TEL-lingit like IT is

What is your vision for online education? I've recently finished reading Edward Hamilton's Technology and the politics of university reform , and his position that there is nothing deterministic about online education, and how universities might apply it forces this question. At the heart of Hamilton's critique is, broadly, who should determine the application of online technologies to higher education: administrators, or faculties. I'll clumsily try to summarise how Hamilton contrasts the two: "Think": Brian Siewiorek, Flickr Administrators: Seeking efficiency and competitiveness (the evangelical discourse): Inevitability of change toward efficiency and access CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction) and automation The virtual university xMOOCs (illustra tive of paradigm) Faculties: Maintaining freedom and tradition Harnessing technologies to extend traditional academic role Experimentation based on faculty-driven innovation Blended learnin...

TEL isn’t just about the techie stuff, though I do like that. As I mentioned in the second post to this blog , TEL is predominately about learning, even though the ‘Learning’ part of TEL comes last. I try to read up on learning as much as I try to keep up with technological developments – and I admit that I often find the learning literature more interesting! A few years ago I purchased Daisy Christodoulou’s book Seven myths about education  (see The Guardian's review here ). The book is brief, authoritative, clear, and punchy. Christodoulou suggests that there are seven pervasive myths about how students learn, and how teachers should teach. The myths find their expression in education ministries, teacher's colleges, and right across the schooling system. I reckon the same myths are equally applied across the HE sector.  Critically, the myths are in opposition to good education practice. Her book is well worth the provocation; here’s a quick overview.  M...

Research, research, research! If there's one thing I've enjoyed most about BERA 2016 it's been the clear focus on serious and rigorous research, right across the educational spectrum. This year was my first BERA, and I'll be prioritising it from here on as one to attend. The format was especially new to me. Less plenaries and many streams meant a lot of travel across the Leeds University campus. The breadth of options gave new meaning to the term 'multiple choice'! Sessions were generally excellent and thought-provoking. Sadly, I am unable to link to the abstracts of the sessions identified below. I do find it surprising that abstracts are not made publicly available! I'll limit myself to those presentations that I personally found noteworthy. Day One The first presentation I attended was Kate Litherland's  Sustainability in technologies for higher education - a review of the literature . Kate's presentation was a highlight for me, as it drew...

Inspired by this: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_bodekaer_this_virtual_lab_will_revolutionize_science_class I sincerely hope this does, in fact, revolutionize science class . The statistics mentioned in the clip alone make pursuit of this worthwhile. And, it's cost-effective: http://web.labster.com/ My team's currently playing with Gear VR; take my word for it, it's absolutely awesome. Labster is available for other formats (including PC, iPad, Mac), but it's the £400 Gear + Galaxy combo that looks to unlock it as an engaging and immersive experience. Awesome. Thoughtful and proven... and, like all good innovations, perfectly obvious when you think about it! An excellent example of how a resource-based approach to education can unlock scalability, exploration, and impressive outcomes.

In innovation it's tempting to focus just on one factor. In education, the overwhelming focus tends to be that of technology . But technology is just one part of the story. Consider how pit stops have changed over the decades. This clip contrasts things well: Clearly the technology is different (what is that first guy banging the tyres with?) But the real success here rests on so much more . A few observations: The main technology shift here is the use of pneumatic wrenches (and new ways of connecting the wheels). There are more people involved - and some with new roles. There is a clear objective, namely less processing time for the car. The process is much more efficient: from 57 seconds to about 1.3. The video seems to emphasise the difference in time taken to change tyres . To be fair the second driver didn't get their windshield wiped. So, to focus on the tyres: there were 12 people involved in the 2013 example instead of the one in the earlier clip, and ther...

I've submitted a response to the current Productivity Commission exercise considering aspects of the New Zealand tertiary education system. Unsurprisingly it has an explicit focus on innovation, which seems a key theme right across higher education providers at the moment. My current role sees me responsible for a fantastic team of dedicated learning and teaching innovators, and I'm proud to be able to say that their ideas really rock my world from time to time. I'm even prouder to say that I am actively encouraging them to make me uncomfortable. My interest in innovation goes back to - I'm embarrassed to say - last Millennium , when I studied entrepreneurship as part of my BMS at Waikato University. I was greatly influenced by reading the late, great Peter Drucker and encountering the theory of Joseph Schumpeter . The lessons from these classes, innovation in the context of entrepreneurship, have guided my interest in online distance education right from the start....

In a logical turn of events, Udacity, the online educational service founded by artificial intelligence guru and ex-Googler Sebastian Thrun, is offering a new set of tech degrees that guarantee a job in six months or your money back. ( ElecCafe.com ,  Code School Udacity Promises Refunds if You Don’t Get a Job ).  Now this is very, very good news. It demonstrates how achieving career qualifications can finally overcome the unsustainable and, let's face it, unjustifiable debt that characterises higher education worldwide. Education is clearly in need of a "gale of creative destruction", to quote Schumpeter . There is much to applaud here. However, philosophically there is also much to be concerned about. The same article exposes the underlying assumptions around the approach taken by Udacity's Sebastian Thrum: “The ultimate objective of education is to find people a job” Hmmm. Finding a job is a great outcome, and in purely economic cost/benefit analysis it...