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2023: ASCILITE 2023 Conference Companion Materials

Reviewed abstracts for Pecha Kucha (PK), posters, workshops, and panel sessions for the ASCILITE 2023 Conference held 3-6th December in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

T. Cochrane, V. Narayan, C. Brown, K. MacCallum, E. Bone, C. Deneen, R. Vanderburg, & B. Hurren (Eds.), People, partnerships and pedagogies. Proceedings ASCILITE 2023. Christchurch

Te Pae Conference Center, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Published: 28 November 2023

ASCILITE Conference - Posters

  • An analysis of parental involvement during Zoom-mediated heritage language instruction

    Somayeh Ba Akhlagh, Joshua Matthews

    Linguistic diversity has been increasing rapidly in Australian and New Zealand societies, and according to the most recent census (ABS, 2022) more than one in five Australian households speak a language other than English. Fostering bilingualism is important at all levels of education because it plays a crucial role in identity development (Caldas, 2006) and enhances academic performance (Han, 2012; Lindholm-Leary, 2016; Yurtsever et al., 2023). The home environment is obviously crucial for bilingual development (Mak et al., 2023) but broader community engagement is also needed. With heritage language communities often distributed broadly across contexts such as Australia and New Zealand, technology mediated language learning approaches (e.g., Zoom) hold strong potential in systematic efforts to promote bilingualism. A key element of effective online education is the quality of involvement of stakeholders, and in the case of online heritage language education involving young learners, parental involvement is crucial (El Nokali et al., 2010; Yang et al., 2023). To date, however, the involvement of parents in online heritage language education has not been adequately researched. The current research analyzes the parental involvement of six parent-child dyads during six Zoom-mediated lessons of Farsi as a heritage language. The aim of the research is to systematically describe the way parents interact with their children during these Zoom-mediated lessons and to establish a preliminary taxonomy of these behaviors. Such taxonomies can then be applied as a reference point for longer-term efforts to enhance parent involvement in online heritage language learning programs. The primary data source was the recorded screen videos of six parent-child dyads for six 45-minute online Farsi lessons. Learners’ work samples and parent interviews were also collected as additional data sources. The qualitative study employed various techniques to ensure rigor and reliability such as constant comparison, coding schemes and thematic analysis. These techniques helped researchers to identify recurring categories of parental involvement evident during the entirety of the online lessons. Analysis entailed enumeration and description of the type, frequency and duration of the various parental involvement behaviors that were evident in the videos. Behaviors included binary types, such as physical presence or absence and on-screen facial presence or absence. A range of more complex verbal and nonverbal behaviors were also salient in the data: nodding, gesturing, gaze orientation, screen pointing, reorienting learning materials and devices and so on. Different parents demonstrated varied levels of interaction with three main stakeholders: the facilitator, other parents and the learners. Differences in behaviors evident among the parents enabled a categorization of those who exhibited low, moderate or high levels of involvement with the online lessons. Through analysis of the results and the literature we suggest a preliminary taxonomy of parent involvement behaviors that occurred during online language learning. This model provides a useful reference point for future research, at all levels of education, that seeks to understand the dynamics of stakeholder involvement in complex online learning environments.

    Read article: An analysis of parental involvement during Zoom-mediated heritage language instruction

