Digital communities: context for leading learning into the future?

In 2011, a robust, on-campus, three-element Community of Practice model consisting of growing community, sharing of practice and building domain knowledge was piloted in a digital learning environment. An interim evaluation of the pilot study revealed that the three-element framework, when used in a digital environment, required a fourth element. This element, which appears to happen incidentally in the face-to-face context, is that of reflecting, reporting and revising. This paper outlines the extension of the pilot study to the national tertiary education context in order to explore the implications for the design, leadership roles, and selection of appropriate technologies to support and sustain digital communities using the four-element model

Networked Living: a new approach to teaching introductory ICT

The course T175 Networked Living is a 300 hour, multiple media, distance learning course offered by the UK Open University. The first presentation of the course, in 2005, attracted over 1600 students. T175 introduces students to general concepts of information and communication technology in a range of contexts, including: communication and identity; entertainment and information; and health, transport and government. It is an introductory (level 1) course for a variety of bachelors’ degrees, including the BSc programmes in: Information and Communication Technology; IT and Computing; and Technology; as well as the BEng engineering programme. The course was designed with a focus on retention of students and preparing them for further study. Student workload and pacing was carefully planned and there is a significant study skills component. The course uses a range of media, including: text, audio, computer animation and other software, and a website. Active learning is encouraged by means of activities, online quizzes, animations, spreadsheets and a learning journal. Continuous assessment is carried out via a mix of multiple-choice assignments (to test factual and numerical skills) and written assignments (which include elementary research into new topics). The course culminates with a written end-of-course assessment. This includes a major reflective component, as well as more traditional questions designed to test knowledge and understanding

Building capacity in climate change policy analysis and negotiation: methods and technologies

Capacity building is often cited as the reason “we cannot just pour money into developing countries” and why so many development projects fail because their design does not address local conditions. It is therefore a key technical and political concept in international development. Some of the poorest countries in the world are also some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Their vulnerability is in part due to a lack of capacity to plan and anticipate the effects of climate change on crops, water resources, urban electricity demand etc. What capacities do these countries lack to deal with climate change? How will they cope? What steps can they take to reduce their vulnerability? This innovative and high-profile research project was part of a larger project (called C3D) and conducted with non-governmental organisations in Senegal, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The research involved several participatory workshops and a questionnaire to all three research centres

Staff edutainment on a corporate intranet‐lessons learned

This paper discusses the results from a case study of an intranet‐based staff education programme at the national Swedish telecommunications corporation. The programme attempts to convey the environmental benefits of telecommunication services, aiming at increased staff awareness and new business opportunities. A multidisciplinary production team packaged the factual content in a rich mixture of audio and video clips, text, images, animations, quizzes, games, tests and polls. A standard Web browser with downloadable plug‐ins is used to view the material. The self‐paced studies on the intranet are followed by a seminar, combining the advantages of individual and teacher‐assisted education. The impact of the programme has been studied partly through a questionnaire distributed to a number of users, and partly through interviews. The results show that intranet‐based ‘edutainment’ is a practicable and successful tool for organizational learning. Ease of use, interactivity, ease of distribution and renewal, flexibility in time and space, are just some of the benefits offered. However, a number of pedagogical, organizational and technical requirements must be met in order to succeed Context, pedagogical aims and standards, content, information structure, user characteristics, management commitment, technical platform, media types, the production team, user interface and user tests are just a few of the important factors that must be considered This paper attempts to identify some of the factors essential to successful staff education on the corporate intranet, discussing observations and lessons learned from the case study

Pedagogy First, Technology Second: teaching & learning information literacy online

This paper explores the pedagogical and technical issues, challenges and outcomes of creating an online information literacy course. Currently under development, this course will be offered as a parallel study option to Advanced Information Retrieval Skills (AIRS:IFN001 ) for QUT postgraduate students, a compulsory face-to-face course for all QUT research students. The aim of this project is to optimise students’ access to AIRS:IFN001 and meet the University’s objectives regarding flexible delivery and online teaching. Still in its developmental stages, AIRS::Online extends beyond the current notion of static online information literacy tutorials by providing a facilitated, student focussed learning environment comprising content and learning experiences enhanced by appropriate multimedia technology and resources which engage students in planned facilitated and/or self-paced learning events. Course assessment is formative and summative, and is comprised of a research log and reflective journal to provide a means for reviewing the content and key process of advanced information searching and retrieval

Understanding how people choose to pursue taught postgraduate study

HEFC

Studienlandschaft Schwingbachtal: an out-door full-scale learning tool newly equipped with augmented reality

This paper addresses education and communication in hydrology and geosciences. Many approaches can be used, such as the well-known seminars, modelling exercises and practical field work but out-door learning in our discipline is a must, and this paper focuses on the recent development of a new out-door learning tool at the landscape scale. To facilitate improved teaching and hands-on experience, we designed the Studienlandschaft Schwingbachtal. Equipped with field instrumentation, education trails, and geocache, we now implemented an augmented reality App, adding virtual teaching objects on the real landscape. The App development is detailed, to serve as methodology for people wishing to implement such a tool. The resulting application, namely the Schwingbachtal App, is described as an example. We conclude that such an App is useful for communication and education purposes, making learning pleasant, and offering personalized options

A review of ten years of implementation and research in aligning learning design with learning analytics at the Open University UK

There is an increased recognition that learning design drives both student learning experience and quality enhancements of teaching and learning. The Open University UK (OU) has been one of few institutions that have explicitly and systematically captured the designs for learning at a large scale. By applying advanced analytical techniques on large and fine-grained datasets, the OU has been unpacking the complexity of instructional practices, as well as providing conceptual and empirical evidence of how learning design influences student behaviour, satisfaction, and performance. This study discusses the implementation of learning design at the OU in the last ten years, and critically reviews empirical evidence from eight recent large-scale studies that have linked learning design with learning analytics. Four future research themes are identified to support future adoptions of learning design approaches

Examining the designs of computer-based assessment and its impact on student engagement, satisfaction, and pass rates

Many researchers who study the impact of computer-based assessment (CBA) focus on the affordances or complexities of CBA approaches in comparison to traditional assessment methods. This study examines how CBA approaches were configured within and between modules, and the impact of assessment design on students’ engagement, satisfaction, and pass rates. The analysis was conducted using a combination of longitudinal visualisations, correlational analysis, and fixed-effect models on 74 undergraduate modules and their 72,377 students. Our findings indicate that educators designed very different assessment strategies, which significantly influenced student engagement as measured by time spent in the virtual learning environment (VLE). Weekly analyses indicated that assessment activities were balanced with other learning activities, which suggests that educators tended to aim for a consistent workload when designing assessment strategies. Since most of the assessments were computer-based, students spent more time on the VLE during assessment weeks. By controlling for heterogeneity within and between modules, learning design could explain up to 69% of the variability in students’ time spent on the VLE. Furthermore, assessment activities were significantly related to pass rates, but no clear relation with satisfaction was found. Our findings highlight the importance of CBA and learning design to how students learn online

Incorporating Online Instruction in Academic Libraries: Getting Ahead of the Curve

A sea change in higher education is shaping the way many libraries deliver instruction to their students and faculty. Years of technological innovation and changes in the way that people discover and use information has made online instruction an essential part of a library\u27s teaching and learning program. In order to evaluate our library\u27s online instruction program and to determine its future goals, we analyzed the technology, pedagogical models, organizational structures, administrative supports, and partnerships we would need in order to succeed. Our findings may be useful for libraries reassessing their own online instruction programs