ASCILITE NEWS

Latest Issue of AJET Published

The Editors of AJET are pleased to advise that the third issue of the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology for 2014 has recently been published. The editorial for AJET Issue 30(4) and the articles it contains are available on the AJET website here.

As always the editors would like to thank the team of Associate Editors, Helen Farley, Michael Henderson, Timothy Teo, Shirley Agostinho, Eva Heinrich and Lina Markauskaite, and our Layout and Copy Editors Kayleen Wood, Antonina Petrolito and Molly McKew for their assistance.

The editors 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.

Gregor Kennedy, Sue Bennett, Barney Dalgarno.
Lead Editors, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

ascilite 2014 Conference Update

Spring has arrived in Dunedin and the ascilite2014 Programme Committee has sprung into action to develop an amazing ascilite 2014 Programme!

A special addition this year will be the ascilite2014 Google Cardboard Challenge. Details will be provided soon. In the meantime, find out more about Google Cardboard here on this website.

All updates and revisions to full and concise papers must be submitted via the website on or before 17 September and should follow the guidelines provided in the full and concise paper templates available here. Updates and revisions to abstracts for accepted posters and sharing practice sessions must also be submitted via the website here on or before 17 September and should not exceed 150 words.

3 October is the Early Bird registration closing date and is coming up fast! Don’t miss out on this special early registration rate. If your paper has been accepted, remember at least one author must register and attend ascilite2014 in order for the paper to appear in the published proceedings.

Be sure to book your accommodation early! There are a range of great places to stay within easy walking distance of the conference – don’t leave it too late to book your choice.

A few showers are forecast today and just as well! The ascilite Conference Team need a bit of cooling off before heading down the home straight for a great southern welcome in November.

Watch the conference website and follow us on Twitter @ascilite14 for up to date news.

Jenny, Bronwyn and the ascilite2014 Conference Team

ascilite Live! Webiner: Professional accreditation through CMALT, 19 September

Date & Time

Friday 19 September from 1pm – 2pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). For local session times outside Australia please go here. You can register below for the session and you will receive a confirmation email with login details after you have registered.

Synopsis

This webinar will provide an opportunity for members and non-members to find out more about ascilite’s CMALT Australasia Professional Accreditation Scheme.

Prospective and current CMALT Australasia candidates and anyone interested in developing a professional portfolio and obtaining peer recognition for their work involving learning technology is encouraged to attend.

Hennie Yip, from the ALT UK, CMALT Development Group will provide an overview of the professional accreditation scheme, the support available for candidates and be on hand to answer questions. Some of our current CMALT Australasia holders will share their experience and tips for success.

The CMALT Australasia scheme is offered in partnership with the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) UK. It enables people whose work involves learning technology to have their experience and capabilities certified by peers and to demonstrate that they are taking a committed approach to their professional development. The basis of the accreditation process is a portfolio which contains both evidence and reflection in relation to a number of key criteria.

In order to make the most of the webinar opportunity and the presentation involving CMALT Australasia holders and the CMALT Development Group representative, attendees are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the information available on ascilite website and on the ALT (UK) website prior to the webinar.

Presenters

Hennie Yip is an Educational Development Officer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is a CMALT holder and member of the CMALT Development Group in the Association for Learning Technology UK. Her main responsibility is to design and support professional development activities for academic staff in the use of technology-enhanced learning. She has over 10 years’ experience in developing and supporting the use of technologies for learning and teaching in Higher Education.

Facilitator – Dr Janet Buchan, CMALT Australasia contact. Ascilite Executive Committee. Janet is an Academic Developer and Senior Lecturer with the new Learning, Teaching and Student Engagement Directorate at James Cook University, Townsville. Janet’s portfolios on the ascilite Executive include primary contact for the CMALT Australasia scheme, mentor in the ascilite Community Mentoring Program and promoting the new ascilite Special Interest Groups.

