Designing contemporary learning environments for excellence in public relations

Universities are striving to enhance the quality of the educational experience in the professions in response to external and internal pressures. The professional field of public relations (PR) is not immune to these forces. Previously, enhancements were often pursued through particular initiatives relating to curriculum, pedagogical or assessment redesign at the unit level. While such initiatives are valuable we argue for a strategic, integrated, programmatic approach. This requires the design of learning environments, with integrated virtual and physical dimensions, based on a relevant and meaningful curriculum, and student-centred approaches to learning. These learning environments enable quality learning in fields like public relations with diverse student cohorts studying on- and off-campus. The challenges involved in designing what we term ‘contemporary learning environments’ are illuminated through a case study of Deakin University’s Public Relations Program. Over the last three years redesigning PR online has led to changed curriculum, and pedagogical and assessment practices. We conclude by suggesting that a commitment to continuous quality improvement will be required to ensure the program’s learning environment remains relevant to the needs of students studying in the field.

Evidence for sustainable e-learning in quality online learning environments: a purposive approach to content analysis

This paper examines a methodology for establishing quality in online learning environments. For e-learning to be sustainable in flexible, open and distance learning, its value in learning must be able to be analysed. In the case of computer conferencing, one way to do this is with content analysis. This methodology is discussed with a review of current frameworks. These indicate that while some researchers and evaluators either use or modify existing frameworks, most researchers develop new ones, generally through the adaptation of existing theories, concepts or model, but in some cases through grounded theory approaches. The development and implementation of two frameworks are then discussed in detail. Both were developed to investigate and evaluate both collaborative learning and deep and surface learning as evidenced in computer conferences. Evidence of such learning attributes are precisely the elements of value in e-learning that can be shown through such a methodology. These attributes can then be integrated into courses developed for quality online learning environments.

Creating and sustaining quality e-learning environments of enduring value for teachers and learners

Australian universities continue staking a claim on the future of e-learning, acquiring Learning Management Systems (LMS) as rapidly as universities overseas. Much is published on processes and criteria for selecting the best LMS for an organisation's needs and attempts to establish training and support mechanisms for deploying these systems. Beyond initial efforts to commission these technologies, particularly in the hands of teachers and students, what should happen to ensure these commitments yield real educational value in the long term? The search for and realisation of systemic and substantial new value requires a more profound reconceptualisation of what it means to design and work within contemporary learning environments, incorporating e-learning, in support of excellence in educational outcomes. This demands the foregrounding of the role of the academic teacher in the system in relation to other parties who can make important educational contributions in support of student learning. Central to new strategies is a transformation of the role of academic teacher, but on terms understood by them and supportive of their educational values. Six areas of value creation for teachers and learners are considered in relation to this transformation.

Communication dynamics : discussion boards, weblogs and the development of communities of inquiry in online learning environments

Online learning environments (OLEs) are now critical to teaching and learning across Australian higher education. Their influence impacts on the availability of content, the design of courses and, perhaps most pedagogically significantly, the nature of communication. The discussion board is the ubiquitous communication tool within these OLEs and hence significantly shapes the kind of communication that takes place. In light of this, the degree to which a successful community of inquiry can be facilitated through the use of discussion boards is examined and compared to the possibilities afforded by weblogs in the same role. Weblogs, it is argued, offer new opportunities in the development of social, cognitive and teacher presence online and should be considered in the development of or alongside established OLEs.

Discomfort at the coalface : issues for sessional tutors teaching in online enhanced learning environments

Higher education institutions are undergoing a period of rapid change during which time a number of strategic professional development efforts have been made to improve teaching in order to improve students’ learning outcomes. Sessional tutors, who are consistently at the coalface and have close contact with students, have often been excluded from formal opportunities for professional development offered to more permanent staff. This anomaly is now being recognised and more efforts are being made across the sector to ensure that tutors are better equipped to teach in contemporary learning environments. This paper discusses issues of concern to tutors that arose from recent professional development workshops and suggests that some of the major issues currently confronting sessional staff relate to the need to be able to teach effectively in online enhanced learning environments.

