ASCILITE NEWS

ASCILITE 2023 Conference Update

Want to attend the ASCILITE conference but can’t travel? Join us virtually and dip in and out of over 150 conference presentations from the comfort of your home or office.

Gone are the days of virtual conferences requiring 8 hours in front of the screen. ASCILITE23 is hybrid (yes you heard that right hybrid not just virtual or face-to-face). You can be in control of your experience thanks to this year’s complete virtual conferencing platform.

• Watch sessions live or recorded
• Make (and export) your own notes
• Build your community through connections with participants and sponsors wherever they are through the social wall and meeting hub

And no FOMO: The conference platform and app will be available for 6 months after the event which means you can watch sessions you missed out on at when it suits you. The full list of presentations is available on our website https://2023conference.ascilite.org/program/

Invitation to attend NZ TELAS discussion

Over the next 12 months are planning for stakeholder discussions on how the TELAS framework aligns with higher education providers in New Zealand.

We will begin this work at the annual conference in Christchurch with a session and then we will have further discussion during 2024. We plan to finalise this work before the 2024 conference. The initial NZ TELAS discussion at the conference will be held on Tuesday 5^th December from 1:30 to 2:30.

If you work in NZ higher education or have an interest in this area, please feel free to come along. If you can’t attend this session please register here to receive updates on this initiative If you cannot make the conference session but are interested in participating, please reach out to us via the ASCILITE secretariat.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Invitation to attend the ASCILITE Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) for ASCILITE will take place during the annual conference on Monday 4th December at 12:30pm in Christchurch at the annual ASCILITE conference. All current members are cordially invited to attend the meeting.

The room will be advised in the conference program. Check the conference agenda for any change to the meeting time closer to the event.

We do hope you can join us where we present the 2023 Executive election results, review ASCILITE’s financial position and seek approval from members for next year’s budget.

Calling all ASCILITE Members! Industry and AI: Share Your Authentic Practice in AI-Enabled Teaching and Learning

Are you an ASCILITE member who has been exploring the exciting realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning? Are you encouraging your students to develop skills in ethically using generative AI to equip them to be industry-ready graduates?

If you answered yes, then we want to hear from you! Join us face-to-face and online at the 2023 ASCILITE conference’s Business Education SIG session on Monday 4 December from 3:40pm to 4:40pm to share a short 2-3 minute Vignette about your authentic, industry-aligned practice. This is an opportunity to share with each other examples of how AI is being integrated into various educational domains, including assessment (both formative and summative) and co-curricular activities.

ASCILITE Learning Analytics SIG Webinar: How does learning transfer to new situations in or outside the classroom?

The final webinar in the ASCILITE LA SIG series on “How Learning Sciences can inform Learning Analytics” will take place on 23^rd November at 2pm 2023 (AEDT). This webinar will address the final Deans For Impact question: How does learning transfer to new situations in or outside the classroom? Presented by Professor Lina Markauskaite from the University of Sydney, the webinar will include examples from Lina’s own research as well as relevant principles from learning sciences, and a discussion of the implications of these approaches for the learning analytics community.

You can register for the webinar here.

Also, if you missed the last ASCILITE LA SIG webinar by Dr Paula de Barba (Monash) on “What motivates students to learn?” you can now watch it on the ASCILITE YouTube channel here.

Lastly, if you’re interested in being involved in a workshop that brings together all the 6 questions of this year’s series, keep an eye out for the LA SIG session at the ASCILITE Conference in Christchurch. If you’ve missed any of the webinars in the series it’s a great way to catch up, and if you’ve been to them all it’s a great opportunity to consolidate what we’ve learnt throughout the year.

ASCILITE live! Webinar Recording October 2023

A summary recording of the 2023 ASCILITE Live! Webinar for October 2023, discussing how students (and others!) use avatars to represent themselves online, presented by Erica Ho from University of Sydney, winner of the 2022 ASCILITE Student Bursary.

Watch the recording here.

ASCILITE Live! & EduGrowth Webinar: Navigating Change in the Future of Work

Date: 22 November
Time: 11AM AEDT
Where: Online
More information and registration here.

In this Higher Education showcase event Professor Martin Bean CBE will detail his strategy to equip leaders to navigate change, seize opportunities, and foster resilient teams.  His presentation will explore the current landscape of education and work in Australia and globally in an ever changing environment.