How to Register

You can register for the ascilite webinar here. After registering, you will be sent an email with login details for the session.

ascilite Welcomes New Institutional Members

ascilite welcomes Monash and Notre Dame Universities as two new institutional members. An institution requires as few as ten individuals to qualify for institutional membership to realize savings on the individual membership fee rate. If you are interested, you will find details on the ascilite website here. You can also email the Secretariat to obtain further information. The full list of current institutional members is displayed below each page on the ascilite website.

Technical issue resolved for member payments

On 4 September, ascilite’s online payment system was disabled due to technical issues. An interim online payment system has been set-up and is now available for use while we investigate several upgrade options for a more permanent solution. We apologize if you were unable to pay your membership dues over the last week but you may now do so by selecting the appropriate form on the membership page of the website here.

Call for Nominations to Executive Committee & Notice of AGM

This is an invitation to ascilite members to stand for election to the ascilite Executive Committee. Current ascilite financial members who value the services and professional community engagement offered through our not-for-profit Society, and who believe they have the time, commitment and dedication to work in a voluntary capacity to contribute toward a variety of ascilite activities, are invited to nominate for election to the Executive Committee.

The ascilite website has details of current Executive Committee members and a summary of Executive roles and responsibilities is outlined in the document Prospective Executive Committee Member Information. Ascilite members nominating for a position on the committee must complete the 2014 Executive Committee Nomination Form.

OTHER NEWS

Job Vacancy: Project Manager (eLearning), University of Melbourne

The Project Manager (eLearning) will be responsible for managing the successful delivery of academic aspects of graduate-level eLearning projects, including scoping, scheduling, production and implementation. The role involves extensive consultation with academics, eLearning designers and content developers to ensure the development and management of timelines, and coordination of academic and marketing outputs in line with timing, budget and quality objectives.

The role will require the incumbent to foster positive professional relationships with a great variety of internal professional and academic stakeholders, develop organizational frameworks for content and communication management, and a demonstrate a thorough understanding of the University’s policy and operational frameworks. The Project Manager (eLearning) will work as part of a growing eLearning production team and report to the Director, Online Education Business.

The successful applicant will have an appropriate qualification and/or extensive experience in project management, educational technologies, rich media production or higher education. The incumbent will have demonstrated capacity to lead projects in complex contexts, excellent interpersonal and organizational skills, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

The role is available as a one year, full time appointment at HEW 7 level, with the potential for a longer term arrangement thereafter. See University of Melbourne salary scales here.

Please email Jacqui Williams for more details.

Job Vacancy: eLearning Designer, University of Melbourne

The eLearning Designer will focus on leading the design, development and adoption of innovative solutions for the University’s development of a graduate-level eLearning portfolio, using a range of contemporary technologies in online learning environments. The position will use sound instructional principles and methodologies oriented to best practice learning and teaching pedagogies, and be guided by the University’s eLearning Strategy.

The eLearning Designer will ensure high quality learning experiences for students by providing professional development and best practice exemplars to academic staff, and in assisting academics in the strategic and pedagogically-driven implementation of educational technologies in their teaching practices. The eLearning Designer will work as part of a growing eLearning production team and report to the Director, Online Education Business.

The successful applicant will have an appropriate postgraduate qualification or training with extensive experience in eLearning design. An ability to create and implement effective educational design frameworks to facilitate the development of high quality online resources and experiences is essential. The incumbent will have exceptional interpersonal and organizational skills, a strong work ethic and a sound knowledge of educational ICT.

The role is available as a one year, full time appointment at HEW 8 level, with the potential for a longer term arrangement thereafter. See University of Melbourne salary scales here.

Please email Jacqui Williams for more details.

Webinar: e-Assessment for all, from rhetoric to realities

Transforming Assessment Webinar

The next session in the Transforming Assessment webinar series will take place on 1 October at 7:00am GMT. Sessions are conducted at no charge.

Presenters for the webinar are Abi James, Chair British Dyslexia Association and Consultant at Assistive Learning (UK), Alistair McNaught Senior Advisor, Jisc TechDis (UK) and Paul Nisbet, Senior Research Fellow and Joint Coordinator of CALL Scotland.

