Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, - Charles Sturt University · AuSakai 09 Conference and Workshops, " Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy ... Margaret Van Heekeren, ... the

“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and Outcomes”

Program and Abstracts

The AuSakai 09 Conference is proudly sponsored by:

AuSakai 09 Conference and Workshops, " Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and Outcomes” 2 16‐18 September 2009 Program and Abstracts


Day One AuSakai Workshops ‐ 16 September 2009 9:00am‐10:20am

Registration ‐ Syndicate Room 3 Tea, Coffee ‐ Breakout Room 2

Syndicate Room 2 ‐ Technical James Hardie Room – Learning & Teaching/Organisational

10:30am‐ 11:30am

Sakai 3, IT Architecture and Developers Workshop ‐Ian Boston, CARET, Cambridge University

Strategies for the Widespread Uptake of Sakai in Tertiary and Higher Education – Janet Buchan and Dr Philip Uys

11:30am‐11:45am

Morning Tea served in Breakout Room 2

11:45am‐1:00pm

Workshop continues Workshop continues

1:00pm‐1:30pm

Lunch in Breakout Room 2

1:40pm – 3:00pm


3:00pm‐3:20pm

Afternoon Tea served in Breakout Room 2

3:20pm‐4:30pm


4:30pm Day Ends

Day Two AuSakai Conference ‐ 17 September 2009 9:00am‐10:25am

Registration ‐ Syndicate Room 3 Tea, Coffee ‐ Breakout Room

10:30am‐11:00am

Welcome to Country ‐ Gloria Rogers, Aboriginal Elder Conference Welcome ‐ Marian Tulloch, Executive Director Div Learning & Teaching Services

James Hardie Room 11:00am‐12:00pm

Michael Korcuska, Executive Director, Sakai Foundation: Strategic Perspectives on an Exciting Future with Sakai James Hardie Room

12:10pm‐12:45pm

Poster Presentations and Lunch in James Hardie Room


James Hardie Room Foundation Room 2 Syndicate Room 2 S15 – Large Theatre Learning & Teaching Learning & Teaching Technical/ Development/Sakai Organisational/Research/Support

12:45pm‐1:15pm

12:55pm‐1:15pm

New Opportunities for LAMS with Sakai James Dalziel MELCOE Macquarie University

From Iron Chef to Classroom – A Digital Media Teacher’s Perspective on Managing and Teaching in the Sakai Environment David Bartolo, TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute

Doctoral Attributes Workshop and the ePortfolio framework Gordon Yau & Patrick Fong, University of Melbourne

Deploying and Using Sakai: What does it take? Peter A Knoop, University of Michigan

1:20pm‐ 1:50pm

When the internal student is external: using Sakai for the ‘virtual workshop’ Margaret Van Heekeren, Charles Sturt University

CSU Interact enabling a community of practice Linda Ward & Catherine Newell Charles Sturt University

Sakai 3 at CSU – a catalyst for rethinking Information Systems’

Paul Bristow, Charles Sturt University

Sakai and EQUELLA: CSU’s Integrated Digital Repository Solution Dan McFayden & Sam Parker , Learning Edge International & Charles Sturt University

1:55pm‐2:25pm

Using the Test Centre Tool: an opportunity to inform learning and teaching. David Maxwell & Lynnette Flynn, Charles Sturt University

Virtual Agency: making 'groupwork' work online. Brett Van Heekeren, Charles Sturt University

Developing Sakai 3 style tools in Sakai 2.x Dave Roma, Charles Sturt University

Reflections on experiences in managing the piloting and evaluation phase of open source learning environments within the tertiary sector Mark Drechsler, NetSpot Pty Ltd

2:30pm‐3:30pm

Clay Fenlason, Sakai Product Manager ‐ Sakai 3 and Academic Values James Hardie Room

3:30pm‐3:50pm

Afternoon Tea served ‐ Breakout Room

3:55pm‐4:30pm

A framework for the use of online technology and Sakai tools in assessment Janet Buchan, Charles Sturt University

Linking People/Organisations involved in Indigenous policing Paul Comino & David Prescott, Charles Sturt University

