ASCILITE NEWS
ASCILITE2017 – Announcing our first keynote speaker, Professor James Arvanitakis
Prepare to be inspired to improve higher education!
Have you ever heard a keynote speaker who:
- Causes a harp-like reverberation in your every nerve
- Makes you want to stand-up and shout-out ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’
- Gives you hope for humanity and for creating positive futures
- You just need to personally meet and thank after
- Inspires you to change, create impact and take positive, practical actions?
I have! Every time I have had the pleasure of hearing Professor James Arvanitakis speak. I am so excited that James has accepted our invitation to be one of the keynote speakers at ASCILITE 2017.
James has inspired positive change in the university student (and staff) experience through his many contributions. James has:
- Redefined students as citizen scholars
- Helped academics not to be academic jerks
- Provoked discussion on whether universities are redundant
- Given PhD students survival plans
So who is Professor James Arvanitakis? Here are a few highlights from his inspiring career. James is:
- Dean of the Graduate Research School, Western Sydney University
- Founding Head of The Academy, Western Sydney University
- Winner of a 2016 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Excellence Award
- Recipient of the Prime Minister’s University Teacher of the Year Award in 2012
- Research Fellow of the Australian Indian Institute as of 2017
- Former economist and free market advocate who left a lucrative finance career to have impact on social justice through higher education
- Board member of the Public Education Foundation
- Chair of Diversity Arts Australia
- Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Development
- Regular Guest on ABC News Breakfast
James’ keynote promises to confront some of the issues with technology implementation in higher education:
“Within the educational setting, the promises of technology rarely live up to what is delivered. Be it a lack of commitment, tools that fail to deliver the flexibility desired, faculty resistance or failure to commit resources, students frequently feel let down and educators are often frustrated. While most of us aim to ensure that the pedagogy trumps technology, it is more likely to that the pedagogy is shaped by the technology we can utilize. In this presentation, I will draw on a cross cultural project involving Australian and Indian universities to outline how we can better deliver the programs we promise with the technology available, rather than being held hostage by it.”
What are you waiting for? Register for ASCILITE 2017 and join me in being inspired by James.
Posted by Professor Shelley Kinash, Director, Office for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching and ASCILITE2017 Conference Committee Member, University of Southern Queensland (USQ)
ANZMlearn Workshop at ASCILITE2017 – Methods for a changing mobility
Date: Sunday 3 December, 9am – 5pm
Venue: This year the Australian and New Zealand Mobile Learning Group will be hosted at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia in conjunction with the ASCILITE 2017 conference.
Along with the new website, we are very pleased to announce our 2017 ANZMlearn workshop. As the field, practice and understandings of mobile learning go through significant change it is important to step back and ask ‘what is mobile learning’ within today’s context. In this spirit, the theme for this year’s workshop, Methods for Mobility, will focus on the research methods and paradigms needed for understanding mobile learning in today’s context.
This workshop coincides with the ASCILITE conference and will take place on Sunday 3rd December, 9am – 5pm. You can either attend in person or remotely via videoconference. There is no cost to attend.
Keynote speaker: Associate Professor Pedro Isaias, University of Queensland This exciting workshop will feature a keynote from Dr Pedro Isaias who is Associate Professor in Higher Education Innovation at the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI) at the University of Queensland, Australia. Associate Professor Isaias has authored several books, book chapters, papers and research reports in information systems and has research interests in how we use technologies for learning.
You will find an abstract of the keynote talk on the ANZMlearn website here.
TELedvisors Webinar 7: Synchronous learning environments: connecting communities or teaching into the ether?
Date: Thursday 7 September 12pm – 1pm (AEST)
Synchronous technologies allow us to connect with others who may not be geographically located. In this webinar, we will discuss newer approaches to synchronous communication that recognise the power of blended approaches and building communities. What ways are there to bring online communities into the ‘real world’ and vice-versa? How can we leverage synchronous communication tools across places and spaces to build greater affordances in how we connect with space and with other people? What pedagogies and frameworks might underpin these approaches and how should we consider these in practice?
Featuring: Sue Tucker (VET Developer, Charles Darwin University) – Twalks Victor Renolds (Mobile Learning Designer, La Trobe University) – Using Zoom in blended learning across campuses
Join us for the session here. No membership is required, just login.
New TELall Blog Post: Mixed Reality in the Classroom
TELall is ASCILITE’s blog covering a wide range of topics in Technology Enhanced Learning.
In our latest post, contributed by Sasha Nikolic, Lecturer, Engineering Education (University of Wollongong), Sasha talks about mixed reality or when you bring the real into a virtual space, known as “augmented virtuality”. Sasha has been leading a team using this form of technology to bring students across multiple campuses together with industry representatives and other subject-matter experts. The technology is similar to Second Life in which users are represented by a floating avatar representing the video captured by a webcam instead of being represented by an animated character.
You’ll find Sasha’s fascinating blog and project video on the TELall blog here.
And why not subscribe to the ASCILITE TELall blog while you’re at it. Or leave a comment!
Reminder: ASCILITE Awards Now Open for Nominations
Each year, ASCILITE accepts applications for three awards that members are welcome to apply or nominate for and we invite members to consider nominations that they believe qualify. The three award categories are:
- Innovation Award
- Life Member Award
- Fellow Award
You will find full details and nomination forms for each of these awrards here.
