Distance Learning

• Defining Distance Education in Policy: Announcement and Call to Action Source:WCET A post reviewing the report  on the definitions of 'distance education', highlighting the challenges and risks associated with navigating multiple sources of “distance education” definitions in policy.

 

• Distance education at tourism higher education programs in developing countries: Case of Türkiye with a strategic perspective and recommendations Source: ScienceDirect The COVID-19 pandemic was a critical and sudden happening for higher education institutions to adapt fast to changes and switch to distance education (DE). In addition to presenting several challenges and threats such as insufficient internet infrastructure and limited technology tools in developing countries, this sudden transition brought about some opportunities as well. This research focuses on the DE experiences of instructors in tourism-related higher education programs (THEP) and aims to propose a strategic view and recommendations based on instructors’ evaluations. Qualitative research methods are applied, and data is collected from 114 instructors via Google Forms. The originality of the research is based on the strategic view proposed by the application of SWOT and TOWS analyses. The proposed strategies are expected to help the preparation of effective educational, tactical, and operational plans by the regulatory authorities.

 

• 2023 Distance Education Conference Source: EventBrite The New Jersey Distance Education Affinity Group is proud to present its first distance education conference. For this inaugural year, the conference will showcase technological innovation, research, and practical and effective pedagogical practices for a variety of distance education modalities, such as fully online, hybrid/blended, concurrent/blended synchronous, remote, and hyflex.
  The following tracks for this year’s conference will examine: Engagement and Retention ; Equity and Inclusion ;·The Science of Learning for Instructional Design & Teaching

 

Education: South Africa 

• UCT students resume fees protest, despite court ruling Source: Mail & Guardian Students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) reignited their protest on Thursday night in response to the institution’s decision not to remove fee blocks for students with debt.

 

• UCT students claim police ‘punched’ and ‘trampled’ them as protests over housing rage on Source: Daily Maverick Daily Maverick spoke to a number of students who described an intimidating police presence on campus, ‘flaunting hand grenades like it’s a joke’.

 

• SRC puts protest action at Wits University on 24-hour ice, but warns against further suspension of student leaders Source: Daily Maverick Amid ongoing protests against financial exclusion and accommodation caps at Wits University, management has confirmed issuing suspension orders for students including student representative council president Aphiwe Mnyaman 
• Wits classes to carry on, while students and management negotiate over fees and accommodation Source: Mail & Guardian Vice-chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi and his management team met SRC members on Wednesday, Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel confirmed, adding: “Both parties agreed to de-escalate the situation and to continue with engagements in order to try to resolve matters as soon as possible.”

 

• No water, no class – pupils block municipal building with burning tyres over dry taps at Fort Beaufort school Source: Daily Maverick More than 800 pupils and some parents from Sakhulukeka High School in Fort Beaufort left their classrooms on Tuesday morning. Waving placards saying “No water, no school”, they protested outside the Eastern Cape education department’s district office.

 

Language and Literacies

• AI and the Future of Literary Studies Source: Sydney Review of Books  A discussion piece by Dr Andrew Dean (Deakin University- Lecturer of Writing and Literature). "It has wide relevance to higher education policy and learning and assessment - well beyond the discipline of literary studies. And while AI is the focus, issues presented remain relevant for discussion broader than the current AI 'disruption'." - Meg Colasante

 

• Embracing Translanguaging in the Classroom with Bilingual Texts Source: IOWA Reading Research Centre A blog post on how educators looking to ease some of the stress and burden on English learning students, can incorporate bilingual texts into their teaching which can have a positive impact.  

 

• Prepare for the Textpocalypse Source: The Atlantic 'Our relationship to writing is about to change forever; it may not end well', writes Matthew Kirschenbaum

 

Open Education and Open Educational Resources

• OER and the Future of Education Source: Apple Podcasts . A podcast by Relinda Ruth, Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist at the University of Arkansas-Cossatot Community College and Stephanie Pierce ,Director of User Services and Director of the Physics Library at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR. 

 

• Where can I find images that are openly licensed? - UCL  Source: University College London. A list of resources compiled by UCL

 

• Open Education Week Source: Oeweek An annual celebration, Open Education Week (OE Week) is an opportunity for actively sharing and learning about the latest achievements in Open Education worldwide. This year's week occured between 6-10 March and featured 169 openly-licenced, newly-created resources. with over 37 countries contributing in over 19 languages.Watch the recorded sessions compiled in a playlist on Youtube.

 

Post Schooling

• Meet the new chief of the University of Johannesburg  – ‘We need solid academic leaders’ Source: Daily Maverick Letlhokwa Mpedi aims to build on the University of Johannesburg’s stellar reputation as a centre of technology expertise – and even has lofty ambitions to start a new medical school.

 

• NSFAS — the state bursary scheme at the root of SA students’ outcry in 2023 Source: Daily Maverick In addition to the challenges of funding and accumulating debt, National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) students have had their accommodation allowance capped at R45,000 per annum. Students and institutions have expressed disappointment with this decision but NSFAS is not budging. NSFAS says it has capped student accommodation allowances at R45,000 based on ‘affordability’. 

 

• Why the latest student protests were predictable Source: Mail & Guardian Enver Motala and Salim Vally echo their previous warning of how the " promise of “free education” would come back to haunt the government. That’s because leaders fail to understand what’s really at stake in the demands for genuinely free quality education for all. University administrators expected the government student Funding Agency — the National Students Financial Aid Scheme — to solve the problem of affordability.' and describe the underlying reasons for students struggles as a combination of austerity policies of the government, university corporatisation and the absence of democratic accountability to the wider public.

