It is wonderful to see that research into teaching and learning is being recognised as a "serious area of research int its own right" Upgrade for teaching research by: Andrew Trounson From: The Australian November 07, 2012 The morphing of the defunct Australian Learning and Teaching Council into a federal government office may prove a blessing in disguise for [...]
Today I wanted to reflect on some of the challenges we face in higher education in relation to using technologies for learning and teaching. I believe the three main challenges centre on digital literacies, affordances and support. I think we would all agree that literacy is no longer the ability to read and write but [...]
After completing the beautiful two-hour drive from Wellington to Palmerston North I completed two invited presentations at Massey University on the 16th and 17th April. Before completing the first presentation I had a tour of the campus which identified some of the learning spaces the University was considering to redesign. The presentation involved around 35 attendees [...]
As a first time attendee at the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) bi-annual conference I was impressed by the level of dialogue and enjoyed gaining an insight into the New Zealand Context. Mark Brown's article in The Dominion Post on April 11 was often referenced throughout the conference in both the first keynote by [...]
There's something unsettling, uncomfortable and final about selling the family house, the only stable home I have known, where my late parents lived most of their lives. Having lived in eighteen different houses across three countries, one stable house has meaning - significant meaning! It's just a house.... but the walls hold and embrace stories [...]
We begin naked and exposed to the eyes, until we layer a veneer over the skin, each layer on top of each other. Both have many layers upon their skin, some by choice, some by design, some to guard and some that unexpectedly adhere and remain and are difficult to shake. The veneers have occurred [...]
Principle Questions Comfort: a space which creates a physical and mental sense of ease and well-being. ·     How comfortable do you feel in this learning space? ·     Do aspects of the learning space distract you from learning? ·     What area in the learning space do you spend most of your time and why? ·     Is [...]
The Design for New Generation Learning Spaces Conference held in Melbourne on the 28th and 29th March turned out to be a valuable professional exchange of ideas on learning spaces. The mix of formal presentations and panel sessions enabled good interaction from the audience. I had a multi- faceted role at the conference (as Chair) that involved [...]
I recently attended the E-Learning Summit in Sydney in February and presented on some of our initiatives within the Flexible Learning Institute in relation to designing at the course/degree level as opposed to the single subject level. In my view, to make progress in redesigning curriculum the 'granularity' we choose to focus on needs to [...]
The Student Assessment in Distance Learning and e-Learning Symposium was held in Chiba, Japan and was hosted by the Center of ICT and Distance Education, The Open University of Japan On February 16, 2012. Kumiko Aoki chaired the symposium which included guest speakers from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Korea and Japan. It also included [...]
