Friday, July 31, 2020

Better Logistics for Fighting Pandemics

Health Innovation Hackerthon
The Australian National University’s Humanitarian Innovation Society (ANU HISoc), along with the Clinton Global Initiative University and IBM are holding a virtual hackathon from August 8, 2020 on Fighting Pandemics.

Organized for and by students, teams will work on pandemic management with lessons from SARS, MERS, Ebola and COVID-19.

I am helping out with Track 2: Creating faster and more efficient resource allocation systems. Below are some notes I am preparing for the students. Suggestions, comments and contributions are welcome.

Track #2: Creating faster and more efficient resource allocation systems

"How can we better manage logistics so crucial personnel, medical supplies and equipment are quickly allocated to places where they are needed? " From ANU HISoc

Logistics

Modern warehouse with pallet rack
storage system
(Wikpedia, Axisadman / CC BY-SA)
"Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, materials handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security. " From: Logistics, Wikipedia (2020, June 30).

Pandemic

1918 Flu Victims St Louis
(Wikipedia, Uncredited photographer
for St. Louis Post Dispatch / Public domain)
'A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν, pan, "all" and δῆμος, demos, "people") is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people.' From Pandemic, Wikipedia (2020, June 30).

Sahana Disaster Management System

Warehouse Inventory Page fromSahana Eden (2014)
"Sahana is a Free and Open Source Disaster Management system that has been deployed with Gov, NGOs and Civil Society in enabling effective coordination and resource management particularly in a coordinated multi-agency response. The project has its inception during the Boxing Day Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 that required a large scale response effort bringing together multiple partners to help 500,000+ victims including displaced and injured in Sri Lanka." From Sahana Applicability for COVID-19, Wikipedia (2020, June 30).

Some questions for the hackerthon participants:

  1. Who are you helping manage the logistics?
  2. What is being managed (personnel, medical supplies and equipment)?
  3. How are places and need identified?
  4. How are resources allocated?

See also:

  1. E-government for emergencies: dealing with a bird flu pandemicusing the wireless web and podcasting, Tom Worthington, for CeBIT Australia, 9 May 2006, Sydney
  2. Sahana Meetup with Tom Worthington, Sri Lanka, 2013

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Twenty Dollar Telescopic Telepresence Robot for the COVID-safer Classroom

Telescopic Telepresence Robot
Telescopic Telepresence Robot
This is a smartphone running Zoom (or similar), on a tripod, which can be driven remotely across a classroom to collect student comments.

My Ten Dollar Telepresence Robot worked reasonably well, but the camera and microphone are at floor level. I tried installing a telescopic tripod on the car, but this was not stable. A larger remote control car could be used, but I did not have one to hand. So instead I attached small furniture castors to two legs of a $20 camera tripod, and the small remote control car to the third leg. The car acts as a prime over, pulling the tripod around as a trailer. Unfortunately the $10 car only has just sufficient torque to move with a lightweight smartphone on the tripod. The car is designed for speed, and a lower gearing ratio would work better, but the approach seems sound.

Ten Dollar Telepresence Robot for the COVID-Safer Classroom

Remote Control Toy Car
with Smartphone Attached
While I had built a foot operated Zoom station for the COVID safer classroom, this still required the student to walk up to it. I had built a Zoom safe selfie stick, but that required the operator to walk around the room. It would be better to have everyone seated in the classroom or meeting room. One option is to use a telepresence robot: a remote controlled camera, screen and microphone. However, these units are expensive and have more features than needed. Instead I attached a smart phone to a $10 remote control toy car.

There are toy cars with Bluetooth remote control, allowing them to be operated by someone via an Internet connection remotely. However, for my purposes a cheaper wireless control was sufficient. I unscrewed the roof of the toy car, drilled a hole, inserted a spare tripod screw which came with a tripod and reattached the roof. I then screwed a smart phone clamp to the car. The car can be driven around to where the person who wishes to speak is.

Small Tripod and Zoom Selfie Stick for COVID-safer Videos

To hold the camera for my foot operated video conference system I needed a tripod. Some web cameras have a standard screw for a tripod on their base, while smart phones and small tablets need a clamp. I found a Vivitar 7-in-1 Tripod at Officeworks for $20. This has the standard camera screw, plus a separate clamp for smartphones which screws to the tripod. 

