Gail Wilson Copyright (c) 2012 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson Recent documents in Gail Wilson en-us Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:42:37 PST 3600 Higher Education Research and Development anthology: Book review http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/52 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/52 Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:17:28 PDT Gail Wilson Promoting Web-enhanced learning in university teaching: current practice in Web-enhanced faculty development http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/51 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/51 Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:28:06 PDT Encouraging faculty’s adoption of and innovation in learning and teaching with technologies continues to be a critical challenge for those responsible for faculty development in today’s higher education institutions. This chapter examines current practice in Web-enhanced faculty development to promote Web-enhanced learning in university teaching. It begins by locating faculty development with the context of workplace learning and professional learning. Faculty development is seen as a continuum of formal and informal learning experiences offering a range of options. Critical questions are offered to assist the planning and implementation of faculty development to address the need for new learning models and pedagogy for the 21st century, followed by an overview of learning perspectives which dominate the design of faculty development to support adoption and widespread use of new technologies. Specific frameworks used to design faculty development to support Web-enhanced learning are explained and illustrated – technology adoption, skills acquisition, scholarly engagement, and the use of resources to support faculty learning. This chapter concludes with a summary of implications for faculty development practice.

]]> Gail Wilson Forging partnerships that support curriculum renewal http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/50 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/50 Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:07:50 PDT There are a series of challenges facing academic developers in forging relationships with academic staff engaged in curriculum renewal. During 2003 and 2004 the School of Law at the University of Western Sydney engaged in a curriculum renewal project in partnership with the University’s Educational Development Centre. The challenges identified as a result of working on this project illustrate levels of engagement within relationship development, and provide substance for further exploration. This paper argues that awareness of these challenges is a significant factor in enhancing engagement and building productive relationships between academic developers and academic staff.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Podcasting for learning in universities: Book review http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/48 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/48 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:07:42 PDT Gail Wilson Implementing and evaluating a “Next Generation Learning Space”: a pilot study http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/47 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/47 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:06:24 PST A dramatic, pedagogical shift has occurred in recent years in educational environments in higher education, supported largely by the use of ubiquitous technologies. Increasingly, emphasis is being placed on the design of new learning spaces, often referred to as “Next Generation Learning Spaces” and their impact on pedagogy. The idea of “classroom” now incorporates the use of both physical and virtual space. This change has meant a greater focus on the design and use of flexible learning spaces, more use of blended learning approaches and more personalised, individualised learning opportunities for students. While many such classrooms have been built and utilised in universities globally, only a few formal studies have been reported on how these spaces are used by both teachers and students. This article focuses on a pilot study of the use by lecturers and students of a technology rich next generation learning space – the Pod Room – and makes recommendations for further research into the effectiveness of new learning spaces in universities.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Preparing academics to teach in higher education. Final report http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/46 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/46 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:26:14 PDT The Preparing Academics to Teach in Higher Education (PATHE) project was a three-year project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). The project‟s main aim was to produce a framework for foundations of university teaching programs. Specific objectives of the project included the promotion of sector-wide sharing of understandings of foundations programs, the generation of evidence-based information, the development of resources and models of successful practice, the identification of areas for further development, and a contribution to the scholarship of higher education teaching and learning. The project was well supported by the Australian higher education sector, primarily through the Foundations of University Teaching Colloquia, a network of foundations teachers who meet on an annual basis. The chosen methodology was a distributed model that involved 26 staff across 19 universities. Each of the four stages to the project has produced its own set of outcomes. These outcomes are summarised in this report and reported more substantially in the appendices.

]]> Margaret Hicks et al. Promoting staff learning about assessment through digital representations of practice: evaluating a pilot project http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/44 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/44 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:19:47 PDT The Assessment Snapshots digital resource is a current project to support academic learning about assessment by diffusing knowledge and understanding of locally contextualised good practice in assessment at the University of Western Sydney. An initial collection of Snapshots was made available to academic staff on the university web site in early 2006. This paper describes how the resource has been utilised by teachers and explains the uses that academic developers have made of the resource in supporting teachers to extend their learning about assessment. The paper reflects on the extent to which the pilot project has been successful in disseminating effective assessment practice and promoting reflection and discussion about assessment issues. It proposes future directions for more effectively integrating and contextualising resources for professional learning with teachers’ everyday teaching practice

