ASCILITE NEWS
AJET Special Issue Vol. 37 (5) published on Emerging technologies in education for innovative pedagogies and competency development
The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) has released a new Special Issue Vol 37 (5) on Emerging technologies in education for innovative pedagogies and competency development. You will find the editorial and the articles contained in the issue (open access) on the AJET website here.
New TELall blog: Emerging Tech – It’s moving fast & we need to too
TELall’s latest blog post is from Professor Sarah Pearson (University of Queensland) who was the Keynote for ASCILITE 2021.
“Entropy, the inclination towards disorder, we just can’t beat it. No matter how hard we try to control the world we inhabit, we will never win. Industrial, environmental & social opportunities and challenges, life itself, just seems to become more and more VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous …”
2021 ASCILITE Member Survey Results
ASCILITE undertakes a Member Survey every 2 – 3 years, the purpose of which is to obtain feedback from members on the value of ASCILITE services, initiatives and related activities. The data collected from the survey is also used to inform the Society’s strategic and operational plans for the years ahead.
Many thanks to the 260 members who took the time to participate in the survey!
You can view the Member Survey (2021) here and you’ll find an infographic summary here.
ASCILITE2021 Conference Retrospective coming next issue & ASCILITE2022 Announced
The final bulletin for the year will be published on 20 December 2021 and will feature a conference retrospective from the hugely successful ASCILITE2021 conference hosted by the University of New England. Don’t miss details of all the award winners and other highlights.
ASCILITE 2022 was announced at the conference and the University of Sydney is excited to be hosting the conference from 4 – 7 December 2022, so mark your calendars.
Learning Design SIG webinar recording available on Experiential learning and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The ASCILITE LD-SIG conducted a webinar on 19 Nov 2021 and the video from the session is now available.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is rapidly changing the way we live, work and learn. Business systems and process are becoming more streamlined and increasingly run by algorithms, AI and robotics. As a result, the industry requires new and additional skillsets from graduates. As equally as important as industry specific ‘hard skills’ are the ‘smart, soft’ behavioural skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, decision making, problem solving and empathy.
This presentation, delivered by Torrens University Australia Senior Learning Experience Designers, Dr Anu Khara and Nikki Donald, focused on how experiential learning theory, supported by the innovative use of technology can support students develop these smart soft skills using simulated and first person scenarios.
Anu and Nikki also presented a collaborative project led by the Product Innovation team at TUA to create, develop and implement authentic learning experiences using Extended Reality (XR) technology. The project is redefining the student learning experience in hospitality education for both practical, applied skills and smart soft skills, including empathy, conflict resolution and customer service. Combining research and technology to create an informed learning design strategy, the project aims to transform students learning experiences as the university embraces a digitally transforming future of higher education.
You can view the recording here.
OTHER NEWS
Investigating professional lives in the digital evolution of work’ – PhD Scholarship Opportunity at the University of Wollongong
Please pass this information on to any potential students who may be interested in undertaking PhD study in 2022.
The University of Wollongong is offering a PhD scholarship associated with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project [DP210100164] titled ‘Investigating professional lives in the digital evolution of work’ under the principal supervision of A/Prof Shirley Agostinho.
This project seeks to understand how professions continuously learn and develop their knowledge (cognitive understandings; skills and capabilities; values, emotions, commitments) and dispositions throughout their careers in an evolving work context. This new knowledge will inform how professional learning can be designed and scaled to meet Australia’s growing demand for agile-skills development and lifelong learning. The PhD candidate will undertake a specific study within this broader project, to be decided with the team.
The successful candidate will receive an annual stipend of $28,854 (2022 rate) for the duration of the award. This will commence in 2022, and the duration of the award shall be for 3 years (full-time equivalent).
To be eligible, a student must have completed a Bachelor degree in education, social sciences, or a related discipline with a First Class Honours, or Masters by research degree. The student must intend on undertaking full-time study during 2022 – 2024.
Interested candidates should email a resume, cover letter and academic transcript to Shirely Agostinho and/or Claire Rogerson. Applications close on January 21st, 2022.
You can find more information on the UOW website here and here.
Funded PhD in Education Opportunity at the University of South Australia
PhD Project: Education Video Puzzle: Develop video-based learning strategies for online education
If you are seeking to advance your career in education and interested in developing video-based learning strategies for an increasingly online world, the University of South Australia—Australia’s University of Enterprise—is offering an innovative PhD project based in our Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L).
This project will explore which video-based learning strategies best support students in humanities vs STEM disciplines, the differences between students studying at different year levels, and how students in enabling sub-bachelor programs from a range of culturally and linguistically diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds best learn with videos.
Open to domestic and international applicants. Applications close on 30 January 2022. See the listing below for further details here.
