Ron Oliver

• PhD (Curtin)
• formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at Edith Cowan University

Authentic learning is a pedagogical approach that situates learning tasks in the context of future use. Over the last two decades, authentic learning designs have captured the imaginations of innovative educators who see the approach as a means to enable students to develop robust knowledge that transfers to real-world practice. Authentic learning...

This paper describes the design and development of TruVision, an online learning environment designed to enable blind and vision impaired students to develop skills and expertise in elementary and advanced information processing strategies to enable them tom seek full-time employment within industry in such positions as administrative assistants, H...

This paper presents a description of the Australian University Teaching Committee (AUTC) funded project titled: "Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Their Role in Flexible Learning" that aims to provide opportunities for university teachers to create high quality flexible learning experiences for students. This is to be accomplish...

University instructors worldwide are implementing Web 2.0 technologies into their teaching as a means of improving and enhancing student learning. Although the affordances offered by Web 2.0 technologies appear to provide increased opportunities for high levels of reflection and higher-order thinking, they are not always used to their full advantag...

Traditional models of instruction in distance education and open learning have typically involved limited roles for teachers and teaching. In fact, one of the measures of quality in such learning settings has often been their degree of teacher-proof. With the emergence of technologies as enabling supports for quality learning, there has come recogn...

The old adage, 'We teach as we have been taught' places a great deal of responsibility on the current generation of online teachers, to teach in a manner that is worth replicating. This paper describes the development of a course in online teaching and learning, available only in online mode, that models the approach to teaching and learning that i...

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the discrete forms of knowledge required for successful use of interactive information systems (IIS). Using an existing framework, an instrument was created to measure the achievement of three discrete forms of knowledge among novice users of an CD-ROM encyclopedia. The instrument included tasks...

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This paper describes a study that explored the utility and efficacy of the application of a Web-based tool to promote learner engagement among first year students in a large class in an undergraduate communications degree. The Web-based tool was developed to support an inquiry-based learning approach that was characterised by strong learning scaffo...

This chapter describes the development of a taxonomy of learning designs based on a survey of 52 innovative ICT-using projects that formed the basis of a grounded approach to classifying high quality learning designs. The concept of learning designs has the potential to support academics in the process of offering high quality ICT supported learnin...

In today’s university classrooms, “the time of restricting students products and learning opportunities to ink on paper are past” (Siegle, 2007). Blogs are only one of many computer-mediated technologies starting to dominate blended and wholly online courses. Most people assume that using these technologies, because it is what the students want, wi...

THE DEVELOPMENT of immersive learning technologies in the form of virtual reality and advanced computer applications has meant that realistic creations of simulated environments are now possible. Such simulations have been used to great effect in training in the military, air force, and in medical training. But how realistic do problems need to be...

Authentic learning designs have been explored for some time now and have frequently been shown to provide learning settings that provide many meaningful contexts for learning. These meaningful contexts provide not only encouragement for students to learn but also a raft of learning enhancements including higher-order learning and forms of learning...

This paper describes an exploration of an inquiry‐based learning approach undertaken with a group of first‐year students in a large undergraduate class. An innovative technology support was used to manage the process and an exploration was undertaken to determine students’ responses to learning based on problem‐solving activities. The study investi...

This chapter presents an exploration of the community experience in online settings where the development of a learning community was a key instructional aim. The inquiry used the learning community development model (Brook & Oliver, 2003) to guide the study and measured the individuals' community experience using the Sense of Community Index (Chav...

This chapter describes a visual learning design representation devised in an Australian funded project that focused on identifying and describing innovative educational practices employing the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Referred to as Learning Designs project (www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au), the aim was to produce gen...

This chapter describes a visual learning design representation devised in an Australian funded project that focused on identifying and describing innovative educational practices employing the use of information and communication technologies (lCT). Referred to as the learning designs project (www. learningdesigns. uow. edu. au), the aim was to pro...

Technology-facilitated learning is quickly becoming mainstream in most higher education institutions. Simultaneously, although not necessarily related, tertiary administrators are calling for students exiting university to exhibit the capacity for reflection and higher order thinking. Instructors, therefore, are faced with two challenges: implement...

The delivery of courses and units through large classes in on-campus settings is an economic necessity for many higher education institutions, particularly within their undergraduate programs. Lecture presentations to cohorts of over 200 students are common in most universities. Such settings can present challenges for both learners and teachers. I...

This article reports on a replication of an earlier (1985) study that assessed the development of information technology (IT) skills in upper primary and lower secondary school students in a city school district in Western Australia. The 1985 study compared the effectiveness of the informal computing curriculum in two primary schools to the formali...

