Breaking the MBA delivery mould: A multi-group international MBA / practitioner virtual collaborative project

The marketing education project presented here brings together a major UK financial institution in the banking sector and a selection of its high value clients (B-to-B) via e-mail, telephone, video conferencing and other web-based technologies, with two geographically dispersed MBA classes in the UK and the US. Student groups were set up in virtual teams to target critical customer issues, analyzing gaps in the client-company interface. The two MBA courses included Customer Management & Quality Systems delivered at the University of Manchester, Manchester Business School (UK) and International Marketing, delivered at Missouri State University (US). The groups worked as a "think tank" collaborating to solve important customer service issues

Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

Different Methods of Embodied Cognition in Pedagogy and its Effectiveness in Student Learning

The Mathematical Ideas Analysis hypothesizes that abstract mathematical reasoning is unconsciously organized and integrated with sensory-motor experience. Basic research testing movement, language, and perception during math problem solving supports this hypothesis. Applied research primarily measures students’ performance on math tests after they engage in analogous sensory-motor tasks, but findings show mixed results. Sensory-motor tasks are dependent on several moderators (e.g., instructional guidance, developmental stage) known to help students learn, and studies vary in how each moderator is implemented. There is little research on the effectiveness of sensory-motor tasks without these moderators. This study compares different approaches to working with an interactive application designed to emulate how people intrinsically solve algebraic equations. A total of 130 participants (84 females, 54 males) were drawn from a pool of Introductory Psychology students attending San Jose State University. Participants were placed in three different learning environments, and their performance was measured by comparing improvement between a pre-test and a post-test. We found no difference between participants who worked alone with the application, were instructed by the experimenter while using the application, or who instructed the experimenter on how to solve equations using the application. Further research is needed to examine how and whether analogous sensory-motor interfaces are a useful learning tool, and if so, what circumstances are ideal for sensory-motor interfaces to be used

FORGE: An eLearning Framework for Remote Laboratory Experimentation on FIRE Testbed Infrastructure

The Forging Online Education through FIRE (FORGE) initiative provides educators and learners in higher education with access to world-class FIRE testbed infrastructure. FORGE supports experimentally driven research in an eLearning environment by complementing traditional classroom and online courses with interactive remote laboratory experiments. The project has achieved its objectives by defining and implementing a framework called FORGEBox. This framework offers the methodology, environment, tools and resources to support the creation of HTML-based online educational material capable accessing virtualized and physical FIRE testbed infrastruc- ture easily. FORGEBox also captures valuable quantitative and qualitative learning analytic information using questionnaires and Learning Analytics that can help optimise and support student learning. To date, FORGE has produced courses covering a wide range of networking and communication domains. These are freely available from FORGEBox.eu and have resulted in over 24,000 experiments undertaken by more than 1,800 students across 10 countries worldwide. This work has shown that the use of remote high- performance testbed facilities for hands-on remote experimentation can have a valuable impact on the learning experience for both educators and learners. Additionally, certain challenges in developing FIRE-based courseware have been identified, which has led to a set of recommendations in order to support the use of FIRE facilities for teaching and learning purposes

'Any Portal in a Storm?' Online Engagement Patterns of First Year QUT Students

Engaging new students in tertiary study, amidst the storm of their adjustment to university life, should harness conventional physical as well as new virtual spaces to ensure (as urged by McInnis 2003, p.9) learning opportunities are maximised inside and outside of the classroom. When ubiquitous information, merged technologies, blurred social-study-work boundaries, multitasking and hyperlinked online interactions epitomise generational routines (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005); positive, rewarding interactions through virtual space "portals" may establish the mode and intensity of on- and off-campus student experience. Conventional modes of curriculum delivery and learning support that hinge on presentation of material according to (for example) scheduled topic sessions, contact times and administrative office hours, do not necessarily fully accommodate these new social realities (James, 2002, p.81), contemporary learning practices or transition-informed curriculum design (Kift, 2005). In this paper, quantitative data and rich qualitative information from internal and external surveys are triangulated to examine the patterns of online engagement for students at QUT. These patterns inform our ongoing project that seeks to tailor the delivery of curriculum mediated resources within a virtual space

Practicum of Systems Integration in Engineering Education

This project asked engineering students to develop a multi-subsystem design that would produce electricity. Students over the duration of this project learned how to simulate and design systems theoretically using computer tools. Furthermore, students were expected to produce a prototype of their model, thereby self-analyzing the practicality levels and enhancing learning. With the technology available to students advancing, systems integration techniques become more efficient learning experiences to the students. The benefits of systems integration can also be expanded to the professional world these students will soon step into. Therefore, teaching these techniques now will give students a better further insight on real world experience in a classroom setting. When students make the expected leap into the job market, it is important for them to have a solid understanding of system integration and multi-system design. It is this understanding that will make students more desirable to top end employers and set them apart form their peers.Cockrell School of Engineerin