The role of ICTs in students with vision impairments’ transition to university

A growing number of young people with disabilities is pursuing university education. Available research on the impact of Information and Communication Technologies on this matter has mainly focused on assistive technologies and their compensatory role for the adjustment of this group of students to the tertiary setting. However, limited research has looked at the role played by digital technologies such as social media and mobile devices in the transition to university, a critical period of change for all students but more challenging for those with impairments. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that investigated the experiences of students with vision impairments aged 18 to 24 who were transitioning to a New Zealand university. The findings draw from observations, a researcher diary, focus groups, individual interviews, and data from social media. The study found that new technologies play several enabling roles that help students to manage diverse transition challenges. These roles not only include aspects such as impairment compensation, communication, information, and learning but also support arrangement, collaboration, and social connection and participation. By incorporating in the analysis the potential of digital tools, the article updates and expands the understanding of the role of ICTs in higher education from experiences and views of young people with vision impairments

Pacific leaders in open, online and distance learning

The Pacific is a vast region, with a diverse range of cultures and stretched geographical lands, which covers large territories and long distances. Open, online and distance learning (ODL) has always played a key role in providing access to education to remote and rural students and disadvantaged groups. In fact, it could be argued that without ODL, the levels of educational attainment in these regions would be much lower. However, there is work to be done, as some countries in the region still have infrastructure problems, such as Internet connectivity and availability, which directly impact access to online and distance learning. In this piece about Pacific leaders in ODL, I noticed that despite the fact that many leaders have or have had a formal professional base at their institutions, many have worked across different nations and in collaboration with several national and international organisations. Also, initially, ODL leaders were predominantly male, but it did not take long for their female counterparts to join in and be recognised. Encouraged by this journal's editorial board, I made sure that the ODL female leaders are well represented in this piece. This manuscript is divided in three sections; Australia, New Zealand and some small islands of the Pacific region. This is by no means an exhaustive list of ODL leaders in the region, but one that recognises the contributions of earlier theorists and some more current researchers and practitioners. Finally, it is also important to highlight that the large majority of the leaders recognised here are renowned academics, researchers, practitioners and leaders due to their success, leadership and contributions to ODL. Therefore, most of them have published extensively, been invited to present at conferences and other national and international events, and have worked as consultants for key ODL organisations and their partners, some during the course of their employment and/or after retiring. Their career and academic successes are very important, but here I would like to focus on some of their key contributions to ODL in the Pacific region.</p

Industry training organisations in changing times: New research possibilities

The tertiary education reforms have placed considerable pressure on Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), which are now required to assume “new roles as strategic leaders in skills and training needs for the industries under their coverage" (Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities (STEP) 2003-04, P. 21). This paper argues that the STEP requirement can lead to productive relationships between ITOs and established research organizations. It considers the new context within which ITOs now operate and offers an illustrative case study of the sort of research that can result from collaborative relationships. Specifically, it reports on research commissioned by the New Zealand Industry Training Organisation (NZITO), which covers dairy manufacturing, meat processing, and leather processing, as part of' its strategic planning. The research reported includes: an analysis of the industries covered by the NZITO and their economic significance; the impact of an ageing workforce and other demographic on the labour market and its Implications for NZJTO industries; the impact of technological change on the labour market; and some of the consequences of the continuing integration of the global economy

Identifying trades tutors' and institutions' perceptions of tutors' roles within the ITP sector : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Since 1984 tertiary education institutions have been subject to progressive and far-reaching change. Much of this change has been shaped by neo-liberalist agendas which espouse accountability, efficiency, responsiveness, professionalism and managerialism. This thesis looks at how these themes have shaped or influenced managerial and tutorial perceptions of tutors' operational roles, responsibilities and performance within a selection of contemporary Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP) teaching environments. Analysis of the research identifies that scant or poorly prepared institutional documentation around tutorial roles and responsibilities has contributed to uncertainty or confusion, and consequently to individuals adapting their teaching roles to suit themselves. It has also been identified that managers appointed to the pivotal role of Head of School are stretched in their ability to cope with the demands that are placed on them. This thesis suggests that the increasing responsibilities they carry for managing tutorial staff have contributed to a breakdown in workload planning and performance management processes. Managers acknowledge that further work needs to be done in defining tutors' roles, responsibilities and performance. But such work presupposes the question: how do managers and tutors perceive tutorial roles in today's ITP teaching environment? Research on this key question and associated issues provides the basis for this thesis

