2023: ASCILITE 2023 Conference Proceedings: People, Partnerships and Pedagogies

ASCILITE Conference - Concise Papers

• Parental perceptions on children’s use of digital technology: A systematic review

  RUOWEI CHEN, Kathryn MacCallum

  Understanding the extensive use of digital technology among modern children and its growing importance in education is essential for higher education institutions to prepare educators who can effectively collaborate with parents to integrate digital technology into early childhood education. Based on ecological systems theory, parental perceptions significantly influence children's digital usage. This paper undertook a systematic review, employing the PRISMA criteria to gain insight into how parental perceptions shape attitudes towards digital adoption to understand how this may influence teachers' integration within the ECE context. It reviewed articles from January 2015 to March 2023, utilising three databases: ERIC, Education Source, and Scopus, resulting in the inclusion of 24 articles. The findings demonstrated that parents possess a comprehensive awareness, considering not only the potential advantages and disadvantages that digital technology brings to their children but also the benefits and drawbacks for parents themselves. Additionally, parental perception is influenced by various factors stemming from both the child and the parent.

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• Affecting culture change: Experience from the trenches of Large-scale Educational Transformation integrating active learning

  Matt Chen, Emma Yench, Aster Cosmos

  Since November 2021 the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University has been engaged in a significant large-scale Education Transformation Project with the intention to reshape and reinvigorate the way teaching teams educate, interact with, and prepare students for the future. The goal is to transform Education programs in order to engage students in active learning experiences that encourage deeper learning, prepare students for the workplace through authentic assessment, and build connection and belonging within the community of staff and adult students. This paper reports on the work done to date, reflects on our experiences and learnings, and outlines the plan for the work yet to come. The purpose of this paper is to shine a light on a project in progress as a conversation starter and reference for other colleagues planning a similar project.

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• Integrating Sustainability in Higher Education Curricula: A Transformative Approach towards Marketing Education and Brand Social Responsibility

  Assoc. Prof. Donna Cleveland, Dr. Nguyen Van Thang Long, Ms. Nguyen Tran Mai Chi

  The theme of Education for Sustainable Development necessitates Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to integrate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their operations and program/course offerings. Drawing upon transformative learning theory and brand social responsibility theory, the research analyzes the teaching materials of 156 courses from seven programs within the School of Communication & Design at RMIT Vietnam, a prestigious Australian university. The findings reveal that the School currently aligns with 14 out of the 17 SDGs, encompassing a total of 60 indicators. On average, each program within the School addresses more than 10 goals and 24 indicators via collaborative partnership projects, case studies, and assessments. However, the study highlights that the incorporation of SDGs has yet to be deeply and comprehensively embedded within the curriculum. The research contributes to the theoretical framework of sustainability by offering recommendations on how to evaluate the integration of SDGs in teaching materials.

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• Design-Based Research: Enhancing pedagogical design

  Thomas Cochrane, Kelly Galvin, Gavin Buskes, Lionel Lam, Vijay Rajagopal, Solange Glasser, Margaret Osborne, Ben Loveridge, Catherine Davey, Sam John, Louise Townsin, Timothy Moss

  This concise paper explores how Design-Based Research (DBR) can practically guide pedagogical innovation through collaborative curriculum design. We illustrate this with four short case studies (vignettes) of DBR implemented in different discipline contexts in higher education. An examination of the common characteristics of these four project designs show how DBR can be practically implemented as a transferable educational design framework. Future work includes deeper analysis and reporting on the longitudinal impact on student learning of these projects in a subsequent full journal paper.

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• The implications of generative AI for creative composition in higher education and initial teacher education

  Edwin Creely, Joanne Blannin

  This position paper explores the impact of generative AI on creativity and creative production in higher education, with focus also on initial teacher education. Creative outputs are an essential part of the business of higher education across different disciplinary areas, along with pedagogical and assessment practices matched to these outputs. However, the advent of generative AI has sparked a reconsideration of how we think about creativity, creative output, and the hybridity of relationships between generative AI and humans in creative endeavours. This emergent technology also has significant implications for teacher education and for the develop of new teachers who need confidence with using AI in learning contexts. We suggest that new thinking and critical dialogue are essential in developing educational futures in which generative AI is understood for its affordances, limitations, and dangers.

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• Supporting peer tutoring with graphical organisers and knowledge maps

  Yu Cui

  This study delves into the realm of learning from tutoring and extends existing research by introducing augmented concept mapping as an innovative strategy to enhance peer learning in preparing for tutoring. The paper provides a concise overview of the current design of pedagogically augmented concept maps and their integration with Semantic Web and derived technologies for the iterative development of knowledge maps. This research represents an ongoing endeavour with the primary objective of developing graphical organisers to support student tutors in designing tutoring plans before actual tutorials in the form of concept maps and knowledge maps. It serves a dual purpose, aiming to facilitate individual tutor learning and promote collective knowledge construction. The main contribution of this presentation lies not only in the potential for synthesising concept mapping and semantic knowledge mapping, but also in the integration of content learning, such as the domain of hydrology in this study, with dialogical tutoring interaction during peer tutoring preparation

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• Online Social Annotation: Compare Onshore Face-to-face and Offshore English as an Additional Language (EAL) Students in a Hybrid Course

  Tristan Cui, Toan Le

  This research aimed to gain an understanding of how social annotations can be used to facilitate students' pre-class learning in a postgraduate unit at an Australian university. We analysed both survey data and system logs to examine students’ participation, performance, and experience when engaging in social annotations. The results show that online offshore students had a better overall unit result when considering their WAM before starting the unit. Furthermore, students had positive experiences with the social annotation activities. The students have identified several key benefits of engaging in social annotation and the associated challenges, providing valuable information for future course design. In summary, this investigation reveals the value of social annotation tools to facilitate student pre-class learning in both online and face-to-face classes.

