Saide Current Awareness
6 May 2024

 

Distance Education

  • What is it like to be a DTCE distance learner? by Mark Carrigan Source: DTCE SoundCloud A podcast by Mark Carrigan who talks to Ollie Brook about what it’s like to be a distance learning student on the MA Digital Technologies, Communication and Education programme at the University of Manchester. Ollie shares his motivations for pursuing the programme, highlighting how his passion for staying relevant in the rapidly evolving digital landscape and his desire to enhance his teaching practices led him to the MA DTCE. He discusses the practical benefits of the distance learning format, which allowed him to balance his studies with his professional responsibilities and family life.
  •  
  • Generative Artificial Intelligence in distance education: Transformations, challenges, and impact on academic integrity and student voice  Source: JALT This study explores the transformative impact of GenAI in distance learning and focuses on academic integrity and student voices. This study uses the technology acceptance model to investigate how GenAI influences distance education. Three objectives guide the study: (1) exploring the transformative effects of GenAI in distance education, (2) understanding its impact on academic integrity, and (3) examining its influence on students’ academic voices in a South African open distance and e-learning university.

 

   Education: South Africa

  • WCED vows to clamp down on unregistered schools Source: IOL Makeshift, illegal schools are sprouting in suburbs such as Fish Hoek and Athlone, teaching children in small flats and houses, and flouting by-laws and regulations governing basic education.In the past year, five unregistered schools were found by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to be operating illegally, one of which was shut down as it could not comply with conditions. A sixth is under investigation for allegedly holding classes in a living room.
  •  
  • IMC on Early Childhood Development meets to chart the path forward Source: SANews A multi-disciplinary grouping of national departments has committed to collaborate strategically to ensure universal access for citizens to comprehensive Early Childhood Development (ECD) services, with a focus on prioritising the nation’s most vulnerable children. President Cyril Ramaphosa convened the inaugural meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on ECD recently, which put the wellbeing and development of children in the spotlight.
  •  
  • Safer South African Foundation makes significant strides with learners across the country Source: IOL The Safer South Africa Foundation’s (SSAF) first quarter for 2024 has made significant strides as it continues to implement its Communities and Justice Programme (CJP) across the country.
  •  
  • SA’s teachers deserve more than criticism … here’s how we can support them Source: Mail and Guardian Rather than pointing fingers at educators for poor results, let’s shift the narrative and empower them to do more with less.

 

Language, Literacies and Research Writing

 

Open Access, Open Education and Open Educational Resources

 

Post Schooling

  • The cowardice of our universities while Israel massacres Palestinians is staggering Source: TimesLive South African students have been remarkably quiet no doubt because of a narrowness of political ambition centred only on their own problems, say Prof Jansen. See Students4Gaza
  •  
  • Let us remember the last time students occupied Columbia University Source: The Guardian In 1985, Columbia students occupied campus to push for divestment from South Africa. Five months later, the university cut ties to the apartheid regime after years of dragging its feet
  •  
  • Some strides during the past 30 years, but challenges remain Source: University World News As 30 years of democracy commemorations continue before South Africans go to the polls again on 29 May, the head of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), Dr Whitfield Green, says the country’s tertiary education sector has undergone “massive surgery” from apartheid to a system serving all citizens.
  •  
  • More than 560k students in South Africa in debt, many unable to graduate Source: Citizen Wits University revealed it was owed a staggering debt of R3.5 billion.
  •  
  • South Africa’s national student financial aid scheme has helped millions but is in trouble: here’s why Source: The Conversation The board of South Africa’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has been dissolved by the country’s higher education and training minister, Blade Nzimande, and the organisation placed under administration. Nzimande made the decision because of “(the problem of) non-payment of (students’) allowances”.
    Thandi Lewin is a higher education scholar who worked in the Department of Higher Education with responsibility for oversight of NSFAS between 2018 and 2023. She also briefly served as a departmental representative on the NSFAS board in 2018. The Conversation Africa asked her to explain the organisation’s history, its mandate and the current crisis.
  •  
  • Anger as South Africa’s landmark black university picks white v-c Source: TimesHigherEducation Scholar claims selection process that led to appointment of Robert Balfour was slanted against internal candidate Vivienne Lawack
  •  
  • University leads with work on climate, disaster management Source: University World News Extreme climate events such as floods and heatwaves continue to pose significant challenges to economies and communities worldwide, and universities, as centres of knowledge production, play a crucial role in developing long-term solutions for mitigation.
    North-West University (NWU) in South Africa has been tackling these challenges through a multidisciplinary approach, effective communication strategies, research and longstanding partnerships which have enabled the institution to play a leading role in the Southern African region.

