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2012: ASCILITE 2012 Conference Proceedings: FUTURE CHALLENGES | SUSTAINABLE FUTURES

 

 

 

 

The proceedings of the 2012 ASCILITE Conference

Brown, M., Hartnett, M. and Stewart, T. (Eds.), FUTURE CHALLENGES | SUSTAINABLE FUTURES Proceedings ASCILITE 2012: Wellington, New Zealand

Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

November 25-28, 2012

ASCILITE2012 Conference Website - https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/Wellington12/2012/home.html

Published: 22 November 2012

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

  • Teaching Aboriginal Culture Online: Sustaining traditions of knowledge sharing

    Cat Kutay, Lynette Riley, Deirdre Howard-Wagner, Janet Mooney

    This paper is an account of a research project being undertaken for an Australian Learning and Teaching Council grant to develop Indigenous On-Line Cultural Teaching & Sharing. The project is built on an existing face-to-face interactive presentation based on the theme of Australian Aboriginal Kinship systems, which has been designed for teaching university and school students and their teachers and describes the process used to develop web services that aim to provide more interactive and exploratory learning environments. We are collecting knowledge of the Aboriginal culture in relation to a theme and presenting this in a teaching framework that can be continually updated with community stories. We are consulting with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students and community members who attended interactive presentations to gather ideas for transferring the model to online format and presenting it with stories relevant to the specific professional areas of our students, such as sociology, law, education and social work. We present here the teaching framework developed in this project for Aboriginal cultural teaching online.

    Read article: Teaching Aboriginal Culture Online: Sustaining traditions of knowledge sharing

  • Web 2.0 as a Catalyst for Rethinking Teaching & Learning in Tertiary Education: A Case Study of KDU University- College (Malaysia)

    Alwyn Lau

    Web 2.0 signals a move away from the Internet as a passive collection of computers sharing information to the Web as an active network of people who collaboratively shape and create new realities. This paper outlines five trends impacting education as a result of the Web 2.0 phenomenon (connectivism, digital creation, collaboration, divergent assessment and open courseware) then shares the research performed on facultt and students of KDU University- College, the first college in Malaysia to implement an e-forum for the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education?s compulsory subjects.The research asks questions about the benefits and/or challenges which Web 2.0 have brought to teaching and learning, the extent to which the five characteristics have impacted the students, lecturers and management and other issues. It will highlight key findings and recommend broad action-steps forward, both in the national and global context.

    Read article: Web 2.0 as a Catalyst for Rethinking Teaching & Learning in Tertiary Education: A Case Study of KDU University- College (Malaysia)

  • An e-portfolio theoretical approach for Provisionally Registered Teachers

    Maryann Lee, Lesley Pohio

    Electronic portfolios offer an option for early childhood provisionally registered teachers (PRTs) to attest to the Registered Teacher Criteria (New Zealand Teachers Council, 2010) through the purposeful selection and reflection of significant artifacts about their practice. Central to the use of e- portfolios is the theoretical framework developed to support the learning process for the PRTs. This paper outlines an e-portfolio project for a group of early childhood PRTs and their mentors, from a cohort of five Early Childhood Centres in the Auckland region. The project drew upon key principles from the early childhood curriculum Te Wh?riki (Ministry of Education, 1996), pedagogical documentation, and e-portfolio best practice. The project?s intention was to create a more effective approach for teachers to engage in the provisionally registered teachers programme, enabling a rich narrative of the teacher?s pedagogical research to be profiled rather than being a repository of evidence.

    Read article: An e-portfolio theoretical approach for Provisionally Registered Teachers

  • Student views on how role-playing in a virtual hospital is distinctively relevant to medical education

    Swee-Kin Loke, Phil Blyth, Judith Swan

    Virtual worlds have the potential to enact the experiential learning of professional practices in simulated environments. The Otago Virtual Hospital (OVH) is one such virtual world where medical students role-playing as junior doctors make diagnoses and manage realistic clinical cases. To integrate the use of virtual worlds into existing curriculum, their distinctive relevance needs to be determined. A case study was conducted to find out how role-playing in the OVH is distinctively relevant to medical education. Following a trial involving 11 medical students completing the same scenario, three areas of relevance were identified: ?making the call?; self- organisation; and ?going through the whole process?. These areas can provide guidance to educators and staff developers who plan to recommend and sustain the use of virtual worlds in fields such as medical, legal, and management education.

