Hello everyone
This is a combined June and July newsletter. Our last communication of this type was in May: Moving towards innovation, and of course we shared the special edition communication WordPress Student Portfolios recently.
In this edition we encourage you to explore and make the most of opportunities available to improve and enhance your teaching, learning and research at UniSQ. The most common reason the TechDem team are told for lack of participation in new digital tools and pedagogies is 'TIME' ⏳.
Let's explore this briefly......
⏳ .... Life is short - we never have enough time
⏳ .... Workloads and responsibilities are not always conducive to innovation
⏳ .... We all have to prioritise what and how we leverage opportunities
⏳ .... Those who explore educational technologies are making the ⏳ (to their advantage)
As we slide down the 2023 hill towards 2024.....and ⏳ becomes even more elusive we encourage you to consider where you will invest ⏳ in preparation for new learning and teaching approaches.
Dr Julie Lindsay
Senior Education Technology Advisor
Digital initiatives - A personal approach
Each semester, a limited number of places are available within the Technology Demonstrators program for those seeking to implement a digital initiative.
Initiatives involve:
- The use of several EdTech tools (one of which should be in pilot or trial mode - click here to find out more about our pilots)
- A relevant and guided pedagogical approach
- Evaluation at the completion of the initiative.
Digital initiatives are supported by LTQPs and are designed to address an opportunity or barrier within your course or student facing platform.
How can YOU take advantage of this opportunity?
Complete this FORM today.
Speak to a LTQP before or after completing the form.
AI Tools for Learning and Teaching
We know there is a lot of talk about AI in education - and we ran a TechDem CoP in Feb focusing on this. Although mindful of the academic integrity issues with some AI tools we want to focus on the positive use of AI in learning and teaching and how it can enhance what you do as an educator - a busy educator.
Recently we have experimented with the video creation tool Synthesia - and we have a license available for you to play with this year (just call out!).
Last week at the Pathways to Innovation SIG Chris Gaviglio (Health and Medical Sciences) shared his use of Nolej to create a range of H5P artefacts.
We want to explore this further and invite you to join the Nolej Pilot starting very soon. Interested in this opportunity?
Online Collaborative Learning SIG - July 2023
This session provided more opportunities to collaborate in real time to design a student-focused assessment task. Here is a blank doc you can use as a template.
The tool Voicethread and how it can be efficiently designed for asynchronous online collaborative student learning was featured. Take the opportunity to contribute to this interactive Voicethread from the session – jump in and share your ideas!
Don’t forget we have a dedicated VoiceThread page full of resources, including recordings of the workshops Lisa Jacka ran for UniSQ recently.
RESOURCES: Session slides; session recording (in Engageli Playback).
Engageli Pilot
Now in its fifth semester and, with software updates based on collective international input, Engageli is a tool that encourages and supports best practice online learning, collaboration, and student empowerment.
Too many features to list here - I am sure you have read about this already! It's not too late to take advantage of this opportunity this year. READ MORE
FeedbackFruits Pilot
Strange name, but excellent for peer review, group member evaluation, comprehension and a lot more. For the pilot we have access to the full 15-item tool suite. Leverage this opportunity to enable your student-student, student-teacher and student-content engagement, interaction and collaboration. READ MORE
ThinkPiece Conversations
A ThinkPiece is a short video created by an individual or group of staff. It is an initiative of Technology Demonstrators.
Why would you bother to create a ThinkPiece?
- Share your research and/or practice
- Focus on innovation in learning and teaching
- Reveal the affordances of educational technologies to empower students
- Align with a conference presentation and promotion
READ MORE - sign up today - this is an opportunity not to be missed!
We want to remind you that Create@UniSQ is now the preferred platform for student online/digital portfolios. Our host, CampusPress, in conjunction with Learning and Teaching Futures EdTech team ensure the process of embedding portfolios into your courses and programs is seamless.