This session will explore some of the key facets of accessible e-assessment to enable access for learners with print disabilities ranging from dyslexia to visual impairment including those with difficulties handling hard copy print. Examples of formal and informal assessments will be discussed along with some particular issues that relate to making maths and science notation accessible.

For further details on the session including time zone conversions and RSVP instructions please go here.

Recording available: Coderunner Webinar

A recording of the last webinar CodeRunner: authentic e-assessment for computer programming held 3 September is now available here. This webinar was presented by Richard Lobb, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and the session explored the features of CodeRunner; a Moodle question type in which student submitted program code is automatically evaluated against a range of test criteria and a grade assigned.

Call for Papers: 5th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK) Conference

The 5th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK) Conference is calling for papers, workshops, Doctoral consortium participation and posters! The theme for this year’s conference, is “Scaling Up: Big Data to Big Impact”.

The theme reflects the success of our growing community of researchers, practitioners, and learners in leveraging the power of “big data” to create substantial impact within higher education and learning at increasingly larger scale. Join us in Poughkeepsie, New York (USA) at Marist College in the historic Hudson Valley as we network, learn and celebrate our accomplishments.

The three submission themes each have different submission dates:

Main research conference is due 14 October 2014
Practitioner’s track is due 3 November 2014
Doctoral Consortium is due 31 October 2014

The practitioner stream (above) is a new focus in response to feedback received from previous conferences vendors and academics who wished to see the option of a non-research track that allows for sharing of practices and innovations.

More details for submissions to LAK15 are available on the website here.

Learning Analytics: Assisting Universities with Student Retention Project (OLT) & Survey

Project Background

Learning Analytics is an extremely important topic in Higher Education at the moment and with much happening around Australia there has been desire expressed across the sector for information about how learning analytics are being implemented and what further opportunities can be taken.

To explore this, A/Professor Deborah West, Director, Education and Training Development at the Office of Learning & Teaching (OLT) is leading one of two Office for Learning and Teaching strategic commissioned projects entitled Learning Analytics: Assisting Universities with Student Retention.

The project is being managed by Charles Darwin University in partnership with Griffith University, Murdoch University, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and The University of Newcastle. We are also working closely with the other commissioned project led by Dr Shane Dawson at the University of South Australia.

Part of this project involves a survey about how staff involved in student learning understand, view and use learning analytics. Data from this survey is expected to provide crucial insights to inform much needed, practical resources that will be made available to people across the sector to assist with knowledge and skill development around learning analytics.

ascilite members are invited to participate and further information, including a link to the survey may be found below.

Survey Details

The institution level survey is an online questionnaire which contains a total of 34 questions relating to Learning Analytics. The vast majority of questions are multiple choice and survey piloting has indicated it should take about 15 – 20 minutes.

The following documents (click the links to access) provide you with further information about the survey:

The Participant Information Sheet details participant rights and describes the project purpose and process as per the Ethics Committee approval.
The Survey Guidance explain key definitions and provide information on using the survey software.

Accessing the Survey

Please click here to access the survey. If you have any questions at all please email Deborah West.

Call for Chapter Submissions: Communities of Practice Book

asciltie members are invited to share their Community of Practice experience and expertise in a Springer edited book, Communities of Practice: Facilitating Social Learning in Higher Education.

The book editors are Associate Professor Jacquelin McDonald and Professor Aileen Cater-Steel from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. The book will be published by Springer in the Higher Education Dynamics Series.