    Read article: Student views on how role-playing in a virtual hospital is distinctively relevant to medical education

  • Promoting asynchronous interactivity of recorded lectures in blended learning environments

    Bernadette K. McCabe, Carola Hobohm

    Recorded lectures have become one of the most popular methods of delivery in a blended learning environment (Greenberg & Nilssen, 2009). While there are many advantages to using recorded lectures they are limited in their ability to capture the interactive atmosphere experienced by students in the face-to-face environment. This paper examines how the use of audience response systems (ARS) and digital inking, when incorporated into live lecture recordings, can be used to facilitate asynchronous interaction of recorded lectures in bioscience lectures for nursing students. Key findings show that the three most valuable improvements that ARS and digital ink made to face-to-face lectures and recorded lectures relate to the ability to see other students? responses, immediate feedback and reinforcing material covered in class. Students who used recorded lectures more frequently particularly valued the ability to pause recorded lectures to consider the questions and then view collective results with immediate feedback. Moreover, students who viewed recorded lectures more frequently performed equally well with those students who did not.

    Read article: Promoting asynchronous interactivity of recorded lectures in blended learning environments

  • Multidiscipline role-play in a 3D virtual learning environment: Experiences with a large cohort of healthcare students

    Marcus McDonald, Tracii Ryan, Jenny Sim, Jennifer James, Philip Maude, Sheila Scutter, Denise Wood

    Three-dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs), such as Second Life, have been used in education for some time. Although many writers have addressed where, how, and why 3DVLEs are applied in education, only a few articles have concentrated on the coalface of running a learning project within them. This paper looks at the experience of using Second Life to conduct a multi-discipline healthcare role-playing project with a large cohort of university students. It aims to add to the body of evidence highlighting the technical and logistical difficulties in running such a project, and attempts to offer solutions and advice on directions of problem solving. This paper will also add to best practices concerning the use of 3DVLEs in higher education.

    Read article: Multidiscipline role-play in a 3D virtual learning environment: Experiences with a large cohort of healthcare students

  • Game-like digital training tools: Transfer of cognitive and perceptual skills from static to dynamic interfaces

    Gregor McLean, Lisa Wise, Benedict Williams

    This paper explores the principles of skill acquisition and training transfer within the context of game-like digital training tools, expanding on previous research using an instrument scanning task in novice versus experienced pilots. While previous work demonstrated a game-like training tool is capable of developing high levels of performance within the game environment, initial findings suggest the likelihood of practical transfer to a real world environment is strongly dependent on the nature of the cognitive and perceptual skills developed. This paper investigates whether instrument scanning skills developed within a static training task transfer to a more dynamic video-based task. Despite strong performance within the static environment, preliminary data suggest a lesser degree of transfer when more dynamic perceptual skills are targeted. Findings are discussed broadly in terms of the principles of skill acquisition and training transfer, and how these principles may apply to game-like digital training tools.

    Read article: Game-like digital training tools: Transfer of cognitive and perceptual skills from static to dynamic interfaces

  • A Pedagogical Evaluation of Moodle Extensions

    Margot McNeill, Matt Bower, Kathleen Curtis, John Hedberg

    There has been a shift by the Australasian tertiary education sector towards open source Learning Management Systems (LMSs), in part due to the potential for extending and tailoring the systems using community sourced plugins. This paper reports on a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of Moodle extensions based on a six-month cross-faculty project conducted at Macquarie University. Findings included that despite over several hundred plugins and patches being uploaded to the Moodle Community website, the reference group only deemed nine of these as suitable for extending the functionality of the University LMS. The paper also describes the process and instruments that were utilised to evaluate the extensions themselves, which could be of interest to others making decisions about how best to balance the flexibility afforded by open source environment with extensibility within the constraints of complex and diverse institutional needs.