Challenges in designing culturally-adaptive ICT-based learning environments

This paper argues that two of the major problems facing local courseware developers and educators in creating culturally-sensitive lCT-based learning environments are the difficulties of representing cultural artefacts in courseware and of having a model of 'culture' that can be implemented in lCT-based systems. A developing learning-object model is presented; one that can be adopted to address aspects of this problem by providing a systematic way to approach implementing and representing cultural artefacts in courseware. This also provides a basis for some aspects of computer-based cultural preservation initiatives. While this approach may have higher short term development costs, the potential long term cultural benefits to the society far outweigh short term considerations.

Effective mathematics learning environments : primary teachers' beliefs and practices

A first priority for changing teaching practice is to make problematic for teachers aspects of their current practice. As part of a project on improving mathematics and science teaching in the middle years of schooling, teachers were asked to rate their practice against components of effective teaching and learning and to rate each of these according to their perceived importance. Findings suggest that primary teachers endorsed the components as representing effective practice, scoring most components higher than their actual practice. Gaps were particularly evident for items relating to challenging students conceptually and higher-order thinking, with these becoming the basis for some of the action planning for change.

Tipping points in online-mediated learning environments

Teacher/Student engagement enriches learning experiences beyond the specifics of communicated information by encouraging connectivity and the fostering of learning communities. This paper is an analysis of student engagement in a postgraduate online-mediated learning environment, and considers how engagement may be an important factor in building communities of learning in conjunction with improved learning outcomes. This paper is informed by the conceptual framework for effective e-learning outlined by Garrison and Anderson (2003) as necessary for higher order knowledge building by students as part of skills development for participation in knowledge economies. Data collected through a pilot study infers that a correlation exists between the development of small groups of significantly contributing students within wider online student cohorts and the learning outcomes of all students within the cohort. The findings indicate that a number of small events have increased student engagement and motivation, and resulted in improved learning outcomes.

Accommodating learner diversity in web-based learning environments: imperatives for future developments

In this article, we focus on the use of Web-based learning environments for university students. We draw on an evaluation of an online environment that was developed to supplement face-to-face components of an undergraduate education unit in an Australian university. We explore learners' affective responses to this environment, finding that students' responses were often related to their familiarity with the learning environment, their skills and confidence with computer technology, and their preferred learning styles. It is not surprising to us that different students experienced the environment differently as this is the foundation of constructivist and socio-cultural understandings of learning. Yet, the models that currently predominate in the provision of online learning environments in universities offer very little in terms of responding and adapting to students' individual needs and preferences. Instead, online Web-based learning environments are most often designed to anticipate an average, or sometimes ideal, learner. We argue that designing for an imagined average or ideal learner does not adequately respond to the challenge of accommodating learner difference. If hopes for student-centred education are to be realised, future technological and pedagogical developments in online course provision need to be sophisticated enough to respond and adapt to individual students' needs and preferences across a wide range of variables.

Challenges of web-based learning environments: are we student-centred enuf?

The last decade has seen a phenomenal growth in the use of the Web in university education, with various factors influencing the adoption of Web-based technology. The reduction of government funding in the higher education sector has forced universities to seek technological solutions to provide courses for a growing and increasingly diverse and distributed student population [13,14]. Another impetus has been a shift in focus from teacher-centred to learner-centred education, encouraging educators to provide courses which enable students to manage their own learning [6]. In this paper we discuss challenges associated with the design and provision of Web-based learning environments that are truly student-centred. We draw on interview and questionnaire data from an evaluation study to raise issues surrounding the provision of online environments that meet learners' needs. We discuss the challenges of catering for the needs of different learners and the challenges associated with helping students to make the transition into new online learning environments.