Ed & Tech must-reads 170326

Submission to the Higher Education Standards Panel from Phill Dawson and Thomas Corbin

Some people watch the Oscars for glitz and glamour but I look for it in submissions to government enquiries about higher education standards in Australia. (These issues are global though). Phillip Dawson (CRADLE - Deakin Uni) shared a brief response that he co-authored focusing specifically on this question Do the standards currently provide adequate guidance to manage risks related to emerging technologies? They make an interesting point firstly that we need to stop the narrative that nobody expected GenAI and there was no time to respond. I’m a little on the fence on this one, tbh, as while there absolutely were researchers ringing alarm bells for a few years beforehand, the release of ChatGPT (the dinosaur killing asteroid) in 2022 came at the tail end of the big pivot online necessitated by COVID and people (educators, leaders, ed techs) were generally just too exhausted to be looking for the next crisis.

They go on to propose that the next crisis - or is it still part of the current one - in AI glasses (creeper peepers) is already on the radar and currently little is being done to address it. In response, they argue that institutions (or the sector) needs to mandate and action meaningful horizon scanning to better understand and accommodate the next change. No real disagreements on that one, though I would say that I think that central ed tech teams probably do do this more than many people are aware - within the limitations of institutional support and priorities. Locking it in as a legislated requirement would probably mean these activities are given more emphasis. It’s a very interesting (and brief) read and something deserving further discussion.

Show employers what they are looking for – certifying the assurance of learning from Needed Now in Learning and Teaching

As someone currently deep in the weeds of working on questions of assurance of learning in a Bachelor of Business course, this post scratched a particular itch. The points being made are equally applicable to any disciplinary area though, as the author Michael Tomlinson (Vic Inst of Technology) just uses the B.Bus as an example of a model of a course which focuses more explicitly on course learning outcomes. As we find ourselves grappling with what assurance of learning we can actually provide, explicitly articulating the skills and knowledge developed by students does seem like a key piece of the puzzle. Tomlinson notes that these skills are not to be found anywhere in a student’s testamur or transcript and this leaves employers to either guess, trust institutional reputation or deepdive into student handbooks for more information. Is there a way to explicitly provide this information in Higher Ed? It is the operational model of the vocational education and training system here, so I’m sure it’s not that hard if the demand is present.

MOOC Institute Interview from Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes (alongside George Siemens) is a technology enhanced learning trailblazer, with his (their) 2008 course Connectivism and Connective Knowledge inspiring the coining of the term MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). I read his newsletter daily and this interview with Saffron Mccullough of the MOOC institution is a great introduction to his life, work and ideas.