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

The learning and teaching landscape in higher education fails to actively support innovators to experiment with new technologies and educational methods. It is also a poor provider of ongoing support for innovations after start up funding

The learning and teaching landscape in higher education fails to actively support innovators to experiment with new technologies and educational methods. It is also a poor provider of ongoing support for innovations after start up funding runs out. There are tensions between enterprise systems and ‘grass roots’ initiatives in a context where technology is changing rapidly and institutions are slow to respond. Innovators in learning and teaching using emergent technologies are often treated as suspects in an undefined crime. They are pushing boundaries... and bureaucratic institutional buttons! Charles Sturt University (CSU) took an unprecedented step to break these punitive rules of engagement with an institutional Learning and Teaching through Technology Innovation Support Service (LATISS). The LATISS is described within the framework of a four phase learning and teaching with technology innovation (FPLTI) management model, and offered to other institutions of higher education as a means to foster innovation.

Higher education is entering an interesting period of change. Faculty and students will have to adapt to a more technologically enhanced environment for teaching and learning. Adopting new pedagogy can place a critical responsibility on

Higher education is entering an interesting period of change. Faculty and students will have to adapt to a more technologically enhanced environment for teaching and learning. Adopting new pedagogy can place a critical responsibility on faculty. This article evaluates members of a small faculty’s experience of the implementation of laptops as part of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) at a residential higher education institute (HEI) in South Africa. The study population comprised 36 first year Humanities students, the Faculty Dean, and seven lecturers of the first year modules. Data collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and an open ended questionnaire were captured in an integrated dataset using Atlas.tiTM. Coding and categorization focused on the requirements of TEL in the faculty and the researcher derived at two themes: (i) Demands of TEL and (ii) initiation characteristics.

The purpose of this research study was to investigate if and how a blended approach to Canadian First Nations education could be used to foster student engagement and success. The study examined the Sunchild E-Learning Community program

The purpose of this research study was to investigate if and how a blended approach to Canadian First Nations education could be used to foster student engagement and success. The study examined the Sunchild E-Learning Community program through the lens of the Seven Principles of Effective Teaching (Chickering & Gamson, 1999). Data was collected via an online survey, interviews, and site visits. The study participants indicated that the deliberate and intentional integration of mentors at local learning centers with online teachers, who provide synchronous tutorials through the use of a web-based learning management system and conferencing tool, was the key to academic success.

Risk assessment for human and animal diseases is performed to clarify pathways that may result in disease, and estimate the likelihood of this outcome in specific settings; the outputs are typically used to inform decisions and support

Risk assessment for human and animal diseases is performed to clarify pathways that may result in disease, and estimate the likelihood of this outcome in specific settings; the outputs are typically used to inform decisions and support policy development. It is often performed using a structured process of elicitation of opinion from subject experts, which aims to minimise the inherent element of uncertainty due to the subjective nature of elicitation. User-friendly software tools can generate insights into risk perception of assessors, elicitation of expert opinion and quantitative estimation of risk. Such tools were incorporated into an online postgraduate course on risk analysis delivered to 36 veterinarians across South Asia. The activities developed to apply these tools required careful staging and scaffolding within the course framework. They highlighted the importance of good coordination and effective communication between the assessors, as well as with the course tutors.

This research explored how a more student-directed learning design can support the creation of togetherness and belonging in a community of distance learners in formal higher education. Postgraduate students in a New Zealand School of

This research explored how a more student-directed learning design can support the creation of togetherness and belonging in a community of distance learners in formal higher education. Postgraduate students in a New Zealand School of Education experienced two different learning tasks as part of their online distance learning studies. The tasks centered around two online asynchronous discussions each for the same period of time and with the same group of students, but following two different learning design principles. All messages were analyzed using a two- step analysis process, content analysis and social network analysis. Although the findings showed a balance of power between the tutor and the students in the first high e-moderated activity, a better pattern of group interaction and community feeling was found in the low e-moderated activity. The paper will discuss the findings in terms of the implications for learning design and the role of the tutor.

This paper reports on a study to evaluate technology-based processes for assessment moderation. The aim was to evaluate standard features found in an institutional Learning Management System, and their compatibility with the values and

This paper reports on a study to evaluate technology-based processes for assessment moderation. The aim was to evaluate standard features found in an institutional Learning Management System, and their compatibility with the values and practices of a large teaching team. The process used an online discussion board forum for tutors, the paring of more experienced tutors with those new to the process, and further meetings conducted in both face-to-face and web conferencing environments. Online rubrics were used for assessing student work and the provision of feedback. A focus group conducted after marking was concluded and the analysis of the discussion board forum demonstrated a strong community of practice with a shared understanding of assessment requirements.