Sakai 3 at CSU Matt Morton‐Allen, Charles Sturt University

Embedding library resources in CSU Interact Hanne Hoelaas & Claudio Dionigi, Charles Sturt University

4:30pm Day Ends 4:45pm‐5:15pm

Visit Motor Museum

5:15pm‐5:30pm

Drive ‐ Mt Panorama

7:00pm Dinner – The Vanilla Bean (Prior booking required)


Day Three AuSakai Conference 18 September 2009

8:30am Registration ‐ Syndicate Room 3. Tea, Coffee ‐ Breakout Room 9:00am‐10:00am

Ian Boston, Chief Architect, Cambridge University: Sakai 3, Architectural Choices and Community Impact James Hardie Room

James Hardie Room Foundation Room 2 Syndicate Room 2 S15 – Large Theatre Learning & Teaching Learning & Teaching Technical/Development/Sakai Organisational/Research/Support

10:10am‐10:40am

Pros and Cons in Using Interact for Group Assignment Projects in Distance Education Lisa Soon, Charles Sturt University

Teaching with Sakai innovation Award; tips and Suggestions from the 2009 Winner Andrea Crampton, Charles Sturt University

Working of Sakai Community and Product Development Clay Fenlason, Sakai Product Manager, Sakai Foundation

Enhancing communicative spaces for practice‐based education in an inland regional Australian. Franziska Trede, Charles Sturt University

10:45am‐11:00am

Morning Tea served in Breakout Room and near Foyer

11:05am‐11:35am

We gave it a try now our students love Sakai! John Harper, Charles Sturt University

Creativity interoperability and authenticity ‐ blended learning in the context of professional practice. Merilyn Childs, Charles Sturt University

Where two worlds meet –integrating Sakai and Pebblepad. Carole Hunter , Charles Sturt University

Student’s Perspective of Interact Ash Johnston, Charles Sturt University (Student)

11:40am‐12:10pm

Blogs for process and product. ‐The value of reflection and peer comment results in a more complex and interesting product for assessment. Jennifer Munday, Charles Sturt University

Stepwise integration of online resource to diverse student cohort of 100+ distance students. Angela Ragusa, Charles Sturt University

Profile2: a complete re‐development of the existing Profile tool in Sakai and brings social networking to Sakai2 Steve Swinsburg , Lancaster University UK

Model for sustaining online learning practices within an organisation. Irene Ireland, TAFE NSW Northern Sydney Institute

12:15pm‐12:50pm

* Poster Presentations and Lunch in James Hardie Room

12:55pm‐1:25pm

1:05‐1:25pm The Sferyx Software Components for Sakai Academic Users Oggie Kolev, Rila Solutions, Sferyx Australia & Asia Pacific Representatives

Sakai 2.6 Overview Peter A Knoop, University of Michigan

Two years ago I’d never heard of an LMS.... my Sakai integration Deb Murdoch, Charles Sturt University

http://www.sferyx.com/


1:30pm‐2:30pm

Institutional Panel Discussion James Hardie Room

2:30pm‐3:00pm

Tweet Panel & Wrap Up James Hardie Room

3:00pm Afternoon Tea & Depart James Hardie Room

Poster Presentations

Irene Ireland The implementation of Sakai into TAFE NSW – NSI: The implementation process of rSmart Sakai into the Institutes infrastructure and elearning options for teachers.

Lincoln Gill

The FoB ED&M Team poster provides as its title suggests a sample of practice of Interact use from within the Faculty of Business. The context in which these samples are placed is an Institution (CSU) that has directly promoted this notion through the name of its OLE (Interact) and a key message promoted via professional development during its rollout, that is, that the OLE is for interaction and that key types of interaction are between Learner and learner, Learner and teacher, and Learner and content (Anderson & Garrison 1998, Anderson 2003

Trisha Poole and Linda Ward

The introduction of CSU Interact in 2008 has provided the impetus for both academic staff and educational designers to rethink learning and teaching strategies for distance students. Prior to Interact, our learning materials consisted of print materials, forums and perhaps digital material on CD. The myriad of Interact tools now available has given us cause to re‐think and re‐evaluate subject design to make learning more accessible, participative and rich for our distance students. With this in mind, the redevelopment of the TESOL subjects to include the use of modules, wikis, blogs, audio, video, and lecture captures is being undertaken. Using Interact as a base through which to integrate the various tools, other software and websites into the TESOL subjects, a blended mode of learning will be available to our distance students so that a larger variety of learning needs can be more adequately catered for in these offerings.

