view: full | short | titles only
from howsheilaseesIT
Recordings from all the keynotes from the recent ATU DigitalEd conference, and many of the sessions are now available online . The talks from my fellow keynotes, Sue Beckingham, Phillip Dawson, Tony Bates and Meg Benke are all worth taking some time to watch.
Many thanks again to all the team at ATU for putting on such an informative and enjoyable conference and for sharing the resources with the wider community.
from howsheilaseesIT
Last week saw the launch of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning Ireland’s latest report – Next Steps Moving Forward Together. The report is the culmination of a quite unique collaborative project across the Irish HE sector, exploring the impact of COVID 19 on learning and teaching and providing a framework for collaboration to help move the sector forward. It really is worth exploring the report and its accompanying insights papers from each of the partners involved in the project. Huge congratulations to everyone at the National Forum for bringing this project to fruition.
I was lucky enough to be involved in the IUA‘s response to this project, working with Sharon Flynn and Lewis Purser. The IUA decided to focus on the lived experiences of its members to share some qualitative evidence and highlight common issues across support services in Universities. In June I interviewed 42 staff and students from across IUA member universities, and produced a synthesis report outlining key themes and potential areas for “next steps”. The common themes identified through the interviews were: leadership and rapid decision making, funding, digital fatigue, well-being & flexible working and intra/inter university collaboration. Emerging areas for moving forward were consolidation of experiences, assessment lifecycle, re-imagining digital and physical spaces for learning, digital transformation and cyber security. A summary of the findings is available in the Insights from Students and Care Services on the Impact of Covid-19 and Next Steps part insight report available here.
I have to say that this was one most interesting and rewarding jobs I’ve had this year. And I don’t say that lightly. Colleagues and students responded very quickly to engage with the project, and gave their time, thoughts and experiences in an open and collegiate way. It was an absolute privilege to speak with them all and get an insight into their lock-down experiences. I was in awe at the level of support, commitment and work they all provided over lock-down.
One thing that did strike me again and again during the interviews was the speed that universities worked at to implement changes and provide continued support to students. Universities, not normally the most agile of organisations, proved they could adapt and make changes incredibly quickly. Processes, policies and procedures adapted and became more inclusive with clear focus on learning and teaching and student support.
During the panel discussion at the launch event last week, I think it was Tim Conlon who said that the pandemic had made many cracks in our systems visible, To paraphrase, the positive aspect about cracks is that they let in the light. In COVID-19 lockdown context, they shone light on areas such as digital poverty, accessibility and inclusion.
It’s important that these issues don’t get hidden or covered up again. As this discussion unfolded, I was reminded of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of the golden repair. A concept I was first made aware of by another wonderful Irish educator Su-Ming Khoo, NUI Galway in her OER19 keynote around culturally repairing pedagogies. Well worth watching if you haven’t seen it. Kintsugi refers to repairs in Japanese pottery that are made visible by the use of a golden thread. The repairs add to the history of the object, but remain visible, adding another layer of beauty and narrative to the original object.
One of my worries about the impact of COVID and the rush to get “back to normal’ is that we might actually forget what has happened, my Bobby Ewing moment! When I wrote that post I wish I had remembered kintsugi. As we move forward, I hope that we can weave some golden threads across changes in practice, policy and procedures that explicitly show the impact of the past almost 2 years. The next steps project is hopefully one of these threads for the Irish HE sector.
from howsheilaseesIT
I have to admit I at the start of the conference, I felt pretty jaded. It’s been a long year. I haven’t had a proper break – that’s my own fault – not blaming anyone but me for that. And like everyone else I’ve had, and continue to have, my fair share of challenges this year. Another online conference wasn’t exactly filling me with eager anticipation.
There’s always something of the start of the new term feel about the ALT annual conferences, which is one of its strengths. That is also historically why it’s been a challenge for some people to attend the physical conferences. One positive thing about the move to is a lot more flexible, and accessible for many. Anyway, like I said, I wasn’t really feeling any excitement for anything at the start of the week – online or in the “real” world! I knew I would be dipping in and out of the conference due to work commitments, but as is so often the way with ALT conferences, it and more importantly the ALT community, slowly drew me in.
The keynotes were, as ever, very strong this year. Sonia Livingston’s “the datafication of education: in whose interests?”, focused on her research with in schools around the use and understanding of data (particularly children’s understanding of data and how it is used). The give and take of data in schools (and throughout education) is quite unbalanced. The ‘system’ takes data, often without any really questioning from students or wider society. Schools/colleges/universities, are generally trusted entities, with a (at least here in the UK ) a legal duty of care for their students. However, as more 3rd party systems are integrated in education, and more data is being given to companies, the balance is changing. They take the data and offer it back in ways that they choose. Sonia highlighted that adults often give children a false sense of trust about managing data, without highlighting that once a company has your data, despite GDPR, there is a lot it can do with it without you realising. Just what is Google/Zoom/Microsoft etc actually doing with all the extra data they have collected over lockdown for example? The need for data literacy for us all, not just kids, is increasingly important.
Data literacy was central to Mutale Nkonde’s keynote, based on her 2019 paper “Advancing racial literacy in tech” , Mutale expertly took us through the bias of AI and algorithms, highlighting in particular the racial basis in social platforms (Tiktok was cited here) with their implementation of data proxies for popularity, that clearly have historical racial bias “baked in”. Mutale encouraged us all to question and have more conversations about data, AI, algorithms. To participate in projects such a AI for the people which aims to develop and support the ethical use of data. Mutale also reminded us that algorithms are IP and so have commercial confidentiality on their side. Companies do not need to share the algorithms they use. I for one think that should be challenged more, particularly in education. If we use a AI or any 3rd party company and it is harvesting data, then part of the contract should be full disclosure around how that data is being used, so that there can be informed discussions around what patterns, historical trends, etc algorithms are being built on.
