The Student Relationship Engagement System: Empowering teachers to collect, analyse, and act on meaningful data to engage students at scale
Innovation Award (2016)
Danny Liu
The University of Sydney
@dannydotliu
Kevin Samnick
The University of Sydney
@kevin_samnick
Ruth Weeks
The University of Sydney
@ruthwsydney
Adam Bridgeman
The University of Sydney
@adambridgeman
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 12pm - 12.30pm
Stream 1
Room H102
Abstract
The Student Relationship Engagement System (SRES) was developed at the University of Sydney to help academics personalise engagement with large student cohorts. Academics consistently report that positive feedback from students "shows how helpful the SRES is in allowing us to give the kind of personalised attention to students that time wouldn't otherwise allow". From marking attendance, analysing grades, collecting live feedback, and providing easy ways to personalise bulk feedback to students via emails and web portals, the SRES gives academics access to data that are meaningful in their contexts and helps them to create personalised learning environments with targeted feedback and support. This unique and inherently practical application of learning analytics is currently used across 20 departments in over 120 units and reaches over 20,000 students at the University of Sydney. It has been credited with increasing student engagement, improving retention rates, and enhancing students’ learning outcomes. The SRES is also being piloted at a number of other Australian universities, and we are keen for more collaborators. In this presentation, you will use the SRES live, hear about its implementation, wider adoption, and impact, and explore how it could impact students in your contexts.
About the authors
Danny Liu
Danny is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and academic developer by day, and educator at heart. A national teaching award winner, he focuses on wrangling technology to improve learning and teaching by working at the confluence of educational technology, student engagement, learning analytics, and professional development and leadership.
Kevin Samnick
Kevin is an Educational Designer with a background in secondary STEM teaching, pharmaceutical research, and biology. He is an advocate for education, learning, technology, and ensuring students and teachers are our first priority in higher education.
Ruth Weeks
Ruth is an Educational Design Manager with a background in teaching English as a foreign language and academic writing. She is passionate about teaching with technology and the future of digital education.
Adam Bridgeman
Adam is Director of Educational Innovation at the University of Sydney and has received institutional and national awards for teaching and is an Australian National Teaching Fellow. He aims to invigorate and change learning and teaching culture through a focus on blended, collaborative, and interactive learning designs.
Learning analytics: What's in it for me (the teacher) and us (myself and my students)?
Lightning round
Cathy Gunn
University of Auckland
@dr_cathy_gunn
Claire Donald
University of Auckland
Jenny McDonald
University of Auckland
Catch this session
Monday 4 December, 2.30pm - 3pm
Stream 2
Room R113
Abstract
Like many emergent trends in learning technology the potential for learning analytics to benefit teaching and learning is being explored with promising results. However adoption is a slow process and the level of impact on practice is so far disappointing (O’Brien, 2016). Our research found that institutions, researchers and teachers have different perceptions and use different language to talk about learning analytics. We will briefly discuss why this lack of common discourse is a barrier to progress, and runs the risk of ending in more failed expectations such as those described in the annual Gartner Hype Cycle Reports .
In three short presentations, we will describe examples of learning analytics tools and strategies developed to promote their adoption in practice by teachers and learning designers. A guiding principle is to produce easy to use tools that teachers can use or adapt to their own practice (Datnow & Hubbard, 2016; Ferguson et al., 2016). The tools must also serve a useful purpose, e.g. by supporting common tasks or addressing common challenges, and aligning with familiar teaching and assessment cycles.
Links will be provided to the open source tools and creative commons licensed resources produced by a nationally funded learning analytics research project in New Zealand.
About the authors
Cathy Gunn
Cathy Gunn is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Learning and Research in Higher Education (CLeaR) at the University of Auckland. She has been the Head of eLearning, Deputy Director, Acting Director and Principal Researcher, and produced more than 130 scholarly publications. She is an experienced learning technology researcher and an active contributor to international networks. She is a former President and life member of Ascilite.
Claire Donald
Claire Donald is a lecturer and learning designer at the Centre for Learning and Research in Higher Education (CLeaR) at the University of Auckland. She has 25 years’ experience as a learning designer and researcher in higher education, specifically in the fields of science and engineering education, MOOCs, teacher beliefs, learning analytics and learning design.