The tripod is telescopic, making it small enough to fit in a coat pocket. The catch is that the spread of the legs is very small, making it not very stable when extended to full height, and it only extends to just over desk height, much shorter than a regular tripod. However, one advantage is that the legs can be folded and the unit used horizontally as a selfie-stick. The camera can be turned around pointing away so this could be used in a classroom, or a meeting room, with the operator standing a Covid-safer distance (1.5 m) away from the person being videoed.

Foot Operated Zoom COVID-Safer

Foot Operated Microphone
With a move back to campus I have been considering how technology to make for COVID-19 safer environment. One idea is a foot operated video conference: step up to the microphone, stand on the mat and you are on the air.

One example, is having blended meetings and classes. Some people can be in a room on campus, linked to others online. For this a large screen in the room will typically display the remote participants, as well as any shared presentation. In a small room a few microphones can pick up the local participants voices and relay this online. In a larger room this become difficult with out an extensive and expensive, A/V setup. One method used has been to hand a wireless microphone around the room, but that not advisable to to the risk of infection spread from the device.

In a flat floor classroom or meeting room, where there is sufficient space, a speaker would be able to step up to one of a number of strategically placed microphones.  But those not is use would need to be switched off. An approach I have tried out at home is to connect the microphone through a pressure may designed for burglar alarms.

I purchased a pressure mat for under $50 at a local store (Jaycar Electronics) and wired this in series to a microphone plug and socket (another $10). Pressure applied to the mat closes the circuit and connects the microphone.

One simple way to use this is plugged into a smart phone or small tablet: step on the mat, talk and you appear on Zoom. This might also be useful for home office situations where you want a fail safe system.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Higher Education After COVID-19

I will presenting "Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning" July 29, 8-9 am, AEST (Canberra Time) as part of the Microlearning Series curated by Manisha Khetarpal at Maskwacis Cultural College in Canada. This is the first of six weekly sessions:

Higher Education After COVID-19

  1. Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning  
  2. Open content created
  3. Assessments in online delivery
  4. Tools used to engage students in online delivery
  5. Mentoring student group work onlin.
  6. Higher education after COVID-19: Not business as usual
These are online, open to all and free, but please register now. Suggestions are welcome.

Part 1: Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning

Preparing for COVID-19 Three Years Before: a Foreseen Emergency 

Slides and notes (PDF)


This first talk is based on a testimonial I wrote, published by Athabasca University 17 April, as an alumni writing about how my studies effected my life. In this case the effect was very direct: I studied how to teach international students from China and India online. The last thing I wrote in my capstone before graduating was:
"International tensions could disrupt the flow of students to Australia very quickly" From Conclusion: Tom Worthington MEd(ED) ePortfolio,  Athabasca University, 6 December 2016
So I suggested universities should be ready to teach online if students could not get to campus. What I was expecting was international tension in a region such as the South China Sea, preventing students traveling to Australia. In teaching professional ethics to students I had used a hypothetical where a misunderstanding results in a cyberwar breaking out.

Three years later students were unable to get to campus, but due to COVID-19, not a war. I was in Canberra, and my 154 students were scattered around the world.

Friday, July 24, 2020

International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating

October 21 is the International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating, according to the International Center for Academic Integrity. University of Technology Sydney appears to be the only Australian university member. Wouldn't it be better to have a day promoting the value of original work, and acknowledging the work of others? I found only three published papers mentioning this day. Is it a real thing, or something invented by checking companies?

References:
Thacker, E., Clark, A., & Ridgley, A. (2020). Applying a Holistic Approach to Contract Cheating: A Canadian Response. Canadian Perspectives on Academic Integrity, 3(1), 70-82. https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ai/article/view/69811

Muller, L. S. (2019). A Keen Eye Avoids Plagiarism: A Cautionary Tale. Professional Case Management, 24(6), 323-326. https://journals.lww.com/professionalcasemanagementjournal/Citation/2019/11000/A_Keen_Eye_Avoids_Plagiarism__A_Cautionary_Tale.10.aspx

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Train PhD Students as Enterpreneurs

This week I attended a presentation from an early career academic on the challenges of having a family and a research career, even before COVID-19 made it much harder. Also this week I was welcomed to the Canberra Innovation Network's Virtual Co-workingonline community. It occurred to me that the approach which the entrepreneur/startup community takes to mutual support may be of use for training doctoral students and supporting early career academics.

