#active-learning – Improving University Teaching

Scaling up Active Learning in Charles Sturt University’s Learning Spaces

August 12, 2019/in #active-learning, #eLearning, #engagement, #excellence, #learning, #resources, #students, #teaching, 2018 Proceedings

Philip Hua, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Abstract

Charles Sturt University provides learning spaces that stimulate active learning by aligning spaces, pedagogy, technologies, furniture, and strategy. At its core this strategy comes down to marrying digital and physical means to educational ends. The visual materials presented here display award-winning learning spaces on some of CSU’s eight campuses in New South Wales along with reflections on how effective these spaces have proven to be. They explore how people are creatively using blended — physical and digital — spaces, and the optimal design and layout of such spaces.

Keywords:

Design and Practice of Presentation Training in Open Situation for University Students

April 3, 2019/in #active-learning, #business-education, #careers, #engagement, #learning, #pedagogical-philosophy, #presenting, #students, #teaching, #teamwork, #writing, 2018 Proceedings

Aya Inaura,* & Hirotaka Uoi, Department of Digital Games, and Hiroshi Yokoyama, Department of Games & Media, Faculty of Information Science and Arts, Osaka Electro-Communication University, Japan

Abstract

In recent years, some colleges and universities in Japan have put effort into Presentation Training. Such training may concern not only presentations in class, but also competitions, contests, and workshops. At the Osaka Electro-Communication University, we designed a workshop for presentation training and practice that has been offered since 2012. It differs from other universities’ practices in featuring more varied audiences and presenters than customary. We believe that if we can supply presentation training in open situations for students, we can bring their presentation skills to a higher level.

Keywords: presentation training, workshop

CSU Thinkspace: Using Media Articles within the Blogspace to Enhance Discourse in Accounting Education

April 3, 2019/in #active-learning, #business-education, #careers, #engagement, #incentives, #learning, #pedagogical-philosophy, #students, #teaching, #teamwork, #writing, 2018 Proceedings

Jahanzeb Khan,* School of Accounting and Finance, & Pamela Roberts, Division of Student Learning, Faculty of Business, Justice, and Behavioural Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Abstract

This paper examines the potential of blogs to instil professional skills and perspectives that undergraduate accounting students require to become competent professionals in a global economy. Blogs provide a compelling platform for engaging teachers and students in discourse on media articles that examine real world accounting challenges, fallacies, and questionable practices. Blogs are an effective online learning technology that encourages critical thinking, reflection and formative feedback. Making use of CSU Thinkspace as a learning platform in an undergraduate accounting subject, preliminary evidence regarding the effectiveness of blogging for developing professional understandings and higher order thinking skills, is discussed.

Keywords: accounting, blog, professional ethics, distance learning

Portable Hands-On Experiments in Geotechnical Education

March 21, 2016/in #active-learning, #engagement, #learning, #teaching, 2015 Proceedings

Wolfgang Fellin, Barbara Schneider-Muntau*, Getraud Medicus, Division of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering, Institute of Infrastructure, Department of Engineering Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria

An earlier version of this paper was awarded the IUT Poster Prize for 2015

Abstract

This article focuses on portable, hands-on experiments in geotechnical engineering that serve as an entry point into the tutorials in Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering at the University of Innsbruck. Ten small portable geotechnical experiments were developed to demonstrate geo-mechanical relations during class in a clear and comprehensible way. To determine the degree of student acceptance and possible learning benefits, the experiments were evaluated with a questionnaire. This evaluation showed that experiments in geo-mechanical engineering were well received and are appropriate visualization tools. The experiments were highly appreciated by the students, who reported that they helped to make the course material more comprehensible and clear.

Keywords: student engagement, STEM education, active learning

Small Steps over Time: Energizing Students by Infusing Innovative Practices into Universities within a Transitional Country

January 9, 2016/in #active-learning, #engagement, #ESL, #learning, #students, #teaching, #writing, 2015 Proceedings

Judy S. Richardson, Language Center, South Eastern European University, Macedonia, and Virginia Commonwealth University, USA

Abstract

Innovation energizes instruction, transcending a lecture-only and often boring approach to learning. But when students and professors are entrenched in a professor-centered system, how can change be accomplished? This paper explains, via examples and stories, practices university students have identified that energize their learning process. These practices are greatly effective but not difficult for professors to implement, if blended into a traditional model. The study, conducted in English Foreign Language methods courses, is mostly qualitative with quantitative aspects. For a country in transition, faced with many new regulations, small steps over time can make a difference in fostering student engagement.

Keywords: active learning, student engagement, teaching writing, ESL students

Margins for Flexibility and Zones of Evolution in Transition: Exploring Students’ Conceptions and Experiences of HE Learning

January 9, 2016/in #active-learning, #engagement, #faculty-development, #learning, #students, #teaching, 2015 Proceedings

Christine Smith, Quality Enhancement: University Campus Suffolk, UK

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of first year students’ conceptions and experiences of higher education (hereafter HE) and student engagement, linked to the transition from the secondary to the post-secondary learning environment. Facets of student engagement provide a thematic frame for analysis: active learning; academic challenge; staff–student interactions; enriching educational experiences; supportive learning environments; and work–integrated learning. Two findings are highlighted. The first suggests the need for margins of flexibility in transition: aligned to individual student needs, recognizing the diversity of students’ prior academic and life experiences, and by consequence their capacity for independent learning. The second finding emphasizes zones of evolution in transition, that students see engagement as a professionally–oriented construct, in their “becoming” within the disciplinary field and from the outset of their HE study.

Keywords: student engagement, active learning, faculty-student relations

Archive for category: #active-learning

Philip Hua, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Abstract

Aya Inaura,* & Hirotaka Uoi, Department of Digital Games, and Hiroshi Yokoyama, Department of Games & Media, Faculty of Information Science and Arts, Osaka Electro-Communication University, Japan

Abstract

Jahanzeb Khan,* School of Accounting and Finance, & Pamela Roberts, Division of Student Learning, Faculty of Business, Justice, and Behavioural Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Abstract

Wolfgang Fellin, Barbara Schneider-Muntau*, Getraud Medicus, Division of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering, Institute of Infrastructure, Department of Engineering Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Abstract

Judy S. Richardson, Language Center, South Eastern European University, Macedonia, and Virginia Commonwealth University, USA

Abstract

Christine Smith, Quality Enhancement: University Campus Suffolk, UK

Abstract

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