ASCILITE NEWS

1. ASCILITE Blog Contest
2. 2016 Annual Reports
3. Learning Design SIG Workshop 27 Nov 2016
4. Perspectives of the European Instructional Designer Webinar Resources
5. Reminder: e-Assessment SIG webinar
6. Reminder: ASCILITE2016 Full Program Now Online

OTHER NEWS

1. Australian Learning Analytics Summer Institute 27 Nov 2016
2. Job Vacancy: Learning Designer, QUT
3. Job Vacancy: Educational Designer, USQ
4. ALT News Digest 380 and 381

ASCILITE NEWS

ASCILITE Blog Contest

The ASCILITE Executive plans to launch an ASCILITE blog in the very near future and would like to find a suitable name for the blog. As a result, ASCILITE is running a contest to find the best name for the new blog.

The winner will receive a $50 gift voucher of their choice from Amazon, iTunes or Westfield and three finalists will each receive a $20 gift voucher (Amazon, iTunes or Westfield).

To qualify all you have to do is think of an attention grabbing name that matches the focus of the blog which will be a forum for members and others to find-out about issues they are struggling with and the critical topics, theories, or research that we should be engaging with as an association in the field of educational technology.

Enter the blog contest here.

The entry form also includes two optional fields where you can suggest a future topic and author for a blog entry.

The contest will remain open until Monday 7 November and the winning entry will be announced in next fortnightly bulletin on 14 November.

Good luck!

2016 Annual Reports

The ASCILITE Executive is required by the Society's constitution to prepare an annual report and financial statements and distribute these to members each year in conjunction with a notification of the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The annual report provides members with a summary of the society's activities and achievements over the past year while the Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statements provide a summary of ASCILITE’s financial status.

You will find the 2016 President's Report here and the 2016 Treasurer's Report here.

You can also view the AGM meeting agenda along with last year's meeting minutes and the detailed Financial Statements here.

The AGM will be held at the ASCILITE 2016 Conference and all financial members of ASCILITE are invited to attend.  Members were emailed the meeting notification on 28 October.

If you are attending this year's conference in Adelaide, we do hope you can find the time to attend the AGM.

Learning Design SIG Workshop

Design, Develop, Implement: A Team-Based Approach to Learning Design

The LD-SIG is conducting a full day workshop on the Sunday 27 November in Adelaide.  The aim of this workshop is to introduce a learning design process, namely the Design, Develop, Implement (DDI), which supports curriculum development at program level underpinned by design thinking principles. All sub-sessions in the workshop will be hands on, using open space technologies and practices as well as putting in action the idea of Dotmocracy. The workshop will be of interest to both academic and professional staff interested in introducing learning design for curriculum development in their institutions. (Learn more about DDI here).

The workshop will be presented by Dr Panos Vlachopoulos, who is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Learning Innovations in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University. He studied Philosophy and Pedagogy at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece, followed by an M.Ed in E-learning from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Education (Online Pedagogy) from the University of Aberdeen. His areas of expertise include online tutoring, the facilitation of student-driven learning, and the development of academic staff capabilities for teaching online. He has international experience of online learning design, teaching and research in technology-enhanced learning from diverse educational contexts such as universities in the UK, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Greece.

You will find the full program and registration details here. The fee for the workshop is only $30. This low rate covers the cost of catering and is made possible through SIG funds provided to SIGs by ASCILITE as part of their annual budget.

Perspectives of the European Instructional Designer Webinar Resources

ASCILITE would like to thank EDEN for organizing an ASCILITE Live! webinar on 26 October and making the resources from the session available to members.   Those who attended the session have already received links to the webinar recording.

This webinar focused on the problems and solutions of a learning designer in the context of open learning. Denes Zarka  explored what "open" stands for in the context of learning resources and presented various models for the use and re-use of Open Educational Resources (OERs).  You will find more details about the session and presenter here and you can download and view the session resources here:

• Presentation slides
• Webinar recording
• OpenPROF website
• The mobility guide online - Planning and management with ICT

This webinar was the first collaborative activity to arise from the Memorandum of Understanding between EDEN (European Distance & e-Learning Network) and ASCILITE that was signed in June 2016. We hope this was the first of many joint activities with EDEN and we look forward to collaborating with them again in the future.

Reminder: ASCILITE2016 Full Program Now Online

If you haven't already viewed the full program for the 2016 ASCILITE conference, you will find it here.

Socially we have a busy program that starts on Sunday night with the Welcome function at the base of UniSA’s Jeffrey Smart Building followed by Monday night with a Dine Around opportunity where you can book a place at one of our local restaurants offering special deals for ASCILITE delegates. Tuesday is our Gala Dinner which will be held upstairs in the Convention Centre overlooking the iconic Adelaide Oval and on Wednesday night we will have some post conference drinks not far from the venue.

It's not too late to register.

Reminder: e-Assessment SIG Webinar

Time & Date: 2 November 2016, 7am UTC.  You will find your local time zone here.

Topic: Writing Analytics to Improve Formative Feedback

Presenters: Simon Buckingham Shum, Simon Knight, Andrew Gibson and Philippa Ryan (University of Technology Sydney).

Abstract: This session introduces the rationale, design and evaluation of writing analytics tools under development based on Natural Language Processing. The session explores the issues of how does one design writing analytics informed by the scholarship underpinning the teaching and learning of writing, and co-designed with literacy and academic subject matter experts. The technology is being piloted with academics and their students engaged in analytical and reflective writing.

Registration: Further information and to register please go here.

OTHER NEWS

Australian Learning Analytics Summer Institute, 27 Nov 2016

ALASI is the main forum in Australia for the exchange of knowledge, innovation, and experiences in the area of Learning Analytics. It is listed on the ASCILITE2016 conference registration page as a pre-conference event (Sunday Nov 27).

ALASI offers keynotes from distinguished research practitioners Ryan Baker and Abelardo Pardo as well as a range of workshops, panels and presentations. We are very excited about the quality of the program, which is available here.

Further information and a link to the registration page (separate to the ASCILITE registration) is available here.

Job Vacancy: Learning Designer, QUT

QUT is seeking a highly skilled Learning Designer (eLearning Services) to join the centralised team working closely with faculties and academics to achieve QUT's strategic vision. In this role you will provide expertise in the design of future focused blended and online learning approaches for a higher education context. For full details, visit the QUT website. The closing date for applications is 6 November 2016.

Job Vacancy: Educational Designer, USQ

The Office for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (ALT) aims to provide support, services and resources to help USQ academics develop their learning and teaching skills, knowledge, scholarship and practice, and in doing so help USQ to provide quality learning experiences and student outcomes. The Office for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching consists of four teams: Educational Design and Development; Program Quality and Enhancement; Educational Excellence and Innovation and Media Design and Development.   For full details, visit the USQ website.

ALT News Digest 380 & 381

The Association for Learning Technology News Digest is now published weekly online. News Digest 380 was issued on 21 Oxtober 2016 and News Digest 381 was issued on 28 October 2016. ALT's journal – Research in Learning Technology is open access.