Abstract:

There is now a fairly clear understanding about the nature of the learning environment which can equip learners for the needs of the 21st century, and this involves focussing on the needs of the student.  However, most universities still teach students in the way they did a hundred years ago, using a largely teacher-centred model.

Similarly, there is a fairly clear understanding about what is required to make educationally effective use of educational technology, and this technology has been widely adopted at universities, particularly through the use of learning management systems. I will present evidence about how learning management systems have also been used overwhelmingly to replicate teacher-centred approaches.

Web-based lecture recording technology, which is becoming increasingly widespread, also reinforces traditional approaches to teaching. I will report on recent research showing that this technology meets the needs of modern day students for convenience and flexibility, but challenges faculty views about their role as educators. 

I will then spend some time on the human, institutional and cultural issues which impede the widespread adoption of improved teaching practice, and reinforce the use of technology for replication of traditional teaching practice. I will conclude with a demonstration of a new social networking tool to support the sharing of knowledge and resources around tertiary teaching and learning, which might lead to improvements in practice.

Biographical Information:

Dr Rob Phillips works in the Teaching and Learning Centre at Murdoch University, Perth Western Australia.  He has worked with educational technology since 1992 and has a background in theoretical chemistry and computer science. He combines thorough pedagogical knowledge with strong information technology skills. Rob was responsible for the implementation of the WebCT Learning Management System at Murdoch, now used by 95% of the University’s students, and he also plays a role in educational policy development. He spent some time managing Murdoch’s Open and Distance education areas.

In 2007, Rob was a Senior Consultant to the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education on the development of the Carrick Exchange, a social networking system for the identification, dissemination and embedding of quality individual and institutional practice into the higher education sector.

He has broad, but practical research interests, including university policy issues; evaluation of learning using ICT; learning objects and content management; making creative and innovative use of technology; and project management in ICT developments.

He was President of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) from 1996 to 2000, and was an executive member of the Australasian Council on Open, Distance and E-learning (ACODE) from 2004-2006. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and received a 2007 Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning "For leadership in scholarly academic practice in the use of Information and Communication Technology to improve learning and teaching".