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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

  • Action-based Learning Assessment Method (ALAM) in Virtual Training Environments

    Ali Fardinpour, Torsten Reiners, Heinz Dreher

    Specialised and high priced simulators for surgical training, chemical labs, and flight training can provide real-world simulation in a safe and risk-free environment, but they are not accessible for the broader community due to costs for technology and availability of experts. Thus, training scenarios shifted to virtual worlds providing access for everyone interested in acquiring skills and knowledge at educational or professional institutions. Even in this context, we still expect a detailed formative feedback as would have been provided by a human trainer during the face to face process. Whilst the literature is focusing on goal-oriented assessment, it neglects the performed actions. In this paper, we present the Action-based Learning Assessment Method (ALAM) that analyses the action-sequences of the learners according to reference solutions by experts and automated formative feedback.

    Read article: Action-based Learning Assessment Method (ALAM) in Virtual Training Environments

  • Virtual worlds in Australian and New Zealand higher education: Remembering the past, understanding the present and imagining the future

    Sue Gregory, Ali Fardinpour, Lisa Jacka, Scott Grant, Jay Jay Jegathesan, Frederick Stokes-Thompson, Chris Campbell, Swee-Kin Loke, Ning Gu, Anton Bogdanovych, Caroline Steel, Lindy McKeown Orwin, Brent Gregory, Mathew Hillier, Des Butler, Merle Hearns, David Ellis, Belma Gaukrodger, Xiangyu Wang, Sheila Scutter, Stefan Schutt, Tomas Trescak, Penny Neuendorf, Tom Kerr, Torsten Reiners, Mark J. W. Lee, David Holloway, Kim Flintoff, Marcus McDonald, Jason Zagami, Jamie Garcia Salinas, Christine Newman, Helen Farley, Simeon Simoff, Matt Bower, Ian Warren, Denise Wood, Dale Linegar, Ross Brown, Angela Giovanangeli, Eimear Muir-Cochrane, Ian Larson, Charlynn Miller, Vicki Knox, Grant Meredith, Karen Le Rossignol, Arin Basu, Shane Mathews, Yvonne Masters, Clare Atkins, Andrew Cram, Michael Jacobson

    3D virtual reality, including the current generation of multi-user virtual worlds, has had a long history of use in education and training, and it experienced a surge of renewed interest with the advent of Second Life in 2003. What followed shortly after were several years marked by considerable hype around the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning and research in higher education. For the moment, uptake of the technology seems to have plateaued, with academics either maintaining the status quo and continuing to use virtual worlds as they have previously done or choosing to opt out altogether. This paper presents a brief review of the use of virtual worlds in the Australian and New Zealand higher education sector in the past and reports on its use in the sector at the present time, based on input from members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. It then adopts a forward-looking perspective amid the current climate of uncertainty, musing on future directions and offering suggestions for potential new applications in light of recent technological developments and innovations in the area.

    Read article: Virtual worlds in Australian and New Zealand higher education: Remembering the past, understanding the present and imagining the future

  • Developing social media training resources for AusAID scholarship students

    Paul Gruba, Mat Bettinson, Jean Mulder, Gabrielle Grigg

    Potentially, effective social media use has a valuable role to play in addressing a number of concerns for newly arrived international students including feelings of isolation, access to information and participation in community. The aim of this paper is to report on a project to develop social media training resources for AusAID students from developing countries. The project was delivered as part of a six-week, 100-hour introductory academic preparation program. Using an action research approach, we conducted three stages of materials production, data gathering and self-reflection. In our overall analysis of the project, we identified resistance to participation, information overload and technological impediments as central barriers to full integration of social media training. We conclude with suggestions for improvement and research in the development and integration of social media training resources.