Fostering synergies amongst learner , task , and technology to create innovative and immersive distance learning environments runs counter to the widespread practice of incorporating traditional classroom pedagogical strategies into Web‐based delivery of courses. The most widely accepted model of online higher education appears to be one of reducti...

Abstract Often with large classes of students it is difficult to cater for individual needs. Large classes hold many students, some of whom may be under-prepared for the course they are taking and some who will already have a high degree of familiarity with much of the planned content and learning outcomes. In catering for the diversity of students...

This chapter reports a design framework intended to support and guide teachers in advancing K-12 literacy through principles of collaborative learning and the development of online learning communities. The study was guided by an investigation of contemporary literature focused on the community construct, online learning community development, the...

While telecommunications and telematics have been available in schools and universities for decades, the speed of adoption of the Internet into general use has been unprecedented. This has placed a great deal of pressure on university teachers to re-evaluate their roles in the light of new teaching and learning opportunities. The Internet has opene...

Many teachers, when faced with the task of creating an online course, or adapting an existing course to an online format, are overwhelmed by both the affordances of the technology and by the need to create learning environments that do not simply replicate outmoded pedagogies in a new form. This chapter describes a useful framework for teachers and...

There is currently a high degree of energy and enthusiasm in the e-learning world being given to developing strategies and systems that support the reuse of digital learning resources. The activity involves a number of processes including the development of specifications and standards for the design and development of reusable learning resources,...

This chapter presents an exploration of the community experience in online settings where the development of a learning community was a key instructional aim. The inquiry used the Learning Community Development Model (Brook & Oliver, 2003) to guide the study and measured the individuals’ community experience using the Sense of Community Index (Chav...

This chapter reports a design framework intended to support and guide teachers in advancing K-12 literacy through principles of collaborative learning and the development of online learning communities. The study was guided by an investigation of contemporary literature focused on the community construct, online learning community development, the...

Quality assurance is becoming a necessary aspect of many institutions of higher education. Teaching and learning is a major area of scrutiny and requires institutional agreement on the benchmarks and standards by which quality will be determined. This chapter provides a framework for conceptualising the elements of teaching and learning that need t...

While telecommunications and telematics have been available in schools and universities for decades, the speed of adoption of the Internet into general use has been unprecedented. This has placed a great deal of pressure on university teachers to re-evaluate their roles in the light of new teaching and learning opportunities. The Internet has opene...

This paper describes a suite of tools designed to provide teachers with generic content-free online learning activities that support interactive and engaging learning. The paper describes the tools and the results from a survey conducted among users that sought to explore the utility of the system and their perceptions of the learning opportunities...

Quality assurance is becoming a necessary aspect of many institutions of higher education. Teaching and learning is a major area of scrutiny and requires institutional agreement on the benchmarks and standards by which quality will be determined. This chapter provides a framework for conceptualising the elements of teaching and learning that need t...

This paper considers the role of quality assurance in e-learning; reflecting on the conditions necessary for successful e-learning. It reviews some of the current international work on quality assurance in this area and goes on to consider the ways in which the quality of a process or activity can be assessed–focusing on the use of benchmarking and...

This paper considers the role of quality assurance in e-learning; reflecting on the conditions necessary for successful e-learning. It reviews some of the current international work on quality assurance in this area and goes on to consider the ways in which the quality of a process or activity can be assessed—focusing on the use of benchmarking and...

DESIGN RESEARCH has grown in importance since it was first conceptualized in the early 90s, but it has not been adopted for research in instructional technology in higher education to any great extent. Many researchers continue to conduct studies that principally seek to determine the effectiveness of the delivery medium, rather than the instructio...

This paper discusses an Australian project where online learning materials with problem-based learning designs are being developed in a form which facilitates their inclusion in digital repositories and learning management systems. To that end the products are being developed as properly formed SCORM compliant IMS content packages. This paper discu...

In business and commerce, the concept of marketing myopia has been a useful tool to predict, analyze and explain the rise and fall of businesses. In this paper, we question whether the concept can also be used to predict the ultimate downfall of online learning in higher education, if universities continue to confuse their key mission--education--w...

This paper presents an exploration of the community experience in online settings where the development of a learning community was a key instructional aim. The inquiry used the Learning Community Development Model (Brook & Oliver, 2003) to guide the exploration of the community experience in online settings. The paper reports the findings of a mul...

