ASCILITE NEWS
AJET Issue Vol 33 (5) 2017 Now Published
We are pleased to advise a new issue of the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology for 2017 has been published. The editorial for the issue and the articles it contains are available from the AJET website
As always, we thank the wonderful team of associate editors who facilitate the reviews and author revisions. The associate editors are Associate Professor Shirley Agostinho, Dr Thomas Donald Cochrane, Dr Linda Corrin (University of Melbourne, Australia), Dr Helen Farley, Associate Professor Paul Gruba, (University of Melbourne, Australia), Professor Judi Harris (William and Mary School of Education USA), Dr Chwee Beng Lee (Western Sydney University, Australia), Dr Jason M Lodge (University of Melbourne, Australia), Associate Professor Lina Markauskaite (The University of Sydney, Australia), Dr Stephen Marshall (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) and Dr Michael Phillips (Monash University, Australia).
We would also like to acknowledge the authors for their contributions to AJET and for the support we received from them in preparing papers for this issue.
Assoc. Prof. Michael Henderson, Assoc. Prof. Eva Heinrich and Assoc. Prof. Petrea Redmond
Lead Editors, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
https://ajet.org.au
Post Conference Workshops at ASCILITE 2017
Coming to ASCILITE 2017? Extend your conference experience with a post conference workshop. Not attending ASCILITE? Workshops are open to everyone – not just ASCILITE delegates!
We’ve got three exciting post conference workshops lined up. Here’s a little bit about what’s on offer.
Workshop 1: It’s Pedagogy GO with location-based mobile learning games
Thursday 7 December, 10am – 1pmM
USQ Toowoomba, Z Block, Room 122
$100 (includes light lunch)
Facilitator: Roger Edmonds
In this interactive workshop, the facilitators will take you through all the steps of designing and developing a location-based mobile learning game using an online platform which is made for anyone to use to create and explore stories at locations of their choosing.
Workshop 2: Transforming exams – hands on with the technology.
Thursday 7 December, 10am – 1.30pm
USQ Toowoomba, T Block, Room 125
Free (includes light lunch)
Facilitators: Mathew Hillier, Andrew Fluck, Martin Coleman
This workshop will explore the rationale behind the OLT e-Exam system for high stakes exams, however, the majority of the session will be spent getting hands-on with the technology! Participants will explore different features or modes of the e-Exam system. Starting with paper-equivalent exams centred on word documents, through to post-paper exams that can use spreadsheets, multimedia, third party software tools and potentially an off-line Moodle.
Workshop 3: Mobile virtual reality
Thursday 7 December, 10am – 4pm
USQ Toowoomba, T Block, Room 125
$150 (includes light lunch)
Facilitators: Thomas Cochrane and David Sinfield
The workshop will explore user generated mobile 360 video production and integration into interactive virtual reality environments for education. Participants will experience using a low-cost, BYOD, rapid prototyping framework to create and share their own immersive mobile VR scenarios.
To find out more about all three workshops, or to book, visit the ASCILITE Conference website.
ANZMlearn Workshop at ASCILITE 2017 – Methods for a Changing Mobility
Date: Sunday 3 December 2017, 9am – 5pm
Along with the new website, ANZMlearn is very pleased to announce the 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.
Venue: This year anzMlearn will be hosted at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. This workshop coincides with the ASCILITE conference and will take place on Sunday 3 December, 9am – 5pm. You can either attend in person or remotely via video-conference.
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. Abstract of his talk.
There is no cost to attend this workshop.
Read the Latest TELall Blog Posts on Learning Design
The latest TELall posts come from Associate Professor Eva Dobozy (Curtin University) & Associate Professor Panos Vlachopoulos (Macquarie University) who have contributed a two part series titled Learning Design – Not Just Another Buzzword! (Part 1 and 2).
Learning Design, as an immensely popular concept, returns over 136 million hits on Google and can be viewed as a contemporary buzzword in the field of technology enhanced learning. The buzzword status of Learning Design (LD) can further be exemplified by the increasing number of events and research outputs dedicated to this concept.
