Ascelite presentation

Ascilite11 presentation v bozalek slim

View more presentations from Vivienne Bozalek

What are emerging technologies?

One of the recurring conversations in this project has been around the question "what are emerging technologies" in higher education. We have returned to this question in most of our meetings, and the answer, like the technologies, is still emerging.

We seem to be fairly clear about the term technologies. We are understanding this quite narrowly to mean information and communication technologies. (Although I might be being presumptuous here. This is not something we have discussed. Perhaps we have different understandings?)

Our discussions have revolved around what we consider emergent. At first we grappled with definitions, but there are clear differences here.

Firstly, there seems to be agreement that emergent technologies are not just new technologies. Indeed this has been confirmed by our research. When we asked lecturers to tell us about the most innovative technologies they are using, the overwhelming response was learning management systems (LMSs), not a technology that is in any way new.

One line of argument is that emergent technologies are those that are in the process of being used more widely. They are emerging into the mainstream of academic practice. By this measure, most ICTs are emergent because higher education in South Africa has made little use of them until recently. If we observe more and more people using a technology, we call it emergent at the point where its use is gaining momentum, before it is ubiquitous.

A second line of argument is that emerging technologies are those that have emergent properties, so that the impact they have goes beyond just their use. Technologies are emergent when they are used in ways that do not simply replicate existing teaching practices, using technology, but transform teaching and learning. So making course content available for students to download instead of providing printed notes would not be emergent, but making materials available before class and then using the lecture time for more active learning might be.

I think that both of these definitions could be valid and interesting. The first is easier to research. One can count what is being use, how frequently and how widespread the use is. The second is more difficult because we would need to identify the emergent properties and those can be hard to spot, particularly in the educational context.

We seem to have settled on the following characteristics of emerging technologies, thanks to Veletsianos, rather than a definition.

Emerging technologies..

1. May or may not be new

2. Are evolving

3. Go through recognisable hype cycles

4. Are not yet fully understood

5. Are not yet fully researched

6. Are potentially disruptive, but this potential is as yet unfulfilled

(Veletsianos, 2010:13-17)

But there are concerns that these criteria might not be complete. I am also concerned that they capture neither of the two perspectives outlined above.

I hope that by opening up the debate we may be able to capture some of the conversations we've had and clarify our thoughts. I look forward to other contributions.

Emerging Technologies in SA HEIs: towards transformative teaching and learning practice

This is the presentation we did for the 2011 HELTASA conference:

2011 11 29 emerging technologies heltasa

View more presentations from Daniela Gachago

Face to face meeting in Port Elizabeth

The whole project team including three new PHD students, who will join the project in 2012, met in Port Elizabeth before the HELTASA conference for a 2 day face to face meeting.

Apart from enjoying an amazing view and swimming in the Indian ocean, the two days were packed with presentations about past research, discussions, planning for next year...


As one of the resolutions for next year, we decided to start some opinion pieces on this blog on topics discussed in the project. So watch out for some interesting stuff to come up here!

Alisons feedback on survey...

Who am I?

I have been at UCT for 3 and a half years, teaching Professional Communication to under-graduate and post-graduate Engineers. I have a background in teaching high school Mathematics and English and a Master's degreee in Education and Development specialising in Curriculum Design. I have been involved in community development projects with Hope Africa and in educational research through WESGRO and, before that, in creating and producing english language radio programmes for the BBC (Radio English Direct) when living in London in the early 1990's.

I am passionate about development and improving educational and performance standards in South Africa. I love the way that teaching Professional Communication enhances what students get out of - and can contribute to - their various disciplines. I have recently started teaching professional communication skills to a small group of Masters students at UWC and have seen them respond enthusiastically to this. I hope to contunue this next year!