The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Research Project
USQ is undertaking a research project associated with Redmond, Heffernan, Abawi, Brown and Henderson’s (2018), Online Engagement Framework for Higher Education. The purpose of this survey is to identify practice-based use of the five student engagement indicators.
If you are employed in a higher education role relating to student engagement, or you are a higher education teacher we would encourage you to participate.
The survey is anonymous, and this research project has been approved by the University of Southern Queensland’s Human Research Ethics Committee.
Please use this link to complete this survey or to find out more.
Survey: HETL Conferences & Talks: Share your ideas
You are invited to complete a brief survey from the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (https://www.hetl.org/) which seeks input regarding our upcoming series of online talks as well as our conferences. We are envisioning launching an ongoing series of online “HETL Talks” which would be brief webinars focused on timely topics of interest to our membership and to higher education faculty, staff, and administration more generally. We are also seeking input regarding our Conferences, which are more extended opportunities for professional development and networking, usually over a three-day period, and typically available solely or partially in-person.
You’ll find the brief survey here to share your ideas for both HETL Talks and Conferences. The survey deadline is 6 December 2021.
HERDSA to open NSW Branch
HERDSA is launching a NSW branch with an official online launch 15 December. HERDSA members and non-members are invited to come along to the launch event to connect with fellow members in NSW and hear about the plans HERDSA has to support higher education teaching in 2022 and beyond! There will also be plenty of opportunity for you to contribute to the plan of events.
The launch event is taking place on Wednesday 15 December, 4pm 5:30 pm via zoom. You may register here.
CRADLE Seminar Series: Sustainability in teaching and learning innovations
Join the forum hosted by CRADLE’s Prof. Margaret Bearman followed by an interactive discussion on sustainable innovation in practice.
In Australia, significant resourcing has been directed towards improving university teaching and learning. However, sustaining such innovative improvements can be challenging, particularly when success is difficult to describe or measure.
By considering what sustains and how, institutions can direct future efforts towards innovations that will continue providing value to students and staff after the initial project has completed. In June 2021, we undertook a systematic search of published peer-reviewed literature, using Scopus, yielding 2810 titles. Of these, 14 highly diverse papers were included in the synthesis of the evidence.
Within this literature, innovation and sustainability were conceptualised in a wide variety of ways and studies focussed on different levels of implementation, such as institution, team or artefact. Analysis suggests recurrent themes including: maintaining connection/support between leadership and smaller teams; the need for resourcing or rewards; and the value of visible successes.
Together, the literature underlines the complexity of sustaining innovation and the challenges of research in this area. This forum will take the format of a half hour presentation, followed by an in-depth participant discussion of how sustainable innovation can be conceptualised, researched and implemented in practice.
When: 1.00pm – 2.30pm (AEDT), Wednesday 8 December 2021
Where: Online (free) and you can register here.
Call for Papers & Proposals, iLRN 2022: 8th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network
The 8th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN 2022) will be an innovative and interactive gathering for a flourishing global network of researchers and practitioners collaborating to develop the scientific, technical, and applied potential of immersive learning. It is the premier scholarly event focusing on advances in the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and other extended reality (XR) technologies to support learners across the full span of learning—from K-12 through higher education to work-based, informal, and lifelong learning contexts.
This year’s conference theme is “DISRUPTION, INNOVATION & RESILIENCY: becoming an inclusive & creative robust global community for immersive learning” and the conference will be held 30 May to 4 June 2022, on the iLRN Virtual Campus, powered by Virbela and across the Metaverse!
Following two years of innovative fully online and in-VR conferences, this year’s conference will, for the first time, offer a hybrid experience with two days of presentations and activities on the iLRN Virtual Campus, powered by VirBELA, followed by three days on location in Vienna, Austria. Scholars and professionals working from informal and formal education settings as well as those representing diverse industry sectors are invited to participate in the conference, where they may share their research findings, experiences, and insights; network and establish partnerships to envision and shape the future of XR and immersive technologies for learning; and contribute to the emerging scholarly knowledge base on how these technologies can be used to create experiences that educate, engage, and excite learners.
Topics include XR and immersive learning in/for Educational Technology • Pedagogy • Computer Science • Serious Games • 3D Collaboration • Digital Twins • Embodied Pedagogical Agents • Medical & Healthcare Education • Workforce & Industry • Cultural Heritage • Language Learning • K-12 STEM • Museums & Libraries • Informal Learning • Community & Civic Engagement • Special Education • Geosciences • Data Visualization and Analytics • Assessment & Evaluation.
The main round submission deadline for all submission types is 15 January 2022 and the late round submission deadline for work-in-progress papers, doctoral colloquium, posters, workshop proposals, special session proposals, panel session proposals and practitioner contributions is 15 March 2022.
Inquiries regarding the iLRN2022 conference should be directed to the Conference Secretariat at conference@immersivelrn.org and general inquiries about iLRN may be sent to info@immersivelrn.org.
