In his 100-days in office National Press Club speech yesterday the prime minister mentioned skills 13 times, training six, education five and university once.

In Features this morning

“The pandemic provided the opportunity to develop new, innovative and inclusive on-line work integrated learning experiences”– the Australian Collaborative Education Network sets the scene for a series in Commissioning Editor Sally Kift’s “Needed now in learning and teaching”

plus Ginny Barbour (Open Access Australasia) on the White House’s big move on research open access move. It’s a global game-changer, she explains.

with James Guthrie (Macquarie U) urges the University Chancellors Council to make mandatory its now voluntary code on VC remuneration

and in EXPERT OPINION

The QILT results are out Sarah Crossing and Jack Goodman from Studiosity discuss what they reveal for learner engagement (it goes down, cheating goes up), friction between teaching and research rankings and the alarming evidence that international students are way less happy than locals. A stand-out discussion on the most important student opinion measure of the year, (Expert Opinion ep 12 HERE)

and: Sven Rogge (Australian Institute of Physics) on the ARC and pre-prints, research translation and why medicine gets so much money, (Expert Opinion ep, 11 HERE

“Should I be shocked again? 1pm lecture – no one! I lectured empty chairs. 10 min in a student that was early for 2pm lecture showed up (completely unrelated subject different degree). We had a great discussion and I had one keen student learning.” Jan Slapeta  professor of veterinary and molecular parasitology at Uni Sydney, via Twitter yesterday.

All sorts of qualifications “need to foster human flourishing, not just knowledge and skills for work,” which is what micro-credentials don’t do, Leesa Wheelahan Uni Toronto) argues in her recent Jack Keating Oration at Uni Melbourne   

In an expansive address she argued the policy dominance of human capital theory has tied both vocational and higher education to the labour market, “education must be about work”.

But she warned micro-credentials, “shift the focus of investing in human capital from the enterprise to the individual.” And that m-cs, “atomise and fragment knowledge and skills … and, arguably contribute to the fragmentation of jobs, for example, in producing window framers and not carpenters, coders and not IT all-rounded specialists.”

Professor Wheelahan points to VET “skill-sets” as demonstrating that micro-credential outcomes “are weak” and do not address the core policy problem.

“How can we support students to gain credentials or qualifications that have value, and position them to undertake meaningful work and participate in society as citizens, parents, and political persons.”

Continuing working from home rights is on the National Tertiary Education Union’s enterprise bargaining agenda but it is not a big issue – yet

However the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association, which represents most universities, is pointing members to a recent Fair Work Commission ruling in a Uni Tasmania unfair dismissal case. “The fact that there has been a period – often extended significantly for many people – where work has been undertaken at home does not dictate a conclusion that work can continue to be undertaken wholly, or even substantially, remotely, Deputy President Bell stated (CMM August 17).  ,

“We are pleased that the Fair Work Commission has provided very specific guidance on an important issue for the sector,” AHEIA ED Craig Laughton says.

“With universities endeavouring to ensure that students can still access a ‘campus experience,’ the decision provides quite specific guidance on where expectations can be set.”

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations announces, “better data, faster”

Apparently VET reporting systems, “can be unnecessarily burdensome, multi-layered and complex.” But now there’s VET Data Streamlining, “to ensure the sector is able to harness the power of high-quality, timely data to address future and emerging challenges from a position of strength.”

Some changes will mean faster admin on student transcripts and course info, easier admin of records, and one that will be a wonder to behold, “a consolidated and nationally consistent VET Information Standard that includes state and territory data elements.”

The estimable National Centre for Vocational Education Research is here to help

The agency’s submission  to the Senate committee inquiry into the Jobs and Skills Agency bills states it is “keen to support” JSA. “In due course, NCVER would like to explore with the new organisation how we can participate in and help advance the work.”

“Our skills (supply) data and research are extensive and crucial to understanding key skills and supply questions and would supplement the demand side information produced by other agencies,” NCVER assures senators.

Scanning students’ rooms during remote tests is unconstitutional, judge rules from NPR.