It will also explore what lessons have been learnt around navigating adversity following the upheaval in education COVID-19 ushered in, and how to turn adversity into advantage for your team and organisation. This program will also profile case studies showcasing how partnerships between EdTech and institutions creates tangible impact for learners.

If you are an educator or EdTech in the Higher Education and workforce space this segment is for you!

ASCILITE Open Educational Practice (OEP) Digest – November 2023

Read the latest Australasian and International news from the OEP SIG here.

TELAS Reviewer Certification workshop: LAST CHANCE to register

The Technology Enhanced Learning Accreditation Standards (TELAS) are a set of internationally benchmarked standards designed to assess the quality of online learning, particularly in relation to the tertiary sector. They provide institutions with the means to assess and evaluate the affordances of their online learning environments and thereby guide quality enhancements.

The next TELAS Reviewer Certification Workshop is now open for registration.

Location: The workshop will be conducted fully online via Zoom.
Date: Thursday 9^th November & Friday 10^h November,
Time: 10am – 1.30pm (AEDT)
Cost: $250(members);  $400 (non-members – includes 12 month ASCILITE membership fee).

For further details and to register, visit the TELAS website.

Please direct any queries and/or expressions of interest to admin@telas.edu.au.

TELall Blog: ASCILITE23 series: Getting to know our keynotes – Chelsea Rapp

In our latest blog post  we introduce you to the dynamic Chelsea Rapp, a life-long gamer and Chairperson of the New Zealand Game Developers Association and Head of Corporate Strategy for CerebralFix where she makes exciting games played all over the world.  This keynote speaker has had the most unusual start to her exciting journey. Not all beginnings are fun and games! Let’s find out more. Read more here.

OTHER NEWS

TURNITIN Webinar with Dr. Matthew Salter on Research Integrity in the age of Artificial Intelligence

Date: 9 November 2023
Time: 1PM AEDT
Where: Online
Cost: Free
More information and register here.

In this webinar Dr Matthew Salter, Founder and CEO of Akabana Consulting, will draw from his experiences as a publisher and editor to help researchers navigate generative AI’s challenges and opportunities. He’ll discuss responsible use of AI in research papers that meet integrity benchmarks, and explore the tools available to help researchers publish with confidence.

ODLAA 50 Year Anniversary event & 2023 Awards

ODLAA are celebrating 50 years! Their celebration event is a online keynote (Mark Nichols) and a panel session sharing insights and provocations on the topic of Open Education in Transition. More information is available  here

Do you know someone who is making a substantial contribution to open and distance learning? If yes, consider nominating them for the ODLAA National Open and Distance Learning Awards – criteria and forms available here.

AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force research project – participants needed

The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning’s (AAEEBL) Digital Ethics Task Force, is conducting a research project to better understand the field of ePortfolio work in Australian and New Zealand tertiary education.If you are involved in ePortfolio work in either of these countries as part of your professional role, we invite you to participate in this research survey. Your valuable insights will contribute to the mapping of ePortfolio practices and help us gain a better understanding of common practices and the labour involved.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your participation is voluntary, and you can choose to close the survey at any time if you wish to withdraw.

If you are interested in participating, please click on the following link to access the Project Information Sheet, Consent Form and online survey here.

Your contribution to this research project would be greatly appreciated.

CRADLE Seminar Series: The politics of student belonging: storying through words and images

When: Wednesday 29 November 2023
Time: 6.00pm-7.30pm (AEDT)
Where: Online
Cost: This is a free event
More information and register here.

In this seminar, we will present research funded by the Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE) on student belonging, which is broadly considered to be a positive foundation for students’ well-being and success at university. We will start by presenting a brief history of belonging research in higher education and invite you to think more critically about belonging. Drawing upon empirical data from interviews and video-blogs with 30 students in the UK and Australia, our research highlights how students experience and create multiple belongings. We identify how calls for integrated, uniform, approaches to building belonging in universities are unhelpful. Instead, we foreground the situated and political ways in which students make and curate meaningful and purposeful connections and safe spaces. Our research points to the personalised nature of belonging. We show how individual learners often enact belonging in ways that disrupt or challenge institutional assumptions and expectations. These insights are particularly important in the current higher education context, with universities in many countries, such as Australia, setting ambitious targets to expand the access and participation of students from more diverse backgrounds. We advocate for critical discussions between staff and students related to the affordances of embracing the multiple ways students and staff choose to belong, at different times, and in different spaces.