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2007: 2007 ASCILITE Conference Companion Materials

 

 

Reviewed abstracts for posters and symposia/panel sessions for the ASCILITE 2007 Conference.

The proceedings of the 2007 ASCILITE Conference.

R. J. Atkinson, C. McBeath, S. K. A. Soong, & C. Cheers (Eds) (2007).

ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning.

Proceedings ASCILITE 2007.

Centre for Educational Development, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

December 2-5, 2007.

Published: 30 November 2007

ASCILITE Conference - Posters

  • Lecture recording: Help or hinder in developing a stimulating learning environment?

    Michael O’Donoghue, Jessica Hollis, Alan Hoskin

    Owing to an increase in demand for undergraduate video lecture recording across the University the University Centre for Teaching and Learning were asked to outline possible alternative practices for the recording and distribution of lectures to students. Discussion with academic and other colleagues on the subject of recorded lectures identified two seemingly conflicting viewpoints; whether the adoption of a recorded lecture system would be beneficial to student learning by way of increased flexible learning provision, or whether effort and money should be better spent on developing staff approaches to active learning, so changing the nature of delivery for many courses from a passive lecture transmission to more engaging and collaborative forms of learning. This poster charts the development of this investigation, detailing the approaches and outcomes to date with particular emphasis on the institutional perspective.

    Read article: Lecture recording: Help or hinder in developing a stimulating learning environment?

  • Switching them on and keeping them on: Online professional development for university teachers

    Duncan O’Hara, Mark Brown

    This poster describes the design and structure of an online professional development course in e-learning for university teachers. It presents the nature of the course and identifies some of the problems and issues of trying to switch academic staff on to professional development in the area of e-learning based on the experiences within a diverse, multi- campus university community. The intention is to convey some of the key principles required when designing an engaging and sustainable professional development programme, which promotes personal skills at the same time as seeding longer-term pedagogical change.

    Read article: Switching them on and keeping them on: Online professional development for university teachers

  • Evaluating the potential of the Nintendo Wii to support disabled students in education

    Elaine Pearson, Chris Bailey

    This paper describes a new project aimed at identifying the potential of the new generation of games consoles to support learners with disabilities. The Nintendo Wii represents an innovation in the way players interact with games through the use of a remote control device that provides a more intuitive and realistic means of control and interaction. By selecting simulations, team and adventure games and evaluating them with focus groups based on students with particular types of disability, the objective is to evaluate and identify the accessibility of this type of games console and evaluate its potential for supporting disabled learners in an educational context.

    Read article: Evaluating the potential of the Nintendo Wii to support disabled students in education

  • Sharing teaching resources

    Russ Pennell

    UOW established a digital repository (or CMS) in 2006 to manage and deliver digital learning resources, for use initially by the UOW's Graduate School of Medicine (GSM) and delivered through Blackboard Vista. The system (Equella by TLE) is also intended to advance teaching in UOW through the sharing of teaching resources. Intended specific outcomes were identified at the start of the project, based on discussions and surveys of staff.

    Read article: Sharing teaching resources

  • Engaging students with ICT choices at Edith Cowan University

    Romana Pospisil, Rebekah Aspinall, Gillian Matthews, Carole Reid

    This poster outlines development over the last 5 years, of a range of ICT choices at ECU being utilised to engage and meet the requirements of today's students, over fifty percent of which now classify as Net Generation students. These students arrive at university with expectations of a choice of technologies, flexibility in accessing resources, and 24/7 availability. The challenges of migrating primarily print-based external studies offerings to ECU’s LMS Blackboard are also described together with the range of technologies and Web 2.0 utilities now in use at ECU.

    Read article: Engaging students with ICT choices at Edith Cowan University

  • Integrating undergraduate project based learning in computer science with COAST: A research network

    Robert K. Pucher, Harald Wahl, Friedrich Schmöllebeck

    Project based learning has become a standard method of teaching at the University of Applied Sciences - Technikum Wien. In the Computer Science course, PBL supports the teaching process throughout the whole curriculum. The focus of the projects differs from year to year. In the first year of study basic skills in managing IT projects is the main focus. In the third year, many Computer Science students carry out complex projects, a complete phase of planning and documentation is also required. The total number of projects carried out per year is around 100. Much attention is paid to the process of project selection. If students can select projects themselves, they are very interested in the results; therefore the results usually are very good.

    Read article: Integrating undergraduate project based learning in computer science with COAST: A research network

  • Self and peer assessment in groupwork using TeCTra

    Richard Raban, Andrew Litchfield

    The ability to assess the work of others is a core attribute for professionals. To develop this graduate attribute in our students requires the learning of self and peer evaluation, feedback, review and assessment skills. The poster presents a self and peer assessment tool - TeCTra Team Contribution Tracking – that is being developed, implemented and evaluated with a 2006 Carrick Institute Priority Grant and disseminated within Australia in the second half of 2008.

    Read article: Self and peer assessment in groupwork using TeCTra

  • Gender and engagement in automated online test feedback in first year human biology

    Katherine Sanders, Julie Hill, Jan Meyer, Georgina Fyfe, Sue Fyfe, Mel Ziman, Nicole Koehler

    This study reports on the differential use and benefits for males and females of the provision of automated feedback for online MCQ tests in first year Human Biology. The study was conducted across three Western Australian universities offering first year Human Biology units to approximately 2000 students per year. We found that immediate feedback benefits the learning of both sexes, but greater male engagement is obtained through shorter feedback tasks.

