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

 

The proceedings of the 2010 ASCILITE Conference

C.H. Steel, M.J. Keppell, P. Gerbic & S. Housego (Eds.), Curriculum, technology & transformation for an unknown future. Proceedings Ascilite Sydney 2010

Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

December 5-8, 2010

ASCILITE2010 Conference Website - https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/sydney10/

Published: 1 December 2010

ASCILITE Conference - Concise Papers

  • Using a Learning Design ‘embed’ function to disseminate medical education learning designs

    James Dalziel, Bronwen Dalziel

    Learning Design seeks to share effective methods for online teaching, such as templates which can be automatically run by Learning Design systems. To overcome barriers to widespread adoption, a new 'embed' function has been developed to allow teachers to view and trial a design from any public webpage – for example, a design can be embedded in a blog post. This new approach has been applied to sharing of designs developed in an ALTC project on medical student training in the scientific basis of medicine during clinical rotations in hospitals. Advantages of the new approach to sharing of medical education designs are discussed, including the ease of sharing designs among those unfamiliar with online Learning Design communities.

    Read article: Using a Learning Design ‘embed’ function to disseminate medical education learning designs

  • Aiming for systemic change through an embedded continuing professional development initiative

    Iain Doherty

    We will show how we have tried to drive systemic change in the teaching culture of a Faculty through the provision of online continuing professional development resources firmly embedded in the University’s reward and recognition processes. Technology will be presented as an enabler in the context of a transformation strategy that engaged academic staff, academic managers and members of the Staffing Committee in the change process. We will detail the launch plan for this initiative and present data on visits to the online continuing professional development modules since the launch. Finally, measurements for the success of this project will be discussed.

    Read article: Aiming for systemic change through an embedded continuing professional development initiative

  • Teaching first-year studies in religion students in Second Life: UQ Religion Bazaar

    Helen Farley

    The UQ Religion Bazaar project was originally conceived in 2007 and developed through 2008. It consists of a Second Life island situated in the New Media Consortium educational precinct and boasts a number of religious builds including a church, a mosque, a synagogue, an ancient Greek temple, a Freemasonic lodge, a Zen Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple to Ganesha. The island was used in two large first year classes and for supervising distance postgraduate students. After a brief introduction to the discipline of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland, this paper will assess the suitability of using Second Life as an environment for learning based on constructivist methodologies. Further, it will explore the original conception and development of the UQ Religion Bazaar project within Second Life, and outline the preliminary findings of the project.

    Read article: Teaching first-year studies in religion students in Second Life: UQ Religion Bazaar

  • Designing for successful diffusion: A faculty-based approach to enhancing staff use of technologies for effective teaching and learning

    Natasha Giardina

    The use of learning management systems and other technologies to support teaching and learning in higher education contexts is becoming ever more important, especially as universities move towards increasing offerings to students over the internet. However, as many researchers have found, academic staff engagement with educational technologies has been relatively marginal, with innovations not always diffusing to the majority. In any faculty, staff are likely to have a varying range of technological and techno-pedagogical competencies and differing motivations for using educational technologies and e-learning principles. This paper reviews contemporary research on technology adoption in higher education contexts which has informed the design of a current faculty-based project to address the emerging demands of the twenty-first century higher education landscape by enhancing staff use of technologies for effective teaching and learning.

    Read article: Designing for successful diffusion: A faculty-based approach to enhancing staff use of technologies for effective teaching and learning

  • Learning design strategies for online collaboration: An LMS analysis

    Kathie Goldsworthy, Lynnae Rankine

    Ask any student about their thoughts on group work and the response is likely to be negative. They experience issues around choosing suitable topics/projects/issues, finding a group, getting underway as a group, meeting deadlines, and being assessed for their individual participation. What learning design strategies can be applied to support online collaboration? This case study explores the online collaboration activities of a sampled selection of 72 sites in the learning management system to identify learning design strategies which promote effective collaboration. A framework was developed and applied to provide a consistent approach to the analysis of these sites. The results indicate unique and reusable learning designs that ranged from simple to complex in design.

