Category Archives: Higher Education

Meet the future!

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HadfieldHaving followed the tweets of Commander Chris Hadfield, remaining all the while in awe at the connections  between social media and reality (including the intersections with learning and teaching experiences),  I could only gasp at the implications of the video below that has gone viral.  Amazing.

The future is more than a Space Oddity!

The future is amazing and we need to remember that – always – in whatever field of education that we work.

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Learning in Networks of Knowledge

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For me, knowledge networks is what it’s all about!  I was honoured to speak with the staff of the State Library of NSW about the issues and drivers that we consider as we work with students in our tertiary learning environments. Learning in Networks of Knowledge was just the beginning of a bigger conversation.

Thank you to the wonderful innovation team [see my last post] for this opportunity.

Wisdom in networks

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Funny - A Hoot
Last year I spoke to my mobile phone. I wasn’t ringing anyone, but I asked my phone a question.  Guess what? No answer.  Last week I spoke to my phone, and it gave me some answers right there on my screen.  Better.

Soon there will be no need to read a answer, and in another few decades there may not even be a question.  Futurists tell us that we will be our technology, and information will be who we are or what it made us.   As we watch the fast-paced changes taking place in technology, the web of data and the social connections between us, the value of information as knowledge is what the game-change is all about, and as such remains the core business of info-nerds.

What is so frantically important is to unravel where we need to go in all this.  No amount of Advanced Searching with Google is going to resolve the major issues confronting us. Just watch people wherever you go – cafes, trains, sidewalks, bars – mobile in hand, people connect, people ask, people investigate, people forage for news and information.   So it’s  more than information discovery,  information filtering or information curation strategies that we need to be thinking/learning about. The “Fourth Revolution,” proposed by Floridi (2012)  describes the current information age, an era in which our understanding of both self and world is significantly altered by sudden changes in the information climate due to the advent of computing machinery from Alan Turing (1912-1954) onwards.

So you’re a teacher?  or an information professional of some kind? Either way, you have a significant role to play in how the future shapes up. As curators of knowledge and cultural history the burning question in the fourth revolution undoubtedly lies in our ongoing ability to manipulate and manage information flow.

In my April foolishness, my mind is totally absorbed by all this.  As I watch MOOCs emerge around the globe, as I note the various professional opportunities that associations and organizations provide, I’m delighted by the range of offerings, and the quality of some of them. But they are niche offerings.   A bit of this, a bit of that.  A full quality credentialed degree program still has HUGE relevance, because of the depth, breadth, width and brain-expanding opportunities that are possible.

But enough of that for now…more later.

What we need  is a MINDshifted degree! One that helps you learn how digital connections should change the way we think, the way we teach, the way we craft the future.  We need cross-disciplinary understanding of knowledge networking and digital innovation as a degree at the intersection of knowledge, information science and education.  This way we can ensure our graduates have the capacity to manage and manipulate information in a networked way for learning and teaching.

In the next couple of weeks our new initiative (been slogging on this) is being put forward as  formal application to the Faculty of Education. The aim is to have  an amazing new degree ready for you in 2014.

Watch these pages for more updates on the Master of Education (Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation). Trust me – You’ll want to know more about it!

Floridi, L. (2012). The fourth revolution. The Philosophers’ Magazine, (57), 96-101.

Image: Funny – A Hoot

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Is being out of office your job?

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I experienced an ‘oh yeah’ moment while I was checking out apps to use to remain connected and manage my workflow better.  I mention this in the positive sense – it’s not that I am complaining about being connected or the range of things I need to do, but rather it’s because I want to  make my work more interesting AND engaging; I want to be connected;  I do NOT subscribe to the “I’m traveling and will have limited access to email” kind of message that I often come across.

“Out of Office” – probably the most common auto reply in the world, so popular there are even tutorials on how to write one. But times are changing and the term is gradually losing its meaning. From telling people that you would not be working, Out of Office is becoming where more and more where work really happens. There are many professions where being out of the office is your job. And, although his quote was in response to some companies moving away from remote workforces we get the feeling that the world is moving towards more flexible work styles, not away from it.

Working as I do in online learning environments, I get very frustrated by examples of distance education that are locked into the “out of office” mentality. Consultation times for 1/2 an hour at designated times each week? Phone calls made and received only when you are at your office desk? Invitations to join social media groups left languishing for a week or two – oh because you didn’t log into the account?

