Eric's Blog

Team assignemnt – ACCESSIBILITY AWARENESS TOOLKIT FOR FACULTY

Many thanks to all my team members for your kind help (Vannesa, Shelly, Jean-Pierre)

https://spark.adobe.com/page/sTscX5oQPUUxj/

When it comes to COVID-19 and the consequent moves to distant learning, one of the most important lessons to take away, according to my personal experience, is the significance of conscious insight of leaders of an organization into future trend. Only based on a leader’s insight into unforeseeable conditions, can an organization make plans and response to changes in an orderly and appropriate way. Unfortunately, the first 2 months after the outbreak of the epidemic, my institution were confronted with the lack of practical implementation plan on how to initiate online model for all courses immediately; the supposed plan of digital learning stay applicable on paper to a large extent. Problems regarding this include the insufficient rehearsal and training of instructors, an incompatible learning platform for various tools, and inadequate space and bandwidth to support the operation of multiple courses simultaneously; all these impediments of implementation lead to enormous pressure on participants from platform designers, IT supportive staff and instructors. Based on this lesson, I am convinced that it is the change leadership that plays a key role for organizations to be open to innovation and therefore embrace new challenges – as claimed in the theory of Biech (2007) on getting ready for change, who believe that managing change effectively is the single most important element in organizational success.

According to the readings listed in the unit, the very model that I believe best align with my approach to leading in a digital learning environment is the theory of Lalonde (2011) on ongoing change in reference with an organization’s openness and leading strategy, who argue that an open institution is build by constant change to adapt to revolutionary context and it creates a strategy of continuous learning that embeds in the culture of an organization. Relating this to the inadequate response of my institution to COVID 19, the importance of infusing changing leadership in the culture of a company is once again emphasized. Meanwhile, I will also take some ideas from Biech (2007) about introducing change, one effective option being selecting a change implementation team should early to initiate the change. Given the complex and time-consuming feature of change, an early preparation on action plan, staff and technology is of paramount importance.

As for the role of leadership in managing change, I totally agree with the claim argued by Soderholm (1989) that leadership is the catalyst stimulating innovation and new concepts, who brings new desirable achievements of an organization. Also, it is the entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation embedded leadership that are of particular value to manage change successfully (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

Given the above reflection, it seems to me that the unique challenges in managing change for learning in digital environments is appropriate leadership that can provide profonde insight into the future trend of the environment, and make response to changes in a practical way. As mentioned by Winston (2004), it is leaders who sit behind the driving wheel of organizations; they are the only ones who can provide the quick response needed in the changing environment (Goleman, 2000).

References

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: A model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-11-2013-0215

Biech, E. T. A.-T. T.-. (2007). Thriving through change : a leader’s practical guide to change mastery LK  – https://royalroads.on.worldcat.org/oclc/827944889 (NV-1 o). ASTD Press. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=22651

Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets Results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2).

Lalonde, C. (2011). Managing crises through organisational development: A conceptual framework. Disasters, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01223.x

Soderholm, L. G. (1989). Needed: Engineering Leadership. Design News, 45(13).

Winston, A. W. (2004). Engineering management – A personal perspective. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 51(4). https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2004.836586

[Photograph of Leadership]. (n.d.). https://sixandahalfconsulting.com/blog/we-need-a-better-word-for-leadership/

As for my most admired approach of a leader, it is the reflective leadership that I admire most. With reference to the group rating on Characteristics of Admired Leaders ratings, the tops 3 qualities featuring a good leader in initial rating (competent, Dependable, supportive), from my understanding, all align with the attributes described in reflective leadership. According to Castelli, (2016), a reflective leader can be of paramount value in optimizing the operation and performance of an institute, if he or she possess the needed expertise and knowledge in his or her professional realms. Apart from that, the principle on which the reflective leadership theory is based is another key point that wins my heart, namely the consciousness of behaviors, situations and outcomes that aim to streamline organizational performance (Castelli, 2016).

