Profile

Mike Sharples is Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK and Honorary Visiting Professor at the Centre for Innovation in Higher Education, Anglia Ruskin University. His research involves human-centred design of new technologies and environments for learning. He inaugurated the mLearn conference series and was Founding President of the International Association for Mobile Learning. As Academic Lead for the FutureLearn company, he informed the design of its social learning approach. He leads the nQuire project with the BBC to develop a new platform for inquiry-led learning at scale. He founded the Innovating Pedagogy report series and is author of over 300 papers in the areas of educational technology, science education, human-centred design of personal technologies, artificial intelligence and cognitive science.

Topic: Pedagogy-informed Design of New Educational Technologies

1. What will you be sharing at ASCILITE 2019?

The topic of my talk for ASCILITE 2019 is Pedagogy-informed Design of New Educational Technologies. Higher education is facing a major problem of educating students for a rapidly changing world and for careers that don’t yet exist.

In my talk for ASCILITE 2019, I’ll describe some innovations in teaching and learning informed by new pedagogies such as adaptive, flexible, social and inquiry-led learning and show how these are being implemented in classroom and online at large scale. I’ll give some examples of new types of technology that are informed by new developments in pedagogy.

2. How does Educational Technology enhance teaching and learning?

Educational technology has an important role to play in educating students for the future. But technology alone will not transform education.

However, behind every educational technology, there’s a pedagogy. A theory, and practice of teaching, learning and assessment. And it’s this combination of pedagogy and technology that can lead to important and effective new ways of teaching and learning.

It’s important to teach the fundamentals of a subject. But also to help students learn how to become more adaptive, design-oriented, technology literate and environmentally and socially aware.

I look forward to seeing at ASCILITE 1019 in Singapore.

Preview Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples’s keynote sharing at ASCILITE 2019!

Profile

Dr Koh Hian Chye is currently a Professor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. He serves concurrently as Director of Business Intelligence & Analytics, which is responsible for the implementation of learning analytics in the University, among other things. He has more than thirty years of experience in data analysis and data mining, having served as a statistical/data mining consultant to SMEs, statutory boards, government agencies and large organisations. He has published in international journals and presented at international conferences in various areas in analytics. His main research and teaching interests are in data mining applications in business and education.

Q&A

1. What will you be sharing at ASCILITE 2019?

At ASCILITE 2019, I look forward to sharing how learning analytics and educational data mining have been deployed to augment SUSS students’ learning journey. At the same time, explore how this exciting field continues to drive and disrupt the future of learning globally.

2. What are the top three reasons for data analytics to be just as crucial for education as for the commercial sector?

Firstly, when people think about data mining and analytics, they frequently think about the commercial sector – where data mining and analytics has very much been developed and deployed. They also realise how analytics is necessary for organisations to gain a competitive edge over their competitors; how analytics is necessary to handle the data explosion.

Secondly, there certainly has been a data explosion for a long time now. Think about the volume and variety of data today, as well as the velocity at which they are generated and collected. Think about how much data are generated in a short span of time by a bank, a telco or a supermarket. But how about universities? Do universities also experience a data explosion?

Thirdly, triggered by advancing technology and digitalisation, and the increasing use of blended and online learning, there are volumes of data collected in universities too. Think about the data that universities collect when applicants fill in their application forms, when students interact with the learning management system, and when universities measure their performance. What can we do with the data?

3. How do these massive data shape the future of education?

Universities are set up to facilitate learning. So, educational data mining and learning analytics play a critical role to help us transform data into information that supports strategic decision making. In universities, our decisions focus primarily on learning – whether it is curriculum and content development, delivery of seminars, or provision of student support.

In the keynote address, I shall share how SUSS analyses and uses data to enhance learning and create a positive learning experience. What infrastructure we have invested in and what are the challenges we face; what we can do with the data that we have collected to strengthen student support and improve learning experience. I hope that these will benefit universities and faculty who are keen to embark on a learning analytics journey, which is becoming increasingly prevalent in education.

I look forward to seeing you at ASCILITE 2019.

Preview Professor Koh Hian Chye’s keynote sharing at ASCILITE 2019!