    Read article: A Pedagogical Evaluation of Moodle Extensions

  • Identifying key actors for technology adoption in higher education: A social network approach

    Negin Mirriahi, Shane Dawson, Debra Hoven

    Higher education institutions are increasingly implementing strategies and practices aimed towards enhancing learning for the future by integrating educational technologies with classroom instruction. Despite the notable affordances these technologies bring to the learning context, there continues to be some resistance within the academy. Senior higher education administrators or leaders are frequently challenged with developing novel strategies to influence technology adoption. Prior studies relating to technology adoption and diffusion have emphasized the importance of collaboration, mentorship, and communities of practice in influencing the level of technology acceptance. Research in social networks has also shown that key actors within a network can assist with the dissemination of information. This case study investigated the relationship between the position of instructors within their departmental social network and their level of technology adoption to begin to identify strategic access points for facilitating technology adoption within higher education.

    Read article: Identifying key actors for technology adoption in higher education: A social network approach

  • Following the Sun: Sustainable conferencing in a climate of change

    Angela Murphy, Shirley Reushle

    This paper reports on a new initiative in online conferencing that has resulted from the collaboration between three tertiary institutions on three continents and across three time zones. The paper describes the role of the Follow the Sun Online Learning Festival in revitalising professional online learning and networking events in a similar manner to the way in which e- learning revitalised tertiary education. The paper also discusses the evaluation of online conferences and introduces the new learning methodology as an alternative method for evaluating online conferences. The methodology used to evaluate the Follow the Sun Learning Festival is discussed and some preliminary findings are shared. Initial results suggest that online learning events have the potential to engage and connect professional peers and facilitators across traditional geographical boundaries. The potential for the Follow the Sun conference to result in new learning is however still unresolved.

    Read article: Following the Sun: Sustainable conferencing in a climate of change

  • Sustainable learning through formative online assessment: Using quizzes to maintain engagement

    Lynnette Nagel, Lanise van Eck

    Due to pressure to deliver more Chartered Accountants, the pass-rate of first-year accounting students had to increase. Students who did not take accounting at school particularly needed extra tuition and support to reach the required standard. Poor success rates could be attributed to insufficient theoretical learning and poor time management characterized by cramming before tests. The intervention that aimed to redress those problems was weekly online quizzes that students could complete in their own time that contained feedback and easily understood explanations. In order to create and sustain an adequate database of suitable questions, the tutors who facilitated additional work sessions and understood the pitfalls in the theory, helped the lecturers to compile the questions and participated in quality control. Quizzes and feedback helped students to pace themselves, understand the terms and prepare for tests. The pass-rate increased from 57 to 75%.

    Read article: Sustainable learning through formative online assessment: Using quizzes to maintain engagement

  • Authentic learning and Web 2.0: Completing the equation

    Vickel Narayan, Chris Lovegrove

    While new technologies are explored as a way of creating authentic learning environments for the learner, for example, creating simulations and web-quest, there is little research on the potential use and application of Web 2.0 tools and technologies in enhancing the learning process in an authentic environment. The participatory nature of Web 2.0 tools, amplified by portable mobile technologies, empowers users by enabling the ability to create, co-create, collaborate and communicate, and has the potential to bridge the gap between authentic learning activities and the learner?s interaction with the surroundings (context), self (cognitive and meta-cognitive) and peers. This paper outlines the findings of a one-year-long project where authentic learning formed the underlining platform for learning and teaching in a Boat Building course (Certificate in Applied Technology, Level 4) where Web 2.0 tools and learner owned mobile devices were integrated to enhance the learning process.

    Read article: Authentic learning and Web 2.0: Completing the equation

  • Mobilising authentic learning: Understanding the educational affordances of the iPad

    James Oldfield, Jan Herrington

    A strong body of evidence exists around the power of authentic learning as a pedagogical model to support learning for the future. In recent years, with the increased understanding and focus on authentic learning theory, the educator’s toolkit has continued to grow. Mobile technologies have also undergone rapid change during this time, including the emergence of a new category of mobile tablets inspired by the iPad. For teaching and learning to succeed in the future, we cannot afford to ignore technological and pedagogical change. This paper outlines the motivation and plans behind a study to augment the theory of authentic learning and develop a set of mobile authentic learning principles. The study is informed by the theories of authentic learning, cognitive tools and mobile learning supported by the educational affordances of the iPad. Design- based research methodology will be employed to ensure the rigor of the study through two iterations of experimentation with a first year tertiary information systems for business course.

    Read article: Mobilising authentic learning: Understanding the educational affordances of the iPad

Showing 27–39 of 132 articles