Pete Evans This report from JISC is of FE college students’ experiences of digital education. The survey was conducted between October 2019 and May 2020 so covers the emergency shift to remote teaching. About two-thirds of the 19,137 responses are from the pre-pandemic and one-third form the pandemic periods. Learners and their technology Access to digital devices … Read more
I have three items: (1) notes on a recent example of the interaction of universities and private educational companies and the increasing commercialisation of higher education; (2) one tweet on effective online teaching and learning design; and (3) one link to JISC’s collection of future scenarios for higher education. Commercialising higher education Coventry University is … Read more
This article on student perceptions of ‘useful’ digital technologies identifies the gap between the potential of digital technologies for teaching and learning in higher education and the realities seen to date. The study presents the findings of a survey of students at two research-intensive universities in Australia. I think there are some important insights here … Read more
A couple of fun hours pulling together lots of notes and ideas in taking a project forward. It’s easier to think in scribbles, doodles and sketches.
A recent paper in IRRODL Elements of Open Education: An Invitation to Future Research, caught my eye on future research in open education. Theories of open education The authors provide a tour of theories of open learning starting with Wedemeyer’s (1971) conceptualisation of openness as wholly self-directed learning. This resonates with some recent perspectives on … Read more
Its been a busy week with the start of the new academic year being in somewhat challenging circumstances. However, my teaching is all online and I’m ready to start teaching next week. It has also been the week of the launch of the Manifesto for Teaching Online including a programme of launch seminars. Otherwise, here … Read more
This week has been a lot of ‘heads down’ course designing and building type work. I did find the following of interest: Fostering online learning “research into online learning almost univocally agrees that…well-designed courses with interactive content..continuous educator involvement..timely, and formative feedback are the most promising approaches to fostering learning in online environments” https://t.co/JfHeTd1BsT— Neil … Read more
I have recently changed my role at the University and am having to think aout where I see in what direction I see my work developing. I recently came across the label of a ‘flipped academic’. The term originates with Alex Bruton in Canada and was popularised in an article in The Guardian newspaper here. … Read more
Two items for this week: Reflective practice This post makes a clear case for the importance of reflective practice as contributing to the effectiveness of online learning. While the use of diverse digital tools for the capture of immediate reflections, to ensure effective learning is important, further development of these reflections in to more substantive, … Read more
Three bits of news and content that caught my eye this week: Accreditation and lifelong learning A new post from www.wonkhe.com at on the relations between accreditation, digital education and lifelong learning. The post is mainly concerned with access to education and social mobility in the context of Covid and so makes the case for … Read more