Online role play stories, engagement and learning in higher education

This thesis studies online role plays as they are used in higher education. It finds that where students are able to develop engaging stories together, their story-building can promote a range of learning outcomes. It also identifies techniques to develop their critical awareness and skills, and makes design recommendations.

Inside higher education

This section of the proceedings report provides details of the issues discussed in the theme Inside Higher Education. This theme explored the experience of university from the inside for students and staff, including pedagogy, the first year experience, orientation programs and curriculum. Much ground was covered by both the equity practitioners and the academics who contributed. However, several common issues emerged across the sessions. Inevitably not everything covered in this theme can be reported, but what follows is a synthesis of the main issues and the presenters who raised them.

Massaging desire : disadvantaged students' aspirations for higher education.

Australia is in a challenging position. Having ridden the resources boom up and down, it now finds it has fallen back from the OECD pack in terms of the number of young adults (25 to 34 year olds) with higher education qualifications. This, coupled with a change of government, has prompted transformation in the Australian higher education system that will increasingly require research and policy to address students’ aspirations for university. Aspiration has long been considered an important condition for entry to higher education (Anderson, Boven, Fensham & Powell, 1980). However, recent policy reforms, specifically the setting of targets for significant increases in participation, now demand a rethinking of the concept. Across Australian universities, the current attainment rate for bachelor degrees among 25 to 34 year olds is around 32 per cent, while over the past twenty years the enrolment rate of students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds has stagnated at around 15 per cent (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). In response to the Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education in 2008, the Australian Government has set ‘20/40 targets’ in a bid to increase low SES enrolment to 20 per cent by 2020, and to increase to 40 per cent by 2025 the number of 25 to 34 year olds holding bachelor degrees. This will require that around 220,000 additional students attain bachelor degrees by 2025. Given current levels of unmet demand for university entry, this overall increase in participation, and the proportional increase of low SES students in particular, will only be achievable by engaging with populations of potential students who do not currently seek university places.

Facing off : facebook and higher education

A social and cultural expectation that Information Communication Technologies (ICT) should be ubiquitous within peoples' daily lives is apparent. Connecting generational groups with a specific set of technological attributes also assumes the ways that particular groups of students should be able/do “naturally” use emergent mobile and social technologies. Moreover, the use of social networking technologies is evident in a number of ways within higher education (HE) pedagogies. As part of the suite of possibilities in Web 2.0, Facebook is used in a number of ways to support communications within and between institutions and their students as well as a mechanism for teaching and learning within specific units of study.

The chapter commences with a broad discussion about social sharing software of Web 2.0, specifically Facebook, as a potential teaching and learning tool in HE contexts. We traverse recent exemplars and discourses surrounding the use of social technologies for the purposes of HE. It is clear from the literature that while there is much excitement at the possibilities that such technologies offer, there are increasing anxieties across institutional and individual practitioners, in regard to possible consequences of their use.

Through autoethnographic methodology, this chapter showcases potentials and challenges of Facebook in HE. Through the use of constructed scenarios, the authors describe occurrences that necessitate increasing professional development and vigilance online. Some of the issues highlighted within this chapter include blurring of professional and personal life world boundaries, issues of identity theft and vandalism, cyberstalking and bullying, working in the public domain, and questions of virtual integrity.

Blended learning in a higher education multicultural environment

This thesis has two outcomes. First, it provides a detailed analysis of how international computing students experience a blended learning environment, identifying their perceptions of the new environment, perceptions of the use of ICT in their studies, preparedness and experiences in using ICT tools, and effective participation in ICT-mediated activities as critical aspects of teaching and learning environments that warrant particular attention by teachers of these students. The second outcome of this thesis is a set of pedagogical principles for the design and development of blended learning, contextualised in local and broader educational challenges typical of a multicultural student body, consistent with a globalised world.

Academic skills and beyond : a resource based approach to support student success in higher education

An increasingly diverse range of students are entering higher education, bringing with them a vast range of experiences, skills and pre-existing knowledge. However, approaches to increasing student participation (and therefore success) to date have focused on strategies aimed at supporting non-traditional students to “fit in”, rather than changing existing structures to accommodate their needs. This paper will outline a resource-based approach to student success, which capitalises on the resources and capacities existing within the student, within their performance of the student role and within the environment that surrounds their learning.
This paper will report on a study and propose a resource based approach to student success. Three main sites or domains are identified as a focus of this approach – intrapersonal resources, skills resources and environmental resources. These domains interact with each other to support student success, and three potential methods for implementing a resource based approach are highlighted in the spaces where they intersect. Pedagogical design, mapping and matching, and learning support all have a role in enabling both students and universities to make the most of their existing resources and develop new ones.

Environmental sustainability in higher education : how do academics teach?

The concept of sustainability can be controversial and difficult to define. As a result, it has been suggested that there should be specific pedagogies and teaching methods for education for sustainability (EfS). How well these methods are used within universities can inform the future of EfS pedagogy. One quarter of the teaching academics in every discipline of every Australian university (except one) (n = 38) was sent an online questionnaire asking for their recollections of their teaching practices and EfS. Data were obtained from 1819 respondents (26% response rate) and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics (χ ² tests of independence and one-way between-groups analysis of variance). This study presents the views of approximately 6% of the entire university teaching workforce of Australia. It presents the findings that academics prefer, and utilise, lectures, tutorials, critical thinking and discussions in their teaching. Although the adoption of the pedagogies and teaching methods advocated for EfS is low, there is evidence that academics are actively seeking to make their lessons more interactive. Although EfS is largely not practiced within classrooms, when EfS is taught, teaching methods remain the same as when it is not taught – suggesting EfS is not currently associated with pedagogical innovation.

Leadership themes in higher education restructuring

Leading higher education restructuring is challenging. It involves various degrees of engagement, decision making and strategic alliances to achieve success. Factors such as the fundamental characteristics and practices of higher education, and external factors need to be taken into account. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a case study on organizational restructuring at a higher education institution in Australia. The study focuses on leadership themes appearing during the restructuring. Data for the study were derived from interviews with parties involved - leaders, academic and administrative staff. Analysis of the interviews found three main leadership themes occurring throughout the change process. This study concludes that leadership is a critical factor in organizational change in universities.