New Insights
Learning from the Educator’s Perspective: The Lived Experience in Learning of Educators in Accredited Programs in Australia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christine Chinchen
A number of researchers have suggested that the aim of teaching is to create opportunities for learning. However, learning is a complex phenomenon and poorly understood. This study used phenomenography to identify the qualitatively different ways in which educators in accredited programs in VET and HE in Australia perceive and conceive of learning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 educators and their responses analysed using iterative phenomenographic data analysis. The results gained from this study add new insights into learning and the way educators appreciate it in their roles as professional educators, learners, and mentors. By disseminating these new insights, this study further clarifies the phenomenon of learning and aspects that matter when creating opportunities for learning.
Tabula Rasa in Machine Learning and Human Learning
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Seung Hwan Kim
Artificial Intelligence AI, Alphago Zero, starts with Tabula Rasa. Epistemological idea Tabula Rasa, blank slate, means that all most all the human knowledge comes from experience. Through experience, human being accumulates knowledge and data. According to the Behaviorism, experience is S-R (stimuli-response) processing. It reminds us of Pavlov’s dog. Dog has trained with stimuli and response repeatedly and has internalized his behavior. In this Behaviorism idea, human is like to be an animal and a machine. Same as machine, human can be trained with positive reinforcement and positive punishment. Machine Learning is high and cutting edge technology supervised by human. As can be seen in Deep Mind Learning system, Machine Learning surpasses Human Learning in some field. In this new learning environment, human value fluctuates a lot. It leads us to the ontological question "what is human being?" and "human learning is useless or not?" From the questions, we should think again what is difference between Machine Learning and Human Learning? Alphago Zero’s Machine Learning system follows experimental process. It focuses on a posteriori cognitive learning as in Empiricism and Behaviorism.
Two Cups of Empathy?: Reporting on Two Professional Sessions to Build Empathy between Instructors and Students
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Zoë A. Meletis, Melinda Worfolk, Zoe Meletis
Our theoretical framework posits that empathy-building can be a helpful tool for the classroom, since a disjuncture between student experience and instructor understanding can lead to an empathy gap that inhibits good teaching. Our presentation is about two professional development workshops for instructors, facilitated at the 2016 and 2017 University of Northern British Columbia/College of New Caledonia joint Teaching and Learning Conferences. In these workshops, instructors took on the role of students by participating in simulation and role-play activities. In one activity, participants wrote a timed test in a discipline outside their subject area. In another, they alternated taking on a student role and an instructor role in various hypothetical scenarios. After all activities, participants were given the opportunity for individual reflection and group debriefing. After each workshop, participants expressed that the activities had helped them to reflect on their past experiences with students, and to think about ways of increasing their empathy in future dealings with a diverse range of students. Based on the positive responses of the participants in the workshop sessions, we believe that the use of role play/simulation can be a valuable component of professional development for instructors in higher education.
