Workshops
Workshops will run on Thursday 7 December. There are three workshops available.
Please note: workshops are not included in the conference registration price and separate registration is required.
Workshop 1: It’s Pedagogy GO with location-based mobile learning games
Facilitator: Roger Edmonds
What can bonsai tells us about authentic learning with educational technology?
In this interactive workshop we will take you through all the steps of designing and developing a location-based mobile learning game using an online platform which is made for anyone to use to create and explore stories at locations of their choosing.
We’ll begin indoors by sharing our recent experiences in designing, developing and delivering location-based mobile learning games into courses across multiple disciplines in a University setting. Next, it’s outdoors into the adjacent Japanese Gardens to play a prototype location-based mobile learning game with your smart mobile devices. We then return inside to deconstruct how it was designed and developed.
Then it’s your turn.
In small groups (or individually) you’ll begin to create your own prototype location-based mobile learning game. We will start with the scope, consider narratives, show how to add media to locations and implement means of interactivity and simple gamification techniques. You will digitize the games in an online gamemaker, and spend the last 30 minutes of the workshop playing your games on your own mobile phones. This way, we’ll study location-based mobile learning games in a very practical way. At the end, you’ll understand what the underlying principles of location-based mobile learning games are and what challenges have to be dealt with in their design and development. Having created your own prototype mobile game, you’ll be ready to start doing so in your University or institution.
Before the workshop please download and install the free Mobile Learning Academy app on your iOS or Android phone from either the Apple App Store or Google Play. Delegates will also need to bring a wifi enabled laptop computer to the workshop. Plus, don’t forget to bring a long hat and sunglasses!
About the facilitator
Roger Edmonds
Roger is an online educational designer at the University of South Australia and has presented both internationally and nationally on location-based mobile learning. He is co-managing a project to inform the development of a framework that will guide contextually based mobile learning in the University. The project won a UniSA citation for its outstanding contribution to digital learning, a teaching excellence award for student experience within the UniSA Business School and was shortlisted in the global Wharton QS Stars Reimagine Education Award, all in 2016. Roger’s past projects have won finalist status in the 2011 Computerworld Honours Program and a Brandon Hall Silver Award for excellence in eLearning in 2003. He was also awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia in recognition for his lead role developing Australia’s Centenary of Federation’s Connecting-the-Kids online project.
Thursday 7 December
10am – 1pm
Venue: Z125
Capacity: 20
Registration fee: $100 (includes light lunch)
Workshop 2: Transforming exams – hands on with the technology
Facilitators: Mathew Hillier, Andrew Fluck, Martin Coleman
This is a free workshops sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training funded project Transforming Exams (Grant ID 15-4747). For more details, visit the project website.
This workshop will explore the rationale behind the OLT e-Exam system for high stakes exams, however, the majority of the session will be spent getting hands-on with the technology!
Participants will explore different features or modes of the e-Exam system. Starting with paper-equivalent exams centred on word documents, through to post-paper exams that can use spreadsheets, multimedia, third party software tools and potentially an off-line Moodle.
From a pedagogical viewpoint, the e-Exam system aims to promote authentic assessment using realistic ‘e-tools of the trade’ to enable constructed activity types in the exam room (Hillier & Fluck 2013, Fluck & Hillier 2014). However, we face a number of challenges in implementing such a dramatic shift. One of these is the need to re-think how high stakes assessments can be designed and deployed. This session will provide some inspiration by way of hands-on examples.
The running of an e-exam needs to be doable within the resources and environment of contemporary universities. The project team have recently developed guides and graphical user tools to help with the transfer of data and set-up of e-Exam USBs. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to test drive the GUI Admin tool and other approaches to administering e-Exam USBs.
The Transforming Exams Across Australia project has evolved to include 10 Australian universities, a national accreditation agency and several ‘birds of a feather’ international institutions. The project is running 2016 to 2018. Visit the project website for further information.
Participants will need to bring a compatible laptop. For further information, see requirements [PDF].
About the facilitators
Mathew Hillier
Mathew specialises in e-assessment and e-exams and teaches into the academic staff development program at Monash University leading the ‘technology and space’ theme. Mathew is one of two co-leaders of the ASCILITE SIG for ‘e-Assessment’ and in this capacity is a co-host of the Transforming Assessment webinar series along with Prof Geoffrey Crisp. Mathew is currently the leader of a half million dollar ‘Transforming Exams’ project developing a tool set for authentic, computerised, high-stakes assessment (e-Exams) covering 10 university partners. More about Mathew.
Andrew Fluck
Andrew is a teacher educator at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He has an interest in curriculum transformation through the use of computers; and is Chair of Working Group 3.3 (research into educational applications of information technologies) for IFIP/UNESCO. Andrew is the originator of the idea of using Bootable storage devices (first CD-Roms and then USBs sticks) for examinations. He has over a decade of experience in the design of post-paper examinations and the technology tools and logistics required to run successful exams both on campus and at distant exam centers. More about Andrew.
Martin Coleman
Martin is currently the lead technology developer on the ‘Transforming Exams’ national project. He has many years experience in developing Linux based technologies and in troubleshooting software and equipment. He has developed the most recent version of the e-Exam student component and a brand new Administrative tool designed to support the deployment of computerised exams.
Thursday 7 December
10am – 1.30pm
Venue: T125
Capacity: 40
Registration fee: Free (includes light lunch)
Workshop 3: Mobile virtual reality
Facilitators: Thomas Cochrane and David Sinfield
The workshop will explore user generated mobile 360 video production and integration into interactive virtual reality environments for education. Participants will experience using a low-cost, BYOD, rapid prototyping framework to create and share their own immersive mobile VR scenarios. Participants will need to bring their own mobile devices, including a smartphone and wifi enabled laptop. The workshop will explore the unique affordances of mobile devices for enabling participant-generated content and experiences using mobile VR.
Mobile Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are anticipated to become multi-billion dollar industries in the near future, but how will this impact higher education? This workshop will introduce the basics of mobile Virtual Reality to explore and discuss the potential and issues surrounding the rapidly developing field of mobile Virtual Reality. Building upon the development of simple ecosystems for user-generated mobile VR, such as Google Cardboard, and the Samsung Gear VR, there is now widespread interest in these technologies, but still little expertise in integrating these within authentic educational experiences beyond another form of interactive content delivery. We will discuss the potential of mobile VR for user generated content and contexts, and share recent practice-based research, and invite interaction from the wider ASCILITE conference attendees.
About the facilitators
Thomas Cochrane
Dr Thomas Cochrane is an academic advisor and senior lecturer in educational technology, the Centre for Learning And Teaching, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Thomas is the coordinator of the Ascilite mobile learning special interest group, and a mobile learning researcher/practitioner. More about Thomas.
David Sinfield
David is a senior lecturer and programme director at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He has created a new undergraduate programme that captured the aspects of Graphic Design, Moving Image and new technologies, such as mobile devices, AR and VR integrated within the undergraduate programme. In 2015 he was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s teaching excellence awards at AUT. He has worked in the field of Graphic Design and Visual Communications (specialising in typographic design and moving image) for over thirty years both nationally and internationally.
Thursday 7 December
10am – 4pm
Venue: T122
Capacity: 20
Registration fee: $150 (includes light lunch)