]]> Rosemary Thomson et al. Faculty development Transitioning from print-based to digital teaching portfolio assessment in a Foundations of University Learning and Teaching subject http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/42 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/42 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:48:39 PDT The concept of a teaching portfolio in higher education is not new. However, for many teaching staff the concept of a digital or electronic teaching portfolio is very new - a perspective that cannot be ignored. Academic developers have a role to play in their institutions in making the concept of a digital portfolio understood by staff, and making transparent the many and varied options available to them to develop their own electronic portfolio. At one Australian university the elaboration and application of a teaching portfolio as a capstone assessment task has been embedded in a stand-alone Foundations of University Learning and Teaching subject as a way of documenting staff learning about their teaching as they progress through the semesterlong subject. This paper focuses on the processes and application of guiding staff to make the transition from a print-based to a digital teaching portfolio, and makes recommendations for introducing a digital teaching portfolio into a Foundations subject for academic staff new to teaching and learning in higher education.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Making it my street: the Bond University "Street" area http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/41 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/41 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:56:34 PDT Extract: The Street area is the central point of the University’s main teaching building. Until recently, it was merely a transition space – people would move through it in order to get to their next class. It is a large rectangular area measuring approximately 20 by 5 metres and rising three stories high. In many ways, it resembles a classical loggia.

The new space consists of a raised, carpeted seating area. Large, comfortable couches, freemoving ottomans, and circular coffee tables are located in this space.

]]> Marcus Randall et al. Learning spaces Online interaction impacts on learning: teaching the teachers to teach online http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/39 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/39 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:56:33 PDT This paper explores the importance of interaction in the online teaching environment and the important role of staff development in developing teacher presence online. Professionally developing staff to use information and communication technologies is viewed from the standpoint of diffusion of innovation, moving from early adopters to mainstream majority, and targeting staff development at this latter group. Approaches to staff development using information and communication technologies are described, and recommendations for staff development for online teaching are made.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Faculty development System dynamics, quality assurance and the teaching portfolio: a case study http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/40 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/40 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:56:33 PDT This paper describes a teaching portfolio development project conducted in Charles Sturt University, in which teaching portfolios were promoted as a basis for (a) pro-active engagement in quality enhancement at the individual and group level and (b) professional discourse on concept and attitude change relating to quality in teaching and learning among project participants. The project’s thesis was 'that consistent, pro-active, system-wide involvement in quality maintenance and enhancement, and in the discourse that accompanies it, provides a base for improved organisational and divisional quality assurance'. It proposed the Teaching Portfolio as a principal means of achieving this involvement. The project was an initial attempt to discover whether the provision of generous support for the development of teaching portfolios at the individual level and at the level of the group (i.e. the teaching team, the school, the faculty) can magnify this effect such that the activities being recorded, and the records themselves, become a natural subject for public discourse across the institution.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Scholarship of teaching and learning Getting IT together: defining our students' reactions to learning via interactive communication technologies http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/38 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/38 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:56:32 PDT Extract: This study documents the ways in which flexible modes of delivery were adopted using information and communication technology (ICT) in two internal subjects in the third year Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) program at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst NSW. It is based on the assertion by Taylor, Lopez & Quadrelli (1996) that 'flexibility must be developed and evaluated in specific local contexts'. The study examines the rationale for moving towards a more flexible mode of delivery for on-campus students in order to service the needs of their profession and the institutional demands both on students to become lifelong, autonomous learners, and on staff to develop skills and competencies in the use of ICT.

]]> Myra Dunn et al. Blended learning Positioning the case to tell the story: developing the narrative or presentational account http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/34 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/34 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:43:03 PDT This paper is drawn from a doctoral study (in its final stages) about the use and adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance the face-to-face teaching by six academic staff, who represent different disciplines and different campus locations, in a large, regional university in Australia. A collective case study was adopted as the framework for the study, and field data comprised semi-structured interviews, curriculum guides, teaching and learning resources, websites, and included results of a Teaching Practices Inventory completed by each of the research participants.

