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2015: ASCILITE 2015 Conference Proceedings: Globally connected, digitally enabled

 

 

 

 

The proceedings of the 2015 ASCILITE Conference: Globally connected, digitally enabled

T. Reiners, B.R. von Konsky, D. Gibson, V. Chang, L. Irving, & K. Clarke (Eds.)

Globally connected, digitally enabled. Proceedings ASCILITE 2015 Perth

Curtin University, Perth, Australia

November 29 - December 2, 2015

ASCILITE2015 Conference Website https://2015conference.ascilite.org/

Published: 27 November 2015

ASCILITE Conference - Concise Papers

  • The ethical considerations of using social media in educational environments

    Leanne Cameron, Miriam Tanti, Kim Mahoney

    Students in an undergraduate pre-service teacher education course were asked to utilise Twitter to access the professional educational community. Their tweets were to be used to promote the sharing of educational resources and establish a local supportive community of practice, to keep others informed of their teaching experiences and provide a vehicle for support and advice, both inside and outside the university. The ethical issues in relation to the use of social media in educational environments were wide-reaching and complex. This paper reports on a pilot study that begins an investigation on the practices of university students using social media in their studies. The ultimate aim of the project is to develop workable guidelines on the ethical use and practice of social media use in university education.

    Read article: The ethical considerations of using social media in educational environments

  • TPACK Framework: Implications for Teacher Education

    Chris Campbell, Aisha Al-Harthi, Arafeh Karimi

    With the advent ubiquitous computing, cloud-based content creation is becoming more popular and readily accessible. In Malaysia the government equipped 10,000 public primary and secondary schools with 4G Internet connectivity and a cloud-based learning environment called the Frog VLE. This study investigated the alignment and compatibility the TPACK framework to teachers’ learning designs. A rubric was developed, based on the TPACK framework, and after feedback from an expert panel, 152 cloud-based sites were analysed. Results show that most areas were somewhat aligned with the TPACK framework while three areas were fully aligned and one area was minimally aligned. The fully aligned areas were use of links, design navigation flow and design functionality. The minimally aligned area was interactivity. This research finding can potentially inform teacher education as if specifically taught this can empower teachers when creating cloud-based content.

    Read article: TPACK Framework: Implications for Teacher Education

  • The Next Wave of Learning with Humanoid Robot: Learning Innovation Design starts with “Hello NAO”

    Xin Ni Chua, Esyin Chew

    Today, humanoid robotics research is a growing field and humanoid robots are now increasingly being used in the area such as education, hospitality and healthcare. They are expected to serve as humans’ daily companion and personal assistant in including in education. On the other hand, students may complain that the classroom today is boring and not engaging. Students are using mobile devices extensively but the traditional lectures remain PowerPoints. Is there an educational synergy for integrating a humanoid robot in daily teaching? Responding to the needs, the paper reports a work-in progress pilot study that designs the learning innovation with humanoid robot, NAO. Initial experiences are reported. Rule-based reasoning and progress test design are developed and recommended. The educational program is developed based on the design and pilot tested at the learning and teaching at Monash University Malaysia. Future work and recommendation are discussed in innovative technology engaging learning.

    Read article: The Next Wave of Learning with Humanoid Robot: Learning Innovation Design starts with “Hello NAO”

  • Loop: A learning analytics tool to provide teachers with useful data visualisations

    Linda Corrin, Gregor Kennedy, Paula de Barba, Aneesha Bakharia, Lori Lockyer, Dragan Gasevic, David Williams, Shane Dawson, Scott Copeland

    One of the great promises of learning analytics is the ability of digital systems to generate meaningful data about students’ learning interactions that can be returned to teachers. If provided in appropriate and timely ways, such data could be used by teachers to inform their current and future teaching practice. In this paper we showcase the learning analytics tool, Loop, which has been developed as part of an Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching project. The project aimed to develop ways to deliver learning analytics data to academics in a meaningful way to support the enhancement of teaching and learning practice. In this paper elements of the tool will be described. The paper concludes with an outline of the next steps for the project including the evaluation of the effectiveness of the tool.