READ more about this on our Create@UniSQ Special Edition newsletter - which includes short video clips from academics sharing how they are using this already. There is also a link to a form to register your interest in joining.
IMPORTANT - ePortfolio (using the Mahara platform) is now decommissioned. Existing users have until the end of 2024 to decide what to do with their portfolio content - one option of course is to move to Create@UniSQ with CampusPress through the Self-Serve option.
EVEN MORE IMPORTANT - If you have any mention of Mahara or the ePortfolio platform in your Studydesk materials, especially assessment items, please make sure this is edited out asap. Reach out to TechDems for help integrating Create@UniSQ portfolios today!
As a further outcome of our recent activity focusing on student portfolios we invite you to listen to the latest recording of Balancing the Shift podcast called 'Portfolios for Learning'.
In Episode 10 Julie Lindsay and Lisa Jacka discuss the effective use of portfolios across a range of disciplines in higher education. They are joined by colleagues reflecting on their implementation of portfolios in Education, Nursing, Business, Careers, RPL and Agriculture.
Join in the conversation on our new Twitter feed – @balancingshift. Access all episodes on our Balancing the Shift website.
TechDems is excited to host TWO workshops in August and September presented by Adrian Stagg (Manager, Open Educational Practices) at UniSQ.
The first workshop is on Thursday August 10, 2-3pm in Engageli:
Expanding the range of digital learning resources for you and your students: OER at UniSQ
This session will provide opportunities to
- explore a range of OER formats for L&T
- provide time for discovery and reflection
- showcase examples of existing practice at UniSQ (especially content co-created by students).
A subsequent session on Tuesday September 12 will support the use, licensing, and attribution of OER at UniSQ.
Are you moving from a Semester to a Trimester calendar?
Are you looking for new ideas and inspiration 'beyond the quiz' to redesign assessment in your course or program?
At this 1.5 hour session we will review common assessments across the university and share ideas for reimagining utilising the affordances of digital technologies.
We will also focus on the elements of Digital storytelling as a creative communication assessment (or other) that aligns with most if not all disciplines.
This takes place October 10, 1-2:30pm - Become a TechDems VIP for an invitation (form below)
The next MS for Teaching SIG is on Tuesday August 15, 2pm in Teams. This event is convened by TechDem Learning and Teaching Quality Partner, Nina Usher.
Come along and share how you are using Teams, OneNote or other MS tools for L&T. Read more and sign up for the SIG on the Microsoft for Teaching website.
The next Student Engagement SIG is on Tuesday August 29, 2pm in Engageli. This event is convened by TechDem Learning and Teaching Quality Partner, Katrina Cutcliffe.
This session turns to recent research on Student Engagement. Three articles have been selected. Find them by clicking here. Katrina has already annotated the readings and supplied a summary of the abstracts below.
Read more and access resources on the Student Engagement SIG website.
Enhancing Education with Microsoft Teams: The Power of Collaborative Learning
A recent Conversation shared by TechDem LTQP Nina Usher that also includes the recording from the MS Teams for Teaching SIG meeting on May 30. Lots to read and think about.
Navigating the Challenge of Employee Engagement in a Remote Global Workforce
"With the shift to remote work, creating and maintaining employee engagement has become more complex. The lack of physical proximity and face-to-face interactions can result in employees feeling disconnected, isolated, and disengaged."
This blog post from Engageli, although biased towards the product, is a conversation starter in terms of what business (and higher education!) should be thinking about when embracing new edtech - why? what? when? who? How? READ MORE
About Technology Demonstrators
Technology Demonstrators (TechDems) is a UniSQ initiative designed to foster educational innovation, through active experimentation with, pilots, evaluation of and research into educational technologies and virtual platforms to continuously improve learning and teaching.
Click on the image below to read more about our team.
Technology Demonstrators
Senior Education Technology Advisor
Learning and Teaching Futures
Email: julie.lindsay@usq.edu.au
Phone: +61 7 46312890