  • An open educational resource to teach language and culture

    Heejin Chang, Scott Windeatt, Esther Stockwell

    Many studies on teaching language have shown that language and culture are closely related and are best acquired together (Brook, 1968; Brown, 2000; Kramsch, 2020; Kourdis & Zafiri, 2022). In an English language program (ELP), we use a variety of textbooks. These textbooks feature culture as part of the content (e.g., customs and traditions). However, the resources are typically information-focused which directs students to simply compare and contrast the similarities and differences between their own and the target cultures in a traditional way that is insufficient for the complexity of language and culture learning. Educators found that this type of traditional approach runs the risk of oversimplifying the richness and variety of a culture by reducing it to a few salient principles (Stockwell, 2018). Although language teachers have incorporated more culture in their lessons, the major concern is finding effective ways to integrate culture and language to prepare learners to engage and collaborate effectively in a global society by discovering appropriate ways to interact with people from other cultures. In addition, it may be very demanding for them to teach culture or be individually knowledgeable about other cultures to the extent required for a truly holistic English program. The project introduces a reusable technology-enhanced learning resource in the form of an open textbook for use in an English for Academic Purpose programme. This resource aims to facilitate a general reduction in issues such as ethnocentrism, stereotypes, prejudice and similar issues that have a negative effect on intercultural communication?in multicultural language classrooms, and to students’ understanding of their own culture and other cultures through activities which require critical reflections and self-assessment. It consists of three modules and self-assessment tools for using critical reflections and assessing students’ intercultural competence. Each module has main content, practice and performance tasks. Using multimodal resources and materials are provided that make student think, reflect and discuss the main concept of the module. Through these tasks, students are able to learn the main concept of each module regarding cultural knowledge and understand what they learned through the real situation and finally demonstrate awareness of the cultural knowledge in the module. The content will be shaped with technology-integrated materials to utilise the affordance and efficacy of the innovative technology. The challenges posed by the disconnect between traditional teaching materials and a fulsome understanding of culture are met by the affordances of open pedagogy and the inclusion of open educational resources. The student-centred open pedagogy approach positions learners as co-creators of knowledge in the classroom, leveraging a constructivist learning design by providing students with opportunities to share and deeply reflect on lived experience of culture. The open textbook developed for the course provides opportunities for student revision, international peer-review of learning materials, and iterative development across multiple institutions. Furthermore, students enhance the text through web annotation, supporting peer learning. This presentation outlines the transformation of an English language program aimed toward mature understanding of language and culture, enabled by open education, and will be of interest to educators in similar fields, and those planning to implement OER more generally. The project also represents a partnership between the College and the Library, bringing together expertise in open educational practices, and student-centred learning and teaching approaches that result in more opportunities for learner engagement, and accessible, shareable content for the sector.

    Read article: An open educational resource to teach language and culture

  • Leveraging agile and waterfall project management approaches in educational design

    John Davies, Nell Mann, Nhung Nguyen, Nawal Chanane, Sally Eberhard, Jason Cui, Annemie Winters, Kevin Kang , Helen Andreassen

    This poster showcases both agile and waterfall project management principles in educational design, specifically within the Canvas@AUT project. With the ambitious goal of developing 1753 courses in Canvas within a limited timeframe, the project presented significant challenges that demanded a flexible approach. The poster explores the integration of these two distinct project management methodologies and their role in establishing an effective and adaptable educational design practice and timeline. By synergistically combining the strengths of both waterfall and agile project management, this seemingly insurmountable Canvas@AUT project was successfully completed. A waterfall project management approach was employed to provide structure and ensure a systematic progression through the various stages of course development. Each ten-week course development cycle was structured in distinct stages. By adhering to defined milestones and deliverables, the team could effectively monitor progress, manage dependencies, and maintain accountability. The sequential nature of the waterfall approach with its distinct stages facilitated a comprehensive and well-coordinated design process (Gardner et al., 2017; Gawlik-Kobylinska, 2018). These stages provided structure and guidance for learning designers (LDs) in course development, particularly during the initial phase of the project when the LDs were new to their roles. By incorporating agile project management principles, the team embraced iterative approaches, enabling ongoing feedback and adjustment. This facilitated continuous improvement and ensured that evolving requirements and stakeholder feedback were effectively integrated. Agile practices, such as daily stand-up meetings, retrospectives, kanban boards, project Planner board, and weekly working meetings, enhanced adaptive decision-making and collaboration among team members were adopted (Judd & Blair, 2019; López-Alcarria et al., 2019). Technologies, including Microsoft Teams, further supported efficient communication, task tracking, and engagement within the project team. This approach proved invaluable when the entire team was forced to work remotely due to an extended lockdown, allowing for a seamless move to online working. The team was able to meet all the deliverables and complete the project on time in spite of the challenging circumstances. The poster presents the valuable implications for educators, educational designers, and leaders who are embarking on similar initiatives. The integration of agile and waterfall approaches enabled a hybrid approach that brought together the flexibility and responsiveness alongside the structured and milestone-driven framework (Ní Shé et al., 2021; van Rooij, 2022). This combination proved instrumental in overcoming the challenges inherent in a project of this scale, ensuring timely course development and a successful migration to Canvas. This hybrid approach also enabled the project team to achieve a harmonious balance between adaptability and structured progress, ultimately leading to the project's success: the development of 1753 courses within the designated timeframe and under the allocated budget. The principles and strategies that we have employed hold broad relevance for the wider educational community. Educational institutions around the world face similar challenges in transitioning to new learning management systems and enhancing their course offerings. The emphasis on iterative development, stakeholder engagement, and systematic planning can be applied to various educational design contexts that seek to improve course quality and efficiency.

