Saide Current Awareness
26 June 2023

 

Distance Education

• Prerequisites for Learning in Networked Immersive Virtual Reality  Source: Technology, Mind and Behaviour Journal This study presents qualitative observations on instructors’ and students’ experiences across time and with VR use, and how these may inform curricula development.
•  
• The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Online Learning and Distance Education Processes: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies Source: Applied Sciences Motivated by the increasing use of AI technologies and the current state of the art, this study examines research on AI from the perspective of online distance education. Following a systematic review protocol and using data mining and analytics approaches, the study examines a total of 276 publications. 

 

Education: South Africa 

• The Roger Federer Foundation's Report on Grade R interventions in South Africa Source: IPASA This comprehensive report, shared at IPASA's recent convening event, provides data, identifies collaboration opportunities, and emphasizes the vital role of philanthropy in driving meaningful change within Grade R interventions.
•  
• Umalusi warns about bogus online schools and websites selling fake certificates Source: TimesLive Umalusi has expressed concern about the mushrooming of bogus online schools and an increase in reported cases of fake certificates being sold to unsuspecting members of the public.
•  
• ‘Our children’s education is not free’ — Soweto parents battle to pay their kids’ internet costs Source: Daily Maverick Some learners in Soweto are not allowed to use their schools’ WiFi and computers after school hours for assignments and research. Their parents have to pay for them to use internet cafés — which they can barely afford.
•  
• When art imitates life — lessons from Yizo Yizo for South Africa’s literacy crisis Source: Daily Maverick Failing to master foundational skills like reading with comprehension haunts progressed learners in later years. Subsequently, most learners in grades 10, 11 and 12 (in quintile 1–3 schools) are over-age for their grade.
•  
• NGO’s digital learning programme gains momentum in Eastern Cape Source: Daily Maverick Click Learning aims to empower young learners with the foundational literacy, numeracy and digital skills they need to build sustainable livelihoods.

 

Language and Literacies

• Sign language is set to become official in South Africa - how this will help education in schools for the Deaf Source: The Conversation South African Sign Language is set to become the country’s 12th official language. Parliament approved a constitutional amendment in a bid to “promote the rights of persons who are deaf (sic) and hard of hearing”.
  Claudine Storbeck, founder and director of the Wits Centre for Deaf Studies at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, explains what the move could – and should – mean for Deaf education in the country
•  
• Students switch to AI to learn languages Source BBC News  AI language-learning chatbots such as LangAI are becoming increasingly popular due to their convenience and breadth of knowledge.
•  
• Try Listening to Your Literature Source: The Atlantic Audiobooks are less demanding—and maybe that’s a good thing.

 

Open Education and Open Educational Resources

• Student Spending on Course Materials Falls to Decade Low Source: Inside Higher Education Average annual spending on college course materials fell to a decade low of $285 in the 2022–23 academic year, Student Watch found, according to a press release from the Association of American Publishers. That marks a 57 percent decline since 2012–13. 
•  
• OA Book: 101 Creative Ideas to Use AI in Education Source: Creative He Community. This open crowdsourced collection of 'potential alternative uses and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that could make a difference and create new learning, development, teaching and assessment opportunities' draws from from 19 countries:incl.South Africa 

 

Post Schooling

• We need a dynamic new model for post-secondary education Source: University World News Ellen Hazelkorn argues that much more radical thinking is required as to how we structure, govern, fund and deliver post-secondary education in order to address the other 50% of learners who are gradually being left behind by the current system and/or unable to access the system in any meaningful or sustained way.
•  
• Africa, Europe launch 17 joint Clusters of Research Excellence Source: University World News The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities (the Guild) have announced the launch of 17 joint Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE), each co-led by universities from each continent.
•  
• Questions about new ranking for Sub-Saharan universities Source: University World News The formal launch of a Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) university ranking, based on data collected from 121 universities and with a strong focus on undergraduate education, on 26 June at Ashesi University in Ghana, has yielded mixed responses from within the sector.
•  
• Universities fall short of ‘deep transformation’ Source: University World News  Transformation remains a highly contested work in progress at South Africa’s universities almost three decades into the restructuring of the higher education system after the introduction of democracy in 1994.
  At least half of the country’s public universities continue to grapple, with limited success, with the transformation imperative, both intellectually and in terms of their programmes, according to a new report of South Africa’s Ministerial Transformation Oversight Committee (TOC).

