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2006: ASCILITE 2006 Conference Proceedings

The proceedings of the 2006 ASCILITE Conference.

L. Markauskaite, P. Goodyear, & P. Reimann (Eds.)  Who’s Learning? Whose Technology?                                                            University of Sydney, Australia

December 3-6, 2006.

Published: 30 November 2006

ASCILITE Conference - Full Papers

  • Electronic delivery of oral feedback on graphic design projects

    Coralie McCormack, Mary-Jane Taylor

    The characteristics of feedback that support students’ learning have been described. However, the learning preferences of today’s students (e.g. use of current technologies, expectation for flexibility and immediacy), when combined with the declining amount of time students spend on campus, may translate into particular expectations about the mode of delivery and time and place of receipt of assessment feedback. This study reports graphic design students’ and their teacher’s perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of oral feedback recorded on an ipod and emailed to students as a digital voice file. Students’ questionnaire responses suggest the advantages of this mode of delivery outweighed the disadvantages and support the learning preferences of this m-learning generation. For time- poor university teachers seeking to balance the tensions between timeliness, quantity and quality of feedback for student consumers, who are frequently not on campus to receive that feedback in a face-to-face session, electronic delivery of pre-recorded oral feedback may be one way to meet students’ learning preferences.

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  • The role of e-teaching in e-learning

    Jacquelin McDonald

    Interaction has long been a defining and critical component of the educational process, and it has been suggested that asynchronous interaction may provide an ideal environment for learning. Promoting interaction requires rethinking of traditional learning and teaching roles, informed by research into learning and teaching activities, and the outcomes of such interaction. This paper presents the findings of doctoral research that used a grounded theory approach to generate insights into how participants interacted in an asynchronous, text–based discussion environment. A brief review of the impact of existing management structures on the introduction of learning is provided. The paper then presents the findings that emerged from the study and reflects on the teaching role that challenges some existing conceptions of a diminished role for teachers.

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  • Learning object: A new definition, a case study and an argument for change

    Jenny McDonald

    A recursive definition of ‘learning object’ is proposed which supports the possibility of infinite variety in terms of how a learning object is constructed and used by teaching staff and students. The new definition is bound to two key properties of a learning object, reusability and use for learning, and places no theoretical limit on the size of a learning object. The proposed definition of learning object is derived from the development pattern that emerged during the course of a large collaborative project to develop a series of information literacy modules. The proposed definition is tested against the current generally agreed properties of learning objects, and against the outputs of the project from which the definition was derived. The new definition is also compared with some existing definitions and an argument is presented for why it may prove more useful, in both theory and practice, than its predecessors.

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  • You, me and iLecture

    Julie McElroy, Yvette Blount

    This paper explores the implementation of iLecture for a second year accounting unit at Macquarie University. The research found that students interacted with iLecture in ways that were not entirely expected. Students appear to want more control over their learning environment and technologies. An example of this is iLecture as it has the potential to provide students with choices about how and where they learn. The majority of students that used iLecture also attended face-to-face lectures. Teaching staff also used this technology to listen to lectures before tutorials. This assisted with the constructive alignment of lectures and tutorials for the large number of staff involved in the unit. We argue that understanding how students are using new technologies such as iLecture, and the lecturers’ experience of iLecture, could provide useful insights into how academics can utilise these technologies to provide a more fulfilling interaction with students.

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  • Beyond marks and measurement: Developing dynamic and authentic forms of e-assessment

    Catherine McLoughlin, Joe Luca

    E-learning has transformed both pedagogy and learning environments and a new generation of learners has emerged, who require immediacy, connection and personalised opportunities for both formal and informal learning. Instead of using narrowly defined learning outcomes tested by examinations, social software tools offer scope for social connection and self-governed assessment tasks such as critical inquiry, collaboration and team work, giving learners multiple channels of expression, and perspective taking. While social software tools can be closely inter-woven with learning management systems, and be used to scaffold authentic tasks for assessment, there remain design and pedagogical challenges. The paper critiques current practice and analyses several examples of dynamic, resource-based, sustainable e-assessment that support lifelong and self-regulated learning.