Sally Knipe

The Anti Cyber Bullying Project: As educators pre‐service teachers must acquire skills that allow them to be advocates of adolescents. This presentation tells the story of content development lecturer experiences assessment strategies and student reactions to a problem based learning activity related to cyber bullying. Project sites allowed student groups to collaboratively resolve an incident.

Ronda Collins

With a demand from potential students to deliver the Diploma of Business Administration fully‐online and with the recent implementation at Northern Sydney Institute of Sakai as our LMS, a plan was conceived in October 2008 to develop the eight units of competency in the course with a target of enrolling for the start of 2009. This will cover an overview of the development of sites/training of teachers/delivery to our incredibly diverse student cohorts ranging from 17 year old school students to mature age workers, including a significant proportion with limited English skills, and their feedback to‐date.

Celia Hillman

Using a project site as a means of engaging with final year education students across three degrees for the first semester of their final year.

Barney Dalgarno

As part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Project completed in 2009, a group of Primary Education students were required to use the Sakai Blog Wow tool to reflect on their classroom management practices while on professional practice. The project identified a number of issues with the Blog Wow tool when used for this type of purpose. This presentation will look at the limitations of the Blog Wow tool identified and contrast its capabilities with alternative mainstream (ie. non Sakai) Blog tools.

Christopher Klopper and Catherine Newell

This poster will showcase how CSU Interact is used in a non‐academic environment. CSU Voices is a University choir whose membership composition is made up of staff and students on the Bathurst Campus. The choir only gets to meet face‐to‐face once a week during academic sessions. Often members are unable to attend these sessions due to work or study commitments. This poses a problem for membership and repertoire maintenance. The CSU Interact site has become a crucial component for the choir’s maintenance. Examples of how CSU Voices uses Interact WIKI resources and announcements will be highlighted in this poster session. The examples will illuminate the effectiveness of CSU Interact in facilitating the synchronous and asynchronous activities of a choral community.


AuSakai 09 Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes

Conference Presentation Abstracts (Arranged in order of presentation)

Thursday 17 September 2009

17 Sept, 2009 12.55 – 1.15pm

New Opportunities for LAMS with Sakai

James Dalziel, Macquarie University

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room LAMS (the Learning Activity Management System) is an open source Learning Design system used by thousands of educators in over 80 countries and translated into 28 languages. LAMS allows educators to create, run and share sequences of learning activities that represent exemplars of good pedagogy. LAMS is integrated with many Learning Management Systems, particularly with Sakai, and shares many underlying technologies with Sakai. This presentation will describe new features in recent releases of LAMS (V2.2 & 2.3) including branching, gates and LaTeX support, as well as new tools for mindmapping, video recording, image sharing and editing and Google Maps integration. It will discuss how these features can be used to design effective teaching and learning approaches within LAMS, and how these can be implemented in Sakai courses. The presentation will also consider the opportunities for new integrations of LAMS tools with Sakai 3

17 Sept, 2009 12.45 – 1.15pm

From Iron Chef to Classroom – A Digital Media Teacher’s Perspective on Managing

and Teaching in the Sakai Environment David Charles Bartolo, TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute

Learning and Teaching - Foundation Room 2, 12.45-1.15pm

Exploring the Conference theme this presentation examines how Pedagogy Systems Processes & Outcomes fit into one Sakai-based Digital Media learning environment. Does classroom teaching have a place in an online environment? If so how does teaching change? The presentation will also examine innovative solutions to platform-specific issues.

Doctoral Attributes Workshop and the ePortfolio framework Gordon Yau & Patrick Fong, University of Melbourne

Technical/Development/Sakai - Syndicate Room 2, 12.45-1.15pm

The Doctoral Attributes Workshop is a self-directed reflective Sakai tool designed to allow PhD candidates from all disciplines and at any stage in their candidature to assess their progress toward


the acquisition of the University’s "doctoral attributes". It is a core component within the Melbourne School of Graduate Research ePortfolio framework and represents the University’s first significant design foray in the Sakai platform.

