TDU Talk
Issue 1 – May 2014
Towards the University of the Future
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CONTENTS Editorial 2
Farewell To A Colleague And Greetings to
New Staff Members In The Centre for
Tertiary Teaching and Learning3
Teaching Evaluation: Making the move to
online appraisals
by Dr Jean Rath, Senior Lecturer, Teaching
Development Unit6
Developing capacity and capability to meet
the challenges in higher education
by Dr Maureen Marra, Programme Manager,
Professional and Organisational Development9
Students as individuals: Enhancing learning
capacity with digital resources
by Katherine Gilliver-Brown, Senior Tutor,
Student Learning 11
Top Ten Online Workload Management
Strategies
by Stephen Bright, eLearning Designer,
Waikato Centre for eLearning17
Universities of the Past
by Professor Cathy Coleborne,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences19
Universities of the Future: Communicating
more effectively to the Public
by Dr Rowland Weston, Senior Lecturer,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
20
Today’s Learners, Tomorrow’s Students: The learning
experiences of our future university Students
by Anne-Louise Robertson and Gail Abbitt,
Waikato Diocesan School for Girls22
eLearning from a Molecular Perspective
by Dr Linda Peters, Senior Lecturer in Molecular
Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering14
Making connections with Adobe Connect:
Reflections
from Prof Stuart Locke, Waikato
Management School – Finance 15
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EDITORIAL Kia ora koutou
The 50 years anniversary celebrations at the University of Waikato offer a good
opportunity to reflect on the University’s achievements as well as plan for the future.
The University can be proud of its many achievements as well as of its international
standing, but like all western universities, we are faced with great challenges in
relation to the identity and purposes of university education, the demands of multiple
stakeholders and the rapidity of technological change. The University of Waikato has
embarked on a range of initiatives to meet these challenges including the Universities
of the Future paper and the Digital Literacy Framework, which recognise the need
for teaching and learning to be more closely aligned with the way in which so many
of our students now engage with the world. However, we also acknowledge that
change is difficult and that academics currently work under enormous pressures and may feel overwhelmed by the associated work.
The great turnout at the WCeL Fest indicates that there is interest and goodwill amongst staff members to incorporate technology in
the students’ learning experiences. In this edition we profile some examples of ways in which academics have used technology in their
teaching (such as Stewart Locke of WMS and Linda Peters from Biology) and strategies to ease the process of implementation, such as
the article by Stephen Bright. We also profile the new web-based system for student evaluations called Blue (our thanks to Jean Rath
for outlining how this works) and the online resources provided by Student Learning to complement the face-to-face work that they
do for our students (thanks to Katherine Brown). In reflecting on the future, it is helpful for academics to be reminded of the changing
learning experiences of students who are currently at school. We thank Anne-Louise Robertson and Gail Abbitt for their account of
learning innovations at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls as it gives us a glimpse of the experiences and capabilities that the future
generations of students will bring to their university education. Finally, the articles by historians, Cathy Coleborne and Rowland Weston
provide broader perspectives for examining the current climate of change and discussion of appropriate engagement with change.
As we contemplate the future, it is also important to be mindful of core principles about teaching, learning and assessment that we
have learned over the preceding years and which are well supported by research. Innovative tools can easily masquerade as good
teaching and learning experiences. In fact we have to be even more thoughtful about the reasons for our teaching and learning choices
and how these decisions align with learning outcomes and assessment tasks. The core question still needs to be “what do I want my
students to learn?” and the teaching and assessment strategies need to help the students to work towards this learning.
We hope that this edition will help you to enrich your students’ learning experiences.
Dorothy and the TDU team
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FAREWELL TO A COLLEAGUE AND
GREETINGS TO NEW STAFF MEMBERS
IN THE CENTRE FOR TERTIARY TEACHING
AND LEARNING
It is with great sadness that we say farewell to Dr Pip Bruce Ferguson who has been a member
of the TDU since 2009. Pip is embarking on an exciting adventure as she takes up a position
as a teaching developer at Dublin City University. Pip has contributed extensively to teaching
development and the university as a whole. She has shared her rich experience and extensive
knowledge with staff members across the campus and has been a supportive and energetic
colleague with a great sense of fun. We shall miss Pip enormously in the TDU and the Centre.
Pip has penned a few of her own reflections about her time at this university which we include
here:
REFLECTING ON FIVE YEARS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO
by Dr Pip Bruce Ferguson, Teaching Developer
I have been asked to write a few reflective comments as I depart this University next week for a three year post as Teaching and
Learning Developer at Dublin City University, Ireland.
There is much I would want to praise in this environment. We are most fortunate to have passionate, committed staff in areas across
the University. I have seen and heard of their work in fora such as the Teaching Excellence Awards process (at Faculty, University and
National levels); in the Teaching Network conversations; through the Postgraduate Supervisory Conversations; through one to one work
with people enrolled in our Postgraduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching; through occasional attendance at Faculty Teaching Advocacy
sessions, although these last are targeted specifically to faculty-related teaching issues shared with faculty members by their own
colleagues. I have heard of the excellent work of general staff through Union and University-oriented General Staff days, and via the
Waikato Women in Leadership Day. Staff from both groups have generously contributed their expertise in our TDU workshops.
Staff have shared examples of innovative practice, using both e-teaching/learning and face to face methods. People record their
teaching on Panopto and use this both to assist optimal student learning, and to reflect on their own teaching and how to improve
it. Several staff have shared how they blog on their teaching practice and share this nationally and internationally, while many, both
academic and general staff, are active in encouraging interest in the community in the work being done here, and how best to facilitate
student access and success in their areas. We have also had great examples of academics who, alongside their discipline-based
research, have chosen to publish on their teaching of their subjects. This is a balanced approach that I would love to see happen more
widely, and which may do so if the PBRF is either removed or sufficiently adapted that expertise in diverse areas receives equitable
funding and status.
On my office door I have a laminated poster drawn years ago by one of my daughters, at my request. It portrays a large, colourful
fish, and the injunction by A.N. Whitehead in 1929 that “Knowledge does not keep any better than fish”. It is that injunction which
has always motivated my interest in how to keep my own practice fresh. Student appraisal feedback helps me to see what is helpful
and what not, in the ways I am seeking to develop their knowledge. I was therefore surprised and dismayed when transcribing staff
interview data for a major research project undertaken by my colleagues Dorothy Spiller and Trudy Harris for AKO Aotearoa, to hear
some staff discount this source of change feedback. A very few indicated that they ‘never read the comments’ or that ‘students are
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not qualified to make sound comments on my practice’. From my perspective as a researching teacher, the notion of triangulation is
critical – we should be seeking feedback from diverse sources to ensure that our practice stays fresh, and doesn’t ‘go off and start to
smell’ as Whitehead’s comment implies. Fortunately, I have heard very little of such dismissive comment from staff while I have been
here.
