NZ Reform of VET – other viewpoints

Much quieter on the media front with regards to the announcements made almost a fortnight ago, to reform the NZ Vocational Education and Training system. Here are a range of reactions and perspectives, collated from last week's news.

Educational central brought together several viewpoints. The teacher unions are supportive as they have had input into the process. ITOs are not impressed as they are the entities most affected, in short, they disappear and are replaced by Industry Standard Bodies (ISB). The student unions have not had a voice and the employers maintain the need for support of strong regional provisions.

Business opinions are summarised by thelearningwave and voxy. As per above, there is cautious support for the overall intentions of the reform.

The TOP party, a minor party formed to contest the last election (they did not gain a seat). TOP has supported Universal Basic Income, so no surprise they are keen on comparing the reforms with the VET systems in Finland and Germany whereby VET have parity of funding with the Universities and there are strong tertiary education and industry partnerships.

The union for allied staff in tertiary education - TIASA - supports the proposal as members have bore the brunt of continued reform within the sector for the last decade.

Ruralwomen  mirror opinions of employers with cautious optimism and support.

ITOs report to their stakeholders of business as usual and their lobbying for continuance. Opinions of Skills Org, Connexis and Careerforce.

As always, the devil will be in the detail and how the reforms are activated. There will be pain before gain. There is still 4 weeks to go for proposals. After which, probably months before decisions are finalised and details more concrete. So it will be many months of  "wait and see" :(

Proposed NZ Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST)

Here is a summary of some viewpoints on the New Zealand 'reform of vocational education' proposals announced last week - see previous blog for overview.

The proposal with the largest impact on VET in NZ is the announcement of the formation of one entity to provide VET. The technical discussion document, spells out some of the details.

Submissions on the proposals have a very short timeline of 6 weeks. Therefore, there will be a flurry of activity within the sector, to prepare submissions and responses.

Some responses from last week include:

The NZ Herald article on the effects of the proposal on ITPs (polytechnics), ITOs (industry organisations) and learners, provides perspectives.

Education Central summarise the main effects on ITPs and ITOs.

Two Radio NZ interviews summarise initial reactions.

Firstly, short responses (8 minutes) from Southern Institute of Technology CE, Penny Simmons and Skills Org (ITO) CE Gary Fissenden summarise the concerns from each sector.

Then a longer interview (30 minutes) with TEU (Tertiary Union) president Michael Gilchrist, Phil Ker Otago Polytechnic CE and Warwick Quinn from the Building and Construction ITO (BCITO).

Summarised below:

Phil Ker's reaction on impact on ITPs – yes and no – yes due to looking into fixing the funding, support work integrated learning initiatives but requires investment, staff capability training and curriculum redevelopment. Not so happy with the one entity.

Proposed combination of the best of a systems and the best of automous ITPs approach. Certain functions like buildings, financial / enrolment systems and staff training make sense. But autonomy of ITPs still important to meet regional needs.

Acknowledged need for flexibility of learning as workforce needs to continually upskills and reskill to meet the future of work.

How will ITPs cope with supporting the apprentices now supported by ITOs. ITPs have a history of managed apprentices and should be able to ram up as required. ITP tutors are teachers and pratitioners and are ideal to support workbased learning.

Most of ITPs have a track record of success and fiscal problems have come about due to underfunding which should have been resolved at least 2 years ago.

It is not a campus issue but a delivery issue. Learning centres could be a solution so that students have support for learning wherever they are situated. One large entity may be difficult to be agile and responsive to regional needs.

Under the model, industry skills groups would provide advise to ‘head office’ as to what sorts of programmes.

TEU view is that ITPs should be the heart of VET in NZ. This includes their stakeholders, students and staff. Wants to support the right thing to do, so that this can happen.

Individual ITP staff contracts will be grandparented and followed by shift to the ‘one’ institute. There may be some job losses but also new positions will be formed. Any large rationalisation will have impacts on jobs. Admin positions and rationalisation of curriculum development along with redeployment across ITO sector will be initial effects.

Both Phil and Michael reckon $$ will need to be put in to get the whole thing going.

ITO reaction were surprised at the shift of workplace learning to ITPs. Supportive of anything that will support VET. ITOs have been efficient as they have provided cost effective support and training. ITOs are owned by employers. The heart of the ITP system is the learner. Need to ensure that employers are engaged in the process. Skills shortages are critical at the moment and it is important not to disrupt the ‘flow’ of trained workers into industry.

Important to ensure this new system supports VET. Single entity may not meet the needs of everyone. At the moment, there is a choice between all workbased with apprenticeship or some pre-trade followed by apprenticeship. 6 week consultation period a bit short to get all the important discussions completed. Agility and nimbleness will be a challenge but if the industry skills advisement works effectively, then it may work.

 So, lots of conversations going on, to be collated into submission documents. It will be mid-year, at the earliest, before we hear about the outcomes of the submissions and details of final decisions. Meanwhile, the one guarantee is for change and more change to the sector in the coming two to three years. The VET sector are supportive of change, as the system as it stands, is unsustainable. Therefore, the details of how to accomplish the change and whether these measures will provide for a more agile VET provision at sustainable costs to the tax payers, will need to be outcomes of the reform. 

New Zealand Reform of Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Polytechnic (ITP) sector

Today, the NZ Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, provided details of a wide ranging review of both the vocational education and training system and the Institutes of Techology and Polytechnics (ITP) sector.

An overview of the intentions of the review are summarised in this mornings article to 'overhaul the VET sector'.

This afternoon, the details are reported by Stuff 'government proposes merging 16 ITPs' and the NZ Herald providing more detail on the VET sector. Radio NZ provides summaries of both the merger of ITPs and changes to VET.

In summary, the proposal is to have one entity with the proposed name of 'NZ Institute of Skills and Technology' provide VET. Current ITOs will merge into this entity as well, so that the emphasis becomes the preparation of work ready workers.

Interesting discussion now in the offices and corridors as to implications, advantages and disadvantages. The proposal is now open for submissions which close 27th of March. Official documents and details are found in the reform of VET site and through the Minister's official announcement page.

Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) - The conversation

Worked through the latest issue of Research Today, the newsletter published by AVETRA - the Australasian Vocational Education and Training Research Association. The majority of the articles in the issue, were also featured on 'The Conversation' at the end of 2018, in a series on 'The future of VET'.

All the articles have a strong Australian contextual slant, but there are many messages within the articles which are common through VET systems internationally and these provide food for thought for all VET researchers.

In NZ, we are about to recieve details on two major policy documents this week. These are on the reform of the VET system in NZ and the ITP roadmap - for restructure of the NZ Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics sector. It will be interesting to see the details and to evaluate how NZ moves forward in comparison to other VET systems.

Back to the articles, brief overviews and links below, as per my perspectives with the NZ VET reviews in mind.