    Read article: Leveraging agile and waterfall project management approaches in educational design

  • Building a new online platform: An Instructional Designer’s Perspective on changing approaches of online learning at a tertiary institution

    Richard Davies, Cecile Ackermann, Jason Reimer, Ha Tran, Erika Herrera, Andrew Baker

    This poster will give insights into the Instructional Designer team's journey in evolving its methods for developing online courses. It will cover the transition from academic support to designing MOOCs on external platforms and developing courses for an in-house Learning Management System. A key aspect is the focus on targeting a different kind of learner moving beyond the traditional university student. The poster will look at the challenges, successes, and lessons learned throughout this transformation, underlining the processes, pedagogical approaches, partnerships involved as well as the challenges yet to come.

    Read article: Building a new online platform: An Instructional Designer’s Perspective on changing approaches of online learning at a tertiary institution

  • Conceptualising the enhancement of professional skills and competencies in information technology students in higher education

    Dimanthinie De Silva, Henk Huijser, Nona Press , Sam Cunningham

    In a constantly evolving industry like IT, one cannot expect things to remain the same in a few years, and the biggest concern in the context of Industry 5.0 is whether technology will replace employment (ISCAN, 2021). Even as IT professionals, every graduate will ask the same question when they enter the industry. The competency development of IT graduates has been discussed and understood as a necessity in many studies (Alavi et al., 2021; Anicic & Buselic, 2021) and a review of job advertisements online shows the changing nature of required competencies. The emphasis is not only on technical knowledge but also on various skills and competencies of the individual (Mariani et al., 2021). However, industry professionals often state they feel that IT graduates lack professional preparation in terms of skills and competencies (Guneri Sahin & Celikkan, 2020; World Economic Forum, 2023). IT teaches students how to utilize, protect, manage, and trade technology to meet needs and enhance people's lives (ACM, 2018); as a result, IT practitioners' skills and competencies are more important than ever today. What is required now may differ significantly from what is required in the future (Gartner, 2022; World Economic Forum, 2019). Therefore, future graduates must be adaptable, and the skills and competencies they acquire must be dynamic and responsive to change. There is a relationship between skill development and pedagogical methods (Virtanen & Tynjälä, 2018). It is increasingly important to link students with industry and allow them to interact in real-life circumstances. Signature Pedagogies (Shulman, 1998), WIL (Lesley et al., 2010), and authentic learning (Herrington & Herrington, 2006) are just a few of the ways that link students to their profession. Group projects, presentations, internships, portfolios, discussions, flipped classrooms, peer review, research, case studies, authentic assessments, and gamification are some of the methods used in classrooms to teach skills such as interpersonal skills, teamwork, ethics, professional responsibility, equity, personal growth, and critical thinking. It is important to investigate whether these methods are the most suitable for developing these dynamic competencies. This research aims to explore the experiences of IT graduates and lecturers with the pedagogical methods utilized, and to investigate how effective they are in developing dynamic professional skills and competencies. The poster presents the proposal for this study. A case study method has been selected as it allows for an investigation of contemporary phenomena in depth within their real-world context (Yin, 2014). A single case (holistic) design was chosen to investigate how teaching, learning, and assessment methods can be used in IT higher education to develop IT professional skills and competencies which are required by industry. Even though the study will take place in a single setting, diverse participants with diverse experiences will be involved in data collection. This will inform the higher education sector about industry expectations and methods for developing these dynamic skills and competencies. Furthermore, it will help students understand the value of professional skills for employability, and the function of teaching, learning, and assessment methods in their educational pathways.