- Learning Design – Not Just Another Buzzword! – Part 1
- Learning Design – Not Just Another Buzzword! – Part 2
Upcoming Webinar: Quantitative Ethnography: Human Science in the Age of Big Data, 8 November
Date & Time
8 November 2017, 9am AEST/10am AEDT. You will find other time zones for the session here.
Abstract
In this talk, David Williamson Shaffer looks at the transformation of education and the social sciences in the age of Big Data. The tools of Quantitative Ethnography integrate data-mining, discourse analysis, social interactionism, cognition, learning science, statistics, and ethnography into a brand-new human science. We get numbers and meaning both, and they do not fight each other; rather they produce new ideas and innovative ways of thinking about data and data analysis. Those interested in teaching, learning, meaning-making, culture, social interaction, and human development will find here the first shot in a research methods revolution.
Presenter
David Williamson Shaffer is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Obel Foundation Professor of Learning Analytics at the Aalborg University in Copenhagen, and a Data Philosopher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. He began his career as a classroom teacher and teacher-trainer in mathematics, history, science, and English as a second language, in the US and with the US Peace Corps in Nepal. Professor Shaffer’s MS and Ph.D. are from the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a 2003-2005 National Academy of Education Spencer Fellow and a 2008-2009 European Union Marie Curie Fellow. He is the author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn (New York: Palsgrave MacMIllan, 2006) and Quantitative Ethnography (Madison, WI: Cathcart Press, 2017).
Registration
To register for this session, please go here.
Transforming Assessment (e-Assessment SIG) News
The next and final TA-SIG session for 2017 “Getting it right: guidelines for online assessment” is scheduled for 15 November 2017. The session will be presented by David Snell and Jane Terrell (Massey University, New Zealand).
This session will explore findings and tools developed for an Ako Aotearoa project on developing guidelines for assessment in higher education as well as an online tool that provides guidance to teachers in deploying online assessment tools.
For further information and to register, go here.
Video Recording Available
A video recording is now available from the session on Students’ preferences for assessment feedback via personal analytics solutions, held 1 November 2017. This session was presented by Dr Linda Corrin and Paula de Barba (University of Melbourne, Australia) and it explored students’ preferences as to the types, format and timing of assessment feedback to be delivered via personal learning analytics. That is – information that is customised and delivered to the student about their own performance.
You can view the recording here.
e-Exams Workshop on 7 Dec at ASCILITE 2017
The Transforming Assessment SIG is running a hands-on workshop on authentic e-Exams suitable for educators, e-learning designers and e-learning technologists at the ASCILITE conference. The title of the workshop is Transforming exams: Hands on with the technolog and it is scheduled for Thursday 7 Dec: 10:00am to 1:30pm.
The workshop venue is T Block, Room 125, University of Southern Queensland campus, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia. A catered light lunch will be provided. Workshop capacity is 40 people. You’ll find workshop registration details here (no cost).
Numbers are limited so please get in quick – but also let us know if you subsequently can’t make it so we can free places for others.
Participants will need to bring a compatible laptop. Please refer here for details.
This workshop is sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training funded project: Transforming Exams (Grant ID 15-4747). Note that only the workshop session and workshop catering are free. Participants must pay for their own travel and accommodation expenses. Also, if participants attend the ASCILITE conference on 4 to 6 Dec they will need to separately register and pay the conference registration fee.
TEL-edvisors SIG 2017 Webinar Series Available Online
The 2017 series of webinars for the TEL edvisors SIG has finished up for the year but if you missed one, you will find all of them on the SIG YouTube Channel.
Building capacity: Supporting TELT, blended and online practice with teaching staff (April)
Oriel Kelly – NZ Tertiary College
Caroline Ondracek – La Trobe University
Dr Naomi Barnes – Griffith Institute for Educational Research
Our personal professional development: strategies and approaches (May)
Wendy Taleo – Charles Darwin University
Joyce Seitzinger – RMIT/Academic Tribe
TELedvisors – what’s in a name? Roles, meaning and the ‘third space’ (June)
Dominic McGrath – University of Queensland
Colin Simpson – Australian National University
How do we learn socially? Use of social media in Higher Education (July)
Dr Julie Willems – RMIT
Dr Henk Huijser – Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Dr Megan Teychenne – Deaking University
The pluses and pitfalls of gamification in tertiary education (August)
Sarah Thorneycroft – University of New England
Dr Mark O’Rourke – RMIT
Synchronous learning environments: connecting communities or teaching into the ether? (September)
Sue Tucker – Charles Darwin University
Victor Renolds – La Trobe University
Support site showcase – see how your TELedvisor colleagues do it online (October)
Dr Danny Liu – University of Sydney
Jamie Fulcher – Monash University
Simone Poulsen – Griffith University
Reflective learning with ePortfolios (November)
Emma Collins – Otago Polytechnic
Heather Pate – Edith Cowan University
Kate Coleman – University of Melbourne
The TELedvisors SIG would like to once again thank everyone who presented at our webinars this year and provided so much to talk about. Stay tuned for the 2018 series.
