ASCILITE09 Day 1

Day 1 of ASCILITE09, quite a good crowd here.

The keynote from Scott Diener was interesting.  The focus was on the use of Second Life to create virtual environments for students in health care. Second Life is quite popular here, with lots of papers examining its use for a variety of programs.  Similarly, blended learning is something popping up in many session titles.

Sessions are split into 25 minute and 15 minute concise presentations. I find the time frame a little too short for the concise sessions, as most presentations either rush to finish, or provide such a simple overview that in some cases you don’t even get a good sense of what the research was about. My paper will also be in a concise session.

Interesting day so far, lots to think about.

The Fun Theory

This one came from a Twitter update in a slightly different context.  However, I think it has great implications for approaches to teaching and course development.

The video highlights that the best way to change peoples behaviour for the better is to make the change fun. The same approach can be used for teaching and learning.

When should you use Comic Sans?

This came from digg, but it deserves a repost.

ASCILITE 09 Paper

Supporting ways of learning for Indigenous Australian pre-undergraduate students using Moodle

Thomas Duggan

Nulloo Yumbah

CQUniversity

This paper discusses the way in which the ways of learning and learning strengths of Indigenous Australian university students can be supported by the Moodle learning management system (LMS).  Moodle is currently undergoing a pilot phase at CQUniversity before it fully replaces Blackboard and Webfuse as the sole university LMS. Several courses from Nulloo Yumbah, CQUniversity’s Indigenous Learning, Research and Spirituality Centre, are participating in this pilot phase.  The literature highlights the way that information communication technologies (ICTs) align with Indigenous ways of learning when learning materials are designed and presented in a way that is culturally relevant.  The paper outlines Indigenous learning styles and presents a discussion based around what Moodle does and does not offer to benefit Indigenous learners.  From this, a number of the potential benefits and constraints of Moodle are presented and future research directions identified.

Introduction

In 2009 CQUniversity began the transition from two learning management systems, Blackboard and Webfuse, to one system, Moodle.  Moodle is an open source learning management system, and is currently undergoing its first pilot run in a live setting at CQUniversity.  Only a selection of courses are currently running Moodle as their LMS, all other courses continue to run in Blackboard or Webfuse.  Alongside the implementation of the new LMS has come a push from the University to make sure that all courses running in Moodle adhere to a set of minimum standards in order to provide consistent presentation of courses for students.  However, what needs to be considered for courses run by Nulloo Yumbah (and indeed all University courses) is how the unique ways of learning of Indigenous Australian students can be supported by the learning environment provided by Moodle.

This paper sets out to present an overview of the use of Moodle at Nulloo Yumbah (CQUniversity’s Indigenous Learning, Research and Spirituality Centre) and to determine how Indigenous ways of learning align with what Moodle offers.  Using the Indigenous ways of learning and learning strengths identified by Harris (1980), Hughes & More (1997) and Hughes, More & Williams (2004), as well as the work on designing for cultural difference by McLoughlin & Oliver (1999) the aim of the paper is to identify ways in which Moodle can accommodate, support and nurture the unique ways of learning of Indigenous Australian students enrolled in Nulloo Yumbah’s Tertiary Entry Program (TEP).  The paper will begin with a review of the literature regarding Indigenous ways of learning and learning styles, and will then attempt to examine how these mesh the different features that are available in the CQUniversity Moodle pilot installation.  To conclude, the paper identifies some issues and constraints that arise between what Moodle allows, and what is available in the version of Moodle currently being piloted by CQUniversity.

Background and Context

Courses offered within Nulloo Yumbah’s Tertiary Entry Program (TEP) range from a computer literacy course, to academic and university skills courses, to introductory sciences and mathematics courses.  Typically, TEP has around 60-70 students enrolled (though in 2009 that number reached 148).  TEP students are primarily Indigenous and are geographically spread throughout Queensland and Australia, including remote communities and correctional centres.  Nulloo Yumbah also offers several undergraduate courses with an Indigenous focus.  Courses offered within TEP are run in a multi-modal environment.  Students are provided with hard copy course materials which can include a course profile, a study guide, a book of resource reading material, and in some cases a CD containing other resources such as PowerPoint files or instructional videos.  Each course also contains a supplementary online component – traditionally this has run in the Blackboard learning management system (LMS) – one of the two systems currently in place at CQUniversity.  These courses fit into a Mode A grouping as categorised by Bell, Bush, Nicholson, O’Brien and Tran (2002), in that the course website is supplementary, and participation for students is optional.  Due to the location of some of the students who Nulloo Yumbah supports, it would be unfair for these students for the websites to deliver additional course materials.  All courses are delivered via flexible learning mode only, with two non-compulsory on-campus residential schools run each term.

