Proceedings now available!
With just under two weeks to go til ASCILITE 2017, we're excited to announce that the conference proceedings are now available.
You can choose what you want to download:
- Download the individual papers you'd like to read by navigating to each full or concise paper's page. Head to the conference program page and navigate to the papers you're interested in.
- Download the whole proceedings [PDF].
The papers will also be available to delegates via the conference app, which will go live later this week.
Happy reading!
Reflecting on the past and imagining the future of edtech in Australian higher education
One of the most rewarding aspects of going to the ASCILITE conferences is catching up with old friends, learning something new and discussing the ins and outs of higher education and educational technology’s role within that landscape. One of the people I most enjoy catching up with is Professor Barney Dalgarno. Barney has a thorough knowledge of the space and is always ready with an anecdote, news of a new tool, a wise word for all occasions, all punctuated by a joke and a laugh.
I’ve known Barney almost as long as I’ve been an ASCILITE member. These days, Barney is the Director of Learning Online and overseeing a reimagining of CSU'ss T&L focus. He comes to this from being Co-director at u!magine, a think tank for educational innovation. And one thing I am certain of, is that Barney is an innovator.
Barney is always to be found at the bleeding edge of productive edtech adoption. He was right there pushing the boundaries of what was possible using virtual worlds. He crafted a virtual chemistry laboratory about the time I was wearing my NOOB threads in Second Life. An impressive list of category 1 grants attests to the fact that way more people than me think that Barney is one of this country’s leading researchers.
For Barney, it’s not about what’s new and flashy but how that bit of bling can be effectively leveraged for teaching and learning. His research can be broadly grouped under three themes:
- the relationship between learning technology and learning theory
- learning in polysynchronous learning environments, including 3D virtual environments
- university teacher and student attitudes towards and use of learning technologies.
Barney has been a long-time supporter of ASCILITE. He was the lead editor of the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology from 2012 until 2014. His outstanding contribution to both ASCILITE and the sector was recognised by him receiving a 2013 ASCILITE Fellow Award. We all raised a glass to Barney’s achievement in Sydney. Very well deserved.
We are so excited to have Barney with us for ASCILITE2017 in Toowoomba! We’re working him hard! He’ll be the facilitator for our exploratory session, Privacy, trust, student data, and the university happening Tuesday 5 December from 1.30pm.
But I’m also really excited that Barney will be delivering the closing plenary for the conference, reflecting on where we are and imagining what it might be like when we all gather at Deakin University for ASCILITE 2018.
The presentation titled Reflecting on the past and imagining the future looks backwards and forwards, reflecting on how educational technology was and will be leveraged within Australian higher education. Are we heading towards a utopian or a dystopian future? What have we learned, if anything, from the experiments of the past? One thing is for certain: We will be challenged, confounded, informed and entertained. No early flight is worth missing this.
5 reasons you need to attend ASCILITE 2017
With only four weeks to go til ASCILITE 2017 at The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, we thought it was a good time to share some of the highlights of the conference. Here are five reasons you need to join us in Toowoomba from 4 til 6 December.
1. Three world-class keynotes
We have three diverse keynotes lined up to inspire, energise and challenge delegates.
Professor James Arvanitakis will kick off the conference with a keynote titled From blended learning to analytics: Why we keep getting IT wrong? James is the Dean of the Graduate Research School at Western Sydney University. He is internationally recognised for his innovative teaching style and has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards and fellowships. James will challenge us to think about how we can make best use of technology, rather than being held hostage by it.
Marita Cheng, 2012 Young Australian of the Year, technology entrepreneur, women in technology advocate, and Robogals founder will present a keynote titled Robotics in the future of work. Marita Cheng will take us through the robots of tomorrow and how AI will shape our future in ways greater than we can imagine today.
