2007: ASCILITE 2007 Conference Proceedings

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

• Formative research on the instructional design process of virtual reality based learning environments

  Chwen Jen Chen

  To date, the educational benefits offered by the virtual reality (VR) technology are generally well accepted. Indeed, many efforts are underway to explore ways, both theoretically and practically, to produce effective virtual reality learning. Chen, Toh and Wan (2004), for instance, have proposed an instructional design model that prescribes instructional methods for guiding the design of VR based learning environments. Although this model serves as a feasible and useful template to guide the design of VR based learning environments, particularly learning environments that adopt the constructivist paradigm of instruction, there are still rooms to enhance its robustness. This paper describes how formative research method can be used to improve this instructional design model. Formative research, which is qualitative in nature, is a method that has been employed to develop as well as to improve design theories (or models). The paper also reports some preliminary findings of the study.

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• The validation of the online learning environment survey

  John Clayton

  The increased use of computers in education, the creation of virtual learning environments based on web services, and the increased investments by educational institutions (both fiscal, physical and human) in the development of networked environments are impacting on all aspects of education. Educationalists, at all levels, are challenged to develop appropriate strategies to deal with new information and communication technology rich ways of teaching and learning. This paper will focus on the procedures used in the validation of an online learning environment perceptual measure the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLLES). It is envisaged the instrument, in its’ final form, will inform educationalists of the efficiency and effectiveness of tactics and strategies they are employing in the online learning environments they create.

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• On campus and distance student attitudes towards paperless assessment and feedback

  Barney Dalgarno, Anthony Chan, Peter Adams, Phil Roy, Daryl Miller

  It is generally accepted that the use of paperless submission and return of university assignments has potential advantages for reducing delays in each direction, especially for students studying part-time, online or at a distance. There are also potential advantages in terms of the quality of feedback and also potential cost savings through reduced printing either by the student or by the institution. A number of studies have explored the use of technologies to assist with the process of submission, marking or return of student assignments, but to date there is little information available about student attitudes to its use. This paper reports on a survey of students who participated in a large-scale trial of paperless submission, marking and return of assignments. The results suggest that students in general are strongly in favour of paperless approaches. Advantages identified included reductions in time delays, ability to retrieve feedback while away from home, improved legibility of feedback, reduced printing, and more convenient storage of past assignments. Disadvantages identified included the cost of printing returned assignments and problems with uploading over slow Internet connections. There was no significant difference between preference for paperless marking of students studying on campus and at a distance, with the majority of students in all study modes responding positively. Students were divided in their preference for receiving feedback via email (ie. using a push model), versus downloading their feedback themselves (ie. using a pull model), indicating that both alternatives should be made available.

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• Playing a critical role: Experiential learning resources and analytical media studies in higher education

  Kristin Demetrious

  This article compares two Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) used in the Faculty of Arts, Deakin University Australia, and investigates the relationships between technology, pedagogy and key issues in the teaching and practice of public relations, in a media studies context. The online role-play ‘Save Wallaby Forest’ and the e-simulation ‘PRessure Point! Getting Framed (GF), in their different ways, afford learning environments with capabilities that present public relations and media students with opportunities to discover a critical consciousness, break out of naturalised world-views, and explore alternative approaches to organisational communication. Furthermore, they present students with complex ethical issues to investigate based around the idea that media industries are powerful discursive producers and reproducers of social norms, values and beliefs which in turn shape notions of identity and influence the formation of public opinion in society (Fairclough 1999; Habermas 1995). This article explores the intersections and differences between these distinct ICTs in their relationships to a constructivist learning approach and ethical questions about how public relations both produces and reproduces world views through practice. This interacting nexus – between technology, pedagogy and theme – is significant because “what happens in the learning process” relates to the learning outcome and therefore has the potential to develop holistic reflexivity in studies of public relations (Laurillard 2003, p.42).

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• Exploring the role of weblogs in supporting learning communities: An integrative approach

  Liping Deng, Allan H. K. Yuen

  This study explores into the role of weblogs in supporting preservice teachers during their teaching practice and the key factors determining their engagement with weblogs. Underlying our study is an integrative approach that puts weblogs alongside with other popular media in use. An online community was intentionally built with weblogs to facilitate reflection and social interaction among dispersed preservice teachers. In parallel, multiple channels of communication were employed for peer interaction. Weblogs were perceived as valuable in relieving isolation, documenting their experience, and expressing their personal feelings. Instant Messenger and phone were rated as the most frequently used media. This study sustains our conviction that the integrative approach is vital to have a comprehensive picture of interaction among a community. Our study deepens the insights into the distinct benefit of weblogs as educational media and informs the future development of an online community with weblogs.