Reminder: Final Call to Complete the ASCILITE SIG Survey
If you are a member of any of the ASCILITE SIGs listed below, you are invited to complete the first ASCILITE SIG survey designed to help ASCILITE and SIG leaders better understand the needs of their respective members.
- Learning Design
- Learning Analytics
- Transforming Assessment
- Mobile Learning
- TELedvisors
The survey takes an average of 2 – 3 minutes to complete and is anonymous. If you are a member of more than one SIG, you may re-take the survey by selecting the specific SIG your are responding to each time. You will find the survey here. The extended closing date is 8 November 2017. Once the results have been tabulated, ASCILITE will make them available to the SIGs and membership.
ASCILITE Webinar Recordings Now Available
Building Capacity for Open Educational Practices in Australian HE, 26 October 2017
Dr Carina Bossu, Lecturer, Learning and Teaching (OEP) with the Tasmanian Institute of Learning and Teaching at the University of Tasmania presented an ASCILITE webinar on 26 October and the video recording of that session is now available for viewing.
Capacity building can be key to raise understanding, awareness and empower educators to make informed decisions about change and adoption of innovation learning technologies to enhance learning and teaching in higher education. This is also true for Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP). In fact, research conducted in Australia in 2011 showed that higher education stakeholders believed that capacity building was a way to eliminate barriers and increase OEP engagement.
You will find further details of this session and the video recording here.
Learning Design Research – Continuing the Discourse, 24 October 2017
The LD-SIG conducted a webinar on 24 October 2017 that explored the challenges of collaboration, distribution and re-usability of learning designs and posited that addressing these challenges may constitute a first step towards the future development of agreed Learning Design methodologies.
The session was presented by Associate Professor Panos Vlachopoulos, Associate Dean, Quality and Standards, Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University and Associate Professor Eva Dobozy, Deputy Dean, Learning and Teaching at the Curtin Business School, Curtin University.
You will find a recording of the session and other details here.
OTHER NEWS
Job Vacancy: MOOC Project Coordinator, The University of Queensland
A great opportunity exists for someone with excellent attention to detail and knowledge of education, e-learning technologies and some design capabilities to manage and coordinate all activities of the new MOOC MicroMasters in Sustainable Energy Program.
This is a full-time, fixed term appointments for three years at HEW Level 7. Application details and the position description can be accessed on the UQ website.
To discuss this role please email Professor Peta Ashworth.
Job Vacancy: Educational Technologist, Australian National University
The College of Arts and Social Sciences at ANU is looking for a new team member who will contribute to the development of teaching capacity by supporting, demonstrating and encouraging the uptake of accessible technologies, particularly in the areas of Moodle (the ANU’s Learning Management System), use of the Web for university teaching, and rich media. The position is a fulltime, continuing position at the college Education Development Studio.
For further information on the advert, please go to the university job-site. Applications close on 15 November 2017.
What are your Research Practices & Experiences?
- Please participate in our research study!
- Semi-structured 1 hour interview (in person or online)
Target group: Researchers working at Australian research institutions and universities Our project “Research Practices in the Open Digital Age” investigates researchers’ views and perceptions of their research practices and experiences of openness in research. The results are intended to get gain deeper insights into practices to be able to regard researchers’ needs and consider their opinions towards open practices.
To participate, or get further information, please email Anisa Rowhanifarid or Tamara Heck and feel free to share this information to research colleagues.
The project is run by the Digital Life Lab of the University of Southern Queensland, under the Ethics Approval Number H17REA126.