The extent to which this website supplements the course is often left to the discretion of the course coordinator, however there are set of minimum standards as to what must be included.  This, coupled with the fact that the online component has been supplementary, has led to several of the TEP online Blackboard courses being underdeveloped, and thus under-utilised by students of Nulloo Yumbah.  Since the introduction of the minimum standards there is a uniform online presence of all TEP courses which has lead to more students participating and accessing the material online.

Indigenous Ways of Learning and Learning Strengths

Often cited as the most influential research into Indigenous education theory is Harris’s (1980) Aboriginal learning styles theory.  Harris (1980) observed the yolngu people in Milingimbi, Northern Territory, Australia between 1975 and 1976.  Based on this research, Harris (1980, p77) identified “what were observed to be the five major traditional yolngu informal learning strategies or styles”.  These learning styles and the ways in which they differ from mainstream non-indigenous learning styles are:

• Observation and imitation versus verbal instruction
• Personal trial-and-error versus verbal instruction and demonstration
• Real life performance by the learner versus practice in contrived settings
• Context specific learning versus the learning of generalisable, context-free principles
• Person orientated versus information-orientation

Hughes and More (1997) present an expanded list of what they define as learning strengths.  For Hughes and More (1997) the concept of learning style is used inconsistently.  Instead, they define ways of learning and learning strengths.  They define ways of learning as, “ the mental processes and instructional settings which an individual uses while learning” (Hughes & More, 1997, cited in Hughes, More & Williams, 2004, p. 262) and learning strengths as, “a way of learning in which the student is more competent” (Hughes & More, 1997, cited in Hughes, More & Williams, 2004, p. 262).  Hughes and More (1997, cited in Hughes, More & Williams, 2004) outline the following as recurring learning strengths for Indigenous learners:

• Learning through observation and imitation rather than verbal instruction
• Learning through trial and feedback
• The group is more important than the individual
• Holistic (global) learning
• Visual spatial skills
• Imagery
• Contextual Learning
• Spontaneous Learning

The writers also note that the identification of these learning strengths is not implying that Aboriginal students be solely using their learning strengths, and that Aboriginal students (as all students) should be aided to develop their weaker ways of learning in order to use the appropriate approach when required for a task.  However, these ways of learning are often looked over entirely and “learning styles imposed by educational institutions are quite different to the learning styles of Aboriginal students” (Dolman, 1884, p. 54).

Moodle – Benefits and Constraints for Indigenous Ways Learning

Moodle is an online learning management system, and provides students with a virtual learning environment (VLE) for which they can complete their studies.  The philosophy behind the design of Moodle is one of social constructionist pedagogy (Moodle, 2009).  Learning is undertaken in an environment that encourages groups to construct and build knowledge together, to collaborate in tasks and to share new knowledge within the group.  On face value alone it would seem the philosophy of learning in Moodle aligns with the Indigenous learning styles that have been identified, in particular the importance of groups and community.

Computers in Indigenous Learning

Computers and ITCs can produce positive learning experiences for Indigenous students.  Tools such as Moodle help in the development of digital literacies.  In terms of the use of computers and ICTs in Indigenous education, the two trends that develop from the literature are:

• Computers and software learning tools are well suited to the learning styles of Indigenous students (Dyson, 2002; Fryer, 1987)
• In order for them to do so, software and learning tools must be designed and delivered in a way that is culturally relevant to Indigenous students (Kutay & Mooney, 2008; Eady, 2008)

Previous published work has examined the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their link with positive Indigenous learning outcomes.  For Dyson (2002, p.189) Indigenous learning styles theory, “sits well in computer education.  It allows teachers, particularly non-Indigenous teachers, a way of creating a learning environment which affirms Indigenous interests, values and identity.”  The use of computers also helps Indigenous students develop independence, allowing students to feel more in control of their learning situations, develop a relationship structure that is conducive to learning, and increasing the one-to-one interaction with the teacher (Fryer, 1987).  According to O’Donoghue (1992), computers appeal to Indigenous visual-spatial strengths through the use of colourful graphics, are a patient medium that forgive mistakes, can provide instead feedback and require little writing so suit an oral cultural background.