However, one other comment surprised me greatly. While attending a consultation in my office one day, a senior staff member said
she had been asked to pass on an anonymous comment made after someone had attended a workshop that I ran. It was, “Tell Pip
not to keep alluding to the fact that she’s worked in a polytechnic.It undermines the credibility of her message.” During my adult
education career, I have worked in polytechnics, wānanga, two different universities, and with educators from PTEs, adult education
providers and prisons. In each environment I have found passionate teachers using sound practice to ensure the best success possible
for their students. There have, of course, been the odd ‘bad apples’ or ‘smelly fish’ in every place I have worked, but they are very much
in the minority. I would hope that the comment passed on from this anonymous staff member is completely atypical, and that most
of our staff would value sound pedagogy wherever it is practised. The fact that I have gained a position on the other side of the world
through practice based on experience gained in many of these areas shows that the Irish recognise breadth of experience as a strength,
not a weakness.
I would also like to thank my referees, Associate Vice Chancellor Anna Bounds here, Professor Eileen Piggot-Irvine of Canada and
Professor Moira Laidlaw of England whose strongly supportive comments helped me to gain the position.
Finally, I could not close these reflections without recognising the strength of the team in the Teaching Development Unit. For almost
all of the time I’ve been here, my colleagues Dorothy Spiller, Trudy Harris, Charlotte Ferry-Parker, Preetha Pratapsingh and latterly Lissa
Smith, have been gems whose humour, encouragement, expertise in their respective areas and support for mine have been the ‘glue’
that has kept us going forward in sometimes rough waters. I think we’ve been a great example of the strengths of both academic
and general staff in recognising each other’s abilities and contributing these for the common good, and that of the wider University.
Harking back to Whitehead’s injunction, I’d like to sign off with the title of a book by Douglas Adams (1984) – “So long, and thanks for
all the [fresh!] fish!”
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WELCOME TO...
DR JEAN RATH
It is our pleasure to welcome Jean Rath who joined the TDU team in January and who brings a wealth of
expertise and experience to our team.
Jean has provided this short bio:
Jean Rath joins the TDU as a Senior Lecturer with responsibility for leadership of the educational aspects
of a University-wide teaching appraisal and evaluation service to support and enhance teaching across all
areas of the University.
Born and bred on a dairy farm in the United Kingdom, Jean and her family first migrated to New Zealand in 2001. She has extensive
experience of working in community and higher education settings, and has led academic development initiatives in the UK, Australia
and New Zealand. Most recently, at the University of Canberra she convened the Scholarly Enquiry course within the Graduate
Certificate for Tertiary Education, was the Institutional Contact Officer for the Office of Learning and Teaching, and worked with
lecturers to redesign courses as part of the university’s structural readjustment to provide more flexible, online learning experiences.
Jean holds an MA in Zoology from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Gender and Social Policy from the University of Bristol and
a PhD in Continuing Education from the University of Warwick. Jean’s expertise includes academic development, academic career
building, qualitative and quantitative approaches to evaluation, reflective practice, autoethnography and creative analytic texts. Her
main research area is academic practice (teaching, research and service) and the experiences of early career academics including
doctoral candidates. A second focus is writing as a method of inquiry to investigate culture, memory and reflective practices. All of her
work is underpinned by an enduring interest in issues of identity, narrative, social justice and pedagogy. Jean
is an honorary research associate at the University of Oxford’s Learning Institute.
WILLIAM SHIELDS
We are very pleased to welcome William Shields to the TDU team where he will assist with the Appraisals
process.
We include William’s greeting here:
Kia ora, I am the new guy on the block from our very own Management School. I have a BMS (Hons) in
both Strategy and Human Resources, and I’m here part-time to help with the appraisals processing.
I am currently coming to grips with the new BLUE system, the processes within the university that I was
unaware of as a student and general jobs around the team.
ALISON CREAN
Alison is the new Administrator in Student Learning. She comes to Student Learning with a background as
a Career Development Adviser with the University of Waikato for the past three years. Alison has a Graduate
Certificate in Career Development; she has national and international experience of the corporate sector,
recruitment, industry developments and utilising social networking sites. She is keen to to raise awareness
of the many services provided by Student Learning.
DR CLAIRE LESCHI
Dr Claire Leschi is the new Maths Tutor in Student Learning. She has taught Maths in both secondary and
tertiary contexts and has a strong background in teaching bridging Maths for university students. Claire is
interested in meeting academic staff across the university and gathering information about the types of
Maths topics embedded in their programmes of study and the Maths knowledge and/or skills that students
tend to find challenging.
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TEACHING EVALUATION: MAKING THE
MOVE TO ONLINE APPRAISALS
by Dr Jean Rath, Senior Lecturer, Teaching Development Unit
ONLINE STUDENT APPRAISALS USING BLUE
The University of Waikato has invested in a new web-based
evaluation system called BLUE. Students will be able to
complete appraisals online and academic staff will receive
detailed reports of feedback. BLUE offers a straightforward and
fully automated evaluation process. Both staff and students will be sent emails with clear instructions
and links to all necessary webpages.
The BLUE system uses information from the Jade Student Management System to generate a standard
end of semester questionnaire that includes the approved University-wide set of core questions for the paper and the teaching
appraisal. The default position is that all papers and teaching staff are opted in; however, course convenors and teaching staff can
choose to opt out. They can also opt to customise an appraisal by adding additional items chosen from a drop-down list in BLUE.
Outlines of how the system will work for A Semester 2014 are provided in the following illustrations (further details are available on
the TDU’s Appraisals & Evaluation website at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu/appraisal.)
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ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE APPRAISALS
Internationally, the last few years has seen considerable growth in the use of online student feedback systems. The online method of
gathering student feedback has advantages over the traditional, paper-based method. Whilst it would be disingenuous to not mention
the appeal of reduced materials and staffing costs, there are other advantages to be gained from an online system.
These include:
• The ability to bypass bottlenecks in paper-based systems (e.g. scanning forms), which results in faster turnaround times from
administering the survey to reporting results.
• The convenience for students of being able to type answers and complete surveys at a time of their choosing delivers
improvements in student comments to open-ended questions.
• The ability to type answers enhances the ability of international students to contribute open ended comments.
• Staff time formerly devoted to processing evaluations can focus on other tasks (such as working with teaching staff to improve
their feedback ratings!).
• As the system matures, it can include greater flexibility of formative evaluation options, including a focus on improvements to
teaching and learning before the end of semester appraisal.
• Reduced paper results in a “greener” more sustainable system.
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RESPONSE RATES
While the results of online and paper-based appraisals have been shown to be equivalent in accuracy, response rates do tend to dip
when an online feedback system is first introduced. Unquestionably, low response rates are not restricted to online modes. Both online
and paper-based appraisals are known to suffer from inadequate response rates that fail to deliver statistically significant data. In fact,
with research showing that most students prefer the online mode, with a careful “resetting of culture”, the move to online appraisals
can actually result in higher response rates in the longer term.
