2018: ASCILITE 2018 Conference Proceedings

ASCILITE Conference - Symposia / Panels

• Redefining Close Quarters: Discussing transitioning business academics from traditional to blended delivery

  Camille Dickson-Deane, Jagjit Kaur, Matt Dyki, Miriam Edwards

  The partnership between designers and subject matter experts creates an ill-structured problem whereby the marrying of design skills with discipline knowledge are not always seamlessly combined. The meaning of definitions and by association interpretations can become blurred in this partnership and understanding the different perspectives contributing to the activity can assist in guiding design activities. Each participant in the partnership has a contextual journey that is guided by their own perspectives, discipline specific experiences as knowledge and interpretation of such and this can result in a unique experience for this problem-solving activity of design. This panel allows academics to share their own interpretations of the process as a way to alert all participants to the blurred understandings that occur in design processes.

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• Everyone on board: Creating accessible online learning through universal design

  Miriam Edwards, Sandra Boyd

  This symposium will examine the potential barriers experienced by students with disability who choose to study online. Participants will consider the challenges as well as the opportunities educational technology affords an increasingly diverse student cohort. Co-presented by an educational designer and a student liaison officer specialising in assistive technologies, the benefits of proactively addressing accessibility will be argued. Participants will be introduced to the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how they may be incorporated into the curriculum, with a particular focus on online delivery. Participants will be invited to critique their own teaching materials such as Learning Management System (LMS) sites, lecture materials and public facing websites to identify accessibility issues. Participants will experience practical strategies and tools to increase accessibility within their learning design and teaching. These activities will be complemented by a list of resources for future reference. Participants will leave the session with a heightened awareness of accessibility issues within higher education and what actions they can take to be more inclusive within their own professional practice.

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• Learning analytics in the classroom

  Jason Lodge, Kate Thompson, Jared Horvath, Paula de Barba, Marion Blumenstein

  The field of learning analytics has progressed significantly since the first Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK) conference in 2011. In recent years, the emphasis on technical and statistical aspects of data and analytics has given way to a greater emphasis on what these data mean in the classroom context. This panel session is aimed at examining the emerging role that data and analytics play in understanding and supporting student learning in higher education. Specifically, the panel will focus on the importance of transdisciplinarity and how translation from data to action can occur in the classroom context. The aim of this session is to broaden the conversation about learning analytics within the ASCILITE community. From there, the panel will discuss ways in which learning analytics can have a greater impact on learning design in physical and digital learning environments.

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• Shifting our focus: Moving from discouraging online student dishonesty to encouraging authentic assessment of student work

  Carol Miles, Keith Foggett

  The rapid and consistent rise in online delivery of university credit courses, and the corresponding requirement to assess student work in this mode has resulted in a proliferation of academic enquiry in the areas of contract cheating and online proctoring, including discussion and publication surrounding the verification of student identity when engaging in online formal examinations. The increasing availability of commercially-written academic essays (submitted by students as their own work), commonly referred to as “contract cheating,” has become another hot area of academic enquiry. This symposium will provide a forum for an important discussion surrounding whether or not too much emphasis is being placed on discouraging a very small percentage of students from performing in dishonest ways, as compared to the amount of effort that should be placed on finding valid and reliable ways to assess student achievement that is aligned with stated learning outcomes. Presenters will contend that many of the concerns relating to online students’ academic dishonesty could be allayed if the two most common university assessment tools – the formal academic essay, and high-stakes formal examinations were not used to measure the achievement of online students. Several suggestions for authentic, workplace-related tasks will be discussed.

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• Digital Equity: Not just an ‘add on’ but business as usual

  Julie Willems, Helen Farley, Katie Freund, Darren Britten, Sue Tickner, Sue Tucker, Jane Garner, Chris Campbell, Lucia Stejar, Meredith Hinze, Maggie Hartnett, Ashwini Datt, Marnie Nolton

  Digital equity is a moral and strategic imperative in higher education in Australasia, especially as more universities provide online only offerings of courses and programs. Often, however, equity issues are considered remedially as an ‘add-on’ after the fact in terms of business-as usual in tertiary education institutions. There are many cohorts that may not have access to the digital technologies and connectivity they need to participate fully in higher education including those from low socio-economic (SES) backgrounds, those from regional and remote areas, refugees and incarcerated students. This symposium shines a spotlight on digital equity, capturing both the student and staff experiences, thereby suggesting ways in which equity matters may be considered. The symposium is timed to contribute to the inaugural World Access to Higher Education Day (28 November 2018).

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