Technology Demonstrators
Communication August 2023
LEARNING'S ENDLESS ROAD
Hello everyone
Do you like the heading? 'Learning's Endless Road' - c/o ChatGPT - a line from a Haiku it wrote for me. See below for details 😀
Welcome to the August edition of our TechDem communication. This edition continues to share updates and opportunities for enhanced learning through the use of educational technology. It also starts what will be a regular feature in this newsletter 'AI for Learning and Teaching'.
Dr Julie Lindsay
Senior Education Technology Advisor
WHAT WE DO ....WHO WE ARE
What is Technology Demonstrators?
Last month we shared this interactive poster to share what TechDem does. This month we share the IDOL graphic (below): Innovation in Digital and Online Learning. This details what we have established, what is emerging, and above all who we are as a team within the Learning and Teaching Futures Portfolio and therefore how we support staff and students across the entire university.
Too hard to see? OPEN a larger version.
AI for LEARNING and TEACHING
Wisdom from the code,
AI fuels minds as they grow,
Learning's endless road.
The verse above is a haiku about the positives of Artificial Intelligence for learning created by ChatGPT4. However AI is not only about generative text tools, it is far, far more - as you all know!
This regular communication will now feature updates and opportunities for engaging with AI tools to enhance learning and teaching. Your submissions are welcome!
10 Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Instructional Design
This recent article from Educause reminds us that AI in content creation is not new. Basically AI provides an array of new tools, capabilities and techniques to improve course design and save developer time. BUT learning and instruction are still highly personalised and humanistic experiences.
Examples of how AI is shaping and influencing instructional design include: Adaptive learning; Gamification; Predictive analytics; and, Assessment and feedback.
READ the article for the other six!
TechDem AI and ChatGPT - February 2023 workshop
Have you reviewed the resources from the Feb 2023 workshop yet? Just a reminder that guest speaker edited videos and links to numerous resources are on this SMORE.
Sal Kahn on Artificial Intelligence
Listen to this PODCAST where Prof John Spencer talks to Sal Kahn about AI and the future of personalised learning.
Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.
Nolej.io Pilot
You are invited to try out this AI artefact creation tool by joining the TechDems Nolej Pilot 2023-2024.
FILL in this EOI FORM for more details.
Artificial Intelligence - Fostering a CoP
The TechDem CoP has been asked to create opportunities for UniSQ academics and professionals to gather, converse, and share ideas and practices around AI in education.
In early November we plan to hold an AI symposium. Watch this space for updates. You will be invited to present and share!
Introducing our TechDem Student Representative!
Aligned with the researched students as partners model we are delighted to share our TechDem Student Representative, Damien Lowe has now joined us. With a background in hospitality and vocational education, and having recently submitted a Masters thesis, with intentions of moving into a PhD we are delighted Damien can be part of what we do and provide feedback and more! Welcome Damien.
READ MORE about Students as Partners and Damien.
Digital Initiatives - Relaunched 2023-24 - We can work on that together
Do you enjoy innovating, improving, or simply simply reimagining your StudyDesk environment? Alternatively, is there something within your StudyDesk, or student feedback, that troubles you?
Let’s work on that together!
Undertake a TechDem Digital Initiative in order to:
- Try new tools and pedagogies in a supportive environment
- Align with research goals (promotion, enhanced status)
- Access additional support for implementation, evaluation and evidence-based reporting.
One way to do this is join one of our pilots. The other way is to sign up for one-on-one support with edtech informed pedagogy to try new things in your learning and teaching environment.
This month, we relaunch our digital learning initiatives and ask you: Is there a barrier or opportunity that you’d like to work on? Because… we can work on that together.
FIND OUT MORE and express your interest.
Researching Student Engagement - SIG Discussions
On the 29 August the Student Engagement SIG met to discuss some recent research. The robust conversations that ensued spoke of a shared and genuine desire to reach and teach students.
In this Conversation created by SIG convenor, Katrina Cutcliffe, you will find key elements of each of the papers discussed, as well as some of the questions addressed. Also, carefully edited video clips share some of the discussion comments and interactions (the video below is one of these excerpts). We hope to see you at the next SIG meeting - everyone is always invited!
MS for Teaching SIG - August
What I really like about the MS for Teaching SIG is how convener, Nina Usher, brings new ideas and tools to us that are interesting and easy to use. At this August session Nina shared:
- ClickView
- Immersive Reacer
- OneNote
- Bing AI Chatbot (see image below)
- Presentations.AI for MS Teams
The video from the MS Teaching SIG session is embedded below.
Balancing the Shift Podcast: The Changing Spaces of Social Media
Are you seeing major changes and shifts in social media?
Do you have a Twitter account getting very little traction now?
Where are going now to find your 'tribe'?
We invite you to listen to the latest recording of Balancing the Shift podcast called 'The Changing Spaces of Social Media'
In Episode 11 Julie Lindsay and Lisa Jacka are joined by Jo Kay, long time innovator in the edtech space. They provide insights into the past, present and future of social media. What promise does the fediverse hold for education? What are the implications and opportunities for Higher Education?