    Read article: Conceptualising the enhancement of professional skills and competencies in information technology students in higher education

  • Learning design principles that cultivate future-oriented students

    Antoinette Gwasira, Anna Stack, Simone Poulsen

    The use of technology-enhanced learning in higher education has increased significantly. While this has led to greater flexibility in delivery and enhanced engagement with students (), it has also placed additional demands on already time-poor educators. Despite the potential benefits, many educators struggle to engage with learning design in a meaningful way, leading to suboptimal student experiences. Despite the prevalence of technology, students are being made to engage with outdated learning strategies and content. This poster shares learning design strategies for time-poor educators to enact in online learning environments to support future-oriented thinking skills of students. Stack and Bound (2021) see future-orientedness as the ability for students to “face future unknowns and new challenges beyond the immediate course/training. The emphasis is on the ability to resolve unfamiliar or non-standard problems. To be able to do this, future-orientedness involves many of what are variously called 21st century skills, or the new ‘top 10 skills’, such as critical thinking, creativity, learning to learn”. Dondi et al. (2021) identified 56 essential skills they think all citizens will need in the future world of work. We will focus on the skills outlined in the cognitive category: critical thinking and mental flexibility. Abrami et al. (2014) in their study outlined two instructional interventions that foster critical thinking skills; the opportunity for dialogue and exposing students to authentic or situated problems particularly when applying problem solving and role-playing methods. Li et al. (2022) in their paper concluded the following: connecting students with resources and facilitating interaction, technology significantly impacts the fluency and flexibility dimensions of creativity. Flexible learning time, cumulative learning processes, and problem-based activities promote the ongoing development of creative behaviours, enhancing fluency, originality, and elaboration in different dimensions of creativity. We will use the 4 domains of the Technology Enhanced Learning Accreditation Standards (TELAS) (2023) framework to outline future-oriented learning design strategies taken from our experience in supporting learning and teaching: Online learning environment Using interactive elements, such as H5P (an open-source JavaScript content collaboration framework), provides multiple perspectives on single issues in an engaging way. Multiple viewpoints for a complex situation or case study can help students evaluate and compare perspectives and provides exposure to multiple points of view. Learner support Providing content in multiple modes and with compelling ‘teacher talk’ to explain what content is there, how they should engage with the content they’re provided and why. Explicitly calling out transferrable skills and capabilities covered in a subject or assessment. Learning and assessment tasks Authentic assessments, especially project briefs provided by industry, give students a chance to respond to authentic, complex, and integrated assessments relevant to their future profession. Providing wicked problems help students to be familiar with and confident in ambiguous settings and encourages lateral thinking. Learning resources Use of techniques such as Socratic and open-ended questioning to have students research some of their own learning. You don’t have to provide all of the answers! It is not about providing all of the knowledge to students, but in supporting their ability to think critically and ask the right questions to find the right information. This future-orients students to be able to problem solve and critically interrogate new and changing information.

    Read article: Learning design principles that cultivate future-oriented students

  • Re-imagining women’s leadership in the third-space

    Meredith Hinze, Benedicte Rokvic, Oriel Kelly, Scarlett Whitechurch, Miriam Bennett

