Jan Herrington

Over the last decade, mobile and social media (MSM) tools have been in a constant flux. A growing ecology of tools and affordances have enabled multiple types of user actions and abilities never witnessed or imagined before. Educators all around the world are actively exploring and investigating learning and teaching design and approaches to harness some of these opportunities for improved student learning outcomes. This paper discusses the findings from a PhD study that used a design-based research approach to investigate how MSM tools could be used to facilitate learner-driven and determined learning (heutagogy). A set of draft design principles was formulated to guide the development of a course-implemented and evaluated over two years. A summary of the findings from the study is discussed and a set of refined design principles is provided-capable of guiding educators in designing significant learning experiences using MSM tools.

The methodological approach used in the Skilling Up project needed to be appropriate for the investigation of complex problems in real settings. Because of its adaptable and strongly consultative focus, design-based research (DBR) was considered to be an ideal research approach, in particular because of its capacity to align with overall Indigenous research theories and protocols. The project focuses on digital tasks and activities using new technologies (iPads), where Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) create stories and products appropriate to their own learning contexts in classroom, school and community. In so doing, their technology skills are enhanced so that they are enabled within their teaching, guiding, and administrative roles. DBR aligns with these goals because its emphasis focuses on broad-based, complex problems critical to education, and on intensive collaboration among researchers and people in the schools and communities. The DBR approach typically involves four iterative phases (such as those proposed by Reeves in 2006): 1) Analysis of practical problems by researchers and practitioners in collaboration; 2) Development of solutions informed by existing design principles and technological innovation; 3) Iterative cycles of testing and refinement of solutions in practice; and 4) Reflection to produce design principles and solution implementation. In the first phase in the Skilling Up project, the problem area was explored with AEWs, principals and Indigenous communities. In the second phase a solution was designed to address the problem in the form of a professional development program. In the third (current) phase the solution is being implemented in iterative cycles in the form of an ongoing series of workshops and on-site visits. The key task implicit in this phase is not so much to assess whether the proposed program solution works, but to make it work. In this way, the project research goes beyond simply observing the effects of the technology implementations, but includes seeking to actively cause the effects required. In this way, the workshops and consultations are adaptive to both the circumstances and the learning opportunities available to the participants. The last phase enables reflection to create design principles for others wishing to use the approach. In this presentation the research design, together with the DBR model used, will be explained in detail.

The growth of online learning and the demand for quality education has prompted universities to investigate innovative approaches for providing students with a more interactive, engaging and authentic learning experience. Frameworks such as Garrison, Anderson and Archer’s (2001) community of inquiry (CoI) model have been widely used in the design of learning tasks and communities of learning to address this challenge. In this paper, the key elements of the CoI model are explained—the cognitive, social and teaching aspects—together with a brief look at the intersecting areas of these elements. Of particular interest in this paper was the intersection of social and teaching presence, because of its capacity to contribute to setting climate in an online learning environment. A systematic analysis of recent studies focusing on key elements of the CoI model is reported, and characteristics for setting the climate in an online environment to assist the development of a community of inquiry are identified, together with guidelines to assist with the implementation. Finally, an authentic online professional development course for higher education professionals is described to illustrate the guidelines in practice.

An overall methodological approach of design-based research (DBR), informed by Indigenous research theories and protocols, is used in the 'Skilling Up' project. DBR is a relatively new approach that is particularly appropriate for research in Indigenous settings because it addresses complex problems in real contexts in collaboration with practitioners, and because of its strongly consultative focus. The project focuses on digital stories using new technologies (iPads), where AEWs create stories appropriate to the learning context in the classroom, school and community. In so doing their technology skills are enhanced as they create the stories. It is a method that has been employed before by researchers and educators engaged with Indigenous communities, as the use of stories has a synergy with the oral tradition of yarning, but the approach has not been without its problems. For example, in Jorgensen’s (2012)study of the use of digital media to mediate learning in Aboriginal communities, several difficulties mitigated against successful educational outcomes (e.g., teachers struggled with the technology, and students almost exclusively chose to tell only sports stories). Our project differs from this study in its goals, its focus on AEW’s learning rather than student learning, and its use of the stories in ePortfolios as a key element in pathways to higher education. DBR aligns with these goals because its emphasis focuses on broad-based, complex problems critical to education, and on intensive collaboration among researchers and people in the schools and communities. The DBR approach (e.g., Reeves, 2006) involves four phases over four semesters. In the first phase, the problem area is explored with AEWs, principals and Indigenous communities. In the second phase a solution is designed to address the problem. In the third phase the solution is implemented in iterative cycles, and the last phase enables reflection to create design principles for others wishing to use the approach. The key task implicit in implementations in a real setting is not so much to assess whether the proposed problem solution works but to make it work (Gravemeijer & Cobb, 2006). Barab and Squire (2004, p. 9)pointed out that DBR researchers ‘are not simply observing interactions but are actually “causing” the very same interactions they are making claims about’. In this way, the research can provide optimal guidelines on how to make a solution work in context.

