2010: ASCILITE 2010 Conference Proceedings: Curriculum, technology & transformation for an unknown future

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

• Designing, adapting and integrating e-portfolio technology as an assessment tool into the curriculum of an internship program

  Amanda Parker

  This paper presents a critically reflective evaluation of the pilot implementation of the Mahara e-portfolio system into the curriculum of an Internship Program at a Macquarie University in Sydney. Currently, at the half-way point of the pilot, the e-portfolio pilot project team is presented with the opportunity to evaluate their progress and make improvements in response to issues that have been identified for the following semester. Feedback was gathered from each of Brookfield’s four lenses using tools including a reflective journal, online student feedback survey, consultation with colleagues and a review of the literature to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the Mahara e-portfolio in semester one, 2010. This investigation will form the first cycle of an action research process, where results from critical reflections in semester one will inform the next action research cycle to be undertaken during semester two, 2010. Implications for the Mahara e-portfolio trial in semester two include improvements to student feedback methods and usability, increased level of training and support and an enhanced blog and forum. These results suggest that in evaluating the effectiveness of the e-portfolio, as with any new curriculum innovation, it is important to focus on how the tool can support and enhance learning.

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• R U there yet? : Using virtual classrooms to transform teaching practice.

  Lina Pelliccione, Tania Broadley

  Access to quality higher education is challenging for many Western Australians that live outside the metropolitan area. In 2010, the School of Education moved to flexible delivery of a fully online Bachelor of Education degree for their non -metropolitan students. The new model of delivery allows access for students from any location provided they have a computer and an internet connection. A number of academic staff had previously used an asynchronous environment to deliver learning modules housed within a learning management system (LMS) but had not used synchronous software with their students. To enhance the learning environment and to provide high quality learning experiences to students learning at a distance, the adoption of synchronous software (Elluminate Live) was introduced. This software is a real-time virtual classroom environment that allows for communication through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and videoconferencing, along with a large number of collaboration tools to engage learners. This research paper reports on the integration of a live e-learning solution into the current LMS environment. Qualitative data were collected from academic staff through informal interviews and participant observation. The findings discuss (i) perceived level of support; (ii) identification of strategies used to create an effective online teacher presence; (iii) the perceived impact on the students' learning outcomes; and (iv) guidelines for professional development to enhance pedagogy within the live e-learning environment.

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• Using academic analytic tools to investigate studying behaviours in technology-supported learning environments

  Rob Phillips, Greg Preston, Pauline Roberts, Wendy Cumming-Potvin, Jan Herrington, Dorit Maor, Maree Gosper

  Increasing flexibility in higher education is being provided to meet the needs of a diverse student body. Technologies such as lecture-capture systems have been employed by many universities to provide on-demand access to recorded lectures. This paper describes research into how students engage with lecture-capture technologies such as Lectopia as they study in blended learning environments. It reports on the development of an academic analytic tool to examine Lectopia usage logs to identify usage patterns among students in three units across two universities. A theoretical model of usage patterns has been developed to tentatively explain studying behaviour. Preliminary results suggest that patterns of use of Lectopia vary greatly across the student cohorts studied.

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• Technology enhanced learning : Where’s the evidence?

  Linda Price, Adrian Kirkwood

  This paper reports on a UK Higher Education Academy funded project investigating the use of technology to enhance student learning in higher education. It reviews the literature to explore what evidence exists to illustrate that technology enhances learning, and how this evidence changes the practice of teachers in higher education. The contested nature of evidence, and of enhancements in student learning are discussed. The findings indicate that while the use of technology may enhance learning, the evidence supporting these claims is tangential, as is the evidence illustrating changes in the practices of HE teachers.

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• Publishing and perishing: The critical importance of educational design research

  Thomas C. Reeves, Susan McKenney, Jan Herrington

  The outcomes of educational systems continue to lag far behind expectations at all levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Meanwhile, the sheer amount of educational research published in refereed journals has expanded enormously. There is an obvious disconnect between the educational research papers published in professional journals or presented at academic conferences and any form of beneficial impact on the students, teachers, and other stakeholders in educational systems. This problem can be traced back to those professors and research supervisors engaged in the preparation of educational researchers who fail to convey to novice researchers important distinctions between the goals and methods of educational research. Educational design research provides a possibly viable alternative to educational research as it is commonly conducted in the field of educational technology. Educational design research has the twin objectives of the developing creative approaches to solving human teaching, learning, and performance problems while at the same time constructing a body of design principles that can guide future development efforts. The time for greater uptake of educational design research is now.