From one point of view entrepreneurs are business people all competing with each other, but on the other hand there is a lot of sharing and support. There is also an emphasis on learning from failure, as at least 90% of startups fold. With the usual face to face events closed, this support has moved online.

Part of the stress and frustration for new researchers may come from too high expectations during their training. If they do well, they hope to be funded as a post-doctoral researcher and then, in time, a secure tenured position. However, there are far fewer post doctoral positions and even fewer tenured positions, than PhD graduates.

Even a supposedly permanent university position is dependent on funding from student fees, research grants and other variable sources to pay a salary. This can come as a shock to a new graduate who has worked for years in the expectation of a career in research. PhD students could be instead encouraged to think of themselves as entrepreneurs, with conducting research being just one skill they need to succeed.

Doctoral training could be changed to incorporate features of that provided for entrepreneurs. This emphasizes any one project has only a very slim chance of success and you should be prepared to learn from repeated failed projects. Skills in identifying what makes a project appealing to funding bodies can be taught. Also the ability to "pivot" can be nurtured: take a small sliver of potential from a failing project and run with that. Lastly, students can be provided with a broad set of skills useful for industry, as that is where 90% of them will end up working, not in research.

Providing a Quality Online Educational Experience for International Students

Gavin Moodie
Gavin Moodie has compared the attractiveness of Australian, UK, US and Canadian adjustments for international university students due to COVID-19 (The Conversation, 22 the UK job retention scheme and less restrictive travel provides an advantage, whereas the US uncertainty in restrictions makes it less attractive and Canada is not admitting new students from abroad.

However, almost as an afterthought at the end of the article, Moodie comments:

"Few students and their parents are convinced about the value and quality of online education. And they fear much of the benefit of immersion in an English speaking university environment would be lost if spatial distancing required social distancing."  

I suggest both points could be addressed with a campaign to have Australian university academics trained to teach online and to provide students with structured online activities to practice their English and ability to work together.The current competition between Australian, UK, US and Canadian reminds me of completion between countries making poor quality large gas guzzling cars. While they added more features and weight, others developed high quality small efficient cars and took the market away. The same could be done with quality online education.

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

How Much Will You Pay for an Online or Hybrid Conference?

Conference organizers, both academic and commercial, have been hit hard by COVID-19, with local, national and international conferences postponed or cancelled. One response is to offer events online, or both online and in person. But how much will delegates be willing to pay?

For the last few years I have attended, and spoken at, events in Sydney and Singapore under the EduTech brand. EduTECH 2020 Sydney is planned for 9 - 10 November at the International Convention Centre in Sydney. But in the interim a Sydney Mini Virtual Summit on Adaption of Education is planned for Wednesday, 29 July 2020 4.00pm AEST. This is four speakers over two hours, plus thirty minutes for questions. The fee is $20 for early bird, $25 standard, and $30 for last minute registration. It will be interesting to see how many people are willing to pay for an online symposium, after months of free presentations. 

Meanwhile, EduTECH Asia 2020 is planned for 11 - 12 November at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore. There was a very interesting
EduTech Asia Virtual conference, 23 - 26 June. This was free, presumably to promote the full face to face conference.

It is not clear if these events in Sydney and Singapore have parallel online versions planned, for those who cannot, or do not wish to meet in a conference center. This would be using what is called in the education field hybrid mode: some people together at the conference venue and others joining in by video conference. The problem for educational institutions, and for conference organizers, is how to offer an online product without lowering the perceived quality of their face to face offering. Also if a lower price is offered online, then how low can this be to attract delegates, without undercutting face to face attendance? Australian universities typically charge the same amount, for face to face and online courses. But will an online conference delegate pay a thousand dollars, or more, for a conference?

Last year the ASCILITE conference fee was about AU$900 face to face. This year the virtual conference fee is $100 for members and $250 for non-members presenting papers. The fee for some delegates is as low as $25.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning, Webinar, 29 July

I will presenting on "Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning" as part of the Microlearning Series curated by Manisha Khetarpal at Maskwacis Cultural College in Canada. This is online, open to all and free, but please register now. It is the first of six weekly webinars on how I came to e-learning, used it response to COVID-19 and some thoughts on how higher education can be improved in light of this. This is intended to be an exploration, like my three months looking for the on-line future in 1996, so suggestions are welcome.

Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning

by Tom Worthington MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P

Honorary Lecturer in Computer Science at the Australian National University

In the Microlearning Series, Maskwacis Cultural College, Alberta, Canada

Wednesday July 29, 8-9 am, AEST (Canberra)
Tuesday, July 28, 4 pm MDT (UTC-6 hours)
Description: In this first of a series of six weekly webinars, Tom Worthington will take participants on his personal journey discovering how e-learning could be used in response to COVID-19 and beyond. Like thousands of staff at universities around the world, Tom had only a few weeks to move his teaching online at the Australian National University in Canberra. But he had two advantages: a degree in distance education from Athabasca University Canada, and a background in emergency management at the Australian Department of Defence. Hear about what Tom did, and discuss your own experience: what worked, what didn't and what we do next.

Presenter: Tom Worthington is an independent computer professional, educational design consultant and an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Research School of Computer Science at the Australian National University.

In 2015 Tom received a national gold Digital Disruptors Award for ICT Education and in 2010 was Canberra ICT Educator of the Year. He previously worked on IT policy for the Australian Government and in 1999 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society for his contribution to the development of public Internet policy. He is a Past President, Honorary Life Member (2002), Certified Professional and a Certified Computer Professional of the society as well as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a voting member of the Association for Computing Machinery, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Sahana Foundation for Open Source Disaster Management Solutions.

Tom has a Masters of Education (specializing in Distance Education) from Athabasca University, a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from the Australian National University and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment from the Canberra Institute of Technology. He blogs as The Higher Education Whisperer". https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/

Cost: Free.

This is part of the Maskwacis Cultural College Microlearning Series, curated by Manisha Khetarpal and is open to the public.

Monday, July 20, 2020

Emoticons Help Connect Emotionally with Students

A study which made me smile was one from RMIT University on how emoticons could help you better connect online with students (Moffitt, Padgett & Grieve, 2020). The researchers provided of 241 undergraduate students with a typical student submission and feedback. Some students got emoticons along with text. Happy emoticons ☺ gave a warm feeling, which is not surprising. What was surprising is that they also made the marker appear more competent. This may appear trivial, but students are people and people are more disposed to accept feedback from those they feel are competent and care. When you are remote from your students, as with online learning due to COVID-19, it can be difficult maintain an emotional connection to students.

Reference

Moffitt, R. L., Padgett, C., & Grieve, R. (2020). Accessibility and emotionality of online assessment feedback: Using emoticons to enhance student perceptions of marker competence and warmth. Computers & Education, 143, 103654. URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103654

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Problems with tools

I noticed that my spell checker was not picking up "Educaiton" as a spelling mistake, which is embarrassing for someone who writes about education. So I checked my personal dictionary. This contained 40 words, some of which are commonly used jargon and technical terms, such as eportfolio,courseware, summative, evaluand, and webinar. But most appear to be misspelled words:
"eportfolio multicolour Dogfood qualifcaiton sourt ephephany sould tesemnt Manditory trhoug summative Clarificative courseware gopvernment Evaluand unioversites practes Educaiton Israle Screencasting schating Februruary suiccesful chocies abourginal phopne evaluability behavour togehter Natuiobnal artificat Unvieristy campcity qulaificaiton issess usefuol spciety webinar chnage lage"

Designing Out Contract Cheating While Designing In Quality Education

Phillip Dawson

The Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has an Experts advice hub which is particularly useful with the move to online education. One useful piece of advice is "The prevention of contract cheating in an online environment" by Associate Professor Phillip Dawson, Deakin University. At first I found this a bit annoying, as it starts with 3 myths about contract cheating: it is rare, it can be designed out, and is impossible to detect. After reading these I concluded that TEQSA wants me to give up on project based progressive assessment and just set one exam at the end of semester.
But reading on Professor Dawson does suggest assessment design approaches to help reduce the prevalence of cheating: reflections on practical work, individual work, and in-class tasks. Assessment which it is suggested most attracts cheating are ones with lots of marks, and short deadlines, such as take-home exams.

One of the key problems I suggest causing contract cheating is the lack of time and effort academics think they should put into assessment design and delivery. Like most, my first exposure to assessment was being asked to set exam questions and mark assignments, with no prior training. Completing a couple of courses on how to design and deliver assessment was a revelation. Much of what I had been doing turned out to be, at best, irrelevant, and in some cases counter productive. Also the amount of time needed to do assessment properly was sobering.