Since starting at UCT I have had a steep learning curve as regards my own skill in and use of ICTS. At Professional Communication Studies (PCS) we use powerpoint slides on a regular basis to enhance teaching and learning, and occasionally support lectures with video snips - as well as using video recording and playback when assessing students presentation skills. In addition, I have recently been involved in creating a short movie through the UCT Centre for Educational Technology (CET). CET offers wonderful support to staff and students and braodens their horizons by providing platform to profile new technological developments.

I look forward to incorporating the iPad as part of my technological tool-kit!

Alison's experiences with the survey

I was really impressed by the survey produced by the Emerging ICT survey. I personally found it extremely informative and well laid out - and I found the supporting information helped expand my vision of what is possible in terms of incorporating technology in the teaching and learning environment.

Without knowing what is out there it is difficult to be adventurous...

I have found technological proficiency helps me to connect better with students and that they are then predisposed to be receptive to what else I am going to present!

Hope this covers what you intended? I look forward to expanding my own experience of "blogs"...

It was great to meet you and Andre and I hope to see you next year.

Regards

Alison Gwynne-Evans

iPad handover

This week the lucky winners of our survey were handed over their iPads:

Alison Gwynne-Evans, Junior Lecturer, Professional Communication Studies

University of Cape Town
and
Vivienne Bozalek, Director Teaching and Learning,
University of Western Cape

Juan Clark, Lecturer Engineering Department,

Walter Sisulu University of Technology and Science

Emerging Technologies in SA Higher Education - SAAIR presentation

This is our first presentation we did at a conference on the NRF project. It is entitled: Emerging Technologies in South African Higher Education Institutions and was presented by Vivienne Bozalek, Dick Ng'ambi and Daniela Gachago at the SAAIR conference, held at UCT from the 11th - 13th of October 2011.

Emerging Technologies SAAIR presentation

View more presentations from Daniela Gachago

And the winners are...

After our "Emerging ICTs in Higher Education" survey closed on the 30th of September 2011, we selected two winners of the iPad 2. The winners were randomly selected amongst all participants who completed the survey.

And the winners are:

Alison Gwynne-Evans
Junior Lecturer
Professional Communication Studies
University of Cape Town

Juan Clark
Lecturer
Engineering Department
Walter Sisulu University of Technology and Science

Congratulations to the winners from the Project Team!

30th of September 2011: survey closed

On the 30th of September 2011 our Emerging Technology survey closed down.

These are the first figures:

Total number of respondents: 258
Total number of HE institutions: 21
Total number of completed questionnaires: 162 (63%)


Looking forward to the results!

Blackboard Collaborate meeting 06 10 2011

Today we had another online meeting.

Agenda and minutes can be found here and the recording is here.

In this meeting we selected the two winners of the draw for 2 iPads for participants in our survey, which closed on the 30th of September 2011.

The two winners will be informed soon!

eBlooms - A taxonomy for E-Learning design | E-Learning Council

eBlooms - A taxonomy for E-Learning design | E-Learning Council

Hurray! The most scariest day has come: the survey is launched!

On the 4th of August 2011 our first survey instrument was finally launched. After months of drafting and redrafting and piloting and reviewing and modifying the survey, the moment has finally arrived! The survey is accessible here.

The first invitations went to approximately 150 handpicked academics at Higher Education institutions in South Africa. However, the team members also forwarded the invitation to their personal contacts and mailing lists.

Lets see how the responses will be!

Elluminate session 4th of August 2011

This session was used to make final amendments and take final decisions on the online survey, discuss impending conferences (ALTC, HELTASA, SAAIR) and talk about the data analysis phase.

For the recording of the session, click here.

Elluminate session 2nd of June 2011

This meeting was focused on deliverables for the literature review and the first survey.

Literature review: it was agreed to extend the deadline for the literature review to end of June 2011. Furthermore we mentioned the Horizon Africa 2012 report and urged team members to join the advisory board.

Survey: Markus created a first pilot survey on the Rhodes server. Team members will give feedback until 10th of June. The final survey will be hosted by Stellenbosch.

Conferences: abstracts for the HELTASA 2011 and SAAIR 2011 conferences were accepted.