The following strategies have been demonstrated to generate improved response rates:
• Emphasizing the contributions made by student feedback to the enhancement of student learning. Student awareness of the
importance of their feedback is frequently reported to be a key to success for evaluation in general and online evaluation in
particular. It helps to provide examples (in course materials and/or during class) of how you have used past feedback to adjust your
teaching and to gather formative feedback from students throughout the semester.
• Setting aside time for students to complete the online questionnaire during lecture time (in the same way as would occur with
paper-based appraisals). For students who are using their own devices, you will need to ensure that the room has strong wifi (if
WiFi access is an issue, try booking a computer lab).
• Sending regular reminder emails to students during the surveying period. BLUE sends reminders to each student’s preferred email
address automatically.
• Reminding students in class of the key dates for the evaluations and explaining how the BLUE system operates.
• Reassuring students that the evaluation is confidential (see below re BLUE’s use of intelligent confidentiality).
• Promoting course evaluations through a campus-wide awareness campaign; not all students read every email, so posters, flyers and
Moodle announcements will help to build awareness of the BLUE implementation.
• Random drawing of a prize draw for students who have completed their feedback online (in A Semester 2014, the University of
Waikato will offer a selection of prizes as incentives).
CONFIDENTIALITY ISSUES
Some students may express concern about the level of confidentiality offered by online evaluations. BLUE blocks anyone from seeing
which evaluations came from which student; not even a top-level (BLUE) system administrator can get past its security measures.
Students can feel confident that teachers and convenors will not be able to associate any specific student with particular feedback.
“Intelligent confidentiality” means that the BLUE database does hold select information linked to each student ID. This enables BLUE
to support convenience for users and build response rates without a risk to confidentiality. This enables the system to cope with
interruptions, saving any partial answers, so the next time that student logs in, they can resume from where they left off. It also allows
personal reminders to prompt students to complete any evaluations they have not yet submitted.
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
Curt, J., Dommeyer, P. B., Hanna, R.W., & Chapman, K. S. (2004). Gathering faculty teaching evaluations by in‐class and online surveys:
Their effects on response rates and evaluations. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(5), 611-623.
Nulty, D. D. (2008). The adequacy of response rates to online and paper surveys: What can be done? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher
Education, 33(3), 301-314.
Perlmutter, D. D. (2011). How to read a student evaluation. Chronicle of Higher Education, November 4, pp. A40-41. https://chronicle.
com/article/How-to-Read-a-Student/129553/
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DEVELOPING CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY
TO MEET THE CHALLENGES IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
by Dr Maureen Marra, Programme Manager, Professional and Organisational Development
THE CHALLENGES AND TRENDS
Change is not new to universities; they have evolved in shape and form from a handful of monastic
institutions that pre-date the printing press to approximately 17,000 complex and varied organisations
around the globe. However, it is inevitable that universities must change again, and, as suggested by
online commentary on a regular basis, these changes are rapid and profound. It is not all doom and
gloom - it is an exciting time of opportunities and for innovation. There are several forces at play but
much of the change is being driven by technology and universities must increase their organisational
capacity and institutional capability to remain competitive in a high tech, digital market place. The IT
capacity of an institution will be a key factor in its ability to provide education now and in the future.
Educause Review (March/April 2014) identifies 10 IT issues that will affect higher education as we move forward. These are:
1.
Improving student outcomes through an institutional approach that strategically leverages technology
2.
Establishing a partnership between IT leadership and institutional leadership to develop a collective understanding of what
information technology can deliver
3.
Assisting faculty with the instructional integration of information technology
4.
Developing an IT staffing and organizational model to accommodate the changing IT environment and facilitate
openness and agility
5.
Using analytics to help drive critical institutional outcomes
6.
Changing IT funding models to sustain core service, support innovation, and facilitate growth
7.
Addressing access demand and the wireless and device explosion
8.
Sourcing technologies and services at scale to reduce costs (via Cloud, greater centralization of institutional IT services and
systems, cross-institutional collaborations, and so forth)
9.
Determining the role of online learning and developing a strategy for that role
10. Implementing risk management and information security practices to protect institutional IT resources/data and respond to
regulatory compliance mandates; and developing an enterprise IT architecture that can respond to changing conditions and new
opportunities.
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Unwillingness to adapt to these new technologies to provide innovative teaching and learning is increasingly becoming an unviable
option. The NMC Horizons 2014 report identifies trends that will accelerate the adoption of education technologies in higher
education. The growing ubiquity of social media1 and the integration of online, hybrid, and collaborative learning are identified as ‘fast’
trends that will drive changes in higher education over the next 1 to 2 years. Mid-range trends (within three to five years) include the
rise of data-driven learning and assessment and the shift from students as consumers to students as creators whereby the learning
shifts to making and creating rather than from the simple consumption of content. Longer term trends (five or more years) relate to
developing teaching programmes and improving organizational structure to nurture entrepreneurship more effectively among both
students and faculty. The evolution of online learning is also identified as a long-range trend. Perceptions about online learning have
changed; it is now seen as a viable alternative to some forms of face-to-face learning.
DEVELOPING CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY
The ability of an institution to normalise the use of technologies and innovative practices is determined by the capability of staff and
culture of the organisation. A culture of openness, willingness and flexibility provides fertile ground for change and skills’ enhancement
whereas innovative practices struggle to take hold in a closed, unwilling environment.
What does this environment of collaboration, connecting, networking, partnerships, anywhere anytime, any-place any-pace teaching
and learning mean for the way we work? From an organisational development perspective, all of these trends and challenges mean
new capabilities are required of staff, which include openness and a willingness to embrace the new order in higher education. Some
examples where capability building is urgently required are as follows:
Digital literacy Low digital literacy in faculties is identified as a major challenge2 yet the importance of digital literacy continues to
surface as a key skill required for every discipline and profession. To remain globally competitive, universities need staff members
who are able to navigate effectively and evaluate critically as well as create information using a range of digital technologies in a
constantly evolving environment. It is essential that we keep pace with business and industry for developing work-ready students. It
requires professional development, although it is not just about getting some training and tools, but also very much about attitude.
The challenges related to developing digital literacy are ‘exacerbated by the fact that digital literacy is less about tools and more about
thinking, and thus skills and standards based on tools and platforms have proven to be somewhat ephemeral2.’
Personal accountability is one of the characteristics of a maturing organisation. This accountability encompasses taking responsibility
for one’s own professional and career development. It also concerns an attitude that does not blame the organisation when things are
difficult but rather proactively contributes to organisational strategies and goals.
Collaboration doesn’t just happen! It requires working with others – and working with others takes practice, connecting and developing
networks – all of which require openness in attitude, good communication, relationship management and an understanding of the
dynamics of collaboration. Collaboration breaks down silos, within and between organisations, which in a university in 2014, is critical
to research success and providing an excellent student experience.
It is up to each of us to develop our own skills and capabilities continually, engage co-operatively within our institutions, and seek
collaboration which will make a solid, sustainable difference as we move from the current state to quite different future states.
1
There are now around 6.3 billion accounts worldwide in the top 25 social media platforms.
