Welcome back and some news

Welcome back to all those who have been away on vacation and are just returning or have already returned to work. Here’s what I will be working on over the next couple of months.

The 2018 national survey of online learning

The questionnaire returns for the 2018 national survey of online learning and distance education in Canadian universities and colleges are almost complete, with August 30th as the final, final deadline (that’s when we will start to process data tables). Already about 60% of the institutions have responded and we are expecting another ‘rush’ of completions over the next few days. So if your institution has not completed the questionnaire, there is still time, but you will need to hurry. 

We are planning to have the results out by mid-October in time for several conferences. I will be heavily engaged in writing up the results in early September. 

Pockets of innovation

I will be visiting Manitoba the week of September 24-28 to collect some more pockets of innovation in the use of technology for teaching for Contact North. I am still finalising my schedule but if you are in a Manitoba college or university and have an interesting use of technology for teaching, and are willing to share, please let me know as soon as possible, and I will try to fit you into my schedule, which I hope to have finalised by August 31.

The University of Alberta

I am visiting the University of Alberta on August 30 to do two presentations, one to Campus St.-Jean, the francophone campus of the university (yes, there is a substantial francophone community in Alberta/Western Canada), and one for the rest of the U of A faculty. This is in response to my book, Teaching in a Digital Age.

One presentation in the morning at Campus St.-Jean will focus on why university teaching needs to change, based mainly on external factors such as a changing economy, more diverse students, and of course the need for graduates who can successfully navigate and manage a digital world.

The second presentation on the main campus in the afternoon will focus on the how, with suggestions for new teaching methods focused on skills development and the use of technology, and drawing on the Pockets of Information for examples. This presentation will also discuss some of the structural changes needed to support innovation in teaching. 

The web site

Work is about to begin on the re-design of this web site over the next couple of weeks. The main changes will be in appearance, to simplify the layout and to make navigation easier and more intuitive. I have done most of the structural changes, in terms of organisation of the pages and posts. There should not be any major interruption of service while the re-design is being done.

As part of the re-design, I am developing a personal guide to online learning in different countries, based on my experience of working there, and including some of the photos I have taken while travelling. There are short entries so far on Afghanistan, Argentina and Brazil.

Part of this ‘work in progress’ is a province-by-province guide to online learning in Canadian post-secondary institutions.

So far I have just completed British Columbia. If you work in a BC college or university, please take a look – but remember, it is a personal, not an official, guide. If though I have missed something significant about online learning at your institution, please drop me a line (tony.bates@ubc.ca) and I will update the entry. Next up: Alberta.

As well as reporting on breaking news and developments in the world of online learning, I will also be posting on a theme over the next couple of months. I am thinking at the moment of taking a deeper look at the implications of AI and/or blockchain for online learning, but I’m open to other suggestions.

Good luck

So good luck with your teaching and research over 2018-2019 and I hope you are as excited as I am about the likely developments in online learning over the next academic year.