The chapter outline and case study template is as follows:

Abstract
Introduction
Context, background, institutional and broader environment, who sponsored the CoP, who leads and/or implemented CoP.
Literature, theory and research approach – may not be included in practice based chapters
Leadership role (usually will be the chapter author who initiated the CoP) critical reflection on leadership role, what they do and personal attributes needed for success, types of thinking and actions, what worked and didn’t, what tools assisted or needed, what support was available or needed, value they bring to CoP and wider community, was leadership role understood, recognised, valued, rewarded
CoP life cycle: beginning, development, consolidation, outcomes, renewal of cycle or closure
What questions, planning, approaches and activities engaged members
Practical processes, protocols and tools that contributed to CoP success, e.g. champions & sponsors, positioning within institutional context and power structure, what supported or got in way of CoP, (could include vignettes, photos, diagrams),
Assessing and articulating the impact and outcomes
Conclusion, final reflections, implications and future plans
Acknowledgements
References
Additional reading

Submission Deadlines

Researchers and practitioners are invited to make submissions by 15 October 2014 and these should be in the form of 1 – 2 page manuscript proposals that clearly explain the focus of the proposed chapter, chapter title and author(s) contact information. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by 24 December 2014 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by 1 March 2015. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Final chapters are due by June 2015. The book is scheduled to be published in 2016 by Springer in the Higher Education Dynamics series.

For inquiries and submissions, please email Jacquelin McDonald or Aileen Cater-Steel.

Australian National Symposium on OER

ascilite members are invited to the Australian National Symposium on OER on 4 – 5 November 2014 at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. The aims of this event are to provide and explore opportunities for national and international collaboration and to promote Open Educational Practices in Australia and internationally.

Additional information about the Symposium is available on the website.

Higher Education Compliance and Quality Network Forum

The Higher Ed Services Higher Education Compliance and Quality Network Forum, which will be held in Melbourne on 13 November, will explore the impact of deregulation as the biggest change facing the sector in the last 25 years.

Under the theme of “A Brave New World: Navigating Risk, Compliance and Quality in a Deregulated Environment” forum topics will take a broad view of the proposed changes and their impact on students, the international education market, the private sector and the way that universities will approach the new environment. Other topics include how the new higher education standards will fit in and the view from another services industry that has been deregulated. A high level panel discussion will be a highlight of the day.

Speakers include Southern Cross University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Lee, ANU’s Professor Bruce Chapman (the architect of HECS, Dr George Brown (a leading figure in the private sector and Group Academic Director, Australasia with Study Group) and Julie Hare, higher education editor at The Australian. A full list of speakers and topics will be available soon.

The Forum starts at 9am and finishes at 3.40pm and is part of a two-day HES event with the inaugural Peer Review of Assessment Network being held on November 12.

Both events will be held at the Park Royal Hotel, Melbourne Airport where HES has negotiated special accommodation rates for delegates.

Registration Fees

Quality Plus Package: $495 (Both days)
HECQN Forum only: $295 (Thursday 13th November)
Peer Review Forum: $295 (Wednesday 12th November)
Networking Dinner: $85 (Wednesday 12th November)

Further details

Register
View Higher Education Quality and Compliance Network Information
National Peer Review of Assessment Network Forum, 12 Nov 2014.
Download Accommodation Information

Job Vacancy: Learning Designer at UQ

The University of Queensland has 2 exciting continuing Learning Designer
positions within the new Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITALI).

The focus of the position is to support academic staff across the University with the uptake, development and evaluation of e-learning technologies, resources and pedagogies to enhance teaching quality, and support students learning in the University’s coursework degree programs. This position provides a single point of contact for staff (individuals and groups) related to eLearning systems and tools

Details are available on the UQ jobs website here.

ALT Newsletter: Articles of Interest

Bringing Adaptive Learning MOOCS to the classroom Read more
ALT’s annual award for Learning Technologist of the Year (Individual Award) Read more
ALT’s annual award for Learning Technologist of the Year (Team Award) Read more
ALT’ videos from the 2014 annual conference. View here

You may also find this crowdsourced newsletter interesting which is packed with MOOC related articles from around the world.

ALT News Digest 307

Association for Learning Technology Fortnightly News Digest 307 was issued on 12 September 2014. ALT’s journal – Research in Learning Technology is open access. Articles from the past 20 years are available here.