1) E. Smith on 'Teachers and trainers are vital for the quality of the VET sector, and to the success of learners'. Provides an overview of the Australian shifts to lower qualification requirements for VET teachers (Cert IV) and its consequences. A survey conducted from 2015 - 2017 indicates a call for higher qualifications and finds having a 'degree' makes a difference. Caveat being would be the author teaches at at university that provides degree level qualifications for VET.
In the NZ situation, most VET teachers complete a level 5 Diploma but this is not compulsory. There are also post-graduate Diplomas for VET teachers as the NZ ITP sector spans a wider range of learning and offer programmes up to Master level. Some NZ VET teachers, teaching at post-graduate level, will have higher qualifications in their discipline and undertake the post grade VET teaching qualification. Ako Aotearoa, the NZ Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, has been exploring the need for all tertiary educators to complete teaching qualifications or be accreditated as educators through various professional organisations e.g. Higher Education Academy etc.

2) S. Billett on 'We need to change negative views of the jobs VET serves to make it a good post-school option'. Details the 'old chestnut' of poor regard and low standing for VET and the jobs they provide education and training for. This is a very long and ardous approach requiring deep societal change. There are similar challenges in NZ but hopefully the coupling of the reforms suggested for VET in NZ will be better aligned with the review and reform of school outcomes and qualifications. One of the goals being to provide better pathways for learners from school to 'work' via VET / higher education.

3) L. Simon on "VET needs support to rebuild its role in getting disadvantaged groups into educatin and work' is a call to ensue VET provides opportunities for learners from a range of non-traditional and challenged backgrounds. From my perspective, I think NZ has always been cognisant of the challenges and worked at meeting them. The current system puts emphasis on parity of outcomes for Maori, Pacifica and other learners. The Tertiary Education Union (TEU), which represents VET teachers, put out their 'stake in the sand' last week' with call to ensure NZ VET was availed to all and an end to 'competitive funding'.

4) R. Shreeve on 'A national set of priorities for VET would make great social and economic sense'. Provides a overview and rational for the need to support VET and proposes a way forward, given the rapid changes wrought by societies shift into 'the future' of work, education and learning.
Includes a call to review the competency-base approach which in NZ is now tampered by all Level 1 - 6 qualifications being based on 'graduate profile' outcomes.

Overall, timely arrival of these articles which provide good overviews and background of the Australian VET systems, some of which inform the NZ reforms.

Education 4.0

As an accompaniment to the current interest in Industry 4.0 - summarised briefly in a previous blog last year - comes the concept of Education 4.0 as a means to prepare students for the future of life and work.

Peter Fisk, provides an overview on what Education 4.0 may look like and suggests that educators should not be intimidated but work out how, as individuals how to contribute and develop a plan towards moving towards the goal. Be the disruptor, no the disrupted!

There is a slideshare on 'changing the game of education' which summarises the inpact of Industry 4.0 and rationalises the need to shift into and support Education 4.0.

Education 4.0 is describes as a response to the future of education with the following points.

·       responds to the needs of “industry 4.0” or the fourth industrial revolution, where man and machine align to enable new possibilities

·       harnesses the potential of digital technologies, personalised data, open sourced content, and the new humanity of this globally-connected, technology-fueled world

·       establishes a blueprint for the future of learning – lifelong learning – from childhood schooling, to continuous learning  in the workplace, to learning to play a better role in society.

Additionally:

new vision for learning is required to

·       more important to know why you need something, a knowledge or skill, and then where to find it – rather than cramming your head full … don’t try to learn everything!

·       built around each individual, their personal choice of where and how to learn, and tracking of performance through data-based customisation … whatever sits you

·       learning together and from each other – peer to peer learning will dominate, teachers more as facilitators, of communities built around shared learning and aspiration.

And provides the nine trends for education as:

Diverse time and place

Personalised training

Free choice

Project based

Field experience

Data interpretation

Exams will change completely

Student ownership

Mentoring will become more important

Digital McKinsey – digital insights

The Digital McKinsey site came up through exploring the article on lifelong learning in a recent blog.

A complilation of top reads for 2018 provides 'from understanding to action' and links to a range of articles of relevance to thinking about the contributions and effects of digital tech on the future of work, learning and education.

There are guides to AI, digital strategy, agile organisations, analytics and blockchain. All written within the context of business organisations but of relevance to education.

I have now bookmarked the site and will keep an eye on future articles in the 'our insights' section.

Multiple Dimensions of Teaching and Learning for Occupational Practice - book overview

Here is an overview of the book  'Multiple Dimensions ofTeaching and Learning for Occupational Practice'  Edited by Professor Sai Loo and just published by Routledge 2019. The hardcoopy of the book arrived last week and I had a good read of it over the weekend.

Disclaimer: I have a chapter published in this book

Chapter 1

Researching occupational practice - SAI LOO

The first chapter, sets the scene by firstly detailing the rationale and origins of the book topic. The book seeks to provide perspectives from a range of tertiary education levels, sectors and discipline areas. Education which leads on to an occupation, or occupational teaching, is used as a term to include the various levels (post-school to higher education) and sectors (vocational, further, higher education, VET, TVET, TAFE etc.). Various chapters represent these levels and sectors through the book. Occupational teaching also includes continuous professional development. Brief overviews of each chapter are provided in this chapter.

Chapter 2

‘Ausbildungsberufe’ – a necessary and complex ingredient of the ‘Dual’ apprenticeship frameworks - LORENZ LASSNIGG

This chapter critiques the various socio, historical and political pressures brought to bear on the Austrian apprenticeship system. A quantitative approach is used to unravel the many stakeholders involved and how these have impinged on the evolution of the entire system. The Austrian system, with roots in the Germanic tradition, is argued to be unique in that there is a tight linkage between occupations and industry needs. In particular, the system used to ‘create new occupations’ is of interest due to the rapidly changing world of work.

Chapter 3

Occupational preparation for manual work: fitter/machinists and concrete operators- ERICA SMITH

Here, a comparative study is used to examine how two trades, have differing ways to prepare people for work. The study explores the ‘skilled’ vs ‘unskilled’ divide and how occupations become privileged through historical evolution (i.e. older occupations); support from trade unions; and a tradition of apprenticeship. This privileging allows for some occupations to have higher regard in the public eye and others to maintain their reputation as ‘dirty work’. Yet, all occupations have inherent skill complexity. Lots of food for thought in this article.

Chapter 4

Perspectives of beginning trades tutors on teaching and learning- SELENA CHAN

My chapter draws from the first project I undertook for Ako Aotearoa. This article, focuses on the concept of drawing from the knowledge and skill sets of trades practitioners, to support their ‘boundary crossing’ to become vocational educators. The article argues for a ‘strengths’ based approach instead of the prevalent ‘top-down’ and ‘we know best’ model whereby trades people, have to adopt the ways of teaching and learning which come through the school and higher education sectors. In particular, the chapter advocates for using apprenticeship approaches to assist new trades teachers and to introduce theories of learning (cognitive apprenticeship etc.) and types of learning literature, which align to trades people life and work experiences.

Chapter 5

A typology of occupational teachers’ capacities across the three academic levels - SAI LOO

Here, the editor presents a chapter on connecting the pedagogical practices across VET, higher and professional education. The epistemological focuses and perspectives are used, along with the framework of Berstein’s notions of knowledge to find commonalities and differences across the sectors. The knowledge schemas of teachers is expanded to include the range of knowledge, experiences, skills and abilities which inform teaching.

Chapter 6

Education and training in human movement programmes: stakeholder perspectives- SALLEE CALDWELL AND MELINDA HALL

In this chapter, the context of human movement and development is used to study how stakeholders perceive the preparation of students for work. A good example of engaging stakeholders and using the data to inform curriculum development and student learning.

