eLearning and Educational Technology

These pages are intended as both a resource and a source of inspiration for staff working with educational technology in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Western Australia.

Why use educational technology in teaching?

Not all subjects are suitable for the inclusion of educational technology. Some subjects, however, can potentially be learnt more effectively through different forms of engagement with the material. For example, students often display a greater level of motivation to learn material when they take an active part in its construction.

eLearning and educational technologies allow students to become active participants in the teaching and learning process and place a greater emphasis on learner interaction. They offer your students the opportunity to explore a subject in the context of increasingly dominant modes of communication that typically involve digital technology, and require them to engage in meaningful thinking to represent and communicate what they have learnt using a digital media application. Students respond positively to a meaningful learning experience which couples the subject matter with the construction of something useful and real.

Incorporating these technologies into your teaching not only caters to the context in which students are increasingly used to learning, but also enables you to provide a University experience which fits in with the Faculty's mission of allowing students to be creative and innovative, adaptive to change, and to be first class communicators.

Educational technologies complement traditional modes of teaching and learning by adding to a student's repertoire of skills the vital elements of technological competency, and an advanced understanding of the many new modes of communication that have been engendered by digital technologies. Student authored projects and eLearning activities provide students with a much more diverse student experience with enhanced student learning outcomes.

Such projects provide teachers with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate innovation in teaching, and to meet the growing need for flexible delivery of education. They are also an excellent vehicle for incorporating collaborative learning into teaching.

Pedagogical considerations

One of the primary roles of the Multimedia Centre is to assist teaching staff with the design, evaluation and administration of special projects. Every project that is run through the Multimedia Centre is informed by an appropriate learning design which seeks to ensure that the project achieves its intended learning outcomes. Multimedia Centre staff regularly collaborate with teaching staff in evaluating projects and acting on identified improvements.

How should we use educational technology in teaching?

There are a number of ways you can incorporate technology into your teaching. At the simplest level this may just mean including multi-sensory material into your lectures or tutorials, or using online materials as co-sources of content.

Ideally, however, it would mean replacing or supplementing traditional coursework, such as written work, with technology-based activities. Typically there are two avenues to pursue: incorporating student authoring activities that involve the exploration of themes/ideas through the creation of digital media products (e.g. website construction, animation or digital video production, digital storytelling); or using eLearning (e.g. online role-play/simulations, discussion forums or live chat, IdeaNet, wikis, quizzes, blogging).

Benefits to students

• Students further their technological aptitude and the skills they acquire are recognised by many teaching staff as crucial learning outcomes.
• Collaborative learning experiences give students the benefit of developing organisational skills and experiencing team work.
• Online learning activities provide flexibility and enhance the student learning experience by helping to improve student learning outcomes and allowing students to explore different ways of representing knowledge.
• Authentic learning environments help students to engage in higher-order thinking

Suggestions for eLearning activities

For more information on the variety of eLearning activities run with the assistance of the Multimedia Centre, including learning designs, follow the links below.

Online role-play/simulations
Reference and Research activities
Blogging

Where to start

If you have an idea for a project similar to those mentioned above or a new idea you'd like to investigate, or if you would like to find out more about web-based learning tools developed and delivered by the Multiimedia Centre, such as Simulation Builder or IdeaNet, please contact Leitha Delves, the Multimedia Centre's Student Projects Manager.

Request to run a student-authored project
Request to run an eLearning activity