Pre Conference Workshops - Integrating multiple technologies to support teaching and learning

Objectives

The primary objective of this workshop is to provide a forum to share the presenters' wide and varied experience of using e-technology to support teaching and learning and to explore the affordances provided by using e-technology to extend and enhance students' learning experiences.

Intended audience

This workshop is intended for academics who are using or who are thinking of using technology to support their teaching in an e-learning context. Individuals who have a role in supporting the teaching activities of academics should also find this workshop interesting and constructive.

Facilitators

Jo Coldwell

A pioneer in online learning at Deakin University, Jo first adopted Information and Communications Technology to support her teaching in 1997 and has been teaching units wholly online since 2000. She uses the online environment to enhance student engagement and learning, including acquisition of the key generic student attributes of teamwork and collaboration, written communication, and ethics and social responsibility, as they relate to the professional field of information technology. Driven by the need to meet students' ever changing needs, Jo strives for continuous improvement. Many years of online teaching practice coupled with extensive research into the impact of technology on teaching and learning have equipped her with special capacities in the design and operation of learning management systems. Jo has published extensively and has been invited to present at conferences, in Australia and internationally, in the field of e-learning.

Annegret Goold

Annegret Goold is a lecturer in the School of Engineering and IT at Deakin University and has been extensively involved with teaching wholly online units for a number of years. Her focus more recently has been on providing rich experiential learning experiences for students who are in their final year of undergraduate studies, about to embark on their IT professional career. Research in to the teaching and learning experiences afforded by the learning environment in the IT professional practice unit and the application of technologies such as social software and a synchronous communication and collaboration tool, has led to a number of journal publications, and conference and workshop presentations. Annegret has also received a number of teaching awards, primarily for excellence in teaching and innovation.

Dale Holt

Dr Dale Holt is Interim Director of the Institute of Teaching and Learning at Deakin University with active participation in Educational Design, Professional Development and Research. Dale has coordinated major academic professional development programs and his responsibilities see him heavily involved in the University's Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant Scheme and in supporting staff applying for University and national teaching awards. He was awarded a Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2007, 'For longstanding leadership and support for the professional development of teaching staff to advance student learning in the field of flexible, online and distance education'. Dale is joint Project Leader of the 2007 ALTC funded project, 'Strategic Leadership for Institutional Teaching and Learning Centres: Developing a Model for the 21st century' and project member of the 2008 ALTC funded project, 'Building academic staff capacity for using eSimulations in professional education for experience transfer'.

Stuart Palmer

Dr Stuart Palmer is a senior lecturer in the Institute of Teaching and Learning at Deakin UniversityPrior to joining the Institute, Stuart was a member of the academic staff of the School of Engineering and Information Technology at Deakin for 12 years.  Prior to entering academia, Stuart practiced in consulting engineering for a decade, attaining the position of business unit manager.  Stuart has received the McGraw Hill new engineering educator award from the Australasian Association for Engineering Education.  Soon after joining Deakin, Stuart adopted online technologies for the support of teaching and learning.  As an enthusiastic supporter of the appropriate use of technology in teaching and learning, student has employed an action research, evidence-based approach to the use and evaluation of such technologies, publishing widely in the peer-reviewed literature on the learning and other outcomes of online technologies in teaching and learning.

Details of activities

Audience participation will be facilitated through presentations, open discussions and directed break-out groups.

Presentations will:

  • Provide a case study of an online environment using a range of e-learning technologies emphasising both educational and technical aspects;
  • Outline scholarly work on the impact of this environment on the student learning experience;
  • Drawing from the case study, provide guidance and advice on designing and conducting large classes online;
  • Present analysis and conclusions from institutional surveys undertaken on Deakin Studies Online (DSO) and wholly online units over 2004-2006.

Presenters will promote discussions on future directions in the best uses of e-learning technologies based on current good practices, scholarship undertaken and institutional evidence accumulated over the last half decade.

Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences and concerns in a collegial environment and to contribute to the overall knowledge-sharing in the effective and affective use of the ever-increasing portfolio of e-technologies to value add (and avoid value subtracting) the teaching and learning experience. Facilitators and barriers to the use of e-technology will be explored with the aim of empowering participants to overcome perceived barriers to adoption.

The shared experiences will be collated by the presenters and circulated to attendees post event.