While the use of computers have the potential to play a positive and welcome role in Indigenous education, not all of the software and system implementation provides enough cultural relevance to be effective.  Cultural inclusivity is one of the essential foundations of student-centred learning environments (Chen, Mashadi, Ang & Harkrider, 1998), as it “allows learners to access learning resources in a manner that is congruent with their values, beliefs and styles of learning” (McLoughlin & Oliver, 1999, p.3).

Earlier studies have suggested that in terms of learning software and programs, most were generally inappropriate for Indigenous students (Fleer & Klich, 1988).  Such programs were often text orientated and lacking in visuals, stories or characters relevant to Indigenous people.  Steen (1997, p.22) argued that there is a need to improve computer software and computer instruction so as to make it more culturally appropriate for Indigenous people, stating that software design “must take into account the learning styles of Aboriginal people, have more graphics and be less text based, be self paced, with instant rewards and have an absence of negative remarks.”  Steen (1997, p.22) also argued that, “there is a need for the design of software that takes into account group activities, since Aboriginal students work and perform better in small groups, reflecting their social and cultural background.”  Fleer (1989, p19) aligns with this stance, adding, “since Aboriginal people commonly share learning experiences in small groups rather than individuals, software should be designed that it is appropriate for the sharing of information between individuals in groups.”

Kutay & Mooney (2008) also outline a need for IT resources to be sensitive to the specific needs of Indigenous knowledge and knowledge sharing, and that current curriculum design is often not ideal and is not satisfying for the participants.  They argue for a PBL (Problem Based Learning) design.  Eady (2008, p.57) affirms this also,

Reports suggest that online learning programs, when designed and delivered in culturally appropriate and community relevant manners, can be potential solutions to effectively address the unique learning and skills development needs of Indigenous Learners.

Modern learning management systems, such as Moodle, allow for much more connectedness between teacher and student, and between students as groups.  Communication can be synchronous in the form of a chat room, where questions can be asked or admissions made to not understanding without students feeling embarrassed or stupid (Gibb, 2006).  From the outside Moodle would appear to be an LMS that could potentially enhance Indigenous learning.

Group and Collaborative Learning Support

Moodle allows for the creation of groups, which can then communicate through discussion forums viewable only by the group.  Small or large groups can be created for specific activities, assessments or discussions.  Discussion forums are a great tool for communication and Indigenous students often use these to introduce themselves to other students, providing information about their background and family history, where they are originally from, and what their hopes and aspirations are post-TEP.

Wiki’s are easily created and students can work collaboratively on group tasks or assessment items.  There is also the availability of synchronous learning technologies, such as chat rooms and instant messaging chat.  Studies have suggested that these real time interactions were preferred over asynchronous tools such as forums and email lists, as real time interactions recall the traditional tutorial group (Gibb, 2006).  Students can also contact one another using the real time instant messaging function.  Courses have the option of providing a block listing all of the current online users.  Students can open instant messaging windows with other online students.  A constraint that arises from this is that this type of communication is text based and can limit the interactions of students from predominately oral cultural backgrounds.

Moodle is Online Only – Computer Literacy and the Digital Divide

The digital divide refers to the inequality in access to computer based ICTs such as the Internet (Samaras, 2005; Lester & Koehler, 2003).  Computer literacy and the digital divide remains an issue for indigenous students, where often access to ICTs such as the internet is limited, or without suitable capabilities available to use such resources effectively (Samaras, 2005; Lester & Koehler, 2003).  It is also one of the major reasons as to why Indigenous students do not or cannot engage or participate in the online learning management systems.

