ASCILITE NEWS
February’s ASCILITE Wavelength Podcast now available
February’s edition of the new ASCILITE Wavelength Podcast service is now available.
In this episode, Michael Cowling chats with Michael Blumenstein about the challenges of teaching in the computer sciences and if artificial intelligence will take our jobs. Amanda White continues her series on staff addressing academic integrity at the coal face. “The Student Voice” examines barriers and enablers to effective study.
You’ll find all podcast episodes on the ASCILITE website along with additional information on the service including how you can get involved. Wavelength is a community-contributed podcast, and we invite members of the ASCILITE community and affiliates to produce and contribute segments for the podcast.
Recording available for the Business Education and Learning Analytics SIG Special Webinar
The BE-SIG and LA-SIG presented a joint webinar on 21 February 2022 on the topic of Using Learning Analytics to Support a Pedagogy of Care in Business Schools”. Business Schools are characterised by diverse and often large student populations. In this webinar the hosts explored how to use learning analytics to support the care of students.
You’ll find the recording here.
Breaking down the complexity of learner interactions using learning analytics
Interaction in learning and teaching is a complex phenomenon that is dynamic and multimodal by nature. Understanding human interaction, therefore, spans across a variety of disciplines, including education, anthropology, sociology, biology, and psychology and involves studying various behaviours and actions. Following on from the successful “Digging Deeper into the Ethics of Learning Analytics” series in 2021, the ASCILITE LA SIG have developed a series of events to explore the idea of interaction in blended and online learning environments and how we can use learning analytics to help us understand, support, and design interaction to enhance learning.
In this series, we will discuss approaches to supporting, measuring, and evaluating learners’ interactions with educational resources, their peers, and teachers though the use of learning analytics. The series will start with a short introduction to the topic reviewing relevant research and practice (March 2022). From there, we will explore teacher-student interactions, relevant theories, and emerging methods to support this type of engagement (April 2022). We will continue with providing an overview of the nature of student-student interaction, through a student panel where they will be invited to share their expectations and views on the importance of interactions to their learning (June 2022). We will also engage representatives from some of the major learning technology vendors in a webinar discussing novel methods for supporting learners’ interaction (August 2022). Finally, we will complete the series with a workshop at the ASCILITE conference (December 2022) consolidating all of these forms of interaction to focus on practical ways that educators can incorporate interactive activities/content and supporting analytics in their own context.
If you would like to join us on this journey, please send an email to Hazel.Jones and we will add you to the LA SIG Teams space where all our discussions will take place.
Open Call for Webinar Presenters
Do you have a project or topic that you would like to share with the ASCILITE community through a webinar?
ASCILITE has been offering its Live! webinars since 2009 as a valuable service to members who are invited to suggest a webinar of their choice for the current year’s webinar series. Webinar presenters are fully supported by an ASCILITE Executive who organizes and moderates each session and the Secretariat who manages webinar promotion and registration.
Webinars are usually 60 minutes in duration. Presenters may select a particular month and date for their suggested webinar and every effort will be made to schedule the webinar accordingly once your proposal has been accepted.
You will find examples of the kinds of webinars ASCILITE has offered in the past by viewing the abstracts and recordings of past webinars available in the webinar archives here.
If you believe you have a project or topic that would be of interest to ASCILITE members (and non-members) and that you would like to share, then please email your proposal to Lisa Jacka who chairs ASCILITE Live!
OTHER NEWS
Job Opportunity – Manager, Learning Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology
The Learning Transformations Unit at Swinburne University of Technology is currently recruiting for a Manager, Learning Technologies who will be at the forefront of innovation in using technologies to enhance students’ experience in line with our 2025 strategic goals. The role will manage the development, implementation and evaluation of existing and emerging learning technologies to enhance teaching quality, and support wider student learning across Swinburne.