When it come to the most appropriate leadership approach in the digital environment, I would say both reflective and adaptive leadership seem to be equally effective in leading change. From my perspective, I believe that in the digitalized age, the success of an organization is subjective not only to its intrinsic factors within the organization, but also depends on extrinsic variables in the external environment, whether these be competency of leaders, the goals of a company, or the up-to-minute trends in the market. Based on this, the discussion can than move on to handle questions as to how a qualified leader overcome impediments embedded in both domains – this is where the characteristics of reflective and adaptive leadership have roles to play.

While features of reflective leadership such as self-awareness, raising the self-esteem and confidence levels of followers aim to streamline the performance of the organization, adaptive leadership works to align the goals of an educational institution with the whitewater digital environment that involves various determinants that may impacts leaders (e.g. cultural, societal factors) (Glover et al., 2002).

As for the difference between my leadership ranking results with the findings of other leadership researchers, the feature of Broad Minded is ranked the top 1 on my list, whereas other members in my team give priority to Competency or Dependable. The very reason why I venerate broad mindedness over the other characteristics is also identical to the value of open communication indicated by reflective leadership. From my personal working experiences, it is difficult to expect a leader to be versatile in all aspects, he can always seek for support from followers with different expertise when needed, providing he or she has an open mind to accept different suggestions. Also, the broad mindedness also means the willingness to embrace renovation and accept innovative ideas, which is also the key attribute described in adaptive leadership (Khan, 2017).

 

Finally, for the missing from leadership literature in reference to the digital environment, I will look forward to see more discussion on how to dealing with cultural diversity within an organization, as the Internet has connected leaders with a wider range of followers across the globe, thus leading to more undesired consequences during work.

 

References

Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. In Journal of Management Development (Vol. 35, Issue 2). https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112

Glover, J., Rainwater, K., Jones, G., & Friedman, H. (2002). Adaptive leadership (part two): Four principles for being adaptive LK  – https://royalroads.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5399994983. Organization Development Journal TA  – TT  –, 20(4), 18–38.

Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current higher education: A brief comparison. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 18(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i3.3294

Background

Showcasing critical thinking in English-language writing assignments is a key problem for Chinese students. While teachers have made various attempts to promote critical thinking in new and innovative ways, to date little has changed. This has led to many students being unable to achieve band 7 or higher on their International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test, leaving them unable to attend more prestigious universities.

Problem Statement

The Chinese education system does not encourage students to challenge authority, and as such, Chinese students are reluctant to question existing or generally accepted rules. This can occur within all facets, including families, schools or workplaces – when faced with their parents, teachers or bosses, students will not challenge their ideas or ask questions. This problem can also manifest within students’ academic writing as they often lack critical thinking in written assignments. For example, if you ask Chinese students to give their opinion on the topic “With online learning on the rise, can classroom-based instruction still continue?”, they will focus on comparing the pros and cons of each model; few will provide arguments on the future of classroom-based instruction.

Additionally, Chinese students are taught English-language skills through traditional classroom methods with the use of textbooks to teach theoretical knowledge. This is becoming ineffective as students are often not motivated due to the boring content and a lack of connection to their own context.

As such, our problem statement is that Chinese students need innovative learning content that promotes critical thinking so students can achieve IELTS test scores of band 7 or higher in their English-language writing skills.

The Solution: Digital Storytelling

Our solution proposes to introduce digital storytelling to promote critical thinking within English-language writing assignments of Chinese students. According to Davidhizar and Lonser (2003), using analogies to tell stories about daily life or work is an effective way to capture the interests of students by focusing on life experience and bringing theories to life by putting them in personal scenarios.

Digital storytelling combines traditional ways of telling a story with digital multimedia, including images, audio, and video (Ahmed and Abdel-Hack 2014). As suggested by Yang and Wu (2012), digital storytelling “is becoming a promising transformative technology-supported approach for enhancing learning, including critical thinking skills”.