In terms of Indigenous people, research focusing on the digital divide has identified that people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage (among other groups) are missing out on the current technological boom (The Smith Family, 2008).  Data from the 2006 Australian Census also showed that 43% of indigenous households had access to the internet, compared to 64% of those from other households.  For Indigenous people in very remote areas, Internet access drops to 13% for Indigenous households, however for other households in very remote areas the access rate is 62%.

Even when internet access is available in remote areas, the strength of the connection may also constrain students.  Holderness (1998, p.43) states, “not all internet connections are created equal”, and many remote Indigenous communities battle with narrow bandwidth (Hutta, 2003).  Mostly it comes down to access, as Samaras (2005, p.86) states, “one factor affecting Indigenous access to ICTs is the geographical distribution of the Indigenous population, 70% of whom live outside major cities.”  However, internet access does not automatically equate to strong computer literacy skills.  Gibbs (2008) acknowledges that while today’s youth are very comfortable in a digital world, they seem no more prepared than previous generations when it comes to having the knowledge and skills required to use computer applications at a level suitable for tertiary education or in the workforce.

The most obvious problem that presents itself is that access to Moodle at CQUniversity is available online only.  Based on what the literature presents about Indigenous people and internet access there is already an evident problem. Off campus access to computers continues to be one of the prominent problems for implementing online learning tools for Indigenous students (Foster & Meehan, 2007).  This is not a problem for on campus students, however the courses run through Nulloo Yumbah are offered in FLEX (distance) mode, and some students, such as those in remote areas or correctional centres, have little or no internet access.  Potential offline solutions are on the horizon, such as a project to integrate Moodle with Google Gears for students who can only access internet for irregular, short periods (Moodle GSoC 2009, 2009).  Other possibilities exist, specifically the ability to run Moodle in an offline portable mode (named Poodle, short for Portable Moodle) on a USB drive.  However this solution presents security risks as students are able to navigate and access all files on the device.  Such a solution would allow for materials to be delivered to students in an LMS environment.  An offline solution to Moodle that CQUniversity would implement and support would be welcome.

The Learning Environment and Cultural Context

A report by The Smith Family (2008) states that the flexibility of technology is a powerful asset in helping to personalise education resources that are sensitive to cultural differences and Indigenous students’ learning styles.  The report also posits that because technology is flexible, it is possible to offer Indigenous students many different ways they can express their creativity and culture at their own pace.

Several past studies have presented ideas as to how online course materials have been developed to fit in with the learning styles of Indigenous people.  McLoughlin & Oliver (1999) present very much an instructional design perspective for Indigenous online learning, citing that the needs of Indigenous Australians are unique, and that often times mainstream cultural material designed for Anglo Australians is not pedagogically appropriate.  Dyson (2002) presents a design for a culturally affirming computer literacy course and suggest ways of presenting course materials that are appropriate to Indigenous learners.  Auld (2002) outlines how a computer programs were used among the Kunibidji community to produce talking books for the Ndjebbana language – a language of only 200 speakers.  Specifically this study looks at the implementation of CAN (Computer-assisted Ndjebbana) and at the development of a multimedia approach to support the teaching and learning of the Ndjebbana language within a remote community.

Customisation of the visual appearance of Moodle is possible.  The overall template theme can be customised, as can the different ‘blocks’ that help form how course content is delivered and accessed.  CQUniversity have adopted a uniform look for all course templates that displays the university logo and course name and uses the university colour scheme.  However, while the template is fully customisable by the web administrators, the CQUniversity look cannot be modified or customised by course designers.  This is no doubt due to university branding policy, but because of this each course shares the same template.  This extends down into page backgrounds, HTML blocks, forums and any mediums within Moodle.  Course content that is culturally relevant to Indigenous students has already been developed for TEP courses, however delivering it within a totally customised visual environment is not possible. So while individual images, graphics and icons can be used, there is no scope to redesign the entire look of one individual course to accommodate cultural diversity.

To an extent, designing courses to meet Indigenous visual-spatial strengths and strong relationship with imagery can be delivered using Moodle, but only by using third-party tools or somewhat advanced HTML and CSS editing. Embedding rich media content is also catered and allowed for. The amount of text an image used is in course content is completely flexible.  More complex imagery can be used in terms of video screen casts, recorded video, or even interactive Slideshare or VoiceThread presentations.

