Developing and asynchronous learning network

Deakin University, Australia, has committed resources over a number of years to developing the use of information and communication technologies in all aspects of teaching and learning. This paper focuses on the development over a four year period of an Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN) for distance education students studying undergraduate introductory macroeconomics. The research is based on quantitative and qualitative data gained from student evaluations, academic staff interviews, participation levels and an analysis of the online communication. Key findings from the research relate to the quality of the learning environment, the level of communication, and the role of academic staff in the learning experience. Strategies discussed for the successful use of an ALN include the nurturing of a collaborative learning environment, the adaptation of curriculum and pedagogy, the role of assessment, and the role of academic staff training and development.

The Sustainability and Evolution of Quality Improvement Programmes-an Australian Case Study

This paper presents a case study on the implementation of quality management programmes and initiatives in one manufacturing company in Australia, which has lasted for more than two decades. Using data collected through in-depth interviews, the case study describes how the company progressed from an earlier initiative based on quality control to the present initiatives that emphasize customer focus, product development, and innovation. Several important insights are drawn from the case study, including the importance of aligning the quality programmes or initiatives with a clear strategic focus. In addition, the commitment and leadership of senior management of the company has been demonstrated, particularly in the provision of resources and facilities to support the TQM programme, and also shown is how the company has been successful in maintaining its long-term commitment to quality management, which has led to an accumulation of various knowledge and competencies, which function as a valuable resource to sustain its business performance.

Perceptions of the learning context and learning approaches : implications for quality learning outcomes in accounting

This study analyses learning approaches, course perceptions and learning outcomes of a group of second year accounting students at an Australian university using qualitative data analysis techniques. The research method involves the development of a series of matrices linking types of motives and strategies used by students in their study, together with their perceptions of the learning context associated with learning outcomes. The study focuses on assessing the links between learning approaches and a qualitative assessment of students' conceptual understanding of aspects of financial accounting studied at the undergraduate level. The results confirm how individual differences in the perceptions of the learning context relate to study motives and strategies. The findings show how different forms of memorisation relate to study strategies and how the completion of accounting tasks link to students' perceptions of course requirements. There was also some evidence that, in terms of learning outcomes, students with sophisticated levels of understanding of concepts, tended to have consistent deep and achieving approaches to learning. This result was compared with students' academic performance as a measure of learning outcome. Discrepancies between these two measures of learning outcome are highlighted in the conclusions. The findings strengthen the case for further investigation of the use of measures other than academic performance in examining relationships between learning approaches and learning outcomes.

The impact of teaching models, group structures and assessment modes on cooperative learning in the student design studio

As a result of ever diminishing teaching resources, an increasing number of architectural educators are setting group design projects, rather then spreading their time thinly over a large number of individual projects. This allows them to co-ordinate longer and more in-depth review sessions on a smaller number of assignment submissions. However, while the group
model may offer an authentic learning model by reflecting design in practice, the approach is not without its obvious shortcomings as a teaching archetype for the assessment of the knowledge and skill competencies of individual students. Hence, what is clear is the need for a readily adoptable andragogy for the teaching and assessment of group design projects.
The following paper describes the background, methodology and findings of a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant funded research project carried out in the year 2005 at the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University. The project aimed to inform a change of classroom/studio practice governing the assemblage, teaching and assessment of student design teams. The development through these changes of cooperative and student centred learning principles focused on effective design collaboration and fair assessment should, it will be argued, lead to an enhanced group-learning experience in studio, which will subsequently and ultimately enhance professional practice.

Proactive evaluation : new perspectives for ensuring quality in online learning applications

A major issue confronting educators is the extent to which they wish to conform to so-called paradigm shifts in teaching and learning. In the contemporary world of tertiary education these shifts embrace both pedagogy (from instructivist to constructivist) and technology (classroom to online). As teachers and learners are faced with the potential of these new learning environments, the extent to which the learning outcomes are achieved remains a high priority and subject to a wide range of evaluation strategies. Conventionally, evaluation is often conceptualised as occurring at the end of the development process, to assess first (formatively) whether or not the creative effort has achieved the original product goals and second (summatively) whether or not the desired learning outcomes were achieved. However, in the context of imperatives to implement online learning paradigms, the level of understanding teachers and developers have of the medium can impact the effectiveness of the product. This paper presents an additional perspective to the post-development, reactive evaluation processes in proposing the concept of proactive evaluation, a framework that identifies critical online learning factors and influences to better inform the development of learning resources. In essence, the proposal advocates an approach where development is undertaken within an environment where all activities are assessed using the evaluation criteria that would be applied when the product is assessed reactively. By performing these checks proactively, online learning resources will, in principle, work first time as all relevant factors and issues will have been considered and resolved.

