The aim for the Scholarship in Online Learning group is to support scholarship in online learning design, teaching and learning support. The intention is that the group will include academics from all disciplines, educational designers, and educational support staff, who are interested in engaging more deeply in the scholarship around their practice, as well academics and research students who are already engaged in online learning research.
The group will meet monthly and undertake activities including practice focussed discussion about online learning literature, seminars, and discussions about academic writing and grant applications in the online learning area. A key activity proposed for 2015 will be a series of “literature and practice” sessions which will each discuss one or two topical online learning research articles in depth along with the implications for our teaching, learning design and learning support practices.
Upcoming Sessions
The Scholarship in Online Learning Group (SOLG) supports research and scholarship by academics, educational designers, and educational support staff related to the design and delivery of online learning experiences.
We are planning a series of seminars at which recipients of uImagine grants will report on the outcomes of their projects. Many of these projects have important implications for both the scholarship and the practice of online teaching and learning at CSU and these seminars will provide an opportunity for deep discussion of these implications.
Past Sessions
INNOVATION GRANTS SESSION
An app to motivate change in online teaching practice
Presenters:
- David Smith
The use of blended learning structures, a mixture of face-to-face and virtual, has the potential to add a new paradigm to the learning platform and process for higher educational institutions. The flexibility of such a structure allows universities to pursue more creative options in the delivery of their curricula and hence the involvement of students in the learning process. However, the benefits of blended learning can be curtailed in the design and delivery by practitioners who are hesitant about using learning practices and applications that depart from traditional guidelines and involve utilising materials and strategies that require some change and risk taking. This presentation examines how the use of technology amidst an authentic and social setting can stimulate and enhance learning for the students and allow lecturers the opportunity to perceive the benefits of using such a platform.
INNOVATION GRANTS SESSION
Levelling the playing field: student and staff experiences of a curated, self-assessed, self-paced multimedia resource
Presenters:
- Rachel Whitsed
- Joanne Parker
SkillBox, a curated, self-assessed, self-paced multimedia resource was developed for use by students as a way to increase their knowledge and confidence specific topics such as statistics, basic mathematics or referencing that are required in many tertiary subjects. A SkillBox uses adaptively scaffolded text, video and self-assessment quizzes, and is provided to students as an optional supplementary resource. We surveyed students and staff to evaluate the success of SkillBox across three teaching sessions. We found that engaging with SkillBox increased students’ confidence, attitude and knowledge in the topic area covered in that SkillBox, and that both students and staff found the addition of SkillBox useful and would recommend its use in other subjects. Although more research is needed, we suggest that a resource such as SkillBox can positively contribute not only to student knowledge and confidence in a range of topics, but also to equity, retention, engagement and academic performance in the subjects where a SkillBox is promoted
INNOVATION GRANTS SESSION
Increasing online lecture engagement- assessment of online education technologies for providing in-lecture interactions
Presenters:
- Nathan Miles
- Mr George John
- Kerri Hicks
Student engagement in recorded lectures and tutorials is a key concern for many online courses. Generally, online students perform just as well as internal students however, many studies have found that students often display a poorer retention rate which may suggest something is lacking in our ability to engage them. As a result, CSU has identified online student retention as a core objective in many learning and teaching plans. In-lecture question activities utilising clickers or audience response systems have been used widely over the past few decades to improve student engagement and learning in classroom environments. Studies on the use of clickers in tertiary education have received mixed reviews but in general with correct design, application and feedback they are considered to be beneficial for learning in many circumstances. This project investigates a range of new and improved technologies that can offer in-lecture questioning for students studying online. In order to achieve this a two stage project was developed, where
- a focus group was used to trial four different technologies (i2/ Blackboard, Echo360 Active Learning Platform, Adobe Connect with Quiz Connect and Turning Technologies) and
- a selection of these technologies were introduced into the teaching of subjects. A mixture of closed and open ended responses as well as focus group discussions were used to elucidate students perception of these technologies and the potential for them to increase engagement and if students felt they required more engagement.
Overall, both internal and online students perceived significant benefits for their educational experience due to the increased engagement offered by in-lecture questions. However, the more streamlined and integrated the technology the better it was received by the students. Students also picked up on the pedagogical importance of appropriate feedback and scaffolding in ensuring the optimal engagement, further emphasising the importance of the educational design over the specific technology that is used.
