The time we give each other

Kate Bowles 7 Comments

In the second week of the new summer course, we spent the day together in class. Because summer in Australia is already snapped in two by Christmas, a whole lot of other weirdness can go on while no one’s looking, so we’re flipping the normal timetable and going with two all-day workshops supported by online reflections and activities. Thanks to Steve Wheeler, I’ve also discovered that we’re also haphazardly and instinctively following a primer on the 10 characteristics of authentic…

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Being an academic, Edtech and online learning, Student engagement

That’s right, we’re not from Texas

Kate Bowles 2 Comments

End of semester.  Winter.  Grading and student feedback, plus those odd moments that make you stop and think, like the shine on a wet pavement. Students who write and say that they appreciated being in class with someone whose first language wasn’t English because they learned something about a bigger world.  Students whose first language isn’t English writing to say that it was being in an online class that made it possible for them to participate at all. Given the…

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Being an academic, Edtech and online learning, Higher education, Student engagement

WTF

Kate Bowles 0 Comments

I’m still brooding on Ben Wildavsky’s review of his trip to Australia for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Whenever a visitor says “Aussie” like he does, there’s a risk of a Bill Bryson moment. But this time the issue isn’t our wacky fauna, our laid-back attitude, or the many ways that Australian nature can kill you—it’s our acronyms. In a post-AUQA world, how will TEQSA make sensible use of the AQF, the ERA, the CEQ, the AUSSE, and perhaps the…

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Being an academic, Change management, Higher education