Jenny McDonald
Jenny McDonald is an independent researcher and a Research Associate at the Centre for Learning and Research (CLeaR), University of Auckland. Jenny has particular research interests in natural language processing techniques for formative feedback and learning analytics but she is broadly interested in the applications
Computer says no? Life literacies and digital literacies for LSES non-op students in a pre-tertiary program
Lightning talks 1
Susan Hopkins
University of Southern Queensland
Catch this session
Monday 4 December, 2.30pm - 3pm
Stream 4
Room L209
Abstract
This short talk by project leader Dr Susan Hopkins will introduce the HEPPP funded Life Literacies initiative and series of optional support workshops (within the USQ tertiary preparation program for non-OP and non-traditional students) launched at Toowoomba and Ipswich campuses of the University of Southern Queensland in teaching semester 2, 2017. The HEPPP funded 2017 Life Literacies project targets students from low socioeconomic areas who may be suffering from financial hardship. The program aims to make their journey through higher education less stressful, more empowering and more relevant to everyday life through innovative educational approaches and materials centred on essential ‘life literacies.’ These innovative approaches include the use of social media (and the Life Literacies closed group Facebook page) in teaching pre-tertiary students. In particular, this short talk will focus on the Digital Literacies workshop within the Life Literacies suite of enabling education workshops to consider the particular benefits and challenges of teaching digital literacy to low socio-economic, non-traditional, non-op students as part of a tertiary preparation program.
About the authors
Susan Hopkins
Susan Hopkins is a Lecturer in the Open Access College at the University of Southern Queensland, Ipswich campus. Her research interests include sociological approaches to the education of marginalised groups including incarcerated students and LSES students as well as critical cultural studies and media representations of gender and empowerment
Technology in prisons for learning: Making the Connection
Lightning talks 1
Helen Farley
University of Southern Queensland
@Helssi
Catch this session
Monday 4 December, 2.30pm - 3pm
Stream 4
Room L209
Abstract
The Australian Government Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program-funded project, Making the Connection, is taking digital technologies, that do not require internet access, into correctional centres to enable prisoners, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners, to enroll in a suite of pre-tertiary and undergraduate programs. A version of the University of Southern Queensland’s learning management system has been installed onto the education server of participating correctional centres. The second stage of the project has seen notebook computers pre-loaded with course materials, allocated to participating prisoners. At the time of writing, the project has been deployed at thirty correctional centres in Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory with negotiations underway for further rollout to Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia late in 2017. It is expected that the technologies and processes developed for this project will enable the delivery of higher education to other cohorts without access to reliable internet access. This presentation presents an update of the project.
About the authors
Helen Farley
Associate Professor Helen Farley researches within the Digital Life Lab at the University of Southern Queensland. Her research interests include investigating the affordances of emerging digital technologies, including virtual worlds, augmented reality and mobile technologies, in formal and informal learning. She is passionate about digital inclusion and leads the $4.4 million Making the Connection project which introduces digital technologies into prisons to allow prisoners access to digital higher education. The project has attracted some 1500 course enrolments over five states and recently received an Australian Award for University Teaching for Programs that Enhance Learning. Associate Professor Farley has published extensively and is a featured speaker at both educational technology and corrections conferences.
Debating the use of social media in higher education
Lightning talks 2
Julie Willems
RMIT University
@Julie_Willems
Chie Adachi
Deakin University
@ChieAdachi
Francesca Bussey
Deakin University
@fbussey1
Iain Doherty
Deakin University
Henk Huijser
Queensland University of Technology
@hhuijser
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 12pm - 12.30pm
Stream 3
Room L206
Abstract
To an international audience on 28 November 2016, and as part of the presentations at ASCILITE 2016, a ‘great debate’ on the use of social media in higher education was conducted by a team of researchers. As part of the debate, there was an opportunity to tap into the collective wisdom of our attending experienced colleagues. Approximately 150 conference delegates attended the hour-long session in order to engage with both sides of the argument. The research team carefully crafted the arguments to ensure that the debate covered key areas of interest and concern found in the literature of teaching and learning, as well as concerns within the higher education sector as a whole. The aim was to prompt the audience to participate and contribute to a discussion reflective of multiple perspectives, albeit within a specialist group cohort. Using a roving microphone to draw contributions from the floor, as captured via the live video streaming tool Periscope, and in addition to comments captured in the live debate Twitter feed from both the audience participants and beyond, rich data was captured. As both sources of data are available in the public domain, research ethics exemption was granted. While the findings of this research will be compiled for a journal publication for further exploration, this presentation summarises the findings and expands on some key ideas that emerged from the debate and broader collegial input. These findings will form the basis for further exploration.