Access all episodes on our Balancing the Shift website.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Undoing the Grade - Why we Grade and How to Stop
As a pedagogical disruptor Jesse Stommel shares ideas about why we should not be grading .... well worth a read!
How to make a Podcast with Zoom
Some simple yet effective advice in this article by PodBean about optimising podcast quality via Zoom.
EduTech 2023 - Innovation, Flexibility, AI and More!
Julie attended the EduTech 2023 conference in Melbourne recently and shares feedback and resources via this Conversation.
Open Education Resources Workshop #2
Expanding the range of digital learning resources for you and your students: OER at UniSQ (Part 2)
Abstract: In this practical workshop, the operational elements of using openly licenced content will be covered, including how to correctly attribute resources, uses within StudyDesk, and how to access ongoing support.
Additionally, the concepts of open pedagogy and open assessment will be covered. Open pedagogies are student-focused, and student-centred approaches that position learners as co-creators of knowledge, contributors to society and the profession, and reduce cognitive surplus. Examples are provided, as well as some of the key strategies for implementation. The workshop will conclude with some strategies for measuring impact, especially for those seeking to publish.
Workshop #2 will be on Tuesday September 12, 10:30-11:30am in ENGAGELI once again.
Note: you can attend this workshop without having attended Part 1; everyone is welcome.Presented by: Nikki Andersen (Open Content Librarian), and Adrian Stagg (Manager, Open Educational Practices)
The first workshop, OER #1, was on Thursday August 10 presented by Adrian Stagg.
Download the attached (below) slides from Adrian with links to additional resources.
In closing Adrian encouraged everyone to explore open resources (starting with links on Slide 13) and to consider how to use these in your learning and teaching context - and think about how you could create your own resources, perhaps as a collaboration with other colleagues.
TechDem Community of Practice: Reimagining assessment through a digital lens
Are you moving from a Semester to a Trimester calendar?
Are you looking for new ideas and inspiration 'beyond the quiz' to redesign assessment in your course or program?
At this 1.5 hour session we will review common assessments across the university and share ideas for reimagining utilising the affordances of digital technologies.
We will also focus on the elements of Digital storytelling as a creative communication assessment (or other) that aligns with most if not all disciplines.
This takes place October 10, 1-2:30pm - Become a TechDems VIP for an invitation (form below)
Pathways to Innovation SIG
The next Pathways to Innovation SIG is on September 19, 10-11am. At this time Dr Chris Gaviglio will outline his use of AI tool Nolej, focussing on how it has impacted teaching and learning in his courses. This is a great SIG to start conversations about 'what if ....'
Convened by Katrina Cutcliffe.
Engageli Awareness Sessions
On October 15 we will upgrade our Engageli account to Vs. 3.1. This tool is in its 5th semester of piloting - and we are still going strong! Those who have been working with Engageli start to get excited about what is coming!
Engageli Awareness sessions will run at the usual time of 9-10 am on Thursdays Sept 21, 18 and Oct 5 in THIS Engageli room (open using Chrome). It is not too late for newbies to jump in!
Read more about Engageli HERE.
HOT Conversations and Topics
Play like a team in teams: A typology of online cognitive-social learning engagement
This study examined the content (cognitive engagement, as opposed to 'frequency' and social engagement) of 3,855 student posts from one course in Teams. The results present a new typology of cognitive-social learning engagement definedby four profiles: bench sitter, hustler, striker, champion.
Prestridge, S., & Cox, D. (2023). Play like a team in teams: A typology of online cognitive-social learning engagement. Active Learning in Higher Education, 24(1), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787421990986
Hybrid Teaching - Pedagogy, People, Politics
This free book available for download HERE includes key authors such as Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel who have been writing and speaking about critical digital pedagogy and hybrid pedagogy for years. In the first essay, 'Technology is not Pedagogy' Morris relates a story about teaching a course called 'Learning Online' which was erased from the LMS afterwards.
He states: "And so the understandings we all took from our weeks together are all that remain. The technological artifact was unsustainable. Turns out, it was the human experience that persisted. And it's that human experience we need to not only acknowledge but rely on now."
Past Newsletters
June/July 2023 - Making the Most of Opportunities
May 2023 - Moving towards Innovation
April 2023 - Join in and Collaborate
March 2023 - Innovation & EdTech
February 28, 2023 - AI and ChatGPT
February 1, 2023 - Creating the Future
December, 2022 - Special Edition: Celebrating 2022November, 2022 - Final CoP resources and more!
About Technology Demonstrators
Technology Demonstrators (TechDems) is a UniSQ initiative designed to foster educational innovation, through active experimentation with, pilots, evaluation of and research into educational technologies and virtual platforms to continuously improve learning and teaching.
Click on the image below to read more about our team.
Technology Demonstrators
Senior Education Technology Advisor
Learning and Teaching Futures
Email: julie.lindsay@usq.edu.au
Phone: +61 7 46312890