Saide Current Awareness
12 June 2023

 

Distance Education

  • Artificial Intelligence, Web 3, and the Future of Distance Education Source: American Journal of Distance Education An editorial piece of the latest AJDE  issue which provides a  “heads up” to  readers who may not already be considering the changes that lie ahead in education and in all areas of our lives. This editorial is also a reminder that AI and Web 3 are creating exciting new areas for practice and research and welcomes articles that explore our field of distance and online education as related to these new technologies.
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  • Critical Issues in Open and Distance Education Research Source: International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Inspired  and  informed  by  the  author’s  35  years  of  experience  as  an  ODE  practitioner,  researcher,  reviewer,  and  editor,  this  article  concentrates on 10 critical issues of ODE research that have long existed but may have a consequential impact  on  its  healthy  growth.  The  issues  discussed  cover  scarcity of longitudinal research, paucity of scaling-up and generalization research,  preference  for  success over failure  presented  in  research,  the need  for  a  systems  approach,  lack  of  sociocultural  sensitivity,  technologization  of  research,  scant attention  to  ODE  for  the  underprivileged  and disadvantaged, insufficient  research  on  ODE  policy,  negligence  of  historical  research,  and  disinterest  in  revisiting  ODE  theories. 

 

Education: South Africa 

 

Language and Literacies

  • Unlocking the future: nurturing a literate generation Source: Mail & Guardian  
    The recent findings of an international study on the reading abilities of 10-year-old children in South Africa have unveiled a disheartening reality. It is not only a matter of deep concern that eight out of 10 do not understand what they read, but also a timely call for serious and intense interventions from both the public and private educational sectors. The 2030 Reading Panel will address what needs to change to ensure that all children learn to read by 2030
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  • Minister Motshekga, South African children cannot read for meaning — here’s what we can do about it Source: Daily Maverick Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga recently suggested there’s a lack of concrete evidence regarding the most effective interventions to address reading challenges. Let’s not pass the buck, Minister.
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  • Your World Language Classroom: Strategies for In-Person and Digital Instruction 1st Edition Source: Amazon This book provides clear, fun and practical guidance on how to help students master language in the classroom using technology tools. Regardless of your level of technological proficiency as a teacher, this book will show you how to provide effective learning to students in in-person, online and hybrid environments and help you become more comfortable at using digital tools. With teacher vignettes sprinkled throughout, chapters are filled with ideas that will help you foster an inclusive, positive and student-centered classroom environment that supports students’ communication skills and social and emotional needs. Poth’s easy-to-use methods and strategies will help you create authentic, purposeful learning experiences that will prepare students to be risk-takers in a new language in and beyond the classroom.

 

Open Education and Open Educational Resources

 

Post Schooling

  • Knowledge work and the role of higher education in an AI era Source: LSE Blog As AI becomes increasingly entangled into different forms of knowledge work, Bert Verhoeven and Vishal Rana discuss how higher education can adapt to meet the needs of a changing labour market. Pointing to the limits of traditional forms of testing in higher education and the benefits of study in practice and authentic assessment, they argue higher education can reshape itself in ways that emphasise more and better skills than knowledge retention.
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  • Call to develop research-intensive universities in Africa Source: University World News African countries need to participate in the global knowledge economy by increasing investments in research-intensive universities to help develop reliable infrastructure and functional health systems, decrease inequalities, and provide a brighter future for its youthful population, according to Sharon Fonn, professor of public health at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa
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  • Climate change masters: Testament to academic collaboration  Source: University World News The importance of collaborative work between African higher education institutions, university networks and regional and international organisations and communities was underscored during the last in a series of discussions about the masters programme in climate change and sustainable development (CCSD) for Southern Africa.
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  • Continental Qualifications Framework enters the next phase Source: University World News The implementation of the second phase of the African Continental Qualifications Framework (ACQF-II) has commenced as part of a grand plan to support the comparability, quality and recognition of qualifications between countries – including higher education qualifications.

 

Skills and Employment 

  • Beyond unemployment — the hidden crisis of youth underemployment in South Africa Source: Daily Maverick Many young South Africans with post-matric qualifications are struggling to find meaningful employment and thus find themselves in endless cycles of underemployment.
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  • South Africa has a graduate unemployment crisis, MPs hear Source: Research Professional News Graduate numbers growing faster than economy can absorb them, warns research council head.The number of unemployed graduates in South Africa is of growing concern, the head of the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa has warned.
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  • TVET lecturers receive green energy upskilling Source: ITWeb A group of 10 lecturers from the Nkangala TVET College have been equipped with renewables energy expertise, after receiving training aimed at enhancing their capacity.
    The training was initiated by the Energy and Water Sector Education Training Authority (EWSETA), in partnership with RES4Africa.
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  • South African Female Students Offered Cyber Scholarship Source: Darkreading.com Women of color are being offered a scholarship opportunity in South Africa — the offer will cover costs for pursuing a cyber career and encourage greater diversity of those studying cybersecurity courses.

 

Teaching and Learning- Local and Global

 

Technology Enhanced Learning

  • PedagoGPT Source: Code Acts in Education An observation about the intent of the  'new educational courses (that) are being produced to train people to use generative AI and make it familiar across industries and everyday life."
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  • ChatGPT is old news: How do we assess in the age of AI writing co-pilots? Source: University of Sydney A post by Danny Liu and  Adam Bridgeman who provide an overview of the recent entry of popular AI tools in Higher Ed and explore some possibilities of what might need to happen to assessment in higher education when AI co-pilots become embedded in the tools that used by both educators and students everyday. They provide examples of assessments and criteria that might be useful in a world where human-AI collaboration becomes more common. 
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  • Regulations & Tips for using generative AI Source: Yann Houry's Google Docs A Work in Progress draft aimed at providing  clear and precise information on the use of artificial intelligence in and outside the classroom.
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  • Navigating Assessment Design: A Flowchart for the AI Age Source: LinkedIn Sean McMinn Director of Center for Education Innovation at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology presents a flowchart to help teachers during the assessment design process and decide whether students can use generative AI tools in an assessment activity.  
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  • EDTECH IN SCHOOLS: Creating Safer Digital Learning Environments Source: Morning consult A valuable resource for educators and parents especially now in the age of AI where ensuring data privacy in #edtech is a big concern.
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  • 10 Questions for Student AI Guidelines Source:Control Alt Achieve As #artificalinteligence use continues to grow, it is important for educators to establish clear guidelines for AI usage in the classroom, in an effort to safeguard our students while empowering their learning journey.  
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  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Education - Free Webinar 8/6/23 Source: Youtube Tom Barrret from PromptCraft in discussion with e Sophie Fenton, Human-centred Strategist // Intelligent Technologies Ethicist and Keith Heggart, Lecturer in Learning Design, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney.
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  • iPads for Teaching & Learning Source: Stanford University The iPads for Teaching and Learning Program investigates the extent to which the use of iPads can impact teaching, learning, and research when applied in the service of specific goals. 

 

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