smaller stone and the force / angle of approach etc. when thrown in. A useful diagram is introduced, explained and discussed. This diagram tries to unpack the ‘differences’ between mind (the personalised system), the brain (consisting of neural networks) and consciousness (the subjective experiences – sensory and cognitive). A continuum of ‘scholarship’ is also designated to each – philosophy studying the mind, psychology and neuroscience concentrating on the brain and consciousness and theology with focus on consciousness. Neuronal assemblies are proposed to bring some order and holism in to how we can understand the links between brain plasticity, neurogenesis, exercise and conscious thought.

The fourth chapter explores the five senses, and the neuroanatomy challenge. Essentially the chapter argues that the brain works in an all-inclusive manner. Even though one part of the brain may be the main site of activity for an individual sense, the way organisms perceive the world, is holistic. We do not just see, but seeing also includes tactile, aural and other senses. The VAK – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic – learning styles approach – is debunked as learning requires interconnection of various parts of the brain to achieve new learning.

Chapter 5 ‘at the office’ is used to mop up the many other ‘sensings’ we need to undertake to perceive our world. Physical features like how we sense, feel, be emotionally affected by colour; our spatial sense; and subjective reactions to the environment are discussed.

Chapter 6 ‘problems at home’ looks into the way the brain develops (adolescence); mental issues (depression; demetia); how the brain deals with pain, to further develop the argument for the existence and function of neuronal assemblies.

Dreaming is the focus on chapter 7. A summary is made of the function, history, phylogeny, neuroscience foundations of dreaming. Chapter 8 brings the argument together with a discussion on whether neuronal assemblies are the rosetta stone for bringing the fields of physiology and phenomenology together. A possible mechanism for the generation of consciousness is proposed and summarised in a diagram.

The last chapter closes the book with how space and time may be traversed through understanding on how ‘assemblies’ improve our understandings of how the brain and consciousness work. As per usual, questions are posed for further investigation and study.

Overall, a readable book without too many parts which are dense and difficult to unravel. Most of the time, the argument put forward is clear. Based on reviews - whether the concept of neuronal assemblies withstand the test of time, remains to be seen. 

Plans for 2018

Looking forward to another busy and productive year. The year will require good planning on my part as there will be quite a bit to get through. We will be down 2.3 educational developers (. 0.5 and a 0.8 = 1.3 through retirement and another moving to a different role in the schools sector). One of us is also working for another part of the institution. Therefore, the shortfall will need to be shared amongst the educational developers left.

To start the year, I will need to support the programme development process for two degrees. Both are reviews of degrees with long histories at Ara. The computing degree should be off to NZQA by the end of summer. The midwifery degree to be away by Easter.

A priority through the year is to analyse the data and findings from the 7 sub-projects which make up the eassessment project. The project report is due in the middle of the year. 5 of the 7 sub-projects have now completed their participatory action research cycles and have or are writing up their reports.

In anticipation of the above curriculum development activities, I have worked on several articles near the end of last year and have already submitted two journal articles for publication in 2018. However, will also need to make a start on articles for publication in 2019. There should be 7 articles generated through the e-assessment project. I will be working on submitting 3 to 4 across 2018.

This year, NVCER ‘no-frills’ and the NZ VET research forumwill be held in August, in Sydney. My initial plan was to support several of the eassessment projects to be presented at each. Now, we will need to work on presenting a few of the sub-projects in Sydney instead. Also, the annual AVETRA conference is now ‘re-branded’ to be a practitioners research conference. It is to be held in Melbourne at the end of April. I will be putting in a paper for this conference around the outcomes of the eassessment project as well.

Overview of 2017

It has been another busy year with all aspects of my work, filled with activity. Many of these have been complex and required resolve to work through. I have learnt much across the year on how to support others in their journey as teachers. In particular, how to bring passion for teaching back into the practice for teachers, with huge teaching workloads and challenging pastoral care of students requiring care and attention.

On the programme development front, there has been three major pieces of work and several as support to other educational developers. The Bachelor of Construction required sustained work across the year. The panel approved this new degree with five recommendations – a good outcome from Ara’s point of view J Things have also been progressing well with the Bachelor of Midwifery and this reviewed degree should be on track for NZQA approval early in 2018. I am still working on the review of the Bachelor of Information and Computing Technology, which was to have been into NZQA in the fourth quarter of 2017. Now working at speed with the department to get it in by beginning of 2018.