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• Fast and feral: Diversity, duplication and evolution in a university LMS

  Carol Russell, John Paul Posada

  In 2010, UNSW’s Faculty of Engineering ran its own version of Moodle in parallel with institutional learning management systems. This looks like an inefficient local duplication of central services. But reflecting on the reasons why this happened, and on the outcomes so far, we realised that so-called ‘feral’ quick-fix software solutions can contribute a lot to the development of mainstream educational technology in universities. Specifically, they counteract some of the inevitable inertia, or more accurately homeostasis, in university systems with centrally managed online learning management. This case study illustrates the value of allowing for some local diversity and redundancy in a university’s educational technology.

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• Engaging students through multimodal learning environments: The journey continues

  Michael Sankey, Dawn Birch, Michael Gardiner

  The innovative use of educational technologies provides higher education institutions valuable opportunities for their staff to design media enhanced, interactive, more inclusive and engaging learning environments. The key motivation for incorporating educational technologies into the curricula is unquestionably the desire to improve the engagement and learning of students. To assist with this the increasing use of multimedia in teaching has provided many opportunities to present multiple representations of content (text, video, audio, images, interactive elements) to cater more effectively to the different learning styles of an increasingly diverse student body. This paper presents the findings of an experiment to measure the impact of multiple representations of content on learning outcomes, including learning performance and engagement. While, in this study, multiple representations of content did not lead to discernable improvements in learning performance, students reported very favourably on multimodal learning elements and perceived that they had assisted their comprehension and retention of the learning material. The implication of this study for educators is to consider carefully the incorporation of selected multiple representations of key concepts, particularly those that use a combination of audio and visual content. The limitations of the experimental methodology and directions for future research are also presented for consideration.

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• A longitudinal study into the transformation of a university teacher’s conceptions of, and approach to, elearning

  Karen M. Scott

  In seeking to meet the demands placed upon them, many universities are increasing their use of elearning. At the same time, a good deal of research is being undertaken into academic practice using elearning. The research reported in this paper is a longitudinal case study that examines one teacher at The University of Sydney, Australia, as he transformed in his conceptions of, and approach to, teaching using elearning over two years. This research forms part of a larger project with embedded case studies focusing on teachers from the Health Sciences and related disciplines. Data for this case study was collected between February 2007 and December 2008 through semi-structured interviews with the participant and observations of the participant's elearning resource. The findings demonstrate that as the participant worked with his elearning resource over two years, he transformed the resource to improve learning and teaching. Through the process, he transformed his conceptions of, and approaches to, elearning, as well as his lesson image. He also came to understand the learning needs and styles of his students and their approaches to elearning. The research provides insight into the role of reflection and support of university teachers in their use of elearning.

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• School technology leadership: Lessons from empirical research

  Seng-Chee Tan

  While research has found that technology leadership is an important factor for effective integration of technology in schools, there is a paucity of research on technology leadership in schools. This paper reviewed 12 empirical reports on technology leadership and a grounded theory approach was used to derive the key findings. Several roles of technology leaders were identified, which are categorized into four main areas of change: infrastructure, organization structure and policy, pedagogy and learning, and school culture. The corresponding competencies of school technology leaders were identified. Several relationships were established between technology leadership and other factors: School technology leadership is a strong predictor on the level of technology use in schools; the cultural and structural characteristics of schools could affect the level of computer use in classrooms; transformational leadership is correlated with a principal’s ICT competencies. Researchers have also started to explore the views of followers and the recursive relationships between the leader and the followers. Based on the review, recommendations for future research are discussed.

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• New generation of student teachers "Are they really different?" : A study on student teachers in Korea and Singapore