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  • Online student contracts to promote metacognitive development

    Mark McMahon, Joe Luca

    Knowing about one’s own cognitive ability, and how best to use this ability in understanding new educational content, solving problems and making effective decisions is one of the holy grails of education! Metacognition is widely perceived as being integral to effective learning and much literature and research has been devoted to this area. However online learning environments that effectively support the development of students’ metacognition are rare and difficult to develop. This paper describes one component (the student contract) of an online learning environment designed to support the development of metacognition through a cycle of planning, monitoring and evaluation. Students firstly complete a self assessment questionnaire that helps expose their preferences and orientations; this forms the basis of the student contract. The design and logic of the student contract is outlined, with an overview of the complete strategy being used to help promote metacognition.

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  • The ‘copy and paste’ function: A flawed cognitive tool in need of redesign

    Michael Morgan, Gwyn Brickell, Barry Harper

    This paper argues that the traditional version of the ‘copy and paste’ function used in many computer-mediated learning environments is a flawed cognitive tool for learning applications and may in fact subvert the constructivist philosophy of many learning packages. An initial study was conducted, using distributed cognition theory to redesign the interface of the ‘copy and paste’ function, to examine the efficacy of embedding a specific interaction strategy (reported in Morgan et al., 2006a, 2006b). The embedded interaction strategy involved summarisation note taking tasks and the results of this empirical study are outlined in order to establish the efficacy of this approach. This paper goes on to argue that this principle can be extended to include a wider variety of interaction strategies designed to invoke different encoding techniques (Lutz, 2000), including note taking, categorisation and concept mapping. By embedding different interaction strategies into the interface of the ‘copy and paste’ function an effective processing strategy emerges as a consequence of employing the tool. In addition the learner is exposed to a range of processing strategies and may become conscious of choosing the appropriate interaction strategy for the specific task at hand, thereby improving their metacognitive skills. A series of further studies are advocated to examine the effects of the approach that has been outlined.

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  • Benchmarking e-Learning in UK higher education

    Derek Morrison, Terry Mayes, Eddie Gulc

    The UK-wide higher education benchmarking exercise began in January 2006. The background to the programme is contained in the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) strategy for e- learning (HEFCE, 2005), published after a consultation process with the sector that took place in 2003. The consultation was characterised by the sector’s reaction at that time to the high profile given to the UKeU (UK e-University) and many of the consultation responses seemed to be asking for a renewed focus on the e-learning provision on the sector’s campuses. This is where the need for benchmarking the current state of play in the HEIs was first expressed. There was a strong feeling that the whole UK HE sector should pause, take stock, and rethink its approach to e-learning. HEFCE delayed publishing its strategy until 2005, when all issues concerning the failure of the UKeU had been addressed. The strategy document is surprisingly reflective, and acknowledges openly the influence of the consultation on its main principle, the support of individual institutions in developing their own approach to e-learning. It acknowledged that the early concentration on infrastructure had now given way to a focus on pedagogy, and on connecting electronic communications with other processes, in a new blend of approaches to learning and teaching. HEFCE concedes that those best placed to shape a pedagogy-based, flexible delivery approach, with e-learning fully joined up with other processes, are the institutions themselves, and the Funding Council’s role is to provide as much support as possible to help HEIs design and implement that development.

    Read article: Benchmarking e-Learning in UK higher education

  • Increasing success in first year courses: Assessment re-design, self-regulation and learning technologies

    David Nicol

    Concerns about non-completion and the quality of the first year student experience have been linked to recent changes in higher education such as modularisation, increased class sizes, greater diversity in the student intake and reduced resources. Improving formative assessment and feedback processes is seen as one way of addressing academic failure, of enhancing the learning experience and students’ chances of success in the early years of study. This paper argues that, if this is to happen, a broader perspective on the purposes of formative assessment and feedback is required; one that links these processes to the development of learner self-regulation. Drawing on the current literature, the paper presents a set of principles for the effective design and evaluation of formative assessment and feedback processes. It then shows, through two case studies drawn from a large £1m Re- engineering Assessment Practices (REAP) project, how ICT might support formative assessment processes, academic success and the development of self-regulation in large first year classes.