 

• Inequity in higher education is a price too high to pay Source: Mail and Guardian UJ's VC Letlhokwa Mpedi writes" The #FeesMustFall protests demonstrated the burden of higher education in South Africa — a concept institutions contend with annually. Although there are interventions in the form of scholarships, government funding through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and initiatives by individual institutions of higher learning such as that at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), there are many students who fall through the cracks "

 

• Horizon Europe: South Africa looks back and looks forward Source: University World News "On 4 July 2014 University World News published the findings from a series of focus group ‘conversations’ that had been held across South African universities in response to the rebranded European Union (EU) framework programme, Horizon 2020. ... South African organisations with their researchers and innovators have now geared up for Horizon Europe. At €95.5 billion (about US$102 billion) for the period from 2021-27, the funding envelope has been framed by the EU as the “most ambitious EU research and innovation programme ever” as well as the biggest multilateral research programme in the world."

 

Publishing

• From Roald Dahl to Goosebumps, revisions to children’s classics are really about copyright – a legal expert explains Source: The Conversation "The backlash to Puffin Books’ decision to update Roald Dahl’s children’s books has been swift and largely derisive. The publisher has been accused of “absurd censorship”, “corporate safetyism” and “cultural vandalism.”At its core, however, updating Roald Dahl’s children’s books is really about the rights and control copyright grants to authors and copyright holders. Those rights are exercised to update children’s books more frequently than many of these critics may realise."

 

Skills and Employment 

• AI could take your job, but it can also help you score a new one with these simple tips  Source: The Conversation 'It’s expected that within five years AI will have replaced some 85 million jobs with 97 million new ones. Many people will need to secure new opportunities to survive the shift towards an AI-based economy. If you’re considering competing in the AI-powered jobs market, now is the time to get ahead of the curve.'' The article describes 5 ways that AI can help you do so.

 

• Demanding prior work experience from new graduates is unfair and short-sighted Source: Daily Maverick Writing off graduates on the basis of a lack of work experience is a misunderstanding of what universities do and what the academic environment ingrains in students.

 

• Skills programmes the answer for matrics who can’t go to university Source: Mail & Guardian The South African government has spent more than R2 billion to develop or refurbish 16 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges for those who do not qualify for university. The colleges and learnerships offer job placement opportunities by private companies, government initiatives and NGOs. There are 50 colleges with more than 200 campuses across South Africa, each with its own focus areas and specialisation.

 

Teaching and Learning- Local and Global

• The Teacher Demographic Dividend (TDD) project Source: Teacher Demographic Dividend Project A research project focusing on South Africa’s need for teachers in the next decade and beyond.The project will take place over the course of three years (2022-2024) and will produce a large number of research outputs. The project currently involves 27 researchers affiliated with various universities, research organisations and independent consultancies, and the Department of Basic Education.

 

• Teachers change lives – but what makes a great teacher? Source:The Conversation Prof. Zayd Waghid from CPUT expounds on five key lessons crucial for excellent teaching.

 

• The matric exam is a mockery and should be scrapped – it has no place in modern education Source: Daily Maverick Michael Workman, a retired educator who was most recently principal of St John’s Preparatory School opines that " To expect pupils to write just one exam that will determine their future is quite absurd, especially if it is simply written because it is ‘the norm’."

Technology Enhanced Learning

• Online learning has taken root. Now, let’s turn to quality Source: University World News In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought greater awareness of the benefits of blended tuition in Africa and beyond, the focus is turning away from the technical stability of learning management systems (LMSs) to concerns about how to support people to get the most out of these edtech platforms and enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

 

• ChatGPT – Calm your inner Luddite, keep your inner sceptic Source: University World News  An article reporting on the 11th ASSAf Presidential Roundtable Discussion. on The Implications of ChatGPT for Assessment in Higher Education that occured on the 22 February

 

• Generative AI: Perspectives from Stanford HAI Source: Stanford University HAI The following are perspectives from Stanford leaders in medicine, science, engineering, humanities, and the social sciences on how generative AI might affect their fields and our world. Some study the impact of technology on society, others study how to best apply these technologies to advance their field, and others have developed the technical principles of the algorithms that underlie foundation models.

 

• ChatGPT and Other Cutting-Edge Learning Tech Source: The Chronicle What do faculty members and administrators need to know as they look toward a more AI-enabled academic future?- The Chronicle brings together a panel of experts to discuss this hot-button issue in a virtual forum, “ChatGPT and Other Cutting-Edge Learning Tech.”

 

• ChatGPT in Education Webinar with TAFE NSW Australia Source: Youtube This video, conducted for the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institution of New South Wales (NSW) Australia, addresses many different aspects of ChatGPT in education. What it is, the importance of AI Literacy, using it in the classroom, making assignments more resistant to ChatGPT when warranted, and how to use AI like ChatGPT to help fight violations of academic integrity. 

 

• ChatGPT: Threat or Menace? Source: TeachOnline Recording of the webinar offered by Dr. Steven Mintz, a history professor who integrated ChatGPT into his teaching at the University of Texas. Key takeaways include: Insights into ways it can be used in teaching, learning and assessment from concrete examples; Ideas about using ChatGPT as a creative tool for project-based, peer, and work-based learning; what ChatGPT can do for student support and services, such as career advising or support with study skills challenges etc. 

 

• Forget ChatGPT; You will not regret using these AI tools in 2023. Source: Medium  A blog on useful AI tools.