This paper describes an exploration of the use of a technology-enabled problem-based learning approach undertaken with a group of first year students. The exploration sought to determine students' responses to the learning setting and to investigate its ability to successfully cater for the diverse needs and expectations of the subjects.

This paper considers the role of quality assurance in e-learning; reflecting on the conditions necessary for successful e-learning. It reviews some of the current international work on quality assurance in this area and goes on to consider the ways in which the quality of a process or activity can be assessed—focusing on the use of benchmarking and...

There is currently a high degree of energy and enthusiasm in the e-learning world being given to developing strategies and systems that support the reuse of digital learning resources. The activity involves a number of processes including the development of specifications and standards for the design and development of reusable learning resources,...

This paper describes the advancements that have occurred in the use of educational technologies over the past ten years (1995-2005) and argues that progress has been slow and reminiscent of the slow progress observed in the previous decade (1985-1995). The paper argues that one of the principal reasons for the less than spectacular results stems fr...

Although important, traditional basic-to-applied research methods have provided an insufficient basis for advancing the design and implementation of innovative collaborative learning environments. It is proposed that more progress may be accomplished through development research or design research. Development research protocols require intensive a...

INFLUENCED by constructivist educational theory and advances in technology, there is increasing interest in authentic activities as a basis for learning in both face-to-face and Web-based courses. Whereas traditionally, real-world activities have primarily served as vehicles for practice of skills or processes that are taught using traditional inst...

This paper describes the design the Dynamic Interactive Visualisation Tool in Teaching C (DIVTIC), using multimedia and visual imagery to provide learners with a step-by-step representation of program execution in the C language as a means of enhancing their understanding of programming structures and concepts. The levels of use and uptake of DIVTI...

Conventional teaching and learning in higher education, that within our current comfort zone, has for many years been based around the design and development of courses and curricula which have been based on the presentation of knowledge and course content. The instructional models within most institutions have been based around lectures and conten...

This paper reports the development of a design framework intended to support and guide online instructors in the development of a learning community. The study was guided by an investigation of contemporary literature focused on the community construct, online learning community development and the collaborative construction of knowledge and the pr...

A considerable amount of the effort and enthusiasm that goes into the development and implementation of technology-mediated learning environments often fails to create effective settings for learning. Too often the opportunities and advantages of the use of technology in the learning process are poorly exploited. This paper explores ways in which c...

In this paper we argue that in about ten years time PCs as we now know them, will no longer exist. Their functionality will be totally integrated into mobile telephony devices, or putting it differently, in ten years time mobile phones will incorporate all functions one would expect from a powerful PC. These new devices, let us call them eAssistant...

The gradual uptake of online learning as a delivery medium for higher education necessitates a shift in the metrics used to determine quality and success. While the attributes that have typically been used as benchmarks for quality in learning remain the same, the factors that impact on these factors have changed and it is these factors that form t...

Australia is a country that has a long history of providing flexible learning opportunities for students in higher education. It has a distance education record that goes back further than most other countries and is one of the countries where quality in teaching and learning has been an item on the Governmental agenda for some time. Currently Aust...

This paper examines how to teach Cognitive Self-Regulation. Approaches to enhancing Metacognition are discussed and a model for metacognitive regulation is presented. A strategy of reciprocal teaching is advocated for the development of metacognitive regulation of Reading Comprehension. An on-line annotation tool is proposed with a rationale for ho...

Higher education institutions are experiencing increasing pressure from government, industry, funding bodies and students, to place greater emphasis on developing generic skills that are currently delivered through the "hidden curriculum". This paper proposes an instructional strategy to help develop students' generic skills through a combination o...

With the aim to facilitate sharing and uptake of high quality ICT-based learning designs amongst academics in higher education, the Australian Universities Teaching Committee funded project,: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Their Role in Flexible Learning, examined a number of previously implemented high quality, ICT-based lea...

The use of authentic activities within online learning environments has been shown to have many benefits for learners in online units and courses. There has been renewed interest in the role of student activities within course units, as constructivist philosophy and advances in technology impact on educational design and practice. Courses based on...

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become commonplace entities in all aspects of life. Across the past twenty years the use of ICT has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavour within business and governance. Within education, ICT has begun to have a presence but the impact has not been a...

Abstract: This paper describes the design of an instrument to help identify teachers’ level of ICT uptake. The instrument takes the form of a typology matrix comprising four stages in ICT uptake across a continuum describing teachers’ levels of dependence. Identification of teachers’ positions in the typology matrix is determined by their affective...

