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2013: ASCILITE 2013 Conference Proceedings. Electric Dreams

 

 

 

The proceedings of the 2013 ASCILITE Conference

Electric Dreams

H, Carter, M. Gosper, & J. Hedberg (Eds.) Electric Dreams. Proceedings ASCILITE 2013 Sydney.

Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

December 1-4, 2013. 

ASCILITE2013 Conference Website https://ascilite.org/conferences/sydney13/

Published: 30 November 2013

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

  • The design of formative blended assessments in tertiary EFL programs: A case study in Saudi Arabia

    Mansoor S. Almalki, Paul Gruba

    Despite a rise of blended learning approaches in foreign language education programs, little research has examined how such integration of technologies in the classroom affects assessment designs. Any 'electric dreams' that technologies will improve learning remains unproven without clear assessment designs. In this paper, we undertake a qualitative study of formative blended assessments within an English language program at a major Saudi university. Data was gathered through observations, semi-structured interviews and Participatory Design (PD) sessions. Thematic analysis of the data resulted in four emergent themes: definitions, approaches, alignment and requirements. After setting out and discussing the four themes, we conclude our paper with suggestions for further research.

    Read article: The design of formative blended assessments in tertiary EFL programs: A case study in Saudi Arabia

  • Creating engagement and cultivating information literacy skills via Scoop.it

    Amy Antonio, David Tuffley, Neil Martin

    The appropriation of digital content by higher education students reflects a significant change in learning paradigms. The traditional classroom model in which instructors were the sole source of information and knowledge is being replaced by a model that allows learners to collect, share and co-create knowledge. By integrating Scoop.it into the curriculum, this paper explores the potential of Scoop.it for both creating engaging learning experiences and cultivating digital information literacy skills. It will be shown that while Scoop.it facilitates engagement, it was less successful as a tool for improving students' digital information literacy skills.

    Read article: Creating engagement and cultivating information literacy skills via Scoop.it

  • Blended synchronous learning: Patterns and principles for simultaneously engaging co-located and distributed learners

    Matt Bower, Jacqueline Kenney, Barney Dalgarno, Mark J.W. Lee, Gregor E. Kennedy

    This paper presents seven blended synchronous learning designs and articulates principles for implementation as espoused by the teachers who enacted them. Blended synchronous learning approaches use media-rich synchronous technologies to enable remote and face-to-face students to co-participate in the same live classes. A wide range of technologies (video conferencing, web conferencing, virtual worlds), tasks (collaborative evaluation, group questioning, class discussion, problem solving, collaborative design) and levels of student interaction (from lightweight to tightly coupled) were present within the blended synchronous learning designs. The main issues that teachers confronted when teaching blended synchronous lessons were communication issues and issues related to cognitive overload caused by split attention. Key pedagogical principles for enactment as identified by the lead teachers included the need for extensive preparation, clear instructions, composure, flexibility, advance preparation of students and savvy utilisation of support staff. These findings represent initial results from an Office of Learning and Teaching project entitled 'Blended synchronicity: Uniting on-campus and distributed learners using media- rich real-time collaboration tools' (further details available at http://www.blendsync.org/).

    Read article: Blended synchronous learning: Patterns and principles for simultaneously engaging co-located and distributed learners

  • Past, present, future time perspectives and maladaptive cognitive schemas: Associations with student engagement and attrition rates in an online unit of study

    Ben Bullock, Stephen Theiler

    The aim of the current study was to investigate time perspectives and maladaptive cognitive schemas as predictors of students' academic engagement and unit withdrawal. Two hundred and sixteen students studying an online introductory unit in psychology completed an online questionnaire at the start of the unit. Their enrolment status was checked at the end of the unit. The strongest predictors of unit withdrawal were cognitive schemas and time perspectives associated with failure and hedonism. The strongest predictors of academic engagement were cognitive schemas and time perspectives associated with self-control and a focus on future outcomes. Based on these findings, psychological and pedagogical interventions aimed at increasing student engagement and reducing student attrition in online units of study are suggested.