    Read article: Gender and engagement in automated online test feedback in first year human biology

  • Learning from research: Digitalising learning in tertiary settings

    Jennifer Tan, Kar-Tin Lee, Jennifer Duncan-Howell

    The current educational climate is highly competitive, both for funding, and student enrolments. Tertiary institutions are looking for new ways to attract student enrolments and there is a high expectation among students for learning to be digitalised. Research has concluded that Learning Objects (LOs) are effective motivators and help to engage learners with content. It has also been suggested that LOs are most effective when incorporated in a blend of traditional and digital instructional methods. Tertiary institutions are well positioned to incorporate LOs within existing units, thereby capitalising on the benefits such instructional tools offer by building on the more traditional methods pervasive within the field. This poster will present the findings from a school- based project conducted in Queensland, Australia which trialed LOs with middle-school secondary science students. The results from the study will be applied to the tertiary settings and it will suggest that LOs present as a useful approach for learners in tertiary settings.

    Read article: Learning from research: Digitalising learning in tertiary settings

  • The spring cycle blended curriculum model for teaching paragraph writing

    Santhakumari Thanasingam, Swee Kit Alan Soong

    This proposal describes the features of a curriculum model that can be used to develop paragraph writing skills for university students who fail their Qualifying English Entrance Test (QET). The model called the Spring-Cycle Blended Curriculum (SCBC) Model combines the strengths of two learning pedagogies namely blended learning and scaffolding for the design of a new curriculum. The initial simplified version of the curriculum was piloted for the module HW001, English Proficiency at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in January 2007. It was found that the model was effective in achieving the target learning outcomes for students within shorter contact hours with the tutor. The model is currently being implemented and evaluated on a full-scale for HW001. Survey findings from the earlier pilot showed that students both enjoyed and benefitted from the new model. The study by Thanasingam and Soong (2007) on the online oral skills activity used in the model also supports this. One implication of the success of this model is its potential of being adapted and customized for other learning contexts both in and beyond Singapore.

    Read article: The spring cycle blended curriculum model for teaching paragraph writing

  • Podcasting: The ultimate learning experience and authentic assessment

    Linda Thompson

    Microteaching, designed at the Stanford University in the 1960s (Allen & Ryan, 1969), revised (Ryan & Wang, 1996) has been described as one of the most powerful techniques for improving teaching. It has a longstanding reputation in the professional development of teachers at all levels from schools to universities. This paper reports on an on-going project from the National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore, on the use of podcasts in the professional preparation of English language teachers (ELTs). One outcome of the project, designed in 5 Stages, will be the creation of an NIE website Grammar Rules! The project focuses on the authentic assessment devised for 190 trainee non-specialist primary schools teachers by 5 non-tech-savvy Tutors. The NIE Grammar in a Pod project differs from established microteaching in a number of important ways. New technologies have opened up new options for teaching and learning. The arrival of the podcast presents teachers in every kind of institution with an invaluable learning resource and assessment opportunity. The poster will outline a framework for using podcasts as authentic teaching and assessment opportunities. The pedagogic rationale for podcast creation will be outlined, together with a framework for understanding podcasts as an appropriate model of autonomous learning and authentic assessment. It will be demonstrated that using podcasts in teaching, promotes creativity and supports learner autonomy. The process and findings from the project will be of interest to university teachers and other engaged in the professional training of graduates and professionals in the 21st century, including doctors, lawyers, engineers and of course, teachers.

    Read article: Podcasting: The ultimate learning experience and authentic assessment

  • E-role play for inquiry into transnational education

    Jocene Vallack, Ian Charleson

    This paper was inspired by the need to evaluate and make recommendations regarding the future directions of Swinburne University’s Transnational Education program. This paper postulates that a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, using online role play, would produce more meaningful and productive results. The cultural awakening brought about by this process of assuming and acting out roles based on life in Australia may encourage more students to give further consideration to the possibility of completing their degrees in Australia. The authors propose to use an established and reliable approach to qualitative data analysis. Crotty’s (1996) 5 step phenomenology is a suitable methodology, favoured by the authors for this particular research. Other phenomenological methodologies (Husserl (1977/1925), and Vallack (2005), are not appropriate in this case. Whereas Crotty’s theoretical framework is informed by constructivism, and allows the researchers to work external to the inquiry, the latter two methodologies demand a degree of subjectivity, which is not feasible for this research.

    Read article: E-role play for inquiry into transnational education

  • Does style matter? Considering the impact of learning styles in e-learning

    Julie Willems

    In order to seek best practice in e-learning design, doctoral research was conducted to identify the impact of learning style preferences on the e-learning environment. Three cohorts were identified: undergraduate e-learners, graduate e-learners, and educators working in e-learning environments. Participants in all three cohorts were asked to complete two data collection instruments: the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) (Felder & Soloman, 1991, 1994), and a survey questionnaire that contained open-ended questions to obtain qualitative data on the respondents experiences in e-learning in general, and more specifically, on their self-perceptions on their personal learning style preferences. The findings challenge one-size-fits-all approaches to learning design.

    Read article: Does style matter? Considering the impact of learning styles in e-learning

Showing 27–39 of 40 articles