Deploying and Using Sakai: What does it take Peter A Knoop, University of Michigan

Organisational/Research/Support - S15 – Large Theatre, 12.45-1.15pm

There are now a wide variety of organizations, both in terms of size and goals, deploying and using Sakai. This presentation provides an overview of what these organizations have found necessary to deploy and support Sakai, as well as examples of common and uncommon uses of Sakai to provide some context for these requirements

17 Sept, 2009 1.20 – 1.50pm

When the internal student is external: using Sakai for the ‘virtual workshop’

Margaret Van Heekeren, Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room, 1.20-1.50pm Work integrated learning has led to some internally enrolled students effectively becoming external through industry employment. Sakai has been used for a ‘virtual workshop’ to provide equity to on-campus and off-campus students within the same cohort This presentation explores the potential and limitations of Sakai in providing a replica classroom teaching program in an online environment. It is based on the author’s experience in using the Charles Sturt University Sakai application, Interact, in a final year journalism subject. The presentation will initially outline the pedagogical issues of program consistency and learning equity that have emerged as a result of internal students participating in work integrated learning. It will then use a visual demonstration to show how Interact was used to develop a ‘virtual workshop’ to address these issues. Finally, the presentation will assess the success of Interact as a means of providing an equitable off-campus learning experience, examining the technology’s advantages and limitations. The presentation is particularly relevant in the current pedagogical environment which emphasises the use of work integrated learning in vocationally-oriented tertiary courses

CSU Interact enabling a community of practice Linda Ward & Catherine Newell, Charles Sturt University


Wenger describes a community of practice as "groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." Wenger believes that for a group of people to be a community of practice they need to display three characteristics – domain community and practice. The Faculty Showcase is defined by a shared interest in learning and teaching (domain) engagement in activities and discussions (community) and practitioners sharing resources and stories to address learning and teaching problems (practice). The Committee’s Interact site is enabling the Faculty to share practice across geographical locations. It is a place to share practice and engage with and celebrate initiatives to improve learning and teaching within the Faculty. Establishing the community of practice however has not been without its challenges


Sakai 3 at CSU – a catalyst for rethinking Information Systems Paul Bristow, Charles Sturt University


Sakai 3 will offer new ways of interacting with our users. It has a modern structure of application logic and information presentation and integration that is content and user focused. We look at implications for this in design and delivery of information systems and migrating our existing sakai environment

Backend as providing content used by client side widgets Seamless Integration Mashups across data sources Building for change Changes to what we can deliver (and changes to what we may want to deliver) Integration with out IT environment Migration from our Sakai 2 Integration with broader online and communications architectures

CSU has collaborated with The Learning Edge International to implement leading Digital Repository EQUELLA within its teaching and learning environment tightly

integrated with Sakai Dan McFadyen, The Learning Edge International & Sam Parker, Charles Sturt University


EQUELLA can easily be integrated with Sakai™ using the Sakai Tool to create a seamless system for users. Commencing in 2007, Charles Sturt University identified the need to implement a digital repository to form a composite solution with Sakai™ to provision its diverse collection of learning materials. After a formal selection process, CSU engaged The Learning Edge International to implement EQUELLA. EQUELLA is an advanced digital repository that can be integrated with the Sakai Courseware Management System. EQUELLA incorporates a digital repository and associated tools that enable users to search, create and manage content such as images, audio, video, packaged content, web links, text, PDFs and Microsoft Office™ documents. From within Sakai users can create and add EQUELLA items to courses or contribute items to the EQUELLA repository. This presentation will incorporate three elements:

A demonstration of the EQUELLA and Sakai integration, in particular key areas of interoperability

An overview of how CSU have configured the composite solution to suit the requirements of their end users

A discussion on the future vision and how CSU anticipate this composite solution will evolve to suit changing user needs

17 Sept, 2009 1.55 – 2.25pm

Using the Test Centre Tool: an opportunity to inform learning and teaching

David Maxwell & Lynnette Flynn, Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room, 1.55-2.55pm

The Test Centre tool was implemented to aid student reflection; to inform the teaching approach and for subject assessment purposes. The challenges the subject coordinator experienced; initial student attitudes and suggested areas for improvement will be addressed.