Chapter 7

Educating work-ready youth workers: designing a university program for Australian and international contexts- JENNIFER BROOKER

Here, the preparation of youth workers within a university programmes is studied. Of interest is how the university, re-configured the programme to be more similar to VET type programmes, with a better balance between theory and practice.

Chapter 8

Learning to become an entrepreneur in unfavourable conditions: the case of new-entrants in the context of the Greek debt-crisis- KONSTANTINOS KARANASIOS AND THOMAS LANS

This is an interesting study, on how young people were assisted to move into agriculture whilst the country was wrestling with the challenges of an economy in meltdown. Of interest was the use of critical incidents technique to gather data. The 3-P model – presage, process and product – was also rationalised as a means to identify workplace factors which influence learning.

Chapter 9

Professionalism and affective learning for new prison officers: learning values, attitudes and behaviours in training at the Scottish Prison Service- KATRINA MORRISON

Reports on a longitudinal study of recruits into the Scottish prison service to understand how a new Officer Foundation programme has progressed. The programme has an emphasis on values, attitudes and behaviours as compared to previous iterations which had training focuses.

Chapter 10

The journey from healthcare assistant to assistant practitioner: working and learning- CLAIRE THURGATE

The journey of healthcare assistants to become assistant practitioners is described and illuminated in this chapter. Of relevance is the ways in which these learners were supported to become more self-directed. A conceptual framework is presented to describe and support healthcare assistants to become assistance practitioners.

Chapter 11

Understanding and appraising medical students’ learning through clinical experiences: participatory practices at work- STEPHEN BILLETT AND LINDA SWEET

This chapter reports on medical students’ learning during their clinical experience through ‘relational interdependence’. The authors argue that the process is reliant on the two-dimensional relationship between the affordances provided by the organisation and the way in which learners choose to engage with these.

Chapter 12

Learning decision making in Emergency Medicine- DUNCAN THOMAS CARMICHAEL

The decision making processes of emergency physicians is used to provide insights into how skills and experiences are honed through workplace learning.

Chapter 13

Reflections on the occupational practice- SAI LOO

The concluding chapter provides an overview of the findings, conclusions and implication for occupational education across the various systems, levels and disciplines presented in the 11 chapters.

Overall, a good collection of chapters, attesting to the contextualised and specialised journeys of people becoming through learning, work and reflection, to take on occupational identity. 

Lifelong learning - themes from 1000 articles summarised

The article discussed in this blog is via Jane Hart's blog consolidating her 'picks of the year'.

The article, presents the authors' learning through the trawling through 1000 articles on continuous learning. Ten themes are presented.

Of interest is that young people are particularly interested in continuous learning opportunities. This bodes well for the future but is also a telling indicator of the increased precarity in the workplace. There is no longer a guarantee of ‘jobs for life’ and people need to continually keep up with the play to keep themselves current and marketable. Who pays for this continual learning is not detailed. As it is, in the current neo-liberalist environment, individuals tend to pay for their post compusory school, pre-work learning. This is followed by professional development or on the job training as provided by some employers. Individuals seeking to shift their skill sets often then pay for their 'extra' learning themselves via MOOCs or other sources of learning. Organisations are pragmatic and will only fund training they deem relevant to their requirements. Individuals, to keep up with the play, therefore need to continually upskill, either formally or informally and company or self-sponsored. 

The authors also connect the above to the need for people to be continually learning as being driven by the knowledge economy and constant change. Change also involves not just learning the same old thing again, but requires unlearning and relearning.

Three themes revolve around the role of organisations to support life long learners and the need for learners to take responsibility for their own learning. Continuous learning is seem to be essential to career success and job security is predicated on being keeping up the skills etc. to remain employable.

There is promotion of the concept of ‘continuous learning platforms’ which are predicted to disrupt current learning approaches. This is to meet the future which is defined by the authors as being open, continuous and embedded. See Digital McKinsey Practice for greater detail.

Plans for 2019

Back into the fray after some rest and re-creation in the NZ mountains. Looking forward to another busy and productive year.

The first item to complete is to ensure the programme documentation for our new Graduate Certificate / Graduate Diploma in Building Information Modelling is approved for delivery for the middle of the year. I will also be working with various teaching teams to complete their teaching and learning plans and first delivery of their programmes. These include the new Master in Sustainable Practice which will a blended approach based on principles of ‘networked learning’ and the level 6 Diploma in Interior Design, which will also have a blended approach.

Reviews across the sector and within my institution will also generate activity. Change always requires adjustment to the socio-politics of new ways of doing.

The main objective this year is to complete a book for Springer titled: Processes, pedagogy and technology-enhanced vocational learning: Learning and teaching a trade. This book, summarises the work I have been doing across the last decade on understanding how people learn how to become trades people. I have been beavering at the draft chapters from late last year and hope to have most of it done by Easter. To assist the process of completing the book, I will be embarking on a short sabbatical at the end of the year. I hope to have completed the draft of the book by then and will work on refining the book after it has come back from peer review.

Conferences include one at the end of March in Germany for the biannual convening of the International Network on Innovative Apprentice. The annual AVETRA conference is on in Sydney in June and perhaps one later in the year.

2018 review

Another busy year is about to close. Despite there being a smaller number of educational developers this year, programme development has proceeded well.

The programmes I have supported through the programme design process, have all attained approval from NZQA. These include reviewed degrees in Computing, Midwifery, a brand new Master in Sustainable Practice qualification and reworked Level 5 and new level 6 diploma in Interior design. Added to these have been ongoing support of the Construction Management degree and the development for a Post Graduate qualification in Building Information Modelling (BIM) which will be going to NZQA early next year.

The National project funded by Ako Aotearoa on e-assessmentsfor learning has officially ended. The report has been peer reviewed and should be up on the Ako Aotearoa website next year.

Publications have been less this year due to the work in completing the large e-assessment project. There have been 2 book chapters – one on work integrated learning in the book –Integration of VocationalEducation and Training Experiences: Technical and Vocational Education and Trainining: Issues, concerns and prospects, published by Springer.

The other, a chapter on perspectives of beginning trades tutors on teaching and learning in the book – Teaching and Learning forOccupational Practice: A Multi-Disciplinary and Multi-level Perspective – published by Routledge.

Apart from presenting at the Ako Aotearoa projects in progress colloquium, there have been presentations on the findings and outcomes of the e-assessment project at two Australian conferences (AVETRA and NZVET and NCVER nofrills) and at the Ako Aoteroa Academy Talking Teaching conference.

I look forward to another busy year next year.

Npj Science of Learning Journal - article - Learning Strategies: a synthesis and conceptual model

As a follow up from last week's post, here is an article from the journal npj Science of learning, written by Professor John Hattie and Gregory Donoghue on Learning strategies: Synthesis and conceptual model. 

The journal is open access, so all articles are available for download online.The above article is in the first volume and issue (2016), setting the scene for future article from the journal which have a focus on applying the evidence from neuroscience, to practice in teaching and learning.