This paper reports on the ownership and use of computer hardware, including smart phones and tablet computers, among the students learning second year level Japanese at a university in Australia. The survey of 160 students shows that these

This paper reports on the ownership and use of computer hardware, including smart phones and tablet computers, among the students learning second year level Japanese at a university in Australia. The survey of 160 students shows that these mobile devices are taken up rapidly by current students, and are gaining popularity as a method of accessing study-related materials. Owners of a tablet computer seem more likely to use it for their education purpose. Yet, the significant majority of students still seem to prefer using desktop computer at home to access the university?s Learning Management System, indicating that students are selective about their use of technologies for different purposes. The foundation for implementing m-learning at tertiary level seems to be almost set from the hardware point of view, but the students? pattern of using the hardware must also be taken into account when developing m-learning contents.

Communities of discourse and market places often follow power laws with “long tailed” distributions. The present student “voucher” system and uncapped demand in higher education leads to an analogous “long tail” in the tertiary sector. We

Communities of discourse and market places often follow power laws with “long tailed” distributions. The present student “voucher” system and uncapped demand in higher education leads to an analogous “long tail” in the tertiary sector. We argue that student attrition in the “long tail” is part of a natural democratic process of “churn” - legitimate peripheral participation which leads some students to the realisation that they are not sufficiently motivated or prepared for fuller participation in the academic community. We illustrate this idea with data from a task in an introductory psychology program to examine the relationship between persistence, performance, motivation and demographics. We found distinct subgroups whose performance is defined by levels of conscientiousness/motivation and initial skill. We suggest that it may be counterproductive to retain students who perform poorly or are disengaged. However, we also identified different patterns of performance and suggest that attrition can be attenuated by targeted interventions to improve initial performance of identified groups.

Mobile social media can be used to augment physical learning spaces and bridge formal and informal learning contexts. This paper presents the ongoing implementation and impact of a mobile social media project, which aims to augment and

Mobile social media can be used to augment physical learning spaces and bridge formal and informal learning contexts. This paper presents the ongoing implementation and impact of a mobile social media project, which aims to augment and enhance a Product Design programme underpinned by a Design Thinking methodology. The goal of the project is to enhance student-learning experiences, positively impact their Design Thinking expertise development, and to explore the future of Design Thinking education enhanced by mobile social media. In addition it provides an opportunity for a small university department to engage with implementing and sustaining pedagogical change enabled by technology through the establishment of communities of practice. The paper describes the underlying Design Thinking and learning and teaching frameworks, the establishment of the community of practice, comments from lecturers, and the first pilot project with students.

The potential of blended learning has yet to be reached and this paper presents an alternative lens for researching teachers who work with blended learning environments. The teachers‘ role in creating blended learning environments is not

The potential of blended learning has yet to be reached and this paper presents an alternative lens for researching teachers who work with blended learning environments. The teachers‘ role in creating blended learning environments is not yet well understood. This paper proposes the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) as a model that may be used to explore the processes that teachers engage in when creating blended learning environments. Exploring the ways in which teachers are creators of blended learning environments provides a new lens for sustainable practice. This may signify a shift away from the focus of attempting to create a perfect product to an emphasis on sharing the process development. This paper first presents an overview of the SCOT model which is followed by examples of the ways in which the SCOT model was applied in a recent research project.

Research papers reporting the potential of new technologies and pedagogical models have a tendency to mushroom as educators disseminate the results of promising pilot studies. Some ideas and technologies gain traction and prove sustainable

Research papers reporting the potential of new technologies and pedagogical models have a tendency to mushroom as educators disseminate the results of promising pilot studies. Some ideas and technologies gain traction and prove sustainable while others are superseded or fall by the way side in search of the next best thing. As a first step towards examining the sustainability of new models and technology for music teaching, this concise paper compares relevant themes in a selection of current publications with those in past publications around the turn of the millennium. In so doing, this paper also considers the ASCILITE 2012 “premise that what happened in the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future.”

Creativity, both as a professional capability and as a personal attribute, is acknowledged as an important dimension of education for a fast-changing world, relevant to future practice in the professions and for learners and teachers. New

Creativity, both as a professional capability and as a personal attribute, is acknowledged as an important dimension of education for a fast-changing world, relevant to future practice in the professions and for learners and teachers. New social media tools, which place creation, publication and critique in the hands of web users, have been recognised as having a role in democratising creativity, making the means of production and distribution accessible to most of the developed world. Using these tools to facilitate learning activities in higher education can promote creativity and many other related capabilities: digital literacy, independent learning, collaboration and communication skills, and critical thinking. It requires creativity on the part of teachers to develop and manage learning environments and tasks that are not traditional and may be quite experimental. This paper asks some university teachers who are innovating their teaching by using social media to reflect on how creativity informs their practice and the learning of their students.

This paper reports on initial data elicited from two related studies which draw on the learner voice in relation to experiences of distance learners in their use of social media in higher education contexts across four universities. Data

This paper reports on initial data elicited from two related studies which draw on the learner voice in relation to experiences of distance learners in their use of social media in higher education contexts across four universities. Data from these studies suggest that the wide availability, accessibility and affordances of social media create alternative learning options for some distance learners. The studies reported here draw upon affordance theory and identify that some distant learners are actively and deliberately using popular, non-institutional social media tools to augment and extend their learning experiences. This brief paper discusses emerging findings and the possible implications of these findings for the sector.