Do what we do: a multimodal approach to planning and teaching

Quality teaching and learning in teacher education can be enriched across campuses for both the academics and the student bodies when focus is given to the development of dynamic ICT rich learning experiences. This paper focuses on the learning journey of two academics and their preservice teacher education students located on two regional campuses, 200km apart, and how planning, communicating, implementing, presenting, evaluating, and reflecting took place within a framework of collegiality. The unit, entitled, ‘The Literacy Teacher, the Profession and the Community’ was a final year unit within the undergraduate Bachelor of Education program. Specifically this paper discusses how a multimodal teaching and learning environment using a range of new communication technologies enhanced the both the teaching and the learning experience for our pre-service teacher education students.

Sustainable design education: teaching, learning and assessment in collaborative group design projects

Changes in the funding of tertiary education resulting in less one-to-one staff/student contact time mean that we cannot continue to teach as we have historically been taught. If design schools are unable to implement strategies that successfully overcome resource intensive studio teaching programs, then current architectural education may for many higher education providers be based on an unsustainable course structure. Rather than spreading their time thinly over a large number of individual projects, an increasing number of lecturers are setting group projects. This allows them to co-ordinate longer and more in-depth review sessions on a smaller number of assignments. However, while the group model may reflect the realities of the design process in practice, the approach is not without short comings as a teaching archetype for the assessment of individual skill competencies. Hence, what is clear is the need for a readily adoptable andragogy for the teaching and assessment of group design projects.
The following describes the background, methodology and early results of a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant currently running at the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University. The project is evaluating two design programs at Deakin and it is envisaged that the results of the
investigation may inform other project-based teaching disciplines experiencing a similar need for new knowledge and skill-based delivery due to increasing staff-student ratios.

Studio - learning and teaching environment for multimedia

This paper is a case study of the introduction of a studio environment for the teaching of multimedia practice. This change is in the context of multimedia being placed within an information technology degree program, where the conventions and traditions of computer science prevail. The studio based teaching was accepted and now new studios are being built at the university and a research project is proposed with the Queensland University of Technology to explore further teaching and learning issues using studio
teaching methods.

Developing and rewarding advanced teaching expertise in higher education - a different approach

The Australian university sector is undergoing a major change, with a significant increase in the emphasis on quality teaching and learning. This change is being driven by the national government. The paper asks if the correct response to this change of emphasis should be a change in the attitude to the appropriate mix of research and teaching skills within an institution, and within individual staff of the institution. The same question could be asked of how to better develop teaching expertise in many higher education sectors globally. It is proposed that to create excellent teaching and learning within an institution may better be achieved by allowing staff to become experts in a narrow field of teaching rather than
generalists across the basics of teaching. The creation of a Community of Experts in teaching parallels the process of creating a Community of Experts in Research and can bring similar benefits in the teaching area to what it does in the research area.

Teaching for blended learning : how is ICT impacting on distance and on campus education?

The concept of blended learning, defined in a range of ways, has begun to change the nature of all teaching and learning in higher education. Information and communication technologies have impacted by providing a means of access to digital resources and interactive communication for all courses and the blending of pedagogy and technology has produced a range of approaches to teaching and learning. This paper will investigate reported studies from both research literature and from the writers' research, defining what they have concluded are teaching practices that use the concept of blended learning effectively.

Teaching for blended learning: research perspectives from on-campus and distance students

The concept of blended learning has begun to change the nature of all teaching and learning in higher education. Information and communication technologies have impacted by providing a means of access to digital resources and interactive communication for all courses and the blending of pedagogy and technology has produced a range of approaches to teaching and learning. This paper discusses the research literature and the writers’ research, defining what they have concluded are teaching practices that use the concept of blended learning effectively. In investigating how ICT can add variation for student learning, they analyze this from two dominant modes of pedagogy, learning environment and pedagogy through both on-campus and distance education. In both modes, students acknowledged the power and effectiveness of blended learning.

