Davis, V.L. (2023) WCET Primer for Higher Education: General Brief on Generative AI Boulder, CO: WCET If you are not a member of WCET, I highly recommend this open access primer on Generative AI, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E. The paper provides a brief description of how generative AI works (in layman’s terms), some examples,  […]

The post Two useful briefings on generative AI: and why it is potentially dangerous for public education first appeared on Tony Bates.

This is a post for the many instructors who have asked (especially during the pandemic): ‘But how do you motivate students to learn online?’ Student engagement symposium, Thompson Rivers University The Bob Gaglardi School of Business and Economics at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, yesterday held a Student Engagement Symposium for faculty and staff. […]

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Zawacki-Richter, O. and Jung, I. (2023) Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Learning Singapore: Springer Part IV of this open textbook is on Organization, Leadership and Change, and is the first part of the Meso-level perspective. I have already reviewed Part II, on History, Theory and Research, and Part III on Global Perspectives and Internationalization There are […]

The post Organization, Leadership and Change in Open, Distance and Digital Education: book review, Part 1 first appeared on Tony Bates.

  In 2012 I linked to a Financial Times article that listed the top online business schools worldwide. That link is now dead and anyway, that was 11 years ago. What about now? Financial Times The Financial Times issued rankings in 2022 for 10 online MBAs worldwide, ranked on the following criteria: salary today (equivalent […]

The post What are the ‘top’ online business programs? first appeared on Tony Bates.

Buckingham Shum, S. (2023) Athabasca University – Oppose direct political interference in universities Change.org A petition has been started (already with 230 signatures) on Change.org about the following: On Feb 1, 2023, the AU President Professor Peter Scott was dismissed, without notice and without explanation, at the instigation of the Minister for Advanced Education, Government […]

The post Petition against direct political interference in universities (concerning Athabasca University) first appeared on Tony Bates.

Zawacki-Richter, O. and Jung, I. (2023) Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Learning Singapore: Springer Part III of this open textbook is on Global Perspectives and Internationalization, and is the second part of the Macro-level perspective. I have already reviewed Part II, on History, Theory and Research. There are a total of 13 chapters plus […]

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Well, the gunfight at the Athabasca University corrall is finally over. It was announced a couple of days ago that the university and the government have finally reached agreement on the location of AU staff. A further 30 staff will move to live in or near the town of Athabasca (down from the original government […]

The post Who shot the sheriff? Why the President of Athabasca University has gone – and why it matters first appeared on Tony Bates.

Contact North | Contact Nord is creating a hub on teachonline.ca that pulls together and highlights key applications of AI in higher education, with a focus on practice and practical applications. At the Hub you will be able to find articles, analyses, book reviews, and on-demand webinars on AI and higher education covering: The latest […]

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Eaton, S.E. (2023) The Academic Integrity Technological Arms Race and its Impact on Learning, Teaching, and Assessment Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, Vol. 48, No.2 We are interrupting the lengthy reviews of the Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education to bring you news of a new publication that deals with a highly topical […]

The post How new digital tools are impacting academic integrity first appeared on Tony Bates.

Zawacki-Richter, O. and Jung, I. (2023) The Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education Singapore: Springer Reviews Normally, I would start by introducing you to the contents, in this case the chapters in Section 1 of the book. However, by the time you have read your way through even the briefest descriptions of the 14 […]

The post Review of Introduction and Section 1 (History, Theory and Research) of the Handbook on Open, Distance and Digital Education first appeared on Tony Bates.

First impressions Last week, I published a ‘quick and dirty’ review of the recently published Handbook of Open, Distance, and Digital Education, edited by Olaf Zawacki-Richter and Insung Jung, mainly because I wanted to draw attention to this massive work. The great feature of this book is its free, online access, so you can just […]

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Bates, T. (2023) My five wishes for online learning in 2023, Teachonline.ca January 3. I was asked by Contact North to lay out my five wishes for online learning in 2023. Note these are wishes, not predictions. Indeed, I am not particularly optimistic that any of them will be fulfilled. So as well as repeating here my […]

The post My five wishes for online learning in 2023: and why they ain’t going to happen first appeared on Tony Bates.

Zawacki-Richter, O. and Jung, I (2023) Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education Singapore: Springer Hard copy: US$59.99 + tax, pdf download: free Why this book? This is another in the series of handbooks on open and distance learning, but including this time digital learning as well. It is a massive tome (over 1,400 pages). […]

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Davis, V. (2023) Is AI the New Homework Machine? Understanding AI and Its Impact on Higher Education WCET Frontiers January 5 This is an excellent introduction both to artificial intelligence and its likely impact on teaching in higher education, but also to how large language models such as ChatGPT work. In particular, as well as definitions, Davis […]

The post WCET is taking a deep dive into AI and its impact on higher education: get started! first appeared on Tony Bates.

Soanes-White, T. (2022) Defining and exploring broadband connections and education solutions in Canada’s North Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, Volume 48, No. 4 This is a very interesting article that identifies clearly the challenges of providing digital learning in the (true) north of Canada. The Northwest Territories First it’s important to be clear about […]

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Over the holiday season, lots of people play games such as Scrabble, cards or crossword puzzles. I decided to play with ChatGPT by testing it in areas where I consider myself an expert. (For more about ChatGPT, go to Broom, 2022) I will first of all show you the responses I got from ChatGPT, then I […]

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Yesterday I gave my overview of the main developments in online and distance learning in 2022. Today, I am doing a more personal review of my activity during 2022. This is more for personal accountability, but I thought I would share it with you, just in case it was of interest. Main clients I did […]

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It’s that time of the year to look back and consider the good and the bad of 2022, but first a couple of provisos. This was a year when I actually started to take it easy work wise and concentrated on my golf handicap. This means I haven’t been as engaged with Canadian post-secondary education […]

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For those of you waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the fight between the Alberta government and Athabasca University about relocating most of AU’s staff back into the small town of Athabasca, the fight is now mainly over. A sort of compromise has been agreed, at least for the time being, but not […]

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  Yesterday was World Access to Higher Education Day. (I wanted to do this post yesterday, but couldn’t, for personal reasons.) World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) is a platform to raise global awareness around inequalities in access and success in higher education (HE), and acts as a catalyst for international, regional and local […]

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