This issue has been raised by Dron (2006), arguing that learning management systems require adaptability, not adaptivity.  Moodle has the capability to adapt to different conditions however currently at CQUniversity this is not possible.  At the moment, there is no limit as to what can be embedded and incorporated using intermediate HTML techniques.  Although due to the way Moodle renders certain HTML and CSS there can be some display errors.  It could be said Moodle is protean in this regard, it can be massaged and enhanced in ways to suit what is required (Jones, 2009).

Oral Cultural Backgrounds

Research has suggested that computers can appeal to Indigenous learning by catering to those with an oral cultural background (O’Donoghue, 1992).  This is only true in terms of delivery.  Content can be delivered to students using audio, video or imagery.  However any interaction within Moodle, such as discussion forums, chat rooms and instant messaging, is all text based.  There is no capability for audio or video chats between students or between student and lecturer.  These text-based-mediums do work, and students are using them, but Moodle cannot enhance interaction beyond a text based form.  Over 10 years ago Steen (1997) highlighted the need for less text based learning tools.  Indigenous students have also stated that they would rather speak to a person than attempt to converse through a computer interface (Foster & Meehan, 2007; Centre for Indigenous Health, 2003).  In addition to this, Foster & Meehan (2007, p.134) identify that text based tools can cause further problems,

students for whom English is not their first language or for whom the use of aboriginal English dialect is the cultural norm have experienced difficulties translating the spoken word to grammatically correct written word.  Such difficulties have been exposed by the change to text-based PBeL and are reflected in student grades.

A possible solution for this will be the use of audio podcasts, narrated power point files and video screen casts for students to access.  This solution is not without constraints also, due to the bandwidth and internet connection required to access audio and video media files.

Assessment Options

Some assessment based or facilitated in Moodle is one area that is conflicting with Indigenous learning styles, this includes the multiple choice tests and quizzes (Dyson, 2002) of which Moodle offers.  However, this form of assessment can be introduced by allowing students to undergo trial runs, as Indigenous students are not always test wise (Harris, 1990).  Trial and error is something that Moodle can facilitate very well, with all forms of assessment having the option of allowing multiple attempts, and in the case of file uploads they can be non-committal in the first (or more) instance.

Learning journals with reflections of learning are one mode of assessment that is appropriate to Indigenous learners that is not currently available in the build of Moodle run at CQUniversity.  This is a feature that has been discontinued Moodle-wide, and is not specific to CQUniversity.  Instead students must keep the journal in an offline word processing file, as Moodle does not offer a way to keep a journal that is viewable by the student and lecturer only. Currently it is recommended that the “Online Text Assignment” be used as a replacement to the journal.  Moodle Blogs as an alternative also fall short, as they are Moodle implementation-wide (meaning every Moodle user at the institution can read every blog) and not tied to any specific course.

Dyson (2002) adds that peer assessment is also a means of assessment more appropriate to Indigenous learners.  Outside of information discussion boards, Moodle offers a Question and Answer Forum.  A Question and Answer Forum requires students to first post something, before they can view other student’s posts.  Setting up such a forum for an Assessment task allows students to assess and comment on their peers’ work, once they have first completed the task.

Summary

Through an examination of the features of Moodle, several tools that could improve tertiary education for Indigenous students are evident.  These include group based and collaborative tools such as discussion forums, live chat rooms, group participation tasks, shared assessment tasks and wikis for knowledge building.  Other benefits include the possibility of instant feedback to assessment, trial and error can be catered for in online assessment and quizzes, and the ease at which third party tools such as Slideshare, Voicethread and YouTube can be incorporated into courses.

Opposing these benefits are a number of constraints.  Students coming from oral cultural backgrounds might not be able to fully engage with a text-based medium so the use of third party visual and audio tools would be required.  There is also a lack of customisation in the visuals and themes in the CQUniversity implementation, this creates a barrier for course designers to create customised culturally engaging learning environments.  This stems into a division between what Moodle allows, and what a specific institutions version of Moodle allows.  Overall a major issue with Moodle is that it is no more than a static facilitator of content and requires considerable use of third party tools to enhance the learning of Indigenous students.

