Arts

Creating an e-learning environment to support learners in their studies requires an invisible interface that enables learners to focus their entire attention on the task at hand. While many usability tools and techniques have been developed to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of such interfaces, there are few that guide empirical studies for evaluating user satisfaction. The work reported here describes a pilot study to develop an iterative process to test the usability of an online educational portal, with a particular focus on evaluating satisfaction. We present an approach that blends Appreciative Inquiry, a methodology originally developed to facilitate organizational change, and online data recording and coding to evaluate satisfaction by identifying specific attributes and features that learners value and desire.

This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of the students from diverse ...

As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these environments. However, there is little guidance in the form of principled design frameworks that can assist the design practitioner in the development of online assessment strategies. From four cases, we have identified six design principles that represent the collective experience of our team of design practitioners in creating assessment strategies for online teaching and learning environments; (a) technology affordances, (b) alignment of objectives with assessment, (c) discipline-specific practices and approaches, (d) meaningful and timely feedback, (e) authenticity and transferability and (f) transparency of assessment criteria. We present in-situ qualitative case studies that articulate how these principles have informed our design practice in online a...

As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these environments. The assessment literature suggests a number of imperatives that should drive a renewed focus in assessment including; capturing the potential of online assessment, designing efficient and effective assessment, fostering academic honesty, and supporting effective group work. However, there is little guidance in the form of frameworks for the development of online assessment strategies. As a group of instructional designers engaged in a collaborative process of developing assessment strategies with online instructors, we present in-situ qualitative case studies that articulate our design practice in support of the development of online assessments, in line with the imperatives identified above. We discuss a range of assessment strategies and how...

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As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these environments. However, there is little guidance in the form of principled design frameworks that can assist the design practitioner in the development of online assessment strategies. From four cases, we have identified six design principles that represent the collective experience of our team of design practitioners in creating assessment strategies for online teaching and learning environments; (a) technology affordances, (b) alignment of objectives with assessment, (c) discipline-specific practices and approaches, (d) meaningful and timely feedback, (e) authenticity and transferability and (f) transparency of assessment criteria. We present in-situ qualitative case studies that articulate how these principles have informed our design practice in online a...

Abstract- This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of the students from diverse backgrounds, educational goals and career pathways. Students in a first-year interdisciplinary cohort of 340

This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of the students from diverse backgrounds, educational goals and career pathways. Students in a first-year interdisciplinary cohort of 340 represented Mechatronics Systems Engineering, Business, Interactive Arts, Communications, and Computing Science. A major feature of the course design was an integrated laboratory, which served to amplify lecture content via practicing exercises aimed at developing their abilities to think and work spatially in 2D and 3D using tools including pencil and paper, digital and physical Lego, and a computer-aided design system. We describe our course design and team-teaching processes, realities that constrained our choices, the tools we use to assist our decision making during course design and delivery, and the structure and function of the teaching team. We also present selected student artifacts to demonstrate how students learned to think spatially. We then identify lessons-learned and revision plans.

This thesis explores the role for phenomenography in instructional design. Phenomenography is an educational research methodology that focuses on discovering the qualitatively different ways people experience learning a particular topic. The intent of the research is to come to understand the cognitive interactions that occur when learners attempt to make sense of difficult material, the kinds of difficulties they encounter, and the strategies they apply. This thesis considers how the analysis of these interactions may form the basis for the design of learning materials. Two case studies are presented that illustrate the utility of phenomenographic studies in the design process. The first considers how learner's conceptions of geological mapping can inform the instructional design of a print-based module on interpreting geological maps. A description of the design process details how specific elements were developed using the data, such as objectives and feedback and design guidelines are generated. The second case presented involves a study of learner's conceptions of phase diagrams in metallurgy. The results are integrated in the design of a computer-based learning module on phase diagrams. Design guidelines generated from this case focus on how the data needs to be communicated within the context of a team development environment. The data derived from phenomenographic studies provide descriptions of difficulties learners experience that are often not known to content experts or lecturers.. The two cases presented in this thesis demonstrate the gap between what the learner needs and what experts think they need. Communicating the existence of the gap to experts is discussed and design strategies that help to overcome this gap are presented. Integrating phenomenographic study in the design process complements established instructional design models and teaching practice. A four-stage design model is presented that includes generic guidelines that can be applied to any design context. A constructivist designer may use the guidelines to identify and generate problem-based learning tasks. Classroom teachers may use the guidelines to generate examination questions that encourage the learner to demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts associated with the topic of study. The goal for the work presented here is to improve instructional design practice, and in doing so, improve the experience of learning for students.

This chapter explores the epistemological, and ethical boundaries of the application of a participantobserver methodology for analyzing avatar design in user-generated virtual worlds. We describe why Second Life was selected as the preferred platform for studying the fundamental design properties of avatars in a situated manner. We will situate the specific case study within the broader context of ethnographic qualitative research methodologies, particularly focusing on what it means to live-and roleplay-within the context that one is studying, or to facilitate prolonged engagement in order to have the research results accepted as trustworthy or credible (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This chapter describes a case study where researchers can extract methods and techniques for studying "in-world" workshops and focus groups. Our speculations and research questions drawn from a close analysis of this case study will illuminate the possible limitations of applying similar hybrid iterations of participation-observation tactics and translations of disciplinary frameworks into the study of user-generated content for future virtual world communities. Finally, we will review the broader epistemological and ethical issues related to the role of the participant-observation researcher in the study of virtual worlds.