    Read article: Learning design strategies for online collaboration: An LMS analysis

  • Getting together out-of-class: Using technologies for informal interaction and learning

    Kate Goodwin, Gregor Kennedy, Frank Vetere

    This paper presents the results of a study of the way in which university students use technologies for out-of-class interactions. The study investigated the usefulness and usage frequency of technologies such as mobile phones, social networking and email for informal interaction, compared to face-to-face interactions occurring in physical settings. The results seem to confirm that while informal, spontaneous interactions between students were most common face-to-face, some technologies performed a critical supportive role for "just-in-time" information sharing and coordinating face-to-face meetings. However, technology usage was limited due to social barriers that were sometimes exacerbated in technological settings. Building on these results, the study also considered the specific use of technologies for informal learning. Working on the basis that informal interactions are foundational to socially based informal learning, the study explored opportunities for technology use outside of the classroom, for collaborative and educational benefit.

    Read article: Getting together out-of-class: Using technologies for informal interaction and learning

  • Enterprise architecture roadmap for the development of distance online learning programs in tertiary education

    Richard Wenchao He

    When universities are trying to convert their existing face-to-face courses to distance online learning programs at a project level, faculty members usually have to commit extra time other than their normal teaching and preparation hours to prepare the e-learning course content because their original face-to-face course materials are not fully compatible with the online learning settings. If universities are going to convert their face-to-face courses in a large scale on an ongoing basis, there is a clear need for us to re-design the enterprise architecture to lower the cost of the e-learning development and make the process more efficient. This paper will use two case studies to highlight the issues that the faculty members have been experiencing when they participate in the e-learning development, and to point out good practices. Then based on the Zachman Framework, a “To-Be” Enterprise Architecture is proposed, which enables academic staff to start contributing to the e-learning development at an early stage such as at the time when they are preparing for the face-to-face courses.

    Read article: Enterprise architecture roadmap for the development of distance online learning programs in tertiary education

  • A scholarship program for academic staff to develop exemplary online learning tasks

    Anthony Herrington, Judy Schrape, Kim Flintoff, Tama Leaver, Matthew Molineux, Sheena O’Hare

    There is a strong impetus for blended learning approaches to be more widely adopted in higher education but finding an effective model for professional development of teaching staff can be problematic. In 2009, Curtin University developed an eTeaching and Learning Scholarship program for academic staff to develop exemplary online learning tasks that could be shared with the university community and inform future online teaching within their disciplines. This paper describes the design of the professional learning program together with early encouraging results that indicate both the willingness of the eScholars to incorporate additional learning technologies to extend the affordances of the university provisioned systems and to embrace authentic learner-centred tasks.

    Read article: A scholarship program for academic staff to develop exemplary online learning tasks

  • The relationship between group size and advanced level knowledge construction in asynchronous online discussion environments

    Khe Foon Hew, Wing Sum Cheung

    This study is part of a funded research project that examines possible factors that may influence students’ advanced level of knowledge construction. This study examines if group size of the online discussion is related to the frequency of advanced level of knowledge construction occurrences. Group size of an online discussion refers to the number of people who contributed in the discussion. Advanced levels of knowledge construction refer to levels II, III, IV, or V of Gunawardena, Lowe, and Anderson’s (1997) interaction analysis model. Data were collected from 28 asynchronous online discussion forums. Results showed a significant positive correlation between group size and advanced level knowledge construction; suggesting that the larger the group size of the online discussion is, the more frequent the occurrences of advanced level knowledge construction would be. Further analysis between the more successful and less successful forums suggested that a certain critical mass, which appears to be a group size of about 10 participants may be required to direct the discussion to advanced levels of knowledge construction.

