EDUtech Asia and Singapore FinTech Festival in November

Happy to meet up with people around EDUtech Asia and Singapore FinTech Festival, over the next two weeks. On this visit to Singapore I have no presentations planned, but have volunteered to fill in, if needed chairing or speaking at the events. Also happy to speak elsewhere if there is interest. 

What is Coming Soon with Educational Technology in Australia and New Zealand

ASCILITE have released their first "Scanning the Australasian Ed Tech Horizon: The 2021-2022 Contextualising Horizon Report" (Campbell, Porter, Logan-Fleming, & Jones, 2022). It is a big title for a relatively short 47 page report. This covers  rethinking lectures and assessment, blended learning, Co-design and Microcredentials. The bigger picture is covered with rethinking the university experience, and support for staff and learners. This will be useful for administrators and academics considering what to do post-COVID. 

The most telling point for me in the report was:

"Higher education needs to mainstream assessment design that better prepares graduates with 21st century skills for an ambiguous future". 

 (Page 15, emphasis added). 

The key point here is "mainstream". We already know how to improve assessment, and a few of us are doing it. The problem is to make this use widespread, and routine, not something novel a few do. Online learning, was proven years before COVID, but took the threat of financial ruin, and death, to make mainstream. Hopefully improved assessment can be introduced without a similar crisis. But it may take a little pressure from funding and accrediting bodies, to push universities into this.

I was one of those who pressed for my professional body to require students to have 21st century communication and teamwork skills. Universities agreed to do this, not necessarily because they thought it was a good idea, but because if they did not they would not be accredited and international students would not enroll. It takes a staff with new qualifications to teach these new skills.

The report is optimistic about online learning: 

"Higher education learners are choosing the convenience and flexibility of online learning, and it is therefore less likely that higher education will flip back to face-to-face teaching to the same extent as has occurred in the school sector. Learners in higher education are largely there by choice and will likely select providers that enable them to juggle study as part of their increasingly complex lives." (Page 15)

However, how will these online learners be treated? Pre-COVID-19, most university students were studying mostly online, despite being officially registered on campus. The students took advantage of the online services offered. COVID-19 forced universities to take online students more seriously, and not pretend they weren't there (or they were in the classroom). Especially in the case of international students, online mode creates marketing and administrative problems for universities. It is difficult to market online study as a premium product with high fees. If a student has to turn up to campus to meet the requirements of a student visa, then dejour online courses are not relevant.

Virtual Reality in the Time of COVID

Generic disposable facial interface

Greetings from the weekly ASCILITE Mobile Learning Special Interest Group. Thomas Cochrane raised the topic of how Virtual Reality (VR) can be used within COVID-safe restrictions. Expensive VR equipment has to be shared between students, but then how to do that safely? In response I did a quick search and found "Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display Cleaning and Disinfection Guide" (NSW Health, 2020). This recommended using a wipe-able and replaceable "facial interface" (the pad which goes around the wearer's eyes). Generic disposable facial interfaces look like a costume party mask, with elastic straps to fit over the ears. There are also Custom Disposable Hygiene Covers for specific headsets, such as the Oculus.

ESA UV-C
Headset Sterilization

The European Space Agency use a 

Phone Sterilizer

hand held UV-C light for sterilizing the entire headset, but that may not be safe for use in an educational environment. A few weeks ago I purchased a Phone UV Sterilizer, remaindered at a local store (KMART $2.50, similar units sold online for under $30). This is a USB powered box. The user closes the door and it floods the inside with UV-C for five minutes. A VR facial interface should fit in the box. 

However, I suggest looking at lower cost augmented reality (AR)  equipment which allows students to work together safely. An AR headset is not so closely coupled to the wearer's face. AR applications can also be used on the student's own smartphone, removing the need to share equipment. As well as reducing the risk of infection, this also makes it possible for students to see each other and work together, whereas a VR headset completely isolates them in the virtual environment. It should be kept in mind that social isolation is a threat to the student's health, brought about by infection control measures. There is little point in bringing students together in a classroom, if they are each isolated in their own VR bubble.