Recordings of the meetings can be found here.

2nd face to face meeting - 4th & 5th of May 2011

On the 4th and 5th of May 2011 we met for the second time for a 2 day face to face workshop.

We were again hosted in the beautiful School of Public Health building at UWC.


The first day was spent summarising the various bits and pieces of the literature review on Emerging Technologies in Higher Education. Most of us were responsible for specific areas of the literature review and presented on our findings. It was decided to extend the deadline for the final draft of the literature review to end of May. By then all the groups will have a well written piece including a short introduction into the individual parts of the review.




This is a wordle graphic summarising the part of the Literature Review on international reports on emerging technologies in Higher Education. The focus on social, mobile learning with digital technologies is quite interesting.


We also worked on the survey on the current use of emerging technologies in Higher Education. After long discussion, we decided to chuck the first draft of the questionnaire and start from fresh. Focusing on innovative practices using technologies and limiting questions to the absolute minimum. Going for quality as opposed to quantity. We also spoke about distribution channels and sampling strategies. Furthermore we discussed possibilities of presenting at conferences, such as HELTASA, and issues around budgeting.

The next face to face meeting will only take place in November at the HELTASA conference, however we set up monthly elluminate online meetings to keep in touch. These will alternate between morning and afternoon sessions to ensure that all members of the group will have the chance to be part of these meetings.


Video: feedback by participants on second face to face workshop

3rd online meeting 20th of April 2011

Our third online meeting focused on the following items:

- online survey
- literature review
- planning of next face to face meeting (4th & 5th of May 2011)

We set up new deadlines for tasks to be completed before the meeting:
- lit review 30th of April
- survey 30th of April

2nd online meeting 10th of March 2011

Today we had our second online meeting on Illuminate.
The meeting felt a bit more organised than the first one, Markus prepared an agenda and we managed to discuss all the issues on the agenda in the course of the meeting.

The meeting was recorded and can be accessed here.

Items of the agenda were:

- allocate responsibilities and deadlines for current tasks (literature review and survey) - 18th of April 2011
- discuss times and dates for future online meetings (next meeting Wednesday, 20 April at 07:30)
- confirm dates for face to face meeting in May (4th and 5th of May 2011 in Cape Town)

Markus took minutes of the minutes, which can be found here.

First Elluminate session!

This morning we experimented with our first elluminate session - and it went pretty well, considering that for a lot of us this was the first time to participate in an online meeting.

The agenda for todays meeting was to get acquainted with the technology and to look at the survey tool. We gave comments on Jo-Anne Hardman's interview protocal on the use of computers in the classroom by teachers using Google docs. Nice way of combining Google docs and online conferences...

I have uploaded the record of the chat session and the whiteboard to our google docs. You can find them here: Protocol of chat session


To view the recording, click the link below: View the Elluminate Live! recording

Podcast on Activity Theory

Dr Joanne Hardman gave a useful introduction to Vygotsky's Activity Theory and the Change Laboratory methodology. Her presentation was so accessible. [Listen to podcast]

Your comments.

Thanks Daniela

someone last week asked about the acronymn we will use for the project- what about EMICTs- ?
regards

First meeting - project kick-off and seminar on Activity Theory

Today the project team met for the first time for a two day meeting at the School of Public Health at UWC.

On the first day the following issues were discussed:

- project plan
- communication and meeting strategies
- roles and responsibilities
- research agreement and ethical issues
- literature review / theoretical framework
- objectives of survey

The second day was an excellent introduction to Cultural-historical Activity Theory (CHAT) by Jo-Anne Hardman from UCT. See Michael's blog for a summary of this session.

The start of our journey...

This blog will be used to document the journey of the project "Emerging ICTs in Higher Education", which will run from 2011 - 2013. This project is funded by the South African National Research Fund and will include participants from the following South African institutions: UWC, UCT, SU, CPUT, Wits, Rhodes, Fort Hare, UP and the OCW.