Back to the article which proposes a model of learning that is made up of various learning strategies at identified stages in the learning process. The model assumes three inputs or outcomes - skill, will and thrill; and three phases of learning as being surface, deep and transfer. As with all of Hattie's work, the model is based on meta-anaylsis of 228 students to identify effective strategies for learning.

The skill that learner's bring to learning is their prior learning / experiences. The will refers to learner 'habits of mind' and their willingness / resilience and persistence. Motivation is the factor the contributing  to the thrill whereby the learner is engaged with learning. As learning proceeds, learning progresses from surface to deep to transfer.

The authors advocate for learning how to learn to be embedded or integrated into all aspects of learner experiences. Divorcing the 'skills' of learning to learn and teaching these separately, dilutes the effectiveness. As humans, we always learning better when learning occurs in context. Situated learning occurs because of what the learner brings into the experience. It is more likely that skills, will and thrills are effective when learners are able to make the connections for learning when learning occurs within context. Vocational education has a major advantage in that most of the skills, knowledge and attributes learnt across vocational education is achieved within context. The challenge is to deepen learning for learners through assisting them to apply learning to learn skills which are relevant to their learning context.

Higher Education Learning Framework - report from Science of Learning research centre - Australia

Here is a report which is relevant to all forms of learning and should be required reading for all teachers. The report is put together by researchers from the Science of Learning research centre (SLRC) who are based at the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne.

The report is titled 'Higher Education Learning Framework: An evidence-informed model for university learning'. Athough the context is higher education, there is much in the report which summarises the latest in educational research and neuroscience which are also relevant in other education sectors.

There is a summary of the matrix and an overview of the project as well.

The centre also edits a journal - Npj Science of Learning - which is worth a look through.

The report advocates seven themes that support learning. Each of the themes is then extended with an explanation. Then strategies for teachers and students are detailed to maximise the efficacy of these themes for each group. Strategies for assessment and the principle theories / literature review and a list of relevant references complete each theme.

The themes are:
- learning as becoming
- contextual learning
- emotions and learning
- interactive learning
- learning to learn and higher order thinking
- learninc challenge and difficulty
- deep and meaningful learning.

The report is particularly useful as each theme is summarised briefly and the strategies for teachers, students and for assessments, provide good pragmatic examples for follow through.It is not too long, and teachers can dip in and out of the report to mine the ideas for enhancing teaching practice.

Talking Teaching 2018 - DAY 2 morning

The day begins with a fishbowl session. Dr. Margaret Henley from the University of Auckland modelled and facilitated the process to ensure the fishbowl process works. The discussion was on whether the traditional links between Australia and NZ still exists. There was a ‘reflective’ whole group discussion on to identify the range of learning that had occurred for the participants in the fishbowl and outside of it, during the session. A good session on how a well-structured, mediated and supported learning activity works.

Parallel sessions in 5 streams then begin.

I attend Dr. Deb Hill’s (from Whanganui Learning Centre) workshop on ‘how to deepen thinking with a capital D’. Began with an activity to establish whether we considered where we considered ourselves as being shallow or deep thinkers. Introduced the concept of OG – open grade – as a way to encourage students to work through the first stage of a unfamiliar subject. Used the session to obtain feedback on a practical guide to plagiarism. Facilitated discussion on critical thinking and what it consists of – intellectually curiosity, well-read, checking and re-checking, analyse deeply and independently etc. Binaries – deep / surface – not necessarily a good way to approach the nuances of the concepts behind the binary. Introduced the concepts which enhance deep thinking bearing in mind knowledge is a ‘human construct’.

Then, a presentation with Associate Professor Trudi Cooper from Edith Cowan University on ‘engaging teaching, inspiring learning- Universities after Industry 4.0’. A sociological take on the effects of technology on education. Began with an overview of Industry 1.0 – 3.0 – mechanisation, mass production, computing and the knowledge economy. From machines assisting humans, to humans as extensions of machines and where humans manage machines. Industry 4.0 is the era of the internet of things, intelligent machines / robots etc. machines replace humans or machines manage humans. Presented on implications not only to education but to all other aspects of human life. Will it be utopia or dystopia? Postulated some challenges for education 4.0 – critical literacy to strengthen democracy; protect against influence of machines/robots; realise creativity and develop human potential’ strengthen ethical awareness; education for conviviality; meaning and identity (post work, post liberalism / post capitalism). Consequences include purpose change to curriculum; student motivation – greater influence, role of the teaching and implications on policy. Advocates higher education has to make sure humans matter, Barnett and Coate’s domain of being / becoming emphasised; re- emergence of older purposes for education – for the betterment of humans.

Last parallel session for the day, I join the Otago Polytechnic Batchelor of Culinary Arts teaching team’s fishbowl on – I make; therefore, I know – assessing cognitive and creative problem-solving using embodied performances of practice. Presented on the similarities between dance and cooking in a kitchen by using a video to introduce the concepts. The launched into a fishbowl to hammer out the concepts. Robust discussion on differences of embodied practice and the points at which ‘becoming’ can be assessed.

The symposium closes with a keynote from Emeritus Professor ofMaori Education, Russell Bishop from the University of Waikato on ’Teaching to the North-East’. Presented on several problems to be addressed. Equity and excellence in NZ secondary education project – Te Kotahitanga. There is no theory of practice that resonates with marginalised peoples; no real common code of practice or scaling; there is a plague of ‘good ideas’ that masquerade as evidenced-based (Sleeter, 2914); Most PD is effective, open to political positioning and focuses on peripheral rather than central concerns; teachers’ voice is heard more than students; culture is more often seen as customs and objects; rather than a medium of sense-making; leadership is often spoken in terms of actions rather than transformative leadership; and teacher deficit theorising. His work has been based on ensuring teachers establish relationships with learners to improve learner outcomes. Pedagogy is framed by strong relationships between teachers and learners – the discursive relationship model. Sustainability of the project across time is important. Funding tends to be across too short a time frame. Need to explore WHY, once initial funding is stopped, interventions peter out. There was limited capacity building which did not continue beyond the project once funding stopped. Led to limited integration of model across school programme. Model was seen to be too prescriptive. On the whole, there was a lack of collective efficacy to assist the on-going continuation. North East refers to the quadrant for high teaching skills and high relationships – but majority were in South West – high relationships and low teaching skills. Challenge is to ensure the North East quadrant prevail. New model needs to be relationship based leaders of learning profile. Need to create an extended family context in classrooms and schools; interact in ways that promote learning; monitor learners’ progress so that you can improve learning. Need to shift from language of deficit to one of excellence and potentiality.

A wrap up is undertaken by Dr. Angus Hikairo Mcfarlane from the University of Canterbury. Reiterated that we do not only talk teaching, by do teaching. Summarised, in his erudite style, his learnings, the highlights, thanked all the participants and organisers and reminded us of how the conference reflected the principles of the treaty - partnership, protection and participation. Challenged us to continue to live the principles as we leave the conference. 

A late lunch closes a busy but productive conference.

Talking Teaching 2018 - DAY 1 afternoon

After lunch, another round of parallel sessions.

First up, a session with James Oldfield from Unitec with ‘empowering collaborative learning through technology’. James used www.mindmeister.com as a platform and polleverywhere - pollev.com as a platform to obtain initial understanding of collaborative learning from the participants. Provided rationale for his approaches for creating ‘a living curriculum’ and his role in transforming teaching practices, spaces and tools at Unitec. Interactive activity to populate a mindmap on ‘collaborative learning’. Participants populated and discussed mindmap.

