We need your help towards the above project that is being funded by the Council of Australasian University Leaders in Learning and Teaching (CAULLT). The project is being led by Dr Pranit Anand from UNSW. For more information about the project and team members please visit the CAULLT project site. (UNSW Ethics Reference: HC230120).
The research study is looking recruit people who have participated in a mentoring program regardless if that was done online or face-to-face. Participants will be asked to complete the following research activities if they agree to participate:
Anonymous online survey that should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Volunteer to participate in an online focus group interview that will last approximately 60 to 90 minutes.
The 2021-2022 Annual General Meeting was held on 09 June, during which the 2022-2023 FLANZ committee was elected, including all officers other than the Treasurer.
The meeting thanked the previous executive committee, and noted the mahi completed during the 2021-2022 year. The contribution of our administrator Kalina Vladinova-Aylor, who had provided support for the committee over the last eight years, was noted. Kalina has decided not to continue in that role and the membership thanked her for the substantial contributions she had made to FLANZ over that time.
The AGM welcomed the 2022-23 executive group, which included two new members. We are a small voluntary association and rely entirely on the time and commitment of volunteers from our community to allow us to function. We are grateful to those colleagues who are willing to dedicate a portion of their valuable time in the interest of the wider community.
The refreshed strategic plan was noted as a more focussed guiding document. It seeks to target enhancements to member services recognising the limitations on resources, principally executive committee member’s time commitments.
The financial report was well received, with outcomes demonstrating the association’s ability to pivot to a blended conference and minimise the financial impact. FLANZ remains in a strong financial position going into the 2022-2023 financial year.
The Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand (FLANZ) will be holding its annual general meeting via videoconference on Thursday 09 June at 12:30.(https://us02web.zoom.us/my/flanz)
Please contact our current FLANZ secretary, Ralph Springett: rgbspringett@gmail.com to initiate your nomination. Ralph will confirm the requirements and the nomination with you. Please note:
Nominations must be notified with the Secretary by Wednesday 25th May.
Nominations must be in writing (email).
Nominations may be taken from the floor during the meeting if there are insufficient nominees for the vacancies.
FLANZ will hold part two of the panel conversation ‘Equity and inclusion in flexible learning: Challenges across the sector’ and you are invited to this free webinar. Register for this free webinar on 5 April 2022, 2 – 3pm NZST. We are delighted to be talking again with Claire Amos (Albany Senior High School), Steve Leichtweis (University of Auckland), and Stephen Marshall (Victoria University of Wellington). The moderator will be Kwong Nui Sim (AUT).
Bringing different perspectives to the conversation, our panelists will critically discuss our current situation in education and look into the future. Where do they think we are going in Aotearoa New Zealand? What does the education sector need?
One of FLANZ’s core purpose is to foster ‘growth, development, research and good practice in distance education, open learning and flexible delivery systems for education’.
FLANZ publishes the refereed Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning , runs occasional webinars, and runs a biennial conference. We would like to extend our support to the wider Learning Community by inviting contributions for blogs, presenting topical, thought-provoking pieces by individuals with an interest in the fields of open, distance and flexible learning.
The blog will be sent out to FLANZ members through the newsletter and will also be publicly available online here on the FLANZ website. If you are interested in writing a blog post for FLANZ, please get in touch at admin@flanz.org.nz
Equity and Inclusion using Open Educational Resources
Monday 1st November 2021: 1130-1230 NZT (Wellington, NZ)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials aimed at enabling educators to retain, remix, revise, reuse, and redistribute them for free and in perpetuity. With the recent demands made on educators to satisfy the needs of remote learners, there is a growing interest in the OER movement.
The International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) established its OER Advocacy Committee in 2017 to increase global recognition of OER and provide policy support for the uptake, use, and reuse of OER. Working alongside the UNESCO OER Recommendations, ICDE has nominated Ambassadors with regional responsibilities. Trish Chaplin-Cheyne is the ICDE Ambassador for Oceania.
In this webinar, Trish will outline the UNESCO OER Recommendations and the way ICDE Ambassadors are working with them. She will also highlight those recommendations that spotlight equity and inclusion factors, across all educational sectors. The webinar will share successes and challenges faced by practitioners.
Presented by Trish Chaplin-Cheyne, SFHEA
Director Learning and Teaching Development, Otago Polytechnic
Tuesday 2 November
Lessons from Learners: Students’ Insights on Effective Learning Online
Panel: Professor George Veletsianos, Dr Elaine Beirne and Dr Melissa Bond
Description: This webinar features a lively panel discussion with three leading scholars working in online distance education with a strong learner focus to their work. Professor George Veletsianos holds the Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology and the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Flexible Learning. He is well-known internationally for his research in online distance education and is author of the book Learning Online: The Student Experience (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Dr Elaine Beirne works in the National Institute for Digital Learning at Dublin City University, Ireland and has a strong interest in the role of emotions in online learning. She played a key role in the development of A Digital Edge: Essentials for the Online Learner, a free course that has attracted over 10,000 people worldwide. Dr Melissa Bond, previously a Researcher Officer at University College London (UCL) and who has recently returned to Australia, is known for her meta-analysis research on student engagement in educational technology contexts. Melissa is co-author of several seminal major systematic literatures reviews in this area. The panel will discuss lessons that we have learnt from learners and other valuable insights into the online learning experience from a student perspective
Wednesday 3 November
ODLAA / FLANZ EVENT
Distance Education in the New Normal: Implications for a Post COVID World
Description: The many known and unknown consequences of the pandemic have generated not only a biological crisis but a social and psychological crisis as well. As one of the greatest global crises in recent human history, the pandemic has changed the way we perceive and interpret the world as we know it. Normal, by its nature, is a relative term and, presently, we have different derivations of it: Normal, new normal, and next normal. This webinar, in this regard, focuses on distance education in the new normal and intends to present some implications that should be taken into consideration.
