Skip to main content
ASCILITE Publications logo
Search

2009: ASCILITE 2009 Conference Proceedings

 

The proceedings of the 2009 ASCILITE Conference

R. J. Atkinson, & C. McBeath (Eds.) (2009), Same places, different spaces. Proceedings ASCILITE 2009. Auckland.

University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

December 6-9 2009

ASCILITE2009 Conference Website  https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/auckland09/

Published: 1 December 2009

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

  • Blended spaces, different places: Getting the blend of ingredients right in a cross-cultural learning context

    Anne Abraham

    As an increasing number of tertiary institutions are providing more blended learning spaces in an increasingly diverse cross-cultural space, it is imperative that the appropriate ingredients are blended in such a way as to satisfy the needs of these international participants. Since technology in itself is insufficient to meet this need, consideration must be given to the effect of culture on the various components of blended unit delivery. This paper reports on a research study of an accounting subject presented to two cohorts of engineers, one in Australia and one in Hong Kong. In terms of delivery of a blended subject in a cross-cultural context, it is proposed that one of the most important ingredients is the amount of face-to-face contact time to which students are exposed, with Chinese students performing significantly better as this is increased. Cultural differences also presented implications for assessment with students achieving better results when they worked in smaller groups, contrary to their stated choices.

    Read article: Blended spaces, different places: Getting the blend of ingredients right in a cross-cultural learning context

  • An examination of learning design descriptions in an existing learning design repository

    Shirley Agostinho, Sue Bennett, Lori Lockyer, Lisa Kosta, Jennifer Jones, Barry Harper

    The past decade has seen a significant expansion of flexible learning in higher education as new communication technologies have broadened the scope and potential for online learning. With this expansion has come the need for pedagogically sound learning experiences and an interest in reusing effective pedagogical designs. The concept of a ‘learning design’ - a formalism for documenting educational practice to facilitate sharing and reuse by teachers, is being researched as one way of supporting dissemination of ‘best practice’. This paper reports an analytical study that sought to advance understanding of what constitutes an effective learning design description based on an analysis of learning designs in an existing repository. The study contended that an effective learning design description comprises a clear description of the pedagogy, a quality rating and advice on potential reuse. Six, from a repository of 32, were identified as effective learning design descriptions.

    Read article: An examination of learning design descriptions in an existing learning design repository

  • Investigating online museum exhibits and personal cognitive learning preferences

    Asmidah Alwi, Elspeth McKay

    Web-based technologies offer opportunities to enhance the design of online learning environments. As a result, many museums around the world are now adopting ICT tools that emphasise the use of Web-based multi-media, which enrich and fulfil their visitors’ learning experiences. Nevertheless, awareness of the complexities of human computer interaction (HCI) has presented a new dilemma that challenges the design and development of content for online learning systems. As tempting as it is, the adoption of these emerging ICT tools in a museum needs to be aligned with appropriate instructional strategies to ensure the effectiveness of their visitors’ learning outcomes. This paper describes the research in progress that investigates the interactive effects of information systems interface (ISI) access with students’ cognitive style preferences when participating in museum learning experiences.

    Read article: Investigating online museum exhibits and personal cognitive learning preferences

  • Teaching statistics using a blended approach: Integrating technology-based resources

    Norhayati Baharun, Anne Porter

    This paper presents the results of a study investigating the use of face-to-face components of teaching and technology-based resources in teaching statistics via a blended approach. The student perspective is the focus of investigation which involved 38 on-campus students who enrolled in an introductory statistics subject at University of Wollongong. Assessment items and the laboratory manual and tasks that precede assessment were found to be of greatest importance in assisting students to understand. Students’ perceptions were that learning outcomes were positively impacted by both traditional and technologically based resources both in terms of student understanding of topics and increased their confidence in learning statistics.

    Read article: Teaching statistics using a blended approach: Integrating technology-based resources

  • Seventeen years in the evolution of an online instructor’s views about ICT innovation

    John Barnett

    This paper is a narrative account of the author’s online learning first as a student then as an instructor from 1992 to the present with specific attention to the years from 1999 to 2009. During this time frame the author was constantly teaching/researching his own online courses in New Zealand and Canada with colleagues from New Zealand, Canada and the United States to draw out some of the meanings of online learning and teaching. In this narrative inquiry (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998), he argues that the cycle of innovation, development, and standardization, although rational, produces a negative affect for early adopters due to the strains that develop as a new technology is adopted and used throughout mainstream education. He also proposes a model called DRAGS to account for his experiences.

    Read article: Seventeen years in the evolution of an online instructor’s views about ICT innovation

  • The indicators project identifying effective learning: Adoption, activity, grades and external factors

    Colin Beer, David Jones, Ken Clark

    Learning management systems have become almost ubiquitous as a technical solution to e- learning within universities. Extant literature illustrates that LMS system logs, along with other IT systems data, can be used to inform decision-making. It also suggests that very few institutions are using this data to inform their decisions. The indicators project aims to build on and extend previous work in this area to provide services that can inform the decision- making of teaching staff, management, support staff and students. Through an initial set of three questions the paper offers support for some existing critical success factors, identifies potential limitations of others, generates some new insights from a longitudinal comparison of feature adoption of two different LMS within the one institution, and identifies a number of insights and ideas for future work.

    Read article: The indicators project identifying effective learning: Adoption, activity, grades and external factors

  • Where are the learning spaces on the scientific inquiry landscape?