About the authors
Julie Willems
Dr Julie Willems holds qualifications in education, the humanities, and nursing. Her research interests include media and technology in formal and informal learning, along with educational and digital equity as social justice issue. She is a Senior Lecturer in RMIT’s central unit, the Learning & Teaching Academy. Julie was a of the auDA Foundation's national 2011 research grant for the i-Survive Project investigating the use of ‘back channel’ communications via mobile technologies and social media during Australian emergencies and disasters. Julie has a community focus and has served on a number of committees and boards relating to educational technology and social justice in education over the course of her career. She served on the national Executive of ODLAA from 2011 to 2014, and is currently in her second term on the ASCILITE national Executive. Julie is an active member of the ASCILITE 2018 conference to be hosted by Deakin University.
Chie Adachi
Dr Chie Adachi is a Lecturer within the central learning and teaching unit at Deakin University, Melbourne. She holds a PhD in Sociolinguistics and Masters and Bachelor degrees in Education (TESOL). Combined with her teaching and research experiences in the Higher Education sector for over 10 years across Japan, UK and Australia, she enjoys daily thinking about and researching within the area of digital learning, peer learning and intercultural communication.
Francesca Bussey
Dr Francesca Bussey is an academic at Deakin University working with Learning Futures, and the Faculty of Arts and Education, to lead and support innovation and capacity building in all areas of teaching and learning in higher education. Working with a small dedicated team, she specialises in curriculum development, online learning, MOOC delivery, quality assessment strategies, and the use of targeted digital technology to support learning and teaching. Francesca also teaches out of the School of Education, chairing a unit in the History and Philosophy of Education. With over 20 years’ experience working in higher education, Francesca has developed knowledge and skills in policy and planning, project implementation, outreach and student equity, academic skills delivery, building digital identities, teaching and learning, and online delivery. Francesca’s principal research interests are in the History and Philosophy of Technology and Education. Her research is informed by her academic background as an historian and her professional experience as a social equity practitioner. Special interests include social justice, feminist theory and philosophy for children.
Iain Doherty
Dr Iain Doherty heads up a team of academic, resource development and production specialists (the Pod) who work with the Faculty of Arts and Education to ensure effective course enhancement using Deakin’s Curriculum Framework. As a teaching and learning professional, Iain has a career history that has seen him develop knowledge and skills in inclusive leadership practices; strategic and operational planning; project management; and change management. Iain's collaborative approach to facilitating change in teaching and learning is grounded in a sound knowledge of: teaching and learning theories; curriculum and course design principles; purposeful use of technologies to enhance teaching and learning; and creating effective professional development opportunities for teachers. Iain has been research active throughout his career with a publication list that reflects his areas of career expertise along with his appreciation of collaborative research.
Henk Huijser
Dr Henk Huijser has been a Curriculum Designer in the Learning and Teaching Unit at Queensland University of Technology since September this year. Henk has a background and a PhD in screen and media studies, but has worked as an educational developer in Australia, the Arabian Gulf, and China since 2005. He has published widely in both the areas of learning and teaching in higher education, and media and cultural studies. For more information please visit: http://henkhuijser.webs.com/
Me, us and IT: Developing approaches and support strategies for changing learning spaces
Lightning talks 2
Meredith Hinze
The University of Melbourne
@mmhinze
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 12pm - 12.30pm
Stream 3
Room L206
Abstract
The design of learning spaces is changing from the traditional lecture theatre style of academia. At the same time, some disciplines in Higher Education are seeing a shift in curriculum towards seminar-style teaching, with an intentional focus on active learning strategies to enhance teaching and learning. The redesign of learning spaces provides affordability for remodelling subjects. This presentation provides insight into professional development approaches and support strategies developed for staff to meet these challenges. It explores some of the eTeaching and eLearning support strategies to help teaching staff remodel their subjects for more active, seminar-styled approaches for teaching in the humanities and social science disciplines, in the redesigned learning spaces of the new Arts West building at The University of Melbourne.
About the authors
Meredith Hinze
Meredith is Manager of eLearning/eTeaching in the Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne, and manages a small team that supports teaching staff integrate technology in teaching and learning. Meredith has a strong background in teaching digital media and ICT in the humanities and social sciences at both undergraduate and graduate levels, in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. She also has over 20 years experience in providing ICT support and professional development training for academic staff, and over 15 years experience in IT & Web management, managing both large and complex websites as well as small project sites. She has special interests in social media and digital communications and their application in teaching and learning.