Case study is a popular choice of qualitative researchers. There are numerous examples in the literature of case study as the vehicle for examining issues concerning teachers' use of new technologies in teaching and learning. This paper situates the research study in the qualitative, interpretative research paradigm, and matches the choice of case as the research strategy to accepted characteristics of good case studies. The focus of the paper then moves to the practical, yet difficult problem faced by the researcher of ways of presenting the case, seeking a balance between the demands of prescribed, social scientific writing for an academic audience, and the need to create texts that are interesting, vital and that “make a difference”(Richardson, 2003). Using a sample case from the study, the paper examines approaches to constructing meaning from the field data to create the narrative or presentational account and, ultimately, the research text.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Qualitative research methods Promoting staff learning about assessment through digital representations of practice: evaluating a pilot project (ASCILITE 2007) http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/32 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/32 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:06:34 PDT The Assessment Snapshots digital resource is a current project to support academic learning about assessment by diffusing knowledge and understanding of locally contextualised good practice in assessment at an Australian university. An initial collection of Snapshots was made available to academic staff on the University’s web site in early 2006. This paper describes how the resource has been utilised by teachers and explains the uses that academic developers have made of the resource in supporting teachers to extend their learning about assessment. The paper reflects on the extent to which the pilot project has been successful in disseminating effective assessment practice and promoting reflection and discussion about assessment issues. It proposes future directions for more effectively integrating and contextualising resources for professional learning with teachers’ everyday teaching practice.

]]> Rosemary Thomson et al. Faculty development Gathering online representations of practice about assessment for use as a professional development tool: a case in progress http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/31 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/31 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:06:33 PDT The Assessment Snapshots digital resource at the University of Western Sydney is a current project to produce locally contextualised resources about effective assessment practice. Assessment case studies showcased through the project offer insights into how individual teachers in the discipiinas design assessment strategies which respond to the challenges of teaching and learning in the tertiary sector in the 21st century. Resources produced are designed as online professional development tools for self-access by teachers and for use in assessment workshops and curriculum renewal projects. The paper explores the rationale for using case studies as a form of represantation of practice, and describes the processes taken by a team of academic developers to gather cases from individual academics, provides initial reflections on those processes, and proposes plans for using the resource and evaluating its effectiveness as a trigger for improvement in assessment practice.

]]> Gail Wilson et al. Faculty development New skills and ways of working: faculty development for e-learning http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/30 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/30 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:59:53 PDT This chapter provides a practitioner-focused review and analysis of the different approaches to faculty development in order to prepare staff for new roles and skills for teaching and learning in the online environment.

The chapter examines these new sets of skills, knowledge and capabilities required by faculty and ways in which higher education institutions have instituted professional development support for teachers to address these requirements.

]]> Gail Wilson Faculty development Community engagement in contemporary legal education: pro bono, clinical education and service-learning http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/29 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/29 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:33:56 PDT Patrick Keyzer et al. Scholarship of teaching and learning Teachers in blended learning environments: case studies of ICT-enhanced blended learning in higher education http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/28 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/28 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:33:56 PDT This study reports on recent doctoral research focused on six academic staff working in early blended learning environments in campus-based contexts at a large Australian university. The case-based research reports on how information and communications technology (ICT) was used by each of these staff, all early adopters of new technologies, to enhance their face-to-face teaching, and how this use contributed to an understanding of blended learning in higher education. Across the cases, seven dimensions of blended learning environments were identified, Overall, the study enhances understanding of the nature, purpose and scope of early blended learning approaches in a university setting, and highlights the importance of academics' use of resource-based learning to create blended learning environments across a range of courses. The study also establishes reasons why these teachers embraced the use of ICT in their on-campus teaching, and provides insights into how each perceived their teaching role.

]]> Gail Wilson Blended learning Case studies of ICT-enhanced blended learning environments and professional development of faculty http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/27 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/27 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:33:55 PDT This chapter reports a collective study of research–based evidence of experiences of academic staff adopting ICT-facilitated education and transitioning to blended learning practices in a regional Australian university. It analyses seven dimensions of blended learning environments that these teachers create and provides a valuable framework for practitioners, researchers and policy makers seeking to understand the transition to blended learning. This chapter examines ways of analysing and defining blended learning environments (BLEs) by focusing on the scope, nature, and purpose of the blend adopted by individual faculty across their courses. The chapter provides case examples of BLE dimensions and their basis for a professional development model to support staff in their transition to blended learning environments and can be used in successful institutional adoption of blended learning practices.

]]> Gail Wilson Blended learning The pod room - a group learning space http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/23 http://works.bepress.com/gail_wilson/23 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:33:53 PDT Extract: Bond University has recently completed construction of an engaging formal teaching space, known as the Pod Room, named as a result of its pod, or kidney-shaped, group work desks. The room has been designed to facilitate interactivity, teamwork, and sociability amongst students. Our concept of this pod space is based on an innovative design that has been successfully trialled at the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland.

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