Extended Deadline: Student Bursary Award nominations
The deadline for nominations in the new Student Bursaries has been extended to 4 September, so there is still time to record your 3 minute video for a nomination. The bursaries are open to all PhD/EdD or equivalent students and are valued at $1,000 each. To qualify, you must be a full-time PhD/EdD or equivalent student. Winners of the bursaries gain free registration and subsidised travel to the ASCILITE2017 conference 4 – 6 December 2017 at USQ in Toowoomba, so don’t miss out! Take a look at the details here.
OTHER NEWS
2017 Eportfolio Forum (Eportforum)
Eportforum is a two day event of presentations, workshops, facilitated conversations and networking on 20 – 21 September 2017 at Monash College and University, 271 Colllins Street, Melbourne. This will be the sixth Eportforum.
A variety of interactive sessions will enable new and experienced eportfolio supporters to gain some ‘hands-on’ experience with using eportfolios, including our Keynote presenters – Prof Shelley Kinash from USQ and Phil Loveder from NCVER.
The 2017 Eportfolio Forum is the annual national event for ePortfolios Australia. ePortfolios Australia is a (not-for-profit) professional network which aims to support the use of e-portfolios in Australia and beyond through professional development activities and the sharing of resources, ideas and practice. ePortfolios Australia has been operating since 2008 and is supported by the volunteer help of people mainly from the university sector.
The event flyer is available here and for more information and to register go here.
Call for Papers: EdTechPosium conference, 30 – 31 October 2017, UNSW Canberra
Join us in Canberra for our yearly education technology conference for higher education and VET. Formerly known as Moodleposium, the conference has expanded its theme for this year to include the spectrum of technologies in teaching and learning. This year’s theme is “Fitting the tech to the teaching”, and we welcome paper submissions that address a wide range of issues around emerging technologies, online and blended learning, work-integrated learning, mainstreaming innovative teaching technologies, working with large student cohorts, and more.
The conference will be hosted by UNSW Canberra at the beautiful bushland setting of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) campus. The call for papers will close 16 September, 2017. For more information and to submit your abstract, please see our website here.The event flyer is available here and for more information and to register go here.
Job Vacancy: Learning Technologies Developer, University of Notre Dame Australia
The University of Notre Dame Australia is a Catholic university with campuses in Fremantle, Broome and Sydney. The Learning Technologies Developer position on the Sydney campus will work with the academic community to support the development of digital literacies, enabling staff to use different forms of technology enhanced learning to create high quality learning experiences for students. This is a national position and reports to the Manager, Learning and Teaching Office and is responsible to the Director of the Learning Teaching Office.
An application package is attached and also available at the University’s career webpage.The event flyer is available here and for more information and to register go here.
Call for Papers (Deadline Extended) – 2017 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE)
On behalf of the IEEE TALE 2017 organising committee, I would like to invite you to participate in this conference, to be held in Hong Kong. I sincerely invite you to consider this conference and share you ideas of how to make an impact on the future engineering and related disciplines through quality of education. The details of the conference are below. IEEE TALE 2017 is being organized by The Education University of Hong Kong.
Overview
IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) is held each year in the Asia-Pacific region (IEEE Region 10). It is intended to complement existing conferences sponsored by the IEEE Education Society, most notably Frontiers in Education in North America (IEEE Regions 1–7) and EDUCON in Europe/Middle East/Africa (IEEE Region 8). The aim of TALE is to provide an excellent platform for both academicians and practitioners to share their experience and knowledge in engineering education at all levels. Both research and practice-oriented papers are welcome in order to emphasize the needs of interdisciplinary collaboration in engineering and education.
Aim
The aim of TALE 2017 is to provide a forum for academicians and professionals from various educational fields and with cross-disciplinary interests to network, share knowledge and engage in dialogue around the theme of fostering innovation and excellence in engineering education. To this end, papers from innovative practice category, research-to-practice category, and research category are invited that encompass all aspects of education in all engineering fields (including computing, computer science, information technology and cognate disciplines). The conference features traditional paper presentations, workshops, as well as keynotes by renowned educational experts and authorities.
Topics
Refer to the website here for a full list of acceptable topics, presentation formats and further submission information.
Important Dates
3 August 2017 – Paper Submission (Extended)
8 Sept 2017 – Review Outcomes
22 Sept 2017 – Final Paper Submission
22 Sept 2017 – Early-bird / Author Registration Deadline
For more information visit the TALE2017 website here.
All enquiries should be directed to: info@tale-conference.org. We look forward to meeting you in Hong Kong!
Best,
Dr. Gary Wong, PhD, SMIEEE
General Co-Chair, IEEE TALE 2017 Organizing Committee
Chair, IEEE Hong Kong Section (Education Chapter)The event flyer is available here and for more information and to register go here.
Would you like to speak at EduTECH 2018?
If you have an interesting story to tell, or know top educators who can speak authoritatively, eloquently and practically on any of the following topics:
- Leadership
- Managing cultural step change
- Information systems for education and learning
- Adaptive personalised assessment and learning
- Innovation, entrepreneurialism and enterprise skills
- Effective direct instruction vs curriculum integration
- Critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and STEM
- Learning spaces and environments
- Diversity in design and engineering
- Digital Technologies and coding
- Applications of Emerging Technology – Drones, robotics or 3D printing
- Developing job ready Higher Ed
- VET development for a diversity of students
- Enhancing the delivery of education and student experience in Higher Ed
- Workplace learning
- Community libraries
- Makerspaces
This is your chance to make a difference! EduTECH is the largest education event in the Southern Hemisphere and third biggest in the world. This is an opportunity to deliver thought leadership and practical case studies to over 10,000 attendees from the entire education and training sector. Every speaker application will be considered. Speaker applications CLOSE 15 September 2017!