  Hyo-Jeong So, Hyungshin Choi, Weiying Lim, Yao Xiong

  During the past decade, both Korean and Singaporean governments have implemented several ICT policies in schools, and the ecology of classrooms was constantly changing with such policy impetus. Therefore, it is possible that the new generation of student teachers, who are the recipients of such policy initiatives, possess personal beliefs and knowledge about teaching and learning with technology, shaped and learned from their extended period of new experiences and observations as school students. However, we question are they really different in terms of their attitude and perspective about teaching and learning with technology? Hence, the purpose of this research is to examine the profile of the first-year student teachers in terms of past experiences, beliefs and attitude. Specifically, we examined the relationships of the following six variables: (1) past ICT experiences, (2) personal computer use, (3) constructivist belief, (4) computer efficacy, (5) attitude toward computer in education, and (6) prospective computer use. Participants include student teachers in the first year of teacher education programs in Korea (N=163) and Singapore (N=55). Survey findings indicate that participants in both countries had fairly negative or neutral ICT experiences in primary schools, while their experiences were better in secondary and post-secondary schools. In Korean data, past ICT experiences were significantly related to computer efficacy, attitude toward computer in education, and prospective use of computer while no significant relationships were found between past ICT experiences and other variables in the Singaporean data. Singaporean student teachers scored higher in all compared variables than Korean student teachers, and significant differences were found in two variables: past experience and attitude toward computer in education. We discuss implications of our findings and directions for future studies.

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• They think they are learning, but are they? : Strategies for implementing Web 2.0 to positively impact student learning

  Katrina Strampel, Ron Oliver

  University instructors worldwide are implementing Web 2.0 technologies into their teaching as a means of improving and enhancing student learning. Although the affordances offered by Web 2.0 technologies appear to provide increased opportunities for high levels of reflection and higher-order thinking, they are not always used to their full advantage. This paper reports a case study of a tertiary instructor using eportfolios. The results showed limited instances of high levels of reflection demonstrated by the students using the eportfolio application. A number of instructional strategies were identified that encouraged reflection in the writing process but not in the eportfolio process. Based on the findings of the study, several instructional strategies are suggested to be considered when implementing Web 2.0 technologies in tertiary education. This study forms part of a larger investigation which will combine these outcomes to develop some principles for better use of Web 2.0 to enhance student learning.

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• Use of Vimeo on-line video sharing services as a reflective tool in higher educational settings: A preliminary report

  Marion Sturges, Jorge Reyna

  Most students attending the School of Education, University of Western Sydney (UWS) have competing schedules due to the combination of work, family and study commitments which makes effective collaboration difficult. Dispersal within the Greater Western Sydney area further encumbers collaboration and this makes students interactions a difficult and demanding task. This is reflected in on-line scenarios, as academics at University of Western Sydney (UWS) note that many students do not contribute to on-line work (blogs, wikis or discussion forums). This could be further attributed to the lack of provision of on-line learning objects such as digital videos that triggers students learning and exploration. In this regard, we identified the potential of using online digital videos embedded in blogs within our e-learning system (Blackboard). Preliminary research was conducted using digital video embedded in blogs and measuring student?s participation. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used as students were asked to respond to on-line discussions and an on-line survey related to the video topic. The concept was to allow the students the opportunity to reflect on the videos, by learning in a visually appealing and therefore constructive manner. Preliminary data shown the potential of these videos to increase students participation and promote reflective learning and on-line collaboration. Although we identified the need to conduct rigorous research, taking into account content analysis of the discussions, before drawing a firm conclusion, we believe that this strategy has the potential to become a powerful teaching and learning tool that will engage students in the use of e-learning resources within the School of Education at UWS.

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• Enhancing student learning using multimedia and web technologies: Students’ perceptions of an authentic learning experience in a Malaysian classroom

  Heidi Yeen-Ju Tan, Joyce Wai-Jing Kwok, Mai Neo, Tse-Kian Neo

  There is still a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of online education as education materials are being developed without proper consideration as to their design and content representation (Chung, 2008). Adding to that, we are now in a world where the ability to identify and solve real-world complex problems has become a career transcending skill (Levy & Murnane, 2005) hence creating the need for incorporating authentic learning principles into learning content as it creates an environment that allows students to gain crucial real-world skills (Lombardi, 2007). Therefore this paper reports a study conducted to assess the impact of incorporating authentic learning principles (Herrington & Kervin, 2007) into a web-based multimedia learning module, and embedding it within a student-centred learning environment, on the student learning process. Students were presented with a multimedia-mediated web-based learning module, developed within the curriculum of the class, and their feedback was solicited. Results showed that students were very positive towards the incorporation of interactive authentic activities and found the authentic learning environment to be very relevant to their learning and became more engaged and actively involved in their learning process. These results show strong and encouraging support for the development of multimedia web-based modules that are grounded in authentic learning and sound design principles, and an innovative teaching and learning strategy in a technology-backed class.

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