My major staff capability and support project across 2017 has been to support Department staff moving into the new Architecture and Engineering teaching building – Kahukura. As with many construction projects, the building was behind schedule. The move into the building in the second semester had to be completed within tight timelines. The whole exercise did provide a very good reason for me to be the ‘meddler in the middle’ and I was able to build some good relationships with teams I had previously not worked intensively with.

 The Eassessment project has been a major focus as well. Each of the 7 sub-projects have made progress. Some requiring more support than others. ½ the teams have now submitted some form of written report. I will be unpacking the data and doing some initial data analysis over the summer.

Two journal articles published this year. And this month, I will submit an article, with another close to submission for early next year. All conference presentations have revolved around the eassessment project. There were two conference presentations overseas. Five eassessment team members also presented their sub-projects at three local conferences.

Overall, a very busy year. I will need to carve out some time in the first half of next year to complete the various reports required for the eassessment project and ensure the Bachelor of Information and Computing Technology makes it to NZQA in early 2018. 

Google Scholar profile - using to extend own research

As a consequence of obtaining a gmail account, through the set up of this blog, I entered the Google eco-system over 15 years ago. Since then, I have gradually worked my way through the various Google tools availed.

Although I do not use Google docs etc. due to my institutions 'microsoft environment' policies, I will be starting to use the various tools on this platform as I ease my way into retirement.

At the moment, I use gmail as my personal email account. Chrome is my web browser of choice as my favourites etc. travel with me across the various devices I access. I have several albums on Picasa (now Google photos), which revolve around personal interests. In particular my continual learning on plants seen on tramps around the NZ South Island. Also maintain a list of books on Google books, use google+ to archive readings for the eassessment project, a play list on youtube of various tedtalks etc., rely on Google maps to get around, google translate and have just started using Google Keep.

The google platform I use the most at the moment, is Google Scholar. Not so much for searching for articles as the institutional databases yield relevant articles etc. but to keep an eye on publishing which is akin to my own.

Firstly, the recommended articles are always pertinent to check out. Then Google Scholar Alerts provide a range of articles 3 times a week to browse. Not all of the 100 articles or so each week will be relevant, but there will be at least a couple  which can be added to my research Endnotes database. The alerts help me to keep up with contemporary work on the topics I am interested in, including apprenticeship, workplace learning, vocational education, occupational identity and practical skills learning. The trick is to put in a key word that is not going to generate lists of 100s of articles every few days, but to narrow the search field down to provide a dozen or so articles in each of the fields each week.

The third important use is to keep track of citations to my work. This is not only a nice to have, as one is able to see the citations steadily mount up across the years, but also provides great connection to other researchers. So far, my Google scholar profile shows 38 articles, of which 28 have at least one citation. The 6 with only one citation are not through self-citation! The citations provide a good range of researchers to follow and an indication of where each topic may be heading.

My reflections on seeing the citations collected are:
- my decision to concentrate on studying apprenticeship and remain in the field of vocational education has been justified. A decade ago, I was also working in the area of mlearning, a largely emergent field. However, there are now a large number of researchers on mlearning. Plus mlearning is now mainstream with  research merging with elearning, making the field even larger. Trying to establish oneself as a researcher in a large field is always going to be challenging. So keeping to a field which is less 'popular' allows for greater visibility and the opportunity to gain a foothold in academia.
- Interest in apprenticeship as a system and as learning approach has and will increase over the next few years. Due in part to many countries grappling with high youth unemployment; the requirement to increase skills and training in specialist technical and vocational occupations; the aging workforce which includes the need to harness the 'wisdom'of an exiting workforce; the introduction of 'degree' apprenticeships in the UK and Ireland; and increase in apprenticeship systems in China and India.
- Selection of journals to publish in is important. Constructing a corpus of literature with some sort of overarching theme is also important. So mine has been a series of articles in Vocations and Learning on  'how apprentices learn'. I am now meeting other researchers at conferences, who are interested in this corpus of work and cite my articles.
- Indications for the future will be to keep working on pertinent scholarship in vocational education, but to avoid a 'scatter gun' approach to publication.
- there is still a great need for publication - not necessarily in text - of resources which will be accessible to practitioners. I will need to work on this aspect going forward.

So, some strategic thinking required over the summer to put together a plan :)

Reflection - a week of conferencing

Two conferences last week provided some time away from the usual busy work routine. Importantly, the week allowed for time to catch up with others practitioners, passionate about helping learners. Always energised after a week away by presentations on applying precepts of good learning, to various approaches and strategies to assist learners.