Some Examples of Best Practice in Open Educational Resources

The examples of best practice in Open Educational Resources (OER) that follow typify a change in learning and teaching practices that has been ushered in with the development of and increased access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). These developments have been occurring over the past fifteen to twenty years in tertiary educational institutions around the world. Open courseware, open access, open practices, that use OER, have become a state of the art orientation towards teaching and learning for many teaching and research practitioners and students. This is the case above all in the area of distance education, where online and electronic delivery of courses has become commonplace. Of course, debates have arisen over the nature of open learning, open educational resources, open courseware, open access, open practices. What do such terms mean? What implications does 'open' have for tertiary education, for educators, authors and researchers, and for students? What theory can underpin OER? What does OER mean in relation to distance education? What does online and open education mean for studentlecturer relations (Anderson, 2011)? Such debates are not unusual in educational theory. If they follow the pattern of other educational debates, they will reach their peak, ferment, be dismissed and glossed over, be resurrected, be transformed. Whatever the case, they occupy an important place in the pedagogical imagination, particularly in light of the marketing of education within a global context. And marketing is an important issue in itself: funding, sustainability, advertising and promotion, all have implications for the integrity of teaching and learning, and for attracting students. Along with this is the idea of the student as a consumer or as a client, language transferred across from the consumerist society in which many of us live. OER does not exist in a morally neutral world. This is reflected in the socio-ethical concerns of the four cases of OER practices presented. Each of the four providers of OER is deeply aware of their social obligations to indigenous and/or disadvantaged groups within their sphere of educational influence and interest. A recurring theme is that education ought to be available to everyone, that such education ought to be the best available, and that it ought to be free. This amounts to what could be seen as profound idealism. Such idealism is especially evident in the documentation and web-sites of Athabasca and OpenLearn. That said, the examples of practice in OER discussed here reveal implicit assumptions about the ubiquitous nature of information and communication technologies. It is not the case that information and communication technologies are available equally, or even at all, in every place in the world. Class, race, ethnic and gender distinctions operate in many societies. These distinctions preclude universal availability of education of any kind to every social group, never mind those that rely on computers and computer technologies (themselves dependent on the availability of electricity and other services regarded as basic to the privileged in affluent societies). Nor is it the case that everyone actually wants a tertiary education. These are debates not addressed here. Further information about each subject in these examples of OER adoption can be found by following up the bibliographic information. The examples of practice in OER are an explicit result of the availability of open access to various web-sites and documents on the web. Hence, there is a direct relation between what each institution aims to do and the possibility of producing a document such as this: open-ness in terms of freely available enabled this research and is an indication of what can be done within an educational research environment that is committed to collaboration and dissemination of information and insight. Four examples of best practice in OER are explored in this document. They are: Athabasca Open CourseWare from Athabasca University in Canada, OpenLearn initiative from the Open University in the United Kingdom, Otago Polytechnic OER from the Otago Polytechnic in New Zealand, and OpenCourseWare UOC from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalunya) in Spain. Each example follows a similar structure. A rationale for choosing these examples was that these were successful cases of OER adoption at the time of this research. Also, it is believed that these institutions represented a diverse range of educational providers located in different countries and continents. Thus, they also provide a diverse, and so richer, range of insights in relation to the adoption of OER.</p

The arrival of MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses

Summary: Internationally, a number of emerging technologies and associated developments are becoming available that could have far‐reaching effects on the delivery of tertiary education. One of these developments is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The opportunities MOOCs present include the ability for institutions to extend their brand and reach to large international audiences, experiment with innovative pedagogical approaches, an ability to offer niche provision at scale, and a potential reduction of costs. Its challenges and risks include that they are not widely recognised as formal qualifications, the absence of an established business model, and their pedagogical approaches. We have developed this paper as the start of a conversation between and among government agencies, institutions, employers and learners on the appropriate policy settings and ways to support the introduction of these emerging technologies in the delivery of tertiary education. This paper also supports the 2014 Innovations in Tertiary Education Delivery Summit, being held in Auckland on 5 and 6 June 2014, which looks at the future of tertiary education and the role of technology in it