Conclusion

As CQUniversity is currently running Moodle for the first time in the current term, there is no concrete or definite feedback from Indigenous students that can be presented here.  Overall there has been positive feedback about Moodle from students during residential schools.  Students cited the ease of navigation to information as a vast improvement from Blackboard.

A review of the literature has identified the need for online courses to be designed in such a way that is culturally relevant to Indigenous students, however this is not wholly possible in the current implementation of Moodle running at CQUniversity.  What is clear is that Moodle is but a platform, and any complex imagery or material must be embedded or imported from third party tools.  It is a positive that Moodle allows for this to happen, even though in some cases it requires intermediate web editing skills.

An unexpected finding from this paper is the two streams of constraints that have appeared based on what Moodle allows, and what the CQUniversity instance of Moodle allows. This is possibly an issue inherent in all institution installations of an LMS, but it is particularly noteworthy as a finding here, as it does impact on the way Moodle can adapt to Indigenous ways of learning at CQUniversity.  It is an issue that will be a focus of future work to come from this study.  An additional future study will present the way in which Moodle was used to create a course specifically intended for Indigenous students, as well as more in-depth usage results from specific aspects and resources used in the courses based on data collected from Nulloo Yumbah students.

Future work in this area will also involve surveying students to gain data for analysis, as well as working with other projects, notably the LMS Indicators Project (Beer, Clark & Jones, 2009), in order to examine how Indigenous students are using Moodle, and how courses can be developed to further support Indigenous ways of learning.

References

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Auld, G. (2002). The Role of the Computer in Learning Ndjebbana. Language, Learning and Technology. 6(2), 41-58.

Beer, C., Clark, K., & Jones, D. (2009). The indicators project identifying effective learning: adoption, activity, grades and external factors. The Indicators Project, http://indicatorsproject.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/the-indicators-project-identifying-effective-learning-adoption-activity-grades-and-external-factors/ [viewed 12 October 2009].

Bell, M., Bush, D., Nicholson, P., O’Brien, D., & Tran, T. (2002). Universities online: a survey of online education and services in Australia: Department of Education, Science & Training (DEST).

Centre for Indigenous Health. (2003). PBeL pilot evaluation. Brisbane: University of Queensland.

Chen, A., Mashadi, A.,Ang, D., & Harkrider, N. (1999). Cultural issues in the design of technology enhanced learning systems. British Journal of Educational Technology. 30(3), 231-245.

Dolman, S.E. (1984). Aboriginal women and girls in a technological society…? Paper presented at a workshop session at the Fourth Women in Education Conference, 5-7 July, Perth, WA.

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Fryer, M. (1987). Computers and Aboriginal students. UNICORN .13(1), 54-55.

Gibb, H. (2006). Distance Education And The Issue Of Equity Online: Exploring The Perspectives Of Rural Aboriginal Students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 35, 21-29.

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A step into research

This year I submitted my first paper to a conference – ASCILITE09.  I outlined the ideas behind it in a previous post. The paper was reviewed and accepted, and I have just finished the revisions and sent in the final submissions.  The feedback I recieved from the three reviewers was invaluable, and has really helped make it a better paper.  Of course, being my first conference paper there are still a number of things that aren’t quite there yet, but none the less it has been a great experience.

I have also learned a lot by reading the papers that others from my institution have submitted (here and here) to the same conference.

It has also forced me to be much more critical of my own writing. On the same level, it also becomes a scary thought that my PhD will go through a much more rigorous examination process than this 9 page conference paper has.

Assuming I get the final OK from the committee I will post the paper to this blog.

Improving My Teaching

I asked a colleague through Twitter (probably not the best avenue) about the best route for someone who wants to improve their teaching to take.  The response and advice is here, but I thought I would reflect on this advice to see if I am already taking steps towards the right approach to improving my teaching.  I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not the worlds best teacher, though I’m generally comfortable when teaching in my field and in associated practical demonstrations.

