ASCILITE NEWS

New issue of AJET published, Volume 37 (4)

We’re very excited to announce that a new issue of AJET (Australasian Journal of Educational Technology) has been released for 2021. You can find the editorial on Open Science and Educational Technology Research and the articles for this issue on the AJET website. AJET is an open access journal supported and funded by the ASCILITE community.

Linda Corrin, Gwo-Jen Hwang, Jason Lodge & Kate Thompson
Lead Editors

TELedvisors webinar on towards a taxonomy of assessment types

Date and time: 28 October @ 12pm – 1pm AEDT

Guest host Hans Tilstra (Curriculum Designer, Keypath Australia) will lead a guided interactive session aiming to answer these questions (and more): what are some typical challenges in constructive alignment in curriculum design (and assessments as part of that)?

what are some typical challenges in constructive alignment in curriculum design (and assessments as part of that)?
what is the role of an elegant taxonomy?
what collective wisdom can be found when co-authoring a Google Sheet that shows emerging patterns in assessment?

Join us in our final TELedvisors Network monthly webinar for the year as we pool our collective experience and wisdom to address these wicked problems.

For more information, we have a Sway to look over

You can join the session here: https://bit.ly/TELedsinar

ASCILITE LA-SIG Workshop: Unpacking the ethical implications of everyday uses of learning analytics

Date and time: 28 October @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm AEDT

As part of the ASCILITE Learning Analytics SIG series on Digging deeper into ethical use of learning analytics we invite you to an online workshop to continue the conversation around ethical issues relating to learning analytics use in higher education. This workshop will give participants a chance to unpack some of the ethical implications that may be present when using learning analytics as part of everyday practice.

This workshop builds on the outcomes of previous events in the Digging Deeper series to see if we can reach a consensus on what ethical issues exist and how these can be resolved. You can view the recordings of the previous panel and workshop session in the series online.

We would like to include a range of perspectives in this discussion, so encourage participants from many different roles to attend, e.g. learning designers, teaching staff, managers, analytics specialists, etc.

The outcomes from this workshop will feed into the LA SIG workshop at the ASCILITE conference at the end of the year – rounding off the Digging Deeper series.

You can join this session using this link: https://au.bbcollab.com/guest/d64802dc0fcb4e3a91afcfef4f9fcf84<

Open Education Practice SIG News

The regular meeting of the OEP-SIG is scheduled for 2 November @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm AEST and new members are welcome. Please use the following link to locate the agenda, meeting Notes and the meeting link: oepoz.wordpress.com/meetings/2021-meetings/

The October edition of the OEP-SIG Digest is also out now! Inside, you’ll find an extra section promoting the awesome Open Access Week sessions being run next week. Feel free to use this link to share with your networks.

CMALT BootCamp 15 -18 November

The CMALT Boot Camp explores an international Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) professional accreditation framework – the Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT). Concepts and example applications will be outlined in a pre-reading guide, an introductory webinar and illustrated by a webinar panel of current CMALT holders. This will be followed by a two-day online workshop where participants will establish the outline of their own ePortfolio as critical reflective evidence for potential CMALT accreditation.

The bootcamp is suitable for anyone interested in applying for CMALT accreditation to gain international recognition for expertise in TEL and is held over 4 days (1 – 2 hours per day)

Pre-reading for the bootcamp includes:

The bootcamp schedule is as follows:

Intro webinar (Monday 15 November, 12pm -1pm AEDT)
Webinar panel of expert practitioners (Tuesday 16 November @ 12pm – 1pm AEDT)
Interactive online workshop part 1 (Wednesday 17 November @ 12pm – 2pm AEDT)
Interactive online workshop part 2 (Thursday 18 November @ 12pm – 2pm AEDT)

You can register for the BootCamp here.

Associate Professor Thomas Cochrane
Technology Enhanced Learning in Higher Education
The University of Melbourne
cochrane.t@unimelb.edu.au

ASCILITE Becomes EduGrowth Ecosystem Partner

EduGrowth continues to develop ecosystem partnerships with local and international organisations that align or complement our programs, events and initiatives. We are pleased to announce that ASCILITE has joined EduGrowth as an Ecosystem Partner.

ASCILITE was formed in 1983 and currently has 1,000 members representing over 100 institutions and organisations and its mission to promote and recognise exemplary innovation, evidence–based practice and research, in the sustainable use of educational technologies to progress pedagogical practice is very much compliments EduGrowth’s values and mission.

“After co-designing previous programs together for the edutech community, we are excited to become an Ecosystem Partner with EduGrowth. We look forward to extending the reach and impact of both our organisation’s important work.”