    The role of the third space woman leader is a blurry one (Denney, 2021). While making a difference for students is at the heart of our work, creating and leading teams in a direction often not of our choosing and from a position that crosses many boundaries is a challenge and is often invisible or unrecognized (Tay, Huijser, Dart, & Cathcart, 2023). No two third space women leaders arrived in this role by the same path, but all have a diverse range of skills and personal attributes to draw upon – formal qualifications, teaching experience, technical skills and experience, growth mindsets, resilience, flexibility, creativity and not afraid of change. Yet there is no model of leadership that encapsulates this eclectic range of personal expertise which enables us to work with a diverse range of people and varying digital fluencies in the tertiary teaching and learning space. We therefore propose a new model of leadership for women working in professional staff third or liminal space roles (Loftus, 2018). A model which moves away from Servant Leadership (Smith, 2005), one of invisibility, nudging, persuading, to a more visible form of leadership - leading change from the front as well as alongside others in partnerships. A coaching and leadership style which empowers others and ourselves by flipping perceived weaknesses (no PhD, casual contracts, imposter syndrome, inability to articulate our own worth) highlights our strengths (our passion, our empathy, our problem solving ability, our practical and technical skills), diminishes the threats (seen as a support or an admin role in the rapidly changing digital landscape) and raises the importance and credibility (Kouzes & Posner, 2007) of the role and the work that we do promoting and enhancing digital pedagogy in higher education. It is precisely the work undertaken as third space professionals: implementing strategy as agents of change, working effectively with diverse people and disciplines, that develops the skills required to be leaders in higher education today (Denney, 2022, pp11; Pontefract, 2104 as cited in Loftus, 2018). The proposed model highlights the value we bring to our institutions and pinpoints where we can and should take the lead in designing and supporting digital pedagogy. The model also benefits those women in and aspiring to be in leadership by illustrating that the strengths and opportunities as well as perceived threats and weaknesses of the third space female professional, place us well for contemporary leadership in higher education. This digital poster will be interactive, inviting other women leaders to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and to contribute to our model.

    Read article: Re-imagining women’s leadership in the third-space

  • Evaluating programme-wide course redevelopment within a learning management system

    Cameron Hooson-Smith, Kieran James Williamson

    Introduction: Effective course design within the architecture of a learning management system (LMS) is crucial for achieving high-quality learning outcomes in blended and online courses (Bollinger & Martin, 2021; Spiceland et al., 2015; Vaughan, 2010). Implementing a consistent visual design template across multiple courses can promote student engagement and achievement of learning objectives (Ralston-Berg & Braatz, 2021). Other elements of effective course design include clear instructions, structured learning activities, and effective mechanisms for interaction and feedback (Baldwin et al., 2018; Martin et al., 2021). Method: A comprehensive redesign was conducted of the LMS component of 34 undergraduate course instances (20 blended on-campus courses; 14 online distance courses) across three programmes in the science and health faculties at a New Zealand university. The redesigned template aimed to improve the clarity and ease of navigation to important course information, structure student learning tasks, and provide a foundation for effective course delivery. The initial phase involved creating and testing the template. This was subsequently presented to faculty as a means to cultivate commitment and collaboration among academics, academic support teams, and administrative staff. The template was designed to minimise cognitive load to promote comprehension and retention (Schnotz & Kürschner, 2007). It incorporated evidence-based course components based on principles of effective course design, including detailed and comprehensive information on the course and assessments; weekly modules with clearly stated learning outcomes, task lists, lecture slides and recording links, required readings, tutorial and lab materials; assessment requirements; supplementary materials; and links to available course support (Bollinger & Martin, 2021). While maintaining a standardised visual design, the template was flexible to accommodate the specific needs of individual courses. Results and Discussion: An evaluation of the impact of the redesign project will be conducted. Data sources will include student surveys administered midway through and at the end of each course, as well as coded feedback from academic and support staff. The effect of the redesign on key student and instructor outcomes will be analysed. Based on research on effective blended and online course design, we expect our evaluation will uncover systematic benefits to student experience as measured by perceptions of course organisation and engagement of course material. For instructors, we anticipate that the standardised template will reduce time on administrative activities such as answering student emails, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks. Conclusion: This study aims to provide valuable insights into effective practises for course design that promote student engagement and the achievement of intended learning outcomes. The project aligns with Ascilite 2023 subthemes. The focus on effective course design relates to subtheme 3 on digital pedagogy. Designing an effective online component of blended courses represents a key challenge for educators in a digital world. Additionally, the collaborations between academics, administrators, and support staff reflect subtheme 2 on building deeper partnerships within an institution. By evaluating a programme focused on enhancing blended learning through partnership and pedagogical research, this study will offer critical perspectives on key issues in teaching and learning in a digital world.