This presentation reviews an initial utilisation of the Test Centre tool by the subject coordinator of an undergraduate distance subject ‘Advertising Principles’ (Bachelor of Media Communication. This subject requires students to gain an understanding of complex concepts in the advertising process: research, positioning, strategy, creative execution and media selection. There is a need to progressively assess student learning throughout the subject. This is required for a number of reasons: as an aid to students reflecting and monitoring their learning; for student progress to inform the teaching approach of the subject, and to obtain evidence of student learning for assessment purposes. This presentation examines the assumed level of knowledge and intuitiveness of the user required for successful test implementation to meet assessment requirements of the subject. The outcomes of the implementation and students attitudes to the test centre tool will be explored. The subject coordinator and educational designer will make suggestions for further developments and improvement to the tool.

Virtual Agency: making 'groupwork' work online Brett Van Heekeren, Charles Sturt University


The BA Communication (Advertising) undergraduate degree program is an industry based, hands-on course that relies heavily on situated learning environments to facilitate the learning outcomes of the course. Adapting subjects in this course to the online environment has posed many challenges, none more than the need to create 'Advertising Agency' situations for teams of students to operate within. ADV205 is a subject that introduces students to the Advertising Creative process, that requires teams to develop idea generation processes, idea evaluation processes and idea publication situations. All of these 'hands-on' subject requirements have been successfully re-created online through Interact, via the mix and match of key tools and the creative branding of these tools. The audience for this presentation will be exposed to the educational design 'thinking' as well as learning outcomes from this heavily 'scaffolded' and interactive online learning model

Developing Sakai 3 style tools in Sakai 2.x David Roma, Charles Sturt University


This session will overview some of the techniques used to create a Sakai 3 style (web 2.0) user experience in Sakai 2.4. This dynamic, bright, and responsive UX is achieved through the use of AJAX, JQuery and Sakai’s Entity broker to deliver JSON feeds

Reflections on experiences in managing the piloting and evaluation phase of open source learning environments within the tertiary sector

Mark Drechsler, NetSpot Pty Ltd


12 months on - lessons learned about managing the introduction of Open Source learning systems in the tertiary sector. Many Australian universities are currently implementing or piloting open source learning environments, but what have been the most important aspects of these deployments? This session reflects on experiences in managing the piloting and evaluation phase, lessons in building the business case for change, critical phases of the implementation process and lessons to be learned for those first months of deployment


17 Sept, 2009 3.55 – 4.30pm

A framework for the use of online technology and Sakai tools in assessment

Janet Buchan, Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room, 3.55-4.30pm This paper presents a pedagogical framework for the use of online technology in assessment. Assessment is widely recognised as needing to be a fundamental part of the learning design and curriculum planning. Through pedagogical principles and good, sound learning design this paper promotes a seamless integration of the use of educational technology in assessment. The framework presented matches the technical and pedagogical affordances of individual tools with the cognitive domains of the subject objectives. Grounded in learning design, the framework thus supports learner oriented assessment and promotes assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning. There is deliberately no emphasis on distinguishing ‘online assessment’ from ‘assessment’ because the online tools are simply an extension of the medium through which assessment can be conducted. By grounding the affordances of the CSU Interact tools used for assessment in a pedagogical framework, educational designers and teaching staff can design a holistic learning experience

CSU Interact is being used to link all people and organisations involved in Indigenous

policing in NSW Paul Comino & David Prescott, Charles Sturt University - School Policing Studies


Initially the site was set up to link ADPP students (internal and DE) and confirmed Indigenous police officers. It has expanded to link CSU TAFE (IPROWD program) and NSW Police CSU School of Policing Studies initially created a project site for Indigenous students. This has been expanded to include;

CSU (ADPP) students and staff NSW TAFE – IPROWD program ITAS tutors Aboriginal Support Unit (CSU) at Wagga Wagga Aboriginal Employment Unit (NSW Police Headquarters) Serving police who act as Indigenous student mentors

Our Interact site enables the generation of a support system for a culturally unique cohort of students. Pre- policing students can link with those attending the college, those on the street as probationers, and those who have been confirmed as constables and have graduated from CSU. This initiative aligns with the NSW Police Aboriginal Employment Strategy to double the numbers of Indigenous police by 2012. The NSW Police recognise in setting this target that they will need to provide ongoing support and scaffolding of learning. Our Interact site is creating an online community where students can help each other and be helped by the major stakeholders in police education.

