Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas

A recent publication by Di Xu and Shanna Smith Jaggars detailing a study in the United States focused on adaptability to Online Learning. The study examines how well students adapt to the online environment in terms of their ability to persist and earn strong grades in online courses relative to their ability to do so in face-to-face courses.


Access the report here: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/media/k2/attachments/adaptability-to-online-learning.pdf

Technology Outlook for Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018

The Technology Outlook for Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis was recently released, aiming to inform Australian educational leaders about significant developments in technologies supporting teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in tertiary education.

The report looks at trends over three different time spans; one year or less, two to three years and lastly four to five years. Some of the trends covered include Learning Analytics, MOOCs, Badges, 3D Printing, Virtual and Remote Laboratories and Wearable Technologies.

The Top Ten Trends Impacting Technology Decisions as well as the Top Ten Most Significant Challenges are also discussed in the report.

The report can be viewed here with additional information about the Report available on the report's wiki.

Report Citation:

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Freeman, A., Ifenthaler, D., and Vardaxis, N. (2013). Technology Outlook for Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

ascilite live webinar - Increasing awareness of the GPRs

Technology-enhanced Learning and Teaching Report from TashHard

Today Mike, Gordon and I had the opportunity to talk with the ascilite community about the ALTC Good Practice Reports with particular attention on the Technology-enhanced Learning and Teaching Report that we developed together in 2011.

With around 20 ascilite members attending the webinar it provided a good chance to reach a different audience. We discussed the development and value of the report as well as providing an overview of the NATA and its relationship with ascilite.

The report can be downloaded here.

We conducted a few small polls during the webinar with the results listed below. These appear to support the idea that there is still not a great awareness of the GPRs within the sector.

• Have you ever read or engaged with an ALTC Good Practice Report?

To this question we received 6 Yes and 7 No responses.

• Have you read or engaged with the Technology-enhanced Learning and Teaching Report prior to participating in this webinar?

To this question we received 4 Yes and 7 No responses.

There was also a range of different views regarding the number of GP reports developed when asked.

A recording of this webinar will be made available to all ascilite members and the slides can be viewed and downloaded by all through slideshare.

Some points to reflect upon

We met up with Tom (project evaluator) to discuss the development and progress of the NATA. Some of the key points that emerged from that discussion included:

• Turnover of network members/representatives remains a constant challenge in maintaining an effective network.
• There is very little alignment or commonality of interest between what the PENS and NATA are doing; resulting in little motivation to engage with each other.
• The NATA may achieve the project outcomes/deliverables but at the same time fail to deliver a sustainable network. These are two completely different outcomes which we need to consider. Moreover, if we can’t make it sustainable why is that?
• Evaluation approach – Phase 1 completed, Phase 2 is being done through the 6-weekly meetings and Phase 3 will involve a more formal interview-based approach.

Promoting the ALTC Good Practice Reports

As part of the NATA objectives, we are currently working on a strategy to promote the series of Good Practice Reports commissioned by the ALTC to provide a legacy of the project they funded. These reports provide a great deal of valuable information for the sector and can be found at the OLT website. The topics of these completed reports include:

• Assessment of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students (2011)
• Assuring graduate outcomes (2011)
• Blended learning (2011)
• Curriculum renewal (2011)
• Learning and teaching across cultures (2011)
• Revitalising the academic workforce (2012)
• Supporting students’ transition into higher education (2011)
• Technology enhanced learning and teaching (2011)
• Work integrated learning (2011)

At present we are working with the Good Practice Report authors to develop asynchronous resources that will highlight the value of these reports, including how they may be effectively used by practitioners as well as flagging key projects. These resources will take the form of a short 3-5 minute clip (audio over slides) and will be housed both on the OLT website and the NATA blog. We hope to have these resources available to the sector later in 2013.

NATA Research Ethics Approved

Just letting everyone know that the ethics application submitted to USQ titled 'An investigation into network leadership within established Australasian tertiary education associations' has been accepted by the Human Research Ethics Committee.

The Research Aims:

To develop expand understandings in order to:

• Improve the effectiveness of communication and engagement with NATA members at large
• Enable and support network leaders of collaborative partners to encourage collaboration and increase membership engagement
• Review the utilisation of technologies to support best practice in network engagement
• Foster, encourage and support further network-based collaborative initiatives

Research Questions:

1. What network leadership strategies support good practice in leading networks to foster engagement of members in established Australasian Tertiary Education Associations? 
2. What communication strategies, technologies, and approaches support good practice to foster engagement of members in established Australasian Tertiary Education Associations? 
3. What common ground exists between organisations that could provide a basis for collaboration into the future?

Intended Outcomes:

1. Improved understanding of network leadership and network leadership strategies
2. Improved understandings of the types and efficacy of existing communication strategies that are currently in use within HE networks
3. Improved understanding of cross-partner synergies and rationale for continued collaboration
4. Enhanced collaboration and communication within and between participating associations