Online Learning in Higher Education: Comparing Teacher and Learner Perspectives

Higher education teachers’ and learners’ experiences of online teaching and online learning are tempered by their respective perceptions of their online educational environments. While much research has been undertaken in recent years to explore students’ or teachers’ perceptions of online education, less research has been conducted that investigates the perceptions of both groups in parallel contexts. Utilizing a mixed methods research approach, focus groups and questionnaires were administered to three cohorts of students and their teachers, across three institutions. Results are presented in terms of teachers’ and students’ perceptions of preferred online learning environments, including their most and least agreed upon perceptions, and their perceptions of the major skills needed by online teachers. Finally, implications for course design, professional development and future research are considered

What Matters Most When Students and Teachers Use Interactive Whiteboards in Mathematics Classrooms?

As teachers, we are encouraged to immerse our students in rich and engaging learning environments (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). One teaching tool that can facilitate the creation of rich learning environments is the interactive whiteboard (IWB) (Baker, 2009). IWBs are quickly being introduced into schools across the nation and worldwide, and educators are exploring the implications of having them in the classroom. Of particular interest are student attitudes to the use of IWBs: what students think and feel about IWBs, and what factors matter most to students when IWBs are used in their classroom. Attitudes play an important part in student interest and engagement levels, therefore, it is important to determine current student attitudes towards IWB use in the classroom

Where to go for a Christian Research Degree? Part 2 of a two-part Report

Avondale University is committed to providing quality higher research degrees. Data on candidate and graduate experiences from the institution and across the sector are central in shaping good practice and informing policy, processes and systems designed to support candidate and supervisor research training (TEQSA, 2018) and employment opportunities (Bentley & Meek, 2018). This paper reports on research conducted at our institution which focused on the following two questions: What were the differences between the way current candidates and graduates reported on their postgraduate learning experiences in the MPhil or PhD degrees at Avondale? And, what were the differences between the way males and females reported on their postgraduate learning experiences in the MPhil or PhD degrees at Avondale? In this mixed methods research project questionnaires and interviews were used to determine what is valued by current and past HDR candidates of Avondale and which areas of our HDR programs need further development. This is the second of two papers that report the findings of this project and identifies future research which may further support HDR candidates’ holistic experiences

Review: Marine natural products

This review covers the literature published in 2003 for marine natural products, with 619 citations (413 for the period January to December 2003) referring to compounds isolated from marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green algae, brown algae, red algae, sponges, coelenterates, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates and echinoderms. The emphasis is on new compounds (656 for 2003), together with their relevant biological activities, source organisms and country of origin. Biosynthetic studies or syntheses that lead to the revision of structures or stereochemistries have been included (78), including any first total syntheses of a marine natural product

The Virtual Mentor Program: An Initiative to Support First-year Students and Students at Risk

The college/university culture of study is rarely the same as high school, making the transition difficult even for talented students. In many countries, the massification of higher education has opened up education to all, with the only limiting factor being a student’s ability to meet entry requirements and pay for subjects. A virtual mentor program can provide support to all first-year students regardless of whether they are in online, blended, or traditional learning environments. One such initiative, implemented by The University of Newcastle in Newcastle, Australia, and later by Avondale College of Higher Education in Cooranbung, Australia, also supported students in other years of study experiencing difficulties who had been identified as “at risk.” Results indicated that student academic performance correlated to active interaction across each system classification, but only in purely online learning

Does the Type of Assessment Feedback I Give Make a Difference?: The Impact of Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment Feedback

