Category Archives: Research

Research and engagement with literature

Keeping the learner front and centre

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Research collaboration between the University of Auckland, Waikato University, Canterbury University, Auckland University of Technology and Massey University (Ethics reference: FEDU036/20)

Whether we like it or not, universities are “going online” in response to COVID-19. Those of us working in the area of educational technologies might have been hoping for such a shift in contemporary higher education but no one anticipated such unprecedented change in such a short time. Organisations like EDUCAUSE emphasize the difference between carefully planned online learning experiences and courses offered online in response to a crisis or disaster (Hodges et al 2020). Students are facing multiple demands (many of which will persist) in the current context – e.g. access, financial, experience and orientation to learning online, motivation and diminished interaction with peers.
Emergent literature tends to be written from a teacher/lecturer point of view, focusing on how to make a rapid shift to online learning, and how to teach online. Missing from this literature is nuanced consideration of student perspectives. How teachers teach online, and how students experience and learn online can be poles apart (Forbes & Gedera, 2019), necessitating explicit attention to how students experience online teaching and learning. In particular, online students may engage in different ways (Brown et al, 2019).
As a team of educators interested in digital literacy and inclusive learning, we have embarked on a research project to learn from NZ university students’ perspectives and experiences of online learning during covid19. This project will fill the gap in current literature, emerging from US and the UK.

References

Brown, C., Davis, N., Eulatth-Vidal, W. (2019). Student engagement in flexible and distance learning in Aotearoa New Zealand. In A. Kamp (Ed). Education Studies in Aotearoa: Key disciplines and emerging directions. NZCER.
Forbes, D. L., & Gedera, D. S. P. (2019). From confounded to common ground: misunderstandings between tertiary teachers and students in online discussions. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 35(4), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.3595
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T & Bond, A. (2020) The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. Educause Review https://tinyurl.com/rekxcrq


Covid19, networks and capacity to teach with tech

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We have all been compelled to consider remote learning as a legitimate alternative to on-campus teaching. For the advocates of technology integrated learning (fully online or blended) – who have chipped away at good designs for learning with educational technologies – it was a triumph and a long time coming. Educators who were yet to be convinced about the possibilities of online or digital learning, quickly adopted remote learning opportunities out of necessity. How did we achieve such a feat? Be it new ways of delivering or facilitating learning, we all had to build our capacity to do so in a short period of time. Welcome the #pivotonline movement.

#pivotonline resources:
Twitter; #pivotonline
AACE: Stories from the field ebook
Linkedin group: Moving HE teaching online
Online Learning Consortium: Faculty Playbook
Coursera: Learning to teach online
OpenLearn: Take your teaching online
Youtube: Open teach
University of Auckland: Remote learning
Googledoc: Hybrid learning; Higher Ed Guidance
Public network: Keep teaching
Blog: Edvisor community
Global support group: #OER4Covid
Asian Journal of Distance Education: Diverse perspectives
EDUCAUSE: Teaching continuity

#Pivotonline is my doctoral research playing out in real-time, educators networking to build their capacity for teaching with technologies. If we consider a platform like Twitter, we can see how these networks form and flourish – with short and long term connections. The image here is of the publicly available Tweets using pivotonline hashtag. What do these connections mean and what value do they hold for the educators involved? What benefits and challenges did these new ways of learning present for our students?

Digital citizenship

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Thinking about Online identity, Professional social networks, Research profiles or your institutional policy on social media?

The constitution of citizenship is up for debate in this era of rapid technological change. Technology can equally well facilitate good or bad citizenship, and there are many reasons to argue that it does not create a neutral or democratic environment. Rules of social engagement, knowledge creation and ownership are shifting. One argument is that most academics come from a generation referred to as ‘digital immigrants’ and are expected to teach ‘digital natives’, and so it would be likely for these natives to get restless – frustrated by their teachers’ and institutions’ misuse or lack of use of the social networking tools and concepts that are everyday features of their lives. But is this the case? Researchers like Bennett & Maton (2010) have debunked the idea of digital natives/immigrants a decade ago. So what constitutes ‘good citizenship’ in this environment? Any discussion of digital citizenship should focus on two broad questions:

How is Internet technology fuelling educational and social change, and in what ways does this challenge and facilitate concepts of citizenship in the current context?
How should teachers and institutions respond to the ‘digital’ demands?