INNOVATION GRANTS SESSION
A Strengths Approach to Child Protection Preparation
Presenters:
- Dr Angela Fenton
- Kathryn Dalton
- Simon Welsh
- Ryun Fell
Teachers face many competing responsibilities and barriers to protect children, which consequently also presents many challenges for pre-service teacher education. This project explores the use of strengths-based resources to assist in increasing awareness and confidence in child protection education. The grant helped to develop a repository for strengths-based online learning materials accessible by a suite of teacher education courses in the Faculty of Education at Charles Sturt University to enhance the child protection preparation of students.
The repository, in the form of an Interact2 site, contains digital media training resources including an interactive real-life scenario-based simulation to guide and support students through complex child abuse situations and protection decisions that they are likely to encounter in their careers as teachers. Initial evaluation suggests that the resources have potential to assist pre-service teachers with the significant practical and moral demands of this essential element of teaching practice.
INNOVATION GRANTS SESSION
Collaborative design of a virtual community: engaging students through online simulation
Presenters:
- Caroline Robinson – Courses Director SCH and SESSH (Project Lead)
- Ryun Fell – Senior Media Technologist
- Kerri Hicks – Educational Designer
- Rachel Rossiter – Nursing academic
- Louise Breheny – Physiotherapy academic
This session explored the work undertaken to develop ‘Riverina Shore’, a virtual community which has been developed within the School of Community Health as an online learning resource for students. The virtual community is presented as an attractive webpage in which client scenarios are embedded in locations such as homes, community health centre and social spaces. Four client scenarios have been produced for the pilot resource and comprise a mix of video clips, audio recordings and links to online resources. The virtual clients are real people from the Albury-Wodonga community who experience a range of health care needs. Engagement of CSU with the local community is a valuable element of this project and the participation of community members has enabled the development of authentic scenarios.
The purpose of this virtual community is to facilitate student-focused learning, foster critical thinking and to enable opportunities for interprofessional learning. In the context of Community Health, students may interact with the scenarios to determine a clients’ health needs and goals, evaluate facilitators and barriers to improved health experiences, and analyse ways in which they could provide support or services. Students can interact with the media resources at their own pace, using their own sense of logic. It is intended that academics will link to this web resource through subject i2 sites, in order to scaffold the specific purpose of the students’ learning experience. The design of Riverina Shore has been planned carefully to enable intuitive navigation around the community, to stimulate the students’ curiosity and to ensure easy access to linked online resources. The website is accessible through mobile devices to maximise functionality.
A major strength of this project is the interdisciplinary collaboration between academics, health practitioners, media technologists and an educational designer. This collaborative approach has ensured that a diverse range of perspectives informed the project design and development of the media resources. The inclusion of a practitioner-academic in the project team further strengthens the partnership between the School of Community Health and Albury-Wodonga Health. The future development of Riverina Shore has the potential to embrace all disciplines in health, education, business, science, agriculture, social science and humanities, to include resources which meet the needs of a diverse group of students.
INNOVATION GRANTS SESSION
Collaborative small group learning in an online environment using Adobe Connect
Presenters:
- Dr Sarah Hyde
- Dr Yann Guisard
- Mr Peter Mills
- Dr Karl Behrendt
- Ms Caroline Love
- Mrs Kerri Hicks
This session presented the preliminary findings from a uImagine research study focused on enhancing learner-learner interaction as part of the Online Learning Model. This work is the culmination of an 18 month long project where online Problem Based Learning (PBL) was used in three large cohort subjects within the School of Agriculture and Wine Science. Although initially developed for DE cohorts, the PBL cases and small group composition have now been utilised across Internal and DE cohorts based at Wagga, Orange, and O’Connell (W.A.) campuses. All cohorts utilised the Adobe Connect platform and the cases were complemented by authentic group based assessment tasks that were weighted by peer evaluation of participation
The implementation of online PBL using Adobe Connect was discussed including the considerations needed in supporting collaborative group work, assessment methods to enhance engagement and participation online, evaluation methods for the study, and the achievements and challenges to date.