Sakai 3 at CSU Matt Morton-Allen, Charles Sturt University


A high level overview of the plans CSU has to move to a Sakai 3 based CSU Interact. The presentation will focus on the drivers for the shift and will explain the strategies being implemented to deliver a successful migration


Embedding library resources in CSU Interact Hanne Hoelaas & Claudio Dionigi, Charles Sturt University


CSU Interact enables subject coordinators and students to engage with each other using a range of Web 2.0 technologies and Sakai tools. It provides opportunities for staff to embed library services and resources in those same tools. The CSU Library provides support and training for subject coordinators who wish to embed library resources in Interact including:

library subject support pages specialised databases eg. Primal Pictures TV News electronic books eg. Cambridge Reference Online: Concise medical dictionary links to electronic readings eg. subscribed journals articles subject reserve

Library staff are also working with CSU LTS with a view to implementing elements of the Sakai Library tools eg Citations Helper with the aim of incorporating existing technologies such as SFX and Metalib directly in CSU Interact. Services and tools such as the Library Subject Support pages which might be valuable to first year students who have not previously conducted a literature search eg. http://www.csu.edu.au/division/library/find-info/subject/allied/index.html can be embedded in the OLE. Subject content presented in a Melete module can be enriched by direct links to the references and resources that are described in that module eg online journal article electronic book images from specialised databases such as Primal Pictures. This will also describe how existing library technologies such as SFX and Metalib used to assist students to locate and access resources have been incorporated in tools developed by the Sakai Library project

Friday 18 September 2009

18 Sept, 2009 10.10 ‐ 10.40am

Pros and Cons in Using Interact for Group Assignment Projects in Distance Education

Lisa Soon Charles, Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room, 10.10-10.40am

Distant education students face challenges in adopting and using technology for interacting with members in various locations and time zones for the purposes of group assignment. This paper discusses how Interact (Sakai) is used in distance education and the pros and cons associated to its use for group assignment projects

Teaching with Sakai innovation Award; tips and Suggestions from the 2009 Winner Andrea Crampton Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - Foundation Room 2, 10.10-10.40am

The teaching with Sakai innovation award is an international award run by the Sakai foundation. The winner in 2009 will present a summary of the innovations that have earned places in the finals and provide tips and suggestions for fellow academics and educational designers interested in applying in 2010. This presentation will not only highlight the innovations that resulted in my first place but will also look at the innovations of the other finalist in 2008 and 2009. The presentation will be structured to foster interaction and discussion so that other interested academics and education designers have the opportunity to discuss their innovations or innovations there are currently fostering. It is hoped that this session will promote the TWISA within the Australian Sakai community and increase the number

http://www.csu.edu.au/division/library/find-info/subject/allied/index.html


of Australian submissions as well as a promote awareness of the value of pedagogy driven innovation in the Sakai and teaching technology community

Working of Sakai Community and Product Development Clay Fenlason, Sakai Foundation

Technical/Development/Sakai - Syndicate Room 2, 10.10-10.40am

Enhancing communicative spaces for practice-based education in an inland regional Australian University

Franziska Trede, Charles Sturt University

Organisational/Research/Support - S15 – Large Theatre, 10.10-10.40am

There is a diversity of learning strategies to enhance practice-based education. Colleagues who work in the same university but in different schools, faculties or campuses are so busy working within their discipline-specific arena that there seems to be little opportunity to learn from and collaborate with other disciplines about practice-based education programs. This paper reports on a project that trialled and evaluated an online debate with university staff about practice-based education issues. The aims were to establish a sustainable university-wide practice-based education discourse, to break down profession-specific silos, to inform the development of university-wide practice-based education benchmarks, and to foster practice-based education leadership through online debates. Findings demonstrated that collectively, participants shared a wealth of experience and wisdom that remained largely untapped at a university-wide level. Participants’ evaluation highlighted the perceived value of creating a communicative space for a practice-based education discourse, and it exposed aspects of the online environment and time constraints as its biggest barrier.

