Saide Current Awareness
09 October 2023

 

Distance Education

• Fall-Enrollment Trends in Distance Education: a Snapshot Source: The Chronicle How did distance education change at colleges from 2019 to 2021? The U.S. Department of Education defines distance ed as “education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor.” Those technoloiges support “regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously.” 
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• 2021-22 IPEDS Data: Profile of Late-Pandemic 12-Month Enrollments Source:On Ed Tech A blog post on the National Center for Education Statistic’s IPEDS recent data on distance education (i.e., online education) in the US . It provides significant data  contesting the notion of how  'master’s level online programs are the sweet spot for the Online Program Management (OPM) market, and more broadly for institutions using revenue as a primary driver for online expansion," by showing that  the number of undergraduate fully-online students is far larger than for graduate students. Graduate students are more likely to take exclusively online courses compared to undergraduate (44% vs. 31%, respectively) and pay higher tuition, but there are far fewer fully-online graduate students compared to undergraduate (1.8 m vs. 6.3 m).
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• What does presence mean in distance learning? Source: LinkedIn A blog post by an instructional designer  which unpacks the three presences needed for effective engagement in online courses.

 

 Education: South Africa 

• Preparing for the classroom of the future in South Africa Source: Zawya Oxford University Press recently held four digital launch events to engage schools with their OUPSA digital product offering and establish OUPSA as a thought leader in education technology and the future of learning. The programme of events was to engage with educators and government officials, and to showcase their developments in digital.Over 400 teachers, principals, ICT specialists and government officials attended these events that were held in the four key provinces
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• We can only fix youth unemployment if we correct our broken education system Source: Daily Maverick Half of South African youths are jobless because schools and universities do not equip them with the appropriate knowledge and skills for the world of work.
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• Improving Access to Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Source: Borgen A new company called Instill Education has recently created a number of programs aimed at addressing the lack of access to education in sub-Saharan Africa. The company works across a number of countries to both offer fast and affordable accreditation programs for prospective teachers and helps train existing teachers who either do not have existing teaching qualifications or who do not have access to professional development programs that ensure the quality of their teaching stays high.
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• Empowering South African Learners: The Journey of Teaching the Coding and Robotics Curriculum Source: ITNewsAfrica In our ever-changing technological world, the Coding and Robotics curriculum plays a vital role in exposing our learners to new technologies within the schooling environment and building a foundation of knowledge. Released by the Department of Basic Education, this curriculum aims to guide and prepare learners to solve problems, think critically, work collaboratively and creatively, and function in a digital information-driven world. 

 

Language, Literacies and Research Writing

• History teaching in South Africa could be vastly improved – if language skills were added to the mix Source: The Conversation In recent years there’s been growing recognition among education experts that integrating content and language learning is key to promoting comprehensive academic achievement. This is particularly relevant in multilingual education systems where English serves as the primary medium of instruction.

 

Open Education and Open Educational Resources

• UC Clermont professor writes open-access textbook to promote affordability - Amanda Chalivoux, University of Cincinnati Source: Inside Higher Education Inside Higher Ed recently spoke to UC Clermont accounting Professor Patty Goedl about an interactive accounting resource she created that has saved students more than $100,000 so far. In 2020, Goedl watched the average cost of a digital accounting textbook soar from approximately $30 per student to more than $200. Students were struggling to afford the resource they needed to succeed in class. At first, Goedl negotiated with the publisher to decrease the cost of the textbook; but soon, the price rose again. So, she created her own.

 

Post Schooling

• Book Review | 'Statues and Storms' by Max Price, Reflects on the future of SA Higher education Source:SABCNEWS Youtube Max Price is the former vice- chancellor and former principal at the University of Cape Town.and has a book out called Statues and Storms that details a transformative era in South African Higher education. The book sheds light on the complexities, challenges, and triumphs encountered while reshaping one of South Africa's leading universities.It is a thought-provoking read that invites reflection on the future of education and the power of transformative leadership. 
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• Strengthening leadership capacity will drive vital change in HE Source: University World News The need to strengthen the capacity of leaders in higher education so that they can drive much-needed change in the sector was high on the agenda at a three-day workshop of Higher Education Reform Experts South Africa (HERESA) held in Johannesburg from 2-4 October.
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• Transdisciplinary entrepreneurial ecosystems can support SDGs Source: University World News The role of universities has continuously evolved in response to stimuli such as technological advancements, industrial needs and economic conditions. As a result, the function of a university may now be crystallised as creating new knowledge through research, distributing established knowledge through teaching and learning, and, more recently, including society in university activities.
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• Universities generate US$26 billion for economy – Study Source: University World News South Africa’s 26 public universities contributed significantly to the economy – about ZAR500 billion (US$26 billion) – in 2018, a pair of academics have argued, writes Munyaradzi Makoni for Research Professional News.
  This makes the sector as profitable as the gold mining or the beverages and tobacco industry, they write in the South African Journal of Science September-October issue.
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• Inequalities in higher education: We are moving too slowly Source: The Chronicle Last month’s United Nations report on Transforming Education, which highlighted the lack of progress towards SDG 4, the Sustainable Development Goal associated with access to education, should come as no surprise where the access to tertiary education component of this goal is concerned.
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• The Public Is Giving Up on Higher Ed Source: The Chronicle It’s common knowledge that Americans are losing confidence in higher education. Even so, the numbers that Gallup reported this summer were sobering. Only 36 percent of Americans, Gallup found, have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher ed. That’s down from 57 percent in 2015 — a drop of more than 20 percentage points in just eight years.