Heutagogy is a relatively new learning and teaching framework. Heutagogy advocates student-centred learning and teaching strategies where the learning is directed and determined by the learner. At the time when heutagogy was conceptualised as a teaching framework (in 2000), the web was still in its infancy. More than a decade later, the web has evolved from being transmission focused (Web 1.0) to participatory in nature (Web 2.0). At the same time, mobile technologies such as smartphones and tablets have amplified the capabilities and ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used. In this paper, we look at how mobile devices and social media can support and offer unique opportunities for using heutagogy as a pedagogical framework. A set of design principles is proposed resulting from a review of literature on heutagogy, social media and mLearning. The design principles provide educators with a guide on how to utilise the unique affordances of Web 2.0 tools and mobile devices in implementing learner directed and determined learning or life long learning.

The challenge to provide engaging, effective learning environments for university students is perhaps greater now than ever before. While the ‘anytime, anywhere’ online learning environment appeals, students also need a learning environment that encourages and retains their engagement. A new teacher-education program with an explicit focus on applied learning commenced at the University of Tasmania in 2011. The fully online course aims to provide an authentic, engaging environment for the students, who are primarily mature-aged, in-service teachers in TAFE colleges. This paper describes the applied learning design principles created to guide the course development and delivery, and the initial findings of a doctoral study being undertaken to examine their effectiveness. The research aims to provide a set of tested design principles to encourage and support an applied learning approach in online teacher-education courses, and more broadly in higher education.

The profile of university students is changing, as a larger percentage of the population fill our online and on-campus classrooms. A new teacher education program commenced at an Australian university in 2011, with an explicit focus on applied learning. The course highlights a pedagogy whose time may have (finally) arrived in higher education. A set of design principles, underpinned theoretically by contemporary learning philosophies have been developed to provide a guiding framework for course developers and teaching staff in the fully online program. This paper describes the applied learning design principles; how they manifest in course development and delivery, and the study being undertaken to examine their effectiveness. The research seeks to identify the extent to which the course design better enables students to integrate theory with practice, and develop the skills required in their workplace. This study is designed to create a set of tested design principles to encourage and support applied learning design in higher education settings.

One major element of supply chain management education is helping learners to grasp the complexity, the challenges, and the efficient management of the multiple dimensions in supply chains. Each decision made can ‘ripple’ through supply chains and have serious repercussions that may include causing millions of dollars in damage or triggering a chain of events that degrade the quality of life for people, society, or the environment. We can teach relevant theory and train learners for some situations that do not require immediate responses. However, we remain disadvantaged by the constraints of time and space; observation of a real supply chain is often unpractical, and lengthy times for transports exceeding any class duration. In this paper, we present the nDiVE project which creates a supply chain story to immerse learners, provide an authentic experience in a realistic environment, and apply traditional and advanced gamification mechanisms to engage and motivate learners.

Risk assessment is used to identify potential hazards and prioritize those that may be most likely to have a significant impact. While widely used in the aviation, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, formalized risk assessments are not often used for instructional interventions such as e-learning. As part of a formative evaluation for a new e-learning course, facilitators and design team members performed a risk assessment on topics related to the technology used in the course, the communication of mentors and participants, sustainability, and evaluation. With this information, the design team and mentors prepared a risk management plan, identifying ways to prevent unwanted events as well as to plan for contingencies in the case of their occurrence. The framework of the plan is described, together with details of its implementation in a formative evaluation of the course.

While increasingly large numbers of students are choosing to enrol in distance modes of learning at university, many are poorly supported, left to struggle with mainly text-based resources while their on campus counterparts are well supported with a range of personal and technology-based supports. In this paper, we describe a first year compulsory university unit based on authentic learning pedagogy. The mandatory learning management system (LMS) was enhanced with a range of resources and communication technologies to provide a truly inclusive learning environment for distant students, using social media, open education resources and participatory web-based methods.