    Read article: Increasing success in first year courses: Assessment re-design, self-regulation and learning technologies

  • Professional development for professional developers: Who’s learning about e-learning from whom?

    Margaret O’Connell, Robyn Benson, Gayani Samarawickrema

    This paper examines the critically reflective approach of a group of academic support staff in the design, development and evaluation of an e-learning resource. The resource was a showcase of examples of electronic learning and teaching approaches developed at Monash University titled Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA). This paper does not focus on the resource itself, but rather on the critically reflective approach used, which drew on the features of participatory action research and was extended to include a participatory component in the evaluation of the site so that the outcomes of this process could be formally accommodated in data collection. The paper explores this critically reflective approach as a model for e-learning developers to monitor and progress their own professional development, engaging in collaborative dialogue to enhance their professional practice.

    Read article: Professional development for professional developers: Who’s learning about e-learning from whom?

  • The trial of learning objects: Exploring the design and delivery of VTE courses with learning objects

    Ron Oliver, Mark McMahon, Peter Higgs, Rose Shum, Lisa Wait, Dominic Lou

    This paper describes a project undertaken in the Australian vocational training and education (VTE) sector that sought to investigate success factors associated with the design and delivery of courses using learning objects (LOs). The project explored the strategies used by three teachers as they used digital repositories to discover learning objects, and then applied the objects through a content management system to create online courses. The paper reports the factors that were found to influence the online learning settings that resulted and teachers' perceptions of LOs as building blocks for online courses.

    Read article: The trial of learning objects: Exploring the design and delivery of VTE courses with learning objects

  • How does hypermedia support learning? The role of different representational formats and varying levels of learner control for the applicability of multimedia design principles

    Maria Opfermann, Peter Gerjets, Katharina Scheiter

    During recent years, hypermedia and web-based learning environments have become increasingly important in educational contexts. The advantages they offer compared to traditional learning methods (like books) include the possibility to access information in a nonlinear and self-controlled fashion. Additionally, information can be presented in different representational codes (e.g., text, pictures) and address different sensory modalities (e.g., visual, auditory). However, the question arises how these aspects should be combined to design a hypermedia environment that enables active, self-regulated and constructive learning and fosters knowledge acquisition. Our studies investigated whether well-established multimedia design principles apply to hypermedia as well. Results show that these principles cannot simply be transferred to hypermedia environments and that certain representational formats do not foster learning per se but that it is necessary to carefully look at the affordances that these representations provide for retrieval. These results will be presented and discussed with respect to their implications for the design of further studies.

    Read article: How does hypermedia support learning? The role of different representational formats and varying levels of learner control for the applicability of multimedia design principles

  • Online student portfolios for demonstration of engineering graduate attributes

    Stuart Palmer, Wayne Hall

    Engineers Australia is the Australian professional body that accredits undergraduate engineering programs. It espouses an ‘outcomes-based’ program accreditation philosophy, but imposes mandatory ‘process’ requirements for off-campus programs that are in addition to the requirements for conventional on-campus programs. The focus on off-campus engineering study raises the question: how can learning outcomes, regardless of mode of study, be effectively measured? The current answer appears to be ‘graduate attributes’. The literature reveals a range of sophistication in approach to graduate attributes from identifying desirable graduate attributes, through to evidence-based certification of individual student attainment of graduate attributes. Many engineering accrediting bodies around the world identify student portfolios as a strategy for demonstrating student attainment of graduate attributes. The increasing use of online technology by students and educators alike, including as part of assessment, means that many of the reported applications of student portfolios are online portfolios. The effectiveness of online student portfolios will depend on them being embedded in day-to-day educational practice, rather than being an optional extra given a low priority by busy students. This paper presents a survey of the related literature and briefly outlines a project in progress at Deakin University to trial an online student portfolio.

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Showing 66–78 of 121 articles