ASCILITE 2004 Workshop

Online learning transformations: How to engage students and staff in successful and sustainable online learning

Objectives	The aim of this half day workshop is enable participants to explore and reflect on the critical issues associated with creating successful and sustainable learning environments. Moving beyond the discussion of basic educational design principles, participants will be encouraged to critically engage with contemporary challenges affecting the development of flexible, online and resource based courses. By the end of the workshop participants will be better able to discuss the challenges of and issues involved in the transformation of learning activities for the online environment; engage in the process of reconceptualising curriculum for the online environment; develop online learning materials and assessments for their own context. discuss ways to more effectively engage students and teaching staff in the learning process; and discuss design and conceptual changes in online course development.
Intended audience	All staff involved in the development of online learning resources for campus based or distance students. No special expertise is required, just a willingness to engage with the activities and discuss the issues.
Facilitators	Elizabeth Devonshire, Pain Management Research Institute, The University of Sydney, Level 10 C, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards. NSW 2065 Australia. Email: L.Devonshire@med.usyd.edu.au Liz has worked as an educator in workplace and university settings for nearly fifteen years. Prior to her current position at The University of Sydney, Liz worked as an Educational Developer at the Centre for Flexible Learning, Macquarie University. Her university experience has involved educational and instructional design, teaching postgraduate students, academic staff development, and policy and infrastructure development for flexible and distance learning across areas such as Earth and Life Sciences, Teacher Development, Aboriginal Education, problem-based Medical curriculum, and other Science disciplines. In 1996 Liz completed a Masters in Health Science Education and is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Education. Her research interests centre on the changing nature of academic work in flexible times.
	Robyn Philip, Macquarie E-Learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE), Macquarie University, NSW, 2109, Australia. Email: rphilip@melcoe.mq.edu.au Robyn works at the E-Learning Centre of Excellence at Macquarie University. She is developing and trialling learning designs and activity sequences for the new Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) Project. She is also the Education Project Manager for the COLIS Project, which has been investigating learning object repositories and interoperability of IT systems. Robyn has been an Educational Developer for over 13 years. She has developed resources for online learning environments in many disciplines, including the Creative Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and for the Australian Film Television and Radio School. She has a particular interest in online assessment and communication. She holds a Masters degree in Professional Education and Training, specialising in Distance Education.
Details of activities	Creating online activities and courses is a challenging process that often requires individuals to move beyond their comfort zone. It demands creativity and critical engagement with a range of design and management issues. Other important consideration are ensuring ownership of the process and an educational philosophy that begins with the student rather than the content or the technology. Through examples and case studies, participants in this workshop will consider the processes, strategies and conceptual shifts necessary to develop successful online learning environments. Participants will be encouraged to discuss and respond to the issues raised, individually and in groups. Topics discussed include assessment choice and structure, learning design, and course redevelopment and management. Part 1: The challenges of transformation In Part 1 participants explore examples of online teaching and learning activities and assessments which illustrate issues involved in the transformation process. Discussion and workshop activities focus on the tensions between flexibility and student engagement, the design of manageable and challenging assessments, and access and equity. Part 2: Conceptual shifts In Part 2 participants reflect on the conceptual changes required to design and implement effective teaching and learning strategies in the online environment. Discussion and activities will encompass whole curriculum redevelopment and activity driven learning design.
References	Robyn and Liz have co-facilitated a number of professional development workshops on flexible and online learning and collaborated on a paper about managing change and the role of the educational developer. This workshop is a revised and updated presentation of an ASCILITE workshop in 2002. Lowe, R. and Devonshire (2002). Transformations Online: Sailing from the Classroom to the Web. Workshop conducted at the 19th Annual ASCILITE Conference: Winds of Change in the Sea of Learning. 8-11 December. Auckland, New Zealand. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland02/proceedings/workshops.html Devonshire, E. and Philip, R. (2003). Online Transformations: The creation, structuring and management of resources and activities for online learning environments. Workshop conducted at the ODLAA Forum: Sustaining Quality Learning Environments. 1-4 October. Canberra, Australia. http://www.odlaa.org/forumSite/keynotes.html#LD