We'll also be joined by Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society Fellow Amber Case. Amber is the author of Calm Technology, Design for the Next Generation of Devices. Her TED talk, “We are all cyborgs now”, has been viewed over a million times. Our world is made of information that competes for our attention, and Amber's keynote Internet of Things, technology and our future will explore the implications for individuals, learning, higher education, and community engagement.
Learn more about our keynotes.
2. One provocative exploratory panel
Our exploratory panel, Privacy, trust, student data, and the university, seeks to explore emerging ethical, legal, educational, and technological issues surrounding the collection and use of student data by universities, and the impact these strategies have on student trust and privacy. Join Barney Dalgarno, Jasmine Thomas, Kirsty Kitto, Kate Young and Allan Christie to tease out the issues around this important topic. This panel will be live streamed and freely accessible to all in the higher education community. All the details.
3. Don't spectate - participate!
ASCILITE 2017 is not all about listening to papers! Beat the after lunch slump with interactive and engaging sessions, including experimental sessions, a debate, lightning talks, and open fishbowls. Check out the full program.
In addition to our more participatory sessions, we will be bringing you a range of activities to get you involved in the conference. Stay tuned!
4. Three great post-conference workshops
This year, we'll have three post-conference workshops running on Thursday 7 December. These are open to delegates (separate registration required) and non delegates. Here's what's on the agenda:
Workshop 1: Pedagogy GO with location-based mobile learning games
Facilitator: Roger Edmonds
Time: 10am – 1pm
Fee: $100 (includes light lunch)
Workshop 2: Transforming exams – hands on with the technology
Facilitators: Mathew Hillier, Andrew Fluck, Martin Coleman
Time: 10am – 1.30pm
Fee: Free – sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training funded project Transforming Exams (Grant ID 15-4747). Includes light lunch.
Workshop 3: Mobile virtual reality
Facilitators: Thomas Cochrane, David Sinfield
Time: 10am – 4pm
Fee: $150 (includes light lunch)
All the details about the post-conference workshops.
5. Opportunities to connect
We've put together a diverse social program to give you plenty of opportunities to connect with your colleagues and experience the best Toowoomba has to offer. The highlight of the social program will be the conference dinner. With a theme of Open, you're invited to Remix, Reuse or Repurpose your outfit. Join us at Picnic Point for great food, good company, and spectacular views of the Lockyer Valley. We'll be releasing details about the welcome reception, dine around and closing reception soon.
What are you waiting for?
Register now and join us in Toowoomba, 4-6 December!
Chair a session at ASCILITE 2017!
We thought we'd open up session chairing opportunities for this year's conference and invite all delegates to express interest in chairing a session of either concise or full papers.
This is a great opportunity to become involved in the running of the conference. Session chairs gain visibility for themselves and their institutions. It is a way to give back to your professional community, to meet speakers, and to learn about new and emerging work.
There are no special requirements to be a Session Chair at ASCILITE 2017. The only requirement is that you register for and attend the conference.
We are looking for interested and eager people who are willing to be part of the conference.
Before you nominate yourself, we encourage you to review the Session Chair Guidelines [PDF] so that you are comfortable with what you are being asked to do.
You can find the details of what sessions are available from our final program. We're specifically looking for people to chair concise and full paper sessions, so hone in on those.
To volunteer, please fill out this short form by Friday 17 November.
Check out the final conference program
Guess what!
The final program for ASCILITE 2017 is now live.
We are excited to bring you a diverse program with a range of different session types, from traditional concise and full papers to experimental sessions, lightning talks, and open fishbowls. We're bringing you keynotes from the higher education sector and beyond, to ignite discussion on big ideas and issues that will impact our sector in the very near future. You'll also have the opportunity to check out more than 20 digital posters. The program has been curated to create an engaging experience for delegates. You won't be sitting in a lecture theatre for three days straight! Instead, the program will give you plenty of opportunities to participate.
And there's more in store! Over the next few weeks, we'll announce details of the social events, we'll launch the conference app, and we'll give you all the details about the conference gamification experience.