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• Explaining persistence in online learning: A review study

  Hai Min DAI, Kaige Ni , Natasha Anne Rappa, Xin Long, Chenggang Wu, Yan Wang, Timothy Teo , Meng Zhang

  Learners’ persistence in online learning plays a crucial role in achieving successful learning outcomes. In an effort to understand the underlying psychological mechanism of learners’ persistence in such environments, a systematic review is conducted to synthesise the existing knowledge. This concise paper presents three fundamental findings derived from the review project, namely, mapping the current research landscape, exploring the motivations propelling researchers to investigate this phenomenon, and examining the theoretical models employed in literature to explain learners’ behaviours.

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• Using Figma to foster authentic digital learning experiences in an online short course

  Cory Dal Ponte, Sathana Dushyanthen, Kit Huckvale, Madhavan Mani, Kayley Lyons

  Australia’s healthcare landscape is undergoing a digital transformation that will improve health outcomes and enable better exchange of patient data. Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy calls for a workforce that is educated to harness the potential of technologies that enable this digital transformation. There is an urgent need for effective and innovative methods of training the workforce to meet these demands. This paper discusses the development of an authentic learning activity using Figma, a popular UX/UI design tool. The activity sits within a short course, Opportunities for SMART on FHIR apps, which is a part of a national training programme, addressing workforce capacity-building needs. It teaches a non-technical healthcare workforce to create and share healthcare app prototypes with key stakeholders and developers. The activity highlights the importance of creating an authentic learning opportunity that builds the confidence of the workforce to enable digital health solutions, supporting healthcare’s rapid digital transformation.

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• Beyond Appearances : Unveiling the Hidden Biases in Hiring Academics in Australian Universities

  Kashmira Dave

  This paper presents preliminary findings from research investigating the influence of selection panel biases on recruiting academic positions in Australian higher education. Emphasising the need for cultural diversity and inclusivity among students, the study argues that these goals should also be reflected in the selection of academics within higher education institutions. Notably, this research addresses a significant gap, as no prior studies in Australia have explored how selection panel members' personal and organisational characteristics and belief systems shape university academic selection. Data for this study were collected through surveys and optional semi-structured interviews with university staff who have participated in academic interviews or served on academic selection panels. Descriptive and thematic analysis techniques were applied to both survey and interview data, with verbal data analysis used for the interview transcripts. While the research is ongoing, this paper reports preliminary findings based on 45 surveys only from the participants interviewed. This paper does not report the findings from participants who were in interview panels. This research does not report on semi-structured interview data collected as a part of this project. The results highlight intense feelings of discrimination due to the race, age, gender, and cultural background of the candidates in the academic recruitment process in Australian universities.

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• Manaaki Tauira Course Enhancements Program: Improving outcomes of minority students (a pilot study)

  Tracy-Anne De Silva, David Rose

  This paper reports on a pilot study of a course enhancements program at Lincoln University, New Zealand, designed to enhance learner success for all students, but particularly those from minority groups. The pilot study includes two phases, each of six-months duration – course redevelopment and course delivery. During the first phase, 10 academics were selected to engage in self-reflection, complete a four-week online asynchronous course, develop an action plan for course redevelopment, attend a two-day in-person workshop to implement the action plan, and meet several times with an academic development facilitator. This blended approach resulted in academics experiencing a variety of in-person and online learning activities and approaches that could be used in their own courses, and the opportunity to collaborate and share their course redevelopment journey with other academics. This paper highlights the approach taken in the pilot study and the strategies used to bring academics on the journey.

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• Unlocking empathy and preparedness: Enhancing criminal justice education with Virtual Reality

  Helen Farley, Erika Herrera

  Developments in virtual reality (VR) technology and the increased availability of high-speed internet, have increased the affordability and accessibility of VR. This paper investigates the potential of VR to supplement the theoretical coursework of a large criminal justice course in Aotearoa New Zealand. By simulating interactions with people in prison, VR could offer a unique training platform where students develop essential skills, including communication, conflict resolution, and empathy, within a controlled environment. This ensures that trauma-sensitive issues can be addressed safely and effectively, providing students with invaluable experiential learning opportunities. Using VR, students could engage in simulated scenarios that mirror real-life. This immersive environment would allow them to gain firsthand experience and explore their emotional responses in a safe setting. Students could develop a deeper understanding of their triggers, manage their trauma, and acquire the necessary coping mechanisms to handle the challenging situations they may face in their future careers.

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• Student perceptions of video feedback: Preliminary Findings

  Andrea Fenton, Paul Murphy, Mary Jesselyn Co

  One key challenge with feedback is designing it to ensure that students engage and act on it, which implies that the effect of feedback is as important as the feedback itself. In this paper, we explore students’ perceptions of video feedback in comparison to written feedback and report the preliminary findings of our pilot study. We conducted interviews on nine students who received video feedback in their marketing capstone unit. After conducting a thematic analysis on the interview data, we found that students preferred video feedback over written feedback because of the following – it provides more detailed, clearer, and more understandable feedback; and it also creates better connection with the marker because it feels more authentic and personalized. Both positive and negative emotions are generated by the video feedback. The findings will help us identify areas we can focus on in an upcoming large-scale study.

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