ASCILITE NEWS

TELedvisors SIG Webinar: Designing AI Learning Agents

Date: Thursday 29 August 2024
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm AEST
More information and registration here

Platforms like Cogniti and ChatGPT offer an exciting new way to design interactive and personalised learning experiences using plain language text instructions – or ‘prompts’. It’s still early days, so what do we know so far about how best to design and deploy these learning experiences? Join us for the August TELedvisors webinar, which will showcase four different pioneering examples of generative AI-powered learning experiences in Cogniti, ChatGPT and MS Copilot. Joanne Hinitt (USyd), Matthew Clemson (USyd), Michael McAuley (ECU), and Antony Tibbs (ECU) will share tips and tricks for writing effective prompts and using them with learners. The webinar will provide examples, practical tips and advice to help you design your own engaging learning experiences using generative AI prompts.

Learning Analytics SIG Webinar: The role of motivation in student-facing learning analytics

Date: Thursday 22nd August 2024
Time: 9am AEST
More information and registration here

Guest presenter: Professor Stephanie Teasley (University of Michigan)

While the availability of student-facing learning analytics dashboards (LADs) is growing rapidly, their development and assessment has been lacking in a number of dimensions, including theory-based design. In this talk Stephanie will describe the LAD we developed for university students, called My Learning Analytics (MyLA), which provides students with three views displaying information about their course activity and performance. We combined principles from three areas – learning theory, human computer interaction, and information visualization – to develop dashboard requirements. Stephanie will focus on these design decisions, including our use of theory on self-regulated learning and motivation, and describe how these have helped us understand how and why students used MyLA.

Transforming Assessment SIG Webinar: Gen AI in assessment: authenticity and feedback

Date: Wednesday 4 September 2024
Time: 6:00pm AEST
More information and registration here 

Jointly hosted with Assessment in Higher Education Network UK.

Featuring two presentations:

1. Encouraging self-feedback practices and engagement with feedback at the program level using e-portfolio by Mathilde Roger (University of Durham, UK) and
2. Reinvesting in Authentic Assessments: A Response to Generative AI by Kathleen Burrows (University of Bristol, UK).

The Third Space Symposium is an event in two parts- a free, online asynchronous event over two weeks (Friday 15th – Sat 30th November) called the Slowposium and then a 1 day in-person event at the University of Melbourne on Sunday 1st December (the day before the ASCILITE conference kicks off in the same location).

Both events will include a rich program addressing all aspects of working in the tertiary education third space. The in-person symposium will focus specifically on our corner of the third space dealing with the work of learning designers, educational technologists, academic developers and the like. Registration for this event includes morning/afternoon tea and lunch and costs $56.

This is easily the biggest event that we have put on and we think it will be amazing. Really hope to see you there.

Find out more and register here

ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School

You are invited to join us at the 2024 ASCILITE research school.

The next School is planned for 28-30 October and will be hosted by UTS in Sydney.

Aims of the Research School
The aim of the ASCILITE Spring into Excellence Research School is to:

1. Provide support and guidance to participants in developing and progressing Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research initiatives including but not limited to:
   – Formulating a relevant and effective TEL research project.
   – Collecting appropriate TEL research data.
   – Identifying what data is most appropriate for TEL research.
2. Assist participants to identify and plan a contemporary TEL research project.
3. Enable opportunities for participants to link with like-minded collaborators from other universities and potentially to establish viable cross-institutional research collaborations.
4. Guide participants in developing a grant application or research plan for a TEL research project. This would include both projects that have already been conceptualised as well as new projects that have not yet been conceived.

You can access the expression of interest form here and/or get more information about the Research School here.

AJET Lead Editor Update

There have recently been some changes in the AJET Lead Editor team as Associate Professor Jason Lodge finishes his 3.5 year term as a co-lead editor. We would like to acknowledge the contribution that Jason has made to the journal over the last 8 years. Jason started with AJET as an Associate Editor in 2016 and transitioned to Lead Editor in 2021. Over his term as Co-Lead Editor Jason has triaged thousands of articles, supported Associate Editors and Guest Editorial teams, and championed a focus on impact and open science for the journal. We thank Jason for the time and expertise he has dedicated to the journal and wish him all the best in his future academic journey.

Consequently, we now welcome Associate Professor Chris Deneen into the role of Co-Lead Editor alongside Associate Professor Linda Corrin, Dr Feifei Han, and Associate Professor Henk Huijser. Chris is an Enterprise Research Fellow with Education Futures at University of South Australia and an honorary principal research fellow with The University of Melbourne. Chris’ work contributes to essential, future-focused understandings of assessment and feedback in higher education. His program of research uses theoretical and empirical modelling to advance our understanding of how technology interacts with assessment and feedback. Chris has been an Associate Editor with AJET over the last two years and we look forward to working with Chris in this new role.

Call for member feedback

The ASCILITE executive would like to invite all members to provide us with feedback on the activities that ASCILITE undertakes, as part of our continuous improvement processes.