The support Lyn Williams from Ara Institute of Canterbury in her campfire session on ‘teachers observing teachers. Lyn introduces the process (the background, the why and how) and shares the presentation with the teacher observers, Mandy Gould (hospitality) and David Weir (computing) who share their perspectives. A discussion session ensued with regards to the items presented.

I then run my workshop on ‘e-assessments for learning – matching digital tools to enhance e-feedback’. Basically to try out templates for the development of aligned e-assessments for learning which support e-feedback.

The day closes with drinks and dinner, Professor Phil Bishop provides the dinner presentation with ‘how to survive in the jungles of Borneo with a bunch of undergraduate students’, music with Jane Nevis and there is the return of the academy quiz game. A late finish to a busy day. 

Talking Teaching 2018 - Ako Aotearoa Academy symposium - DAY 1 morning

This year, the Ako Aotearoa Academy symposium  - Talking Teaching 2018 - is held at the University of Canterbury. There is a larger than usual gathering due to the event being held in a larger city and an influx of a number of Australian Learning and Teaching fellows.

https://altf.org/

Yesterday, was an academy only day. The various workshops and discussions centred around the role and impact of the academy and its members on quality teaching and learning. The day concluded with dinner with the Australian Learning and Teaching fellows.

Today and into tomorrow, the main symposium carries through.

The event begins with a mihi whakatau (traditional Maori welcome). Professor Charles Fleischmann who is on the conference committee provides us with the safety and housekeeping briefing. Following on there are welcomes from Professor Catherine Moran, Assistant Vice-Chancellor of the university and Professor Marc Wilson, president for the Ako Aotearoa Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence.

The keynote address is presented by Professor Juliet Gerrard, academy member and recently appointed as the Prime Minister’s ChiefScience Advisor, She presents on ’beyond the tyranny of content – reframing our teaching using inclusive practices and critical thinking as essential foundations for learners in the 21^st century’. Covered the parameters of her new role; the context of a teacher; and the connection between the two. Her current role is to be a trusted, accessible bridge between scientists, society and government. Needs to provide advice on a useful timescale which is rigorous, inclusive, transparent and accessible (from Nature, June 2018 – four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy). Objectives include shifting society to be excited by science; had advice that is distilled from a diversity of thought and approach; earn trust; be proactive; accessible and view science knowledge and approaches to increase opportunities. Summarised her journey as a teacher to shift from content-based to application in a context. From her portfolio, distilled learning as being a ‘coach’, coaxing students out of their comfort zone, and creating a room in which questioning is encouraged. Used demonstrations to engage students and then made use of situated / contextualised learning. Facilitated an interactive Q & A session to work through the main challenges in learning. The challenges were how to create learning environments that support students to constructively challenge everything (using creative thinking); and Inclusive learning.

Parallel presentations then being. There are 6 streams.

I select the ‘technology’ stream, which actually focusses on digital learning and assesments.

First up, Associate Professor Cheryl Brown and Niki Davis from University of Canterbury with – engaging students in blended learning – UC student perspectives. Presented work for the team which also included Valerie Sotardi and William Eulatth Vidal. Began with the difficulty of defining engagement. Although there is a lot of literature and engagement is on a wide spectrum. Resolved to investigate the students’ perspectives. On-line engagement even more difficult to track. Two items are presence and performance. For online – learning analytics are visible but can be misleading. Clicking on a reading etc. does not mean they will have read the paper! What about the invisible. Provided distance student’s viewpoints. Flexibility makes synchronous attendance onerous, especially if presence requirements are required (attendance, forum participation etc.). What is not visible is the reflective learning; peer communications through social media; physical meetings amongst some students; etc. How to bridge the gap between pedagogical design and students’ learning needs and strategies. Suggested ensuring there is space for students to interact with their peers; undertake their individual learning; and work out what works for them from a range of suggested ‘pathways’ from which they can select and be guided through.

Then, Associate Professor Selene Mize from University of Otago with her experiences with computer-based examining. Presented preliminary findings. Ran through reasons for adopting computer-based examining – learner preference; sustainability; occupational health and safety around ‘hand fatigue’; and unreadable writing. Essay based exams are inauthentic as lawyers will never discuss ‘quotations’ in writing at work. Covered potential advantages and disadvantages. Summarised some of the studies around computer-based exams including the aspect whereby written examinations seem to score lightly better than word processed scripts. Detailed the staff and student surveys – law, anatomy, surveying, info science, tourism, political science. Low numbers of students opted in! Presented responses on perceived advantages and challenges of writing vs typing.

Next up, Associate Professor Jo Coldwell-Neilson from DeakinUniversity with ‘digital literacy – a driver for curriculum transformation’. Context is ophthalmology – which is a ‘self-contained’ programme with all courses being compulsory. Defined digital literacy in this context. For example – the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers (Gilster, 1997) –which needs to be updated for the current and future needs. Shared work defining digital skills expectations – digital muggle 9none), citizen user to find info, communicate and purchase), worker (complex platforms) and maker (programmer). There is work from UK JISC (6 elements – ict proficiency, digital creation, problem solving, communication and collaboration, learning and development and info data and media literacies – building an identity and welbeing), Belshaw’s 8 Cs (cultural creative, constructive etc.) and Beetham and Sharpe’s pyramid (I have, I cam I do, I am). Another model from Ireland – www.allaboardhe.com

To assess digital literacy, needs to be in context, can be assessed if integrated well – where it is taught, applied and assessed. Need to match what is required – explicitly assessed when it is an implicit requirement but not ‘taught’ e.g. use video to communicate.

Followed on by Renee Stringer - hospitality lecturer from Otago Polytechnic on ‘assessing assessment – challenging the system by giving students agency to assess themselves’. A focus not only on competencies but to help them become better learners beyond the Level 3 food and beverage students. over 50% move on to further study but have had little experience with tertiary education. Introduced the need to shift students from a standards based system to taking ownership of their learning and assessment. Needed to encourage students to engage with the marking criteria and to develop learning to learning skills. Authentic assessment (practical) was followed by a reflective process to evaluate their performance. Based on Mason Durie's 3 Ws or Es. Whakapiri / engagement, whakamarama / enlightenment to achieve whakamana / empowerment. When through each part of the model. Whakapiri / engagement involves setting up boundaries, be flexible and student accommodating and be in a safe and supportive environment. Whakamarama / enlightment focuses on providing information that meets students' needs by working with the whole person - physical, mental, spiritual etc. This then provides for whakamana / empowerment to be achieved along with participation within society, the Maori worldview, enjoy positive relationships and become self-managing. Discussed challenges including time required to negotiate grades with students and written reflections being less rich than f2f interactions with tutor. 

ob3 - ocean browser 3 - examples of application

For several years now, the midwifery programme at Ara Institute of Technology, have used a platform called OB3 - or Ocean Browser 3 - to keep in contact with their students through a highly blended learning environment. There is an Ascilite paper from 2014, detailing the approach. A more recent 2017 Ascilite paper, provides examples from the opthamatrist programme at Otago University. At the moment, I am working with another programme to embed OB3 into their teaching. This programme will be highly blended as well and have a large amount of text based anchored discussions and learning activities. Approaches which match well with OB3's current capabilities.