With inspiration from Ahmed and Abdel-Hack (2014) and Yang and Wu (2012), the following describes the three parts of a typical English-language class for Chinese students that incorporates digital storytelling.

Part 1: Digital Storytelling Video 

Students will watch a short (no more than 5 minutes) video showing a familiar scenario in which students will be assessed through in-class exercises and an at-home written assignment.

Table 1 provides a sample storyboard of a couple going shopping and discussing a potential frivolous purchase with the husband delivering three different arguments against the purchase. Fallacies are also depicted throughout the video, such as the bandwagon fallacy.

Depending on the school’s resources, the video is proposed to be created through a common multimedia format (e.g., PowerPoint, Corel Video Studio) or through a digital storytelling platform (e.g., Smilebox). A transcript of the characters’ dialogue will also be provided.

Table 1: Storyboard sample

Part 2: In-class exercise (individual and group)

At the conclusion of the video, students will be asked to complete a timed in-class exercise where they will provide written answers to a series of questions. The questions are intended to assess whether students’ have achieved the three phases of critical thinking. As suggested by Ahmed and Abdel-Hack (2014), the three phases of critical thinking are: (1) understanding, (2) evaluating, and (3) establishing a position.

Table 2 provides a sample of questions and the phase of critical thinking it addresses.

Table 2: Sample in-class exercise questions

At the end of the timed writing exercise, students’ will get into groups to peer review their answers. As found in Yang and Wu’s (2012) study, including a peer review can help students’ performance by providing interaction among students, leading to improvement in their argument skills.

Before the end of class, the teacher will review the fallacies found in the video as they will feature in the at-home assignment that the teacher will assign.

Part 3: At-home assignment

Students will complete an at-home written assignment requiring them to create their own story. As suggested by Ahmed and Abdel-Hack (2012), when students create their own stories, they can create a plot and characters that emulate their own life, which can help students “to reflect on life and find deep connections with subject-matter”.

The following are two sample topics that students can use for their at-home assignment.

In 250 words, write a story that depicts at least 2 characters, with one agreeing and the other disagreeing with the following statements.

Option 1: As new technology continues to be used in education, some people believe that there is no justification for lectures. 

Option 2: Some people say advertising is negative and should be banned.  

Evaluation of digital storytelling  

The success or failure of introducing digital storytelling would be based on future IELTS test scores. For example, currently in a class of 6 students using the traditional lecture method, usually only 1 out of 6 students use critical thinking in their writing and obtain a score of band 7 or higher.

For the purposes of our solution, adopting a digital storytelling method would be considered a success if at least 4 out of 6 students use critical thinking in their writing and obtain a score of band 7 or higher.

Since digital storytelling has already proven to be successful in other studies (e.g., Yang and Wu’s 2012 study), we are confident that digital storytelling will provide an innovative solution that can be adopted by other English-language teachers and for online courses.

 

References

Ahmed Helwa, Dr.Hasnaa & Abdel-Hack, Dreman. (2014). Using Digital Storytelling and Weblogs Instruction to enhance EFL Narrative Writing and Critical Thinking Skills among EFL Majors at Faculty of Education. Educational Research.

Davidhizar, R., & Lonser, G. (2003). Storytelling as a teaching technique. Nurse Educator, 28(5), 217–21.

Pappas, C. (2013, February 28). 18 Free Digital Storytelling Tools For Teachers And Students. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/18-free-digital-storytelling-tools-for-teachers-and-students

Yang, Y.-T. C., & Wu, W.-C. I. (2012). Digital storytelling for enhancing student academic achievement, critical thinking.; learning motivation: a year-long experimental study. Computers and Education, 59(2), 339–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.12.012

Following are some of the tools I used in my ID design, divided into 3 categories according to the classification proposed by Lachheb & Boling (2018).

Computer-based tools

Hardware (e.g., laptops, projectors, cameras, cables): when preparing for classroom-based courses, I use these tools lecture sessions and recordings to upload online for students reviews.