Equity and inclusion in flexible learning: Challenges across the sectors
Thursday 4th November – 1130-1230 NZT (Wellington, NZ) – REGISTER
This webinar invites four expert perspectives on the question of how the challenges and opportunities of equity and inclusion in online and distance education are being responded to by different educational sectors. The panel includes representatives from the school sector, tertiary and corporate worlds.
Our panelists are:
Alison Cairns – Partner at Ernst & Young
Claire Amos – Principal at Albany Senior High School in Auckland
Professor Stephen Marshall – Director, Centre for Academic Development at Victoria University of Wellington
Steve Leichtweis – Head of eLearning Group, Ranga Auaha Ako | Learning & Teaching Design Team at University of Auckland
Description: As higher education institutions begin to assess the damage and disruption caused by the pandemic to their learning and teaching operations and funding models, hard questions need to be asked about why so many educational institutions universally have had to shut down most of their learning and teaching activities, or resort to a minimalist form of operation. How has it been possible for our learning and teaching operations to be compromised so completely, and why are learners and teachers so overwhelmed with moving their activities online? What does this say about how we have been preparing our learners and teachers for a future-focused economy? These and many more such questions need answers—not to assign anyone any blame—but to rethink and reengineer our activities and education models to be better prepared and more resilient for the future. If we were able to design educational institutions for such resilience from scratch, or reengineer existing ones—what would they look like? What would be different about them? For instance, how would key educational functions, including their services, be organized and managed? In this session we will explore the potentials of flexible learning for building resilience in education systems post COVID-19.
Two webinars mark the launch of the Australasian Online and Distance Learning Week: Unboxing micro-credentials (03 Nov) and Is the future of education going to be digital first? (06 Nov).
The Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA) and the Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand (FLANZ) are delighted to jointly launch the Australasian Online and Distance Learning Week: 2-9 November 2020.
This exciting new initiative in partnership with the European Distance & E-Learning Network (EDEN) coincides with European Online and Distance Learning Week and straddles National Distance Learning Week in the United States, which is hosted by the US Distance Learning Association (USDLA).
The webinars offered present a unique opportunity to reflect on this year’s Covid-19 experience and celebrate the potential of new digital models of education.
This ODLAA webinar explores of the growth of the micro-credentialing movement in the context of new digital models of higher education and flexible approaches to continuing professional development.
06 November – Is the Future of Education Inevitably Going to be Digital First?
This FLANZ webinar brings together a panel of educators to debate the question of whether or not the future of education is inevitably going to be digital first? Set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic the panel will reflect on the potential and pitfalls of new digital models of learning and teaching and consider some of the lessons for the future. Participants will be encouraged to join the conversation.
Provocation
Is it wise to assume that technology should be the basis for future educational growth and development? How is it possible for us to envisage a future for education that is based on the inequitable distribution of social capital that is reflected in the uneven access to technology? How is it possible to foresee the impact of future social upheavals resulting from pandemics, climate change or cataclysms? We may be able to provide alternative channels of content delivery, but can we use technology to substitute a learning experience?
We are the Education Unit at the University of Otago Wellington. We oversee and assist staff in the design, development, maintenance, and evaluation of the Otago Medical School MBChB curriculum on the Wellington campus.
The Role
We are looking for a Professional Practice Fellow to provide Moodle technical support to students and staff, and to develop effective, quality eLearning tools and systems that will contribute to the teaching, student learning and assessment at the University. This role works collaboratively with the rest of the Education Unit team to provide education professional development support to staff.
This position provides the opportunity to work within a strong and forward-looking department dedicated to excellence in teaching and learning. The appointee will provide Learning Management System support to staff and students, will take responsibility for coaching staff and enhancing teaching modules/courses through the development of eLearning material for medical and health professional education.
Key tasks include:
Provide support, and solutions, to students and staff to enable efficient use of eLearning materials for teaching modules/courses.
Contribute to the development and research of new uses of eLearning tools and act as a resource on eLearning for medical and health professionals at the University.
Assist in piloting use of new eLearning tools and systems.
Contribute to the Unit’s academic goals by applying and sharing expert knowledge in your professional discipline relating to eLearning developments.
Skills and Experience
The successful applicant will have an understanding of adult education principles and practices, practical experience in the use of eLearning material and resources and an ability to apply professional knowledge of the recent trends in the eLearning field.
Proven ability in developing and adapting eLearning resources. Experience in use (and preferably support) of Moodle learning management system.
An interest in current developments in health professional education and eLearning.
Application
Applications quoting reference number 1900503 will close on Friday, 15 March 2019.
