Limitations of an established community of practice in developing online innovation

This research was undertaken to explore the effectiveness of an already established community of practice among staff at a small rurally-based training organisation as a vehicle through which to develop innovative practice in online collaboration and learning. The research was situated within that ongoing innovation, and used interview and observational techniques to generate the research data from staff and management personnel. Substantial limitations to using an already existing community of practice to develop innovative practice were shown in the research. Development of new behaviours was substantially inhibited by the power of already established behaviours and practices. Additionally, lack of sufficient experience among community members in online technologies was a further barrier to effective and orderly development. The research indicates that the achievement of innovative practice through communities of practice within existing workplaces may best be served by the strategic development of members of those communities, focusing on change from already established behaviours, and by ensuring a mix of skill and experience to support and lead less experienced participants.

Renegotiating the pedagogical peace : a case study in online discussions for undergraduate on campus students

This paper reports an investigation into the ways in which undergraduate students, who are studying on campus, learn in online discussions. The study focuses on student strategies, and the role of text, time and place independence, peer interaction and the influence of the curriculum. It also examines the relationships between online discussions and face to face classes. The study found deep approaches to learning were widely used and were associated with constructivist learning activity, thinking and interacting online in groups in a way that adds value to the classroom, close integration with face to face activity and a positive perception of online discussions and the course as a whole. This case study confirms the relational nature of student learning in a blended learning environment.

Problem-based learning in an online environment

This study describes the investigation of postgraduate students of mixed age and gender distributed across several Australian states as well as off shore who were juggling study with workplace demands. As face to face meeting was impossible because of the geographical distribution of the group members and because the course communication was centred on an online conference space, a small group space was established for each group for the purpose of completing the problem-based learning task. This paper provides a detailed description of the group dynamics and interactive processes required to negotiate an online problem-based learning task. It will also suggest ways to improve the collaborative learning potential of the online environment through well structured and meaningful activities.

Designing for online communities of learning

This paper will explore the development of online learning communities among postgraduate students at Deakin University who were studying while working. The main objective of the research project being discussed here was to identify impediments to the development of online communities of learning and to suggest how these may be overcome so that students could benefit from the enhancements that online learning communities bring to communities of practice in students' workplaces. While communities of practice develop quite naturally among people working in the same physical space, as people learn from each other as they carry out their tasks at work, they are more difficult to establish in an online setting. Interviews were carried out with students and teachers and the data collected are described. Differing designs of courses, particularly the role of the teacher and the size of the classes, are considered and learning community development in both blended and distance learning environments are discussed.

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.

Practicality of a technological tool for the teaching of the first year psychology students

The current paper discusses the applicability of an online manual for the teaching of first year psychology laboratory programs and compares it with conventional teaching methods. For the first time, in 2001, the manual for the first year program was made available via a website. This method was in contrast to the text manual that was utilised previously. When the text manual was used, students needed to bring it each week to class. However, with the online manual, students were required to be cognisant of several aspects of the week's laboratory agenda prior to attending the class and did not have immediate access to the manual in class. This was quite uncustomary to both students and staff members and therefore necessitated a great amount of time to be spent reviewing the contents of the week's work before attending class. It also caused inconvenience both in terms of students not having ready access to necessary information, and staff having to photocopy bulk information as and when required. What was discovered at the end of the semester was that a technological tool, because of its ability to provide easy access, may not be applicable to teach all subjects, particularly not the psychology lab program, and hence a thorough evaluation of the practicality of the device is required prior to adoption.

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.

A study of face-to-face and online teaching philosophies in Canada and Australia

The perspectives of instructors who teach both online and face-to-face in a higher education context have been compared in this study. The differences and similarities between their approaches, and the influences each modality has on the other have been explored, as well as possible differences in organizational cultures between the groups who were based in Canada and Australia. The trend to blended learning in higher education was an important outcome of the study.