Instant messaging software: it is a widely used and most effective communication tools in digital environment, making it possible for teachers and students to contact by both asynchronous and synchronous models. Software such as Microsoft teams and WeChat are most frequently used in my design, particularly the latter one, which is a smartphone-based APP that incorporates multi-functions; it also serves as a platform for information publication and transfer.

Tools for mind maps (Mindjet Mindmanager): such tools are particularly practical in my illustrating and explaining problems such as logical reasoning and essay outline. The visual expression makes some hard to understand points easy for young students to follow.

Visual editing software: the most used ones in my design are photoshop and Coral Studio, Unlike students in classrooms, those in digital environment are prone to information in multimedia forms, such as audio and visual recordings which are convenient for them to listen or watch via portable devices. Therefore, professional visual editing software becomes an imperative tool in my design of course materials.

Online classroom platforms (Class-in): besides the core function of classroom, the platform serves as a management system, which provides dataveillance of students’ behaviors and academic performance during their online learning. The data is the reference for my adjusting the content, pedagogies, making the course align with students’ preference.

Searching engines (Google scholar): one of the most used searching tool to search articles, for which I used for my preparing course contents, assignment and other learning activities.

Social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook): I rely on social media as an alternative source to collect information that can be used as supportive materials, particularly the posts in some educators’ profiles offers useful information in both academic materials and methodology.

Analog tools:

Textbooks: they serve the same role as Google scholar, both are the most authoritative information sources of my material preparation.

Stationary (e.g., whiteboards, markers, notebooks): these tools still play a key role in my drafting course contents, sometimes a pen and a notebook work more practical than a laptop.

Methodological tools:

Brainstorm: to ask for other educators’ comments is an essential part in my course design, which helps me realize the blind spots ignored in my original design. The process also provides an opportunity for me to establish a mentality of inquire, as mentioned in the critical instructional design (Morris, 2018).

Feedbacks from students during the process of a course: as mentioned in agile instructional design model, students’ feedbacks are an indicator for designers to reflect on the efficacy of the course, and therefore make improvements accordingly (Bates, 2015).

Empirical knowledge based on my personal experience: such knowledge is personalized but works more practical sometimes than others’ theories or principles – it serves the very basis for the innovation of my design, because of my in-depth understanding of the local context in which certain pedagogies and tools are used, and the real effects these tools relative to my needs.

References

Bates, T. (2015). Chapter 4.7 ‘Agile’ Design: flexible designs for learning. In Teaching in the digital age.

Lachheb, A., & Boling, E. (2018). Design tools in practice: instructional designers report which tools they use and why. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-017-9165-x

Morris, M. (2018). Critical Instructional Design. In An Urgency of Teachers.

In this article, I will analyze two ID models (Agile and Critical ID models) in terms of aspects such as origins, principles, pros and cons, and applications.

The Agile Design is developed by Agile Alliance in 2001, based on the principles of Embracing change to deliver customer value, delivering learning processes and platforms frequently, human centric, technical excellence, and collaboration with business people (Sidky & Arthur, 2008). The assumption of the model is to help knowledge workers to deal with new challenges and conditions in a VUCA environment, which means volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (Adamson, 2012). As for the question how the model fits within the continuum of innovation, the model doesn’t simply impart knowledge or skills to learners, but to teach them the managerial skills to deal with knowledge. Students cultivated in this model will have the ability and critical judgement to search, scrutinize, evaluate legions of resources available online, and then can learn to tackle problems in the real world (Bates, 2015).

