• Brochure
• How to enrol and more information
• Questions and Answers for prospective students

Brochure

Have you settled on your semester three study? We have a new course...

Just when ...

• you thought you'd have to keep 'making do' with the same old learning environment
• you start to feel comfortable with your organisation's current learning environment

... along comes a range of emerging learning environments! Use FET8611 'Emerging Learning Environments' to explore these emerging options.

This course will provide students with tools and strategies to examine and evaluate emerging learning environments and relate these to your own organisational context. Combining theoretical, critically reflective and practical approaches, FET8611 course participants will use a variety of emerging ICT tools such as wikis, blogs, RSS syndication, podcasts, screencasts, and educational games to interact with other course participants and outside experts. The course focus will be effective and efficient use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to enhance learning.

Through collaboratively creating a course wiki focused on emerging environments for learning you will be contributing to an ongoing resource which you, or anyone else, may use after the course is finished. Future cohorts of students will also contribute to this course wiki.

Assessment will be based on 3 tasks:

1. the quality of your interactions with other course participants and the wider professional community interested in emerging learning environments
2. your contributions to the course wiki </li>
3. a major assignment looking at an emerging learning technology and its application addressing a learning need or learning opportunity of your choice

Participants will have the opportunity of working in small groups to complete the assignments.

More information and how to enrol

See the course specification at: http://www.usq.edu.au/course/specification/2005/FET8611-S3-2005-48362.html (The course is so new that it was not included in the 2005 Handbook).

Enrol before the end of October via http://enrol.usq.edu.au/, or discuss any queries you may have with the course examiner, Dr. Peter Evans via email2pje@yahoo.com.au or look at his web site at: http://www.usq.edu.au/users/evansp

Questions and Answers

1 What level of knowledge of "Emerging Learning Technologies" is assumed?

No previous knowledge of these "Emerging Learning Technologies" is assumed. After all, they are "emerging" and their form, and our understanding of them, are rapidly changing. (If anyone tells you they have had 10 years experience with some of these you can dismiss them almost immediately!) Below are links to some of the introductory readings on different technologies mentioned in the course.

• “7 Things You Should Know about Wikis”
  http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7004
• “7 things you should know about Augmented Reality”
  http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7007
• “7 Things You Should Know About Blogs”
  http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7006
• “7 things you should know about Clickers”
  <http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7002
• "2005 Horizon report"
  http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=CSD3737
• “Blogging and RSS — The "What's It?" and "How To" of Powerful New Web Tools for Educators"
  http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan04/Richardson.shtml

I can provide some more readings if you are interested.

Throughout the course we will get hands on experience using most of these technologies. An exception would be things that require infrastructure that you won't have access to e.g. "Augmented Reality" or "Clickers". In these cases it will be expected that the course participants that do have access to the tools will be able to discuss them with other participants.

2. What level of previous web development knowledge is required?

No previous web development knowledge is assumed. While web publishing is not the subject of the course, you will be able to do some basic web publishing by the end of the course e.g. constructing a link and publishing a simple page.

3. What hardware and software is required?

You will be expected to have good access to the internet as well the standard hardware and software required by the university <http://enrol.usq.edu.au/success/comstandards.htm>. You need access to a office productivity tools such as a word processor, email and web browser. If additional software is required you will be directed to free or trial software which you can download.

It would be an advantage if you have access to some of the consumer level digitial devices examined in the course e.g. a MP3 player or a digital camera.

4. Which semester is FET8611 offered?

The course is definitely offered in semester 3 2005 See the course specification at: http://www.usq.edu.au/course/specification/2005/FET8611-S3-2005-48362.html (The course is so new that it was not included in the 2005 Handbook).

At this stage the course is offered in semester 2 of 2006 (http://www.usq.edu.au/course/specification/2006/F_specs.html)