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• Individuals’ perceptions of online environments: What adult learners are telling us

  Robert Dixon, Kathryn Dixon, Lou Siragusa

  This paper reports upon the results of ongoing research into student responses to their online learning habitat at a Western Australian university. The university in question has been at the forefront of innovation for flexible, online delivery of its Training and Development Program since the late 1990s. A number of reviews and evaluations of the program have taken place since then, with changes being made in direct line with academic research. This has pointed to ways of improving the quality of delivery and therefore student learning. This investigation focuses upon students’ reactions to their online learning environment and utilises student questionnaire data which concentrates upon factors relating to communication apprehension and competence, the experience of perceived loneliness, locus of control, collaboration by students regarding the learning experience, institutional support and the students’ sense of self efficacy. The results indicated that students’ personal perceptions of the importance of peer interaction and group work were surprisingly lower than anticipated. It appeared that the majority of students preferred to work alone and were less likely to initiate contact with fellow students as they believed their learning styles were not collaborative. Communication apprehension and competence were highly influential on their overall expectations of educational success in the unit studied. The students’ sense of control over the learning materials and environment led to an increase in their belief regarding a timely and successful completion of the unit of study and their perceived ability to interact effectively with others.

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• M-learning: Finding a place for mobile technologies within tertiary educational settings

  Jennifer Duncan-Howell, Kar-Tin Lee

  Today's students have grown up with enormous access to digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century. As educators we are left to grapple with what form and shape learning will look like in tertiary settings in the next few decades? The use of M-Learning tools themselves does not guarantee their potential being realised. The key to success is the ability of educators to design and develop pedagogically sound opportunities and environments that enhances learning. This presentation will provide an overview of what is currently happening regarding M-Learning in tertiary institutions and it will look at the conclusions of these initiatives. It will highlight the challenges and issues confronting tertiary educators when planning and catering for the needs, preferences, attitudes and habits of young Generation C mobile technology users and look at the potential applications or uses of M-Learning in the tertiary context. It will present a brief description of M- Learning initiatives currently being trialed at Queensland University of Technology. The paper will conclude with a brief examination of educational policy developments regarding M-Learning around the world and a summary of the changes facing tertiary educational settings.

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• Using blogging for higher order learning in large-cohort university teaching: A case study

  Brett Farmer, Audrey Yue, Claire Brooks

  The small but developing literature on weblogging underscores its potential as an effective learning resource for use in higher education. This paper contributes to these discussions through an initial case study of the authors' experience with the on-going development of an educational blogging resource for use in a large-cohort undergraduate liberal arts subject. Detailing the theoretical aims, design, implementation and incipient evaluation of the project, the paper supports the argument for the educational use-value of blogging but also highlights potential limitations and problem areas.

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• Online self and peer assessment in large, multi-campus, multi-cohort contexts

  Jan Fermelis, Richard Tucker, Stuart Palmer

  The increasing use of team assignments within higher education is well documented. The driving forces behind this include desires to facilitate reflective and collaborative learning, to develop generic teamwork skills for graduate employment and to reduce the grading workloads of faculty staff. Students however consistently report dissatisfaction when the assessment of team assignments produces a common grade for all team members. Self-and- peer-assessment (SAPA) is presented as a fair, valid and reliable method of producing information about ongoing team processes. This information can provide ongoing feedback to team members and rich formative data to instructors attempting to assess the team process and students’ teamwork skills. This data can also enable individualised summative assessment in dysfunctional teams or situations of uneven team member contributions. Whilst manual SAPA protocols can work effectively for smaller classes, computer-assisted SAPA offers a solution to the problems of large classes. This paper reports on the early stages of an online SAPA tool, originally developed for small classes of architecture students, adapted for use by very large business communication classes comprising up to 1000 students in a semester. This large unit is delivered on four Australian campuses as well as off-campus and in off-shore mode, by up to fourteen instructors at any one time. The paper documents how three researchers from very different backgrounds worked to create their own research team, implement a pilot study, and adapt the online tool, whilst adhering to comparability of assessment constraints and maintaining integrity of research design.