2
NMC Horizon Report 2014 http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2014-nmc-horizon-report-he-EN.pdf
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STUDENTS AS INDIVIDUALS: ENHANCING
LEARNING CAPACITY WITH DIGITAL
RESOURCES
by Katherine Gilliver-Brown, Senior Tutor, Student Learning
In Student Learning we are well aware that any teacher facing a lecture theatre filled with new students may
make assumptions about student knowledge and ability. Teachers have very little option but to expect the
students’ language proficiency to be such that it will allow participation in written and spoken interactions;
that they can read an academic text as guided by the teaching; that they recognise the basic purpose of a
library; that they have experimented with digital technology in some capacity at least; and that they are
conscious of the principles underpinning a Western concept of intellectual property. On the whole such
assumptions are justified, but when dealing with students as individuals we find that they fit somewhere
along a spectrum of academic readiness. Quite frequently, a student discovers some rather distressing
gaps (however minor) which may impact on his or her learning experience in a potentially far-reaching
way. The problem for you, as a university teacher, is how to respond when individual students present with
underdeveloped understanding of academic conventions and limited awareness of the intellectual rigour required for tertiary study.
Student Learning is a university-wide service provided to enhance the success, retention and completion of University of Waikato
students. We see students from many faculties and schools who range from pre-degree to PhD levels. As a team we have, over the
years, become familiar with certain patterns of student enquiry.
A significant proportion of the work of Student Learning involves offering learning development opportunities to individuals that
are targeted to their unique experience. This is highly effective teaching at the micro level, which of course is limited in its volume
capacity. As effective as this intervention is, we find ourselves constantly repeating the same information for the same type of enquiry.
In response to years of anecdotally-collected insights the team has developed a series of internet resources. A learning developer
working with an individual can identify a gap and introduce the student directly to the resources dealing with that particular diagnosis,
allowing him or her to explore a solution independently - which students find strategically desirable. Students can then return to
the resource to revise their learning and ultimately to develop academically beneficial problem-solving strategies. This approach is
good for our NET / BLK service to students too. When commenting on a draft in written form, an explanation can be crushing for a
student in the amount of detail needed to make sure that the learning point is made. With these resources we can identify the feature
with a brief explanation and direct him or her to the relevant page or pages. As you continue to encourage your students to explore
the intricacies of the subject content that you teach, we hope that you can feel confident to refer students to the following tools
whenever any non-content related learning adjustments are indicated. We would also like to invite you to feel welcome to comment
on the resources and to suggest topics and content to include.
STUDENT LEARNING ONLINE RESOURCES:
The Student Learning suite of resources includes grammar, academic text analysis, help with technology, and basic referencing (APA).
The innovation is relatively new, so improvements are ongoing.
GRAMMAR:
The grammar component deals with a range of errors that we have noticed are typical of domestic students. Frequently, students have
difficulty with punctuation (particularly apostrophes, commas and capitals), inaccurate pronouns in relation to their antecedents, and
incomplete sentences. We attempt to present an explanation of these features (amongst others) using friendly terms and everyday
examples. Most of the pages include an activity inviting users to test their understanding of the content. The tool includes a link to a
forum discussion in Moodle where a more detailed correspondence can take place with a Student Learning tutor for those interested in
discussing their language in more depth.
To view Student Learning grammar: www.waikato.ac.nz/students/student-learning/grammar/
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ANNOTATED ACADEMIC EXCERPTS
Students frequently ask us if we can show them a well-written piece of student
writing. We have gratefully made frequent use of the “Working Papers in Applied
Linguistics”, a journal that collects and publishes the best applied linguistics
assignments each year. With these we can analyse how successful students structure
their assignments, their paragraphs, and their sentences; we can look at the sorts
of words they are using and verb forms they have chosen; we can highlight the
frequency with which successful students are referencing (in APA), and how those
citations are integrated. Students find a guided tour of successful student work a
useful exercise, and although the topic should not matter in terms of the writing
strategies, they wonder if there might be texts in their disciplines that they can
analyse. As a response we have a new (and still being developed) innovation called
Annotated Academic Excerpts. This innovation takes successful assignments donated
by high-performing students and annotates the features that contribute towards the
quality of the text in question. At present the tool has focussed on the introduction
and conclusion structure of the academic rhetorical essay, but we are hoping to
include excerpts of text-types for specific disciplines as these become available. As
with the grammar, many of the excerpts have an activity at the bottom of the page
inviting active participation.
If you have students who are doing well and might be willing to donate texts please
let us know. We would like to continue to develop this resource in collaboration with
students, and value the insights of teaching staff on what they consider important
when grading specific assignment types. We welcome both positive and constructive
suggestions for improvement on this innovation.
To see our annotated academic excerpts:
www.waikato.ac.nz/students/student-learning/academic/
BASIC REFERENCING (APA)
The basic referencing suite uses the same interface as the annotated academic excerpts. The excerpts demonstrate how successful
students have integrated their citations (whether as direct quotes or as paraphrases) into their writing. These citations are annotated
to show how the citations fit seamlessly into the paragraph and sentences to support a writer’s point. The original text (that the
student has cited) is included (as a pop-up window) with the actual words the student employs picked out in blue text. The student
can compare the original with the cited extract, and take note of the comments that we have included. The comments direct
the reader explicitly to the citation strategies used within the excerpt and some of the technical features. The overall aim is to
demonstrate what writers are doing when they include citations, and how their voice is supported by the authority of the authors who
have influenced their thinking on the subject.
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As well as providing examples of good writing, the section alerts students to pitfalls that they may not be aware that they need to
avoid. In order to demonstrate examples of ‘what-not-to-do’ the Student Learning team have provided examples of things such as
misquoting and patch writing (to name just two), that we can use to explain to students what is meant by these criticisms and why
they are a problem.
To see basic referencing (APA): http://www.waikato.ac.nz/students/student-learning/referencing/
HELP WITH TECHNOLOGY
The technology that is available to help students with their studies is remarkable, but sometimes students consult Student Learning
because they are distracted from the subject content by new (to them) technology. For some, ‘new’ may be a process as simple
as attaching a file in an email or simple formatting in a document of text. The ‘help with technology’ series is arranged according
to technology themes and contains web pages with simple to follow embedded YouTube videos providing short instructional
demonstrations. The pages cross-link to the ICT self-service provided by the University’s ITS, to the Library’s ICT tutorials, and to a
Moodle forum where University students can invite interaction with a Student Learning tutor on more specific enquiries.
To see Help with technology: http://www.waikato.ac.nz/students/student-learning/ict/
We have found that the opportunity to offer targeted resources as part of an explanation for common learning enquiries has eased
the burden of lengthy explanations, and enables students to revise the concepts under discussion more thoroughly, or to have access
to the advice at a distance. We are interested in maintaining the collection by adding new grammar lessons as the need for them
becomes apparent, by adding new texts to the annotated excerpts and referencing suites, by having a greater variety of disciplines
represented, and by deconstructing a wider range of text-types. As well as the successful collaboration with teachers from the Faculty
of Education, and Te Piringa - Faculty of Law respectively, there is discussion currently in progress also to include excerpts of successful
reo Māori assignment types as well. We would sincerely welcome any excerpts you would like included for your students.