Defining digital citizenship
An ability to practice and advocate online behavior that demonstrates legal, ethical, safe, and responsible uses of information and communication technologies (Greenhow & Ribble, 2009, p. 125).
Digital citizenship represents capacity, belonging, and the potential for political and economic engagement in society in the information age. Digital citizens practice conscientious use of technology, demonstrate responsible use of information, and maintain a positive attitude to learning with technology. (Alam & McLoughlin, 2010, p14)

Developing digital citizenship
Some of the issues that arise are: digital persona (professional and personal), privacy, participation (in politics and society) and liberation/democracy (massification of education). How do we manage our identity as educators in the age of open and massive education and how do we define the rules of engagement with digital media? Netiquette is one way of building awareness of the code of conduct online but does digital citizenship support academic freedom? One thing we tend to forget is that we don’t need to share everything, we have control over the amount and type of information we share. The interaction equivalency theorem shows what the reality of educational communication and interaction is in today’s day and age. Alam & McLoughlin discussed how educators are grasping the concept of digital citizenship in formal courses a decade ago.

ITEL: inclusive technology enhanced learning

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Related project: Technology for equitable learning opportunities and design
(Learning Enhancement Grant 2019-2020)

Top 10 issues in higher education in 2019 (EDUCAUSE)

What can technology do to create barriers to learning? Seems like plenty… EDUCAUSE in its 2019 elearning initiative, identified accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a key teaching and learning issue. Our presentation (2019 Scholarship of Technology Enhanced Learning conference) on the core consideration for inclusivity in design – audience, tools, content and legislation – opened up some interesting discussions. Many at times we make assumptions about our learners and their digital skills; accessibility and usability of tools; content creation quailty (re-packaging rather than re-purposing) and the law (accessibility standards). How can we ensure that our learning designs and content facilitation through technology offers equitable learning experiences? 

What do our learners find useful?

Even though students in Australia and New Zealand report high levels of digital activity than UK students, they agree that technology can have negative impacts on their studies. Unless designed well and integrated into the core learning outcomes, these learners rather not have digital technologies used in their courses (Beetham, Newman & Knight, 2019).

What tools are useful?

The use of digital technologies don’t always lead to creative, collaborative, participatory and hyper-connected practices. Henderson, Selwyn and Aston (2017) indicate that rather these are the activities, practices and processes that students feel compelled to undertake in order to ‘do’ university.

...many of the reportedly ‘educational’ benefits of digital technology…are more accurately described as concerned with the ‘logistics’ of university study rather than matters related directly to ‘learning’ per se.

Henderson, Selwyn & Aston (2017)

Bond, Marín, Dolch, et al. (2018) reported differences in how learners and teachers perceive the usefulness of tools such as lecture recordings, the learning management system (LMS) and reference management systems. For example, close to a quarter of all teachers they researched, thought lecture recordings were not useful but close to 50% of the students found them useful.

Comparison of teaching and learning tools (Bond, Marín, Dolch, et al. (2018)

What guidelines apply for accessible and intuitive content development?

Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1/W3C)
European Union accessibility act
Web accessibility guidelines (Australia)
Proposed changes to web standards (New Zealand)

The RIGHT to write

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Reflecting on my experience in ACADPRAC 704: Research Writing – a course which is part of my PGCert Academic Practice journey.

Introduction
Most important concerns of my early career publishing are the confidence to express my ‘voice’ and develop a preferred style.  Part of the issue is having the ability to identify and capitalise on the existing strengths of my writing. The journey in ACADPRAC 704 became the rite of passage into writing for me. Taking a bullet train to arrive at the destination much quicker than what the usual journey would have taken. As a budding writer, I had three objectives:
To make use of the increased awareness of research writing – politics, pleasure and style – and develop as a research writer.
To develop a template for my style and a psychological approach to publication that will boost my confidence and success in publishing.
To join a community of practice (CoP) within 704 and/or the Centre for Learning and Research in Higher Education (CLeaR) to become more disciplined and productive in writing through support, advice and feedback.

Aligning my strategy (RIGHT) to the foundations (BASE) of writing. Key: B-behavioural, A-artisanal, S-social, E-emotional
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