Things that would be helpful for my own practice as an educational developer and researcher include:

- need to understand the exigencies of teaching from the experiences of teachers and students. For teachers, is to be empathetic with time-pressured and resource lean situations. To build good relationships with teachers and to provide possible solutions which are doable. Thinking through, together (teacher and ed.developer) to agree on a goal and to work towards the objective in small achievable steps. The 'inquiry cycle' as small interventions, each informing another cycle, has been a major plus for the e-assessment project.
For students, it is important to 'make the learning visible'. Too often, students do not know WHY they are having to engage in a learning activity or assessment. Learning outcomes require iteration throughout a course, not just at the start when the course outline or equivalent is waved in from of them, or they are told that the course outline is to be found on the institution's learning management system! Students are time jealous and will only do what is required to 'pass', but many do not actually learn, let alone change behaviours, attitudes or perceptions.

- There is still limited understanding across the ITP and ITO sectors, of the implications of NZ qualifications being graduate profile based. To some, the graduate profiles just add another layer to a complex schedule of atomised and siloed assessments! Moderation, in particular post - moderation of assessments, is still seen to be the checking of content covered :( Hence 'consistency arrangements' whereby qualification deliverers have to rationalise how their graduates meet the graduate profiles, are seen to be another assessment moderation process (aargh).

- Still confusion as to WHAT are assessments FOR learning. Calling them formative may not always be correct. Requirements to have summative assessments for courses, makes it difficult, in time poor courses, which are filled with content, to 'fit in' assessments for learning. There needs to be more work done, to help teachers understand how to 'design' and develop assessments for learning which provide benefit to learners. Exemplars across various discipline areas may be helpful.

So, much work still to be done. However, above provides a tighter framework to report on the e-assessments for learning project. the project 'guidelines' will need to provide:
- connection between assessments for learning and qualification graduate profiles
- examples of assessments for learning across several discipline areas
- comparison of assessments for and of learning for these discipline areas
- approaches to learning appropriate to required knowledge, skills and attitude learning
- links the above to constructivist (intra-psychological) and socio- cultural / socio -material (inter-psychological) learning
- templates for decision making  / design of assessments for learning as connected to approaches to learning
- Learning 'activities' suited to meeting holistic attainment of graduate profiles i.e. problem/inquiry- based, projects, portfolios etc.
- how to match these with appropriate technology to enhance student learning

Above provides a way forward for thinking through over the summer :)

Assessing Learning Conference, DAY 3

Day 3 dawns fine and warm. The weather across the entire week has been very summery. Hopefully a prelude to a good summer.

Begins with supporting colleagues Maaike Jongerius, John Delany and Lyn Williams from the Academic Division at Ara Institute of Canterbury, presenting the ‘assessment health check tool’. This is a moodle resource to support Ara tutors with ensuring their assessments are constructively aligned. Rationalised the pedagogical frame for undertaking the development for the moodle resource. If assessment drives learning then improvement of assessments will be a core objective. The resource had to cover the principles of assessment but not be too basic for staff who have completed teaching qualifications recently. The integrated activities in the health check can be completed online or as part of a facilitated workshop. The moodle site was brought up and examples of various worksheets / exemplars and the reasons and background on how they are used. Evaluations of the resource, the likes and dislikes, also shared. Presented on what Ara is committed to progress work on assessment practices.

Then Dr. Salome Meyer and Nancy Groh, educational advisors in the education development centre from Eastern Institute of Technology / Napier on ‘the changing conversation about early diagnostic assessment’. Outlined background, original premise / benefits and evolution of LNAAT. The tool is one of several developed to support the NZ government strategy to raise the capability of the workforce. Rationalised the need to change the approach to using diagnostic assessments. Matched literacy and numeracy demands in various occupations – what reading or calculation is required everyday at work? Provided a guide to tutors to better integrate literacy and numeracy within situated learning off-job. Addressed the issue of international students and their distinct needs. Developed academic inquiry course(non-credit bearing) to assist international students to orientate to the NZ educational demands. Developed a revised view of literacy diagram to summarise the different concepts.

Last session is a panel with Geoff Scott, Shaima Al Ansari and Tracey Bretag on ‘What will you do on Monday?’ Panel presented their takes on – what is the single key message you will take away? What single thing will you do, or do differently? What would you tell your boss they need to do? A question and answer session followed.

