Monday, June 30, 2008
1:30 PM-5:00 PM
Abstract:
Although authentic approaches appear to be found more and more in web-based learning environments in higher education as course management systems become more flexible, many teachers are still uncertain about how to design authentic learning environments. With advances in technology, there is increased potential for authentic tasks to be used as a basis for learning in both face-to-face and web-based courses, but high end technology and life like graphics are not necessary for such tasks to be truly engaging. Whereas traditionally, real life examples have primarily served as vehicles for practice of skills or processes, a more radical approach is to build a whole course of study around authentic activities or tasks. In this workshop, participants will learn about the theory, research, and development initiatives that provide the foundations for this innovative approach, design complex and sustained tasks for online learning, and explore the implications of the approach for their own areas of interest.
Objectives:
1. Participants in this tutorial will learn how to design web-based courses based upon authentic tasks, using a tested model of ten dimensions of effective web-based learning environments,
2. Participants in this tutorial will learn how to evaluate web-based courses based upon authentic activities, and
3. Participants will learn how to engage in design-based research to advance the field of web-based learning environments for distance and flexible education in the post-secondary sector.
Outline:
The workshop will include presentation and discussion of the theory of authentic tasks, followed by a more practical examination of related issues in higher education. Case studies will be presented, and a model for designing and evaluating web-based courses based upon authentic activities will be presented. The following topics will be presented in this tutorial:
• Exploring web-based learning and its affordances for more authentic approaches
• Why content-based approaches do not work that well
• Why authentic tasks work better
• Ten characteristics of authentic tasks for web-based learning
• Exemplars of web-based learning environments based upon authentic tasks
• Exploration of a design strategy: Learning tasks, learning resources, learning supports
• Discussion on how these approaches might work in participants' own contexts and subject areas, advantages, problems, and possible scenarios
• Evaluation and assessment strategies
• A design-based research agenda
The tutorial will include presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on activities.
Prerequisites:
Faculty and academic staff serving as teachers, designers, developers, and users of web-based learning environments for distance and flexible education in the post-secondary (university and community) sector.
Intended Experience Level:
Beginner
Instructor Qualifications:
Dr Jan Herrington is currently Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong, focusing on online teaching and research. She has been involved in the research, design and development of multimedia and online learning environments for over a decade. Her current research interests focus on the design of authentic learning environments for higher education, situated learning as an instructional design model, mobile learning and social networking. Dr Herrington has designed and produced many computer-based programs and websites, has published over 100 refereed articles, monographs, chapters and conference papers, and has won numerous development and research grants, including an Australian Research Council Grant. In 1999, Dr Herrington won the Association of Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) Young Researcher of the Year award for a paper based on her PhD dissertation. She recently completed a Fulbright Professional Award at the University of Georgia. She was a Keynote Speaker at the E-Learn 2006 conference in Honolulu.