Adopting web-based learning and teaching: a case study in higher education

Most universities worldwide are becoming distance education providers through adopting web-based learning and teaching via the introduction of learning management systems that enable them to open their courses to both on- and off-campus students. Whether this is an effective introduction depends on factors that enable and impede the adoption of such systems and their related pedagogical strategies. This study examines such factors related to adopting a learning management system in a large multicampus urban Australian university. The research method used case study approaches and purposively selected the sample consisting of innovative teaching academics from across the university, who used web-based approaches to teach both on- and off-campus learners. The data were analyzed using a combination of Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovations and actor-network theory and revealed a series of enabling and impeding factors faced by pioneering technology-adopter teaching academics, some of which are technology related while others are policy related and common to large multicampus institutions. The study found that safe adoption environments recognizing career priorities of academics are a result of the continuous negotiation between the evolving institution and its innovative and creative staff. The article concludes with a series of conditions that would form a safe, enabling, and encouraging environment for technology-adopter teaching academics in a large multicampus higher education setting.

The evolution of an online community - a case study

This article reflects findings from a long term case study of an online community of practice established through a network for the professional education of teachers in Ontario, Canada. The Education Network of Ontario/Réseau éducatif de l'Ontario (ENO/REO) was created in 1992–1993 to support and connect teachers from kindergarten to grade 12 in the province of Ontario. Its mandate was to ensure that all teachers had free access to the Internet and to each other and to encourage the development of skills in the area of information and communication technology with the ultimate goal of using those skills to improve classroom practice. The study investigated whether information technology had the potential to connect teachers to each other in order to build the capacity to create networks where professional learning could take place in a cost-efficient and flexible time and/or place. It was found that participants were early adopters who enjoyed innovation, that online networkswere supportive for learning but hard to maintain over time, and though they supported the integration of technology in the classroom, other barriers within schools could challenge this effect.

Conceptual framework of the precautionary principle approach in the decision-making process

This article reviews the precautionary principle as an approach in addressing decisions with far reaching environmental consequences under scientific uncertainty. The precautionary principle is intended to assist with structuring environmentally risky decisions toward sustainable development. It responds to the lack of scientific evidence of a potential environmental problem. There is currently no framework to assist with the process indicating the areas of importance and stages of decisionmaking. This paper suggests a framework to assist with the process of decision-making for complex environmental problems. The main areas of concern are the issues relating to the costs, risks, and benefits assessments. The main stages of the framework includes; definition of the problem, analysis of the potential environmental risks, assessments of specific anticipated legal, social, economic, political, and technological impacts, review of the key players (social, organisation and government) obligations, comparison of alternatives available, determination of accountability, implementation, decision making, monitoring and control processes.

Teaching and learning online : older adults in a community setting

This research was designed to assess whether the older adult learning in IT environments and online represents a different pedagogy from that of younger learners, as has been suggested by some authors in the literature. The study was conducted in a community learning and employment centre in an Australian rural town, and involved interviews with six teachers of older adults, and nine older learners. The results did not support the need for a particular pedagogy for older learners, instead supporting an approach to teaching that was based around teachers identifying learner characteristics and needs and responding to them as individuals. This finding has been interpreted in the context of already published iterative and interactive teaching models, and has considerable implications for the effective teaching and learning of older adults. Those implications are discussed in the paper.

Reflections on teaching and learning online: quality program design, delivery and support issues from a cross-global perspective

This reflective paper began with a discussion of the online program design and delivery experiences of three senior faculty members at the University of Calgary (Canada) and Deakin University (Australia), which was recorded at Deakin University. After drawing on this recording in their research and practice, one faculty member from each institution decided to review and expanded upon their intervening experiences in terms of issues of quality program design, delivery, and support issues when teaching, and learning in different cultural contexts. The authors discovered that these issues are as important today as they were when they met to record the interview, and have concluded their discussion here with thoughts about the teaching, student, and administrative supports that institutions engaged in online program delivery cross-culturally must address in order to successfully deliver quality online programs worldwide.

Teaching presence in computer conferencing : lessons from the United States and Australia

This paper uses the category of teaching presence as a framework to analyze and compare teaching presence in two computer conference contexts. Teaching presence is defined as the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes. This paper is based on an interview designed to capture reflections about teaching practices of two instructors, one from the United States and the other from Australia. We first present individual case studies of the two computer conference contexts, followed by conclusions and implications for research and practice.

Online interaction impacts on learning: teaching the teachers to teach online

This paper explores the importance of interaction in the online teaching environment and the important role of staff development in developing teacher presence online. Professionally developing staff to use information and communication technologies is viewed from the standpoint of diffusion of innovation, moving from early adopters to mainstream majority, and targeting staff development at this latter group. Approaches to staff development using information and communication technologies are described, and recommendations for staff development for online teaching are made.