This story is from the US and so the legal implications in Australia are no doubt different, but it will nonetheless give pause to institutional leaders responsible for on-line exams. On-line proctoring tools shot to prominence as the pandemic made it unsafe for large groups of students to gather for in-person exams. These tools enable students to take exams at home, but in order to minimise cheating, require what some consider to be invasive surveillance of the student and their space. Many universities are moving slowly away from exams altogether for more authentic assessments but the issue of finding the balance between academic integrity and privacy will be with us for some time.

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The ed-tech imaginary at work Twitter thread from Charles Logan

This learning sciences PhD student at Northwestern University clearly has some opinions about on-line proctoring services but he does bring receipts. This Twitter thread shares posts comparing how a leading company paints itself as an accessibility champion with some choice comments from the founders and some wider stories about issues in this space.

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The Impact of Peer Assessment on Academic Performance: A Meta-analysis of Control Group Studies from Educational Psychology Review

Peer assessment offers a possible brighter way forward for assessment, asking students to think more deeply about what is taught and how it is demonstrated as they provide feedback on the work of their peers. This study from 2019 involves a meta-analysis of 54 previous studies and finds that peer assessment can have a small positive impact on student academic performance.

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Online Does Not Mean Isolated from Inside Higher Ed

One of the biggest concerns about online learning has always been the perceived difficulty in connecting with people, with the screen acting as a barrier to social and cognitive presence. This concern is applied as much to professional development and community building but Maha Bali, George Station and Mia Zamora argue that virtual events can in fact have many advantages over face to face ones. They offer eight guiding principles to make the most of this space.

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Belonging in online learning environment – webinar Thursday 1^st Sept 12 noon AEST from ASCILITE TELedvisors Network

If you want a more hands on demonstration of some of these principles (and more), Thursday’s TELedvisors webinar from Nicole Crawford, Beate Muller and Ammar Bahadur Singh (and colleagues) looks like a fantastic place to start. These sessions always feature rich discussions and helpful ideas.

Colin Simpson has worked in education technology, teaching, learning design and academic development in the tertiary sector since 2003 at CIT, ANU, Swinburne and Monash University. He is also one of the leaders of the ASCILITE TELedvisors Network. For more from Colin, follow him on Twitter @gamerlearner

“Study to tackle concussion head on,” James Cook U invites women football players in Townsville to participate, [email protected] is the contact.

Lucy Arthur joins ANU from UTS. She becomes Director of the Centre for Learning and Teaching.

Bill Ashraf is appointed Associate Dean for teaching and learning in Auckland University of Technology’s Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences. He is now an honorary professor at Macquarie U.

Kate Hoy and team move to the Bionics Institute from Monash U and the Epworth Centre. They will work on a new treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease.

2022 Laureate Fellows are, * Timothy Bedding (Uni Sydney) asteroseismology to measure the age of stars * Larissa Behrendt (UTS) “a First Nations sovereign approach to decolonising colonial institutions” * David Bowman (Uni Tasmania) community coexistence with bushfire * Cyrille Boyer (UNSW) “light-driven manufacturing for (re)programmable materials * Anne Castles (Macquarie U) declining literacy among Australian secondary school children * Simon Driver (UWA), “unveiling the mass of the universe” * Joanne Etheridge (Monash U), “reimaging electron microscopy” * Alexander Fornito (Monash U) “maps and models of the human brain” * Andrew Hassell (ANU) theoretical maths to solve “open problems in wave propagation” * Mark Krumholz (ANU) galactic winds: what is their nature and what drives them * Lidia Morawska (QUT) “optimising indoor atmospheres to improve health, wellbeing, and comfort” * Michael Stumpf (Uni Melbourne) mathematical models of cells * Karen Thorpe (Uni Queensland) “time in early education and care for better life opportunity” * Matt Trau (Uni Queensland) “chemical reactions in confined systems controlled by applied electric fields” * Peter Veth (UWA) “new understandings of the 60 000 year custodianship of Australian deserts” * Nicolas Voelcker (Monash U) “wearable and implantable biosensors”