The key advantage of agile design is adaptability to different situations in which it operates. It responses instantly to students’ feedbacks during a course and makes adjustment accordingly. The differences between to the agile model and its counterparts is describe as a jazz combo to a big band (Bates, 2015). Another benefit is the accessibility of courses. Agile courses are open to diversified learners rather than registered students, such as training sessions in YouTube available to anyone interested in the topic. Nevertheless, the above benefits can be also considered from a negative angle. One apprehension may be the course content being misguided by students. As mentioned before, the contents are influenced by feedbacks of learners over the course, the discussion during the course might be involved in sensitive topics (e.g. politics, religions, etc.) if not well controlled. To make things worse, the openness to the public online may exert undesired repercussions. One example regarding this is from my personal experience of an open course on different ways of thinking between children China and Canadian. The topic transformed from academic field to political debate when some students introduced the political influence in relation to democracy and autocracy on younger generations. The problem might have been avoided should it be designed in a less agile and open model.

The other ID model analyzed in this article is the Critical Instructional Design, which was proposed by Sean Morris in 2016, the Director of Digital Pedagogy Lab. Rather than an iteration of traditional instructional design based on behaviorism or the ideologies of B. F. Skinner, the principle of the Critical Instructional Design stems from the philosophy of Paulo Freire and its contemporary counterparts, namely Howard Rheingold, Audrey Watters, Henry Giroux, bell hooks, and Jesse Stommel (S. Morris, n.d.).

The target learner in this model are students of all backgrounds, particularly groups such as minority groups (e.g. people of color, aboriginal students), LGBTQ folk, people with disabilities, etc. The model aims to cultivate practical capabilities such as job-related skills and mentality; these qualities are more prioritized in their future roles as an informed member of society (Aronowitz, 2015)

As for the question how the model fit within the continuum of innovation, the model doesn’t iterate the methodologies employed by other instructional designs; Rather, it follows a concept derived from Zen – to have “beginner’s mind” , meaning educators eradicate their stereotype of theories and preferred pedagogies, but explore a new method to re-approach the understanding of teaching, materials, and digital environment.

Its benefits include stimulating innovation of digital pedagogy (not limited to a set of supposed best solutioins), greater freedom to explore alternative pedagogies – it encourage a culture of questioning, which I see ass the key contribution to the understanding of innovation. It helps practitioners go out of their entrenched perception of distant learning and look for new answers. Likewise, the culture of questioning also changes the forms of students’ self-and social recognition, forming a space of translation between the private and the public. Nevertheless, the supposed new possibility may lead to risks caused by uncertainty. One apprehension is about the jeopardy of privacy online, given that the new learning activities will go beyond the surveillance of Learning Management System (LMS) and extend into students’ online life (M. Morris, 2018).

One case of using the Critical model can also be seen from my experience of an online course of Chinese speaking, where my methods align with the Critical design. I let myself go out of the normal way of simply ingraining knowledge into students, thus, but questioning the problems in existing material relative to students’ feedback and adjust content and tools to meet discrete needs of individual student, which is highlighted by the critical design as respect and care for students.

The implications of both models for practice is to transform traditional instructional design to an innovated measures share the same characteristics – to let me question the existing principles based on positivist and empirical knowledge, but to explore alternative strategies to achieve innovation.

References

Adamson, C. (2012) Learning in a VUCA world, Online Educa Berlin News Portal,

November 13

Aronowitz, S. (2015). Against Schooling: For an Education That Matters (1st ed). Routledge.

Bates, T. (2015). Chapter 4.7 ‘Agile’ Design: flexible designs for learning. In Teaching in the digital age.

Kent, B., Mike, B., Arie, B., Alistair, C., Ward, C., Martin, F., James, G., Jim, H., Andrew, H., Ron, J., Jon, K., Brian, M., Robert, M., Steve, M., Ken, S., Jeff, S., & Dave, T. (2001). Manifesto for Agile software development.

Morris, M. (2018). Critical Instructional Design. In An Urgency of Teachers.

Morris, S. (n.d.). www.seanmichaelmorris.com. https://www.seanmichaelmorris.com/about/

Sidky, A., & Arthur, J. D. (2008). Value-driven agile adoption: Improving an organization’s software development approach. SoMeT_08 – The 7th International Conference on Software Methodologies, Tools and Techniques.

