Sophie Nichol

‘The future is old’: immersive learning with generation Y engineering students

This paper explores the application of four elements deemed to be essential to immersive learning; immersion, engagement, risk/creativity and agency. The authors discuss the implementation of these four elements within two very different classroom environments, one secondary and one tertiary, to illustrate the importance of students’ active participation in the planning, design and development processes of their own learning environments. By transforming both the conceptual and operational environments of both cohorts the authors illustrate the benefits of the development of immersive learning environments. Importantly, such environments must reflect the choices and preferences of the learner as they negotiate their way through the learning journey that best suits their needs. Rather than the imposition of a learning regime considered to be irrelevant, but more importantly ‘boring’ to the student cohort, the authors argue that immersive learning environments are successful because they are reliant on the students’ enthusiastic creation of their own knowledge in collaboration with adults and student colleagues. This study can be applied in all spectrums of education (primary, secondary and tertiary), and in this case, specifically engineering education.

Newbs vs. geeks: encouraging creativity in an online learning community

This article explores the development and creative practices of an online community within an Australian university. The authors argue that creativity can be enhanced and supported by the development and implementation of purpose-specific learning environments, such as an online learning community. Within such a community the participants are exposed to a number of requisite elements designed to support the exploration of their own learning process and the development of creativity. The following study discusses the establishment of such a community and the social, cultural and learning practices of the student participants.

Emergence of creativity in learning via social technologies

Creativity is an elusive skill desired by many. Debates on ‘What is Creativity’ and how it can best be nurtured and supported had resurgence in the 1950s after Guildfords address to the American Psychology Association about the positive benefits of creativity. Since then creativity has been investigated in many forms and within many disciplines. Of note is that creativity is apparent within four components: the person, the process, the product and the environment. On some level creativity is assessed within one of the four components of creativity: person, process, product or environment. In this study creativity and the environment is under investigation, with a number of factors presented that allow creativity to be supported. This paper explores the role of creativity within the education of tertiary students studying Games Design and Development (within an IT discipline) from an Australian University. Particularly this paper focuses on how social factors, such as purpose built collaborative environments and virtual communities, aid in the creative pursuits of the students.