Reflect

Master teachers are not born; they become. They become primarily by developing a habit of mind, a way of looking critically at the work they do, developing the courage to recognise faults, and struggling to improve (Common, 1989)

I do this quite regularly.  Years ago when I had several tutes and labs per week to teach it was easy to see what did and did not work and then adapt that for the following session.  I found reflecting on my teaching easy, as often if something obviously wasn’t working I was perceptive enough to realise this and then move along.  These days it is a little harder, as most of the courses I coordinate do not feature much in the way of on-campus teaching outside of a residential component and there is a longer time between sessions (8 weeks or so), so I can’t put into practice any changes as quickly as I would like.  One thing I enjoy about the online systems though, is that because changes can be made so easily, it is easy to reflect on a problem and provide an alternative approach to students much more promptly.

In a scholarly way

I have begun to do this since starting at Nulloo Yumbah, specifically regarding the online component of teaching.  While it is a minor step in this regard it is good to know others have done the same and see it as useful to improving teaching.

Be diverse

Don’t limit your reading or ideas to the usual or single areas of literature. Look broadly at lots of different areas. Purposely look at ideas that you disagree with or find less than interesting.

This is a good idea and one I’ll take into account.

Ask for and provide help

Social media makes asking for help much easier.  In fact it was social media that got me the very advice I am addressing and reflecting upon here.  It came from a question asked by me on Twitter, and the answer posted on a blog.

Develop your extended tools

Hopefully this blog will end up contributing to this.

Be critical or cynical

Don’t take anything at face value. Question it. You can’t simply translate ideas from one context to another. You have to figure out if they will work in your context.

Find what works for you

In the end, however you do it, you have to find something that works for you. That you can maintain. The above works for me. It may not work for you.

I see a similarity in the last two points and I believe this is something that only time and experience can contribute to.  I’ve already found different ways of engaging students with course content, and I’ve found just as many that have not worked.  I’ve also referred to literature and other methods of teaching that have not been appropriate at all, but with some adapting have been made more comfortable for me as a teacher.

References

Common, D. (1989). “Master teachers in higher education: A matter of settings.” The Review of Higher Education 12(4): 375-387.

What I’ve been up to

I’ve just realised it has been 2 months without a blog update. I’ve got a few posts in the making but for now I’m going to stick with a brief update.

• Finished and submitted a paper titled Supporting the ways of learning and learning strengths of Indigenous Australian pre-undergraduate university students through an open source online learning management system. The paper provides a general overview and discussion about whether or not Moodle as an LMS can support the ways of learning of Indigenous Australian students, particularly those in pre-undergraduate contexts. Depending on the success of this paper it will probably form the basis of a Learning and Teaching grant application next year.
• Working very hard on my PhD thesis. Once the chapters start flowing together I’ll start posting it to the blog, however at the moment it is still in a very rough draft stage and I’d be embarrassed to post it online for all to see. The thesis is sitting at around 40000 words at the moment, with lots to do.
• Met with Damien Clarke from my organisation’s Curriculum Design team about using Poodle, the offline version of Moodle. We are looking at providing it to students studying the Tertiary Entry Program in correctional centres (prisons). I’ll have a blog post about this in the future.
• Term 2 is just about over and most of my marking is done.
• My current position at Nulloo Yumbah is a 1 year contract, however it has been made permanent. I’ve been busy this past fortnight working on my application for it. Fingers crossed.
• Ongoing course coordination and development tasks.

Now that term is over I’ll be spending a considerable amount of time on my PhD (which is somewhat responsible for the lack of updates for the past 2 months).

Moodle: Some Student Impressions

As of Term 2 2009 this year, the university where I work at began piloting Moodle as the LMS for a select group of courses.  The courses offered were primarily based on people volunteering to participate in the pilot program.  Different people had different motivations for participating, whether it be to get on top of things for when the system goes live for all courses in 2010 (replacing Blackboard and Webfuse), or to help the academic community by becoming a mentor.  My motivations included wanting to play with a new LMS that I had heard was much more flexible, customisable and usable than Blackboard, and wanting to learn more about the process and practice of online course design.