While various factors are taken into account when educators select design models according to discrete objectives, I will place emphasis on the following determining factors when selecting an instructional design model. The first thing is reflection of my personal experiences, the pedagogies I used to, thus lifting myself out of personal cognitive limits such as presupposition, entrenched stereotype of education, or any bias based on empiricism beforehand. The second thing is to set up course objectives as a reference point, which is imperative to choose a suitable Instructional Design model that aligns with the desired methodologies, materials and behaviors. Not to be left behind is the needs and learning behaviors of students，which are the basis for the design of course materials and pedagogies (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). The last thing to consider is learning approaches of courses, whether these be digital courses or classroom-based, synchronous or synchronous – it will decide which ID models to use based on their different features.

After the scrutiny of the key considerations beforehand, the next step is to choose the appropriate design model. During the process of design decision, I will follow the Plan, Implement, Evaluate (PIE) model from Newby, Stepich, Lehman, and Russell (1996), which helps focus on the employment of technology in instructional design (Dousay, 2017).

During the design decision process, the role of design models is to move the process to a desired state to meet the requirements of various stakeholders, whether these be students, instructors or institutions. Models is also conducive to the selection or development appropriate operational tools and technology during the design process (Dousay, 2017). By the same token, innovation provides alternative methodologies during the process, introducing uncommon tools or materials that may bring fresh learning outcomes to students.

Of various design models, the one that stands out as especially useful in making decision is the ADDIE paradigm. Its 5 stages clearly identifies learning objectives of the courses, with the design of materials and content, controls the task and workloads for faculty and students, the evaluation of learning outcomes. Apart from a tool that implement instructional design in a highly systematic way, ADDIE also serves to be a management tool that guarantees distant courses at a high standard (Bates, 2019).

References

Bates, A. W. (Tony). (2019). Chapter 4.3 The ADDIE Mode. In Teaching in the digital age (2nd ed.).

Dousay, T. (2017). Chapter 22. Instructional Design Models. In Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology (1st ed.).

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21143

Introduction

The education in the 21^st century is moving in a direction where almost all learning activities are dominated by computational technologies. While people are discussing the ramifications of the digitalized trend in the next decade, I will say that the prospect of education can be considered from a positive perspective with the introduction of big data analytics in both academic and management aspects. This essay will explore the future of education in 2030 in terms of the use of dataveillance of student and its impacts on the improvement of academic activities and learning management.

This essay is consisted of three parts. It first gives a brief background of the current situation of education in 2020s, highlighting the increasingly growing role of e-learning and the importance of digital technology in traditional campus-based learning environment. The background then leads to the key part of the article, which illustrates the employment of big data concept in improving educational practice, divided in two aspects – academic content and learning management. The academic improvement explores the benefits of dataveillance on learning efficacy, and on early identification of students’ problems and designing solutions. At the learning management level, the use of students’ data can be used by technology providers to optimize the design of learning tools and platforms.

Background of The Status Que of Education in 2020s

To predict the scenario of education in 2030, I need to first provide a brief introduction of the status que of education in 2020s – it is the premise of my projection of the prospect of what education will be in the next decade. One of the prominent characteristics featuring the education in 2020s is the combination of brick and mortar schooling and online learning trend. Thanks to the growth of smart devices penetration rate and the Internet, as well as the demand for closing the education gap both in developed and developing countries, e-learning over the past decades has been greater than ever in 2020s. As a result, digital learning is playing the predominant role of the 21st century in both education and adult training fields due to its advantages of low cost, high convenience, and accessibility (Pappas, 2019). This trend can be seen in the Online Education Statistics made by Bastrikin (2020), among a total of 19.7 million students enrolled in degree-granting courses, 6.6 million have chosen distance education/online options, with the majority of distance education students are undergraduates (5.5 million). As for learning behaviors of students, 87% of students reported using smart devices to access online study programs, and 67% complete course work via the Internet. From the perspective of faculty experience, in 2019, 46% of faculty members reported to have taught online courses for credit, in compared to 39% in 2016. The same trend be seen in adult training, with 77% of US companies using online learning In 2017 Elearning,Market Analysis, Trends And Forecasts (2020).

