Abstract: This workshop focuses on innovation in Internet-enabled learning with particular reference to the way Web 2.0 technologies can be deployed and refashioned to give students more direct engagement with the real-world Internet than most learning management systems permit. Such an approach enables learning to proceed within and through online knowledge networks. Therefore, the underlying goal of the workshop is to assist in re-invigoration of university-level online learning by updating techniques and underlying pedagogic approaches to take account of the changing nature of the Internet in society today. The workshop involves a facilitated exchange of ideas, linking pedagogic techniques and concepts, with explorations of technologies which might be used to move beyond the learning management system

Objectives

The session objectives are to: 1) provide a space for engaged, carefully facilitated discussion and co-development of ideas and techniques for more innovation in online learning 2) provide critical debate about the practicalities and challenges of the approaches outlined in the session 3) provide information to participants about the current state of the presenter’s applied research and develop linkages with researchers and academics for future, more advanced collaboration

Topical Outline

1. Introduction and Challenge (30 mins) Workshop Presenter outlines key ideas to frame discussion and development of innovative education using the Internet, and then lays out the challenge for the innovative use of the Internet in the Web 2.0, post-LMS era. • Online knowledge production provides a key benefit for education since students can contribute – in numerous ways – to an audience far beyond that of other students and teachers. • Assessment is a key structuring device in curriculum design and teaching which can be used to motivate student engagement for higher-order learning • Web Presence and Knowledge Networking are both processes and outcomes that can be used to organise our thinking about how to use and assess online knowledge production 2. Workshopping Innovative Internet Education I – Ideas and examples (45 mins) Working in groups, participants share examples of innovative practices of Internet-enabled higher education. From this pool of shared ideas, consider the general advantages and challenges of these approaches. The emphasis here is on ideas about teaching and learning. There will be a summation at end of session by presenter. Break for refreshments (30 mins) 3. Workshopping Innovative Internet Education II – technologies (45 mins) Participants now move to consider Internet technologies regardless of whether there is or is not a specific or immediate example of their use for educational innovation. This session will reference back to technologies already discussed, and explore intersections of technologies. There will be a summation at end of session by presenter. 4. The Learning in Networks of Knowledge Project (30 mins) Presenter outlines applied research mini-projects currently underway within his project that involve the investigation of the concepts with which the workshop began and exploring the overall question of innovative Internet-enabled education. Questions and discussion, with an emphasis on building future collaboration will conclude session.

Prerequisites

The workshop is designed for a group of no more than 24 people, who should be academics, developers or instructional designers with some experience already in online learning (whether for external or on-campus students). Participants will be expected to share their ideas about and experiences of online learning, preferably involving the use of techniques, tools, or approaches which involve more than simply using a learning management system for basic online teaching and learning. Therefore the audience needs to have some familiarity with and interest in moving into new, web 2.0-enabled uses of the Internet, but a variety of backgrounds and knowledge is preferred, so as to keep the session as interactive as possible.

Experience Level

Intermediate

Qualifications

Associate Professor Matthew Allen is a nationally recognised university educator, having received an Australian Award for University Teaching in 2000 and more recently being awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Fellowship. A pioneer of innovative online education, he is also founding head of the Department of Internet Studies in the Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University of Technology. Matthew recently presented at the Teaching Learning Forum 2009 in Perth (“Education and the Internet: Web 2.0 and renewed innovation in online learning”), and was in 2007 a national lecturer for the Australian Computing Society, speaking on Information Ethics. His most recent publication is “Web 2.0: An argument against convergence”, First Monday, 2008. Matthew is a former President of the Association of Internet Researchers. Matthew as a bachelor's degree from University of Sydney and a PhD from the Australian National University. He has served as Dean Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University and has presented invited workshops at conferences such as the Teaching and Learning Forum (Perth, 2003) and HERDSA (Miri, 2005).