Basically, OB3 works well with text based discussions because the discussions can be carried within the content, rather than separately as with other LMS. This ability to bring activities into the content, creates a seamless and user-friendly experience for both teachers and students. One drawback is that the webpages generated can become quite long, requiring scrolling through copious texts. One needs to be part of the whole discussion to be able to keep track of all the threads, springing forth from either teacher embedded questions, or from students adding discussion points through the document.

OB3 allows for quick upload of a range of content, including multimedia - pictures, videos and podcasts. Both teachers and students are able to upload and share these items. This process supports a co-constructivist form of learning. An important aspect is that students need to be scaffolded into the OB3 approach, otherwise, the content becomes overwhelming. However, if students participate through the process, they 'take ownership' of the content, leading to engagement and deeper learning.

OB3 allows students access to their content post-qualification. An eportfolio type add-on will be available next year.

Into the future, it will be good to stretch the capabilities of OB3 and to see how the concept can be applied to programmes which are less text rich.

Countering the rise of robots with "Work experience"

Following the theme across several blog posts this year, caught up with some of the drivers to extend university based learning beyond the 'ivory tower'. Stuff, in June, wrote about three in ten NZ jobs being automated in some way by 2036. Then a couple of articles on the role of work placements or work experience to help students fight the rise of machines and a today online article on the rise of  intelligent machines.

Then a megatrends report from infometrics for NZ with summary from NZ Herald. Basically, the quantitative data indicate the following trends:

economic – automation (31%  of jobs at high risk) – provincial and rural jobs – 44% low skill, 11% high skill; rise of China; need for government to become more hands on and to intervene.

Demographics – multicultural workforce – may worsen the socio-economic divide as low skill jobs tend to be concentrated in Maori and Pacifica populations; aging workforce; North Island northern population increase.

Education – online learning; bite-size learning; tertiary collaboration;

The general consensus to the perceived threat of automation, robotics, AI etc. on work is to ensure the human element trumps. People skill is the main delineator between us and technological threats. With the following summarised by fortune.com with the US of A as context for technology to created more jobs. However, there is a need for workers to have a good background in maths and science, have a life-long learning mindset and maintain curiosity.

This today-online article, summarises the thoughts of a few commentators on how to move onwards into the future. The main theme is the need to be continually flexible.

Leonard Mlodinov – elastic:flexible thinking in a constantly changing world. Some strategies include:

-          Order least popular dish on mehu

-          Start conversation with a stranger and listen to their perspectives

-          Regular challenges to develop curiosity.

Bradley Staats, - never stop learning: stay relevant, reinvent yourself and thrive

-          Write so that knowledge is codified

-          Spot problems that need attention, motivating change and address these problems

Jochen Menges – role of emotional intelligence

Rachael Chong – Catchafire – fear is the biggest reason we are inflexible.

Carol Dweck – growth mindsets - we can continually learn.

Ako Aotearoa Southern Hub Colloquium 2018

This is one of a series of colloquiums for projects funded by Ako Aotearoa. This one, is for the projects overseen by the Ako Aotearoa Southern hub. Notes from last week's colloquium of projects funded nationally can be found here.

The colloquium begins with a welcome from Dr. Joe Te Rito, Kaihautu matauranga Maori, Helen Lomax, director and Bridget O’Regan, Southern hub project manager. Jennifer Leahy MCs the event. Sessions run for 30 minutes with 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes for questions.

First presentation is with Stuart Terry from Otago Polytechnic on Student perceptions of student evaluations: enabling student voice and meaningful engagement. Questionnaire and student focus groups used to gather perceptions on the various evaluations used to gather students’ point of view on teaching and learning. Both Otago Polytechnic and Otago University second year degree students involved. The project still in early stages and follows on from another on teacher perceptions. The objective in the current project is to focus on the student experience to inform the future with an emphasis on enhancement over assurance. Provided overview, rationale and initial findings. Students often aware evaluation is important but do not know how the data will be used and are not aware of the affect. Initial findings – 95% have participated, 57% prefer online but 22% still prefer paper. 92% thought it was important to complete evaluations. Preference of 83% to evaluate each course and 82% feel there is an effect on quality but 94% do not see the results of the feedback!!

Then with Dr. Rob Wass and Dr. Tracy Rogers from the University of Otago with ‘mentor and peer observation to improve / enhance thepractice of casual, short-term teachers’. Short-term teachers play a important role but are often under-supported. Pilot of 6 tutors and 12 mentees participated from education, classics, management and the university college. Video (using a mobile phone) was used to record sessions of tutorials. These were used for reflective conversations which were audio recorded. Mentors and mentees came from different discipline area so that the emphasis was on teaching, not content. TurboNote used to annotate the video. The process and the evaluation was shared in the presentation. Focus groups with mentors and mentees (separately) was held. There was good interest and engagement through the project. Both mentors and mentees learnt from the process.

Followed on with, Work-active- supporting the ‘forgottenlearners’ in their journey to work' is a joint project with John Grant and Tracey Anne-Cook from Skillwise and Dr. Maria Perez-y-Perez from the University of Canterbury. This project works towards trialling a new teaching and learning approach for adult learners with intellectual disability. Shift to facilitated and learner centric focus to prepare learners within an internship based employment programme. Participatory action research project with disability support provider (teaching and employment support), employers (internship) and tertiary institution (teaching resources and research). Focus through the 12 week programme to develop soft skills including team work, communication, planning, taking initiative and problem solving. Data collected though focus groups and interviews, student learning diaries, workplace and class observations and the student presentations. Shared the programme details and initial findings.

The next 7 projects are from researchers at the University of Canterbury and Dr. Erik Brogt provides an overview and shared the strategic considerations for engaging with the fund. The academic development strategy is to utilise a distributed model of teaching development. The goal is to support good teaching and evidence based scholarship on teaching and learning. Discussed challenges including the work towards moving forward after projects end and increasing impact of the findings on teaching and learning.

The presentations from UC begin with Professor Lynne Taylor and Natalie Baird on ‘the making of lawyers: A longitudinal study’ which was also presented at last week’s Nationally funded projects colloquium. Provided greater detail as presentation time was longer. Study collected and analysed data from 4 universities from 2014 and running through 2019. Allowing for the tracing of students’ journey from 1^st year to beyond graduation. Data also collected from employers. Provided an overview of the analysis of data from students who completed the surveys for 4 years. Intrinsic motivations remained stable across 4 years but after 3^rd year, level of interest in pursuing legal career has dropped. Attendance high, increase of participation in active learning, less time spent and little change in self-study approaches. There was little f2f contact with teaching staff. Grades were consistently good, increased levels of confidence, workload was high and perceptions of knowledge and skills gained did not change. Reported on improving student experiences now put in place and plans for future. Programme and course learning outcomes reviewed. Student well-being plan in place. Changed assessment practices as much as possible within regulatory requirements. Staff development programme begun. Working on Council of Legal Education to make relevant changes. Next year, introduce a first year mentoring programme; introduce capstone skills based course as a bridge between university and work; and work on reducing class numbers to decrease lectures and increase tutorials.

