“The cyborg of the future looks just like you,” headline on a UNSW story, Friday. If it looks like CMM investors should ask for their money back.

In Features this morning

Jay Cohen (La Trobe U) on using video in on-line learning. “I suspect on-line students, who in all the instances that I am aware of, pay the same price for the on-line version of the subject as those attending the on-campus occurrence, would prefer not to be subjected to “second hand” re-used, rarely captioned or transcribed poor-quality classroom-based recorded video,” he writes. Its Commissioning Editor Sally Kift’s new selection for her celebrated series, Needed now in learning and teaching.

plus Merlin Crossley (UNSW) on the power of learning locally. “The real interactions students have with their teachers and with each other will sit within their memories and help shape their identities.”

with Peter Woelert (Uni Melbourne) on administration burdens in universities – the where, why and what can be done. “What may look like increased administrative efficiency if one looks from the top-down may actually look considerably less so if one looks from the bottom-up,” he writes.

And in Expert Opinion

Brett Mason talks about his new book on the achievements of Florey and Oliphant (episode 17 HERE)

 

Former NTEU president to lead SA TAFE review

For a start, newly re-elected national president Alison Barnes was invited to the National Skills Summit – not bad at all for a union with 26 500 members, (the school based Australian Education Union has 185 000).

The NTEU is also on a working group appointed by Education Minister Jason Clare to advise on extending post study work rights for international students with in-demand skills.

And now Dr Barnes’ predecessor, the union’s immediate past president Jeannie Rea (Victoria U)  is commissioned by the SA Government to review the state’s TAFE system.

The Employment White Paper consultation commences, with Treasury accepting submissions

After the Jobs and Skills Summit and the Senate committee inquiry into legislation for the J&S agency the HE community can’t have much still unsaid to say.

Which means they will need to say everything again. With signs in the policy skies that the government’s focus is TAFE (it’s Labor-speak for “training”) HE lobbies will surely take every opportunity to make their case.

Submissions are due November 30.

The chancellors’ council has a voluntary remuneration code

The University Chancellors Council’s conference on university governance is on next week, including a session on “emerging governance changes.”

Which might be the place for an update on the VC and Senior Staff Remuneration Code. The council approved it last year, to provide, “government and society assurance on appropriate, transparent and competitive remuneration of VC and senior university staff.”

“It is recognised that transparency is an important part of good practice remuneration ensuring that decision bodies, processes and outcomes are openly explained and presented to all stakeholders,” the code states.

In announcing the code last year the UCC stated, “it will use an annual benchmarking review to compare the spread of remuneration across the sector. UCC will consider other statements of intent or principle such as the relativity between the median salary for a university and that of its vice chancellor and senior staff.”

 

Andrew Wilkie wants an independent inquiry into the university’s move to the CBD

The member for the federal seat of Clark, which includes the university and Hobart city, has reversed his original position and now says he will vote against the relocation in the  non-binding vote, held in conjunction with the Hobart local government election, this month. And in The Mercury newspaper he calls for the project to “pause” and for, “a commission of inquiry into it.”

The move is fiercely opposed by a campaign that wants U Tas to stay in Sandy Bay, rather than the site there being developed for housing.

There is already a Legislative Council inquiry into the governance of the university.

Should online learning have its own learning theories? from Tim Fawns

A slightly philosophical start to the CMM week with this question from Edinburgh Uni digital education expert Tim Fawns, shared on Twitter last Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, it sparked wide ranging discussion about whether the modality or pedagogy matters more and how theory is currently used to support and enhance learning and teaching. Whatever you think, your position is likely to have been represented in this discussion.

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Creating emotional engagement in online learning from Educause

The emotional side of learners’ time in education aren’t always at the front of mind of educators but research indicates strong ties between emotional experiences and the formation of memories. Melissa Fanshawe and colleagues built on the work of Redmond et al in online student engagement in this valuable project by exploring the emotional aspects of connectedness to their course. They offer some valuable practical advice for communicating more effectively with students.

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Challenging Cheating symposium keynote – Weds 12^th Oct 10am AEDT from CRADLE

Award winning scholar on academic integrity Dr Sarah Eaton kicks off CRADLE’s 2022 international research symposium with a keynote next week about academic integrity as a transdisciplinary field of research, policy and practice in Higher Education. As a hot topic in the sector, ranging across contract cheating, AI, research integrity, publication ethics and assessment, there is much to discuss and this looks likely to be a popular event.

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Infusing educational technologies in the heart of the university from BJET

Given the all-pervasive nature of education technologies in Higher Education, it would seem that understanding, describing and improving the ways in which they are implemented institutionally should be a key focus of ed tech publications. Yet much of it relates more to localised interventions or high-level philosophy divorced from operational reality. This valuable systematic literature review from Bronwen Deacon and colleagues explores key organisational factors that shape successful and persistent education technology implementations, including leadership and strategy, infrastructure and resources and recognition and motivation.

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Wordcloud of names of the authors of the published articles in top-5 journals between 2005 and 2020 from Twitter

While it is unclear which “top-five” journals are used in this wordcloud of author first names, the image makes a powerful point about academic publishing that many commenters nonetheless go out of their way to miss or obfuscate. This is a fantastic exemplar of a simple data tool from David Ubilava.

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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

 

Jessica Brinsdon joins the National Tertiary Education Union as comms manager.

David Castle is appointed professor of psychiatry at the newly announce Centre for Mental Health Service Innovation in Tasmania. It’s a partnership between the state government and Uni Tas. He joins from the University of Toronto.

Eucalypts Australia announces the 2023 Dahl Fellowships, for “a project related to eucalypts that is not readily fundable elsewhere.” Winners are palaeocologist and artist Elizabeth Edmonds, Alyssa Martino (Uni Sydney PhD researcher on Myrtle rust resistance) and Brett Mifsud (Victorian school teacher) who will record a survey of Tasmania’s giant eucalypts.

Flora Salim (UNSW) is announced chief investigator at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society.

Jo White starts next month as director of Canberra’s science museum, Questacon. She will move from the Royal Botanical Garden, in Sydney.