18 Sept, 2009 11.05 – 11.35am

We gave it a try now our students love Sakai!

John Harper, Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room, 11.05-11.35am Botanical Interactions! In our Botany first year subject we have been using different tools within Interact to provide a richer learning experience for our students and to bridge the perceived gap between the on campus and distance education students. The first thing we did was to merge the student cohorts on interact so that all students would receive the same on-line materials and be able to interact on the forum. A Blog was created with a 1% participation ‘carrot’ so that students would introduce themselves and say where they were from, what course they were doing and something about themselves. They were also invited to post a picture of themselves. This worked well and I believe helped foster a sense of a learning community. The on-line communication Forum was also split into subforums so that specific topics could be easily threaded. For instance organising on-line chat times in interact could be scheduled via the chat scheduling forum. Interact resources included lectures, past exams, pod casts, mnemonics for difficult concepts and Test Centre was useful for formative assessment. Feedback from students has been very positive and it is clear that Interact helps students feel more connected and part of a learning community.


Creativity, interoperability and authenticity - blended learning in the context of professional practice

Merilyn Childs, Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - Foundation Room 2, 11.05-11.35am

The Flexible Learning Institute at Charles Sturt University has initiated a number of projects that aim to transform learning design within the context of professional practice. This is a complex multi-disciplinary adult learning endeavour. In this presentation I will explore the design of a particular learning process that posed the question "How can virtual learning spaces be designed to construct and align with the complex possibilities of workbased learning in academic teaching?" Interoperability, authenticity and embeddedness have been central to the success of the design project.

Where two worlds meet – integrating Sakai and Pebblepad Carole Hunter, Charles Sturt University

Technical/Development/Sakai - Syndicate Room 2, 11.05-11.35am

CSU has chosen to adopt Pebblepad, an external personal learning system to complement the group learning that is taking place in Sakai. Despite some overlaps in functionality the two systems complement each other and there are many possibilities for integration. This session will cover why CSU chose an external ePortfolio system in preference to OSP, and how we see these two systems as complementary to one another. It is unique because, as far as we are aware, CSU is the only institution that is using both Sakai (as the main LMS) and Pebblepad. It is also timely – ePortfolios have been an increasingly important part of higher education discussions, with the ALTC-funded Australian ePortfolio Project holding two symposiums in the past two years and more and more institutions taking up an ePortfolio system. In addition, it is timely for CSU as we are just about to undergo a full rollout of Pebblepad in 2010, and have a series of Pebblepad workshops with the Director of PebbleLearning, Shane Sutherland, immediately following the AuSakai conference. The audience will gain a general overview of the core functionality of Pebblepad, including a quick comparison of areas of duplication between the two systems (e.g. blogs). They will take away with them a practical understanding of how the two systems are complementary through consideration of private/public and personal/group learning spaces, as well as an appreciation of how external systems can be successfully integrated with Sakai.

Student’s Perspective of CSU Interact Ash Johnston, Charles Sturt University

Organisational/Research/Support - S15 – Large Theatre, 11.05-11.35am

I will be running through how CSU Interact works with a few demonstrations, and giving a student perspective as well as a staff perspective on how interact works, how it brings together an online community in cohorts. By running through the usage of Interact, the tools, (possibly delve into future developments), and all the positives that CSU Interact brings to online communities @ CSU. Topics include Online communities, online collaboration efforts, and bridging gaps between dispersed students. Web 2.0 developments and where interact will take us.


18 Sept, 2009 11.40am – 12.10pm

Blogs for process and product

Jennifer Munday Charles Sturt University, FLI Fellow

Learning and Teaching - James Hardy Room, 11.40am-12.10pm The value of reflection and peer comment results in a more complex and interesting product for assessment. The presentation will cover an assessment task in a new distance Creative Arts subject where students were required to progressively think about the creation of a layered artwork. The blog tool allowed the reflection, peer comment and attached product for assessment.