I had assumed that assessment was an afterthought tacked onto a course. Much of the frustration of academics perhaps comes from this assumption. Assessment should take up about half the staff time in a typical course. Once you accept this, it is less frustrating how much time it takes, as you expect this.

As the guide suggests, many small assessment tasks, with generous deadlines, place less pressure on students to cheat. Practical work, where each student has a different project and where they have to reflect on what they did makes cheating harder. Where the student has to explain what they did to the assessor this also helps. However, these all take much more work to design, administer and grade. These also take skills which the average academic doesn't have, because it was not part of their teacher training (assuming they received any teacher training).

As an example, I once sat at a course planning meeting where we discussed the assessment of reflective e-portfolios. As the discussion progressed, I realized that of the dozen tutors and lecturers there I was the only one who had ever completed a reflective e-portfolio as a student, and the only one with any formal training in how to assess them. Without that training ans experience, tutors were assessing the e-portfolios as if they were project assignments.

If you set out to design the assessment for a course, allocating marks to small tasks, thinking about the time the student, and the assessor, will need, it is possible to design most cheating out. However, I suggest emphasizing the benefits for the students, and for their teachers, of more realistic, better planned assessment.

One think academics need to decide is what they are doing assessment. If a graduate needs particular skills and knowledge to undertake a professional role, then there is no need for more than a pass/fail test. If the assessment is to identify those who will undertake further advanced studies, then more fine grained assessment is needed. However, these two approaches can be mixed in the one course. If you don't want students asking for extra marks on every little assessment task, then have these small tasks just count for a pass (or whatever is considered the minimum acceptable level). Reserve the fine grain marking for the important tests.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Video Conference Discussions for Keeping in Touch


One of the things which has been keeping me sane in my home office for the last few months of COVID-19 has been the regular weekly webinars with people in the computing and education professions. The best of these have a topic, and a speaker, but then also a breakout session, where small groups talk about the topic and whatever else concerns then. One of the best of the best is the weekly ACEN Critical Conversation run by Bonnie Dean.

Monday, July 6, 2020

Cutting the Gordian Knot of University Research and Education Funding

In "University research funding and international student numbers rose, and will likely fall, together" (EduResearch Matters, 6 July 2020), Andrew Norton points out that most Australian university academics are employed to both teach and conduct research. This should not be a surprise as the Dawkins reforms designed this into the Australia higher education system. Australian universities are required to conduct research to be called universities. This has proved useful for marketing university courses, particularly to international students. The students select a university largely based on the research reputation. The dilemma for universities is that research output has little, if anything, to do with the quality of education.

Australian universities have been successful marking education internationally, based on their research record. However, good researchers do not make good educators. Having specialist research and teaching staff would make sense in terms of efficient delivery of quality education, as might a return to the pre-Dawkins education only institutions. One way to make this marketable to students would be by associating each research university with a cluster of teaching-only University Colleges.

The obsession with research rankings, I suggest, could be countered by promoting education and impact ranking schemes. Rather than being a victim of rankings developed by media companies, universities could cooperate to create more useful measures which suit their interests. A good model for this is the “Webometrics Ranking of World Universities” which ranks ten thousand universities.

Australian universities failed to prepare for an international crisis preventing students getting to campus, even when warned of this. There were relatively simple measures, using e-learning, which other countries planned for and which some of us in Australia were ready with.

Universities are also not addressing the longer term risk of competition for students, particularly from China’s Belt and Road Education Plan. Previously I worried this may see a long term decline in the competitiveness of Australian universities. However, due to COVID-19 and international tensions, Australia's universities may have only a few years to change the way they deliver education, if they wish to remain in business.

Friday, July 3, 2020

Online Learning for Remote and Complex Environments

Mr Andrew Laming MP,
Chair of the Committee.
The Australian Parliament is looking into the impact of COVID-19 on learning, as part of its inquiry into education in remote and complex environments. Public hearings are suspended due to COVID-19, although I suggest these could use video conferencing. The inquiry has received 64 submissions, including mine (number 50):

Train Teachers Online to Provide Blended Learning 

Submission to the Inquiry into Education in Remote and Complex Environments

This is a submission on online teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemici. Replicating the classroom using video conferencing is only a small part of the answer. University and school teachers need to be trained online to teach in blended mode, for the optimum combination of online plus face-to-face learning, to suit prevailing conditions. This approach made it possible to teach university students without interruption during the lock-down and is suitable for older school students, providing a smooth transition to normal teaching.

