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A colleague in the ANU Research School of Computer Science (also a Past President of the Australian Computer Society) has been active in IT support for ed / distance ed / blended ed / e-Learning for decades.

Although much of Australia's population is in a crescent around the south-eastern corner, that's still a long and mostly fairly narrow belt 2500km / 1500 miles long. As a result, a proportion of Australian universities have applied successive generations of electronic tools to support students who are located far away from the primary campus.

Australia has also been successful in attracting large numbers of students from overseas, many undertaking the whole of their degree in Australia, with others being fed forward into later-year studies from campuses in their home-countries. Many were unable to get to Australia for the commencement of the new academic year in February/March 2020.

The ANU has a large contingent of overseas students. However, most faculties had not – until COVID-19 – seen the need to invest in supporting students working remotely from the Canberra campus. Since February, my colleague, Tom Worthington, has been assisting a variety of departments with the necessarily rapid transition of their modi operandi, teaching-and-learning materials, and student evaluation methods.  

(Aside:  Some uni administrators have sought to impose various 'proctoring' tools – called 'invigilation' outside North America.  There have been some seriously negative reactions from staff and students to the massive privacy-invasiveness of the 'market leaders').

Tom's running a series of webinars on "Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning".

It's part of the Microlearning Series curated by Manisha Khetarpal at Maskwacis Cultural College in Canada: https://continuingeducationi.blogspot.com/2020/07/responding-to-coronavirus-emergency.html

It's online, open to all and free, but registration is necessary: https://forms.gle/hgY7a7uPJjbdGEYt9

The first is on Tuesday 28 July 2020, 4-5pm MDT UT-6 (Edmonton):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwk2l-FGkj-Mcnmfg74FasGpHAX5j_yIPF1P5qGiU_boa7EA/viewform

Tom writes:

It is the first of six weekly webinars on how I came to e-learning, and used it in response to COVID-19, and some thoughts on how higher education can be improved in light of this. Suggestions welcome. More at: https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/07/responding-to-coronavirus-emergency.html

--
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au+61(0)419496150
TomW Communications Pty Ltd. PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Prof. Standards Legislation
Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington

------------------------------
Roger Clarke
Xamax Consultancy / ANU / UNSW
roger.clarke@xamax.com.au
http://rogerclarke.com
------------------------------

Tom's second seminar is on shortly - August 4, 4-5 pm MDT (= UT-6).

He writes:

> I will talk on "Open Content for e-Learning in Response to the Coronavirus" 5 August, 8-9 am, AEST (Canberra Time) as part of the Microlearning Series curated by Manisha Khetarpal at Maskwacis Cultural College in Canada. This is the second of six weekly sessions. Register now at: https://forms.gle/hgY7a7uPJjbdGEYt9
>
> Description: In this second of six talks on responding to the coronavirus with e-learning, Tom Worthington talks about openness content and open learning. Openness in education can apply to the way education is provided  as well as the course materials. This is not just about using free stuff to save money. The Open Source movement in computing and the Wikipedia show a way of contributing, as well as using, content. This is based on the chapter "Use of Open Education Resources" in Tom's free e-book "Digital Teaching In Higher Education". He will also cover some participant requests from the first talk.
>
> More at: https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/08/open-content-for-e-learning-in-response.html

------------------------------
Roger Clarke
Xamax Consultancy / ANU / UNSW
roger.clarke@xamax.com.au
http://rogerclarke.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-21-2020 09:04:09 PM
From: Roger Clarke
Subject: Webinar: "Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning"

A colleague in the ANU Research School of Computer Science (also a Past President of the Australian Computer Society) has been active in IT support for ed / distance ed / blended ed / e-Learning for decades.

Although much of Australia's population is in a crescent around the south-eastern corner, that's still a long and mostly fairly narrow belt 2500km / 1500 miles long. As a result, a proportion of Australian universities have applied successive generations of electronic tools to support students who are located far away from the primary campus.

Australia has also been successful in attracting large numbers of students from overseas, many undertaking the whole of their degree in Australia, with others being fed forward into later-year studies from campuses in their home-countries. Many were unable to get to Australia for the commencement of the new academic year in February/March 2020.

The ANU has a large contingent of overseas students. However, most faculties had not – until COVID-19 – seen the need to invest in supporting students working remotely from the Canberra campus. Since February, my colleague, Tom Worthington, has been assisting a variety of departments with the necessarily rapid transition of their modi operandi, teaching-and-learning materials, and student evaluation methods.

(Aside:  Some uni administrators have sought to impose various 'proctoring' tools – called 'invigilation' outside North America.  There have been some seriously negative reactions from staff and students to the massive privacy-invasiveness of the 'market leaders').

Tom's running a series of webinars on "Responding to the Coronavirus Emergency with e-Learning".

It's part of the Microlearning Series curated by Manisha Khetarpal at Maskwacis Cultural College in Canada: https://continuingeducationi.blogspot.com/2020/07/responding-to-coronavirus-emergency.html

It's online, open to all and free, but registration is necessary: https://forms.gle/hgY7a7uPJjbdGEYt9

The first is on Tuesday 28 July 2020, 4-5pm MDT UT-6 (Edmonton):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwk2l-FGkj-Mcnmfg74FasGpHAX5j_yIPF1P5qGiU_boa7EA/viewform

Tom writes:

It is the first of six weekly webinars on how I came to e-learning, and used it in response to COVID-19, and some thoughts on how higher education can be improved in light of this. Suggestions welcome. More at: https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/07/responding-to-coronavirus-emergency.html

--
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au+61(0)419496150
TomW Communications Pty Ltd. PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Prof. Standards Legislation
Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington

------------------------------
Roger Clarke
Xamax Consultancy / ANU / UNSW
roger.clarke@xamax.com.au
http://rogerclarke.com
------------------------------