Mobile learning and speech technology for language teachers’ professional development: A design-based study
Concise paper
Tran Le Nghi Tran
The University of Queensland
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 11.40am - 12pm
Stream 1
Room H102
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the use of mobile learning to provide pronunciation training for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturers from Vietnamese provincial universities. Mobile learning offers a potential solution for the delivery of professional development to lecturers based outside major cities thanks to its capacity to enable learning anytime, anywhere. Mobile learning and speech technology are expected to facilitate lecturers’ self-direct learning to fulfil their professional development needs using their own devices. This paper reports results from a pilot study which serves as the first phase of an on-going design-based research project. The pilot study was carried out to explore the feasibility of an online pronunciation course and identify potential problems for future course iterations in the context of participants living outside major cities in a developing country. The objectives of the project are to establish and test a set of fundamental principles for mobile learning to be an effective way of providing online professional development for lecturers based outside major cities and to shed light on the necessary adjustments in course design to make it a scalable model for future education planning. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected during two iterations of an online pronunciation professional development course for EFL lecturers from Vietnamese provincial universities.
About the Author
Tran Le Nghi Tran
Tran Le Nghi Tran is currently a PhD student at School of Education, The University of Queensland. She works as a casual lecturer, tutor and research assistant across different schools at The University of Queensland and Griffith University. Her research interests include educational technologies, English language teaching and learning and professional development.
Personalised online professional learning on digital literacies for in-service teachers of English as a second language
Lightning talks 2
Trisha Poole
University of Southern Queensland
@_t2p_
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 12pm - 12.30pm
Stream 3
Room L206
Abstract
This Lightening Talk presents an overview of a study that is focused on developing a framework for personalised online professional learning (POPL) on digital literacies for in-service teachers of English as a second language, and the associated development and implementation principles. Two key issues of digital literacies and digital literacies in language teacher education are addressed through developing POPL that is provided over an extended timeframe, is situated, is personalised, and is social. These four key features of the POPL are critical to its implementation and differentiation from other professional learning. In particular, the personalised aspect of the POPL is framed around the participant being provided with opportunities to personalise the content and their experience to their context and situation. That is, the participants can “choose their own adventure” through engaging with materials and selecting the learning path that aligns best with and facilitates their learning. The personalisation in the online space provides a new perspective on professional learning that tailors the experience to the learner-identified needs. Through these aspects of the POPL, it is expected that the professional learning will be effective in developing in-service ESL teachers’ own digital literacies and integrating digital literacies into their ESL curriculum.
About the authors
Trisha Poole
Trisha has worked in higher education for more than 15 years and throughout this time has focused on educational technologies and English as a second language. Her roles in higher education have included both academic and professional positions. Currently, Trisha is studying her PhD in education with the topic of “Personalised Online Professional Learning on Digital Literacies for In-service English as a Second Language Teachers”. Her PhD brings together her experience in ESL teaching and teacher training, and her passion for technology and digital literacies.
Monash Rocks: The first step in an augmented reality journey through deep time
Concise paper
Barbara Macfarlan
Monash University
@barbmac_eales
Marion Anderson
Monash University
Julie Boyce
Monash University
@volcanojulie
Tom Chandler
Monash University
@sensilab_monash
Thomas Bochynek
Monash University
Mike Yeates
Monash University
Colin Maynard
Independent game developer
Catch this session
Monday 4 December, 1.30pm - 1.50pm
Stream 1
Room H102
Abstract
This paper describes the development of the “Monash Rocks” app - designed to bring our landscape to life through augmented reality. We describe the highs and lows of the development process, the lessons we learned along the way, and our plans for further development of the app to showcase the Monash Earth Sciences Garden and extend the space into further innovative, immersive teaching and learning experiences.
The creation of Monash University’s Earth Sciences Garden (MESG), a "living" geological map of Victoria collating nearly 500 rock specimens, gave us the perfect vehicle for an Augmented Reality (AR) experience. Students and visitors to the MESG can now use the Monash Rocks App on their phones to view a 3D display that overlays the live camera feed on the device enhancing the experience of the environment, taking it to another dimension.
The value in augmenting a learning environment is in its ability to pull virtual objects into real scenes (Green & Chandler, 2014, p.549), in this case expanding the physical environment through time and space on a journey back millions of years. The rock now becomes alive, telling its story and supplying information that is missing in the “real life” walk through the garden.
About the authors
Barbara Macfarlan
Barbara Macfarlan is an Educational Designer in the Faculty of Science, Monash University. In this role, she works closely with the Associate Dean Education to support and guide academics through the changing landscape of teaching and learning in Higher Education. Barbara has 20 years’ experience as a teacher and learning designer using the affordances of ubiquitous technology to engage 21st century learners. It is this interest that fostered her determination to integrate augmented reality artefacts into the innovative teaching spaces to help learners better understand their natural and built environments.
