Saide Current Awareness
20 May 2024

 

Distance Education

  • Perspectives and Innovations in ODL Source: COL Video presentation by Professor Peter Scott, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning and Dr Tony Mays, Director for Education, Commonwealth of Learning. Delivered at the inaugural session of the International Conference on Perspectives and Innovation in Open and Distance Education, 1 April 2024, New Delhi, India.
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  • Book Review: Research, Writing, and Creative Process in Open and Distance Education: Tales From the Field, edited by Dianne Conrad (Open Book Publishers, 2023) Source:International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning The act of scholarly writing combines elements of both science and artistry, posing a particularly daunting challenge for early-career researchers who may be navigating a complex maze to forge their own scholarly identities and careers. Mastery of academic writing requires a process built on persistent effort, practice, and refinement. Hence, novice writers may find golden nuggets of wisdom in the guidance of experienced writers who have overcome many challenges throughout their careers.  In response to this need, Dianne Conrad has assembled an impressive list of scholars to publish the book titled Research, Writing, and Creative Process in Open and Distance Education: Tales From the Field. The book is a synthesis of personal, reflective narratives on academic writing by authors in the field of open, online, and distance learning (ODL). This review, from an early-career researcher’s perspective, aims to offer insights and spark a discussion among the community, and serve as a barometer for the intended impact of the book.

 

Education: South Africa

  • South African stakeholders deliberate on how to improve education system Source: CGTN Africa Despite billions of state money going to education every year, South Africa's schooling system remains deeply divided between private and public sector lines. South Africa has achieved a 98 percent enrollment rate in primary school but drop out rates remain high and learner outcomes poor.
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  • Democracy 30 | Education challenges in the Eastern Cape Source: SABC News Thirty years into democracy, the Eastern Cape's Education system continues to face several challenges, particularly in rural areas. Besides teaching and learning obstacles, some under-resourced schools still have overcrowded classrooms, poor infrastructure and pit toilets, some of which have claimed lives. Despite efforts to turn the province's education fortunes around, including turning to the courts, the problems remain
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  • Former South Africa leader Zuma promises jobs and free education as he launches party manifesto Source: ABC News Former South African President Jacob Zuma has lamented the high levels of poverty among black South Africans and promised to create jobs and tackle crime as he launched his new political party’s manifesto ahead of the country’s much anticipated elections
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  • Catholic schools contribute much to education in SA: Angie Motshekga Source: TimesLive Angie Motshekga says Catholic schools strive for academic excellence and focus on nurturing social and conscious citizens.
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  • KZN schools get free extra lessons online Source: ITWEB The Telkom Foundation, in partnership with Lightbulb Edtech, has introduced an online learning portal, tailored for high school learners in KwaZulu-Natal.  The years-long collaboration between the Telkom Foundation and Lightbulb Edtech is centred on a mobile learning management system and service, designed to empower educational institutions to provide customised online support services to their students.
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  • MEDIA STATEMENT: BASIC EDUCATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ADOPTS NCOP AMENDMENTS Source: Parliament.Gov.Za The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education today concurred with and adopted the additional amendments made by its sister committee in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.

 

Language, Literacies and Research Writing

  • Our research shows children produce better pieces of writing by hand. But they need keyboard skills too Source: The Conversation Children today are growing up surrounded by technology. So it’s easy to assume they will be able to write effectively using a keyboard. But our research suggests this is not necessarily true. We need to actively teach students to be able to type as well as write using paper and pen or pencil.
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  • Writing By Hand Is Surprisingly Important For Thinking And Learning Source: IFL Science Digital methods for note taking are everywhere, but are they as valuable as old fashioned handwriting skills?
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  • Should We Teach Students Formulas for Writing?   Source: Faculty Focus As writing instructors, we often see students with rigid ideas about what writing is “supposed” to look like: Topic sentence here. Quote Sandwich there. Five-paragraph format to tie it all together in a neat package. Formulas like these are a double-edged sword for teachers. We know they can stifle creativity and voice, but they can also be a useful starting place for struggling students, like grabbing onto a life-preserver in the ocean because you can’t swim.  

 

Open Access, Open Education and Open Educational Resources

  • OER based capacity building to overcome staff equity and access issues in higher education Source: ASCILITE Publications  In this paper, the authors  examine the potential of OER to build capacity of academic staff in higher education, in particular to overcome some equity and access issues that they may face. It also examines some existing activities and strategies for professional development in higher educational institutions and provides some recommendations for academics, academic developers, institutions, and the sector in general.