Starting these conversations can be tricky. That’s where the (launched at the conference) ALT Framework for Ethical Learning Technology might come into play too. During its launch John Traxler asked if we need to decolonise educational technology. This sparked off a bit of a debate on the ALT mailing list, so I think the answer is a clear yes! Adapting the statements in the framework to questions would be a good starting point, imho around conversations about the ethics of technology, the ethical use of data, what that actually means in context.
The highlight of the conference for me was the final keynote from Lou Mycroft. Lou is one of the founders of #JoyFE. This really did bring back my #joy. I loved Lou’s explanation of: joy as an intentional practice, of the power of being affirmingly critical, but not cynical, of quiet resistance, of the joyful militancy of embracing “the power of giving away power”. I loved the wave Lou weaved ideas around leadership, around transformation being a start not an end point, of turning values into questions. For example what would assessment look like as a practice of hope? What would timetabling look like as a practice of care? I would encourage you, dear reader to watch all the keynotes, as well as the other sessions.
For me the ALT-C conferences have always been places and spaces of joy, for sharing of ideas, for getting re-energised, and also for getting confidence from the community to continue (or start) some bits of quiet resistance. Lou proposed leadership as being more about co-ordination, not control. On reflection, I think that is strength of ALT too, it can, and does provide co-ordination for the community. The range of special interest/member groups are a living example of that.
The conference also saw the launch of the ALT/ITN co production “The Future of Learning “. Lots of “shiny” tech stuff there and worth a watch not to see the future, but to see what is happening now. Not a lot of critique of technology/AI/ data so I wonder if there were to be another episode if a theme of the ethical use of technology would be apt? That would give a space for the new framework and the work of the ALT community in this area to be highlighted. It could help raise wider awareness of the need to question how, where, why, when and with/by whom data is collected and shared. That might provide a way to show some joyful resistance and coordinated leadership can allow for more equitable, ethical, caring and joyful future for learning.
Many thanks to the conference co-chairs, the conference committee, the ALT team, and everyone who participated in the conference.
from howsheilaseesIT
Spoiler alert, this post is a mini rant! Don’t expect anything balanced, and because I didn’t get round to writing this last week it’s probably out of date.
So last week I spotted this tweet from Vicki
I find this layout so odd… yes it does allow us to see everyone but there's a subtle hierarchy implied by the perspective … who do we put at the front or back of the class?
— Vicki Dale (@vhmdale) October 15, 2020https://t.co/RXxxxQgLHB
which was a reaction to this tweet from Lawrie
MS Teams “look at our new ‘together’ mode”
— Lawrie (@Lawrie) October 15, 2020
Zoom “hold my beer” https://t.co/vyEMSoTJ4Q
about the new immersive scenes Zoom are adding to “allow the host to set a custom background theme for their meetings or create layouts where participant videos are embedded within a scene that everyone shares, like a classroom . . .”
Why? Just why? If you are running a virtual classroom then you and your students are not all in the same room, so why pretend? Why create a false visual hierarchy? What purpose does it serve except to extend and enhance a false sense of “normality” and control with students neatly staked in rows and the teacher at the “front”. Why try to re-create an old fashioned notion of a classroom and badge it as the “future now”.
It does kind of remind me of when Second Life was all the rage and there was a trend for universities to build virtual campuses that replicated the physical campus including huge (mostly empty) offices for senior staff. . .
But back to Zoom. The newly enhanced creation “thingys” (my choice of technical term) might be more useful. They will apparently provide “animated reactions to make nonverbal communication more noticeable and fun. These animations will also include an audio element (e.g. sound of clapping)”. Sound of clapping might be nice, for a bit, particularly at online conferences – but I just wonder how long it will take for “noticeable and fun” to become ‘annoying and bland”?
I just wish companies like Zoom would think out of box just now and not try to stuff us all back into them. When we do all get back into rooms again, lets hope we don’t just go back to rows of desks . . . I’m now thinking even more about the need for asterisks not straight lines . . .
from howsheilaseesIT
Earlier this summer I was delighted to be asked to contribute to a special feature by Times Higher Education on digital learning. The guide was published last week and includes contributions from a number of international contributors and covers some relevant topics including course design, technology, safeguarding, participation and inclusion. My contribution focuses on where staff can turn to for help in preparing digital learning and teaching.
“Being” at university in the new academic term is going to be very different for both students and staff, and we are all going to have to learn together about what works, where, when and why. Lots of our old assumptions have and continue to be challenged, we all need to adapt.
The good news is that there is lots of support available, from inhouse teams to the wider sharing of practice from communities such as ALT and individuals like Sally Brown and Kay Sambell who have curated a fantastic set of alternative assessment resources.
Another recommendation I make is to become an online student and see things from “the other side”. Again there are lots of options out there, including Creating Courses for Adult Learners, a new course from the Open University which provides a really solid overview of online course design and delivery.
You can access the full guide here ( behind usual THE paywall I’m afraid . . .)
from Unknown @ TecnoTeach
What contribution can technology make to the assessment process? Is it just a faster way to gather in data and feedback results? Is it just an electronic method of assessing at the end of a learning block? Is it too clinical and not personal? If you answer yes to the above questions then you have probably not had experience of using ePortfolios, blogs, wikis, simulation games, content creation applications etc.