Dr. Julia Wu then presents on ‘optimising complex casestudies as teaching tools in accounting and law education’. The project also involves Sascha Mueller and Erik Brogt. Rationalised the approach, especially the selection of case studies which reflected challenging circumstances instead of the more traditional practice of using ‘ideal’ scenarios. 3 phases so far. Began with literature review of the value of the case study approach and the implementation of ‘messy’ case studies. The second stage evaluated, through interviews with lecturers, application of case study pedagogy and through student surveys, their engagement with the case study method. Shared some of the raw data of lecturer and student perspectives, the barriers and challenges. The third stage was to develop relevant case studies and the teaching practice to support these. Final data analysis and implementation now progressing with outcomes to be completed next year.

Professor Philippa Martin presents on professional engineering cohorts. The project was to support students to develop good cohort support groups and is part of a 4 year transformation project. Presented rationale on the need to change the university culture to be more inclusive. The project was to find out the current ‘non-intervention’ socio-cultural associations for 1^st and 2^nd year electrical and computer engineering students. Data analysis has just begun. The findings feed into the IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity and awareness) initiative set up in August. The goal is to create an inclusive atmosphere for minority groups, women and LGBTQIA+.

Then a ‘BYO – bring your own device – to field class:integrating digital and mapping in the field-based coursework’ with Dr. Timothy Stahl and Dr. Heather Purdie. The context is geology and geography. Drew on his own experiences as a geologist, doing post-doctoral field work, to ensure students learnt the practice of traditional field mapping methods. Need to make this learning visible, and for students to learn the important aspects of spatial awareness and a sense of place. Students used the ArcCollector app to record GPS points with photos and videos, analyse data and track their progress in comparison with their peers. Reports on the 5 field trials to date, student feedback through survey and informal staff feedback. Shared progress of refining the approach and tools and ways forward.  

After lunch, two UC projects with a focus on teacher education.

Firstly, we have Dr. Paul Docherty and Associate Professor Wendy Fox from University ofWaikato with ‘investigating of initial education student views of engineersand engineering practice’. An initiative to improve the perceptions of school students (aged 11-13 – key time for career decisions) of careers in engineering. Sought to try to work on the root cause for low participation rates from females, minorities etc. Apart from family, friends, and culture, teachers play a role in decisions and perceptions. Were there false perceptions from teaching staff that coloured students’ career choices and especially those of female, Maori and Pasifika students on STEM careers. The participants were final year education students. Reported on first phase to determine views of teachers; then provide workshops to address; and hopefully lead to some change in perceptions.

Followed by Dr. Cara Swit and Dr. Christoph Teshers with ‘professional learningopportunities for postgraduate specialist teachers’. The project is to add to pre-service mentoring and to augment aspects of teaching a specialists subject. Data gathering is in progress with analysis beginning early next year. Field advisors are assigned to assist early childhood teachers, completing a post-graduate programme, to develop goals around early-intervention competencies. Presented on details of early-intervention which is one of 6 endorsements being supported at UC and Massey. Students complete a 2 year programme and usually complete this while working full-time as teachers. The programme includes 150 hours practicum which is where this project comes in. The aim is to apply the findings from the project, to develop a coaching framework to support the process.

Final presentation of a busy day with Professor Tanja Mitrovic on ‘supporting engagement during active video watching with personalised nudges’. It is a collaborative college with Otago and University of Leeds. This is a follow up project from a 2016 project which developed a controlled video-watching environment – AVW-space. This project added interactive visualisations and personalised nudges in an adaptive way for students to write comments at certain points through video watching. There seems to be an increase in notes being taken through the use of prompts (micro-scaffolds) which help students learn reflective skills. Then learners allow commenting and to are able to rate comments written by others. Extension in future to study further the connection between learner profiles, personalised nudges and addition of interactive visualisations (comment timeline and histogram) to share with the learner how they are doing compared to their peers.

https://ictg.cocs.canterbury.ac.nz:8009

I provide a brief ‘reflections on the day’ presentation with a quick think-pair-share activity. The colloquium closes poroporoaki / farewell.

Poroporoaki and farewell follows.All in, a good range of projects, each seeking to enhance learning experiences for students. 

Ako Aotearoa National funded projects (NPF) 2018 Colloquium

Yesterday, I presented at the annual hui of the researchers involved with Ako Aotearoa Nationally funded projects held in Wellington. Each project reported on work in progress with several who are close to or have been completed, providing overview of their projects

Colloquium begins with welcome and powhiri with Dr. Joe Rito. Helen Lomax, Ako Aotearoa Director then sets the scene. Dr. Beatrice Dias-Wanigasekara, research projects manager, also extended her welcome and MCed the colloquium.

First presentation is with Adelaide and Doug Reid from Community Colleges NZ on ‘learner access and pathways: youth guarantees, educational outcomes. Project started in 2015 and presentation covered the surveys of youth guaranteed students. The project sought to find out the profiles and longer term effects of the programme. Focus groups and individual interviews also collected perspectives. Themes identified include: the need for self development; having control; fitting in and belonging; the importance of networks and supports; and provision of direction and stability. Identity development was a significant part of transitions (there were multiple transitions), which were complex and context dependent. Skills (communication, collaboration, self-management, learning to learn and job attainment skills), not qualifications assisted in young people staying and progressing in employment and education. 3 interim reports are on project website.

Next up, ‘Set for life – best practice guidelines for vocational education and training for NZ’ presented by Ken Eastwood, Nigel Studdart and Sarah Rennie from Skills Organisation. Project was commissioned by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and co-funded with Ako Aotearoa. Studied transition in Northland / Auckland. Ran for a year from mid 2016 to mid-2017. Hands on action research with focus on support of young people into work in the electrical and plumbing and the primary industries. Summarised progress to date detailing the complexity of transitions and disconnect between needs of employers / industry and schools. The project bought together the range of networks, industry and providers to improve the transition of school leavers into work. Learners appreciated ‘someone who cares’ and assistance in ‘finding my way’. Families were powerful influencers. Needs for engagement in learning were context specific. Transport to work was a defining factor with regards to continuance. Employers’ viewpoints were collated and included the importance of matching the learner to the right workplace. Schools’ needed to make sense of the transition space which was congested and complex, with some schools focusing more on NCEA credits rather than the learning required to achieve employment success. Funding was an issue for providers and ITO as to how completions could be recognised. ITOs are not funded to work in the transition space but may be effective if this occurred. Developed ‘tools’ including Set4 life navigators and the development of a co-designed programmed between iwi , PTE, Northtec, BCITO, Kaitaia College and the Far North Community.

Then, Pania Te Maro and Liz Kohonui from Te Whare Wananga oAwanuiarangi on ‘Ka nanakia hoki ‘ki’ te numeracy: better than expected’. This project studied the design of a tool to assist with modelling the teaching and learning of numeracy. Objective to test the approach of tapping into learners’ personal experiences to assessments to provide a holistic perspective towards progressing further. Traced akonga’s maths education histories and maths identities and help them to work out what they need to learn and how they can learn these. Pilot investigated so the project is in its first stage.

After morning tea, 7 presentations!! Presentations are 15 minutes each with questions after 3 presentations.

