Browsing by Author "Kendle, Amanda"
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Item Communication Skills for Online Students: An Evaluation of a Website(2001-02-01) Kendle, Amanda; Northcote, Maria T.During the year 2000 two instructional designers combined their efforts and skills to create a website which gives students and educators a way to find out about and practise online communication skills, specifically email, bulletin boards, online forms and online chat. With the growth of online courses, information databases and Internet based administration, online communication is more important than ever before. A person's ability to communicate online often influences their ability to succeed in business, academia and employment.
The principles of online instructional design upon which the "Communication Skills for Online Students" website was based aim to support and promote a constructivist learning environment. Specific attention was given to situated cognition in that the examples upon which the site is built are truly authentic, taken from real life situations. Furthermore, the activities integrated throughout the site guide students through and immerse them in authentic online contexts such as public bulletin boards, synchronous chat rooms and active online forms.
The website's design purposely incorporated a variety of evaluative tools. Online forms were provided for users to submit both quantitative and qualitative evaluation data. Incidental and contextual links were provided to direct users to these evaluation tools throughout the site. Furthermore, one of the learning activities within the site requires users to contact the authors with comments and questions about how they were able to use this online resource.
This website has been in operation since September 2000 and a range of data has been collected from three main groups of users: the general public, university students and university lecturers. The data has been analysed and the website has been evaluated by using several well known models of multimedia and web evaluation.
This paper examines the overall outcomes of the use of this website in terms of its initial objectives. It presents the methods used to collect and analyse the evaluation data gained from users of the site and identifies specific areas in which the site has been and can be improved in the future as a direct result of user feedback.
Item Informal Online Networks for Learning: Making Use of Incidental Learning Through Recreation(2001-12-01) Kendle, Amanda; Northcote, Maria T.Contemporary tertiary students require a different set of skills from the population of students who attended university campuses even just a decade ago. The modern student is expected to be comfortable and often proficient with both printed and digital resources. Such a level of expertise is necessary not only so students can access study materials, but to also enable them to efficiently filter information, communicate using diverse methods and store relevant resources within practical and logical systems. Many university courses now include components which provide opportunities for students to develop digital information competencies and such skills are almost essential to succeed within current academic and employment contexts. This paper suggests that technologically related and information management skills and expertises need not only be developed within formal educational settings. It is our experience that the modern day student can be encouraged to access a variety of recreational digital resources and experience effective learning through these experiences in a more incidental, informal manner. We have identified five main categories of online networks: (1) common interest communities (e.g., e-groups, hobby sites); (2) competition and game sites (e.g., networked multi-player games, entering competitions); (3) file download sites (e.g., Napster, clipart); (4) corporate and e-commerce sites (e.g., internet banking, online shopping); and (5) information access sites (e.g., maps, timetables, White Pages). Participating in these online networks can allow students to develop many useful skills including database searching, information filtering, data storage and retrieval, critical analysis of resources and effective online communication. This paper examines a range of examples which demonstrate how a number of useful academic skills can be developed using non-traditional, less academic approaches in order to maintain and improve student motivation, enjoyment levels and learning outcomes in tertiary situations.
Item Instructional Design Partnerships Across Universities: Motivations, Methods and Measures(2001-07-01) Kendle, Amanda; Northcote, Maria T.This paper explores and documents a learning partnership that has developed between two instructional designers employed at two different universities in Perth, Western Australia. The value of this crossinstitutional partnership is initially investigated in terms of the benefits involved for the professional careers of each instructional designer. The context of the university faculty in which the instructional designers operate is appraised. Also, the wider consequences of this partnership are considered in terms of the influence it has on other Australian tertiary education providers. The analysis of the partnership will be built upon an appropriate constructivist theoretical framework.
Item The Struggle for Balance in the Use of Quantitative and Qualitative Online Assessment Tasks(2000-12-01) Northcote, Maria T.; Kendle, AmandaOnline learning environments offer perhaps the most efficient methods yet for providing objective, quantitative assessment tasks for students. In the current resource-stretched tertiary education climate these methods are perceived as time and cost effective, and often educationally sound, particularly when appropriate feedback is provided. A wide range of research on recent online assessment tools supports this claim. As yet there is little research which addresses the value of qualitative techniques in such contexts, and even less which examines the issues associated with the integration of both types of assessment tasks within the same context. This tension in the research requires examination and it is the purpose of this paper to not only investigate the recent neglect of qualitative assessment in online education but to consider potential solutions to this struggle for balance between quantitative and qualitative online assessment techniques. Previous work outlining a suggested set of criteria for designing and implementing qualitative online assessment tasks is used to address the challenge of designing practical guidelines by which balanced assessment methods can be implemented.