    Read article: Evaluating programme-wide course redevelopment within a learning management system

  • Learning analytics with iLearn Insights

    Shamim Joarder

    iLearn Insights is an innovative online application to address the challenge of engaging, motivating and supporting students with automated personalised email for those at risk of failure. It allows academics to identify students who are engaging or otherwise with the Learning Management System (LMS) content, thus allowing early intervention, and ultimately improved retention in units by providing targeted support to a student cohort. In contrast to systems that provide only static data reports, this vendor-independent innovation was built in-house to analyse and visualise student learning data in relation to access patterns, forum activity, learning activity submission and grades to identify a student cohort that needs support, as well as enabling teaching staff to send personalised emails to students on the basis of their level of engagement and/or performance. Feedback has a powerful impact on learning, but students frequently highlight it as an area that can be improved in tertiary education (Dawson and Henderson, 2019). iLearn Insights provides graphical representation of LMS data that enables visual personalised feedback to students. Within three mouse clicks, academic staff can trigger a range of automated communications to commend high-achieving students, offer additional assistance to lower performing students or to recapture disengaged students. These emails can be a targeted to a group of students and configured by the unit convenor to contain motivating information including the top five resources accessed by classmates; a student’s mark in comparison to the class average; number or percentage of students that have already submitted an assignment; clickable links; and support resources for students falling behind. ILearn Insights was developed based on four principals of learning analytics design knowledge: integration, agency, reference frame and dialogue (Wise, 2014). It has been observed that targeted visual feedback with clickable links is the most effective way to engage students quickly.?The positive impact of iLearn Insights is demonstrated by its rapid uptake by teaching staff across Macquarie University. When it launched in Session 1, 2020, after 18 months of piloting, there were 478 users across 763 units (subjects) who sent 125334 targeted personalised emails. In Session 1, 2023 iLearn Insights was used by approximately 808 users across 40 departments and learning support areas and 1237 units, sending over 316576 targeted emails to encourage students to engage with learning activities or offer support. That represents an increase of 169% of users, 162% of units and 253% of emails in three years. These personalised email exchanges have led to enhanced student engagement, which is critical for student success (Kahu and Nelson, 2018; De Villiers and Werner, 2018; McClenney et al, 2012; Klem and Connell, 2004).

    Read article: Learning analytics with iLearn Insights

  • Investigating learning designers’ perceptions of student cognitive engagement in online learning

    Polly Lai, Fiona Stroud, Angela Paladino, Nikola Kalamir

    Online learning has rapidly grown internationally in Higher Education due to advanced digital technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it offers flexibility and convenience for students. According to Meyer (2014), student engagement has a positive relationship with student satisfaction, persistence and academic performance, particularly in online learning environments. This pilot study aims to investigate how learning designers perceive students' cognitive engagement in online learning to inform the design and creation of online tasks and activities that foster these behaviours. Eight learning designers from two Australian universities participated in semi-structured interviews. They were asked three sets of questions in relation to students’ cognitive engagement during three types of interactions (Moore, 1989) – learner-to-teacher, learner-to-learner and learner-to-content interactions in online learning. Research indicates that these interactions foster student engagement in online learning environments (Bolliger & Martin, 2018; Kennedy, 2020; Martin & Bolliger, 2018). Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2012) was used to analyse the semi-structured interview transcripts. The data revealed three principal themes: (1) learning design considerations at the unit design and activity levels, (2) student learning footprints in an LMS and their artefacts, and (3) teachers’ and students’ preparedness prior to and during the units and virtual classes. First, eight design considerations were suggested by learning designers to create effective and engaging online learning environments. These design considerations were broad-ranging and encompassed the type of pedagogical strategies, the learning environment, content structure and concept checks to improve cognitive engagement. Furthermore, most of them tended to believe that interactive and collaborative activities could foster cognitive engagement in online learning. Second, the students’ learning footprint and their artefacts relate to their qualitative or quantitative contribution during the learning process. In this study, the student learning footprint includes the relevance of responses and individual student’s analytics in LMS (e.g., the number of clicks in LMS, the time spent watching videos, etc). It was not decisive which, if any of these, would provide better engagement, but both were suggested by learning designers as indicative of cognitive engagement. Finally, an unexpected descriptor for cognitive engagement, but a reasonably common suggestion from learning designers was that the preparedness of students and teachers was a factor that could impact the cognitive engagement of students. This included whether students had sufficient underpinning knowledge, prior experience of the subject or so much prior knowledge that they disengaged from “too simple” content and concepts. The preparedness of teachers extended to the clarity of instruction, whether they knew the intention of what they were teaching, and whether students were aware of where this was taking them. In future studies, we intend to explore how university teachers and students perceive cognitive engagement while preparing and during online teaching and learning and the correlations between the perceptions of learning designers, teachers and students. We hope the final findings can shape the teaching and learning process in Australian universities to provide an effective and engaging learning experience for students.