    Read article: Loop: A learning analytics tool to provide teachers with useful data visualisations

  • Teaching Complex Theoretical Multi-Step Problems in ICT Networking through 3D Printing and Augmented Reality

    Michael Cowling, James Birt

    This paper presents a pilot study rationale and research methodology using a mixed media visualisation (3D printing and Augmented Reality simulation) learning intervention to help students in an ICT degree represent theoretical complex multi-step problems without a corresponding real world physical analog model. This is important because these concepts are difficult to visualise without a corresponding mental model. The proposed intervention uses an augmented reality application programmed with free commercially available tools, tested through an action research methodology, to evaluate the effectiveness of the mixed media visualisation techniques to teach ICT students networking. Specifically, 3D models of network equipment will be placed in a field and then the augmented reality app can be used to observe packet traversal and routing between the different devices as data travels from the source to the destination. Outcomes are expected to be an overall improvement in final skill level for all students.

    Read article: Teaching Complex Theoretical Multi-Step Problems in ICT Networking through 3D Printing and Augmented Reality

  • An investigation of blended learning experiences of first-year Chinese transnational program students at an Australian university

    Kun Dai

    The extensive uses of information and communication technologies (ICT) in higher education have reformed the traditional classroom-based study mode. Blended learning, the combination of online and offline learning methods, has become an essential teaching and learning strategy for both instructors and students. An increasing number of Chinese students choose to conduct their undergraduate study through China-Australia transnational programs. Due to the differences in teaching and learning styles between Chinese and Australian universities, the perceptions of transnational students on blended learning strategies may impact their study experience and the adaptation to a different environment. Although previous studies have investigated learning experiences and adaptation issues of Chinese students from various perspectives, limited studies have explored the perceptions of Chinese transnational program students on blended learning in their first-year Australian study. This study describes a series of preliminary qualitative findings of these students blended learning experiences, especially the online section, in an Australian university.

    Read article: An investigation of blended learning experiences of first-year Chinese transnational program students at an Australian university

  • A comparison of undergraduate student experiences of assessed versus non-assessed participation in online asynchronous discussion groups: Lessons from a cross disciplinary study in health and sociology

    Tracy Douglas, Carey Mather, Sandra Murray, Louise Earwaker, Allison James, Jane Pittaway, Brady Robards, Susan Salter

    This paper discusses a pilot study investigating perceptions from undergraduate students enrolled in units in which asynchronous online discussion boards were utilised formatively or linked to summative assessment. Of the influences that determine level of student engagement in online discussions, one key factor is whether discussions are assessed. Whilst assessing student discussions does motivate participation, this approach is not always valued by students as they are critical of the value of asynchronous discussion boards to their learning. The type of postings can be an influencing factor in student engagement, with effective facilitation, clear purpose and group participation perceived to be important. Students also viewed discussion boards as a platform in which peer engagement and information sharing occurred. Students who were enrolled in a unit in which discussion postings were assessed demonstrated emerging critical thinking skills. Students strongly indicated discussion boards must be fit-for-purpose and integrated into the curriculum regardless of whether they are assessed or not.

    Read article: A comparison of undergraduate student experiences of assessed versus non-assessed participation in online asynchronous discussion groups: Lessons from a cross disciplinary study in health and sociology

  • Digital Futures research and society: Action, awareness and accountability

    Joanne Doyle, Lisa McDonald, Michael Cuthill, Mike Keppell

    The contemporary Higher Education research environment demands ‘real-world’ impact as a key means of accounting for public sector funding. As such, there is increased pressure on researchers and research institutions to ensure research delivers outcomes for public good. This paper reports on research focused on a Digital Futures collaborative research program. The aim of the research was to explore how researchers and research stakeholders understand research impact. Impact was articulated as ‘making a difference’ however that ‘difference’ was translated by research participants as meaning the tangible impacts relating to quantitative components of research activities. The subtler influences of research impact on society were less well articulated. Results from this research suggest that in the complex world of impact, action, awareness and accountability, as elements of research practice, are key to creating maximum value from knowledge creation initiatives.

