TEL-lingit like IT is

A conference paper by Geoff Kaufman (Carnegie Mellon University) and Mary Flanagan (Dartmouth College) called “High-low split: Divergent cognitive construal levels triggered by digital and non-digital platforms” ( PDF available ) has had some coverage [ Science Daily ] [ Psychology Today ] [ PC Magazine ]. The studies published in the paper compared levels of construal (perception and comprehension, or ‘gist’) of subjects reading the same matter from print, and a screen in an RCT (Randomised Control Trial). There were four studies, each comparing performance in digital and print formats, as follows: One: Completing the same survey (Behaviour Identification Form) Seventy-seven participants (average age of 24.2 years), completing the same survey either on an iPad 2 or in print. After being randomly placed in the iPad or print groups, subjects completed survey testing their use of abstract and concrete descriptions of various behaviours and events. Care was taken to provide the same ...

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....

We don't just store bits of knowledge as stacked Lego bricks. Instead, we assimilate new knowledge within the stream of what we already know. In turn, the newly assimilated knowledge influences the stream of how we interpret new knowledge. In Making it stick , Brown, Roediger III and McDaniel define learning as "acquiring knowledge and skills and having them readily available from memory so [one] can make sense of future problems and opportunities" (2014, p.2). Learning, then, is a process of assimilation and extension. Sort of like a smudge.  The process of learning is often described in terms of a developing schemata   (Wikipedia article again highly recommended!) whereby what we already know both determines and changes as the result of what we learn. Such development might be equated with transformative learning , whereby an education doesn't just shape what we know; it also fundamentally changes our view of the world. It is here that the cognitive sciences ...

It seems TEL and innovation are terms eternally linked. While much of actual TEL practice is rather predictable (not in the sense of it somehow being disappointing), TEL practitioners themselves are often driven by a desire to be more innovative, to always stretch the limits of what is done. Stakeholders and institution leaders are likewise interested in TEL innovation. But what exactly constitutes innovation? The term innovation is a much-used, yet seldom-explored term. Only somewhat helpfully, innovation is defined as " something new or different introduced " and as " a new idea, more effective device or process ". Innovation is most certainly perspectival, in that what one person would describe as innovative may not be considered innovative by another. Innovations might justifiably be at either extreme of tiny ("that's nice ") or incredibly significant ("that changes my understanding of what can be done!"), just as they might be eith...

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...