Education: South Africa 

• Bela Bill: Support for harsh punishment of those who hinder teaching and learning Source: IOL Mpumalanga parents and educationalists who came out to voice their support and concerns around the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill were most interested in the new clause that promises to criminalise the unlawful and intentional interruption or hindrance of any school activity.The residents shared their views on the bill with the portfolio committee on basic education during the first of three public hearings on it in the province recently.

 

• UKZN engineering alumnus heads academy for underprivileged youth Source: IOL University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Electronic Engineering alumnus, Cebo Mzinyane is building momentum with his non-profit company that aims to motivate children in underprivileged areas to excel academically, socially, personally and recreationally.

 

• Our education system is as much a threat to South Africa's future as Eskom and the country's debt Source: IOL  The Minister of Finance delivered his annual budget speech in Cape Town on February 22. While the speech addressed many critical issues affecting South Africa, it was concerning that it paid little attention to one of the country's most significant threats – the failing education system and the budget allocated for 2023/24 to aid this...

 

• Simple #ActsofGoodness can change the future of children in South Africa Source: Daily Maverick Maurice Maeterlinck was right when he said: ‘An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness. No reward coming after the event can compare with the sweet reward that went with it.’ Our support to a primary school in Mamelodi, linking it with a private school in Pretoria, proved that people want to overcome social injustice.

 

• Images of trauma and hope – Covid-19 pandemic through young people’s eyes Source: Daily Maverick While Covid had a massive impact on children and young people, the story wasn’t necessarily being told through their voices, said Toby Fricker, chief of communication and partnerships for the United Nations Children’s Fund. Through a photography project, Unicef and Maverick Citizen have launched a photo book depicting the experiences of young people during the pandemic.

 

Language and Literacies

• Your brain on books Source: Reading Partners 'When you open a book, your brain lights up with activity. But what exactly is happening when you see a letter? What about a word? A sentence? We decided to find out. Here’s your brain on books.'

 

• 5 Ways to Engage Reluctant Readers Source: Tech & Learning A  high school library media specialist at Canton City Schools offers some successful strategies that utilize both technology and good old-fashioned classroom management.

 

• The best things in life are free: In praise of our libraries Source: Daily Maverick Nick Dall opines about last weeks  National Library Week and 'sing the praises of one government institution that does still bring much value (and joy!) to its citizens.'

 

Open Education and Open Educational Resources

• 2023-24 Institute on Open Educational Resources Source: AAC&U In July 2023, AAC&U, with expertise and leadership from OpenStax and ISKME, is launching the next cohort of the Institute on Open Educational Resources (OER). 

 

• Open Education Week shines light on implementing UNESCO OER Recommendation best practices Source: UNESCO Experts from 16 countries shared their best practices for implementing the UNESCO OER Recommendation in the recent OPen Education week.

 

• Distances in the Universe: An Inquiry Lab Sequence Taught in West Africa and North America Source:Course Source A resource for first year astronomy students as taught in Canada and in a summer program for upper-year students in West Africa. 

 

Publishing

• Artificial intelligence, copyright infringement and protection – a legal quagmire? Source: Daily Maverick The rise of AI tools such as ChatGPT raises new and complex legal questions about copyright. As technology continues to advance, South Africa must ensure that it is adapting its legal frameworks to keep up with these changes. A bill currently being debated in Parliament offers a timely opportunity to update the law.

 

Post Schooling

• Report calls for professional standards for TVET lecturers Source: University World NewsThe study titled Towards the Professionalisation of TVET lecturers, that was undertaken by JET Education Services, a non-governmental organisation which conducts research on the school and TVET sectors, delved  into TVET colleges in Australia, Brazil, England, Germany, Kenya, Malaysia, Moldova, South Korea and South Africa and assessed aspects including TVET status, quality of lecturers, professional autonomy, identity and accountability.