 

Skills and Employment 

• The Education-Training-Work Continuums: Pathways to Socio-Professional Inclusion for Youth and Adults Source: NORRAG The eighth edition of NORRAG Special Issue (NSI), published in collaboration with the International Labour Organization,  focuses on the discontinuities that currently exist between education, training and decent work, arguing that existing discontinuities between these three fields create and reinforce exclusions and inequalities for already marginalised groups. The authors argue that treating the three fields as a continuum would improve the inclusion of people who continue to be excluded from the “standard” journey between education, training and work.
•  
• Growing number of hurdles to youth employment leave many despondent in SA — but there is hope Source: Daily Maverick Numerous structural barriers deny young people access to the formal sector, particularly for youth living outside of large cities. Furthermore, recruitment experts note the increasing mismatch between available talent and available jobs. 
•  
• ‘Innovation sandbox’ yields positive results in ‘common good’ youth empowerment and job creation Source: Daily Maverick. Marianne Thamm reports on the  'arts summit held in Stellenbosch on 2 and 3 June, which brought together the CEOs of some of the country’s biggest theatre festivals, the successes of the Social Employment Fund in this industry and beyond were highlighted.'
•  
• Is SA a conducive environment for youth employment? Source: ITWeb Only 25% of South African youth feel positive about the future, according to a survey published in News24 late last year. They face pressure and uncertainty about the economy, energy, climate change and other issues, leaving them feeling stressed out and unsure about the future.
  CTU Training Solutions held a webinar in June at which it discussed various issues related to the future world of work.
•  
• ALX Tech Hub opens doors in Braamfontein Source: ITWeb Tech skills training provider ALX officially opened its new tech hub in Braamfontein yesterday. This is the second tech hub opened in Johannesburg by the company following the opening of its first in Sophiatown. The hub’s primary objective is to provide an accessible co-working space to address the critical infrastructure challenges many South African students face, such as access to high-speed internet and stable electricity.
•  
• Free energy sustainability online courses target youth Source: ITWeb Energy management and automation solutions provider Schneider Electric has introduced two free online courses that it says will set students on the path to sustainability and energy transition.Introduced in light of the youth month theme: “Accelerating youth economic emancipation for a sustainable future”, the courses are aimed at helping youth across the globe to advance their knowledge and skills to build a sustainable future, says the company.

 

Teaching and Learning- Local and Global

• LH #82 The Wizard of Oz with Markus Bernhardt Source: The Learning Hack A podcast by John Helmer who talks to Markus Bernhardt, Chief Evangelist of adaptive vendor Obrizum on how AI hype is affecting adaptive learning.
•  
• How Education Works: Teaching, Technology, and Technique Source: AU Press In this engaging volume, Jon Dron views education, learning, and teaching through a technological lens that focuses on the parts we play in technologies, from language and pedagogies to computers and regulations. He proposes a new theory of education whereby individuals are not just users but co-participants in technologies—technologies that are intrinsic parts of our cognition, of which we form intrinsic parts, through which we are entangled with one another and the world around us. 
•  
• Student and Faculty Perspectives on Digital Learning Differ Source:Inside Higher Ed A new report shows misalignments in institutional and student views on preferences for virtual instruction and experience with generative AI.
•  
• Taking advantage of ChatGPT et al (ideally before the end of the world) Source: TheSedaBlog An overview of AI implications for HE with recommendations for universities  summarised in a diagram at the end of the blog post.

 

Technology Enhanced Learning

• ChatGPT Webinar #3 What have we learnt? Source: CRADLEdeakin Youtube Channel TEQSA in association with CRADLE present the third webinar "Implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence for Higher Education” series.This series of webinars addresses what is known at present about generative artificial intelligence (genAI), implications for learning, teaching and assessment and how such technologies might transform higher education into the future. Six months after the release of ChatGPT, the expert panel reviews the impact of genAI and explores how a much-hyped technology is unfolding in reality from institutional governance, regulatory, academic integrity and educational technology research perspectives.
•  
• The Benefits and Challenges of Spaced Repetition Flashcard Apps for Language Classes Source:The FLT Mag In this article, the authors discuss the concept of spaced repetition study (SRS) for language learning and introduce two useful “smart flashcard” apps available for learners and teachers: Anki and Mochi. 
•  
• Three ways to leverage ChatGPT and other generative AI in research Source: Times Higher Education A guide to three key uses of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in developing and enhancing research

 

 

• 2023 Siyaphumelela Conference 28-30 June 2023
• Call for Nominations OEAwards 2023  ends June 2023
• Climate Action Pedagogy (CAP) Design Challenge: Live Co-Working Session 16 August 2023
• Fully Online Distance Education Symposium 19-20 October 2023
• Four special issues Call for Papers on Generative AI in Education 
• Open call for Distance Education themed issue proposals (2024)