Workshops

*NB: Workshops venue is G Block, Otago Polytechnic.

Workshops

#1 Learning design techniques and tools

Presenters: Sue Bennett, Shirley Agostinho, Lori Lockyer

Half day (morning). $120

Description
Over the past decade there have been significant efforts to research university teachers’ learning design practices and develop strategies and tools to support the design of high quality learning experiences.

This workshop provides practitioners with hands-on experience in using research based learning designs and design tools. It will also provide practical strategies for focusing on student-centred assessment that achieves constructive alignment.

The workshop will introduce participants to:

  1. a systematic method for representing and documenting learning designs, particularly those that integrate technology,
  2. research on how university teachers design and the implications for practice, and
  3. the concept of sharable, adaptable learning designs.

About the presenters

Sue Bennett
Associate Professor Sue Bennett has more than 20 years experience teaching in Australian universities. She began her career as an academic instructional designer, working closely with teaching staff to develop effective learning designs for face-to-face, online and distance learning. She graduated with a PhD in Education in 2002 and has worked as a full-time teaching and research academic since. Sue is an internationally-recognised research leader in the area of learning design, with a special interest in supporting university teachers to improve their design practices and to integrate information and communication technologies effectively into their subjects.

Shirley Agostinho
Dr Shirley Agostinho’s career spans 16 years in UOW’s Faculty of Education and Faculty of Social Sciences – being employed in a number of full-time and casual non-continuing positions since 1997. These positions have ranged from instructional designer, project manager, post-doctoral fellow, research fellow, lecturer and now senior lecturer. Shirley has expertise in the design, development, implementation, evaluation and research of learning environments supported by the use of information communication technologies. Research in learning design has been a main focus for Shirley since 2000, with a particular interest in documenting teaching and learning practice to facilitate sharing, adaptation and reuse.

Lori Lockyer
Professor Lori Lockyer is the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation Chair in Teacher Education and Head of the School of Education at Macquarie University. She was previously at the University of Wollongong where she held a number of roles including the Associate Dean Research and Graduate in the Faculty of Education. Lori has been working in the area of learning design for over a decade. This work is concerned with the documentation, sharing and application of teaching models. As an extension of this work, Lori is investigating how teachers conceptualise their designs and the psychological and contextual factors that influence them.

#2 Getting started with institutional learning analytics

Presenters: Leah P. Macfadyen and Shane Dawson

Full day. $250

Description
In a world of larger and larger data sets, increasing populations of increasingly diverse learners, constrained education budgets and increased focus on quality and accountability, some argue that using analytics to optimize learning environments is no longer an option but an imperative.

Do you feel overwhelmed by educational data? Is the hype about big data and learning analytics frustrating or terrifying? Do you wonder what learning analytics is all about? Or want to get started but don’t know how?

This workshop offers you an opportunity to learn about and engage in a critical assessment of the emerging field of learning analytics (LA): the hype and the reality, what it is and what it is not, and the potential and the real challenges of implementation.

About the presenters

Leah P. Macfadyen
Leah P. Macfadyen is Data Griot and Program Director for Evaluation and Learning Analytics in the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia, Canada and consults with a number of other institutions on implementing learning analytics. She has several years experience of efforts to garner institutional support for learning analytics, and is especially interested in making use of ‘systems’ frameworks to allow more careful analysis of structural and cultural blockages in institutions that may be preventing effective use of teaching and learning data, and identification of points for intervention. For more details of her research, writing and teaching see: http://www.changingeye.com.

Shane Dawson
Shane Dawson is Director of Learning and Teaching in the Learning and Teaching Unit at the University of South Australia. His research focusses on the use of social network analysis and learner ICT interaction data to inform and benchmark teaching and learning quality. Shane is a founding executive member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research and past conference chair of the International Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference. He is a co-developer of SNAPP an open source social network visualization tool designed for teaching staff to better understand, identify and evaluate student learning, engagement, academic performance and creative capacity. See: http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?Name=Shane.Dawson.

#3 Giving students power in assessment in Higher Education

Presenter: Professor Carmel McNaught

Half day (afternoon). $120

Description
Carmel will guide participants to review their existing assessment practices and re-design them. Theoretical models of assessment such as the SOLO taxonomy and a triangular model of an assessment policy will be explored and applied to real-life examples of participants’ experience. In small groups, participants will design learning activities and assessment strategies with a focus on maximising students’ input to the process. The role of technology in facilitating the designs will be discussed.

About the presenter

Carmel McNaught
Carmel McNaught is Emeritus Professor of Learning Enhancement at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was the former Director of the Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR). Currently, Carmel is a consultant, mostly working in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE and the UK. Recent publications and activities can be viewed at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/clear/people/Carmel.html.

