ASCILITE NEWS

From the President’s Desk

Welcome to the last ASCILITE Bulletin for 2024. I suspect for many of you this message will arrive as you are winding down for the year, but for those of you working right up until Christmas (or across it!), thank you for your commitment. 2024 has been a BIG year for ASCILITE, and for me in my first year as President. When I sat down to write a message like this last year, I was barely two weeks into my presidency, and whilst I used my crystal ball skills to predict an exciting year for the society, I’m not sure I would have guessed how big!

Throughout 2024, I’ve consistently referred to ASCILITE as Australasia’s premier Technology Enhanced Learning society, but I’m starting to wonder going forward if I might need to start adding some other adjectives (biggest, most connected, most passionate?). This is because, as I reported at the conference and in the annual report this year, ASCILITE now has more members than any other time in our history (N=2300+), more partnerships than ever (N=14+), and just had our biggest conference ever recorded (N=500+). This adds to the continuing success of our Q1 journal in Education which contributes to a significant proportion of Education (not just EdTech, but Education) research in Australia, and our host of Special Interest Groups and membership activities for our members.

It’s certainly been a heck of a 2024 for ASCILITE, made possible by our stellar executive, our secretariat and other admin support, and of course our members, and I think even my Crystal ball in December 2023 would not have predicted it. Heading into 2025, we have even more work planned, including starting on our new strategic plan (details below), and continuing to give back to our members. But for now, I’d like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, and encourage you to take a couple of weeks off (if you can!), and be ready for more awesome work in Technology Enhanced Learning in 2025 with the society.

Regards,

Michael Cowling

ASCILITE President (2024 – 2025)

Our NEW Strategic Plan

Those of you that attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) this year will recall that the President mentioned the development of a new 2025 – 2028 strategic plan for our society going forward. This replaces the previous plan that finished in 2024, and has now been uploaded to the website. Whilst there will be much more to say about the plan next year (consider this message a ‘soft launch’), if you feel like checking the plan out, you’ll spot some messaging we hope you like.

Specifically, we include three main pillars identified by the 2024 executive team that we’ve already been working on in 2024, including internationalisation, building our reputation as TEL experts, and giving back to our community of members. Each of these pillars is underpinned by the longstanding ASCILITE values of sustainability and digital equity, and supported by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And to make it easy we’ve included them in a nice infographic in the front!

So click below to check out our new strategic plan for 2025 to 2028, and anticipate hearing more about it come January!

New TELall Blog Post: Enhancing Mathematical Proficiency through Digitally Individualized Pedagogy

Our final blog post for the year is presented by Robert Vanderburg from Central Queensland University. Robert reports on his 2024 project which investigated the development of mathematical proficiency through individualised digital pedagogy. This innovative approach creates adaptive learning environments and features personalised feedback, flexible pacing and engaging content.

To read all about this project, go here.

 Update from the Third Space Symposium

Good news from the Third Space Symposium: The Third Space Slowposium site will remain online and available for the foreseeable future. Featuring more than 50 unique contributions covering many aspects of working in the third space to enable better learning and teaching (and more), you won’t find better holiday reading than diving into the tales of your colleagues.

Registration is open and free at thirdspacesymposium.com

OTHER NEWS

AECT: Volume 3, Issue 2, of the Journal of Technology-Integrated Lessons and Teaching is now available

This issue includes six peer-reviewed articles and four design-competition award winners. Peer-reviewed articles include lessons regarding the use of Makey Makey kits to create interactive posters, robotics and coding with girl scouts, teaching experiential learning with origami, and promoting computational thinking among elementary students and preservice teachers.

Download the journal here.

SoLAR: The 15th International Learning Analytics & Knowledge Conference – Registration now open

Dates: 3 – 7 March 2025
Venue: Dublin Royal Convention Centre

Read more and register here.

EDEN: 2025 Annual Conference theme announcement

EDEN announce the main theme of their 2025 Annual Conference: Shaping the Future of Education in the Age of AI. Empowering Inclusion, Innovation, and Ethical Growth.

The EDEN Digital Learning Europe Annual Conference 2025 will explore how generative AI is reshaping education, offering transformative opportunities while addressing critical challenges. This year’s conference will delve into AI’s potential to personalise learning, democratise knowledge, and foster global citizenship, while tackling issues like ethical awareness, equity, and disinformation. With a special focus on upskilling and reskilling for the future workforce, and the impact of the Bologna Process on AI-driven education policies, the event promises to spark multidisciplinary discussions that will shape the future of learning and teaching.

Find more information here.