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2008: ASCILITE 2008 Conference Proceedings

 

 

 

The proceedings of the 2008 ASCILITE Conference.

R. J. Atkinson, & C. McBeath (Eds.) (2008),

Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology? 

Proceedings ASCILITE 2008. Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Published: 25 November 2008

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

  • Learning fire investigation the clean way: The virtual experience

    Amanda Davies, Barney Dalgarno

    The effective teaching of fire investigation skills presents logistical challenges because of the difficulty of providing students with access to suitable fire damaged buildings so that they can undertake authentic investigation tasks. At Charles Sturt University (CSU), in the subject JST415, Fire Investigation Cause and Origin Determination, the novel approach of providing students with a CD based virtual environment based on the scene of a burned down house, as an alternative to having them undertake investigation of a real fire scene, has been implemented. This paper describes a quantitative and qualitative study exploring the effectiveness of this teaching resource. A key finding from this study was that students felt that the virtual fire investigation task had important advantages over undertaking a real investigation task, even though there were some limitations in the overall degree of realism of the experience. The results also suggested that students found that the visual fidelity and navigation capabilities provided within the environment were quite adequate for carrying out their fire investigation activity. Importantly, students also felt that the ability to revisit the virtual scene as many times as they wanted, at a time convenient to them, gave it advantages over a real investigation task if they were to be provided with only one or the other.

    Read article: Learning fire investigation the clean way: The virtual experience

  • Teaching smarter: How mining ICT data can inform and improve learning and teaching practice

    Shane Dawson, Erica McWilliam, Jen Pei-Ling Tan

    The trend to greater adoption of online learning in higher education institutions means an increased opportunity for instructors and administrators to monitor student activity and interaction with the course content and peers. This paper demonstrates how the analysis of data captured from various IT systems could be used to inform decision making process for university management and administration. It does so by providing details of a large research project designed to identify the range of applications for LMS derived data for informing strategic decision makers and teaching staff. The visualisation of online student engagement/effort is shown to afford instructors with early opportunities for providing additional student learning assistance and intervention – when and where it is required. The capacity to establish early indicators of ‘at-risk’ students provides timely opportunities for instructors to re-direct or add resources to facilitate progression towards optimal patterns of learning behaviour. The project findings provide new insights into student learning that complement the existing array of evaluative methodologies, including formal evaluations of teaching. Thus the project provides a platform for further investigation into new suites of diagnostic tools that can, in turn, provide new opportunities to inform continuous, sustained improvement of pedagogical practice.

    Read article: Teaching smarter: How mining ICT data can inform and improve learning and teaching practice

  • Academic conversations in cyberspace: A model of trialogic engagement

    Teresa De Fazio

    In the past three decades, the move towards mass higher education in universities has resulted in an increase in “non-traditional” students (defined as part-time, adult, without a strong academic background). Concurrently, there has been an information and technology revolution which has had a profound impact on approaches to teaching and learning in higher education. This study was located at the intersection of these two forces. It focused on distance non-traditional and traditional students who received online academic learning support (ALS). The research was informed by the understanding that ALS faces new challenges in an online environment. This paper reports on an action research study that investigated experiences of non-traditional and traditional students as they focussed on the development of written discourse competencies and their teachers in an online distance learning course. These students looked to the curriculum and conversations with lecturers to facilitate understanding and their acquisition of the required literacies, however, this was unrealistic given the heavy teaching loads of their lecturers who also had little expertise in this area. By contrast, contextualised academic support interventions provided an effective response. As a result of the research, a model that suggests how ALS might be embedded within the delivery of online programs was produced.

    Read article: Academic conversations in cyberspace: A model of trialogic engagement

  • Enabling learning, addressing retention: Supporting students via online tutorials with Smarthinking

    Teresa De Fazio, Michael Crock

    Enabling student learning through the provision of enhanced and positive distance learning as opposed to delivery often proves problematic for online learning. In 2007 Open Universities Australia (OUA) began an innovative long-term trial of an online writing tutorial intervention to deal with varied levels of academic writing skill competence amongst its students. The trial set out to provide a supplementary writing support tuition service that would enable the development of learner knowledge and skills that then might impact on learner satisfaction. The trial also set out to ascertain any effect this intervention strategy would have on retention into subsequent units, unit completion rates and student grades. A trial of the Smarthiking.com online writing lab ran over three study periods in 2007 and is reported upon in this paper.

