ALT-C 2011 Abstracts

This is a PDF of the abstracts for all the sessions at the 2011 ALT conference. It is designed to be used alongside the online version of the conference programme. It was made public on 1 September, with a "topped and tailed" made live on 2 September

Utilising Web 2.0 Technologies in an Australian Higher Educational Setting: A Case Study of Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia

On a national (Australia) scale, there is limited rigorous research investigating and comparing the types of Web 2.0 (Social Media) technologies Australian university students and their lecturers are interacting with and using to communicate, collaborate, deliver, and retrieve course content. This is surprising, given that academic institutions charged with equipping graduates to compete in today’s knowledge economy, the potential for utilising Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching is great. From such an identified research gap, this study sought to determine the level and type of Web 2.0 applications from Australian university students and their lecturers use throughout the higher education landscape for heightening pedagogical practices, knowledge management, and course delivery. Given that technology, pedagogy, knowledge management and social capital are becoming increasingly entwined, further empirical research associated with the usage of Web 2.0 within higher education is warranted. Keywords:Web 2.0, Social Media, Higher Education, Social Capital, Knowledge Management, Pedagog

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Mobile reflections (MoRe) pilot, developing reflection within initial teacher training for students with dyslexia

The MoRe (Mobile Reflections) pilot was designed to explore whether the use of freely available Web 2.0 technology and mobile phones could assist dyslexic student teachers to develop reflective skills by capturing their reflections using audio within a shared online learning space

Blogging 101: the effectiveness of a reflective online journal as part of a final year placement unit

Blogs have been around for roughly half the history of the World Wide Web and are increasingly used as part of the communications mix and, however, they are still only scarcely integrated in the teaching toolkit. This study reviews the effectiveness of blogs, or online journals, within the context of a compulsory, final year placement unit, with a particular focus on combating feelings of isolation, enabling a broader insight into the industry and encouraging an international perspective on industry practice. The results suggest that despite the high administrative workload experienced by academics, the introduction of the Reflective Blog was an overall success, suggesting that blogs are particularly useful in the context of an individual tuition unit, effectively shifting the focus away from mainstream, standardised textbooks to 'offbeat', interactive teaching tools, encouraging peer to peer learning

The challenges and opportunities for professional societies in higher education in Australasia: a PEST analysis

Professional societies, established to support academic and professional staff in higher education, need to be vigilant of regional and international trends that affect their core business. In this paper, we provide an analysis of political, economic, social and technological factors that are impacting upon the Australasian higher education environment through considering the case of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite). Drawing on two ascilite membership surveys along with the relevant literature we identify significant challenges for professional societies and offer some strategic insights for similar regional societies and their executive teams.published_or_final_versio

Creativity in Schools: A Survey of Teachers in Europe

This report examines teachers' perceptions about creativity for learning and their reflection on their own teaching practices. Teachers' opinions where collected through an online survey which gathered data from 32 countries and at distinct school levels. For the scope of this report, only responses from teachers from EU27 and teaching in obligatory schooling were examined (ISCED levels 1 and 2). This amounts to a total of 7659 responses. Almost all surveyed teachers have an encompassing view of creativity: 98% believe that creativity can be applied to every domain of knowledge and 96% that creativity can be applied to every school subject. Almost nine out of ten teachers in this survey endorse a democratic view of creativity sustaining that everyone can be creative (88%). Teachers' opinions on creativity in education are much stronger than their practices. While teachers claim to foster many skills that are connected to creativity, traditional teaching and assessment methods and resources are still predominant. The vast majority of surveyed teachers claim that technology has improved their teaching (85%) and that ICT can be used to enhance creativity (91%). Internet has become an important tool for teachers to update their own knowledge for use in their lessons (90%), to prepare handouts and material (89%) and to search for teaching material (87%). Notwithstanding the high importance attributed to technology, its use seems to be still teacher-lead. Only half of the teachers (53%) claim to let their students use a wide range of technologies to learn (videos, mobiles, cameras, educational software, etc). Moreover, the potential of Web2.0 technologies is still untapped and more than half of teachers surveyed (54%) disagree that mobile phones could be important for learning. Teachers claim to need more support and are willing to undergo more training. Teacher training on the use of ICT for education was received by less than half of respondents. Only one-fourth of our sample (25%) agreed that the quality of ICT in their school is excellent. Only less than a quarter of respondents (23%) deem to have learnt how to teach during initial teacher training.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Experience in the Use of Social Media in Medical and Health Education

Objectives: Social media are online tools that allow collaboration and community building. Succinctly, they can be described as applications where “users add value”. This paper aims to show how five educators have used social media tools in medical and health education to attempt to add value to the education they provide. Methods: We conducted a review of the literature about the use of social media tools in medical and health education. Each of the authors reported on their use of social media in their educational projects and collaborated on a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach to delivering educational projects. Results: We found little empirical evidence to support the use of social media tools in medical and health education. Social media are, however, a rapidly evolving range of tools, websites and online experiences and it is likely that the topic is too broad to draw definitive conclusions from any particular study. As practitioners in the use of social media, we have recognised how difficult it is to create evidence of effectiveness and have therefore presented only our anecdotal opinions based on our personal experiences of using social media in our educational projects. Conclusion: The authors feel confident in recommending that other educators use social media in their educational projects. Social media appear to have unique advantages over non-social educational tools. The learning experience appears to be enhanced by the ability of students to virtually build connections, make friends and find mentors. Creating a scientific analysis of why these connections enhance learning is difficult, but anecdotal and preliminary survey evidence appears to be positive and our experience reflects the hypothesis that learning is, at heart, a social activity