Feedback provided to postgraduate students about their assessment tasks influences the way in which they reflect on their learning and themselves personally. In particular, the nature of the feedback and the way in which its dissemination is sequenced and timed can further impact how students incorporate, or don\u27t incorporate, assessment advice into their future learning, a process referred to by Duncan (2007) as feed-forward . Despite the value placed on assessment feedback by academic teaching staff, it often has minimal impact on students\u27 learning (Sadler, 2010). Past research into the impact of qualitative and quantitative feedback on student learning established that quantitative feedback (for example, marks, grades, scores) impacts students\u27 egos whereas qualitative feedback (for example, advice-giving comments) impacts students\u27 understanding of the learning task (Butler, 1987, 1988; Butler & Nisan, 1986). The impact of assessment feedback continues to be investigated in higher education (The Higher Education Academy, 2012) but it remains a contentious issue (Boud & Molloy, 2013). Pulfrey, Darnon and Butera (2013) suggest that the practice of giving grades to students continues to be an area of disagreement among educators. The research project, reported here, extends on previous research about the nature of assessment feedback and its impact on students\u27 learning and students\u27 self-perceptions. This study investigates students’ responses to assessment feedback (Bell, Miadenovic, & Price, 2013), but specifically focusing on postgraduate students enrolled in online courses. The study investigated how postgraduate students, in an online course, responded to the sequenced release of qualitative and quantitative assessment feedback using online assessment tools within the institution\u27s Learning Management System (LMS). Students responded to a series of online prompts that elicited their comments about what they did and how they felt when they received, firstly, qualitative feedback and, secondly, quantitative feedback about their assessment tasks. To gather both holistic data and in-depth information about each case (Flick, 2004), a qualitative research approach was adopted in which students\u27 responses to varied types of data were gathered. Data gathered from each student enabled the consideration of each participant as an individual case study. These data were then analysed through a process of constant comparison to determine how each type of feedback influenced the students\u27 perceptions of their learning and of themselves. The findings of the study revealed that students focused on themselves and their learning, depending on the feedback they were given about their assessment tasks. Furthermore, the type of feedback received tended to influence the nature and specificity of their responses to the feedback. Full details of the findings will be presented in the conference paper. The findings of this study have implications for the way in which: a) assessment tasks are designed; and b) assessment feedback is provided to students. Findings from this research may interest university lecturers, course designers and supervisors of postgraduate students who are looking to promote deeper engagement of their students with their assessment feedback

Role-Playing as a Tool to Facilitate Learning, Self Reflection and Social Awareness in Teacher Education

Meaningful learning in the tertiary sector benefits from the inclusion of a variety of teaching and learning techniques including active learning. Role-plays are one type of active and participatory learning activity that creates interaction between students and a simulated scenario. This reality can serve to open the minds of participants to issues they need to be able to deal with in their chosen careers. This paper reports role-plays in four different learning applications: the first was in a multicultural education class and simulated a microcosm of society where students took on the roles of minority groups. The second reports on a history class that provided simulations of key battles of World Wars One and Two. The third was in mathematics for primary teachers’ class where the students simulated experiences as children in mathematics classrooms, parents and teachers speaking to each other and teachers teaching children. The fourth was in a leadership class for final year Early Childhood and Primary pre-service teachers, and involved role-play of an interview during the management of an unsatisfactory work performance by a staff member. The findings show that in each case the objectives of having students experience a simulation of reality were met

Sharing the Construction of Assessment Rubrics with Students: A Model for Collaborative Rubric Construction

Traditionally, rubrics were used simply as grading tools to provide marking frameworks that were transparent to students. More recently, rubrics have been promoted as educational tools to inform students of good practice with the assumption that they engage with these rubrics to guide their learning. However, some tensions arise from this approach, including the assumption that students actually engage with assessment rubrics and, most notably, whether students understand the purpose of rubrics and the language used within. In response, this paper promotes the practice of teachers involving their students in the co-construction of rubrics by presenting a Model of Collaborative Rubric Construction. This Model was informed by an extensive literature review, advice from international assessment experts, and both qualitative and quantitative data from students and teachers who worked in partnership to co-construct and use assessment rubrics across three higher education institutions. The Model, structured as three-tiers, offers background information about rubrics and their co-construction, strategies to guide collaboration in the rubric co-construction process, and shared scholarship associated with the project (i.e., research methods, recommendations for practice, and relevant references and publications) in which the Model was developed

How Engaged are our Students? Using Analytics to Identify Students-at-Risk

Learning Management System (LMS) analytics have become an area of increasing interest and development. The potential to better understand our students’ levels of engagement provided by the systems have, to date, has been underutilized information resources. The study reported here looks at the relationship of student and staff engagement in the LMS and considers the levels of predictability in student behavior leading to failure. Also considered is the impact of the lecturer on the student engagement of poor and high performing students

Bumpy Moments and Joyful Breakthroughs: The Place of Threshold Concepts in Academic Staff Development Programs About Online Learning and Teaching

In this article the authors address the situation in higher education of academic staff facing what they conceptualise as “bumpy moments and joyful breakthroughs” as they work through the process of becoming teachers in online learning environments. The article comes from a research project, which gathered and analysed data from systematic observations and questionnaires. The authors base their study on the known fact that while many academics have grounded experience in on-campus teaching and learning situations they do not necessarily have the skills required today for extending learning through on-line environments. The authors discover that when academics start teaching in online environments, or at least start facing the fact that there are requirements to do so, and they begin to explore this environment both personally and theoretically, “they encounter threshold concepts that can unsettle their most deeply held personal and pedagogical beliefs about what it means to teach and learn, and what it means to be an effective teacher and learner”. This paper gives an account of the research into these new conditions for educators and offers a set of recommendations “to inform the design of a multi-strategy academic staff learning program, which facilitated the development of online teaching skills”. [From Introduction to issue of ACCESS]