The activities include:

• Webinars
• TELall Blog
• Awards and Bursaries
• CMALT Australasia
• Community Mentoring
• Contextualizing Horizons
• Special Interest Groups (SIGS)
• Research School
• TELAS
• Women in Academic Leadership
• Women in Professional Leadership
• Individual and Institutional membership

We’d like to know more about what you like, which of the activities you think we should continue, what could be improved, and whether there are other activities you want ASCILITE to add.

You can access information about these activities on the website under Get Involved or Connect.

Please complete, by 30 August 2024, the feedback form here.

OTHER NEWS

UNSW Scientia Education Lecture: Improving feedback and developing student feedback literacy

Date: Thursday 5 September 2024
Time: 1pm – 2:00pm
More information and registration here 

UNSW are excited to announce an upcoming online UNSW Scientia Education lecture. Prof Phillip Dawson from Deakin University will present on the topic of feedback and student feedback literacy.

Feedback can be one of the most challenging parts of not just education but of life in general. Giving, receiving, understanding and coping with comments about our work is hard. The workload of feedback can also be a significant challenge for staff, who often report that students do not even read assignment feedback comments, let alone action them. Prof Phil Dawson will address the capabilities required for effective teacher feedback, explore how to improve student feedback literacy and their ability to seek feedback, make sense of it, and work with their emotions throughout the process.

CRADLE Seminar Series. Is it time to rethink the role of High-stakes examinations in university subjects?

Date: Wednesday 11 September 2024
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM AEST
More information and registration here

In this seminar Melbourne University’s Dr Sarah French, Senior Lecturer in Education, and Prof Raoul Mulder, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in the School of Bio Sciences and Professor of Higher Education, unpack the very timely questions relating to the future of high-stake assessments.

High-stakes final examinations are widely used as summative assessments in university subjects, and the advent of Generative AI is spurring calls for even greater use of such assessments. In this seminar, we review and evaluate arguments and empirical evidence in the academic literature for and against their deployment as assessment tools in higher education. Perceived academic benefits of high-stakes examinations include their ability to test knowledge recall, motivate study, demonstrate performance under pressure in the absence of information, and their potential to safeguard academic integrity. From a logistical and resource perspective, summative examinations also are cost-effective to administer.

CRADLE Survey – How do you engage with feedback?

Feedback is incredibly important for learning, and it’s not just the information you get, but how you use it that could make a difference. Be part of CRADLE’s research project Exploring learners’ feedback literacy behaviours: take the Feedback Literacy Behaviour Scale to find out your strengths and weaknesses regarding how you engage with feedback. They are looking for people to complete our survey who are aged 18+ years and study (or have studied) at a higher education institution (e.g., university, TAFE or college) in English.

This will only take you about 10-15 minutes. Take the survey now!

Invitation to teaching and learning practitioners
Participation in the project is anonymous, however, CRADLE recognises that many teachers might wish to know something about the feedback literacy behaviours in their student cohort. In the cases where over 200 students from a particular university cohort participate in the survey and consent to sharing their data in aggregate form with you, we will be able to provide a short summary report of the cohort’s feedback literacy scale outcomes. Please email project lead Professor Phillip Dawson to discuss if you are interested, as this process will require organisational consent from your institution.

Visit the Feedback Literacy Website and read the feedback literacy paper

This study has Deakin University Ethics Approval (ID: HAE-23-065).

Call for Reviewers: Learning Letters

The newly launched journal, Learning Letters, is seeking reviewers to join our editorial team. The journal focuses on the rapid publication of promising research in learning analytics, educational technology, human and artificial cognition, artificial intelligence and education, learning design, and learning sciences written in concise 2500 word manuscripts. As a reviewer, you will play a crucial role in ensuring the quality and rigour of the research we publish and enhance your academic and professional profile. You can learn more about Learning Letters and and register as a reviewer by going to the Learning Letters website for more details.

Deakin University Postgraduate Research (DUPR) scholarship applications

This is your opportunity to undertake a PhD with the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) – Submit your application by 6 October 2024

Applications for Round 1 Higher Degree by Research DUPR PhD Scholarships for 2025 are now open! If you’re a domestic or international student specifically interested in the areas of assessment and/or digital learning, you can apply for a scholarship through the Faculty of Arts and Education to undertake your research with CRADLE.

How to Apply
If you are interested in studying with CRADLE, you must apply via the Higher Degree by Research Application Form. This requires the development of an original research proposal, which should be aligned with CRADLE’s research themes. You should contact the relevant supervisor directly with a draft of your proposal prior to submitting your application, and to discuss your eligibility and competitiveness for a scholarship.

Visit CRADLE’s blog site for further information.

Last call for the FLANZ 2024 Conference

The Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand  2024 conference will be held on the Grafton Campus at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. The dates are 26-28 August.

If you cannot travel to Auckland, do consider a Virtual registration for FLANZ 2024. Both session rooms for the presented programme can be joined via Zoom. This means you can access your choice of stream realtime.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear the Keynote speakers Associate Professor Michael Cowling (CQU and ASCILITE President) and Associate Professor  Rhys Jones (UoA) and presentations.

The Full Conference Programme is available here.