Re-invigorating the use of the Internet in higher education; ANZCA 09 Presentation

Re-invigorating the use of the Internet in higher education Preliminary findings from the ALTC Fellowship project 'Learning in Networks of Knowledge'

Learning in Networks of Knowledge (LINK)
Matthew Allen
ALTC Fellowship
Head of Internet Studies
Elaine Tay
project officer
Curtin University

Networked knowledge:
Fragmented, distributed and collaborative
Shared in ways that de-centre knowledge

The 3 main questions of the project...

What does it mean to think about university students’ learning as being part of knowledge networking?

How might we apply ‘Web 2.0’ thinking so as to produce learning which is more like participation in networks of knowledge?

How might assessment be used to motivate and engage students with this process?

Fragmented knowledge tasks
For example, blogs

Portfolios: Different Uses Presentation of self to others A mirror to the self An aid for reflection

“ The Internet and Everyday Life” First year unit Mostly on campus Multimedia, communication studies, journalism undergraduates and coursework postgraduates...

“ The Internet and Everyday Life” First year unit External studies Internet Communications degree

What we did
Before plunging them into public writing...
We wanted them to get used to the fragmented in-progress nature of knowledge networking work first and the self-reflective, review aspect

What we did
At the end, they submitted to the tutor a selection of their portfolio work, accompanied by reflective commentary.

What we did
We ran a survey during the final weeks of the course on their experiences working on the portfolio.
Also, informal feedback and observations from the tutor and the course coordinator.

5 key findings Of which I’ll present a selection.

The reaction to the overall approach was positive:
76.9% of all the students
(red + blue)
Finding 1 "Overall, the approach of tasks, discussion and a portfolio has helped me to learn in this unit.”

Finding 1
Generally speaking, students reacted positively to an experience that involved them doing shorter, specific tasks, being focused on discussion at specific times, and having to gather evidence of that activity and discussion into a portfolio

91% of the Curtin students were positive about set learning tasks
"If there were no set learning tasks, I would have learned less in this unit”

80% of Open University students were positive
But the difference is interesting (more later)
"If there were no set learning tasks, I would have learned less in this unit”

Finding 2
More, but shorter learning tasks tend to improve student experience of learning and achievement of outcomes.

What they dread…
A monumental task that they don’t know how to tackle
Possible explanation

What they prefer…
Discrete, manageable tasks spread over the period of study
Possible explanation

Most were unsure at the start whether they were on the right track (green and purple)
At the start of the unit, I quickly came to know what the portfolio assignment meant...

When it came to what they were meant to do, the students were a little…

Students lacked confidence and were unsure about what to do in the portfolio
Finding 3

The on-campus students felt motivated by the portfolio assignment to do more work
Finding 4 “ The portfolio assessment motivated me to do more work in discussion and tasks.”

In contrast, the online, Open University students disagreed that they were motivated to do more work
Finding 4 “ The portfolio assessment motivated me to do more work in discussion and tasks.”

Finding 4
Students’ motivation to complete tasks was not necessarily because they were assessed via PF.

To conclude…

Coming up next
Building a web presence

Coming up next Conducting online and public debates

Coming up next Writing for Wikis

Preliminary feedback is believed by those who don't get it to be very important; but giving it effectively requires more than just marks
Finding 5

http://www.netcrit.net	129
http://www.knowledgenetworklearning.net	127
http://www.slideshare.net	5
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	5
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1

Re-invigorating the use of the Internet in higher education; ANZCA 09 Presentation

by Matthew Allen on Nov 12, 2009

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Re-invigorating the use of the Internet in higher education; ANZCA 09 Presentation — Presentation Transcript