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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 - Concise Papers

  • Developing online training materials in molecular biology: Enhancing hands-on lab skills

    Rachel Boulay, Cynthia Anderson, Alex Parisky, Chris Campbell

    A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is participation in active research laboratories. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a science teacher who embarks on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Feedback suggested that the initial online materials over-emphasized abstract concepts and laboratory techniques and did not adequately connect to the active research problems and local context of most interest to teachers and students. The implications for improving blended learning experiences from this specific case are suggested.

    Read article: Developing online training materials in molecular biology: Enhancing hands-on lab skills

  • Using 3D-virtual worlds to teach decision-making

    Matthew Campbell

    This paper presents the results of a pilot study of a project that uses 3D-virtual world technologies, namely Second Life, as a platform for learning simulations through role plays with the intent to improve the development of professional decision making amongst pre- graduate teachers undertaking a unit in professional ethics. At present students engage in discussion of ethical issues and case studies within the classroom environment as tools for learning decision-making and developing moral sensitivity. However, the effectiveness of these are limited by the already existing identities and social relationships of the students and the scenarios lack the social complexities evident in the professional world. This pilot study reflects on the first use of the 3D-virtual world to teach in this manner and highlights some of the limitations and possibilities that are to be considered in the larger research study.

    Read article: Using 3D-virtual worlds to teach decision-making

  • Exploring the R2D2 model for online learning activities to teach academic language skills

    Helen Cartner, Julia Hallas

    This paper explores the R2D2 model for online learning activities – a cycle of Read, Reflect, Display and Do. Its application to an English for Academic Study programme, provides a framework for the development of a constructivist environment which supports collaborative and active learning experiences in a blended space. Using a questionnaire, students evaluated four learning activities based on the R2D2 model. Although limited in terms of its data gathering method, the evaluation of the R2D2 model was an initial enquiry into its perceived benefits by students. Analysis suggests that the results were favourable, giving insights into the importance to learners of real-life activities, which assist the learning of academic skills for vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation, note taking and presentations.

    Read article: Exploring the R2D2 model for online learning activities to teach academic language skills

  • Discovering aesthetic space online?

    Tracey-Lynne Cody

    In this concise paper, I present an account of my recent experience designing blended- delivery pre-service teacher education in drama and dance. The challenges of space and the role of the teacher in arts pedagogy are examined and reconceptualised in order to develop learning experiences that have greater equivalence across delivery modes. The question of “can we create drama and dance together without ever being in the same room?” is explored.

    Read article: Discovering aesthetic space online?

  • Student use of web based lecture technologies in blended learning: Do these reflect study patterns?

    Pippa Craig, Helen Wozniak, Sarah Hyde, Daniel Burn

    Recording of lectures and providing web based access to them is becoming mainstream in higher education courses despite the debate about the value of such delivery modes. How students access these materials and use the affordances provided by the various outputs has largely been reported by surveying students and lecturers about their experiences. This study reports on the provision of web based lecture technology to medical students studying in a blended learning space. Log data files over a 2 year period were used to investigate the usage patterns of students and derive greater understanding about how students make use of electronic media. This analysis reveals some of the different ways in which students used the online materials; thus providing some evidence for mapping the effectiveness of blended learning spaces.

    Read article: Student use of web based lecture technologies in blended learning: Do these reflect study patterns?

  • Virtualisation: A case study in database administration laboratory work

    Greg Cranitch, Michael Rees

    This paper discusses the issues involved in using virtual machines to teach database administration concepts and the associated issues in a university student environment. Previous work on using virtual machines in system/network administration university labs is reviewed as well as the use of virtual machines in a database development environment. A virtual machine project for a Virtual Information Technology Teaching Laboratory (VITTL) using central servers offering a potential solution is described. This solution provides a secure environment with each student isolated from others with their own virtual machines.

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  • Design patterns for computer supported groupwork

    Kashmira Dave

    This paper describes work-in-progress in the area of educational design patterns. More specifically, the paper highlights a relatively neglected area in educational design for technology-supported learning – the various ways in which students can be grouped together to work collaboratively on study activities. Thus, it looks at the ‘people’ component of the ‘task, tools and people’ design model. The paper outlines this design model, sketches the ‘people’ component and offers an example design pattern to illustrate how design knowledge can be shared through design patterns and pattern languages. The research has implications for anyone who is concerned about sharing good ideas for technology-supported collaborative learning, whether in small, medium-sized or large groups (from dyads to learning communities).