As a member of the international Advisory Board, I’ve started my reading and research involvement with the next Horizon Report K-12 2013 edition. If anything, the regular releases of the Horizon Report have proven that the predictions are not fantasy – but a real litmus for where learning and teaching is going. If you haven’t already done so, read the NMC Horizon Report 2012 K-12 edition, and grab the app while you are at it.

Let’s face it – when students can talk with an astronaut currently circling the earth, or follow his twitter feed of photos and more,  the goal posts for connectedness can definitely be considered to have changed.Check out Okanagan students chat with Commander Hadfield. What a great series of questions. Jump to the video and experience history! What’s also cool is that this event was made possible by ham radio operators. Yep! Twelve minutes – an event of a lifetime.

HatfiledIf we are genuinely aiming to prepare teachers and information professionals to engage in the kind of environment that  represents the best practices of connected learning and communication, the old models of being ‘out of office’ just have no traction – except when you are on annual leave!

Then it’s fine to turn off your mobile device, and drop off the grid.

Image: Podio connections

A new role, a new field of dreams, curiosity and passion

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As I settled down to write this quick post, I decided to go back and visit what I wrote about Slipping into Change back in early January 2011. Then I wrote about the new directions and new challenges of my professional move to work full-time work as Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Charles Sturt University.

How lucky have I been to join such a wonderful group of people in the School of Information Studies, and to be involved with our ongoing work with students in all walks of life who are passionate about libraries and the information profession.

Now, at the start of my third year, I’m preparing myself for another set of challenges, that will be driven by dreams, curiosity and passion – otherwise there’s not point to it all!

Come February I’ll be stepping into the role of Course Director for the School of Information Studies.  This builds on my experience gleaned in the role of Course Director (Teacher Librarianship) in the latter half of 2012, and rather magically allows me to work in the whole field of dreams that spans libraries, information studies, archives, information management and teacher librarianship.

OK….. I know that there will be heaps of work.  Great days and bad days. Projects that succeed and projects that fail. But always, there will be dreams, curiosity and passion. This is a new role, and promises to be one that will be successful just because we have a wonderful team that works together to make our dreams a reality.

What a surprising opportunity!  I never expected this two years ago!

Come with me on my latest exploration of the possible and the dreams. This is your adventure as much as mine because it is through you, my professional network, that my curiosity and passion is ignited.

I heart my network. Thank you!

Image: Heart cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by seyed mostafa zamani

Suit in the clouds

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Let’s face it -  the cloud is here!  Does your educational institution or management understand this? Luckily for me I work in a ‘cloud’ environment on a daily basis, whether it is managing my professional data files online, working and communicating in the cloud,  or engaging with students and colleagues in some social media platform or another.

All well and good – but not too innovative if it’s just ‘me, myself and I’!

We need suits in the cloud too – real suits who share information and put a personal face to a media environment. My latest favourite suit is Andrew Vann. Professor Andrew Vann is the new Vice-Chancellor and President of Charles Sturt University (CSU), and unlike the usual new suits, he has already attracted much interest within the ranks. Here is a suit who has moved right into the cloud, and leads the way in adopting social media. Andrew runs a lively update stream at Twitter @drpievann and launched an official blog to engage with the broader CSU community.

 I want to use this blog to facilitate a collegial and hopefully innovative process to establish a clearer sense of where and what we want CSU to be in the future, and later what we need to do to get there.

I suppose there is nothing new about a senior suit launching a blog – but it IS a bit innovative for higher education. If CSU is to live up to being  Australia’s leading online and distance education provider, it strikes me as critical that not only Andrew, but many more of the HE leadership need to hang their suits in the cloud in order to further advance online education and the student experience.  That’s   #justsayin in Twitter-speak!

It’s the same with our subjects and degree programs – they also need to incorporate digital environments not only to improve learning opportunities, but also to make the learning experience relevant to the workplace.

Once again I have found that some of the subjects I have been teaching do connect directly with the student professional experience. These subjects were developed to respond to the digital environment – even allowing some of our students to get their own suits in the cloud :-)

Today, I was offered an amazing job as Social Media Officer where I will spend my days immersed in social networking! My interest in it through study of this social media subject was noticed by those at the top.

This is the kind of outcome we strive for in the degree programs in the School of Information Studies. This is what postgraduate study should be about! As another student said after completing a subject I have been teaching:

This is the first subject where I’ve actually seen direct relevance to my work.

This is the challenge for ‘suits’! Will you be moving into the cloud some time soon?

Image: cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by -= Hobo =-