    Read article: Digital Futures research and society: Action, awareness and accountability

  • Making the Connection: Allowing access to digital higher education in a correctional environment

    Helen Farley, Sharron Dove, Stephen Seymour, John Macdonald, Catherine Abraham, Chris Lee, Susan Hopkins, Jacinta Cox, Louise Patching

    In most Australian correctional jurisdictions, prisoners are not allowed access to the internet precluding them from participating in higher education online. This paper reports on an Australian government-funded project, Making the Connection, which is taking digital technologies, that don’t require internet access, into correctional centres to enable prisoners to enroll in a suite of pre-tertiary and undergraduate programs. A version of the University of Southern Queensland’s learning management system has been installed onto the education server of participating correctional centres. The second stage of the project will see notebook computers preloaded with course materials, allocated to participating prisoners. At the time of writing, the project has been deployed at eight correctional centres in Queensland and Western Australia, with negotiations underway for further rollout to Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It is expected that the technologies and processes developed for this project will enable the delivery of higher education to other cohorts without access to reliable internet access.

    Read article: Making the Connection: Allowing access to digital higher education in a correctional environment

  • Badging digital pathways of learning

    David Gibson, Kathryn Coleman, Leah Irving

    Educators worldwide are witnessing a change in thinking concerning digital learning, teaching and assessment resources as well as the theories and practices connected to making claims about learning based on digital evidence. These shifts are occurring as three elements have combined to form new digital pathways for learning: 1. Self-organizing online global communities engaged in informal learning activities, 2. A new globally supported mechanism for sharing and managing data, files, images and metadata concerning those activities known as ‘open badges’, and 3. Rapidly changing conceptions of higher education, continuing education, and the boundaries of informal to formal learning. So in addition to learners being on a personal learning journey to fulfill their aspirations for professional growth, higher education institutions world wide are also on learning journeys to modernize and respond to these changes, which have the potential for disruption and transformation of the university’s business model and role in society.

    Read article: Badging digital pathways of learning

  • The Agile Learning Model: Using big data to personalise the acquisition of accounting skills

    Brent Gregory, Matthew Wysel, Sue Gregory

    Big data mirrors the accounting process to the extent that it deals with how we capture, categorise, summarise and report information so that users can make informed decisions. By modelling this process, we can both demonstrate the future of accounting to our students, and build an agile learning environment that identifies for a student their ‘next crucial action’ in the learning process. Presented in this paper is a pilot study.

    Read article: The Agile Learning Model: Using big data to personalise the acquisition of accounting skills

  • PST Online: Preparing pre-service teachers for teaching in virtual schools

    Steve Grono, Yvonne Masters, Sue Gregory

    Improvements in available technologies and an increased popularity of online learning spaces have seen a shift in the dominant ways students engage with formal and informal learning in their day-to-day lives. This is especially true for the distance education experience through the rise in virtual schools. As this shift occurs, it becomes increasingly important to reflect these new changes in curriculum design for pre-service teachers. Increasingly, these pre-service teachers will be engaging with students, not just in the traditional, physical classroom space, but also in online spaces and via distance. These new virtual learning environments require their own separate skillset to be properly navigated by both the learner and teacher to provide meaningful and rich learning experiences. In order to develop resources to facilitate the learning of these skills, current pre-service teachers have identified their own understandings of online learning and their readiness to teach within these new spaces.

    Read article: PST Online: Preparing pre-service teachers for teaching in virtual schools

  • Occupational Medicine Simulation Project

    Aaron Griffiths

    In 2013 the Occupational and Aviation Medicine (OAM) unit of the University of Otago secured a project grant to develop a simulated virtual world environment for students of this unit, specifically those studying occupational medicine as distance learners. The simulation would be employed by facilitated student groups to contextualize occupational data for specific work processes, to re-enact occupational health examinations in the compiling of clinical assessments and to develop a research proposal for assessing health outcomes in these hazard environments. Developmentally, the underlying intent of the project was twofold; firstly, to investigate the virtual elements essential to the creation of an authentic context for learning and secondly, to explore those virtual aspects that might provide a supportive learning environment for the geographically dispersed student body. This paper details the pedagogical and design rationale employed by the author in the pursuit of this intent.

    Read article: Occupational Medicine Simulation Project

Showing 40–52 of 124 articles