    Read article: Design patterns for computer supported groupwork

  • Learning or performance: Predicting drivers of student motivation

    Shane Dawson, Leah Macfadyen, Lori Lockyer

    There is substantial research demonstrating that a student’s motivation for learning can be largely explained in terms of their preferred achievement orientation. This paper explores a case study investigating ICT derived lead indicators of student achievement orientation, and therefore underlying motivations. The study incorporated Tan’s (2009) research on learning dispositions to quantify student achievement orientations. These findings were then correlated with student LMS data to identify if patterns of online behaviour are indicative of the observed achievement orientation scores. The results suggest that there is a significant correlation between student achievement orientation and participation in discussion forums. Students reporting a strong learning orientation were more inclined to utilise the unit’s ‘learning forum’. Conversely, students tending towards a performance orientation were more prone to use the ‘administration forum’. The findings and data harvesting methodology employed, represent a novel, scalable and automated approach for rapidly identifying the drivers of student learning motivation.

    Read article: Learning or performance: Predicting drivers of student motivation

  • A simple time-management tool for students’ online learning activities

    Michael de Raadt, Stijn Dekeyser

    Student time-management practices are a significant contributing factor to success in tertiary education, particularly in online and blended learning. In courses where many tasks are set to involve students continuously, a learning management system can be used to structure and assist time-management. This paper reports on the successful development and testing of a simple time-management tool that can assist students within an LMS.

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  • How does assessment design shape the learning space of a distance course?

    Irina Elgort

    What are the consequences of encouraging students to develop an independent learning path through a course? Is the learning space of a course shaped by the type of assessment chosen? How do students interact with feedback? These questions are addressed in a pilot action research study of a postgraduate course in computer assisted language learning offered in a distance delivery mode. The paper details course design underpinned by the view of assessment as a key driver and vehicle of learning, with particular attention to the role of feedback in student learning. The outcomes of this approach are reviewed in the light of the analysis of student submissions, their engagement with feedback on assessment and student perceptions of the course.

    Read article: How does assessment design shape the learning space of a distance course?

  • Podcast in higher education: Students usage behaviour

    Simon Fietze

    At German universities, podcasting is still a relatively new method of teaching and learning, on which only few studies are available so far. The present report aims to describe students’ usage behaviour and their assessment of podcasting. The findings are based on a survey of students at the University of Flensburg. A total of 148 students took part at the two survey sessions. The majority of the surveyed students are inexperienced in the use of podcasts. The lecture podcasts were their first contact with this medium. Mainly a notebook is used to listen - at home - to the recorded lecture. The focus in this regard is on playing back or catching up on the lecture at a later point in time. The main purpose is to systematically prepare ahead of written tests. Slightly more than half of the respondents consider the opportunity to use podcasts to be no substitute for attending lectures. A factor in the success of lecture podcasts is that the students can reuse the recorded lecture. Podcasts are considered a possibility to assimilate the contents of lectures better and more efficiently.

    Read article: Podcast in higher education: Students usage behaviour

  • Professional development online: Ethics education for accountants and business managers

    Josie Fisher, Cathryn McCormack

    The teaching of business ethics is well-documented in the literature. However, in nearly all studies participants were undergraduate or postgraduate students without professional work experience, with little information on the professional development of practising professionals. This research, sponsored by the Australian National Institute of Accountants, goes some way toward addressing this gap. Students in this project were professional accountants and business managers studying the course Business and Professional Ethics online, in which a community of learners approach was central. Results from a pre- and post-course questionnaire designed to measure students’ ethical sensitivity and attitudes showed improved understanding of their responsibilities as professionals and greater sensitivity to three of five aspects of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. Furthermore, students were highly satisfied with the course. This study, whilst not generalisable, provides a case study that may be transferable to professional studies in other disciplines.

    Read article: Professional development online: Ethics education for accountants and business managers

  • Student perspectives of eportfolios: A longitudinal study of growth and development

    Philippa Gerbic, Lyn Lewis, Mark Northover

    Electronic portfolios (eportfolios) offer different ways to support learning through their capacity to collect evidence and demonstrate development, especially over time. Their potential ability to support reflection and learning and to respond to assessment and evaluation settings across a range of settings suggests their value for formal study and lifelong learning contexts. This technology has come to prominence as one of the new Web 2.0 technologies and much of the literature to date provides accounts by teachers of the introduction of eportfolios, there being far less research which places students and their experiences at the centre of the investigation. This paper describes the establishment of a longitudinal study of student perspectives and discusses some early data.

    Read article: Student perspectives of eportfolios: A longitudinal study of growth and development

Showing 79–91 of 141 articles