This paper discusses the notion of community as an outcome of working within an online environment. In particular, the paper explores the concept of users' development of a sense of community as an outcome of working within an online environment designed to support the professional and personal development of its users. The paper discusses previous...

There are now many educational organizations and institutions that are strategically moving to adopt flexible delivery and on-line learning. The factors that have influenced these moves are typically based on such imperatives as the need to deliver programs more efficiently, the desire to provide more flexible programs for existing students and the...

Instructional technologies have moved from passive media-based resources to interactive applications of information and communication technologies. In this chapter, strategies for the design of new learning settings and learning activities are suggested. We introduce concepts and examples for learning activities, learning resources, and learning su...

Within the context of an AUTC funded Project: Information and Communication Technologies and Their Role in Flexible Learning, this paper presents an analysis of learning designs using ICTs and how this grounded approach might be a more useful structure to design effective learning environments. The project has developed generic or reusable framewor...

Reflection can be described as both an individually-mediated and a socially-mediated process. In this paper we describe an online unit in a Graduate Certificate of Online Learning that has been designed to enhance the opportunities for students to reflect on their learning. Rather than being promoted as a learning strategy to supplement the unit cu...

There has been a renewed interest in the role of student activities within course units as constructivist philosophy and advances in technology impact on educational design and practice. This paper proposes ten characteristics of authentic activities, based on a substantial body of educational theory and research, which can assist teachers to desig...

For many years' now, there have been many who have agonised over the concept of a minimum computing skills level as an important outcome of schooling and education in general. Numerous terms have been used to describe this set of skills. The more familiar descriptions have included such terms as, computer awareness, computer literacy, information l...

While many writers' have produced comprehensive guidelines to assist developers' of conventional print-based learning materials', few have produced similar sets' for designers' of technology-based resources supporting flexible delivery. This paper explores some of the issues surrounding the design and development of Web-based materials' and provide...

This paper describes and rationalises the use of database driven activities and resources for Web-based learning. Database driven Web resources differ from conventional Web-based resources in that they tend not to exist in discrete forms of HTML but are generated dynamically through such means as learner interaction. Database driven applications ar...

This paper describes The Flexible Learning Toolboxes Project , a component of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework for the National Vocational Education and Training System 2000-2004 (AFL Framework). The AFL Framework is designed to support the accelerated take-up of flexible learning modes and position Australian VET as a world leader in app...

`Traditional instruction', when defined as teacher-centred, hierarchically organised and individually assessed, is a pedagogical approach held in contempt by many in the educational community. In spite of this, traditional instruction has not only sustained its existence in educational institutions but more recently relocated to the World Wide Web...

Abstract This paper describes a study which explored students' responses and reactions to a web-based environment supporting problem-based learning. The study was undertaken among undergraduate students in an Australian university. The findings revealed that while the majority of the students saw value to be gained from learning in a student-centre...

This paper reports on a project which explored the incidental learning achieved through the implementation of a Web-based learning setting. In particular, the study explored the capacity of the environment to develop the generic skills of the students using the skills framework proposed by Bennett, Carre & Dunne (1999). The results showed that the...

I have come, over the years, in spite of all the reform agendas, to believe that the best we can do in teacher preparation programs, through a variety of courses and clinical experiences in intentionally selected schools, is to help academically able and socially committed students enter teaching with constructive dispositions and skills relating t...

Do computers, when implemented effectively, enhance learning? This question is the essence of the third phase of a Ph.D. study where computers were integrated as cognitive tools into a tertiary learning environment. The implementation framework was based on a social constructivist perspective of learning where discourse and collaboration were highl...

There are now many educational organizations and institutions that have decided on flexible delivery and online learning as strategies that they are keen to pursue. While many educators value online delivery of programs for the flexibility and opportunities offered, the environment offers far more than these outcomes alone. Online delivery supports...

Higher education institutions are experiencing continual pressure from government, industry, funding authorities and students to place a greater emphasis on developing generic skills that are currently delivered through the Òhidden curriculumÓ. In most courses skills such as teamwork, time management, critical thinking and conflict resolution are d...

With the continued advances in information and communication technology comes the interconnectivity of education institutions, businesses and industries. Either by default or association, the traditional education system will need to change and adapt to these new demands and opportunities. With these changes we are in danger of losing the focus of...

This paper has described the rationale and educational need behind Web-FAQ, a dynamic web-based system to support student learning in an introductory authoring course. The WEB-faq system has 4 main components: a questions and answers section, a frequently asked questions section, a section showing authoring tips and tricks and a submit URLs section...