All in a good opportunity to achieve several things. One was the affirmation of my own understanding and application of the principles of learning -centred assessments. The various attended, all provided some templates, exemplars, concepts and tools useful in both my educational developer and researcher roles. Thankfully, many of the sessions I selected, focused on assessment FOR learning, although there was still a thread running through on summative assessments, prevention of plagiarism etc. Many presentations were on problem / inquiry / project based learning but not many examples from the vocational education / trades learning context. Therefore, as always, there is still a need for more ‘structured’ inquiry and study to build an evidence base of how to assist trades learning.

Assessing learning conference - DAY 2

A full day starting a 9am.

First up, Keynote panel – on the student voice facilitated by  Dr. Alistair Shaw with 4 students. As always a very valuable session. In short, students did not know about learning outcomes and how they connect to the assessment. Students preferred authentic assessments  which reflected real-world practice. Each institution has culture of practice and differen priorities. Not all have ability to provide authentic learning but assessments may be a means to bring authenticity into courses.

Andrew Kear with a team from the BCITO with ‘assessment in the workplace: principles for on-job assessment’. Gave out copies of publications relevant to NZ context. Shared the BCITO guiding principles and how they connected to Karen Vaughan and Marie Cameron’s good principles of workplace learning and assessments. A clear purpose for assessment is crucial. Provided overview of BCITO to apprentice support, workplace learning and assessment processes. Philosophy and approach is key with all BCITO understanding the distinct culture of BCITO. Belief in each learner is an individual. Group session to discuss how organisations may be able to support individualised learning programme. Assessments need to gather progressive evidence of learning and also be contextualised to be relevant to the learner. Learners should not be put through ‘hoops’ but have authentic evidence of learning recognised – maximising the use of naturally-occurring evidence. Evidence does not have to be written, could be video, aural etc. important to allow annotation of evidence. Moderation has to contribute to the validity and reliability of assessment decisions. Although time consuming and expensive, still has to take place and ‘communities of practice’ amongst ‘assessors’ and moderators, both taking part in the assessment. Moderation is a second opinion. Entire process requires appropriately recruited, trained and professionally developed people.

Followed by support of Faye Wilson-Hill and Niki Hannan from Ara Institute of Canterbury on their work with OneNote as an assessment tool. Provided background of the programme on why the assessment portfolio tool is used. Not only to be an assessment for learning resource but also to model to other teachers, a platform to support learning. Shared assessment principles – integrated into learning process, draws on learners’ experiences, encourages reflection and allows for multiple points for formative feedback. Moodle did not allow for all of these principles to be deployed. One note classroom notebook was selected as it allowed principles to use. Detailed process – how to start – shifting a word document into Onenote. Begin with familiar and work in the online environment first. Reflective practice has to be scaffolded. Showed example of how the notebooks used and structure of the notebook. Feedback is progressive as the course goes on so student have formative assessment for learning every 2 weeks.Feedback from tutors can be written or oral. Used a video capture (Panopto) for students to share portfolios if there is no collaborative space. Concluded with reflection on the process. Still learning but holds promise.

Then a choice of two plenary sessions after lunch. I select Dr. Eleanor Hawe’s on assessment for learning: A catalyst for student self-regulation. Defined assessments for learning and the second generation conceptualisations. In general, formative assessment research in school sector, formative feedback could be more dialogic; and the need to have explicit focus of pedagogy on preparing students to be independent learners. All assessment should support the advancement of student learning (Carless, 2015); assessment does not stand outside teaching and learning, but stands in dynamic interaction with it (Gipps, 1994); Students are no longer objects of their teachers’ behaviour but animators of their own effective learning (James & Pedder, 2006).

Second generation definition – assessment for learning is part of everyday practice by students, teachers and peers, that seeks, reflects upon and responds to information from dialogue, demonstration and observation in ways that enhance ongoing learning (Klenowski, 2009); Therefore, should be part of pedagogy – should be the formative use of assessment (not formative assessments). Aim to develop students as self-regulating learners who can monitor, regulate and control their thinking, behaviour and motivation while engaged in ‘academic tasks’. Sadler advocates that students need to know what is expected  (quality); sufficient evaluative knowledge and expertise to be able to compare current thinking / learning / performance; and a range of strategies to enable to effect improvement and further their thinking / learning / performance.

**Recommended five strategies. Promote student understanding about goals of learning and what constitutes expected performance; engineering effective discussion and activities including assessment tasks to promote and elicit evidence of learning; generate feedback (external and internal) that moves learning forward Use, notice, recognises, respond – Cowie & Bell, 1999); activate students as learning resources for each other; and activation of student ownership over and responsibility for their learning (Hawe & Dixon, 2017; Wiliam, 2011).

