Blended Learning for the Indo-Pacific

Tom addressing the
Computer Society of Sri Lanka

A few weeks ago I outlined a proposal for a Colombo Plan 2.0, in the city of Colombo, at an international conference opened by the nation's president. This proposed delivering micro-credentials via mobile devices, to students of Indo-Pacific.  It would bootstrap mobile education by using m-learning to teach computer professionals how to design and deliver such courses. To provide maximum benefit from the courses, each would provide a micro-credential, as well as industry certification, and credit towards a degree. The courses could be designed and delivered jointly, by institutions across the Indo-Pacific, to mixed classes of students from the region. It would provide a response to China's Belt and Road Education Plan, but in a non-confrontational way.

A short paper to present on this has been accepted for TALE 2018, in Woolongong, 4-7 December 2018:

• Worthington, Tom. Blended Learning for the Indo-Pacific. In Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 2018 IEEE 7th International Conference on. IEEE. url https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE.2018.8615183
   

Mobile Learning from Canberra with Microcredentials and Blockchain for the Indo-Pacific: Colombo Plan 2.0

Greetings from the opening of the Australian Computer Society Canberra Conference. One speaker couldn't make it, so I am filling in at 1:15pm, on "Computer Professionals Providing Mobile Learning for the Digital Economy". In this I suggest Australia can provide courses on-line to students in the Indo-Pacific, to complement China's Belt and Road Project. The idea would be a formal university level courses, but delivered as a series of micro-credentials, digitally certified using a blockchain. This is a preview of a presentation I prepared for NICT 2018 in Colombo, on 3 October.

Computer Professionals Providing Mobile Learning for the Digital Economy

The theme of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka  National IT Conference (NITC 2018),  2 to 4 October, is "IT Changes Everything". Australian speakers include Craig Horne the Vice President of the Australian Computer Society, Michael Johnson the ACS Director of Professional Standards, entrepreneur Carey Furze and myself.

My topic is "Computer Professionals Providing Mobile Learning for the Digital Economy". I suggest that teaching is an under-recognized skill for computing academics, they can be trained using mobile learning, and use it for teaching. There is a short promotional video and here are some notes:

Computer Professionals Providing Mobile Learning for the Digital Economy

by Tom Worthington

for NITC 2018, October, Colombo

IT Professionals Change Everything

IT developments depend on trained computer professionals to make them happen.

 Example: Async-Sync Learning System being built at ANU.

Drive the Digital Economy Through Education

Education is an under-recognized specialist area for  computer professionals.

Example: Free open online ICT Sustainability Course, delivered via the open source Moodle Learning Management System, by ACS, ANU, and Athabasca University for the last ten years.

Changes Needed in Education

1. Qualify computer professionals as education specialists at higher education institutions.
2. Accelerate their training, using mobile learning.
3. Have these professionals design and deliver mobile learning.
4. Teach these techniques to educators in other disciplines and other education systems.

Key Metrics

What proportion of your computer educators are dual qualified in computing and education?

What proportion of your computer education courses are offered on-line via mobile devices?

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NITC 2018, Colombo
2 to 4 October 2018
http://www.nitc.lk/2018/