LITERATURE & PRACTICE SESSION
Transactional Distance Theory
The third Literature and Practice session was held on Tuesday 8th December.
This session was facilitated by Ged Bourke and James Purkis, focussed on Michael Moore’s Transactional Distance Theory:
Moore, M. G. (1993). Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan (Ed), Theoretical principles of distance education (pp. 22-38). New York, NY: Routledge, http://www.c3l.uni-oldenburg.de/cde/support/readings/moore93.pdf
The group explored a number of focus questions including:
- What is transactional distance?
- What are the three factors that are proposed to contribute to transactional distance?
- What is the relationship between the three factors?
- Do you think the theory could help guide us as we implement new models of online teaching and learning at CSU?
LITERATURE & PRACTICE SESSION
Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning
The second Literature & Practice Session of the uImagine Scholarship in Online Learning Group took place on the 28th October. The session explored two articles:
Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational psychologist, 38(1), 43-52
This article provides a summary of a large program of research led by Richard Mayer that culminates in a series of evidence based guidelines for the design of multimedia resources with a focus on reducing cognitive overload. The article also summarises some of the key elements of cognitive theories of learning and cognitive load theory.
Those who are enthusiastic or want to delve deeper into a particular aspect of the article will find Richard Mayer’s book Multimedia Learning a good read.
LITERATURE & PRACTICE SESSION
Exploring the Community of Inquiry Framework
The first Literature & Practice Session of the uImagine Scholarship in Online Learning Group took place on Monday 14th September. The session explored two articles:
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105
Shea, P., & Bidjerano, T. (2010). Learning presence: Towards a theory of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and the development of a communities of inquiry in online and blended learning environments. Computers & Education, 55(4), 1721-1731.
The first article which proposed the original Community of Inquiry framework, which has received a great deal of attention in the distance education and online learning field over the past 15 years. This article has received 2879 Google Scholar citations. The second is a more recent critique of the framework by two of the more well-known researchers and scholars of the framework.
The meeting started with an introduction to the Community of Inquiry framework and background to some of the ways it has been used. The session was then opened up to a round table discussion about the elements of the framework, their definitions and how the elements are related. The discussion then continued around the enhancements proposed by Shea and Bidjerano in the second article.
SPECIAL GUEST LECTURE
Spurring Learning, Inquiry, and Global Awareness through Adventure, Innovative Design, and Tech
Jeni Henrickson (Creative Director at the Learning Technologies Media Lab, University Of Minnesota)
Researchers and educators have long sought to engage learners in authentic and experiential learning in an attempt to connect activities that occur in the classroom with learners’ lives beyond the classroom walls. Connecting learners with real-world content not only makes learning more meaningful and exciting, it has been shown to aid understanding, enhance engagement, and facilitate long-term retention of knowledge along with the ability to transfer and blend that knowledge with other disciplines. The Learning Technologies Media Lab (LTML) is an innovation center within the College of Education and Human Development that designs, develops, and researches technology-enhanced learning tools and experiences with a focus on addressing humanity’s most pressing educational, social, and environmental issues. Director Aaron Doering is an online and adventure learning pioneer who has spurred innovation in education through the merger of technology, storytelling, learner-centered pedagogy, and adventure-based narratives. In this seminar, LTML Associate Creative Director Jeni Henrickson will discuss the philosophy and inspiration behind LTML’s many successful online learning projects, along with sharing LTML’s approach to designing and developing engaging technology-enhanced learning experiences that spur ongoing inquiry and global awareness among learners.
Jeni is the associate creative director at the Learning Technologies Media Lab (LTML) at the University of Minnesota. She helps oversee project development and serves as a creative manager, designer, writer, researcher, and content curator, while managing and contributing to social media. An outdoor and adventure enthusiast, she is also passionate about sustainability issues, global collaboration, mobile technologies, and getting kids excited about learning and the outdoors. Her international research collaborations include working with schools and individuals around the circumpolar Arctic, as well as managing logistics and relations for adventure learning expeditions worldwide. One of her favourite personal experiences was participating in an amazing pulking expedition across Baffin Island in Arctic Canada as part of an adventure-learning project for LTML in 2013.