Provided an exemplar to illustrate the way in which 5 strategies are operationalised. Need to ensure contextualised to own discipline and practice. However, all 5 need to occur.

Then I present a short session on the eassessment project. The focus this time around, to connect assessments for learning and feedback opportunities to assisting students ‘learning to become’ as they strive and learn to meet graduate outcomes. Summarised the role of assessment for learning in assisting the student journey towards getting to the graduate profile. Details of the sub-projects and some interim findings. In particular, how to assist student to learn the many ‘qualities’ which are often difficult to describe and to work out where they are at and what they need to do to attain.

Followed by a session with Alastair Emerson from OPAIC on ‘developments in assessments for experiential, student centred and partially self-directed pedagogies’. Otago Polytechnic international based in Auckland’s student cohort tend to have only experienced chalk and talk, paint by numbers assessments and discouraged from forming own opinions. Flip learning has not worked, essays and exams are off limited use to assess capability, current assessments make passing the end goal, designed for a didactic knowledge transfer paradigm to constructive student co-created approach. Using formative assessments are incremental with worksheets and templates. Summative involves problem solving or project completion in a real world context involving actual company. Introduced experiential learning using guided self-directed discovery techniques, with diminished on texts, use templates and worksheets which suggest outcomes but do not necessarily have a set process. Need to make learning outcomes visible. Therefore move into project / problem / inquiry based learning. Provided example of worksheets and projects to encourage personalised learning.

Afternoon tea is followed by Plenary with Emeritus ProfessorGeoff Scott from Western Sydney University on assessing work-ready plus capabilities. Presented on the website flipcurric used to support the work. Advocates – good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas and change does not happen but must be led, and deftly. Rationalised why bother about assessments. Learning impact is when learning design, aligned support and infrastructure and delivery intersect effectively. Summarised the 6 key components of a comprehensive, integrated HE assessment framework – check on flipcurric website. Focused on correct outcomes and assessments.

Learning outcomes – capabilities and competencies students are expected to demonstrate they have developed to a required standard by the end of a program or unit of study. Include personal, interpersonal and cognitive capabilities and the key knowledge and skills necessary for effective early career performance and societal participation. Shared his professional capability framework. Explained the subscales for each of the competences/capabilities. The Plus refers to future focus – sustainability, change savvy, creative and inventive, and clear where one stands on tacit assumptions driving current society. When through principles of powerful assessments and examples of types including key quality checks for assessment of prior learning and learning from experience.

Then Shaima Al Ansari reports on ‘the impact of PBL on employability skills development: The Bahrain Polytechnic industry project assessment case. Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied – Dale Carnegie. Explained rationale and context (business management studies). Project requires student to take on accountability, work with others as part of team. Assist with application of employability skills to attain professional identity. Summarised details of the industry project. A capstone project in the fourth and final year. Students set up a consultancy firm and are the associate consultants. Work with a real client on an ill structured / complex problem. Full time commitment with weekly 2 hour meeting with the academic supervisor who takes on the role of the HR specialist for the consultancy. Students have an orientation week before beginning. Project process detailed along with examples of guide sheets, assessment plans / schedules etc. Shared positive feedback from 'employers / clients' and  students. 

Networking session closes a busy day. Lots of reinforcement of principles we apply at Ara, the concepts underpinning the e-assessment project and some new ideas and resources to support educational development work and production of e-assessment guidelines.

Assessing Learning conference - Dunedin - DAY 1

Move across from the University of Otago to Otago Polytechnic at lunch time to begin participating in the Assessing Learning Conference. Had to miss first keynote with David Boud.

First up, a workshop with Peter Mellow on effective assessments titled: EdTech in assessment: sinner or saviour? https://tinyurl.com/yasdsxvp for slides

Presented HoTEL as a grounding framework to inform on pedagogy. However HoTEL does not indigenous knowledge, which has to be woven into the Westernised frameworks. Added the Australian dimension with examples of how indigenous peopled learnt. Also Curtin University e-resource on elearning for processes and approaches. Assessment in the 21^st century pedagogy as being the provision of timely and meaningful feedback, relevant tasks, self and peer assessments and clear, transparent goals and objectives. “Good assessment should be a learning experiences”.

Look up sinister 16 – Potter & Kustra (2012) course design for constructive alignment – A primer on learning outcomes.

Reminder on listening to students to find out what assessment strategies do students prefer? Lowest – quizzes, written papers, group projects, middle – audio recordings, open discussion, paired discussion and highest – response to video, twitter summaries, screen casts, field experiences, interviews, work samples.