    Read article: Investigating learning designers’ perceptions of student cognitive engagement in online learning

  • Multimodal teaching via gamified practical activities – The Virtual Scientist software: Bridging the gap in science education

    Stephan Levonis, Stephanie Schweiker

    In the realm of science education, the utilization of technology has emerged as a powerful tool to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. This abstract introduces "The Virtual Scientist," an interactive website developed by our team, which enables students to conduct virtual experiments in a 360-degree virtual laboratory. The software employs gamified practical activities and interactive videos to provide students with a realistic laboratory experience, even in remote learning situations. The primary aim of The Virtual Scientist is to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, catering to high school and university students. Additionally, the software is being expanded to accommodate preschool and primary school students, offering age-appropriate virtual experiments. Notably, this innovative platform has gained recognition on a global scale, being adopted by educators worldwide. (Tauber et al, 2022) Recognizing the limitations faced by schools in remote and regional areas lacking laboratory facilities, the team behind The Virtual Scientist embarked on a project to develop laboratory experiments aligned with the Queensland syllabus for senior science. The objective is to provide regional and disadvantaged students with access to these resources, allowing them to complete their mandatory experiments through the website (Levonis et al, 2020). By eliminating geographical constraints, this project aims to provide equal opportunities for all students, regardless of their location. Looking ahead, the team envisions expanding The Virtual Scientist to cater to a broader range of scientific disciplines. The Virtual Scientist represents an Innovative and transformative approach to science education. By leveraging gamified practical activities and interactive videos (Deterding et al, 2011), this virtual laboratory overcomes the limitations of traditional classrooms, particularly for students in remote or disadvantaged areas. The success and recognition of this platform attest to its potential to revolutionize science education globally, empowering students to engage in practical experimentation and fostering a passion for scientific inquiry. The innovative work behind "The Virtual Scientist" has received notable recognition. The authors have been honored with the prestigious AAUT National Teaching Citation Award Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning and the RSC Horizon Education international award. These awards underscore the exceptional contributions of "The Virtual Scientist" to science education and its impact on student learning.

    Read article: Multimodal teaching via gamified practical activities – The Virtual Scientist software: Bridging the gap in science education