 

Post Schooling

  • University to offer students at least one free daily meal Source: University World News The management of Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, Northern Cape province, South Africa, has decided to offer at least one free lunch meal daily to its students in response to recent protests, reports the SABC. Last week students staged demonstrations, demanding that the university provide them with at least two free meals each day. According to the students, their allowances from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) are insufficient to cover all their meals, including breakfast, lunch and supper.
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  • South Africa election: ANC ducks higher education challenges Source: Times Higher Education Funding problems and corruption dog sector, but ruling party manifesto stays silent
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  • South Africa has a new number-one ‘young’ university Source: BusinessTech The University of Johannesburg has rocketed up the Times Higher Education Young University rankings to become the best university in South Africa younger than 50 years. According to the ranking, five South African universities qualified, with UJ leading the University of KwaZulu Natal, North-West University, University of Venda and Durban University of Technology.
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  • New kind of body poised to reinvigorate research landscape Source: University World News A new kind of entity meant to recalibrate and reinvigorate South Africa’s research landscape was born last month, and gained further momentum earlier this month with the appointment of a permanent director.
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  • Institutions ready to offer degree programmes in food safety Source: University World News East African universities and higher education institutions should use the available wealth of human resources and physical infrastructure to offer a BSc programme to develop the scientific workforces to enable the East African Community to benefit from trading in agricultural products on the African continent through the African Union’s African Continental Free Trade Area agreements.

 

Skills and Employment

  • South Africa’s digital nomad visa: Opportunity or threat to local coders? Source: VentureBurn South Africa is on the cusp of rolling out a new digital nomad visa aimed at attracting remote workers and highly skilled professionals from across the globe. The visa, which will have two categories – a remote working visa and a critical skills visa, positions the country to become only the fifth African nation offering such a programme, marking an exciting development in its efforts to establish itself as a global tech hub.
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  • Unemployment in South Africa: A Youth Perspective Source: StatsSA South Africa, like many countries globally, grapples with the challenge of youth unemployment. This is supported by statistics indicating a 45,5% unemployment rate among young individuals (aged 15-34 years), in contrast to the national average of 32,9% in the first quarter of 2024.
    However, when looking at the Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa report for 2022, which tracks individuals over multiple quarters using annual panel data released by Statistics South Africa, youth with some form of experience far surpass adults in transitioning from unemployment or inactivity into employment between quarters, with rates of 12,3% and 7,4% respectively.
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  • Machine Tools Africa to play crucial role in education, skills development Source: EngineeringNews The upcoming Machine Tools Africa 2024 exhibition will serve as a comprehensive platform for showcasing the latest innovations in machine tools and related technologies. It also plays a crucial role in education and skills development, which is vital for sustaining industrial growth in South Africa.

 

Teaching and Learning: Local and Global

 

Technology-Enhanced Learning

  • Google takes on GPT-4o with Project Astra, an AI agent that understands dynamics of the world -  Source: Shubham Sharma, Venture Beat Today, at its annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View, Google made a ton of announcements focused on AI, including Project Astra – an effort to build a universal AI agent of the future. An early version was demoed at the conference, however, the idea is to build a multimodal AI assistant that sits as a helper, sees and understands the dynamics of the world and responds in real time to help with routine tasks/questions. The premise is similar to what OpenAI showcased yesterday with GPT-4o-powered ChatGPT. That said, as GPT-4o begins to roll out over the coming weeks for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, Google appears to be moving a tad slower. 
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  • Enhancing Student Engagement Through Artificial Intelligence (AI): Understanding the Basics, Opportunities, and Challenges Source: Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice This paper not only introduces basic AI concepts but also explains their specific applications and relevance in the higher education context. Moreover, it outlines the prospects of using AI technologies and chatbots to boost student engagement, presenting a synthesis of the opportunities available.
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  • Superhuman? Source: One Useful Think Ethan Mollicks latest blog asks, "What does it mean for AI to be better than a human? And how can we tell? "
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  • 7 ways to spice up Google Slides Source :WonderTools Easy new ways to strengthen your presentations 
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  • Navigating inequity around access to AI in higher education Source: Michael Rowe "I was asked recently about the possibility of disadvantaging some students when we assume that everyone has access to generative AI.The intuitive response is that universities can’t design assessment tasks requiring the use of AI, unless all students have access to the same kind of AI. I don’t think it’s that simple. Differences in access to technology mean that some students will progress more quickly than others. We’ve always seen this, long before AI. During Covid we needed government and institutional support just to provide access to devices and the internet (and that wasn’t equal access either)."
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  • Artificial intelligence and graduate employability: What should we teach Generation AI? Source: JALT In the era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), universities are grappling with how best to prepare students for a workforce increasingly influenced by the technology. This commentary explores the implications of AI for graduate employability, emphasising the need for educational institutions to reassess their curricula. It suggests integrating AI literacy and ethical decision-making skills to ensure graduates remain valued by employers. 
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  • What Does Automating Feedback Mean for Learning? Source: Marc Watkins Substack "This post is the third in the Beyond ChatGPT series about generative AI’s impact on learning. In the previous posts, I discussed how generative AI has moved beyond text generation and is starting to impact critical skills like reading and note-taking. In this post, I’ll cover how the technology is marketed to students and educators to automate feedback." writes Marc Watkin in his latest  blog