    Read article: Past, present, future time perspectives and maladaptive cognitive schemas: Associations with student engagement and attrition rates in an online unit of study

  • Business student's attitudes to criteria based self- assessment and self-efficacy

    Danny Carroll

    Reducing student passivity and designing reflective skills into tasks contributes to developing student's professional judgment capabilities (Boud, 2000). This study analyses Business student attitudes and practices related to self-efficacy, self-regulation, assessment and self-assessment in two courses where students practiced criteria level self-assessment. A survey instrument was developed and an exploratory factor analysis in both sampled groups showed broad consistency in factor identification and reliability. Both cohorts' evidenced similar presentations related to self- efficacy, positive associations with socially mediated learning and a positive attitude towards developing better professional judgment. Student's confidence in their ability to understand task level requirements and instructions was greater than their confidence in their ability to accurately judge against criteria. A significant number of third year undergraduate students reported they had few opportunities to do self-assessment activities as part of their degree. This highlights the need to better integrate self-assessment practice into our Program design.

    Read article: Business student's attitudes to criteria based self- assessment and self-efficacy

  • Working in Partnership: An authentic professional learning program to promote sustainable curriculum change

    Helen Carter, Elaine Huber

    This paper describes a program that reframes professional development through a partnership model underpinned by an authentic professional learning approach and incorporating elements of design-based research and communities of practice. A secondary underpinning of the program is the development of key skills by the educational design and development group in both project management and evaluation of learning and teaching projects as well as effective online learning design. The outcome sought from the partnership model is to promote sustainable curriculum change through the development of staff capabilities. Using curriculum design projects as the catalyst, the partnership program integrates faculty and centrally based approaches to design solutions to authentic teaching and learning problems. The collaborative nature of the program encourages scholarly dialogues between academic and professional support staff enabling increased output in scholarship of learning and teaching.

    Read article: Working in Partnership: An authentic professional learning program to promote sustainable curriculum change

  • The Introduction of an Advanced Class in Systems Administration at Otago Polytechnic

    Tom Clark

    Systems administration is a common career path for tertiary computing students, but it is difficult to take classes in the topic, especially at more advanced levels. Most of the classes that are available focus on specific tools and practices, often tied to particular vendors' systems. A set of topics around which to build a systems administration curriculum has not been clearly identified. At Otago Polytechnic we have developed a class that builds the specific knowledge and skills required to produce work-ready Systems Administrators.. The staff organised the class around a simulated workplace model rather than a more traditional lecture/lab model. This model emphasises having students perform tasks that are, as nearly as possible, identical to the tasks that they will eventually perform in a workplace. While the first instance of the class was generally successful, some issues, especially with assessment, were noted.

    Read article: The Introduction of an Advanced Class in Systems Administration at Otago Polytechnic

  • Do 21st Century Students Dream of Electric Sheep? : A mobile social media framework for creative pedagogies

    Thomas Cochrane, Andrew Withell

    Students sometimes appear to be 'asleep' and are often updating their Facebook status during seminars and lectures. We argue this is the equivalent of counting electric sheep. Student brainwave activity measured during traditional lectures has been shown to be similar to that while watching television and significantly lower than that exhibited during any form of activity including sleep (Mazur, 2012). Mazur found that introducing interactive activities in lectures significantly increases brain activity. In this paper we explore the potential for mlearning to enhance student interactivity and collaboration both in the classroom and in authentic situated learning contexts. We partnered with Vodafone New Zealand and Auckland Transport to provide our students with an iPad Mini, and 4G connectivity, to enable student-generated research projects. The students' brief was to design an enhanced experience of commuting via public transport in Auckland City. Thus the research investigates how mobile devices can be used enable interactive learning environments.