    Read article: Developing social media training resources for AusAID scholarship students

  • Accessible, reusable and participatory: Initiating open education practices

    John Hannon, Donna Bisset, Leigh Blackall, Simon Huggard, Ruth Jelley, Mungo Jones, Annabel Orchard, Roderick Sadler

    How does a university get started with open educational resources (OER)? What institutional tensions and conflicts are likely to be brought into play during this process? The promise of OER for higher education offers more than unrestricted access to high quality knowledge, it implies open and transparent sharing and development of knowledge, that is, integrating the disparate parts of the university through the shared activities of open education practices (OEP). In this paper we investigate how a range of disparate participants organised to establish initial OEP processes in an Australian university in order to embed an open education agenda: setting up repositories and processes for open publishing of educational design, and negotiating agendas of marketing and openness. We attempt to identify the groundwork at the meso-level of the organisation in order to establish OEP; in other words, to identify what comes before any actual resources are produced or made available.

    Read article: Accessible, reusable and participatory: Initiating open education practices

  • Arguing again for e-exams in high stakes examinations

    Mathew Hillier, Andrew Fluck

    This paper presents the argument that e-exams are needed and long overdue for use in high stakes examinations in the tertiary sector. Evidence is drawn from the educational and higher education literature to establish that the environment is ripe for the adoption of e-exams. A set of requirements for a suitable approach to exams is established that takes into consideration the needs of students, the pedagogical concerns of academics, while being sustainable and scalable. An outline of the features such a system will need in order to meet these requirements is discussed, along with a program to implement and trial such a system at a large university.

    Read article: Arguing again for e-exams in high stakes examinations

  • Design and development of examples to support authentic professional learning: A participative process

    Elaine Huber, Lucy Arthur, Scarlet An

    This paper presents the results of a second phase of an evaluation of a set of example units (online teaching spaces). These were developed using a participative design process during a University's transition to a new Learning Management System. The first phase considered how the products were consumed as learning objects, and raised questions as to whether further work on example units was worthwhile; this second phase considers the impact of the process of development itself. Using a Developmental Evaluation approach, the paper analyses the reflections of a sample of participating academics and educational design and development staff, captured in semi-structured interviews. Both groups' experiences indicate that the process of creating the example units netted significant benefits for their own professional learning and that of their colleagues, as well as for the wider change management program. The implications of these findings for institutional practices and future research are outlined.

    Read article: Design and development of examples to support authentic professional learning: A participative process

  • Immersive Business Simulation Games: An Innovative Pedagogical Approach to e-Learning and Education

    Andrej Jerman Blazic, Tanja Arh

    Serious games have been demonstrated to provoke active learners' involvement through exploration, experimentation, competition and co-operation. As a part of serious games, business simulation games are considered as effective tools for the empowerment and mediation of business content learning. They act as serious games which contribute to learning through a simulation of real-life situations and business environments. The blending of designed simulation technology and content curricula offers participants (players, students) a risk-free opportunity to test out a range of relevant strategies to drive business results. By customizing computer-based business simulations, participants can integrate key strategic and financial priorities. This paper provides a brief review of business simulations that serve learning purposes. The first part presents a short introduction and description of business games and their evaluation properties, and the second part provides a brief evaluation and analysis of selected business simulation games.

    Read article: Immersive Business Simulation Games: An Innovative Pedagogical Approach to e-Learning and Education

  • Assessing Collaboration in a Web-based Constructivist Learning Environment: A Malaysian Perspective

    Fui Theng Leow, Mai Neo

    This paper focuses on studying the students' collaborative processes within a web-based learning environment. A constructivist web-based learning environment was designed using Jonassen's (1999) CLE model, and centered around a multimedia group project and the use of web 2.0 tools. The project was undertaken by students at INTI International University, Malaysia, and worked in a project group of 4 members. This study assesses students' perception, attitude change, language acts through the use of several data collection instruments, including questionnaires, open-ended questions, interview, and students' interaction records in web-based applications. Factor analysis was performed on quantitative data, whereas the framework of CMCL was used to investigate the qualitative data to identify the collaboration and communication through their communicative acts during project development process. Results showed that group collaboration provided peer support, increased their motivation and satisfaction, and more communication and interaction were stimulated in the learning process.