Feedback from Students

As the program I primarily teach in (the Tertiary Entry Program) is fully FLEX, the first chance we really got to show Moodle to our students and get direct feedback from them was during residential in week three.  Several students had already accessed the system and seemed quite comfortable with it, while others had not.  It is not uncommon in our program for students to wait until residential school before beginning their studies.

Below is a list of issues I’ve observed from students using Moodle in our sessions:

• Most students were just introduced to Blackboard last term and now have to relearn a new LMS.  This doesn’t present much of a problem, other than students asking why there is two systems (we do not use Webfuse).

• Some students are required to use both Blackboard and Moodle this term and are becoming confused, primarily new students.  This would not be much of a problem if they weren’t also expected to learn how to use several other university systems as well.

• Accessing Moodle is still somewhat cumbersome and requires logging in to a system more than once (on the campus machines at least).  Also constant security warnings and prompts from Internet Explorer is making the login process less than smooth (again, on campus machines).

• Pop-up blockers being enabled in labs are stopping IM chat windows opening (however there seems to be a bug with those at the moment anyway).

• Other minor bugs with the system.

Overall, students who had used Blackboard in the past really liked the new system and the way the courses were presented.  We had nothing but positive feedback from the students who have used Moodle.  I’d like to think some of that came from the way we designed and presented our courses materials in Moodle.

Usage Figures

Not all of the students enrolled in courses using Moodle have accessed it yet.  Our IT department released some figures showing numbers of students yet to access Moodle.

This term I am coordinating two courses, and I developed the Moodle content for each one.  For the first of my courses, 70% had accessed Moodle.  For my second course, only 55% of students had accessed Moodle.  The numbers are somewhat similar for the other courses my division is running using Moodle.

This is in no way a fault of the system, as students have yet to experience it.  What it does show is that we need to encourage use of Moodle, and provide more support and guidance on how to access it.  When looking at these figures, we also need to consider that our students are often in unique circumstances that do not always allow them to have Internet access (they may be in remote communities, in correctional centres, or not be in the financial position to have internet access at home).

So far Moodle is working well, and (in our division at least) people seem excited by the possibilities it allows for us as teachers.

New Home

For a few reasons (none of which are all that interesting) I’ve moved the blog back to WordPress.  Enjoy

I am also finally going back through all my old blog archive backups from 2004 – present so I can post them into this one.

A brief outline of a paper I am working on

Purpose

I have recently begun working at Nulloo Yumbah (which means “our place” in the language of the local Darumbal people) at CQUni and thought it pertinent that I conduct research with an indigenous focus.

My institution has just begun the implementation of a new LMS (Moodle), and many of the courses at Nulloo Yumbah need to be redeveloped for this medium. Our previous LMS was Blackboard but it was used very little (and to varying degrees at Nulloo Yumbah).

I’m interested in technology and how it can be used for university teaching and learning. It is also a critical area in Indigenous education. The ‘digital divide’ for Indigenous Australians is still too large.

Working title

Supporting the ways of learning and learning strengths of indigenous Australians through a web 2.0 online learning management system

Premise

“Indigenous learning styles theory is therefore one which sits well in computer education. It allows teachers, particularly non-Indigenous teachers, a way of creating a learning environment which affirms Indigenous interests, values and identity” (Dyson 2002, p189).

I want to look at how the unique ways of learning of Indigenous students can be supported, made culturally relevant and/or sensitive and nurtured by using online elearing tools, specifically Moodle. To do this I will be focussed on the learning styles and ways of learning identified by Hughes & More (1997) and Hughes, More & Williams (2004) and how they can be applied to an online context.

The aim of the paper is to look at how the Moodle LMS can accommodate the learning styles, strengths and ways of learning of Indigenous students set out by Hughes & More (1997) and Hughes, More & Williams (2004).

References

Dyson, L. E. (2002) “Design for a Culturally Affirming Indigenous Computer Literacy Course”, in Williamson, A., Gunn, C., Young, A. And Clear, T. (eds) Winds of Change in the Sea of Learning: Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE), 1: 185-194.

Hughes, P., More, A, J. And Williams, M (2004) Aboriginal Ways of Learning, Flinders Press, Adelaide.

Hughes, P. And More, A, J. (1997) Aboriginal ways of learning and learning styles, paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane, December 4, 1997.