 

• Project is advancing HE network connectivity on continent Source: University World News The €27 million (about US$29 million) to support the AfricaConnect project, which in turn provides the internet infrastructure to drive initiatives such as the African Open Science Platform and support education and research institutions with affordable network infrastructure, is currently in its third phase and marked its 10th anniversary in 2021

 

• Do universities in the Sub-Sahara serve the public good? Source: University World News To what extent can higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa promote the public good? This was the theme that the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) chose for a special issue of the Journal of Higher Education in Africa. In their exploration of the public good role of universities, researchers touched on colonialism, commercialisation, elitism and corruption.

 

Skills and Employment 

• Public-private collab to create coding skills pipeline Source: ITWeb  Software developer training academy WeThinkCode and Ekurhuleni West TVET College (EWC) will pilot a coding skills programme for youth with no prior experience. 
  This, after the organisations entered into a public-private partnership aimed at creating a pipeline of in-demand technical skills.

 

• AI digital course targets Commonwealth public leaders Source: ITWeb The Commonwealth, in partnership with global chipmaker Intel, on Friday unveiled an online learning platform aimed at helping public sector leaders come to grips with artificial intelligence (AI).The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental association of 56 member states, including SA, mostly former territories of the British Empire.

 

• Five in-demand tech skills that will accelerate your career Source: ITWeb "Wondering what skills you'll need to succeed in the tech industry? These five in-demand tech skills will set your career apart ..." with the relevant courses included in the post.

 

Teaching and Learning- Local and Global

• Social Constructivists with Donald Clark Source: LearningHackPodcast On the new episode of Great Minds on Learning, Donald Clark explores the work of the social constructivists.

 

• Experimental Evidence on the Productivity Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence Source: MIT Economics The authors of this paper examine the productivity effects of a generative artificial intelligence technology—the assistive chatbot ChatGPT—in the context of mid-level professional writing tasks.

 

• If we are setting assessments that a robot can complete, what does that say about our assessments? Source: Medium An interesting blog post by Daisy Christodoulou provides three principles to countenance the argument about setting assessment that computers can't complete to ensure academic integrity.

 

Technology Enhanced Learning

• ChatGPT and Bing: A practical guide for social science and management studies Source: GoogleDocs

 

• Key findings from the ALT 2022/23 Annual Survey - Trends in Learning Technology Source: ALT  This year, the survey explores the main trends in learning technology with a focus on the digital transformation, that includes:Association for Learning technology

 

• Achieving online dialogic learning using breakout rooms Source: Association for Learning technology This study uses Laurillard’s (2013) Conversational Framework to evaluate the effectiveness of breakout rooms in achieving learning through peer-to-peer dialogue in large-scale teaching. Data were collected through online surveys, comprising Likert ratings and open questions, to undergraduate students (n = 115) and tutors (n = 9) at Aberdeen Business School (Robert Gordon University) reflecting on Year 1 studies in the 2020–2021 academic year.

 

• AI Strategy Guide for Schools Source: ChrosGoodAll A guide linked to the UK teaching standards, to support school leaders and staff in implementing and using AI in the classroom.

 

• Some Recent Developments in AI for Learning Source: LinkedIn A blog post by Stephen Downes who writes "While most media is paying attention to commercial AI solutions provided by the likes of Google, Amazon, Baidu, Meta and OpenAI, there is also a thriving open source AI scene that has been making some noise in the last few days."

 

• We need to teach Critical AI Literacies and we need to teach them now Source: LouiseDrumm A blog post about the  responsibilities educators have to learners in the age of AI . It’s a foregone conclusion that many workplaces and work practices will increasingly be augmented by AI tools.

 

• Digital learning is just learning Source: Wonkhe We can obsess about tools and technologies, but for Simon Thomson the critical questions are about how we design learning experiences to make best use of the opportunities we have

 

• Meta sued by its home county over youth social media addiction Source: Daily Maverick Meta Platforms Inc was sued by the school board in the company’s home county for allegedly addicting students to its social media platforms and contributing to a mental health crisis.