Evidencing the development of distributed leadership capacity in the quality management of online learning environments (OLEs) in Australian higher education

The poster will present findings from the first year of a two-year nationally funded Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project, Building distributed leadership in designing and implementing a quality management framework for Online Learning Environments undertaken by Deakin University, Macquarie University, University of South Australia, University of Southern Queensland and RMIT University. The project is running over 2011-2012. This project aims to design and implement a framework that uses a distributed leadership approach for the quality management of Online Learning Environments (OLEs) in Australian higher education. The distributed leadership approach enables the development of the framework and in turn contributes to its implementation. The framework is the vehicle for building leadership capacity. The national project team itself represents a broad range of educational, technical and managerial expertise

Quality management of online learning environments: An evidence-based approach to implementing the 6EOLE Quality Management Framework

This project will design and implement a framework using a distributed leadership approach for the quality management of online learning environments in Australian higher education. The distributed leadership approach will enable the development of the framework and, in turn, contribute to its implementation. The framework will be the vehicle for building leadership capacity. The project will draw upon the combined expertise and strengths of five universities using different learning management systems and approaches to social networking and which are at various stages of deploying their next-generation online learning environments. The universities involved represent different groupings of institutions in the sector and each is reliant on disparate leadership groups to successfully implement and sustain their environments. The project will determine the key components of such a quality management framework and the key sources of evidence needed to ensure that institutional investments generate good student learning experiences

The role of learning theories in the design of effective online learning environments

Online learning systems are rapidly changing the nature of teaching and learning. Large amounts of resources are being put into their development, despite inconclusive evidence of their effectiveness and a lack of pragmatic, empirically supported guidelines to aid the design and development process. A profusion of learning theories has added little to the enterprise with a critical review showing that that the dominant learning theory at any point over the past 30 years has mirrored the characteristics of the latest learning technology. In a complex research domain, this study proposes a research methodology which foregrounds teaching practitioners' experience and beliefs and seeks to investigate the differences in both teaching theory and practice between disciplines. Using a University-wide trial of online learning, the ongoing study will compare the learning theories and design decisions made by development teams across the University's discipline areas

At the limits of social constructivism: moving beyond LMS to re-integrate scholarship

After more than a decade, the early claims that elearning would transform university teaching are yet to be realised. As elearning, with learning management systems as the centrepiece, becomes entrenched in the mainstream, there is growing demand for a solid theoretical research base to inform elearning practice. We argue that the lack of a solid research base is in part due to the inherent difficulties with cross-disciplinary research where shared terminology does not always equate to shared meaning, and in part due to the dominant applied research approach emphasising a case-based approach over research aimed at addressing specific hypotheses derived from educational theory. We use the popular social constructivist theoretical framework to illustrate a lack of theoretical rigour in elearning research. We examine traditional university teaching as portrayed through a social constructivist lens and argue that academics already adopt the 'reflective practitioner' model in their teaching practice. We then examine the concept of adaptive self-organising learning networks in elearning. We argue that, while a social constructivist framework may be ideal for understanding the way people learn, it is at odds not only with the implicit instructional design agenda, but also with current university elearning governance and infrastructure

Attributes of delivery media in computer-assisted instruction

This study investigated the effectiveness of multimedia for training purposes, with a comparison made between three Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) techniques. The role of delivery media was explored with 57 university students who were randomly assigned to three experimental groups receiving the same sequence of four short computer lessons, but with different presentations: (1) text and still image; (2) text, still image and audio track of the text; and (3) text, video image and audio track of the text. Two levels of knowledge type, and the presence or absence of cue pictures on recall tests gave a 3 x 2 x 2 repeated measures design with subject's memory tested by a 40 item test. Multivariate analysis showed no significant effect for group. The pattern of results was however, in accordance with the dual coding theory of short term memory processing. A partitioned x2 analysis showed significant group effects on individual test items. Results showed grater effectiveness of video and audio CAI over stills based CAI. This study investigated the effectiveness of multimedia for training purposes, with a comparison made between three Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) techniques. The role of delivery media was explored with 57 university students who were randomly assigned to three experimental groups receiving the same sequence of four short computer lessons, but with different presentations: (1) text and still image; (2) text, still image and audio track of the text; and (3) text, video image and audio track of the text. Two levels of knowledge type, and the presence or absence of cue pictures on recall tests gave a 3 x 2 x 2 repeated measures design with subject's memory tested by a 40 item test. Multivariate analysis showed no significant effect for group. The pattern of results was however, in accordance with the dual coding theory of short term memory processing. A partitioned x2 analysis showed significant group effects on individual test items. Results showed greater effectiveness of video and audio CAI over stills based CAI

Human computer interaction : exploring effective instructional designs

Abstract not available

The process and development of multimedia to bring industry into the classroom

Abstract not available

Construing performance culture : 'typical', 'atypical' and 'competitor' figures

Abstract not available