Blend Classroom and Online for Resilient Learning

In February 2020 with the prospect of COVID-19 keeping students from campus, I was able to quickly switch from blended learning, to fully online teaching at the Australian National Universityii. The course text and videos were already stored in the University's Learning Management System (LMS), which the students can access via the Internet from anywhere, at any time. Most student activities (forums, quizzes, and assignments), could already be undertaken online at any time. This left just the face-to-face workshops, to be replaced by video conferences. When students begin return to the classroom, video conferences can continue to link those who cannot attend, to their teachers, and more importantly, to the other students.
The ability to rapidly change from campus-based to online instruction is a by-product of a blended approach to teaching. To allow maximum flexibility, I first design for online delivery, then add campus activities, combining online and campus in chunksiii. If a student is unable to get to campus, they can still undertake most activities.
As an international graduate student of education, I had experienced the difficulties of studying at a distanceiv. In 2017 I realised my students could be stopped suddenly from getting to class and suggested preparing for this with online learningv.

Train Teachers Online to Teach Online

Australian universities and schools have the good fortune of access to high-quality LMS. One example is the Moodle product, developed in Western Australia, and now used by schools and universities across Australia, and throughout the world. Tools such as Moodle, allow a teacher to provide the materials the student needs, wherever they are. However, what is also needed are teachers trained to teach online, as well as in a classroom.
While we have the technology for teaching, what has been lacking during the COVID-19 Pandemic are university and school teachers trained to use that technology effectively. More important than technical training, is the ability to build a rapport with students who are remote from you. This can be done by having teachers experience being online students themselves. This dogfooding approach ensures that teachers understand the stresses of being an online studentvi. I suggest that school and university teachers should undertake at least one semester unit of instruction online, about how to teach online. This online learning should model good techniques, such as students working together to accomplish a task, peer assessment and an absence of formal examinationsvii.

Tom Worthington MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P
22 May 2020


Biography: Tom Worthington is a computer professional and an honorary lecturer in computer science at the Australian National University. A Certified Professionalviii member of the Australian Computer Society, in 2015 Tom received a national gold Digital Disruptors Award for "ICT Education" and in 2010 was Canberra ICT Educator of the Year. He previously worked on IT policy for the Australian Government and in 1999 was elected a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society for his contribution to the development of public Internet policy. He is a Past President, Honorary Life Member, Certified Professional and a Certified Computer Professional of the Society as well as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a voting member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Tom has a Masters of Education in Distance Education from Athabasca University, a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from the Australian National University and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment from the Canberra Institute of Technology. He blogs as the Higher Education Whisperer and is the author of Digital Teaching In Higher Education.
While an Honorary Lecturer at the Australian National University and a member of the Professional Education Governance Committee of the Australian Computer Society, his views here do not necessarily reflect those of either organization.


i Home learning and teaching during COVID 19, Media Release, House of Representatives, 14 May 2020. http://www.medianet.com.au/releases/release-details.aspx/?id=931917&k=1145358
ii Learning to Reflect, Learning Module Notes for the ANU TechLauncher WPP Exercise, Tom Worthington, November 2019. URL http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/education/learning_to_reflect/learning_to_reflect_2_1.shtml
iii "Blended learning and learning communities: opportunities and challenges", Fleck, J. (2012), Journal of Management Development, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 398-411. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711211219059
iv E-Portfolio for the Athabasca University Master of Education, Tom Worthington, 6 December 2016. URL http://www.tomw.net.au/masters_eportfolio/introduction.shtml
v Digital Teaching In Higher Education: Designing E-learning for International Students of Technology, Innovation and the Environment, Worthington, T., 2017. URL http://www.tomw.net.au/digital_teaching/introduction.shtml
vi Dogfooding: Learning About Teaching by Being an On-line Student, Tom Worthington, 2017. URL http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/dogfooding/
vii Blend and Flip for Teaching Communication Skills to Final Year International Computer Science Students, Tom Worthington, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE). In Press. Presentation notes: http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/education/learning_to_reflect/tale2019_blend_flip_worthington_final.pdf
viii Liability limited by a scheme approved under Prof. Standards Legislation