Neil Ballantyne (Open Polytechnic) and Dr. Jane Maidment (University of Canterbury) on enhancing the readiness to practice of newly qualified socialworkers. Currently undertaking the 3^rd phase of this project. Phase 1 was a curriculum mapping exercise to find out what was taught from students and educators. Gaps were identified in health as greater emphasis placed on child welfare. Phase 2 then surveyed newly social workers and managers to find out what when well and what did not occur to prepare them for work. Knowledge of mental health was identified by both recent graduates and managers as a requirement. Phase 3 is to construct an inventory of candidate capability statements through workshops with stakeholders. Used the world café approach to gather perspectives of participants on a draft. Feedback and negotiation on the draft capabilities framework through consultation with key agencies will then be undertaken.

Followed by Anne Greenhalgh from Workforce development Ltd. With Dr. Lesley Petersen on ‘establishing communities of practice: a pedagogy development mechanisms for teachers in the NZ private training establishment (PTE) environment’. Worked with tutors in 3 PTEs teaching youth guarantees students. The project assisted tutors to share teaching practice and to develop more effective teaching. Meetings every 4 months to engage in critical reflection on their practice. Used reflective competence as a framework. The aim is to produce a COP implementation guideline which will be useful within the PTE context, COP training workbook and session guide, and reflection template.

Then ‘a cross disciplinary comparison of the approach todeveloping work ready plus graduates’ with Dr. Qilong Zhang and Meghan Ruha from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology. This is a project that started 2017 and completes mid-2019. Disciplines involved are Health study, creative technology, early childhood education, management and carpentry. Currently looking into implementation of models as they pertain to each discipline. Focused on finding out HOW the models can be operationalised. Emphasis placed in each discipline area on different skill sets. There is importance in making the expectations visible to learners and in providing teachers with opportunities to reflect on what the actual skills define their discipline.

Mark Williams from BCITO on ‘how employers have influenced the participation and success of women in the trades where they are traditionally under-represented’. This is the second part of a three part project. This phase sought to identify the characteristics of employers who have or have not employed women; the enablers and barriers to participation; and resources that may be useful to break down barriers to participation. Benefits of having women in the trades include ability of women to pay attention to detail, more care with equipment and tempering blokey behaviours. Barriers included lack of physical strength, may become pregnant and not enough women apply. Found the presence of unconscious bias and recommends some changes in employer behaviours and beliefs. These include advertising online, offering work experience, identifying supporters in the workplace, flexible work options, train and mentor staff and embracing both gender and ethnic diversity. Shared video developed to support the recommendations.

Dr. Eruera Tarena, Dr. Porsha London, Sharon Armstrong and Piripi Prendergast from Tokona Te Raki – a Ngai Tahu initiative working on establishing equity for iwi - present on Hutia te punga (lift up the anchor). The project works with 3 providers to co-construct and implement Cultural Responsiveness Professional Learning and Development (CRPLD). Project began this year and is half way through the process. Presented on the frameworks informing the work which is to work at the deeper causes then to just ‘fix the symptoms’. Co-construction involves bringing values and beliefs of students and their tutors to address poor retention of Maori students in their programmes. Need to confront practices as what we say we will do, is often different from what actually takes place. Provided details of the CRPLD programme, initial themes and reflections on what has been achieved and what still needs to be done.

Followed on by Laloifi Ripley from Careerforce and Dr. Nicky Murray and Anne Alkema from the ITF on ‘Hinatore: upskilling Maori and Pasifikaworkplace learners’. The project investigates the teaching and learning processes in workplace learning literacy and numeracy programmes that support successful outcomes for Maori and Pasifika learners. 10 workplaces base in Auckland are involved along with 5 providers. The project works with the tutors. Pre-programme data already collected and now collecting post-programme data. Supporting tutors as researchers to enable them to use evidence to improve their practice. Workplace programme details provided. Discussed the need to be respectful of the data and to not impose pre-negotiated data analysis framework on it. Draft framework introduced to honour the data based on ako, mahi and whanau.

Completed project presentation with Associate Professor Leonie Pihama’s and team from University of Waikato project ‘he tatua o kahukura’ is undertaken. Provided a quick overview of the project which is to support Maori scholars’ post-doctoral pathways. 7 sites participated. Then shared the findings and recommendations.

After lunch, I present on the e-assessment project. The guidelines, derived from case study of the seven sub-projects are summarised, along with the research approach and the frameworks informing the project. The final report is in peer review and discussions with regards to dissemination have commenced. In essence, digital tools provide opportunities to gather, collate and work through feedback for learning, assisting learners to progress their learning. Feedback may be from digital tools, the learners, their peers, and their teachers / other experts.

Four more projects presentations follow.

Firstly, Professors Lynne Taylor and Ursula present on their project ‘the making of a lawyer: a longitudinal study. This is a 5 year study with 5 universities to work out the work readiness of NZ law graduates. Across the years, no difference in motivations and values but drop in levels of interest in pursuing a legal career. Drop in lecture attendance but increase in participation in active learning activities. Less time spent in self-study that expected and little change in self-study approaches. There was a low level of f2f contact with teachers outside class. At the end of year 4, very few students reported their tutors knew them. Students reported good grades, increasing levels of confidence of passing over time. Shared interventions put in place to address the findings from the project.

Then, Professor Cherie Chu from Victoria University and Janice Ikiua-Pasi from Weltec/Whitirea present on their project ’10 habits ofphenomenal educators for Pasifika learners’. Used appreciative inquiry to change practice for tutors to engage with and work well with Pasifika learners. Study sought to understand better, how Pasifika learners learn best. Then to apply these towards informing teaching and learning practices that will support Pasifika learners.

Followed on with Dr. Emma Wolfgram-Folaki and Dr. Hinekura Smith from Auckland University present on ‘He vaka moana: navigating Maori student and Pasifika student success’. Reports on a support project which connects beginner academic and professional leaders in teaching, learning, assessment and research at Auckland University and Unitec. 8 fellows (including support staff and academic) supported across this year. PD workshops covering ethics application, writing etc. provide ongoing support through the year.

The Pasifika learner success theme continues with presentation from Sam U’tai from Ara Institute of Technology and Ashlyna Noa (University of Canterbury). An evaluation was undertaken of a Pasifika Resource kit developed through a joint project with Lincoln University and University of Canterbury. This is the 3^rd project completed in March this year. The 2^nd project recommended change in academic spaces; student services; and Pasifika visibility and the kit was developed to put into practice, the changes recommended in the 2^nd project. Found the kit assisted with transforming teaching and learning; improved support for Pasifika students; promoted and celebrated Pasifika diversity; and provided support for staff to increase cultural responsiveness through implementation of specific strategies.

Summing up and reflections is presented by Ian Rowe.

Farewell and poropoaki follow.

Before the colloquium ends, here is a celebration of 2 completed projects (Taikaka with Professor Jenny Lee-Morgan from University of Auckland and Te Whaihanga with Professor Dory Reeves also from the University of Auckland).

All in, a day packed with many and varied presentations. There was a sense of camaraderie across the researchers. Also, always good to catch up with work in-progress which represents teaching and learning across the NZ tertiary sector. Projects were led by Wananga, ITPs, provide providers, ITOs and Universities with several cross sector projects.