Assuring best practice in technology-enhanced learning environments

Mike Keppell,Natasha Hard,Gordon Suddaby

doi:10.3402/rlt.v23.25728

Abstract

This paper documents the development and findings of the Good Practice Report on Technology-Enhanced Learning and Teaching funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). Developing the Good Practice Report required a meta-analysis of 33 ALTC learning and teaching projects relating to technology funded between 2006 and 2010. This report forms one of 12 completed Good Practice Reports on a range of different topics commissioned by the ALTC and Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT). The reports aim to reduce issues relating to dissemination that projects face within the sector by providing educators with an efficient and accessible way of engaging with and filtering through the resources and experiences of numerous learning and teaching projects funded by the ALTC and OLT. The Technology-Enhanced Learning and Teaching Report highlights examples of good practice and provides outcomes and recommendations based on the meta-analysis of the relevant learning and teaching projects. However, in order to ensure the value of these reports is realised, educators need to engage with the reports and integrate the information and findings into their practice. The paper concludes by detailing how educational networks can be utilised to support dissemination.Keywords: technology; learning and teaching; higher education; best practiceCitation: Research in Learning Technology 2015, 23: 25728 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v23.25728

Highlights

This paper documents the development and findings of the Good Practice Report on Technology-Enhanced Learning and Teaching funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)
Analyses of the 33 ALTC technology-enhanced learning (TEL) projects identified a number of inspiring approaches and pedagogies that have informed or been developed by the projects themselves
These outcomes highlighted the importance of focusing on learning design, authentic learning, academic development, engaging teaching, flexible assessment, widespread integration, communities of practice, academic multi-literacies and strategies for teaching online in supporting successful TEL and teaching projects

Summary

Engaging teaching approaches are key to student learning

Student engagement is a critical factor in good teaching and learning. Krause (2005) suggested that student ‘engagement refers to the time, energy and resources students devote to activities designed to enhance learning at university’ (p. 3). The projects reviewed adopted a range of engaging approaches including the development of strategies and exemplars of socially-oriented technologies (Fitzgerald and Steele 2008; Herrington et al 2008); the use of gaming, virtual worlds and simulation approaches (Albion and McKeown 2010; Cybulski et al 2010; Wills et al 2009); the use of remote laboratories and virtual microscopy (Kumar et al 2009; Lowe et al 2008); as well as supporting indigenous teachers to teach from ‘in country’ (Christie 2010). In combination with the elements, we found that effectively integrating TEL and teaching across curriculum, subjects, activities and assessment was critical to the sustainability and efficacy of projects. The virtual microscopy project (Kumar et al 2009) worked with course coordinators to maximise integration across courses, whilst the Web3D project (Albion and McKeown 2010) adopted an action learning approach with staff which proved highly effective in empowering academic staff in the use of virtual worlds. The eSimulation project (Cybulski et al 2010) integrated simulations into the curriculum of three universities, and the engineering project (Cameron et al 2009) focused on integration with a focus on curriculum review, graduate attributes and capabilities in line with industry expectations

Knowledge and resource sharing are central to a vibrant community of practice

Conclusion