    Read article: Do 21st Century Students Dream of Electric Sheep? : A mobile social media framework for creative pedagogies

  • Motivation and satisfaction for vocational education students using a video annotation tool

    Meg Colasante, Michael Leedham

    This paper examines the use of a specific contemporary technology in tertiary education that of a video annotation tool, MAT, in four vocational learning cohorts. These students, enrolled in property services and audiovisual technology courses, analysed representations of workplace issues in video. These videos included industry interviews, acted examples, and student-performed role-plays. Student analysis was evidenced-and shared with peers and/or teachers-via electronic annotations anchored to key points within the video media. The findings in this paper focus on the motivation and satisfaction of these vocational students in their video annotation activities using Bekele's (2010) conceptual framework of factors attributing to success in online learning. Overall, students' perceptions of this electronic learning method tended to indicate satisfaction across a range of factors, with clues for improvements in tool and/or learning design support, and that the innovation is worthy of ongoing trial and refining from lessons learnt.

    Read article: Motivation and satisfaction for vocational education students using a video annotation tool

  • Designing Fieldwork with Mobile Devices for Students of the Urban Environment

    Dora Constantinidis, Wally Smith, Shanton Chang, Hannah Lewi, Andrew Saniga, John Sadar

    Fieldwork learning frees students from the usual confines of classroom teaching and allows them to undertake relatively independent exploration and reflection. This paper reports on three case studies of attempts to enhance and support student fieldwork through the use of mobile technologies. The studies were conducted with students of the built environment who accessed either specially customised multi-media self-guided directions or pre-existing downloadable apps. The focus in the paper is the design of mobile-supported field activities. Five dimensions that need to be considered are identified: volume of content delivery; extent of data capture; directedness of the learning activity; extent of student collaboration; and strength of link to assessment.

    Read article: Designing Fieldwork with Mobile Devices for Students of the Urban Environment

  • Student reflections on preference and use of lecture notes and recordings

    Emily J. Cook, Aaron S. Blicblau, Therese Keane

    This study examines feedback from students about the use of Tablet PC technology in material science lectures to help us understand how students use available learning resources and to inform the creation of future materials. Students commented on their preferences for being given full notes or partial notes which were annotated during the lectures and also on how they used notes and recordings in their learning. Students presented conflicting views on which style of note-taking they preferred with a varied range of reasons for their preferences. Feedback indicated that students perceive that live lectures are important and that the distribution of complete notes and recordings were useful as revision aids and if missing a lecture was unavoidable. Suggestions were made that the technology could also be used to produce podcasts of key points and videos of demonstrations performed in lectures.

    Read article: Student reflections on preference and use of lecture notes and recordings

  • Key Attributes of Engagement in a Gamified Learning Environment

    Penny de Byl, James Hooper

    Successful computer games and effective educational environments share many similar key attributes relating to instruction, goals, feedback and interaction. Unfortunately, many educators find it difficult to implement strategies in their curriculum to compete with the engagement of computer games. The recent surge in the popularity of gamification may hold the key and provide a framework by which teachers can implement simple strategies to increase engagement in their classrooms. To contribute to this domain about the affordances of gamification in education, this paper argues that the key attributes of engagement are the same whether they are in an education or game setting. It also extends a previous study that revealed a five dimensional model of gamified curriculum factors and examines each with respect to student engagement. The conclusion is the amount of engagement in the gamified classroom is dependent on the individual student's playfulness and acceptance of innovative and dynamic pedagogies.

    Read article: Key Attributes of Engagement in a Gamified Learning Environment

  • Applied learning in online spaces: Traditional pedagogies informing educational design for today's learners

    Jillian Downing, Jan Herrington

    The challenge to provide engaging, effective learning environments for university students is perhaps greater now than ever before. While the 'anytime, anywhere' online learning environment appeals, students also need a learning environment that encourages and retains their engagement. A new teacher-education program with an explicit focus on applied learning commenced at the University of Tasmania in 2011. The fully online course aims to provide an authentic, engaging environment for the students, who are primarily mature-aged, in-service teachers in TAFE colleges. This paper describes the applied learning design principles created to guide the course development and delivery, and the initial findings of a doctoral study being undertaken to examine their effectiveness. The research aims to provide a set of tested design principles to encourage and support an applied learning approach in online teacher-education courses, and more broadly in higher education.

    Read article: Applied learning in online spaces: Traditional pedagogies informing educational design for today's learners

Showing 1–13 of 130 articles