Since the early 1970s, Carmel has worked in higher education in Australasia, southern Africa and the UK in the fields of chemistry, science education, second-language learning, eLearning, and higher-education curriculum and policy matters. Read more: http://ascilite2014.otago.ac.nz/keynotes-invited-speakers/#carmel

#4 The networked professional: Tribes & treasure maps

Presenters: Kim Tairi, Joyce Seitzinger, Tim Klapdor

Full day. $250

Description
The rise of social media platforms have challenged higher education professionals and academics on all fronts. This workshop will provide a framework to guide participants in exploring the complexities and together arrive at further steps.

Do we adopt social networking tools into our practices, or do we stick with institutional systems? How do we switch between private, personal, professional and public use? How do we manage the risks of social media but also the opportunity cost of non-use? And how do we manage culture and expectations in workplaces that increasingly combine networked and non-networked professionals? Who are the digital visitors and digital residents?

Warning: workshop may include traces of: unicorn, glitter and ukulele.

About the presenters

Joyce Seitzinger
Joyce Seitzinger is an education technologist and networked learner with 15 years eLearning experience in corporate and academic environments. In 2007 her work began to shift from working with institutional systems to developing more networked practices & communities in the academic world. She specialises in digital literacy, social curation and networked learning. In 2014 she founded Academic Tribe, a network of academically skilled people who provide services, training and advice in learning design and networked practices for academics and organisations. Yes, we are a tribe for hire.

Tim Klapdor
Tim Klapdor is a self-described expert generalist, with a background in graphic design, multimedia and web development. He spends his time making, thinking, helping, supporting, designing, training and advising on technology, its implications and use in learning and teaching. Currently an Innovation Technology Officer at Charles Sturt University he has held a variety of roles relating to the implementation, development and production of eLearning resources and systems.

Kim Tairi
Kim Tairi is the owner of several devices all of which she uses for work and learning. Her mother has banned her from tweeting and posting pictures of food to instagram when they are out! She has a black belt in networking and is the Associate Director, Information Management at Swinburne University. A librarian and an educator.

#5 Planning research and evaluation into contemporary learning environments

Presenter: Assoc. Prof. Rob Phillips

Half day (morning). $120

Description
How can you be sure that the contemporary, e-learning environments you develop actually help students learn? This workshop, derived from the book “Evaluating e-learning: Guiding research and practice” (Phillips, McNaught, & Kennedy, 2011), will help you develop an e-learning evaluation-research plan which recognises the cyclical nature of e-learning environments.

Researchers should ask different questions at different stages in the development of an e-learning environment, and different strategies are appropriate at each stage. This workshop will use several ‘divide and conquer’ techniques to break down the complexity of designing an e-learning evaluation-research plan into achievable parts, assisted by various templates and matrices.

The bulk of the workshop will be spent in applying these ideas to develop an evaluation-research plan for the participants’ own learning development projects.
Link to presentation.

About the presenter

Rob Phillips
Rob Phillips has worked as a researcher and academic at universities in Australia and Germany since 1982, with a background in theoretical chemistry and computer science. He has worked with educational technology since 1992, designing and project managing educational technology development projects across most discipline areas.

Current research interests include evaluation research in e-learning, including academic analytics. Rob has a strong publication record, and is principal author of two internationally-published books, including “Evaluating e-learning: Guiding research and practice”. He is a life member and past-president of ascilite and is a HERDSA Fellow and ALTC Citation recipient.

#6 Social media for teaching and learning

Presenter: Anthea Leggett and Dr Chris Campbell

Half day (afternoon). $120

Description
An increasing number of academic staff in higher education institutions are leveraging social media in their teaching and learning as means to engage students, curate and share knowledge, create supportive learning communities and improve digital literacy. This workshop will draw on pedagogical frameworks (Bower et al’s ‘Web 2.0 enabled learning designs’; Burden & Atkinson’s ‘Dial-e’) that align features, functions and affordances of social media tools to learning designs. Participants will explore how social media tools are being used in a range of teaching and learning contexts through case study examples and will discuss potential challenges and issues around using social media in education. This workshop will have a range of activities with opportunities to work with tools, share ideas with colleagues and design activities that participants can take to their own practice.

About the presenters

Anthea Leggett
Anthea Leggett is a learning designer with the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITALI) at The University of Queensland (UQ) with over ten years experience designing and leading educational technology projects. A key focus of Anthea’s role is to support academic staff design strategies for technology enhanced learning through a range of staff development activities from resource development, workshops, seminars and guest lectures. She has researched and developed content for several UQ websites to support academic explore initiatives in technology enhanced learning around the flipped classroom, pedagogical use of video and social media for teaching and learning.

Dr Chris Campbell
Chris Campbell is a lecturer in ICT Education in the School of Education at The University of Queensland. Her teaching areas include teaching undergraduate students how to use technology in the classroom, including mobile learning tools. Chris has been using a flipped classroom approach to teaching her large first year course and also uses a variety of teaching tools when teaching. Her research interests include integrating ICT as a learning tool into the classroom and other areas of research include topics such as learning design and virtual worlds. Chris has also completed research on self-regulation and ICT in the classroom while her newer research includes learner response systems as well as augmented reality and how teachers can use this to enhance their teaching. She has published numerous papers that are available at http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/2519.