But you've only got just under a week to take advantage of the early bird registration rate. So don't delay! Check out the program now, then head straight to the registration page to secure your spot at the conference.
Privacy, trust, student data and the university: An exploratory panel
We wanted to make sure the ASCILITE 2017 program hit on some of the key issues for the sector right now.
And that's why we're bringing you what we anticipate will be a thought-provoking, and sometimes challenging, panel discussion on privacy, trust, student data, and the university.
It's also why we decided that this session needs to be available to all in the higher education. This session will be open and free for all to attend online.
Applications such as Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and iTunes offer users convenience, connection, and content for no perceived upfront cost, but the currency of digital citizenship is privacy. Data collection, use, and resale by global companies reinforces the perception of private information as a commodity, with ethical, legal, and technological consequences largely unexplored.
As higher education institutions increasingly collect and use data, questions arise over student privacy and the impact on a relationship of trust. This is exacerbated by the use of third-party (and often commercial) products in the curriculum; from publisher texts and online resources that require unique student log-in, to test banks that track individual student performance, to the integration of services like Google+ and Facebook into learning and teaching activities. Furthermore, questions arise when companies dealing with student data are purchased by commercial interests and the data is seen as ‘goods and chattels’ in the company sale.
This panel seeks to explore emerging ethical, legal, educational, and technological issues surrounding the collection and use of student data by universities, and the impact these strategies have on student trust and privacy.
We've put together a stellar panel to discuss this important topic. We wanted to include multiple perspectives, including student and vendor perspectives. You'll hear from
- Barney Dalgarno (facilitator), Director of Learning Online at Charles Sturt University
- Jasmine Thomas, Sessional Academic, School of Law and Justice, University of Southern Queensland
- Kirsty Kitto, Senior Lecturer, Connected Intelligence Centre, University of Technology Sydney
- Kate Young, Student, Bachelor of Health (Biomedical Science Major), University of Southern Queensland
- Allan Christie, Vice President eLearning, Blackboard
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 1.30pm – 3pm
Room H102 Allison Dickson Lecture Theatre and live streamed via Zoom
You can participate in the discussion via Twitter. Tweet your questions during the session with the conference hashtag #ascilite17 and the committee will pose them to the panel.
For those not able to attend the seminar, you can follow along via Twitter using the conference hashtag #ascilite17.
More information, including information about panellists.
Extend your ASCILITE 2017 experience with post conference workshops
We've got three exciting post conference workshops lined up to help you extend your ASCILITE 2017 experience!
What can bonsai tells us about authentic learning with educational technology? Roger Edmonds will unlock this mystery in the workshop It’s Pedagogy GO with location-based mobile learning games. In this interactive workshop we will take you through all the steps of designing and developing a location-based mobile learning game using an online platform which is made for anyone to use to create and explore stories at locations of their choosing.
Interested in shaking up the way you run exams? Mathew Hillier, Andrew Fluck and Martin Coleman will present an interactive workshop called Transforming exams – hands on with the technology. This workshop will explore the rationale behind the OLT e-Exam system for high stakes exams, however, the majority of the session will be spent getting hands-on with the technology! This is a free workshops sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training funded project Transforming Exams (Grant ID 15-4747).
If Mobile virtual reality is more your thing, spend the day with Thomas Cochrane and David Sinfield. Their workshop will explore user generated mobile 360 video production and integration into interactive virtual reality environments for education. You'll experience using a low-cost, BYOD, rapid prototyping framework to create and share their own immersive mobile VR scenarios. The workshop will explore the unique affordances of mobile devices for enabling participant-generated content and experiences using mobile VR.
Find out more about all three workshops.
Please note: separate registration is required for the workshops. They are not included in your conference registration. Registration information is available on the Workshops page.
Announcing our third keynote: Amber Case
We are extremely excited to announce our third keynote speaker for the conference, Amber Case.
