Ed/Tech must-reads 250325

TELedvisors Network webinar 27th March 1pm AEDT - Working in the higher education third space

Third space practitioners in higher education work across and between professional/administrative and academic domains to (amongst other things) enable better learning and teaching practice. While this work is valuable, it is still not as well understood or recognised as it might be, but I assume that this webinar will clear all of that up, now and forever :) . Jokes aside, this will be a great discussion, drawing on two papers from the recent 3S (third space) special issue of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. We will begin with Meredith Hinze (UniMelb) and Kashmira Dave (UNE) discussing this paper - A narrative account of third space technology enhanced learning and teaching roles working in Australian higher education - and wrap up with Evonne Irwin moving the conversation forward about Institutional responsibility and third space professionals: a call for structural change to embrace ambiguity. Hope to see you there.

CRADLE Seminar Series: What is the role of GenAI in effective feedback Wed 9th April 2.00 PM - 3.30 PM (AEST)

I don’t think there has been enough discussion about how, why and if GenAI should contribute to feedback, so this upcoming webinar from Deakin’s CRADLE will hopefully fill that gap. Featuring Thomas Corbin (CRADLE), Gene Flenady (Monash), and Joanna Tai (CRADLE). I have a feeling that this one will book up quickly.

Administrative burden in Australian universities: Insights into key dimensions and potential drivers from a nation-wide survey of academic staff from Centre for the Study of Higher Education UniMelb Wed 9th April 1pm - 2pm AEST

In almost direct competition with the CRADLE GenAI session, Peter Woelert will present findings from a long-awaited study that he has been working on about the impact of increasing amounts of administrative work being expected of university workers across 37 Australian universities. Call me crazy but I have a feeling that this probably won’t be in favour of it.

Using activity theory to explore how learning technology professionals support the use of a virtual learning environment during a period of change at a higher education institution—a small-sample in-depth study from Studies in Technology Enhanced Learning

It is so rarely that learning technology professionals rate a mention in research that this article was bound to make it into this newsletter. Now, the author’s interpretation of this term differs a little from mine, including learning designers and application specialists (IT folk?) alongside learning technologists, but maybe that is why “technologist” was not used explicitly. Migration between VLEs/LMS’ in HE institutions is one of the most challenging projects people can be involved in, because it not only requires reskilling all of the educators who use the platform (as well as students) but there is the small matter of moving everyone’s courses from the old LMS to the new one. Easy. This localised study provides a detailed overview of the many complexities of such projects which are rarely seen by the educators. (Believe it or not, there is generally actually a thoughtful plan in place). It spells out in detail what factors can make such initiatives work and what can hinder them. Well worth a read.