The following are highlights from our 3rd  &  10th  October Current Awareness alerts and are selected from the various categories on which we source the latest information and resources. 

 

Distance Education 

Newer Theories for Digital Learning Spaces 

A research article by Stephen Downes which firstly outlines the traditional conception of the requirements for a “learning theory,” and then traces the sources for this dissatisfaction in traditional theories such as behaviourism and cognitivism and describes some theoretical attempts to address them. It identifies a range of emerging theories, including connectivist pedagogy, personal learning environments, and open educational practices and concludes that in the light of this new work, a reconceptualization of theory may be required. 

 

Education: South Africa 

Massive curriculum shift for schools in South Africa, including new subjects 

This news articles reports on the  Department of Basic Education's recent announcement  regarding the introduction of approximately  38 new subjects to schools in the next few years, targeting learners in grades 10 to 12 as part of its new ‘three stream’ curriculum. A list of some of the occupation and vocational subjects are included in the article. 

 

Nelson Mandela Legacy Lecture 2022: Mandela, Education and the Indignity of these times. 

A video recording of the  lecture, by Prof Salim Vally, which "critically engages with Mandela’s celebrated statement that “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Without diminishing the importance of education, the lecture argues that it is but one strand (albeit a crucial one) in the tapestry of economic, political, social and ecological policies and practices. Education itself is shaped by the economic and social structures of society and the agency of social forces that constitute racialised, classed and gendered lives. In this crucible, education can reproduce extant social relations and inequality or it can transform them." 

 

Open Education and Open Educational Resources 

Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE) – An Equity View 

A journal article by Laura Czerniewicz & Lucila Carvalho which looks at the reciprocal impact of various co-existing trends on the education sector that include the changing forms of teaching and learning provision, issues related to the advent of a post-digital society and education, the datafication of education, inequality in society at large, and digital inequities. The authors contend that it is at intersection of these nested relationships that equity issues in ODDE become apparent and through the use of  two frameworks. 

 

Teaching and Learning 

ABC Learning Design 

ABC Learning Design is a high-energy, hands-on curriculum development workshop based on on the pedagogic theory of Professor Diana Laurillard’s Conversational Framework. In just 90 minutes teaching teams work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’. The storyboard is made up of pre-printed cards representing the type and sequence of learning activities (both online and offline) required to meet the module or programme learning outcomes. 

 

Entangled Pedagogy 

A blog post which takes issue with the commonly held refrain about ‘Pedagogy Before Technology’ and suggest  it ''is a well-intentioned, yet naive, perspective." It draws on the paper called "An Entangled Pedagogy: Looking Beyond the Pedagogy—Technology Dichotomy"