Adding to the point is the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which highlights the importance of distance learning across all sectors of education, from pre-K 12 to tertiary education. The pandemic has necessitated 93% of institutions to constitute policies on remote work for staff, while 43% of schools launch online learning courses.

Given the context, it is safe to predict that the next decade will witness the further employment of digital technology in teaching and management of education. This remainder of the essay aims to illustrate the relationship between new technology and digital learning in terms of several indicators, namely, dataveillance, the use of big data, and relationships between learning and other businesses.

Dataveillance in Studying Students’ Learning Behaviors 

Among these factors mentioned above, the first character featuring 2030 will be the dataveillance using big data to track students’ activities, whether it be academic performance or biometric measurements. In order to establish the relationship between big data and education in 2030, I will first clarify the definition of dataveillance and big data. According to Wikipedia, the term is a portmanteau of data and surveillance, which means the practice of monitoring and collecting online data as well as metadata (“Dataveillance,” 2020), whereas “Big data is a field that treats ways to analyze, systematically extract information from, or otherwise deal with data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data-processing application software” (“Big Data,” 2020). When it comes to education, it means the data produced by students during the learning process, including the data generated as they are taking courses (Dahdouh et al., 2018). For centuries, to discipline students has been one of the prominent tasks of educators. After the introduction of computational techniques, the onus is shifted from the hands of teachers to the intelligent behavior management system in schools (Selwyn et al., 2020), which is defined as ‘code/space’ – a setting where brick-and-mortar spaces are intertwined with software code (Kitchin & Dodge, 2011). This mechanism tracks students’ academic statistics and biometric measurements, translating the student behavior information into digital data in favor of further improvement of educational activity in school and supportive intervention schemes.

At the academic level, firstly, the dataveillance mechanism help detect and solve education problems during the process of learning. Given the data analytics of all facets of students’ progress, whether these be their attendance frequency in specific course, exam marks, the comparison of the time spend on different courses online, teachers can find the areas that need to be fine-tuned, whether these be the setup of curriculum content and period or pedagogical methods. For instance, if statistics indicate that students spend an excessive amount of time to finish a particular course or homework, this probably means that the module needs to be improved in order to make it more suitable for the learners (Dahdouh et al., 2018).

Furthermore, dataveillance can predict learners’ future performances and therefore extent academic support before problems occurs. Thanks to big data analytics of student academic performance, educators can anticipate what difficulties are most frequently encountered by students, and then establish early intervention plan rather than react after difficulties occur. For example, this support can extent as early as to recruitment stage by identifying students who are most likely to struggle academically in their first semesters. Taking this point one step further, of the recruitment per se also benefit from dataveillance, when students behavioral information analytics help recruiters to better understand and predict the preferences of applicants, providing answers to questions as to what prospective applicants concerns more during their application process, what is the main reason they apply to certain schools (Dennis, 2019). As well as fostering academic performance, the analysis of data also contribute to the development of adaptive and customized learning systems (Dahdouh et al., 2018). It will indicate preferences of students and teachers behaviors in their educational activities, such as the most used browsers, the software or apps they use to access resources, etc. Such information will then be feedbacked to companies which design educational software and Learning Management Systems (LMSs), so these educational technology providers can design new or improve existing educational products in a more personalized and customized way that caters to discrete needs of individual users.

Adding to the point is the dataveillance contribute to the student recruitment of schools. According to the report Hudzik (2020), the COVID-19 disruption has resulted in overall shrinkage in the international student enrollments. In the US. For example, in America, available data indicate a 10% revenue shrinkage in 2020 and about 25% by 2021, which means $550–650 billion loss in the following years (Huang et al., 2020; McNichol & Leachman, 2020). This begs a question – what behavioral information can be applied to better recruit and enroll international students? – Again, it is the big data analytics that help recruitment teams understand the preference of prospective applicants during their application. Given the information, recruiters can better understand the key motivator for prospective applicants to apply to a school, or the main reason for their decisions, are used the data as indicators for schools’ branding strategies that evoke resonance with prospective international applicants (Dennis, 2019).