Marion Anderson
Marion Anderson is the coordinator of Monash University's first year Earth, Atmosphere and Environment units. She has over 30 years teaching and research experience at Tertiary level, in the Engineering, Biology, and Earth Sciences discipline areas. She was recently involved in the VCAA redesign of the VCE Units 1-4 Environmental Science, and was a consultant on the Australian Curriculum design for Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences. Marion has also been involved with the design of the year 10 science curriculum, and Dynamic Earth curriculum at JMSS, and is an advisory board member of the Victorian Space Science Education Centre. Marion has also been awarded three international prizes for interactive game design.
Julie Boyce
Julie Boyce is a Research & Teaching Associate in the School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment at Monash University, where she is also an Outreach Coordinator for the school. Her research focuses on the stratigraphy and geochemistry of the young volcanoes of the Newer Volcanics Province in western Victoria, with a focus on Mt Rouse and the distribution of eruption centres across the volcanic province.
Tom Chandler
Tom Chandler coordinates and teach the Interactive Media Major and Game Design Minor in the Monash Faculty of IT. As a researcher in the emerging field of virtual heritage, Tom has focused upon the design and development of immersive simulations of the past, particularly the medieval Cambodian capital of Angkor in Cambodia.
The synergistic and dynamic relationship between learning design and learning analytics
Concise paper
Dirk Ifenthaler
University of Mannheim
@ifenthaler
David Gibson
Curtin University
@davidgibson
Eva Dobozy
Curtin University
@edobozy27
Catch this session
Tuesday 5 December, 11.20am - 11.40am
Stream 3
Room L206
Abstract
The synergistic relationship between learning design and learning analytics has the potential for improving learning and teaching in near real-time. The potential for integrating the newly available and dynamic information from ongoing analysis into learning design requires new perspectives on learning and teaching data processing and analysis as well as advanced theories, methods, and tools for supporting dynamic learning design processes. Three perspectives of learning analytics design provide summative, real-time, and predictive insights. In a case study with 3,550 users, the navigation sequence and network graph analysis demonstrate the potential of learning analytics design. The study aims to demonstrate how the analysis of navigation patterns and network graph analysis could inform the learning design of self-guided digital learning experiences. Even with open-ended freedom, only 608 sequences were evidenced by learners out of a potential number of hundreds of millions of sequences. Advancements of learning analytics design have the potential for mapping the cognitive, social and even physical states of the learner and optimise their learning environment on the fly.
About the authors
Dirk Ifenthaler
Dirk Ifenthaler is Professor and Chair of Learning, Design and Technology at University of Mannheim. His research focuses on the intersection of cognitive psychology, educational technology, data analytics, and organisational learning. Dirk’s research outcomes include numerous co-authored books, book series, book chapters, journal articles, and international conference papers, as well as successful grant funding in Australia, Germany, and USA. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Springer journal Technology, Knowledge and Learning (www.ifenthaler.info).
David Gibson
Professor David Gibson, Director of Learning Futures at Curtin University in Australia and UNESCO Chair of Data Science in Higher Education Learning and Teaching, received his doctorate (Ed.D. Leadership and Policy Studies) from the University of Vermont in 1999 based on a study of complex systems modeling of educational change. His foundational research demonstrated the feasibility of bridging from qualitative information to quantifiable dynamic relationships in complex models that verify trajectories of organizational change. He provides thought leadership as a researcher, professor, learning scientist and innovator. He is creator of simSchool, a classroom flight simulator for preparing educators, and eFolio an online performance-based assessment system, and provides vision and sponsorship for Curtin University’s Challenge, a mobile, game-based learning platform. He consults with project and system leaders, formulates strategies, and helps people articulate their vision for innovation; then helps connect people with the resources needed to fulfill their aspirations. His research has extended from learning analytics, complex systems analysis and modeling of education to application of complexity via games and simulations in teacher education, web applications and the future of learning. Dr. Gibson has also advanced the use of technology to personalize education via cognitive modeling, design and implementation.
Eva Dobozy
Associate Professor Eva Dobozy is Deputy Dean, Learning and Teaching in the Curtin Business School. She is engaged in Learning Design research, investigating the efficacy of traditional and new technology-enhanced learning and teaching offerings. Dr Dobozy is involved in the discovery, integration, application and testing of new learning design models and frameworks. Currently, she is working as part of a learning design group on the design and implementation of transdisciplinary pedagogical templates. Her research spans the intersection between learning theory, learning design, technology-enhanced learning and teacher professional development. She is the winner of a number of prestigious research and teaching awards. Her current research focuses on sustainable futures in higher education and the pedagogical modelling of novel course designs and quality assurance practices.