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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 - Concise Papers

  • Course Team Symposia: A useful launch pad for exploring course leadership?

    Carole Hunter

    Course Team Symposia are a funding opportunity provided by Charles Sturt University’s Flexible Learning Institute to help course leaders engage their teams in blended and flexible learning design. Initial findings from this preliminary study suggest that course leaders and their educational designers have used the symposium process to ‘try out’ leadership practices on the job by clarifying and developing a shared vision of blended and flexible learning, supporting collaborative planning, helping their teams reflect on their own practice and forming strategies to improve that practice. In doing so, they are building a repertoire of leadership strategies to use with their teams in the future. Further research involving more symposium recipients will shed additional light on how leadership is being supported through this initiative, and any implications for student outcomes.

    Read article: Course Team Symposia: A useful launch pad for exploring course leadership?

  • Online learning in ACSEducation: Using online learning tools in professional education

    Asheley Jones, Charlynn Miller

    Following the theme of “Learning for the Future”, this paper investigates the use of a number of online tools that enhance learning within the Professional Year Program offered by ACSEducation. Supported by the literature on the use of these tools for learning and assessment, the use of online tools has provided engaging and relevant learning for students undertaking ACS programs. This paper explains the choice of tools and how they are applied to ensure the best outcome for the learners. Current research being undertaken to investigate the perceptions of students toward the use of these tools is discussed. Future research into the improvement in the use and efficacy of the tools into the future, and the methods planned for this research is also detailed along with relevant supporting literature.

    Read article: Online learning in ACSEducation: Using online learning tools in professional education

  • (Trans) Formation through educational technologies

    Therese Keane, Aaron S. Blicblau

    Historically, the 3Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) have laid the foundations for student life-skills, however, to function in the 21st century, students need to embrace the 4Cs (collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication). Teachers need to employ a variety of educational technologies, which embrace various aspects of the 3Rs and 4Cs in their practice. This work provides a framework for teachers to practically implement the 4Cs in a transformative space so they are then able to apply the 4CS through technology by implementing this approach to their teaching. This mode of teaching prepares students with the necessary tools for the 21st century.

    Read article: (Trans) Formation through educational technologies

  • Finding a Voice: Learning pronunciation in a second language using a dedicated speech technology

    Thomas Kerr

    This paper reports on a recent experiment that used Wimba Voice Board (WVB), an online asynchronous recording and playback utility, for teaching basic pronunciation rules to a group of novice learners of Spanish. The experimental design used a pre/post-test format with an intervention where participants in the experimental group were given access to a built-for-purpose Blackboard online unit and encouraged to engage with the learning materials in self-directed study (Victori and Lockhart, 1995; Lee, 1997). Participants were also able to voluntarily upload their own attempts at pronunciation to a WVB module accessed by all group members, listen to attempts uploaded by peers, and provide optional feedback. Control group members were taught the same content in a traditional teacher-led classroom setting. Two focus groups were conducted with members of the experimental group. Analysis of the collected data showed that WVB was able to produce results that were equivalent to those achieved by members of the control group.

    Read article: Finding a Voice: Learning pronunciation in a second language using a dedicated speech technology

  • An innovative approach to facilitate critical thinking and reflective learning in prescribing and therapeutics e-learning

    Santosh Khanal, Y. Zuo

    A fully online and standardised national curriculum for prescribing education, National Prescribing Curriculum (NPC), is offered to students of multiple health disciplines in Australia. The NPC consists of 28 self-paced one hour modules based on World Health Organisation’s Guide to Good Prescribing. Health professional education requires didactic teaching to be blended with interactivity, problem solving, critical thinking and self-reflection. The NPC offers the students flexibility and interactivity and increases their prescribing knowledge to help them solve relevant problems. Going forward, there is a need to enhance the teaching capabilities of the module by facilitating critical thinking and reflective learning. In this paper, we discuss an innovative approach of embedding certainty based multiple choice questions in the NPC modules to facilitate critical thinking and reflective learning in a highly demanding learning environment and present the results of a study to evaluate the usefulness of this approach.

    Read article: An innovative approach to facilitate critical thinking and reflective learning in prescribing and therapeutics e-learning

  • Mobility makes us agile and lean: A new paradigm for institutional projects

    Tim Klapdor

    The mLearn Project at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an attempt to establish a new philosophy for large-scale institutional initiatives that borrows aspects from the technology companies based out of Silicon Valley. This paper will outline the concepts that have been adopted as well as the rationale for this change in tact. The project is running in 2012 and into 2013 over three teaching sessions and it is hoped will foster innovation through trials of technology, mobilising system access and developing mobile enhanced learning resources. Findings and reflections from the project will be published over the next 18 months.

    Read article: Mobility makes us agile and lean: A new paradigm for institutional projects

  • The creation of a 3D immersive, interactive space for experiential learning: VirtualPREX

    Vicki Knox, Sue Gregory

    VirtualPREX, or, virtual professional experience, is the term used to describe a 3D virtual world classroom designed for pre-service teachers to practise their teaching skills and use the interactive resources to create immersive experiences to assist their learning. Outlined in this paper is how and why the space was created for the pre-service teachers. Also described and explained are the adjustments made to the space to enable a richer experience for pre-service teachers to role-play and practise their teaching prior to taking the skills to the real classroom.