Language and learning : an introduction for teaching

This revised and updated edition provides a practical and readable explanation of how language can be understood and significant implications for classroom and teaching practices.

Doing literacy online : teaching, learning and playing in an electronic world

The essays in this volume provide an international perspective on persistent and emerging questions related to the use of online technologies for teaching and learning. They demonstrate that online literacy practices can be understood only when they are examined within their social, political, economic, cultural, and historical contexts.

How E-business can provide a sustainable framework for online learning in the vocational education and training arena

The author undertook a major national study of e-business for the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) from November 1999 - February 2000, resulting in the report E-competent Australia: The Impact of E-commerce on the National Training Framework (ANTA, 2000; available at http;://www.anta.gov.au). This ANTA study and other research by the author show that e-business will eventually have a significant impact on the Australian economy, on industries, organisations, occupations and education and training organisations. From April-May 2000, the author is undertaking a major study for the Commonwealth Government (DETYA): a scoping study of e-commerce in the education and training sector (higher education, VET, schools) of Australia.

This paper starts where the ANTA study (Mitchell 2000a) and the DETYA study stop, by exploring the implications of e-business for online learning systems. E-business will eventually impact not only on the organisations providing online education but on their online learning systems.

The paper is based also on research by the author for a Doctorate in Education within the Faculty of Education at Deakin University that commenced in 1997 and is continuing. The research for this paper involved a review of national and international developments in ebusiness, relating them to online learning systems.

This paper traces the origins, definitions and drivers of both e-business and online learning systems in the 1990s, showing how e-business principles and strategies in the future will have a beneficial impact on online learning systems, even if online learning systems eventually lose their identities as separate from the rest of the organisation.

An e-business focus for online learning systems would start with an understanding of the customers' needs; would find a customer-centric solution, not a technology-centric solution; would empower the customer; would provide sufficient and multiple types of support for the customer; would provide quality and skilled input; and would provide cost effective, reliable and accessible technology.

This vision of an e-business approach to training varies greatly from the traditional business model for the delivery of training, particularly by VET Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). The traditional business model includes real estate prices dictating location of campuses; architecture dictating class sizes; industrial relations dictating the number and length of sessions and prescribing tight role descriptions; queues of students enrolling in February and July each year; and students seated in teacher-dominated classrooms. In contrast, an e-business basis for RTOs would involve the use of electronic communication to improve business performance, improve the use of existing resources, enhance existing services and increase market reach.

An e-business model for RTOs would include the following features: the development of new relationships with customers, using electronic communication to strengthen the relationship; the pursuit of new student markets; and the development of new relationships and alliances between providers. In this new arena of potential and threat, of disintermediation and reintermediation, there will be new roles for new intermediaries; and there will emerge new ways of supporting teaching and learning. Progressive education and training organisations will realize the potential offered by e-business and enjoy the fruits of reintermediation.

Continuous improvement through shared understanding : reconceptualising instructional design for online learning

Many Australian tertiary institutions provide support for academic staff in the design and development of online teaching and learning resources, often employing a centralised unit staffed with educational and instructional designers, multimedia and online developers, audio/video producers and graphic artists. It is not unusual for these units to have evolved from print-based distance education providers and consequently the design and development processes inherent within those units are often steeped in ‘traditional’ sequential instructional development models. We argue that these models are no longer valid for effectively working with academic staff given the dynamic nature of online learning environments and the diversity of skills to implement effective online learning. This paper therefore presents an extended instructional design model in which the development cycle for online teaching and learning materials uses a scaffolding strategy in order to cater for learner-centred activities and to maximise scarce developer and academic resources. The model also integrates accepted phases of the instructional development process to provide guidelines for the disposition of staff and to more accurately reflect the creation of resources as learning design rather than instructional design. It is a model that builds on instructional design processes and integrates concepts of team-based development, shared understanding and the development of relevant communities of practice.