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ELEARNING FROM A MOLECULAR
PERSPECTIVE
by Dr Linda Peters, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering
Recalling my days as a University student, I fondly remember my lectures presented on an overhead projector
- the gold standard technology at the time. Today, I’m on the other side of the fence, where I am presenting
lectures using a computer and projector. This builds on past presentation systems but adds in video and
Internet integration; broadening the way information is delivered to my eager students. Since arriving at
the University in 2011, I’ve had to come up to speed with using a range of new digital technologies such
as Panopto (video recordings), Moodle, and electronic whiteboards. Luckily, the e-learning centre at the
University offers regular training and revision seminars that I can attend. However, there have been glitches
encountered along the way with technology; memorable mentions are how grumpy students become when
video files were missing or have audio errors.
I’m also involved in a purely online teaching course, so I am very interested in the availability of e-learning tools to improve
engagement with students. Before joining University of Waikato, I had limited training or expertise in this area. Therefore, I have
attended a range of workshops and conferences that the University offers. I’ve been introduced to a whole new world of computer
jargon. What on earth are Prezi, Diigo, and Pearltrees? It is difficult to keep track of so many tools, while also finding time to learn and
implement them into the course outline and juggle these activities with trying to build a research career. My philosophy is to be aware
of technologies available and the advantages they provide compared to what I’m currently using. Some examples are outlined here:
• Diigo is a social bookmarking website. The advantage of social bookmarking is that all the websites that you have bookmarked
can be shared with assigned users (students).Diigo is a fantastic tool in my field of genetics research, where we extensively use
bioinformatics, a range of website tools that students can use to analyse biological data. Correspondingly, Diigo is perfect for my
teaching laboratories and online course. This is a free software tool that is easy to use. I aim to introduce this tool into a 2014
paper for a trial.
• Pearltrees is a visual and collaborative curation tool that allows the collection, display and sharing of any URL found online. I
designed one Pearltree in an evening. I must admit, it was more fun than preparing a PowerPoint presentation. The advantage of
using this tool is that it enables one to navigate to other websites and students can write feedback with respect to the material.
In order to enhance student learning and engagement, I have explored other pedagogies to incorporate into my presentations. I have
discovered high quality e-learning educational tools available from reputable sites such as Scitable (Nature Journal), Howard Hughes
Medical Institute, and Genetic Science Learning Centre at the University of Utah. Most of these resources have been identified through
conversations with my colleagues – you can never underestimate this – way better than Google!
Speaking of the web search giant, I have to admit my personal favourite was found trawling through the interweb; JOVE, the Journal of
Visualized Experiments. This is a peer reviewed scientific video journal with some open access content. During my lecture, I can present
and discuss a figure from the textbook, and then direct the students to JOVE to see the technique applied in a real research setting.
This journal has a video that you can fast forward to specific chapters that is supplemented with a full written manuscript that can be
downloaded as a PDF.
I’ve incrementally introduced a range of e-learning tools into my teaching each year. I don’t consider myself an expert but if I invest a
small amount of time each year, my confidence will improve and ultimately, the students will reap the benefits. In the future, it is my
goal to be using a variety of e-learning tools to deliver the complex and always-changing field of human genetics. This will the learning
experience of our future generation of computer literate learners.
14
MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH ADOBE
CONNECT: REFLECTIONS
from Prof Stuart Locke, Waikato Management School – Finance
Nigel Robertson, Waikato Centre for eLearning’s Team Leader, invited Stewart to write something on his recent
experience of using Adobe Connect. He observed that, in his feedback to the working group on Adobe Connect,
Stewart had indicated that its use had quadrupled student numbers and that this was an interesting point for
comment. Nigel also invited Stewart to talk about how he had adapted to that synchronous online environment
and explain what it had enabled him to do things differently. Stewart offers his reflections in the following article:
At the beginning of this century, I was involved in teaching a post graduate diploma in personal financial
planning to BNZ and Westpac employees. We used a mixed mode form of delivery with online material,
using Waikato Management School’s MyWeb™ platform, block face-to-face sessions and a weekly Moodle
“e-chat” online. The technology has advanced since then but the challenge of providing a rich and engaging learning experience with
appropriate, quality and sustainable outcomes continues.
I returned to online teaching in T semester 2013. Our move was not built on sustained planning or driven by pedagogical principles, but
rather, a pragmatic response to try to boost enrolment numbers. We jumped from the frying-pan of heavy teaching loads and reduced
resources into the fire of online teaching.
This was the context for our experimentation with Adobe Connect, a web-based conferencing application which the university
purchased last year. Adobe Connect allows participants to meet in a virtual “meeting room” with audio, video and chat facilities. We
were up and running with Adobe Connect five days before teaching started. The package was a trial version. While lacking some of the
administrative prowess that the full system now has, there were plenty of features for us to use and the software worked well.
Two papers were offered as NET papers; FINA101 (Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation) and FINA403 (Small Business Finance). We
used the same model for both papers, but FIN403 provides the more interesting case study. First, we ended up with 106 students and
second, a significant number were overseas students who had chosen to go “home” for summer. The numbers caught us by surprise as
we expecting around 25 enrolments.
The structure for both papers was relatively simple. The paper outline went live one week before semester began. There were five weeks
of topics published and for each of these weeks there was a folder loaded on MyWeb™. In each week there were links to resource
materials, including PowerPoint slides for specific topics, media clips on themes that arose during the paper, and short briefing videos
which we created using Panopto. Two one-hour webinar “sessions” were scheduled for each week. One of these was used to review
resource material – much in the way that a face-to-face lecture draws things together. The second webinar was more of a workshop
where participants were shown how to use various databases or how to do financial calculations using Excel.
The students had access to two communication windows or “pods” during each session. There was a general “Chat” which was visible
to all and a second “Q & A” window where questions could be posted and answered either publically (to all students) or privately
(to the individual student). Dr Reza Yaghoubi “drove the system” answering questions, sharing Excel or other program screens, while I
delivered. This two-person approach was essential as it is very difficult to deliver the material while simultaneously reading questions
and formulating answers. At the end of the session we emailed the “Chat” and Q & A contents to ourselves and addressed all the
remaining questions via MyWeb™.
The assessments were online and consisted of mostly of multiple-choice questions via Perception – the quiz software used at the
Waikato Management School. The multi-choice format allowed for machine marking, but did take quite a bit of time to formulate
15
the questions and answers. There were inadequate resources available to mark short answer questions and we had to get the Dean’s
permission to use more sessional assistant time as expenditures had been frozen.
In FINA101 all ran smoothly. In FINA403 we had problems with some students. In the “Chat” window only six students actively
participated. In the Moodle General Discussion area 11 of the 106 students posted questions/comments and one student generated
70% of the traffic. These two groups of students effectively forced all other students into an uncomfortable position of not wanting to
be involved and numbers at each webinar dropped. These six students then began a regular barrage of emails to the Dean who began
to respond. This escalated matters further with ultimatums from the students that if certain things didn’t happen they would go the
media.
