Carol Russell

Online role-play environments for higher education

As online environments and tools have evolved over the last 15-20 years, their use for role-based learning has expanded. This analysis draws on work for an Australian project that has been sharing and developing knowledge about the use of online role-plays in higher education. We describe the learning needs that online role-play can meet, and give examples of solutions-some using custom-built software and some using standard online learning environments. We use these examples to develop a framework for evaluating how new technologies can support role-based learning activities in universities, taking into account the needs of both learners and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can More Become Less? Effects of an Intensive Assessment Environment on Students' Learning Performance.

Online interactive systems offer the beguiling prospect of an improved environment for learning at minimum extra cost. We have developed online interactive tutorials that adapt the learning environment to the current learning status of each individual student. These Adaptive Tutorials (ATs) modify the tasks given to each student according to their previous responses. Feedback, assessment and remediation are also adapted. Over a three-year period we progressively blended ATs into notoriously challenging courses in introductory Engineering Mechanics. We assessed the impact of this initiative by reviewing three lines of data: (i) the built-in diagnostics of the system, (ii) changes in student grades from year-to-year and (iii) supplementary surveys. Generally, students liked the new blended system and grades improved. Detailed analysis revealed nuances in the measures of student learning, such as differences between high-performing and low-performing students. With these insights we are able to further adapt the system to meet the learning needs of our students.

Growing a Mobile Learning Ecology: A Systemic University-Wide Strategy

In 2013 Western Sydney University began giving iPads to all new first-year undergraduate students. Teaching staff were also issued with iPads. This was the largest such initiative in the southern hemisphere. It was part of the University’s strategic plan for learning and teaching, integrated across several university support systems, including curriculum development, staff development and IT infrastructure. This chapter is an account of how these systems have begun to work together to support the use of mobile devices as an integral part of the university learning environment. Teaching staff have been provided with a range of training and support services to facilitate the use of iPads in teaching, as part of the Western Sydney University learning environment. There has also been substantial investment in infrastructure – such as campus Wi-Fi and learning spaces (both formal and informal) to support the use of mobile technologies on campus. The evidence for the interaction of the different aspects of mobile learning provision is drawn from student surveys, staff interviews and student focus groups, spanning the years 2013–2015. The analysis is a mixed method one, identifying large-scale quantitative patterns and using more detailed accounts of the participant experiences to interpret these patterns. The result is a context-specific map of how university support systems can grow together. This map may help other universities develop their own integrated and systemic support for mobile learning.