Rick Cummings

Evaluating the use of learning objects in Australian and New Zealand schools

The Le@rning Federation, an agency funded by Australian and New Zealand governments, initiated a Field Review project as the start of a long-term research study to evaluate the impact, application and effectiveness of the online digital content developed according to the learning object model. In terms of content, the pilot Field Review found that many learning objects provided stimulating and diverse learning experiences for students. It is one of the potential strengths of learning objects that they are able to provide new geographical experiences and simulate dangerous or expensive learning activities at low relative cost.

Learning objects and engagement of students in Australian and New Zealand schools

This paper reports on a completed field study that examined the usability and effectiveness of learning objects designed for Australian and New Zealand primary and secondary schools. It focuses on student engagement by observing the ways students interacted with learning objects and by listening to what they said about them. Questions that guided the field study included the following: Could the students use the learning objects easily? Did they enjoy the experience? Did they engage with the intended learning? These questions are examined with reference to students at different levels of schooling, and examples drawn from the fieldwork illustrate that, while some learning objects achieved their potential as engaging multimedia educational resources, others fell short. The paper provides a detailed examination of two learning objects to reveal what worked and what created barriers or subverted the intended learning. In particular, it explores interest, challenge and importance as elements that contributed to engagement and socially constructed learning.

Concept Mapping for Planning and Evaluation [Book Review]

At last, an up-to-date, how-to text on concept mapping in evaluation! Concept mapping has been around for over 20 years and a range of software packages are available to assist with it. In spite of this, its use in evaluation has been limited, at least in part due to the lack of a comprehensive text outlining its applicability and potential usefulness. Mary Kane and William Trochim, instrumental in the development and promotion of concept mapping, have fi nally produced such a book, which will enable experienced evaluators and program planners to add concept mapping to their suite of methods. This book is described by the authors as ‘an authoritative guide to the methodology and strategies behind using concept mapping’. The comprehensive acknowledgements section of the text outlines the history of concept-mapping methodology, but readers will need to look elsewhere for its theoretical explanation. James Novack based concept mapping in learning theory, developing it in the early 1980s as a technique for representing the structure of information visually, based on the perspective that learning new knowledge is dependent on what one already knows (see The Concept Mapping Homepage: <http://users.edte.utwente.nl/ lanzing/cm_home.htm> for information on Novack and a list of useful sites and references on the broader use of concept mapping). Kane and Trochim argue that their approach to concept mapping is based in structured conceptualisation, but more might have been made about the obvious lessons for evaluators and the participation of stakeholders in evaluation studies which arise from Reviewed by:

Vice President'S Message

In a variation from past practice, this issue of the Journal contains a message from the Vice President rather than the President of the AES. This is due to the President, Penny Hawkins, being overseas while this issue was being produced.