 

Skills and Employment 

• NRF, EM Education Trust announce partnership to advance STEM postgraduate skills further Source: Engineering News The National Research Foundation (NRF) and Energy Mobility Education Trust (EM Education Trust) have partnered to advance skills development and training of postgraduate students.
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• 90% of students say they want to leave to find jobs abroad Source: University World News Crime and corruption, lack of job opportunities, failing infrastructure and the rising cost of living in South Africa have driven the desire of 90% of university students to seek employment opportunities abroad, reports BusinessTech. This is according to the 2022-23 Student Confidence Index conducted by the Professional Provident Society (PPS) for Professionals, which focused on the major concerns of university students about life after graduation and what that would mean for their career prospects. 
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• Teaching: An indispensable profession, even in the face of AI's education advancements Source: IOL As South Africa grapples with a growing teacher shortage and the ever-increasing threat of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, STADIO School of Education reiterates the enduring significance of teaching as more than just a career but a vital element in a child's educational journey.

 

Teaching and Learning- Local and Global

• School to teach skills in sustainable energy regulation 
  Source: University World News A meeting of African energy and transport ministers has endorsed the African School of Regulation (ASR) which has since received a US$1 million seed grant from the Rockefeller Foundation The school, which is said to be a hub of excellence for learning practical skills and conducting applied research in the transition to sustainable energy on the continent, will be incubated by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in Harare, Zimbabwe.
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• Yes, the original Barbie is a stereotype — but children also create their own ‘Barbie worlds’ Source: The Conversation With the blockbuster success of the Barbie movie and the related expansion of Barbie branding and merchandising, educators and parents may find themselves wondering about Barbie’s original purpose: as a child’s toy. Barbie has become an icon since her introduction in 1959. On the positive side, dolls like Barbie can serve as a canvas for imaginative storytelling and role-playing. 
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• Teachers can nurture students who care about the world: four approaches that would help them Source: The Conversation Teachers wear many hats. They are expected to be subject matter experts, leaders, administrators, managers, lifelong learners – and not just in the classroom, but in their wider communities. It is crucial to cultivate teachers who are socially aware and critical, especially in today’s unequal society. This helps them to successfully prepare their learners to confront, for instance, excessive consumption, waste, and a society that prioritises material items over the preservation of natural resources.
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• AI in the Classroom Is a Problem. Professors Are the Solution. Source: The Chronicle We must embrace attention to writing in all fields and at all levels, not just in first-year composition courses.
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• Types of Oral Assessments By Eliana Elkhoury, PhD Athabasca University

 

Technology Enhanced Learning

• AI Literacy Competency Framework for Educators* Source: Paradox Learning 'Dive deep into 7 key topic areas spanning 50 competencies designed for educators and learning professionals striving to embrace the AI revolution in their teaching, learning, and development endeavors.  The framework encompasses three distinct levels:
   Introductory: Lay the groundwork with foundational understanding; Intermediate: Delve deeper, bridging the gap between recognition and conceptualization and  Advanced: Become a pioneer by contributing actively and leading the AI education frontier. A Creative Commons resource. .
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• A new research agenda for African generative AI Source: Nature.com The rise of generative AI requires a research agenda grounded in the African context to determine locally relevant strategies for its development and use. With a critical mass of evidence on the risks and benefits that generative AI poses to African societies, the scaled use of this new technology might help to reduce rising global inequities.
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• Critical AI Source: Duke U Press The first issue of this publication. The community of practice Critical AI addresses hopes to bring critical thinking of the kind that interpretive disciplines foster into dialogue with work by technologists and others who share the understanding of interdisciplinary research as a powerful tool for building accountable technology in the public interest. Critical AI studies aims to shape and activate conversations in academia, industry, policymaking, media, and the public at large. 
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• Artificial Intelligence and Learning Futures: Critical Narratives of Technology and Imagination in Higher Education Source:Proquest A review of the book by Stefan Popenici, Academic Lead for Quality Initiatives in Education Strategy at Charles Darwin University, Australia. Defined by the author, its purpose is “to explore some of the key areas that were ignored or remain superficially investigated in the enthusiasm for a technological revolution” (Popenici, 2022, p. 1). Rather than investigating the technical aspects of machine learning, the book explores various characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI) and their potential to affect educational technology (edtech) as well as student learning outcomes.

 

 

• Fully Online Distance Education Symposium 19-20 October 2023
• Four special issues Call for Papers on Generative AI in Education 
• Open call for Distance Education themed issue proposals (2024)