 

Skills and Employment

  • AI skills pipeline – Lessons from South African astronomy Source: University World News Two decades ago, South Africa had relatively few astronomers with PhDs, most of them white males. Today, it has hundreds, including many who are black and-or female. How did the country go about producing so many and such a diversity of highly qualified individuals comparatively quickly?
  •  
  • A continental approach to micro-credentials needed – Survey  Source: University World News A survey of 28 African countries on micro-credentials has established that they are offered mostly by technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, followed by higher education institutions, with respondents saying there is strong consensus on the importance of developing a common continental approach.
  •  
  • MTN SA launches Made4U career portal Source: ItWeb MTN South Africa is looking to uplift job-seekers with the launch of its Skillsbox Made4U career portal. In a statement, the mobile operator says at least 7.9 million people, constituting 32.6% of the South African population, remain unemployed.

 

Teaching and Learning: Local and Global

  • Redefining Student Success in the Age of AI Source: LinkedIN This short article proposes a broader framework for student success, encompassing not only academic proficiency but also life skills including problem-solving, critical thinking, adaptability, collaboration and lifelong learning skills.
  •  
  • New guide aims to help universities rethink curriculum design Source: Jisc Supporting universities to take blended learning to the next level. Co-created with sector experts, our new guide to curriculum design aims to support universities to take blended learning to the next level. This guidance comes at a significant juncture for higher education as the sector balances the post-pandemic drive for in-person teaching with the changing expectations and demographics of students. The beyond blended guide contains downloadable resources and supports organisations to explore a fresh perspective on blended learning. It is referenced in Policy Connect’s new report about leveraging the benefits of technology in higher education, launching at a parliamentary event today.
  •  
  • Library of facilitation techniques Source: Session Lab  
  •  
  • HELTASA (un)conference Source: CriSTaL In this special issue, the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) invites you to engage with the organisation’s journey of restructuring in 2020 which became the catalyst for methodological disruption in 2021 through the (un)conference. The aim of the HELTASA 2021 (un)conference was to disrupt, expand, and include diverse forms and formats of conference participation. The substantive change from traditional conferencing to the HELTASA 2021 (un)conference is the subject of this edition, providing an exploration of how disruption can be mobilised towards sustainable organisational advancement in productive ways. This special issue explores the extent to which these aims were met as we reflected on the past, ‘Sivela phi’, considered our current ways of knowing, doing and being, ‘Si phi’, and looked towards an unknown future, ‘Siya phi’. 

 

Technology-Enhanced Learning

  • AI for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Source: University of South Australia "This guide focuses on generative AI from an educational perspective and includes AI basics and broader AI issues. It is by no means meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the topic but hopefully will serve as a grounding upon which you can build. If you are new to AI or the use of generative AI, we'd recommend you read through the content sequentially, in the order the tabs are presented. This will ensure you have an understanding of the terminology and the basics of AI that will support your understanding of the other topics."
  •  
  • Rediscovering the Power of Process in the Age of AI Source: LinkedIn AI Literacy Consultant, Nick Potkalitsky shares his thoughts on developing an AI-responsive pedagogy in the writing process
  •  
  • Shaping the Future of Education: The Role of AI in Education 4.0 Source: World Economic Forum Developed by a global coalition of education experts, practitioners, policy-makers and business leaders, Education 4.0 serves as a comprehensive framework that outlines key transformations needed in primary and secondary education to promote better education outcomes. AI can help broaden the reach of future-ready education systems and enhance their effectiveness in preparing students for the future. 
  •  
  • Ditch the Detectors: Six Ways to Rethink Assessment for Generative Artificial Intelligence Source: Leon Furze This article is based on a series of short LinkedIn posts and includes the original ideas, plus some of the feedback and discussion from the comments. Head over to my profile on LinkedIn to find the originals, writes Leon Furze.
  •  
  • How to partner with AI and improve the learning experience Source: Times Higher Education As generative AI permeates the classroom, educators are faced with a very important question: is it a friend or a foe?
  •  
  • Embracing AI in Education Source: Faculty Focus Aileen Wanli Lam , a senior lecturer and technology enthusiast at the National University of Singapore, shares her thoughts on how to use GAI to assist and augment educators work to allow for more creativity and innovation. 
  •  
  • Obsidian Obsidian is a private and flexible writing app that adapts to the way you think.
  •  
  • Goblin Tools A collection of small, simple, single-task tools, mostly designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult.The desktop version  is offered for free and available to all.
  •  
  • Understanding Learning Experience Design (LXD): Three learning leader perspectives Source: eLearn Magazine The notion that learning can be enhanced by designing engaging, meaningful, and impactful experiences has been an ideal for many education and training professionals for decades. Educational reformers like Dewey [1], Montessori [2], Kolb [3], and numerous others seem to have been inspired, at least in part, by this ideal. In today’s evolving field of learning design and technology (LDT), the ability to create engaging and immersive learning experiences has risen to greater prominence and lies at the heart of what is referred to as learning experience design (LXD).