A very big lesson was learned about developing strategies to avoid cyber bullying. The instantaneous nature of the online mode
presents some real challenges. Resources are critical and, if mistakes occur, the consequences can be catastrophic. When there are
problems outside normal working hours and no Helpdesk staff are available, the process can become chaotic.
A careful review of the FINA403 experience was very helpful and in Semester S, 2014, FINA305 (Financial Analysis and Valuation) ran
smoothly with 64 students, the majority of whom were in China.
In retrospect, our preparation for the T semester papers worked well and there were no technical issues with Adobe Connect. What we
did do differently in S semester was to have more sessional assistant time approved, more videos, and use the administrative functions
of Adobe Connect which were not previously available. In FINA403 it was a Mr Dotcom and John Key who were perhaps the most
destructive in terms of comments all the way through the webinars. By the S semester, students had to log on as themselves, rather
than as “guests” that could use a pseudonym.
We will run more papers in this mode. The potential to use the multiple virtual “rooms” and to record the webinars are two features
we are keen to adopt for the next papers. The ability to have the presenter and the assistant in different locations and students all over
the globe provides the University with huge opportunities.
A summary of suggestions includes:
• Have all your material prepared in
advance and online (or, for tests, ready to
be released).
• Provide students with details about Adobe
Connect (how to log on, etc.) before the
paper starts.
• Have a practice session for staff and
students to log into Adobe Connect before
the paper begins.
• Run the webinars with at least two people
- one presenting, and one answering the
questions/comments/problems that come
though on the Chat or Q & A.
• Ensure you have enough resources
(teaching and technical assistance) to
cope.
16
TOP TEN ONLINE WORKLOAD
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
by Stephen Bright, eLearning Designer, Waikato Centre for eLearning
E-teaching (teaching online) is different from teaching in a face-to-face environment. In the future, all
academic staff will be expected to adopt a more ‘blended’ approach to teaching strategies, using a mixture
of online and face-to-face delivery modes. The Universities of the Future discussion paper circulated in
2013 stated that “the University of Waikato must adapt its teaching and learning practices to pursue online
technologies to a greater extent than we do at present”.
In relation to workload, recent research in four Australian universities indicates that:
“New methodologies have increased both the number and type of teaching tasks undertaken by staff, with a
consequent increase in their work hours” (p.4).
In-house research using interview data from ten experienced online lecturers is the basis for this short article, which outlines a range of
innovative strategies these lecturers have developed to manage the online teaching component of their workload.
While not intending this set of strategies to be a ‘recipe’ or formula, these ideas may be useful to staff teaching online on a ‘try it and
see if it works for you’ basis.
DESIGN IT IN PLENTY OF TIME NOT ‘JUST IN TIME’
Online teaching workload was considered to be much more easily managed if the online component of the paper was completely or
substantially ready in terms of resource items and student activities before the course was opened for student interaction.
TALK TO ME IN MOODLE
Limiting lecturer-student communication to the tools available in the Learning Management System (LMS) was a common strategy.
The Dialogue tool for private 1-1 discussions with students was noted as being very useful. Keeping the communication within the
boundaries of the LMS helped prevent email overload, missed emails through institutional spam filtering and also provided a reliable
history of communication around ‘high stakes’ items such as assignments.
LITTLE AND OFTEN
Online teaching has a different rhythm to face-to-face teaching – the pattern that most experienced lecturers preferred was a ‘little
and often’ approach, logging on to the online papers several times a day at both regular and irregular intervals throughout the working
week. This enabled them to keep up-to-date with discussion forums, as well as intervene quickly when a crisis occurred.
LEAVE ME ALONE… I’M TEACHING
Experienced lecturers employed some strategies which were aimed at safeguarding online teaching time – for example the simple
strategy of a putting a sign on their office door when they were doing online preparation. Another strategy was blocking out that time
scheduled for online teaching in their Google diary, so they could spend that uninterrupted time focussed on online teaching tasks.
Diverting the office phone to voicemail during designated online teaching time also helped lecturers achieve uninterrupted blocks of
time.
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TALK TO ME TIME – NOT ANYTIME
One lecturer had a strategy for supporting students who were new to online learning of allocating a designated phone-in time for the
initial weeks of the course (e.g. 11.30am–1.30pm).This was a time she set aside to work in her office so she was always available to
answer calls immediately if students phoned in. She found this decreased student anxiety and paid off in terms of support workload
later in the course, with fewer enquiries or requests for assistance, as well as reducing drop-out rates of students.
DON’T BE A LONE RANGER
Team teaching was identified as both a workload creator (e.g. team co-ordination meetings) and also a workload management support
– for example other lecturers being able to help moderate or manage online discussions, and provide online cover for a lecturer when
they were sick or had an unpredictable crisis. Using the other team members to sound out ideas when a problem had to be solved was
also identified as a useful strategy.
LISTEN TO ME
One of the substantial workload elements for online lecturers is giving personalised feedback to online students. Three lecturers
reported that they found short podcasts as a way of giving student feedback was more efficient than typing substantial text-based
feedback, using freely available podcast software (e.g. Audacity). This was also seen to make the course more personal for students and
improve the ‘teacher presence’ element of the online learning experience.
3 B4 ME
Another innovative strategy reported by several staff was the ‘3 b4 me’ protocol. In other words, if someone has made a discussion
post, then that person must wait for at least three other people to respond before posting again on this topic. In some papers this has
been found to be a useful protocol both for students and for lecturers, to help manage any over-involvement and possible domination
of the online discussion.
HAVE YOU GOT THE ANSWER?
This strategy involved waiting to see if students could sort out issues and questions among themselves. Some papers had a ‘questions
for anyone’ discussion forum to facilitate this. Waiting to see if students could resolve things for themselves rather than ‘diving in and
fixing it’ was often seen to be a more effective and efficient way of managing problem-solving in an online paper.
TIME TO GROW
Another strategy that one participant outlined related to lecturer input to discussion forums, which the literature notes as another
major component of eLearning lecturer workload. This involved progressively less lecturer input as the course went on. The lecturer
made the level of input s/he was going to give to each discussion explicit at the start of each week of the course as part of a weekly
news forum posting. The lecturer talked about this as a strategy relating to the explicit overall course goal of growing the students to
be ‘autonomous learners’ in the online environment.
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REFERENCES
Bright, S. (2012). eLearning lecturer workload: Working smarter or working harder? In M. Brown, M. Hartnett & T. Stewart (Eds.),
Proceedings of ascilite 2012, 25-28 November, Wellington, New Zealand.
Tynan, B., Ryan, Y.,Hinton, L., & Lamont Mills, A. (2012). Out of hours Final report of the project
e-Teaching leadership: planning and implementing a benefits-oriented costs model for technology-enhanced learning. Strawberry Hills,
NSW Australia: Australian Learning & Teaching Council.