    Read article: Enabling learning, addressing retention: Supporting students via online tutorials with Smarthinking

  • Online student centred discussion: Creating a collaborative learning environment

    Robert C. Dixon, Kathryn C. Dixon, Mandi Axmann

    Many universities both in Australia and overseas are increasingly transferring courses and programs at both graduate and undergraduate level into fully interactive online environments. Online learning and teaching requires different and complimentary skill sets on the part of university teachers. Very little has been documented thus far in regard to training university academics to teach effectively in these environments. This paper investigates the pilot study implementation of the Online Student Centred Discussion Program (OSCD) as designed by Axmann (2006) across the cooperating institutions engaged with Open Universities Australia. The program has been based on Wright and Shoop’s (2003) Student-Centred Discussion Model which places ongoing discussion at the centre of the learning process. The OSCD is designed to develop online protocols, peer- assessment strategies, critical thinking skills as well as promoting collaborative learning through ongoing engagement with online discussion environments. The research reports upon the results of a thirteen item questionnaire which was administered to forty nine participants throughout 2008. The findings indicated that academic staff engaged in learning and teaching online found the OSCD Program to be of value for a number of reasons. The program allowed academics to gain an authentic student experience, something which many of them had forgotten. It also highlighted the varying and different communication patterns and protocols associated with online learning and the development of quite distinct forms of language that are used in this mode of interaction. The research also revealed the need to re-conceptualise the overall instructional design of online learning environments in their own right and not as sub-sets or extensions of traditional face to face methods of interaction.

    Read article: Online student centred discussion: Creating a collaborative learning environment

  • ‘Just-in-time’ virtual assignment help: A case study of first year teacher education students

    Eva Dobozy, Romana Pospisil

    In this paper we address some of the issues surrounding the use of educational technology solutions with first year net generation students in an introductory education studies unit. These issues include the need for more engaging learning experiences, the role of technology in supporting this need, and the possible mismatch between expectations and actual needs. The student usage and access of a low-cost, flexible alternative to face-to-face individual or group-based academic support was the focus of this case study. We describe our rationale and attempt to help students with their assignment requirements in a first year teacher education unit through the development of a small-scale self-directed intervention program, and report on student engagement with the model. Analysis of the data brings to light findings that have implications for policy design and shows a need for timely research to better inform lecturers of their students’ digital literacy, acceptance and access, and use of innovative learning designs. This also highlights the requirement for a greater awareness of the technologies that students embrace, the technologies that may pose a challenge and the differing needs of first year students to those of the more experienced learners.

    Read article: ‘Just-in-time’ virtual assignment help: A case study of first year teacher education students

  • Case-studies or suitcases: Addressing graduate attributes with an airline management simulation

    Ian Douglas

    The graduate attributes of critical thinking and creativity sought by prospective employers are not easily achieved through passive observation of subject content, and its replay in assessment tasks that encourage rote learning. Simulations allow active learning to play a constructive role in student outcomes, providing opportunities to test, reflect on, and adapt the subject content. Where the simulation and assessment tasks are aligned with the desired learning outcomes students will be more engaged with their learning and are more likely to develop career relevant attributes. This paper addresses the introduction of a web-based airline business simulation to a 3rd year undergraduate aviation course.

    Read article: Case-studies or suitcases: Addressing graduate attributes with an airline management simulation

  • Engagement and learning through social software in finance: The Trading Room experience

    Alan Farley, Ameeta Jain, Dianne Thomson, Pam Mulready

    The introduction of a social software blog space called “The Trading Room” in an undergraduate Finance unit for an assessment task generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this pilot demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualized feedback and benchmark their work against others. Whilst assessment is generally seen as both the carrot and the stick of learning, and certification; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the “Trading Room” blog even if there was no assessment requirement! Additionally they did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space. Context, structure and activity design, perhaps are the most important facets of online interaction for learning.