    Anna Boin, Kristine Elliott, Helen Irving, Victor Galea, Elizabeth Johnson

    Today’s science graduates are more likely to become scientists without postgraduate research training, yet they seldom possess the skills to work as scientists. There is therefore a need for undergraduate students to not only learn scientific concepts, but also be able to inquire using scientifically sound methods. This ALTC funded project has investigated how Australian university educators are teaching scientific inquiry and what roles educational technologies play. A range of approaches for teaching scientific inquiry have been identified. Similarly, technology has played diverse roles in these teaching activities. In the Australian context, we have technologies affording the following learning experiences: guided learning spaces; virtual learning spaces that facilitate communication; and giving students exposure to the technologies used by professional scientists. There are, however, various reasons why educators do and do not choose to embrace educational technologies in their teaching of scientific inquiry. This paper reviews educators’ choices and thus questions the perceived advantages and disadvantages using technologies to teach scientific inquiry.

    Read article: Where are the learning spaces on the scientific inquiry landscape?

  • Using Learning Activity Management Systems (LAMS) with pre-service secondary teachers: An authentic task

    Chris Campbell, Leanne Cameron

    Within an authentic learning framework, second year pre-service teachers were introduced to LAMS (the Learning Activity Management System) as part of one of the information and communication technology (ICT) units they are required to complete as part of their course. Using case study methodology, the students returned some interesting results: LAMS helped the students plan all aspects of their lesson and allowed them to preview their lesson from the learner’s perspective. Additionally, the software provided a visual overview of the lesson which assisted them to identify the learning styles that were addressed with the activities employed. Students also saw the benefit in the production of standardised templates of activities that could easily be modified for future re-use.

    Read article: Using Learning Activity Management Systems (LAMS) with pre-service secondary teachers: An authentic task

  • Bachelor of Professional Communication learning network: Creating an online community for lifelong learning

    Ken Clark, Colin Beer

    One of the shaping influences in the student journey is the Learning Management System (LMS) used by universities. The Bachelor of Professional Communication (BProfComm) Project at CQUniversity aims to provide students, staff, and industry practitioners with a discipline wide, online learning network, enabled by Web 2.0 technology. This may alleviate some of the inherent problems associated with the LMS, and in so doing, may aid in the construction of discipline based and professional networks. This document is reporting on the development phase of what an educational action research project and its subsequent failure to engage with students.

    Read article: Bachelor of Professional Communication learning network: Creating an online community for lifelong learning

  • E-learning in industry: Case studies from New Zealand

    John Clayton

    In an increasingly Information and Communication Technology (ICT) dependent world, industry leaders are recognising the critical need to investigate the potential of ICT in developing workplace competencies. It is considered a strategic imperative to be aware of effective processes, procedures and plans to improve workforce capability through the implementation of e-learning applications, strategies and techniques. The aim of the “Using e-learning to build workforce capability: A review of activities” project was to produce a series of research reviews which would increase awareness in industry of the development, delivery and impact of effective, cost efficient and educationally sound work-based and work-placed e-learning. This paper presents the findings of the third phase of that research project and outlines the key findings from six case studies undertaken. The findings indicate there will be a steady, but notable, increase in the use of ICT and e-learning applications to enhance traditional training methods in industries.

    Read article: E-learning in industry: Case studies from New Zealand

  • Smartphones give you wings: Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0

    Thomas Cochrane, Roger Bateman

    Built on the foundation of four years of research and implementation of mobile learning projects (mlearning), this paper provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile Web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education. Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0 tools are evaluated, and student usage and feedback is outlined via an interactive multimedia timeline (using YouTube videos) illustrating how these mobile Web 2.0 pedagogical affordances have transformed pedagogy and facilitated student engagement in a variety of course contexts. A rubric for evaluating appropriate smartphone choices is provided, and a model for implementing mobile Web 2.0 pedagogical integration is presented.

    Read article: Smartphones give you wings: Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0

  • New design approaches to repurposing open educational resources for collaborative learning using mediating artefacts

    Yannis Dimitriadis, Patrick McAndrew, Gráinne Conole, Elpida Makriyannis

    In spite of high expectations and the support given by prestigious funding and educational institutions, Open Educational Resources (OER) have not been adopted widely by teachers and learners in practice. From a cultural historical activity theory perspective, we argue that Mediating Artefacts (MA) such as OER learning design visual representations and rich narrative pedagogical patterns may enable a more effective OER cycle of creation, design, use and evaluation. More specifically, two main arguments are analysed in this paper: first, that making the inherent design of OER more explicit will make them more understandable and hence reusable; second, that offering a small set of simple patterns will encourage new ways to interpret OER and inspire re-purposing in new challenging contexts. A series of successful workshops was carried out and qualitative data gathered which provide initial evidence that a set of CSCL pedagogical patterns were found very suitable in order to repurpose resources intended for individual use and adjust the focus to make them suit new collaborative learning contexts. Interpretation of the data will form the basis for further workshops that aim to extend the idea of using targeted mediating artefacts to guide the design and repurposing of OER.

    Read article: New design approaches to repurposing open educational resources for collaborative learning using mediating artefacts

  • Educating educators in the purposeful use of Web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning

    Iain Doherty, Pauline Cooper

    Our paper reports on the provision and evaluation of continuing professional development workshops to teach educators how to use Web 2.0 applications and services constructively in their teaching. We describe the design research approach that we took to developing the workshops and we present the research results that led us to re-design the workshop format to the point where we are now delivering semi-structured, project-based workshops. Our paper concludes by discussing whether the project-based approach to teaching the workshops will result in higher levels of implementation by participants. We also consider whether introducing the university promotion process into the workshops will increase the incentive for participants to put what they have learned into practice.

    Read article: Educating educators in the purposeful use of Web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning

Showing 1–13 of 141 articles