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• The need for choice and control: Preparing the digital generation to be teachers

  Brian Ferry, Lisa Kervin, Lisa Carrington, Kay Prcevich

  In this paper we describe an online classroom-based simulation, ClassSim. The software was developed to enable pre-service teachers to interact with a virtual classroom environment as they assume the role of the teacher. The project built on the research of Herrington, Oliver and Reeves (2003) by investigating how the design elements of authentic learning environments they identified could be operationalised in simulation software to engage pre-service teachers in understanding the complex decisions needed to plan and implement reading and writing experiences for young children. With the support of a large grant from the Australian Research Council entitled: Investigating a classroom simulation designed to support pre-service teacher decision making in planning and implementing literacy teaching (DP0344011) we have engaged in iterative designs and accompanying trials of the software with more than 500 pre-service teachers studying within the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong, Australia. During these trials we noticed some trends in the ways in which pre-service teachers approached the software and report on the implications of these trends for instructional designers.

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• The roles we play in ICT based learning design: Do academics have it all?

  Julie Fleming, Karen Becker

  Technology has had a significant impact on the pedagogical practice of academics in the tertiary education sector. For most academics, this has meant a struggle to adapt to potentially different approaches to learning design. At worst, technology has resulted in nothing more than the use of traditional methods of learning design in an online environment; delivering content in a seemingly linear way that offers little opportunity to enhance learning and teaching. For others, online facilitation of learning presents opportunities to transform learning into an engaging and authentic experience for the student, utilising sometimes unique approaches available only in the online environment. This paper presents findings from a review of courses offered online across a range of disciplines, and particularly focuses on varying approaches to course design and implementation. In particular, the review of these courses and their implementation sought to better understand the roles being played by academics in the design and development of learning in an online environment, through a lens developed by Goodyear, Salmon, Spector, Steeples and Tickner (2001). The findings of the review highlight the importance of a range of competencies for effective design and delivery of online learning. The authors argue that academics may not be the most appropriate individuals to fulfil some of the roles required for the effective design and implementation of online learning.

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• Teacher-student interactions in online nursing education

  Wrennah L. Gabbert, Roderick Sims

  The United States is in the midst of a severe nursing shortage that is expected to increase in intensity due to the aging nursing population and the increasingly complex healthcare environment. Complicating this situation is the fact that a majority of Registered Nurses find they must acquire additional education if they want to advance their careers or obtain leadership positions, and online learning provides the perfect opportunity for nurses to continue working while pursuing their educational goals. To date, research in nursing education has primarily focused on specific distance delivery formats and technology integration with outcomes measured primarily by grades the students received and their satisfaction with the course and instructor. Nurse educators are challenged to meet the complex needs of the current nursing student and humanise their online courses by intentionally designing relevant curriculum in a supportive learning environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate current nursing students’ perceptions of teacher- student interactions in their online nursing courses. Relationships between the students’ perceptions and demographic factors of age, professional and online learning experience, and type of program were also explored. Data were collected from a convenience sample of nursing students representing both urban and rural geographic areas of the southwest. Describing students’ perceptions provided insight into who the current student is, their needs and information about where teachers need to direct instructional design efforts to develop and maintain attractive and supportive online learning environments.

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• Challenge FRAP: An e-learning tool used to scaffold authentic problem-solving processes

  Victor Galea, Terry Stewart, Caroline H. Steel

  Challenge FRAP (Form for the Analysis of Problems), is client based public-domain authoring software that facilitates the dynamic use of scaffolding, progressive feedback to learners, and student reflection at important decision-making points. This paper reports the student use and evaluation of this eLearning tool in the context of a plant pathology course over three years. Students in a third year undergraduate course were given authentic commercially significant plant disease problems derived from industry and matched with industry clients to work through their analysis and diagnosis. The use of Challenge FRAP enabled students to work in a flexible, self- directed way with strong scaffolding support and guidance to assist them through a scholarly scientific reasoning process. The e-learning tool also enabled the teacher to gain insights into student decision-making and cognitive thinking processes and to provide feedback and guidance at crucial learning points. This paper details student perceptions of this e-learning scaffolding tool during and after their experience of using it, as well as their responses to the authentic learning context and how they believed the process influenced their learning.

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