Need to ensure students KNOW why they are being assessed. Promotes formative assessments as it provides feedback, have opportunities to fail and can be fun (or be a game). Learners need to know whay they are being assessed, how, what rules and the value.

Tools for assessments – organising assessments, grade centres, deployment of assessment (e.g. peer matching, multiple choice quizzes, automate feedback. New technologies not quite there but include grade/analyse/QA/authenticate assessments, automated essay scoring, block chain – authentication, badging / certification, AI, badges / gamification, Learning analytics / assessment analytics, haptics (force feedback).

Solutions to ‘cheating’ include having students pledge not to cheat, sign honour codes etc. Evidence from multimedia evidence has metadata that can be tapped to establish authenticity of data. Use learning analytics to tighten quizzes etc. on LMS – randomise, auto feedback. Revision Assistant can be used by students to obtain formative feedback on essays. Online proctoring is possible, using keyboard recognition, web camera observations and identification of students. So why not make classroom about learning and not testing?? Promoted efficacy of MOOCs – using University of Melbourne examples. Students found in video quizzes (usually questions between slides) useful.

Reommended peerwise as a tool to create a collaborative learning environment. Peermark can be an alternative to turnitin. Perusall – every student prepared for every class – allows students to annotate readings and share with others in the class.

Then support two of eassessment sub-project researchers with their presentations.

First up, Cheryl Stokes from Ara Institute of Canterbury, with ‘developing reflective practice of level 4 cookery students through sensory analysis of food.  Provided overview of her teaching context and background of the project. Especially the shift from unit standards to graduate outcomes and the shift in assessment approach to portfolio instead of exams. Rationalised the research question  - to improve student reflective learning and ability with associated vocabulary to describe the taste, texture of food. Described reflections on who teaching, process and tasting reflective skills could be improved. Discussed challenges – especially how students could improve their mobile learning practices – back up their data on the cloud to access on multiple devices or secure storage in case they lost their device. Showed how research question evolved as project progressed to meet student learning needs. Focused project on improving tasting vocabulary, find appropriate cloud based app to record photos, improve reflective writing. Introduced Mindly as a app to build mindmaps of tasting vocabulary. Allows photos to be linked to text mindmap nodes. But tutors need to refer to the app and how it can be used for students to be engaged. Used google keep to archive notes, add photos, links etc. as a collection tool for their portfolio. Works with various languages, not only in English. Able to be used in tandem with google docs and extension is available on Facebook if Chrome browser is used. Increased integration of the various bits of evidence so collection of evidence can be easier to collate portfolio. Reflected on experience as a researcher working with students in a workroom. Detailed some recommendations – especially support for tutor and timing for introduction of the tools and concepts of reflective learning.

Then James Gropp and Stuart Campbell from Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology on ‘using reflective practice in a technical problem based learning environment’. Introduced research question and aircraft engineering background and student cohort – note more than ½ of cohort were international students from a Pacific Island airforce. Shifted from didactic pedgagogy to problem based learning approach. Most important to focus on the learning and make this visible. Set the task to repair an small airplane as the ‘problem’ to be completed. Used aircraft servicing task cards as the basis of the eportfolio. To begin, reflection was poor. 1^st cycle did not produce results as students were not taught how to reflect or think through on what they were learning. Therefore, students were task and not learning focused!! Changed questions to include ‘learning’, provided exemplars, tutors changed from engineers to teachers, honouring the learning from errors. Tutor capability developed with daily reflective sessions. 2^nd cycle revealed improvement across the board. 3^rd cycle ran without changes and evidence of students’ adoption of reflective learning and problem solving.

Next, Dr. Megan Anakin from University of Otago with  ‘constructing a developmental framework to assess reasoning skills’. Detailed background and need for 21^st healthcare practice and the challenges of teaching reasoning skills to doctors. Shared progressions used in NZ curriculum / learning maths concepts as examples of frameworks. Defined clinical reasoning, theoretical underpinnings, expert skills, involving students in teaching and how students learning it. Introduced the cognitive models – dual process – fast and slow and script theory. Senior clinicians tended to have CR as tacit and learnt through apprenticeship as modelled to them by their mentors. Developed a framework for students to unravel how the traditional framework is mapped to the real world. Provided medical students with characteristics and outlines to help them practice and select appropriate strategies. Year 2 students still had to depend on ‘scripts’, year 3 starting to realise the complexity and need to adjust their questioning. By Year 6, students able to hone in more quickly and probe deeper to try to diagnose effectively. Need to follow up on this project as there is much of relevance.