Search

This study investigated second- and third-year science students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their learning practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on the concept of active learning, with special attention paid to self-regulation and self-direction. The data collected through mixed research methods provided evidence of students’ flexible adjustment to the exceptional circumstances. However, the data also revealed a relatively limited range of learning strategies reported by respondents. Thus, this paper identifies an important need for further investigation of students’ practices to enhance their awareness of learning strategies, as a way of becoming active learners. Finally, the study also made salient the need for teacher training in effective teaching strategies, as a complementary strategy to promote students’ active learning. The conclusions from the study reach beyond the current circumstances, as they suggest implications for learning design in terms of educators’ training and designing for active learning.

This thesis addresses educational design issues related to the value of networked learning practices and the understanding of learning activities within an ecological framework. It responds to the need to make it possible for first-year university students to become autonomous lifelong learners, capable of tackling complex problems. High-level goals of this kind require course, curriculum and learning environment redesign. Major contributions reveal how wide the gulf is between a number of aspects of existing practice and the intention to help students become autonomous learners, and how a well-theorised analysis of current learning arrangements can provide vital information for educational (re)design.

Curriculum design in higher education is facing the challenge of satisfying increasing industry demands while preparing commencing students to become content specialists and autonomous learners. First-year curriculum design is the pivotal point for the entire degree and issues encountered there impact throughout the degree. A key issue at the first year level is commencing students’ perceived low levels of preparedness in mathematical knowledge. However, this raises a question of whether a gap exists between levels of knowledge formally assumed, expected by academics, and actually held by students. This exploratory study therefore investigated academics’ perceptions of commencing students’ mathematics preparedness for studying a Science degree. Single-case study methodology was applied and focus groups were conducted with academics teaching a first year mathematics unit. The data, through inductive content analysis, revealed important discrepancies between assumed, expected and actual knowledge of commencing students. Analysis of the data through theoretical lenses of learning networks and microcultures then led us to develop a learning design model of networked partnerships between academics, industry, students and teachers. We argue that our model, through collaboration between the above-mentioned stakeholders, and based on the principle of networked partnerships, has the potential to effectively influence the learning outcomes throughout the degree.

Lab based learning experiences provide rich opportunities for students to practise science in an authentic context, developing and evidencing core discipline-specific graduate capabilities. Despite the inherent value, laboratory based practicals are expensive to resource (materials, staff time, laboratory space, etc), and therefore are typically constrained and prescriptive. Given these limitations, how do we prioritise and safeguard skill based learning to prepare students for careers in STEM disciplines? This showcase aims to highlight a novel solution to facilitate the transition from first year STEM undergraduate to skilled STEM professional. “Kitchen Chemistry” provides a ‘low-stakes’ lab-based learning environment where the emphasis is on developing technical proficiency, problem solving skills and scientific literacy, without academic consequence. Through immersion in a typical undergraduate laboratory practical, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on the value of low-stakes skill-based learning to enhance problem-solving and creative thinking competencies, resilience and building scientific ‘identity’. Further, we encourage participation from both secondary and tertiary STEM educators at the showcase; identifying and understanding the skill-based learning curve for first year STEM undergraduates will help both parties of educators implement strategies to ensure a smooth transition from high school to university.

As various research has begun to show, a new model of inclusive and networked practice is needed in the WIL space. Current practice indicates low levels of cohesion and connectivity across diverse and numerous stakeholders. As a result, many opportunities for creating inclusive and cohesive WIL experiences for students are missed. Based on the reflections and experience of a broad range of staff involved in WIL, this paper proposes a shift in the ways all stakeholders collaborate to raise awareness of the nature of WIL, support opportunities to be created, and enable students to perceive and effectively take up those opportunities. Our aim is to create an inclusive environment fostering students’ self-directed learning. To this end, development teams need to be expanded to include academics, learning designers, staff with systems knowledge, students, industry partners, and alumni. This paper reports on our first steps towards such a model, based on collaborative work between academics, professional (administrative) staff and industry partners on designing capstone subjects in STEM. The associated roundtable workshop will present a framework for assessing issues in WIL development, and engage the audience in a critical evaluation of the framework through reflection on their own practice.