Conclusion 

This article illustrates the future of education in 2030 with the employment of dataveillance and big data. The discussion of the importance data analytics is focused mainly on both academic and recruitment aspects. From the academic level, the collect and analytics of students learning behaviors and biometric information will play an increasingly important role in LMSs, for example by detecting students’ struggle with courses and offering early intervention, and by customizing curriculum design and pedagogy in a more personalized way. Furthermore, data analytics will be shared with educational platforms or product providers, as the basis to fine tune their design of content and service. While the prospect of digital education in 2030 remains lots of uncertainties to debate, I hope this essay can provide some insights into the potential importance of dataveillance and big data in this field.

 

 

 

References

Bastrikin, A. (2020). Online Education Statistics. Education Data. https://educationdata.org/online-education-statistics

Big Data. In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data

Dahdouh, K., Dakkak, A., Oughdir, L., & Messaoudi, F. (2018). Big data for online learning systems. Education and Information Technologies : The Official Journal of the IFIP Technical Committee on Education TA  – TT  –, 23(6), 2783–2800. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-018-9741-3 LK  – https://royalroads.on.worldcat.org/oclc/7858340077

Dataveillance. In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dataveillance

Dennis, M. J. (2019). How to recruit international students in the future. Enrollment Management Report, 23(6), 8–9. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/emt.30574

Elearning,Market Analysis, Trends And Forecasts. (2019). Global Industry Analysts, Inc. https://www.strategyr.com/market-report-e-learning-forecasts-global-industry-analysts-inc.asp

Huang, C.-C., Stone, C., Windham, K., & Beltrán, J. (2020). Putting the Size of the Needed COVID-19 Fiscal Response in Perspective. https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/putting-the-size-of-the-needed-covid-19-fiscal-response-in-perspective

Hudzik, J. K. (2020). Post-COVID Higher Education Internationalization. https://www.nafsa.org/sites/default/files/media/document/trends-insights-september-2020.pdf

Kitchin, R., & Dodge, M. (2011). Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life. MIT Press.

McNichol, E., & Leachman, L. (2020). States Continue to Face Large Shortfalls Due to COVID-19 Effects. https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/states-continue-to-face-large-shortfalls-due-to-covid-19-effects

Pappas, C. (2019). Top 20 eLearning Statistics For 2019 You Need To Know. Elearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/top-elearning-statistics-2019

Selwyn, N., Pangrazio, L., Nemorin, S., & Perrotta, C. (2020). What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2020.1694944

The education in the 21^st century is moving in a direction where almost all learning activities are dominated by computational technologies. While people are discussing the ramifications of the digitalized trend in the next decade, I will say that its ramifications can be considered both positive and negative: it represents something of a philosophical divide about how we view this issue, which is subject to variables such as the complex interplay between education and other businesses, technology development such as the media impacts on learning, the discrete needs of stakeholders(e.g. learners, services and platforms providers, educators, traditional institutions). Given the complexity and uncertainty, I will explore the future of education in 2030 from several aspects based on the recommended reading about the future of education:

I will first compare the pros and cons from the stakeholders’ perspective; for example, the challenges of online learning to traditional institutions, the pros and cons of digitalization of education for both teachers and students, in terms of their academic behaviors, management of student behaviors, and equal educational opportunities for more students. Meanwhile, from the technological perspective, I will explore the media influence on changing learning efficacy, and the benefits of dataveillance in early identification of students’ problems and designing solutions, and the use of students’ data for other researches. Finally, I will predict the future from the business level, discussing the interplay between educational institutions and other businesses in digital context and the impact on education.