    Read article: The creation of a 3D immersive, interactive space for experiential learning: VirtualPREX

  • Pigeon pecks and mouse clicks: Putting the learning back into learning analytics

    Jason Lodge, Melinda Lewis

    Learning in higher education can be described as a series of complex tasks and stages of development requiring a range of multifaceted behaviours and ways-of-being. Understanding what contributes to teaching for quality learning and achieving quality learning outcomes in higher education has been the topic of much debate over many decades. The current paper intends to situate and contextualise learning analytics (LA) within a broader debate on quality and student experience, outlining the affordances and constraints of this data-driven approach to quality. Firstly, we acknowledge the current use of LA within higher education and early research outcomes reported within the literature. Secondly, drawing on our combined disciplinary knowledge within experimental psychology, health informatics and health science education, as well as our current roles within quality and student experience at our respective universities, we pose some directions for enhancing and building on current approaches to understanding and using LA in the higher education context.

    Read article: Pigeon pecks and mouse clicks: Putting the learning back into learning analytics

  • Impacts of Scheduling Algorithms on Resource Availability

    David Lowe

    Cost and space constraints typically limit the provision of many educational resources, with laboratory apparatus being a common example. This limitation is often ameliorated by utilizing scheduling techniques to manage access over an extended period of time. The specific scheduling algorithms that are used have been shown to have a significant impact on the overall availability of a set of resources and hence the level of access that can be supported. This paper considers ways in which these scheduling algorithms can be enhanced and the resulting impacts. Whilst the results are illustrated through their application to remote laboratory access, the implications are equally applicable to scheduling of access to any constrained resource.

    Read article: Impacts of Scheduling Algorithms on Resource Availability

  • Learning with technology: Theoretical foundations underpinning simulations in higher education

    Judith Lyons

    Embracing learning for the future through learning technologies requires a clearer understanding of the pedagogies that inform the simulated teaching and learning strategies used to facilitate student learning. Higher Education e-learning literature often groups educational games with simulation. However, educational simulation attributes are different from games or simulated games with very different aims and objectives within the learning context, which have implications for technology-based learning designs. In order to optimize the use of technology- based simulation this paper presents the theoretical foundations of educational simulation in a disciplinary context. Understanding the simulation pedagogy will assist academics to create technology-based simulated learning environments that highlight the inherent simulation attributes to enable and facilitate learning.

    Read article: Learning with technology: Theoretical foundations underpinning simulations in higher education

  • Future-Thinking Flexible Learning Development: A Design Approach for Sustainable Change

    Claire Macken, John Hannon

    Can you imagine the student's experience in higher education beyond 2020? How will teaching approaches have changed? How will learning technologies play a role in the 21st century student? In higher education, institutions will need to be future focused. So far, institutional change in the use of learning technologies has been dominated by an applied or pragmatic focus that persists despite the increase in uses of constructivist pedagogies and the potential of the read/write web, or Web 2.0. This paper proposes a new, future thinking and sustainable approach to flexible learning development. This approach engages with factors that are often ignored in applied design approaches to learning technologies, including the change management problems associated with introducing flexible learning into higher education institutions and conflicting institutional practices when using technology systems. The sustainable design approach proposed in this paper is referred to as "FOLD": Flexible and Online Learning Development, as introduced at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

    Read article: Future-Thinking Flexible Learning Development: A Design Approach for Sustainable Change

  • Relevant, current and sustainable digital strategies to prepare future teachers to lead e-learning

    Julie Mackey, Niki Davis, Nicki Dabner

    This paper describes how one teacher education programme integrates multiple strategies to ensure graduating teachers are prepared to lead e-learning in New Zealand classrooms. Contrary to recent criticism, initial teacher education (ITE) provides strong leadership in the innovative use of e-learning and digital technologies, and emphasises the digital capabilities, knowledge and confidence students need to succeed in their teacher preparation and beyond. This paper reports on the coherent range of strategies employed by one university that model good practice in blended online learning including: a social networking strategy to develop core digital skills; peer mentoring; the use of e-portfolios and Web 2.0 tools; as well as the integration of advanced e- learning pedagogies for course work. Evidence from several projects supports the claim that initial teacher education is developing essential e-learning leadership for future teachers and providing valuable professional leadership to the wider education sector.

    Read article: Relevant, current and sustainable digital strategies to prepare future teachers to lead e-learning

  • Designing an online activity for collaborative language learning

    Mauricio Marrone, Lilia Mantai, Marika Kalyuga

    Engaging students when learning new vocabulary, building an environment that allows for collaboration and teamwork and providing approaches towards learning via problem solving is not an easy feat in teaching a second language. To have an activity that incorporates these three strategies in one for both face-to-face and geographically dispersed students can be challenging. This paper describes how an online activity in Moodle linked to the glossary module allows students to possibly learn vocabulary more efficiently, quicker and in a more engaging way.

    Read article: Designing an online activity for collaborative language learning

Showing 92–104 of 132 articles