We are looking for a real people-person, who will build and maintain strong business relationships with internal and external stakeholders such as LMS providers, product/technology vendors, project managers and technical experts. This integral position will provide leadership and project management in piloting, scaling-up, embedding and evaluating learning technologies in order to achieve successful use of the University Learning Management System (LMS), as well as using data-informed approaches to ensure effective blended and online learning experiences for our students.
The position description and application can be accessed here and applications close at 5pm Friday 4 March 2022.
For further information about this position, please email Associate Professor Linda Corrin, Director, Learning Transformations.
Job Opportunity: Senior Officer, Projects and Administration at La Trobe University
- Secondment, 12 months (Full-Time, Fixed-Term)
- Located at Melbourne, Bundoora Campus
- [HEO6] – $80,515 – $86,870per annum + 17% superannuation
About the position
The position of Senior Officer, Projects and Administration reports to the Advisor, Learning and Teaching Strategic Programs. The position will support the effective delivery of Education Services’ communications, events and projects across the University. The Education Services Division provides leadership, strategic development and day to day support to the University on a wide range of educational activities, including:
- Curriculum innovation
- Online education
- Technology enhanced learning
- Strategic educational renewal programs
Skills and Experience
To be considered for this position, you will have
- An undergraduate degree with or an equivalent combination of relevant knowledge, training and/or experience
- Experience in communications and/or event management.
- Experience in web-based communications.
- Demonstrated planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple events / projects at one time, to achieve required outcomes and meet deadlines.
Please refer to the Position Description for other duties, skills and experience required for this position.
For further information, visit the La Trobe website here. The closing date for applications is 9 March 2022.
CRADLE March Seminar on re-imagining exams: how do assessment adjustments impact on inclusion?
Date & Time: Tuesday 15 March 2022 @ 2.00pm-3.30pm (AEDT)
Register here for this free online event.
Join the CRADLE team for a seminar by Dr Joanna Tai CRADLE’s Senior Research Fellow, Deakin University, on exams, assessment adjustments and inclusion.
Exams and other high-stakes time-limited assessments can act as barriers to success for students with disabilities (SWD). However, a system which focuses only on making reactive accommodations is likely to become overwhelmed as more diverse students increasingly participate in higher education. Rather than continuing to view disability as a problem to address at an individual level, a shift to focus on inclusive assessment design may also hold promise for a broader range of diverse students.
In this seminar, Dr Joanna Tai will present the findings from her NCSEHE funded research project which involved colleagues at CRADLE (A/Prof Rola Ajjawi, Prof Margaret Bearman, Dr Mary Dracup & Ms Paige Mahoney) and CQU (Dr Joanne Dargusch & Dr Lois Harris). The project firstly sought to better understand SWDs’ experiences of exams and other high-stakes time-limited assessments through in-depth interviews across two universities. Then, assessment stakeholders (academics, accessibility staff, and students) participated in workshops, grappling with aspects of exam design to identify what could be modified to improve inclusion in four specific units (i.e. modules or subjects) of study.
Project findings overall suggest that, while most students had experiences that were not inclusive in relation to their high-stakes timed assessment, there was no single “easy” solution to re-imagining exams, with a combination of approaches required. The workshops were a valuable space to tackle dilemmas together. A shift to a broader understanding of inclusion underpinned actions to improve student-staff interactions, communication between stakeholders, and assessment arrangements. Changes made possible due to Covid-19 were also recognised as contributing to inclusive assessment.
Joanna will also provide an overview of the resources developed as part of the project, so join the seminar for further insights on inclusive assessment design and how everyone can contribute to improving diverse students’ experiences and success in higher education.
Read the full report here.
ALT (UK) News Digests 640 & 641
For those interested in what’s happening with technology enhanced learning in the UK, ASCILITE’s peer organisation – the Association of Learning Technologies, publishes a fortnightly News Digest. Links to their latest News Digests are as follows: Issue 640 released on 14 February and Issue 641 released on 21 February.