    Read article: The relationship between group size and advanced level knowledge construction in asynchronous online discussion environments

  • Using virtual worlds efficiently in a post-graduate business course: Designing an exploratory study

    Elaine Huber, Yvette Blount

    There is much interesting work being done around virtual worlds in education (Bulmer, 2008; Dede, 2007; NMC, 2007; Schutt & Martino, 2008) particularly in areas that lend themselves to immersion and scenarios or role-plays, but how can the time and effort required to become familiar with a virtual world be minimised whilst at the same time creating an engaging task for students? This paper describes one such example using Second Life in a postgraduate business course. It outlines the first phase of a mixed methods research study (Cresswell & Piano Clarke, 2007), in which insights are sought from a lecturer and student perspective. An Exploratory Design: Instrument Development Model is used to inform research questions around the factors that influence the use of virtual worlds in learning and teaching. Preliminary findings show that initial support and orientation to virtual worlds contribute to the success of their use in learning and teaching, and that our 'net-gen‘ students are not as technology savvy as we imagine. The second phase of the study has brought to light a conceptualisation of virtual worlds as a gaming environment which may indicate one reason not yet highlighted in the literature, for low uptake of virtual worlds by both students and lecturers (McNeil & Diao, 2010). Continuing investigations will use a Triangulation Design: Convergence Model to collect qualitative and quantitative data, surveying students on their perceptions of virtual worlds in order to corroborate the findings in the literature.

    Read article: Using virtual worlds efficiently in a post-graduate business course: Designing an exploratory study

  • What value assessment rubrics in shaping students’ engagement in asynchronous online discussions?

    Kel Jackson

    In recognition of the power of a rubric as an assessment tool, a range of rubrics for assessing asynchronous online discussions have emerged in the literature over recent years. The assessment criteria used may have as their basis an underlying conceptual model of online discourse, or they may have emerged more pragmatically. Irrespective, one intention of the rubrics is to make explicit and transparent the sorts of engagement expected of students in discussions, in the hope that students will take on board the advice and act accordingly. This paper explores the purported value of rubrics in the light of research into factors that influence students’ engagement in online discussions, in particular students’ conceptions of the place of discussions in their learning. Value would seem to be there, but that value is qualified by considerations of fundamental course design.

    Read article: What value assessment rubrics in shaping students’ engagement in asynchronous online discussions?

  • Teacher transformation with eLearning experiences: A case for addressing personal practical theories in academic development

    Shannon Johnston

    Academic development of staff capacity for the use of technology in their practice may be transformative towards new pedagogies if their training extends beyond skill and capacity with specific technologies to address underlying beliefs of learning and teaching with technology. This paper proposes that focussing on teacher personal practical theories may be a way to enable transformation in teacher practice for realising the potential of quality integration of technologies in teaching and learning. The principle will be explored in an upcoming research study of moments in teacher experience in a flexible learning initiative which created change to their personal practical theories. In this paper, the principle is discussed briefly and the impetus for the study illustrated with samples from two experiences in attempting to integrate teaching with technology.

    Read article: Teacher transformation with eLearning experiences: A case for addressing personal practical theories in academic development

  • The development of an open web based resource for answering clinical questions: Catering to geographically dispersed learners, teachers and clinicians

    D. Jonas-Dwyer, A.K. Nowak, B. Shilkin, F. Leece

    Some of the problems facing medical students, teachers and medical practitioners today are increasing medical knowledge and publications, rising patient expectations, information management and patients' internet access. Key skills such as efficient identification and appraisal of quality evidence are essential for medical practitioners. In an academic environment where clinical teachers and students are geographically dispersed in regional and urban centres it is a challenge to provide resources to teaching staff to support a consistent approach to teaching evidence based practice. Here we describe the development of an open web based resource to assist staff to progressively develop medical students' key skills in answering clinical questions.

    Read article: The development of an open web based resource for answering clinical questions: Catering to geographically dispersed learners, teachers and clinicians

Showing 79–91 of 160 articles