Colin Simpson’s Ed Tech must-read opportunities of the week

by COLIN SIMPSON

Why returning to the lecture only model is a bad idea from The Ed Techie

Martin Weller is one of the more interesting practitioners in the ed tech space and this thoughtful post breaks down recent discussion in the UK (but, arguably everywhere) about where we need to go with technology enhanced learning when we (eventually) emerge from the pandemic.

Education Technology Competency Framework: Defining a Community of Practice across Canada from Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (Open Access) What is an education technologist? What do they do, what do they know, how do they help educators to navigate the digital age of learning and teaching? This article by Sonnenberg et al. outlines recent work to describe their practices and proposes some useful ways forward for edtech teams in transforming “the academic experience for learners and teaching faculty”. While the focus is on the Canadian experience, the ideas translate very well to Australia.

Kevin Gannon thread about tips for first time lecturers with replies (via Twitter) this is invaluable practical suggestions for new lecturers (faculty). Among them, capture students’ attention early with a wicked problem that the unit will equip them with the skills to solve in time.

The Melbourne EdTech Summit 2021 from EduGrowth. The Melbourne EdTech Summit is a free four-day education technology and innovation showcase beginning on Tuesday August 17. The first two days are K-12 focused and the Thursday/Friday relate more to higher education, VET and industry. It offers an opportunity to explore new technologies from Australian ed tech vendors and engage in broader discussions about the emerging future of learning and teaching. EduGrowth is an umbrella body of education institutions, industry and ed tech entrepreneurs. Speaker highlights include Martin Dougiamas (Moodle) on the Wednesday, Liz Johnston (Deakin U) and Chris Campbell (Griffith/ASCILITE) on Thursday, and Belinda Tynan (ACU) and Claire Field on the Friday.

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books from Atlas Obscura. Branching scenarios and decision-tree type activities are becoming increasingly popular in learning and teaching due to the ease of creation via user-friendly tools such as H5P and Twine. Some of us got our first taste for these through the popular Choose Your Own Adventure book series in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This article from Sarah Laskow describes some of the ways these branching stories are mapped, offering insights for our own work in designing them.

Colin Simpson has worked in education technology in the tertiary sector since 2003 and tweets as @gamerlearner. He is employed in the Monash Education Innovation team but his opinions are entirely his own


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