There is scope for innovation in the safe use of AR & VR for education. This does not require billions of dollars or the resources of a major technology company. Educators and technologists in schools, colleges and universities can make a useful contribution. They can then promote what works through local entrepreneurial centers. As an example, ANU students can get course credit working on software, hardware and business plans for new education initiatives. Staff and students can get training and business advice to set up a company at the government/university funded Canberra Innovation Center. 

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.

EdTech Tools in Sydney

Greetings from the PitchEd NSW Event at the Sydney Startup Hub. Teams are pitching their educational technology products and answering questions from the audience. So far I have not seen any very exciting, and the claims made are a little hard to believe, but the enthusiasm is infectious.

Last night I attended "The Tools We Use" of the 

Instructional Design & eLearning Meetup. Working edtech professionals talked about the tools they use, not sell. One of these which looked promising was Content Samurai, for producing videos quickly. At the moment I make short educational videos using digital video editing software. This requires inserting each slide, and manually synchronizing it with the narration. A tool which automates more of this would be useful.

Just as valuable as the presentations, were the informal discussions. I had just arrived from Canberra, and though I would have traveled the furthest. But there were people from Melbourne, and Europe. Perhaps the award for the most unusual method of travel was the person from South America, with a paddle in a bag, for getting back to their  yacht anchored in the harbor. ;-)

There will be a meetup at the Australian Workplace Learning Conference, June 6, 6:00pm. This is in conjunction with EduTECH, and I am giving a free talk on "Mobile Learning with Micro-Credentials for International Students", at the EduTECH Expo Main Stage, at 4pm the same day. All welcome.

Educational Designers and Technologists Needed at ANU

New ANU Marie Reay
Teaching Centre

The Australian National University in Canberra is looking for Senior Educational Designers, Educational Designers, and Educational Technologists . They will be working with Dr Kim Blackmore, on the Interactive Learning Project.

"The Interactive Learning Project (iLEAP) aims to leverage the social dynamics of learning by creating more high quality interactive learning experiences for students across the university. iLEAP will work closely with course conveners, teaching teams, and students to creatively redesign large enrolment courses for interactive learning at scale.

Course redevelopment project teams will provide intensive support to course conveners to develop new teaching and learning materials for courses, create operational plans and technology support for managing large cohorts, and upskill the new teaching practices.

We are looking for collaborative, motivated and innovative thinkers to work with teaching staff and students across Colleges to enhance teaching effectiveness and increase student engagement by:

• Supporting the use of a broad range of high quality interactive learning activities designed specifically for the course content;
• Providing intensive support to teaching academics, especially in large courses with over 100 students, to redesign courses and course delivery with a focus on enhancing student engagement;
• Promoting student-centred learning and leveraging digital technologies.

From: Educational Technologist, Job no: 529231, ANU , 2019

Technology-Enhanced Learning at ANU

Greetings from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra where TELFest just started. This is a one day event on Technology-Enhanced Learning at ANU. First on the program is Alexandra Webb, from the ANU Medical School, who described her early work using laser-disks for teaching doctors in the 1990s.

Professor Webb then pointed out that education research showed that practice tests are the most effective learning technique. She used the term "science of learning" which I am a little uncomfortable with. In formal terms education comes within Social Science and formal research techniques are used. However, this is not like a hard science, such as physics, and we have a lot to learn.


Professor Webb pointed out that students prefer blended learning to just replacing face-to-face with an online tool. This is a well known effect. She than asked the audience if feedback from students had changed their teaching. I was one of the few who said "no": I have been formally trained in education so I don't have to make it up as I go along.

Is EdTech is killing us all?