– Dr Chris Campbell, President ASCILITE

This Ecosystem Partnership will see EduGrowth and ASCILITE co-host EdTech Showcase events for higher education audiences, promote shared knowledge, resources and services, and increase our shared network and reach.

“ASCILITE is an important part of the Australian EdTech ecosystem and we are thrilled to partner with them. We have a shared commitment of harnessing technology for the advancement of teaching and learning, and look forward to working together to accelerate Australian EdTech.”

– David Linke, Managing Director EduGrowth

ASCILITE now looks forward to co-hosting Higher Ed Showcase events with EduGrowth.

ASCILITE Executive Committee Election Results

The ASCILITE Executive would like to thank all those members who took the time to cast their vote in the recent Executive Committee election.

This year, the President, Vice-President and three non-office bearer positions were up for election. The current President, Chris Campbell (Griffith University), was re-elected unopposed while the committee’s long standing Vice-President, Sue Gregory (UNE) retired from that position and was re-elected to one of the three non-office bearer positions on the committee. Michael Cowling (CQU), who was already on the committee, replaced Sue as Vice-President since he was elected unopposed to the position.

The remaining two non-office bearer positions were taken up by Kwong Nui Sim (AUT) and Elaine Huber (University of Sydney Business School). Kwong Nui has already been serving on the committee since 2019 and Elaine was previously a co-opted member on the committee. (Co-opted members are appointed by the Executive, usually to assist the Executive with special projects).

Dr Lisa Jacka (USQ) will be joining the committee for the first time to fill one of two casual vacancies that have arisen on the committee due to all the changes. Lisa is a senior lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland in the School of Education with over 18 years of experience in Higher Education at USQ, SCU, JCU and UNE.

Sandy Barker (UofSA), who has been on the committee since 2019 will be filling the other casual vacancy.

Hazel Jones has accepted a two year co-opted position that will allow her to continue her great work with the Special Interest Groups and with the next conference organising committee.

Sadly, the Executive will be losing one committee member this year and that is David Porter (UOW) who headed up ASCILITE’s highly productive webinar series this year and who was also instrumental in organising ASCILITE’s 2021 member survey. He also instigated ASCILITE’s partnership with EduGrowth (see below). We wish David all the best in his future endeavors!

Profiles of the Executive Committee members may be found on the ASCILITE website here.

Congratulations to all those who were elected to the committee!

ASCILITE 2021 Early Bird Special extended to end of October

The conference Early Bird special has been extended to the end of October so there are still a few days remaining to claim the discount rate. In the event of lockdowns, UNE will endeavor to retain a hybrid conference with a mixture of face-to-face and virtual. However, if attendees are unable to attend in person, their registration will be converted to virtual attendance and a refund of the difference will be provided.

For further information and to register, visit the conference website. If you have any questions about registration fees and bookings, please email the conference organisers at ascilite2021@une.edu.au

Latest Blog Posts on TELall

Our latest post titled “The paywalls are down. We come in peace” is by Dr Eamon Costello (Dublin City University, Ireland) and Dr Tom Farrelly (Munster Technological University, Ireland). Read more >>

We also have a new post titled “Online learning is not just synchronous learning. Why?” by Murat Sümer (Department of Computer Education & Instructional Technologies, School of Education, Uşak University, Turkey). Read more >>

OTHER NEWS

What is rigour in learning analytics, and how can we foster it? SoLAResearch workshop

Date and time: Friday 5 Nov @ 3.30 pm AEST

How do we ensure rigour in such a multidisciplinary field as Learning Analytics? We need to talk! Come join the SoLAResearch conversation! Hear from leaders in the field about the current state of learning analytics research, and discuss principles of rigour in LA publications.

LA has always been characterised as a multidisciplinary field. As the field continues to grow, fueled by research from multiple perspectives, the question of rigor has become increasingly critical. How can we characterize “quality” in LA work with reference to the confluence of other domains that make up the field? Are there additional features that are distinctive to LA? In their 2019 editorial the editors wrote about this issue, and held a follow-up 2020 SoLAR webinar to continue these discussions (recording available here). Now, we want your input.

You will find further details and registration here: here.

Making Waves in Higher Education Webinar from Blackboard

Date and time: 27 October @ 1:00pm – 1:45pm AEDT

Join Natalie Simper from Bond University for a demonstration of how Bond University used business intelligence from its digitised curriculum management system to reveal insightful visual data. Discover how relationships between course learning outcomes, program learning outcomes, graduate attributes and assessment types can provide rich information enabling continuous course improvement.

Please register here for this session.