This paper takes a design research approach to the challenge of transforming learning and teaching in higher education (HE) as it is experienced at the level of an interdisciplinary team composed of content matter experts and specialists in education. It is based on the reflections of members of the team working collaboratively to transform an undergraduate biology unit, delivered in intensive mode in parallel with a standard teaching semester to improve both student engagement and teaching staff satisfaction. The unit learning design tests 21st century active learning pedagogies in the context preparing students for their professional lives. Using semi-structured interviews and reflective inquiry the authors attempt to uncover the salient features of the process of implementing technology enhanced learning, and generate constructive design solutions. The work is situated in the scholarship of learning and teaching as it encourages "reflection-in-action" and a commitment to sharing what works in STEM teaching and learning in contemporary environments. The teaching team focus on the complex problems of preparation, attendance, and engagement in a series of intensive labs, whilst the professional staff focus on the complex problems of innovation and student engagement in higher education. A number of known and hypothetical learning design principles are integrated with the affordances of the chosen learning environment (OneNote) and used to propose plausible solutions. These solutions are used to iteratively refine the learning environment and reveal new design principles. The data shows improved staff engagement with the unit and the students through an enhanced role in the application and development of modern pedagogies. The paper emphasises the benefits of providing for and supporting the emergence of microcultures, and suggest strategies for those that wish to emulate the approach taken.

Many academics are facing the challenge of poor student engagement, particularly in terms of lecture attendance beyond the first few weeks of semester, when numerous assessment items and other priorities vie for the students’ time. Some academics have found themselves addressing almost empty rooms by mid semester, despite their best efforts to offer a challenging and authentic classroom experience. This can be dispiriting, and has caused some teachers to introduce weekly in-class assessment items in an attempt to force attendance, only to compound the problem of over-assessment. This paper discusses an alternative approach to enhancing engagement, through the introduction of intensive mode delivery (IMD) in a third-year science unit at a large metropolitan university. The paper focuses on the staff experience, including the expectations, perceived benefits and challenges, the level of student engagement experienced, staff satisfaction and the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery model. The results showed that despite some identified roadblocks and perceived difficulties, the teaching team had a strong preference for the intensive model over the standard delivery mode. Although student opinions were divided concerning their preferences, the staff were impressed by the students’ greater engagement, depth of learning and almost 100% attendance. The present findings will inform the design of learning experiences that are satisfying for both staff and students, and contribute to a growing body of knowledge about flexible delivery in Higher Education.

The digital learning environment offers unique opportunities for enhanced accessibility, engagement and flexible, personalised learning. However, recognising and acting upon these opportunities requires learners to be suitably equipped with the appropriate skills and competences for adapting to and succeeding in this learning environment. Moreover, individual human factors such as limitations of cognitive capacity (Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011) or various degrees of development of metacognitive and motivational skills (Hattie & Donoghue, 2016) influence the ways learners interact with the environment and impact on the acquisition of knowledge. Consequently, the issue of “how” to create an educational environment that will embrace learner diversity, enhance agency and enable personalisation of learning remains. Specifically, what factors influence learning design that supports individuals to become autonomous, expert learners (i.e. strategic, motivated, resourceful)? (Meyer, Rose & Gordon, 2014). The research presented here discusses a recent initiative undertaken by an interdisciplinary team composed of academics and educationalists which aimed to improve the learner experience and promote student engagement by flipping learning and intensifying face-to-face delivery, while emphasising collaboration and the development of individual learning skills. In the longer term, the initiative serves as a model to investigate the potential posed by a non-standard delivery mode to promote flexible, personalised learning.

Contemporary global economies heavily rely on human capability to acquire new knowledge, foster innovation and promote scientific development. This requires acquisition and development of specific skills to allow modern graduates to become agile and effective employees, capable of leading and sustaining progress. Our research investigated to what extent we are preparing our students for these roles, in the context of a first-year Computational Science unit, by assisting them in becoming discipline experts and expert learners at the same time. More precisely, we formulated the following research questions: to what extent did we assist students in acquiring and developing their 21st Century skills by 1) promoting students’ engagement, and 2) assisting students in becoming expert learners? To answer to these questions, first the crucial, 21st Century skills as defined by industry were identified and mapped against learning outcomes of the unit under investigation. Next, student engagement and the level of their expertise in the learning process were investigated through a unit evaluation survey. Data analysis shed light on factors influencing student engagement within the designed learning environment and the associated development of expert learning skills. A further outcome of this pilot study was to identify the need for further in-depth research with larger sample sizes into the research questions posed.

We present an investigation of the uptake of opportunities for learning provided by a specific component (pre-lecture videos) of a blended learning model. The model, presented in previous work of the authors, was implemented to improve students’ content and learning expertise in a foundation engineering mathematics subject. The ultimate goal of the model was to support future graduates becoming lifelong expert learners, facilitating their success in later studies in and after their degree. In particular, we investigated to what extent did the cohort take the opportunity to develop their expert learning skills as evidenced by pre-lecture video viewing, and what was the relationship between the identified behaviour and learners’ progression and achievement. We present findings based on an analysis of data sourced from the unit website and propose further questions for future research.