  • Unleashing the power of gen-AI for digital education development

    Richard McInnes, Mark Carandang, Ajay Kulkarni

    Teaching and learning is being transformed by Generative Artificial Intelligence (gen-AI). Gen-AI in the form of tools such as Midjourney and ChatGPT provide opportunities for novel partnerships between human and non-human actors in the field of education. Unlike previous technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, which encountered barriers due to their high costs, complexity, and demanding implementation processes, gen-AI has the potential to more broadly reshape digital pedagogy with its low cost, accessibility, and ease of adoption. In Higher Education, the initial attention on gen-AI was driven by a focus on students utilising AI-text generators in assessments (Rudolph et al., 2023). Yet, for course design and development gen-AI-human partnerships have the potential to yield results that surpass the creativity, originality, and efficiency of individual efforts (Halaweh, 2023). We already have a research base about how human actors collaborate when designing and developing courses to create exceptional student experiences (Chen & Carliner, 2020), but what is possible with the addition of non-human actors? In what way will human-AI partnerships enhance the existing ways that we design and develop courses and programs? Emerging case studies around the use of gen-AI for course design and development shed light on the possibilities as well as the risks involved in these partnerships (Airey et al., 2023). But when this is implemented in practice, what are the possible outcomes? Focusing on the theme of Digital Pedagogy this poster presentation will share examples of how the power of gen-AI has been unleashed for digital education development. Within our context as third-space professionals, we work with academic staff to rapidly develop micro-credentials for a global audience. In this work, we have integrated gen-AI as a non-human partner to help us generate efficiencies in our work and enhance the quality of the courses we output. This poster presentation will share innovative practical examples of how digital educational developers have utilised the affordances of text-based, image-based, and coding-based gen-AI to create artefacts such as interactive learning content and enhanced visuals to support learning. These examples demonstrate how human-non-human partnerships can be leveraged to maximise the human ‘value add’ while gaining time and resource efficiencies in the implementation of digital pedagogies. The examples are unpacked as part of the digital poster to show the ‘behind the scenes’ of how they were created in partnership with gen-AI. Finally, this poster will share the development of sustainable prompts that can be reused in different contexts, thereby further capitalising on the affordances of gen-AI. Due to the recent emergence of gen-AI in teaching and learning, case studies such as this one, are crucial in revealing how we incorporate gen-AI, providing transparency in pedagogical decisions, making them replicable, and open to critical scholarly discussion. As such, the aim of this poster presentation is to explore how gen-AI has been implemented in a way that provides conference delegates with practical examples to engage with and discuss.

    Read article: Unleashing the power of gen-AI for digital education development

  • Generating personalised profiles of student engagement to predict student performance and support student learning using LMS data

    Ari Pinar

    With the rising popularity of delivering educational content in the online space, this study set out to better understand how students are increasingly engaging with Learning Management Systems (LMSs) for their learning (Gupta, Muralidharan, & Raghavan, 2021; Henrie, Halverson, & Graham, 2018; Conijn, Snijders, Kleingeld, & Matzat, 2017). A data mining approach was used to investigate whether student activity data from LMSs could be used, first in generating profiles of student engagement and, second, in predicting student academic performance (Romero & Ventura, 2013; Tempelaar, Rienties, & Giesbers, 2015; Conijn et al., 2017). LMS activity data was collected throughout a semester for a cohort of undergraduate students (N=534) enrolled in a biomedical science subject. This activity data comprised of total views and downloads of lecture recordings and average time spent viewing lecture recordings, total number of page clicks, total number of LMS course and content page clicks (e.g., lecture lessons), total number of discussion forum posts and views, and total number of formative quiz attempts and reviews (Wang, Chen, & Anderson, 2019; Conijn et al., 2017). K-means cluster analysis was performed to generate profiles of student engagement using this digital LMS data. Measures of student activity derived from this digital LMS data were used to predict academic performance (students' final unit totals), using linear regression and ANOVA. We demonstrate the utility of LMS log data in constructing 'profiles' of student engagement, and in establishing predictors of academic performance. In line with existing literature, average time spent viewing lecture recordings was determined to be a significant predictor of academic performance. Clustering analyses revealed three distinct clusters, or ‘profiles’ of student engagement, each representing key differences in student engagement activity, with greater homogeneity in student engagement behaviour within clusters, and greater heterogeneity across clusters. The current findings provide valuable insights on how our students are increasingly engaging with LMSs for their learning. As delivery of education towards the online space continues to gain momentum, evidence-based approaches such as those utilized in this study will help inform and enhance teaching practices (Jovanovi?, Gaševi?, Pardo, & Dawson, 2020; Ullmann, Wild, & Scott, 2018; Conijn et al., 2017). A better understanding of how students are differentially engaging with LMSs will also help support the development of teaching resources that more closely mirror and complement online student learning behaviors (Dyckhoff, Zielke, Bültmann, Chatti, & Schroeder, 2013; Conijn et al., 2017).

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