AI and Work Integrated Learning

Greetings from the University of Canberra, where I am attending the NSW/ACT chapter of WIL Australia's "Creative, Modern and Celebrating WIL". Associate Professor Bonnie Dean, University of Wollongong, is taking us through the reality behind the hype about AI and jobs. She cited research showing that organisations are tending to look to existing staff for AI skills, rather than asking for it in job ads. Bonnie pointed out that Microsoft Copilot's terms of service say it is intended for entertainment and use at the user's own risk (which I suggest is likely illegal under Australian consumer law). Professor Dean noted how the last trend was cyber security qualifications and universities are no announcing AI initiatives.

Bonnie pointed out surveys which show most students see AI as useful, but worry about being accused of cheating, but don't get support from the university in how to use it. As AI is new and novel I can see the need for specific training, both for staff and students, about it. After a few years this will just be integrated into basic training for students. Particularly for WIL is important for students to get this extra training now. As an example, students need to have it explicitly explained that public tools retain the information they enter, so they should not include anything sensitive, private. 

 

ACEN NSW/ACT WIL Summit in Sydney

Greetings from the ACEN NSW/ACT WIL Summit at University of Wollongong's Sydney campus. This is near Circular Quay, with a terrace view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The summit had people from NSW and ACT universities working in Work Integrated Learning (WIL). Formal presentations were eschewed for guided discussion. I won the prize for longest distance, having just come from ASCILITE 2023 in Christchurch. 

It was good to discuss common problems of finding enough places in industry for students, and how to keep them learning.

Supporting diverse graduate career pathways through AI

NSW/ACT ACEN
Chapter Zoom Meeting

Greetings from "Supporting diverse graduate career pathways" at the NSW/ACT ACEN Chapter, and "The Re-Conception of AI and Robotics as Complementary Artefact Intelligence and Augmented Capability" by Roger Clarke at ANU. I am actually sitting in the seminar room at ANU, where Roger is presenting. That is also going out on Zoom, but I am listing to the ACEN seminar instead. This is because they happen to be on at the same time. Perhaps because I have been reading a book by William Gibson, and think I can mash these up. ;-)

Rodger is taking AI back to first principles ( see the the slide-set). The main point is that AI should complement human effort, rather than replace it: Augmented Intelligence.

ACEN's discussion is around how we prepare students for a career which may not be based on a few long term permanent jobs. Obviously a career may be even less certain due to AI, but perhaps we can design AI to work with the graduates, and train the graduates to be able to use it.

Video Conference Discussions for Keeping in Touch

ACEN Critical Conversation, Jun 24, 2020

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.

More Flexibility from Accreditation Bodies During Pandemic

Five organizations with members who train medical and other professionals have called on accreditation bodies to be more flexible during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Council of Professions (ACoP), Universities Australia (UA), the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA), the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) and the Independent Higher Education Australia (IHEA) are concerned that accreditation procedures may slow the supply of trained staff when they are needed most.

The problem is that front line professionals need hands-on training, supervision and testing, but this is difficult to provide due to lock-downs and stringent processes at places of employment. With the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA), they are supporting creation of principles for professional accreditation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to maintain quality while there are fewer reduced availability of Professional Placements available, and with measures such as online assessments required.

However, the first of the proposed principles I don't agree with: 

a. Professional accreditation bodies recognise that during the current pandemic higher education providers must attend to educational delivery and student needs first.

In a pandemic, the need of the community for intimidate support comes first, with education of students a lower priority. All professional codes of ethics state that the needs of the community override those of the individual professionals and their organizations. Trained staff are needed now to save lives, so training programs may be shortened, and students asked to volunteer for font-line duty, sooner than they otherwise would. As future professionals, this is a valuable lesson for students: my needs do not come first.

One way I suggest accreditation bodies can help, without compromising standards, is though online working and allowing online training and assessment. The need to physically visit and meet with educators should be replaced with an online option, and not hours of tedious Zoom meetings: a genuine online, efficient process.

The use of online forms of reporting by and of students in placement should be encouraged. Much of the tedious paperwork which takes up everyone's time can be put online, streamlined, and in some cases eliminated all together. Some years ago I helped the University of Queensland develop a system for online reporting of occupational therapy students in professional practice placements. This took several attempts and revisions, to get something practical for use in a clinical environment. This proved a lot harder than it first looked.

To a large extent, the need for reporting can be replaced with monitoring of the online logs already kept routinely in the workplace. The Australian National University provides an example of this with its TechLauncher program. Students undertake team projects for real clients, as part of the requirements for Australian Computer Society professional accreditation. Students use online tools to collaborate. A byproduct of this is that the tools keep a log of what every student did, stamped with the time and date they did it. Examiners have access to all the logs, so they do not have to rely on what students, and their clients, say they did. Students, clients and instructors, can also report on the quality of student work, as it is happening, rather than waiting until long after the event.

K12 EdTech Showcase

My third video meeting for the day was a K12 EdTech Showcase hosted by EduGrowth, an Australian educational technology innovation hub. There were quick presentations from education entrepreneurs. Interestingly, these were not just online platforms for delivering content, but also curated libraries of content. This could be particularity useful for teachers looking for stuff to keep students at home occupier.

What worked particularly well for this event were the moderator using an interview technique, where they asked questions. As with previous events, Zoom was used. This worked better when the video was turned off, with just the presenter's voice and slides.One frustration was that each time the presentation shifted to a new presenter, the display switched to full screen video. It would be useful if Zoom could be configured to stop this happening.

Work Integrated Learning in the Age of COVID-19

The Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) held a video meeting today to discuss what to do about Work Integrated Learning (WIL) in response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Post secondary educational institutions (and some secondary), have students who undertake part of their program gaining practical experience in a workplace. This is required for some accreditation to work in industry. But what happens to these students with workplaces closed?

Part of the answer to that was provided by ACEN, leading by example, in convening a video conference. This was attended by about 280 people around Australia, and some from other countries.

I help teach ANU TechLauncher students who undertake group software development projects for a real client. This is a little easier to manage, as these students are normally not on the client's premises. Also computing professional routinely do much of their work using computer based tools, and the students have already been introduced to coordinating their work online. I have provided some tips on how to work remotely, from the client, from their tutor, and from each other.

The ACEN video conference suffered from some technical glitches. I have provided some tips on what to do to place less strain on our digital infrastructure. This was my second video meeting for the day, with two to go.