Neil Selwyn has suggested that "Even the smallest schools are stuffed full of digital devices, display screens and projectors" and this is not sustainable. He suggests we need to rethink the use of educational technology (EdTech). However, I suggest we need to use less EdTech, but more intensively, both to reduce its environmental footprint and get maximum benefit from the investment.

In 2008 I was commissioned by the Australian Computer Society to design a course in ICT Sustainability. This was first run in 2009, and has been offered since then by universities in Australia and North America. Students learn how to estimate carbon emissions and e-waste from ICT, then how to reduce them.

One of the key points to reducing the environmental impact of ICT is: when you have it, to use it intensively.  As Professor Selwyn points out, much of the environmental impact of ICT come from the manufacture, so using less equipment more intensively reduces e-waste. Also, ICT equipment tends to use almost as much energy when switched on and idle, as it does being used at full capacity. So it is better to buy less equipment and then use it intensively, than have equipment switched on but doing nothing useful.

The situation may well be getting worse, rather than better. A few weeks ago I gave a presentation at EdTech Asia 2018, on Energy Use With Flexible Classrooms. Universities are moving from large lecture theaters where students sit and listen, to flat floor flexible classrooms with screens on the walls and devices on desks. If not carefully planned, this could greatly increase the energy consumption of the campus. The worst situation would be if the university retains its lecture theaters, and adds flat floor classrooms as well, all with equipment running in both.

It can help to have classrooms which can be switched off when not in use. But it is better, as with ICT equipment, to not have more classrooms than you need, and use them intensively. One way to do this is to have flexible rooms, which can be reconfigured, with movable furniture, seating and walls.

As part of EduTech Asia 2018 I went on a bus tour of Singapore universities.  At one stop the staff proudly showed off their large auditorium. However, this space had fixed tiered seating, and fixed walls. As a result it would likely stand empty most of the year. In contrast, ANU is finishing a new ANU Culture and Events Building with rooms of retractable tiered seating. When not needed for large lectures, the seats can be retraced, leaving a large flat floor space.

At another university on the EduTech tour there was a "Moot Court" for training lawyers. This was an impressive wood paneled reproduction of a courtroom. However, here again, the seating was fixed, making the room less usable most of the time. Instead I suggest having movable furniture which can be configured as a court when needed, and rearranged for other forms of learning.

There is not an inevitable trend to more energy intensive EdTech. At EduTech Asia 2018, Crestron's AirBoard was  demonstrated. This is a camera which clips onto an ordinary whiteboard, in place of a smart-board. As well as being cheaper, this should be more energy efficient, and result in less e-waste.

Reference

Neil Selwyn , (2018, October 22). EdTech is killing us all: facing up to the environmental consequences of digital education, EduResearch Matters. url: http://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=3272

China’s Education Boom: A Golden Opportunity?

Greetings from Haymarket HQ in Sydney's Chinatown. This is a start-up center for entrepreneurs looking at the Asian market. This evening has a presentation on "Eureka! The golden opportunity of China’s Education Boom" with Maria Spies and Patrick Brothers from HolonIQ.

Patrick commented that currently there is a heavy weighting of postgraduate students attending Australia's Group of Eight universities. To keep this in perspective he commented that China is out investing the USA in education three to one and noted that international investors are underrepresented compared to other industries.  Patrick noted that the Chinese government recently shut down two hundred international educational partnerships, however he did not explain why.

Maria commented that the issues in Chinese education are much the same as in Australia: including new flexible classrooms, STEM and STEAM curriculum, and edtech. One difference she noted was an openness to technology by parents and teachers. Much of the investment is in private after-school tuition.

Keeping in mind my proposal for Australian to provide blended learning online, I asked if Australian institutions could sell into China. Maria answered that inflows of students into China are increasing and there are likely to be increasing regional flows. She suggested that Australian universities should not assume the current model of Chinese students coming to Australia will continue. Students are willing to use online learning from quality institutions, along with local partnership campuses.where facial expression recognition was used to