The beginning of the 21st century has seen an important shift in the ways society embraces Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in everyday living. This resonates within the educational environment, with higher education institutions undergoing far-reaching transformations of their governance, policies, and teaching and learning modes to provide meaningful and effective technology-enhanced learning (TEL) experiences. Amongst them, blended learning is expected to become the “new traditional model” (Ross & Gage, 2006) or “the new normal” of course delivery mode (Norberg, Dziuban, & Moskal, 2011). With the proliferation of blended learning models within higher education institutions more research on characteristics of particular, context-specific, tailored blended learning models is needed. This paper responds to this need by investigating the effectiveness of a blended learning model designed and implemented for the Radiation Therapy Physics unit, part of the Master of Applied Science (Medical Radiation) course at a large metropolitan university. The model encompassed three distinctive educational modules: online, face-to-face and clinical work experience. The online module included multimedia-based resources such as educational videos demonstrating important clinical procedures and practice accompanied by a series of questionnaires and quizzes that test students’ understanding of the videos content and provide connection with the face-to-face module. The face-to-face module encompassed the technology-enhanced in-class activities such as lectorials delivered in collaborative learning spaces complemented by activities conducted in a virtual radiotherapy simulation environment with the aim of preparing students for their clinical experience. The third module, practical clinical experience, provided students with opportunities to visit clinical departments to view and engage in real world procedures and practice. The current study investigated the effect

This paper reports on the results of a project aimed at creating a research-informed, pedagogically reliable, technology-enhanced learning and teaching environment that would foster engagement with learning. A first-year mathematics for engineering unit offered at a large, metropolitan Australian university provides the context for this research. As part of the project, the unit was redesigned using a framework that employed flexible, modular, connected e-learning and teaching experiences. The researchers, interested in an ecological perspective on educational processes, grounded the redesign principles in probabilistic learning design (Kirschner et al., 2004). The effectiveness of the redesigned environment was assessed through the lens of the notion of affordance (Gibson, 1977,1979, Greeno, 1994, Good, 2007). A qualitative analysis of the questionnaire distributed to students at the end of the teaching period provided insight into factors impacting on the successful creation of an environment that encourages complex, multidimensional and multilayered interactions conducive to learning.

Moderation of assessment constitutes a crucial element of the learning and teaching process at the university. Yet, despite its importance, many academics have confusing beliefs and attitudes towards moderation practices, processes and procedures. This paper reports on a qualitative study conducted in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-focused faculty at a large Australian higher education institution. The findings of the study revealed a strong need for further investigation on the ways moderation is understood and enacted by academics within a STEM-specific context and informed redevelopment of the faculty’s internal moderation policy.

This project investigates the integration of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) into educational settings by closely looking at the uptake of the perceived affordances offered by ICTs by students enrolled in a French language course at Queensland University of Technology. This cross-disciplinary research uses the theoretical concepts of: Ecological Psychology (Gibson, 1979; Good, 2007; Reed, 1996); Ecological Linguistics (Greeno, 1994; Leather & van Dam, 2003; van Lier 2000, 2003, 2004a, 2004b); Design (Norman, 1988, 1999); Software Design/ Human-Computer Interaction (Hartson, 2003; McGrenere & Ho, 2000); Learning Design (Conole & Dyke, 2004a, 2004b; Laurillard et al. 2000;); Education (Kirschner, 2002; Salomon, 1993; Wijekumar et al., 2006) and Educational Psychology (Greeno, 1994). In order to investigate this subject, the following research questions, rooted in the theoretical foundations of the thesis, were formulated: (1) What are the learners’ attitudes towards the ICT tools used in the project?; (2) What are the affordances offered by ICTs used in a specific French language course at university level from the perspective of the teacher and from the perspective of language learners?; (3) What affordances offered by ICT tools used by the teacher within the specific teaching and learning environment have been taken up by learners?; and (4) What factors influence the uptake by learners of the affordances created by ICT tools used by the teacher within the specific teaching and learning environment? The teaching phase of this project, conducted between 2006 and 2008, used Action Research procedures (Hopkins, 2002; McNiff & Whitehead, 2002; van Lier 1994) as a research framework. The data were collected using the following combination of qualitative and quantitative methods: (1) questionnaires administered to students (Hopkins, 2002; McNiff & Whitehead, 2002) using Likert-scale questions, open questions, yes/no questions; (2) partnership classroom observ