    Read article: Assessing Collaboration in a Web-based Constructivist Learning Environment: A Malaysian Perspective

  • Gazing into the future of Sri Lankan Higher Education: Capacity building for the future

    Kulari Lokuge Dona, Mike Keppell, Amali Warusawitharana

    This paper reports on an investigation into capacity building processes in relation to e-learning resource development and delivery (RDD) in a Sri Lankan higher education institution. The capacity building was investigated in three main areas: strategic planning, institutional capacity building, and the resources acquisition processes. The project investigated the embedding of e-learning into the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education (SLIATE). Like many other higher education institutes SLIATE aspires to excel in providing quality teaching and learning facilities and quality learning experiences. The research project concentrated on the exploration of areas of capacity building within the academic community at SLIATE by identifying possible improvements to the management of e-learning RDD. The paper focuses on the findings in relation to the effectiveness of the capacity building process in e- learning resource development and delivery, and how this could assist SLIATE students with their learning.

    Read article: Gazing into the future of Sri Lankan Higher Education: Capacity building for the future

  • Does the use of the TPACK model enhance digital pedagogies: We don't understand the present so how can we imagine the future?

    Dorit Maor

    This paper reflects on the use of the TPACK model in e-learning courses to enhance students' ability to use technology in their learning and later in their professions and to introduce the concept of digital pedagogies. To maximize students' learning, this model was disseminated in the design of the course, the learning activities and the assessment. The aim was to encourage students to become reflective learners and to create knowledge collaboratively. Different technological tools such as iPads, ePortfolio together with digital pedagogies were used to enhance the students' learning experience and obtain students' reflections and feedback on the unit. Digital pedagogies refer to teaching-learning approaches in which new technologies change the way we teach. From the thirty postgraduate students in the unit, there were different responses to digital pedagogies. Some felt it transformed their learning while others resisted and did not participate in the interactive spirit of the class.

    Read article: Does the use of the TPACK model enhance digital pedagogies: We don't understand the present so how can we imagine the future?

  • Using the e-learning Maturity Model to Identify Good Practice in E-Learning

    Stephen Marshall

    E-learning is a complex endeavor which presents significant challenges as the scale and complexity of different technologies and pedagogical models grows. The e-learning Maturity Model is a quality framework aimed at helping educational institutions engage with this complexity both by understanding the state of their current organizational e-learning capability, but also by providing tools aimed at systematically improving that capability. The eMM framework includes an extensive body of information drawn from the literature but is also intended to help identify useful examples from different institutions so these can inform other organization seeking ideas for their own situation. This paper describes a number of such examples of good practice identified as part of an ongoing project applying the eMM to Australian universities, and signals the potential outcomes possible from a more complete sample in the future. Keywords: e-learning maturity model, eMM, quality

    Read article: Using the e-learning Maturity Model to Identify Good Practice in E-Learning

  • An empirically-based, tutorial dialogue system: Design, implementation and evaluation in a first year health sciences course

    Jenny McDonald, Alistair Knott, Sarah Stein, Richard Zeng

    This paper presents one possible approach to providing individualised and immediate feedback to students' written responses to short-answer questions. The classroom context for this study is a large first-year undergraduate health sciences course. The motivation for our approach is explained through a brief history of intelligent tutoring systems, the philosophical and educational positions which inspired their development and the practical and epistemological issues which have largely prevented their uptake in a higher education context . The design and implementation of a new empirically-based tutorial dialogue system is described along with the results of in-class evaluation of the new system with 578 student volunteers.

    Read article: An empirically-based, tutorial dialogue system: Design, implementation and evaluation in a first year health sciences course

  • A window into lecturers' conversations: With whom are they speaking about technology and why does it matter?

    Negin Mirriahi

    With the rapid rise in interest in open and online education and flexible learning initiatives across the higher education sector, senior administrators are establishing strategies and policies concerning technology-enabled learning. However, technology adoption and integration with pedagogical practice is complex and multi-dimensional with the socio-cultural nuances that impact acceptance often remaining undetected. Reporting on a subset of results from a larger investigation of factors influencing lecturers' technology adoption, in this paper the author reveals how the relational ties and technology-related conversations amongst lecturers stimulate the exchange of ideas. Understanding how lecturers learn about new technologies can help higher education leaders to provide the support mechanisms necessary to foster further knowledge sharing and eventual technology adoption by educators.

    Read article: A window into lecturers' conversations: With whom are they speaking about technology and why does it matter?

Showing 14–26 of 130 articles