UNDERSTANDING HOW FARMERS LEARN

SUMMARY Changing the behaviour of people is challenging; changing farmer behaviour is possibly even more so. The evidence presented here suggests that a number of widely-used farmer communication methods are poorly thought of by farmers. Information received by farmers from other farmers was regarded as useful, and this information was regarded as being more useful than that from a number of rural professionals. Those wishing to change farmer behaviour need to: invest time to gain trust; involve farmers in the process of learning; use multiple methods to teach and encourage farmers to talk with each other and scientists in a learning community. INTRODUCTION The current New Zealand Government expects the New Zealand scientific community to improve the rate of uptake of new knowledge by businesses and thereby improve the New Zealand economy. Similarly, Centres of Research Excellence funded by the Tertiary Education Commission are expected to show how they will translate new knowledge into improved community benefit, and the recent Primary Growth Partnership granted to Beef + Lamb New Zealand (the farmer-owned industry organisation representing New Zealand&apos;s sheep and beef farmers) aims to improve access to information by farmers. However, the rate at which behaviour change by business owners is driven through the provision of new scientific evidence is variable and this is particularly so in the agricultural sector. Indeed, This paper reports on a pilot farmer learning project and a survey of New Zealand sheep farmer opinion with the intent to show how farmers go about learning new technologies, including how they like to receive information and who farmers perceive as providing useful information

Digital communities: context for leading learning into the future?

In 2011, a robust, on-campus, three-element Community of Practice model consisting of growing community, sharing of practice and building domain knowledge was piloted in a digital learning environment. An interim evaluation of the pilot study revealed that the three-element framework, when used in a digital environment, required a fourth element. This element, which appears to happen incidentally in the face-to-face context, is that of reflecting, reporting and revising. This paper outlines the extension of the pilot study to the national tertiary education context in order to explore the implications for the design, leadership roles, and selection of appropriate technologies to support and sustain digital communities using the four-element model

Human Capital and the Inclusive Economy

This paper draws on recent empirical evidence to look at how human capital policies in New Zealand can achieve "Inclusive Economy" objectives. In particular it looks at evidence on policies that are best to promote growth, and to improve the distribution of well-being; whether they are the same, and the extent to which they involve trade-offs. Compared to other OECD countries, New Zealand appears to have relatively high rates of participation in tertiary education, and at least average performance on measures of achievement amongst school students. Nevertheless, in common with other English speaking countries, it tends to have a relatively wide dispersion of skills both amongst school students and in the working age population. There is some suggestion that New Zealand is not making as much progress as other countries (Australia in particular) in raising skills among the less able, in new generations of school leavers. Taken over all, the paper suggests a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, policies should aim to increase the incidence of world-class tertiary education and research relevant to industry. Given already high levels of public and private investment in tertiary education, this should involve redesign of institutional and funding arrangements, rather than large amounts of extra public resources. Secondly, policies should aim to raise the skills of the less able entering the workforce. Interventions in early childhood and primary schooling are likely to be most effective in the long term - though, given the current large stock of low skilled adults, a continuing search for effective working-age interventions to address this will also be worthwhile.Human capital, education, economic growth, distribution of earnings

Mobile library and staff preparedness

The provision of access to information and effective delivery of information services is central to the role of librarians. Mobile technologies have added another dimension to this role – one that requires new knowledge, skills and competencies to ensure the needs and expectations of users are met. If libraries are to be successful in developing services for mobile technologies, their managers will have to consider two significant staffing issues. Firstly, it is important to understand what knowledge, skills and competencies are needed by staff to enable them to deliver services through mobile technologies, and secondly, to use that understanding to provide support and training for staff in the use of mobile technologies. In order to explore these issues and to contribute to the planning and professional development in the mobile library environment, a survey was undertaken of librarians working in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia and New Zealand