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

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

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

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

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

A Health Check of Avondale\u27s Distance Education Program: Where Have we Been? Where are we Going Next?

Avondale College of Higher Education has been offering tertiary courses for over 120 years. In the past two decades, this institution has extended its programs to include distance courses for students who opt to study online or are not able to attend on-campus courses at Avondale’s Lake Macquarie and Sydney campuses. While all of the institutions courses are evaluated on a regular basis, no formal evaluation had ever been undertaken of the distance education program as a whole. During 2017, a mixed methods research project was conducted to gather evaluative data from recent and current distance students using questionnaires and focus groups. The results of the study provide insight into the extent to which the distance education program at the College provides a space in which learning relationships can develop in online communities. Also, suggestions for future improvement and further research recommendations are provided. Findings of this study may be of interest to educators and administrators who incorporate online components in their curricula

Threshold Concepts about Online Pedagogy for Novice Online Teachers in Higher Education

The use of threshold concepts to define key points of curricula is a relatively recent development in educational research. Threshold concepts represent crucial stages of learning, the acquisition of which enables learners to progress from one level of achievement to another. In this context, the learner is described as passing through an unsettling liminal space in which they may encounter troublesome knowledge and experience uncertainty or anxiety. When applied to online pedagogy in higher education contexts, academic staff become the learners as they extend their on-campus teaching knowledge into the online realm. In this setting, the identification of threshold concepts has the potential to inform the content of professional development (PD) programmes for novice online teachers. Because little research has yet been reported on threshold concepts associated with online teaching, this study identified these threshold concepts and investigated their specific nature. Funded by an Office for Learning and Teaching Australia Grant, the project employed a mixed-methods research approach. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative data was gathered from responses to questionnaires and reflective journal entries provided by university educators who were teaching in online contexts. Also, experts in the fields of PD, online teaching and threshold concepts were consulted using a modified Delphi technique that incorporated two rounds of surveys. Results of this study are discussed in association with potential applications to PD design for novice online educators, informed by the most fundamental learning experiences encountered by their more experienced colleagues

Navigating Learning Journeys of Online Teachers: Threshold Concepts and Self-efficacy

Higher education institutions are developing more and more online courses to supplement and augment the courses they offer in on-campus modes. In fact, some universities now offer the majority of their courses through online contexts. However, for academic staff who design and teach these courses, the transition from teaching on-campus courses to teaching in online learning environments is not always speedy or smooth. Academic teaching staff require support, mentoring and professional learning programs to develop their existing capacities and apply them to an online context. This paper reports on Phase 2 of a research project, which takes into consideration the cumulative effect of tailored professional development measures implemented in response to findings in Phase 1. The three aims were: 1) to identify the threshold concepts that teaching staff develop when they learn about online learning and teaching; 2) to compare self-efficacy levels and threshold concepts of staff who are experienced or inexperienced in online learning and teaching; and 3) to develop customised professional learning programs and resources to extend the online teaching and course design skills of academic staff. Findings from the study are outlined by identifying threshold concepts, threshold attitudes and self-efficacy levels of online educators and the implications these findings have for designing professional development programs in higher education contexts