University of Waikato (2013). Universities of the Future: future direction for teaching and learning at the University of Waikato. Hamilton,
New Zealand: Author.
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UNIVERSITIES OF THE PAST
by Professor Cathy Coleborne, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
This semester I am teaching HIST319 Digital Histories. Students present a fortnightly reflective blog, assess
historical content on websites, participate in an online forum, and create group projects to pitch digital history
concepts to a cultural institution, and are taught in computer labs. In previous semesters they have also
made short digital stories. My aim is to raise consciousness about how history can be presented using digital
tools, and how historians and cultural institutions must understand and know their digital media, and how to
critique them, to be able to survive in a changing world for researchers.
Digital history probably emerges from ‘Computing for Historians’, which was taught in the 1980s to students
at the University of Melbourne, where I studied, and in other institutions. Then, it was common for historians
to think of computing as a practical application for their research data, often voluminous, and to look at ways
in which computing techniques could enhance large research projects or provide new ways of looking at and presenting research
data and materials. The major difference between this form of history and that practiced now is that we have moved into a Web 2.0
era since then, which means that ideas about interactivity, as part of a whole set of concepts of knowledge mediation, have become
critical to understanding historical research.
Historical research used to be a very different experience. I often tell my students that when I studied at undergraduate level, it was
quite normal to be asked to use photocopied materials in the library that were held on reserve. Multiple copies were made and stapled
into manila folders, and I would sit in the lovely big reading room in the Baillieu Library and read. The library was a second home to me.
I even worked there for two or three years on and off, in the evenings. It was a great way to know the research hub of an institution,
where the journals were held, where one could work quietly and uninterrupted for hours. Later, during my graduate research thesis
years, there were microfilms to read in special spaces. (Microfilm is still a very stable format: it lasts for hundreds of years, and to
read it, librarians remind us, requires only a light source and a magnifying glass. Digital records are less certain in this respect.). In the
Baillieu, I came to know intimately the index card collection which provided a pathway through all of the older resources held in the
library, older than the 1980s collection that were then newly accessible on the library catalogue on computers. It was a balancing
act and a skill to know how to work in libraries, to move between checking the card catalogue, checking published bibliographies and
guides, and lastly, checking the catalogue on the computer. All of this is now fully integrated online.
These were formative years for me, in terms of my social, intellectual and political development, so it is hard not to feel fondly about
the libraries of this past – which had already changed significantly from earlier times. The library, book culture, and learning and
pedagogical practices were all derived from earlier forms of university education based in a much longer history of the university as an
academy, and as a community of scholars: think medieval and early modern European institutions. However, I feel a fondness for that
way of life, and that time, not necessarily for the systems in themselves. I do not feel nostalgic about the loss of the index cards, except
to say that the skills learned in using libraries and their complex systems have been of great benefit to those historians of my own
generation, even while we embrace and are quick to acknowledge the newer digital systems of the present in our research: research
has sped up, and life is easier because of that. Newer academics are more adept in using the vast database collections and digitised
materials than some of us, which points to a newer set of research skills for historians.
The universities I attended and worked at in Australia were also products of a post-war generation of academia, and were later part
of a major overhaul in the mid-1980s. The Dawkins years, as they were known, ushered in the need for more and more students to
ensure university targets and a rationalisation of different institutions including mergers between universities and technical colleges.
These years also ushered in an emphasis on commercialisation, research funding and the need to raise quality and increase the number
of research outputs. John Dawkins was a Labor government Education Minister in the Hawke government who created the set of
conditions which arguably shape Australian Higher Education today. Universities of the past, then, were already facing challenges of
pedagogy, government funding, class sizes, research tools, and library spaces. For those of us trained in the 1980s, our own times are an
echo of what we went through as students. How we teach our students, prepare them for the universities of the future, draws on this
experience of change, the only constant thing that we know.
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UNIVERSITIES OF THE FUTURE:
COMMUNICATING MORE EFFECTIVELY
TO
THE
PUBLIC
by Dr Rowland Weston, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
When historians are asked to speculate about the future of anything they automatically look to its past.
Patterns of change in the past can reveal possible future trends. When we study the history of the university,
the only constant appears to be change. For good and for ill, and with varying degrees of willingness or
complicity, universities have adapted over the centuries to various political, ideological, and technological
pressures. At the present moment, the ways in which knowledge is constructed and communicated by new
media is radically altering our scholarly activity. Here I am interested in another aspect of communication: the
way we communicate to the general public. Due to recent ideological and political imperatives, the university
of the future will have to be better at this.
Most academics are perturbed, even demoralized, by the extent to which financial objectives, instruments, and discourses appear to
be changing the nature of higher education.3 I believe that one of the reasons this recent ‘financialisation’ continues to triumph is
academics’ failure to communicate their activities and achievements properly to the public. For it is this currently ill-informed public
which ultimately accepts or rejects the various ideological prescriptions of elected governments. I am not saying that taxpayers should
dictate the nature of higher education directly; but I am saying that they ought to be better educated about the value of the kind of
independent, open-ended, intellectual enquiry which is certainly a constant characteristic of modern universities.4
The first thing I learned as a university teacher is that academics speak to a variety of audiences. We need different descriptions of our
subject for each of these audiences. I am a specialist in the European Enlightenment; and I describe this subject in radically different
ways to my academic peers, to non-specialist funding bodies, to university administrators, and to students (at levels 1 through PhD). I
construct my explanations and descriptions according to the backgrounds, expertise and interests of each of these groups; and I take
the time do so because I want these groups to understand why the Enlightenment was and is important. I could be better at this.
So could we all. Perhaps universities of the future will have disciplinary specialists highly skilled in public communication to help us
convince the public that what we do has the special value we believe it does. Consider the University of Oxford’s Simonyi Professorship
for the Public Understanding of Science, held first by biologist Richard Dawkins and now by mathematician Marcus du Sautoy. Could
such posts become normative in the future university? Of course, not all institutions are as well-endowed as Oxford, nor all academics
as skillful as Dawkins and du Sautoy in rendering scientific ideas and activities accessible to the public. But we can all improve our
individual capacities for effective public communication. Our teaching will improve. So, in all probability, will our research: translating
our activities and knowledge for a variety of audiences forces us to question and revise our own understanding of what we do and
know.5 Academics (in the Arts and Social Sciences especially) stress intellectual flexibility and superior communication skills as central
graduate outcomes. In the future the academy itself will be called upon to demonstrate these capabilities explicitly.
3
Campbell Jones, ‘Finance, University, Revolt’, Argos Aotearoa 1 (2014), pp. 44-51.
4
Stefan Collini, What Are Universities For? (London: Penguin, 2012).
