Reading Time: 2 minutes Like my colleagues, I spent three days at the AECT conference. I had contemplated not going because of mental fatigue. But I decided David Wiley—Chief Academic Officer for Lumen Learning and former president of AECT—may have something interesting to say about AI. As I approached his session, it was standing room only. Attendees filled the seats and others stood in the back and in the doorways. I found a table right outside and put my headphones in and joined the Zoom session from my iPad. I felt a little like Zacchaeus. From the start, the session was different from what Mr. Wiley had originally planned. He…
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AECT Reflection: Haisong Ye on Mental Fatigue and Its Implication in Course Design
Reading Time: 2 minutes Attending a conference was fun but also cognitively demanding. Rob McDole, Jared Pyles, and I attended three full-day sessions at the AECT annual convention in Orlando in October. Every morning after three sessions, I felt I was experiencing mental fatigue. Interestingly, one session I attended was a study conducted by Inan Fetching from Texas Tech University on how course workload and perceived course value would impact students’ mental fatigue. In Fetching’s study, he collected data from student surveys of over 500 online students who enrolled in undergraduate online courses. Among the participants, more than 60% were employed (32% were employed full-time and 30% were employed part-time). A…
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AECT Reflection: Jared Pyles on Quality Assurance Frameworks
Reading Time: 2 minutes Fresh from the AECT conference in Orlando, I find myself swimming in a sea of thoughts and questions surrounding the role of Quality Assurance (QA) frameworks in higher education, such as Quality Matters and OSCQR. We at CTL work with faculty and constantly strive to provide the best learning experience for our students. But as we navigate the complex waters of QA, we’re left wondering: Are these frameworks helping or hindering our efforts? This was a hot topic at AECT this year, and one of the most pressing concerns that was surfaced is whether QA frameworks stifle faculty creativity. Educators value their ability to engage students…