FET8604 Online Pedagogy in Practice

Contents

• Staffing
• Rationale
• Synopsis
• Objectives
• Topics
• Reference materials
• Student workload
• Assessment details
• Important assessment information
• Other requirements
• Production date
• PDF version

STAFFING

RATIONALE

The emergence of the virtual classroom, virtual school. or virtual university has the potential to change the way education and training is offered across all sectors. Technology has the potential to be a powerful tool for supporting the kinds of leaning tasks that teachers have always encouraged learners to undertake. Internet technology has created opportunities for interactive and collaborative learning (once regarded as the domain of face-to-face teaching contexts) that represent alternatives to autonomous approaches to traditional distance learning. Although the knowledge base about learning and teaching online is still developing, interesting ideas based on authoritative research and development work are emerging. This course is aimed at those who wish to understand the nature of online pedagogy and how they might apply that understanding to their education/training practice.

SYNOPSIS

While this course focuses on pedagogical principles, procedures and practices that constitute the strategies and tactics in online learning and teaching, the main objective is to connect learners with each other. Collaboratively they may explore, investigate, formulate and challenge ideas about online pedagogy in relation to pedagogical frameworks that can be applied to particular educational settings. The design of the course has been strongly influenced by the concept of a "dilemma" leading to "disorientation" and then to learning (Mexirow,1991). The intention is to present learners with a number of educational "dilemmas" or "triggers" (called "themes") and provide a process for addressing those dilemmas. Learners will engage rigorously with current theories suitable for online learning and teaching in order to make the links between theory and practice and will work collaboratively to consider, explore, trial and adapt online pedagogical principles to practice.

OBJECTIVES

The course objectives define the student learning outcomes for a course. the assessment itme)s) that may be used to assess student achievement of an objective are shown in parenthesis. On completion of this course students will be able to:

1.

conduct an analysis of current literature and practice to reveal differences between online learning and teaching, and learning and teaching in other contexts specifically as such differences relate to strategies and tactics (Assignments 1 & 2)

2.

analyse a selected are of online learning and teaching with a view to developing an understanding of how concepts derived from such an analysis might assist with the implementation of online approaches in a nominated learning context (Assignment 1 & 2)

3.

prepare and conduct a pedagogical event online and present a paper online to illustrate to other course participants how principles and practices might be utilised to enchance online teaching and learning (Assignment 2)

4.

demonstrate competence in written language and scholarly writing including correct spelling, grammar and bibliographic referencing (All assessment itmes)

TOPICS

TEXT and MATERIALS required to be PURCHASED or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials are available for purchase from USQ BOOKSHOP (unless otherwise stated). Orders may be placed via secure internet, free fax 1800642453, phone 07 46312742 (within Australia), or mail. Overseas students should fax +61 7 46311743, or phone +61 7 46312742. For costs, further details, and internet ordering, use the 'Textbook Search' facility at http://bookshop.usq.edu.au click 'Semester', then enter your 'Course Code' (no spaces).

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.

All recommended reference materials are referred to in Online materials.

Whether you are on, or off campus, the USQ Library is an excellent source of information http://www.usq.edu.au/library. The gateway to education resources is here: http://www.usq.edu.au/library/faculties/education/default.htm

STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS

ASSESSMENT DETAILS

NOTES

1.

APA style is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use APA style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The USQ library provides advice on how to format information sources using this system. http://www.usq.edu.au/library/help/ehelp/ref_guides/apastyle/default.htm

IMPORTANT ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

1. Attendance requirements:
   There are no attendance requirements for this WEB course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
   To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.)
3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
   If students submit assignments after the due date without (prior) approval of the examiner then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded. No assignments will be accepted after model answers have been posted.
4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
   To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
   The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.
6. Examination information:
   There is no examination in this course.
7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
   As there are no examinations in this course, there will be no deferred or supplementary examinations.
8. University Regulations:
   Students should read USQ Regulations 5.1 Definitions, 5.6. Assessment, and 5.10 Academic Misconduct for further information and to avoid actions which might contravene University Regulations. These regulations can be found at the URL http://www.usq.edu.au/corporateservices/calendar/part5.htm.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

1. Students will require access to e-mail and Internet access for this course.
2. Students enrolling in WEB courses MUST have ongoing convenient and reliable access to the Internet in order to access course materials and participate in activities that will affect assessment. The levels of equipment required may change from time to time, with the most recent specification listed at http://www.usq.edu.au/currentstudents/computingstandards/default.htm. You can check whether your computer system meets these requirements from USQAssist (http://usqassist.usq.edu.au/).

This version produced 11 Dec 2009.