Stepwise integration of online resource to diverse student cohort of 100+ distance students

Angela T Ragusa, Charles Sturt University

Learning and Teaching - Foundation Room 2, 11.40am-12.10pm The stepwise use of tools, feedback and research which informed the introduction of online teaching tools to a diverse student population studying introductory sociology from 2005-2009 will be presented to expose how the educational environment shifted from a traditional correspondence-based approach, with the majority of communication centred on administrative issues and complaints, to a multimedia-enhanced environment that imbibes a sense of a learning community. Student evaluations and surveys reveal an enhanced sense of “being taught” emerged and an increased connection with the university while administrative and complaint-orientated communication decreased, giving way to more content and discussion-based communication. Profile2: a complete re-development of the existing Profile tool in Sakai, brings social

networking to Sakai2 Steve Swinsburg, Portal Systems Developer

Technical/Development/Sakai - Syndicate Room 2, 11.40am-12.10pm

Profile2 is a complete re-development of the existing Profile tool in Sakai and brings social networking to Sakai2. A Facebook-like interface for editing your profile, comprehensive privacy and preference controls, post status updates including Twitter integration, searching for people with common interests and adding them as a connection, are what Profile2 is all about. We will explore the development and current features of Profile2 as well as get a glimpse of what's instore for Profile2 in the future.

Model for sustaining online learning practices within an organisation Irene Ireland, TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute

Organisational/Research/Support - S15 – Large Theatre, 11.40am-12.10pm

A thousand independent flowers blooming within an organisation may make a pretty picture - however sustaining the growth and ensuring that knowledge and experience is shared between teachers using online learning technologies is paramount to the success of its implementation within the organisation. This presentation looks at the model developed by TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute (NSI)and its Sakai implementation


18 Sept, 2009 1.05pm – 1.25pm

The Sferyx Software Components for Sakai Academic Users

Oggie Kolev, Rila Solutions, Sferyx Australia & Asia Pacific Representatives

James Hardy Room

The scope of the presentation of the Sferyx Ltd company and Sferyx software components for the academic users of Sakai is to demonstrate the possibilities of the Sferyx Editors to achieve higher productivity quality and in lesson building and other operations when used within Sakai system. The presentation includes basic data about the Sferyx Ltd company, the main functionalities and features of the Sferyx products, the collaboration between Sferyx and the Melete team and Sakai projects, information about the integration of the Editors in Sakai, the new Sferyx academic licenses program for using the products with Sakai and further Sferyx products to empower the Sakai system.

18 Sept, 2009

12.55pm – 1.25pm

Sakai 2.6 Overview

Peter A Knoop University of Michigan

Technical/Development/Sakai - Syndicate Room 2, 12.55-1.25pm An introduction to Sakai 2.6, focusing on user-facing enhancements and additions in this latest release in the Sakai 2 series.

Two years ago I’d never heard of an LMS.... my Sakai integration Deb Murdoch, Charles Sturt University


So where I have come from and where am I headed? My journey into CSU Interact has been along a continuum. This workshop explores my reflections on that journey from "no knowledge" of an Learning Management System to my progression onwards to the exploration of new and innovative technologies within a 2 year period. Using my own practice-journey as a basis for reflection, this workshop asks- how can Interact be incorporated into teaching and learning? What factors may impact on the journey from "no Interact" to full use of Interact and other environments? and How can we plan for the future implementation of Interact based on the diversity of experiences and variable uptake? I also want to work with participants to explore these questions - What’s next? If there is a continuum of development, how do we develop people professionally to move along it? What is needed to motivate people, to build capacity in technology and teaching knowledge? How do we work with the factors that impinge on progress? How do we measure our progress in the journey? A rubric is developed that measures our progress and tell us what we can do next to change our practice and move forward on the continuum.

http://www.sferyx.com/

The Centre for Professional Development

Outdoor courtyard

Hotel Lounge

t

Staff only

Break Area 1

Break Area 2

SyndicateRm 3

SyndicateRm 2

Foundation Rm 2

Foundation Rm 1

Outdoor courtyard

James Hardie Dining Room

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Documents

Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, - Charles Sturt University · AuSakai 09 Conference and Workshops, " Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy ... Margaret Van Heekeren, ... the