5
C. S. Lewis, ‘Before We Can Communicate’, First and Second Things (Glasgow: William Collins, 1985), pp. 124-28.
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TODAY’S LEARNERS, TOMORROW’S
STUDENTS: THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
OF OUR FUTURE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
by Anne-Louise Robertson and Gail Abbitt, Waikato Diocesan School for Girls
“TAKE HOLD OF THE FUTURE OR THE FUTURE WILL TAKE HOLD OF YOU –
BE FUTUREWISE.” 6
Edmund Burke said that “you can never plan the future by the past” and that is very true of education. Of course, we have to learn
from what has gone before, take the best parts and build on them. But we also have to look at the context in which we and our
learners live, the technologies that are available to us and the possibilities that they present.
The NZ Curriculum7 enshrines ideals for 21st century education to prepare the youth of New Zealand to cope with the demands
of tomorrow’s world. It aims for our students to think critically, to collaborate, to problem-solve, to be creative, innovative and to
communicate, as well as develop digital and information literacy skills. Primary and Intermediate schools have led the way, but what
are Secondary School teachers doing? Furthermore, how are the core values of the NZ Curriculum supported and continued as
students move into tertiary education?
LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES
Many schools now encourage students to bring their own devices to class (known as BYOD). Mobile phones have been brought out
of students’ pockets and onto the desks. Laptops are squeezed into bags alongside exercise books. However, when opportunities to
use them in the classroom are scarce, students stop bringing them. When our school went “BYOD” our teachers weren’t ready, they
didn’t have the knowledge or the time to find out how to adapt their teaching practice. Some were unsure of the benefits of learning
technologies and were concerned that they would simply be a distraction to learning.8 We decided that if we were serious about
blending technology with robust teaching strategies to encourage and enable our students to own their learning, then we had to
provide training and a reason for our teachers to adapt what they were doing.
CHALLENGES
Results at our school, as in many, are excellent; we have dedicated teachers and willing students. However, we suffer from the “If
it ain’t broke, why fix it?” mentality. Teachers feel pressured as NCEA standards are constantly being updated and re-aligned, while
parents, BOT, students and SLT demand better results.
Our school is committed to “challenging the learners of today and nurturing the leaders of tomorrow” , to preparing “confident,
resourceful and resilient young women to make a positive difference in their world.” and to providing “learner-centred programmes that
meet the needs and aspirations of all students and inspire a passion for lifelong learning.”9
How can we do all that if we don’t adapt teaching practices to reflect the changing world and the context in which we live? Our
challenge is also defined by the examination system and the demands of university entrance. The NZ Curriculum is at the forefront of
curricula worldwide but our assessment structure10 does not match up. Assessments are standardised, not personalised for the different
needs of our learners. It will be interesting to see how the proposals from NZQA to have examinations online11 will affect the system.
6
Patrick Dixon, Futurist and author, Futurewise 1998/2005
7
Myths about BYOD debunked
8
Myths about BYOD debunked
9
http://www.waikatodiocesan.school.nz/waikato-diocesan/mission-and-values/
10
Understanding NCEA
11
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NZQA The Possible Kick Starter to get BYOD into Secondary Schools
CHANGING FOCUS
Teachers are a school’s most important resource and if they are not convinced and confident about Modern Learning Practice then
our learners will not benefit. It is important to respond to their needs and come up with a programme for Professional Development
that works. One of the key requests that came from a survey that we conducted at the end of 2012 was for time to learn and
experiment. If our students are to be “confident, resourceful and resilient”, then teachers need to model those attributes. Exploring and
implementing different technologies and becoming comfortable using them on a personal level is essential.
Sharing of ideas also facilitates change and our PD programme enables rich discussions about the value of technology in the
classroom. A key idea to emerge was that we needed to share our pedagogical practice more. We sometimes forget the wealth of
knowledge about teaching strategies and methods that we have collectively. So we discuss and explore not just the technology but
ways in which teachers are already using it effectively.
CLASSROOM PRACTICE
Here are some examples of work that is happening in my school but this sort of practice is happening in schools all around NZ.
Traditionally our art teachers have struggled to get students to reflect on their work and make modifications because of the delay
between submission and feedback. Teachers in our Art department now use Google Draw to provide timely feedback and feed forward
for portfolio work. Instead of printing out photos of their work, pasting on board, annotating, and submitting for formative comment,
students now upload photos of their artwork to Google Draw. The teachers can comment easily and give feedback and advice on
how to improve. The students love the immediacy of this feedback and apply it to their work. Using Google Draw has enhanced the
opportunities for learning and teachers find that the virtual conversations prompt the students to take immediate action to improve
their work.
In English, Google Docs are being used to draft essays, receive feedback and redraft. The revision function provides accountability and
authenticity and the ability to close access after the allotted time has elapsed ensures equity of access. The NCEA classes appreciate
the timely feedback that is provided and working collaboratively helps them to learn. The students have gained confidence and are
more reflective about their work; they ask more effective questions and make pertinent comments as they review each other’s work.
In Maths, interactive Smartboard activities are proving popular especially with junior classes. Old, “stagnant” worksheet resources are
being revamped into upbeat interactive powerpoint activities which allow the students to participate actively and they are excited
about their learning. Collaborative note-taking using Google Docs means that students have ownership of their notes and they are
developing deeper thinking skills.
In Languages the wealth of authentic resources on the internet are a boon. French language blogs written by exchange students
provide cultural information, and video snippets from GeoBeats provide stimulus for conversations and writing portfolios. Text-tospeech sites allow students to hear the correct pronunciation of the target language and then practise and record their own voice to
compare.
Many of our teachers use Edmodo 12which is an online classroom space, to provide resources for students to use at home, quizzes for
formative assessment and as consolidation for their classwork. In languages, being able to set regular short writing assignments to
12
https://www.edmodo.com/ - online classrooms
23
encourage frequent production of the target language is invaluable. The sense of accountability, and immediate feedback both from
their teachers and their peers has proved highly motivational for students.
Google Sites is being used for class portfolios and to encourage peer review in several subject areas. Sites provide a place for students
to showcase their work. Students are accustomed to having “just in time”, contextual feedback that they then use to redraft work.
They enjoy the opportunities to collaborate and co-construct vocabulary lists and grammar notes using Google Docs. Ownership plays
a large part in the students’ motivation and giving them a space to call their own is very powerful.
Shifting our focus is not easy; internet access is not always consistent and reliable, managing a variety of devices in a classroom is
challenging and there is always a need for trouble-shooting. We have to sometimes think on our feet and if one thing doesn’t work
we try another. Navigating your way around the unknown is a challenge, and students, just like teachers, are not all keen to embrace
technology.
However, the overriding message that is coming through is that students are gaining a greater sense of ownership of their learning and
responsibility for it. We are moving from teacher-centred instruction to student-centred learning. We believe that universities must
ensure they are prepared for the new generations of learners who are leaving school now. These are learners whose mode of learning is
active, collaborative, reflective and who expect technology to be used to bring advantage.
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enhance your teaching
excite and engage your learners
educate effectively
visit the
TDU
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton 3240
New Zealand
Website: www.waikato.ac.nz
Teaching Development Unit
Centre for Tertiary Teaching and Learning
Phone: +64 7 838 4839, Fax: + 64 7 838 4573
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu
©The University of Waikato, April 2014.
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