Ed & Tech must-reads 300626

The changing landscape of digital transformation in higher education & The changing landscape of academic work from UNESCO and Centre for Study of Higher Education

Criticising UNESCO feels a bit like kicking a puppy or a nun or something. So I take some solace from the disclaimer that “The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to UNESCO”. Nearly thirty years ago, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) released a report entitled Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel. Clearly one or two things have changed in the world since those days, so in conjunction with the Centre for Study of Higher Education (Melbourne University) and Uni Southern Queensland, a set of five updated papers have been produced covering academic freedom, academic work, digital transformation in HE, institutional autonomy and HE teaching personnel in emergencies and conflict-affected settings (see why I feel squeamish).

Unsurprisingly, the papers on digital transformation and academic work caught my eye. If you know me a little, you will know that my research and professional interests focus on how unis work at a high level, with an emphasis on the third space practitioners who facilitate good learning and teaching practice. Noting that the initial subject of these reports was HE teaching personnel, I didn’t expect a lot of attention on this area of activity but it doesn’t seem unreasonable that in providing a full picture of the state of the actual there might be some acknowledgement that academics do not, in fact, do absolutely everything. That the last thirty years have seen complex partnerships between academics, third space workers and a host of other collaborators in addressing the monumental changes in the ed tech landscape and the resultant shifts in learning and teaching. Not a word. To be honest, I think that librarians are even more hard done by in this not-actually-terrible report, given the amount of space dedicated to the rise of open educational resources and their curation. Gwilym Croucher does better in the report on academic work, recognise that the field of learning/curriculum design exists and the value of collaborations between academics and learning designers. All the same, it is 2026. Learning and teaching is now the work of an entire village and the villagers should be acknowledged.

Modality does not equal risk from Needed Now in Learning and Teaching

For a more concrete example of what those working in and alongside the third space of higher education can do, this post in todays’ alway excellent Needed Now in Learning and Teaching newsletter is a great example. Six authors from four Australian universities calmly make the case that despite the seeming torrent of scorn which has been poured on Online Learning in recent years, there is much to treasure and to try to save. Clearly the academic integrity nightmare of GenAI is raising some genuinely concerning questions, and Smith, Gilmore, Nguyen, Wiseman, Yolland and Frederickson acknowledge these while also calling for richer discussion about the need for bolder thinking in learning design. Well worth a read.

Webinar - Distributed Leadership that supports academic integrity in higher education: Perspectives from Diverse Leaders Fri 24th July from Council of Australasian University Leaders of Learning and Teaching

The CAULLT website appears to be a little bit broken at the time of writing so I am linking instead to their LinkedIn post about this webinar but I’m sure that it will be up soon and you will be able to register for what looks to be an interesting high level discussion about some of these academic integrity challenges and how leaders of learning and teaching are working to address them.