    Read article: Engagement and learning through social software in finance: The Trading Room experience

  • Challenging design students to be ethical professionals in a changing landscape of technologies

    Martin Friedel, Denise Wood

    Despite the existence of Web accessibility guidelines since 1999, the evidence suggests a continuation of design practices that limit the accessibility of Websites for diverse audiences. This problem has been further compounded with the increasing popularity of technologies such as Flash, which have encouraged many designers to place greater emphasis on form than function. This paper examines these issues and proposes a humanistic approach to Web design; one which acknowledges the designer’s responsibility to create sites that contribute to and improve the quality of life for all users. The role that design educators need to play in challenging their students to engage in design practices that will ensure the sites they develop are accessible in a changing landscape of technologies are explored in this paper, and the benefits of incorporating changes into the design curriculum that address the need for graduate designers to be aware of, and to engage in, inclusive design practices are discussed. After presenting the case for changes in the design curriculum that engage students in inclusive design practices, a case study based on the development of an undergraduate program that promotes inclusive design is presented. The strategies developed to ensure students understand the techniques required to create accessible and compliant Flash designs are discussed in some detail and in the final section of the paper, the benefits for students and the community groups with which they engage through their program of studies are discussed.

    Read article: Challenging design students to be ethical professionals in a changing landscape of technologies

  • Shifting perspectives about Aboriginal health and history: Using digital archives in an online role play

    Bill Genat, Som Naidu, Patrick Fong

    This paper describes the implementation of an online role-play that provides participants with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the socio-political context of public health on a Victorian Aboriginal settlement between the 1860s and the mid 1880s. A powerful innovation in the role-play is electronic access to primary historical sources that inform character development and interaction. Role-play provides strong instructional guidance complemented by exploration and discovery-based learning. Evaluation of the role-play indicated that students experienced the role-play as an efficient, effective and engaging way to learn about the subject matter. Overall, the role-play worked as a powerful learning vehicle to shift student perspectives on Aboriginal health and history.

    Read article: Shifting perspectives about Aboriginal health and history: Using digital archives in an online role play

  • Influences on pre-service teachers’ preparedness to use ICTs in the classroom

    Lincoln Gill, Barney Dalgarno

    The role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the school classroom is becoming increasingly prominent, both because of the need for children to develop skills that will empower them in modern society and because of the potential value of such technologies as tools for learning. One of the challenges facing teacher educators is how to ensure that graduate teachers have the necessary combination of skills and pedagogical knowledge that will enable them to both effectively use today’s technologies in the classroom as well as continue to develop and adapt to new technologies that emerge in the future. This study explores first year teacher education student preparedness to use ICTs in the classroom. The primary data source for the study is a set of intensive interviews with eight teacher education students. The results suggest that despite the prevailing view that this generation of University students are ‘Digital Natives’ (Prensky, 2001), there are a number of barriers to their preparedness to use ICTs in the classroom. In particular the study suggests that as well as looking at the teacher education curriculum and other aspects of the formal preparation of these pre-service teachers, the pre-service teachers’ personal preparedness including attitude, motivation, and confidence, along with various social factors are important. The results are discussed in the context of various models of pre- service teacher ICT pedagogical development. As well as being important for teacher educators, the findings are also important in the context of academic staff development associated with the use of ICTs as a learning tool in tertiary education, as well as in the context of other disciplines where similar assumptions about the ICT literacy of first year university students are being made.

    Read article: Influences on pre-service teachers’ preparedness to use ICTs in the classroom

  • The student experience of working in teams online

    Annegret Goold, Annemieke Craig, Jo Coldwell

    The research reported here is part of a project undertaken at a large Australian university in late 2005. The overall aim of the project was to identify the characteristics of student learning in an online environment. A university-wide student survey was conducted to ascertain student views of online learning and also of online teaching as part of the project. In the survey students were asked questions about their experiences of team work in online environments. The student perceptions of teams and team work are the focus of this paper. The findings from the survey indicated that students appreciated the opportunity of working in diverse teams. They supported the view that their opinions were valued in such teams. Student views of how teaching should be conducted in units with online teams were also expressed. Concerns about team interactions, technological barriers and communication and cultural issues were also raised. The implications for teaching with online student teams are presented and discussed.

    Read article: The student experience of working in teams online

  • Rethinking teaching and assessment strategies for flexible learning environments

    Julia Hallas

    This study explored how eight university lecturers adapted and developed their classroom based teaching and assessment strategies for the online environment. Ramsden’s (2003) framework for evaluating and recognising effective teaching, which assists lecturers to reflect on their practice, was used to guide the literature review and to gather examples of online teaching and assessment strategies. The examples were evaluated according to good practice principles drawn from the literature. This is a limited study, and the results were used to inform a professional development programme in flexible learning.

    Read article: Rethinking teaching and assessment strategies for flexible learning environments

Showing 14–26 of 135 articles