Amber is a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and a visiting researcher at the MIT Center for Civic Media. She studies the interaction between humans and computers and how our relationship with information is changing the way cultures think, act, and understand their worlds. She is the author of Calm Technology: Designing for the Next Generation of Devices, An Illustrated Dictionary of Cyborg Anthropology and the recently published book Designing Products with Sound: Principles and Patterns for Mixed Environments.
Amber is a sought after speaker and her TED Talk We are all cyborgs now has been viewed almost 1.5 million times.
Amber will speak on the Internet of Things, technology and our future:
Our world is made of information that competes for our attention. How does it affect us as individuals? Does it help us learn or does it get in the way? What are the implications for the way we learn and teach in tertiary education? How does technology help us engage with community? The world is no longer dominated by desktop computers. We are mobile and more organic. We need an equivalent computing and design framework to ensure that technology fits into our lives and empowers us. We need to live alongside it instead of being controlled by it. To find some direction, we can look to concepts of Calm Technology. The terms calm computing and calm technology were coined in 1995 by PARC Researchers Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown in reaction to the increasing complexities that information technologies were creating. Calm technology describes a state of technological maturity where a user’s primary task is not computing, but being human. The idea behind Calm Technology is to have smarter people, not things. Technology shouldn’t require all of our attention, just some of it, and only when necessary. How can our devices take advantage of location, proximity and haptics to help improve our lives instead of getting in the way? How can designers can make apps “ambient” while respecting privacy and security? This talk will cover how to use principles of Calm Technology to design the next generation of connected devices. We’ll look at notification styles, compressing information into other senses, and designing for the least amount of cognitive overhead. We'll also look at the rise of Artificial Intelligence, and at future considerations of ethics and automation.
Find out more about Amber on her website and follow her on Twitter (@case0rganic).
Read more about all of our fabulous keynotes.
Come star gazing with us at ASCILITE!
We've been working hard to create a social program that introduces you to the very best of Toowoomba and USQ.
We are excited to announce the first of our social events - an evening of star gazing with the USQ Astronomy Team!
We invite you and your family to join us on Monday 4 December, following the welcome reception, and become amateur astronomers for the evening.
Internationally-renowned astrobiologist and astronomer Associate Professor Jonti Horner and the Astronomy Outreach Team from the University of Southern Queensland will take you on a cosmic journey of our Solar system and beyond.
Jonti will share his knowledge of the birth of the solar system to modern day astronomical events, a tale of violence and destruction, featuring craters, comets, and even the death of the dinosaurs!
The USQ Astronomy Team will then help you to find some of the famous constellations in the night sky using both naked eye observation and telescopes, and answer any questions you might have about astronomy and our place in the Universe.
The event is open to all ASCILITE delegates and their families.
Registration is free but places are limited to 50 people, so get in quick!
Attend ASCILITE for free!
Now that we've got your attention, we'd like to take a minute to encourage you to volunteer for ASCILITE 2017.
We're looking for current students enrolled in tertiary education to express interest in being a student volunteer at ASCILITE 2017 in Toowoomba this December.
We've extended the call for student volunteers and you have just under one week to submit your application.
Volunteers will support the organising committee with the running of the conference. This may include working on the registration desk, aiding speakers and session chairs, directing and helping delegates, documenting the event using multimedia, recording short interviews, liaising with venue staff, and other activities as required. Volunteers will also have the opportunity to attend some conference sessions.
There are many different benefits in being a student volunteer at ASCILITE 2017. Volunteers will:
- have the opportunity to become involved in the conference operations and gain insights and experience in running a large event
- contribute to the positive conference experience and generate a encouraging energy
- have the opportunity to meet key thinkers and scholars in the field of higher education and to build your professional network
- receive a complimentary three day registration to ASCILITE 2017 ($575 total value)
- gain professional recognition including a certificate of participation
- receive a conference T-shirt (to be worn at the conference).
Applications close Monday 18 September.
For further information, including selection criteria, nomination form, and all the details on how to apply, check out the call for student volunteers.