Online Down Under:Instructional Technology in Australia
Objective 1: "Identify and learn from ways that Australian colleges and universities are integrating technology into their communication skills programs."
To accomplish this objective, I visited four universities in Australia and met with faculty development staff, teaching staff, technology staff, and administrators of projects and programs related to the integration of technology into instruction.
- University of Melbourne, Australian
Communication Skills Conference
- co-conducted preconference hands-on computer workshop on communication across the curriculum online
- delivered keynote address on moving communication across the curriculum online
- met with Joanna Tapper, director, as well as office staff, teaching staff, and student technology assistants in communication-across-the-curriculum program at Centre for Communication Skills
- visited cultural sites of Melbourne
- survived Melbourne gas crisis
- Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
- met with Animation and Interactive Media Centre teaching staff and students to discuss possible student collaborations with TCC’s Visual Arts Center
- met with director of information technology, coordinator of faculty development for integrating technology into instruction, and educational technology special projects director
- met with Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, portfolio project coordinator, and subsequently contributed a section to her forthcoming book on electronic portfolios
- University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South
Wales, Australia
- co-conducted teaching staff seminar on Web-based communication across the curriculum
- met with university dean and staff development coordinators to discuss distance learning issues
- University of Technology-Sydney, Australia
- participated in faculty seminar on communication across the curriculum for teaching staff and staff development coordinators
Objective 2: "Demonstrate VCCS leadership in integration of computer-communication"
I had several opportunities to demonstrate TCC’s Online Learning Program and our use of WebBoard as a tool to establish virtual communities. The most significant was my keynote address on moving communication across the curriculum online at the Australian Communication Skills Conference. Staff at all four universities visited my English and Humanities classes on the Web. I also was able to show faculty support Web sites I have developed through my work at TCC as well as some sites developed on my own.
Objective 3: "Establish international electronic mail partnerships for students and teachers"
Still in the initial planning stages are potential partnerships with Professor Kate Bowles and a film studies class at the University of Wollongong and an electronic portfolio project with Elizabeth Hartnell-Young of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Objective 4: "Investigate opportunities for international exchanges of teachers and students"
Professor Kate Bowles of the media studies department at the University of Wollongong visited TCC December 1998, a direct result of our discussions during my visit to her campus. She met with two other TCC faculty members who had been to Australia, and we discussed possible teacher exchanges. More research will be necessary for this component.
Australia-ACSC98 Project Home | site developed by D. Reiss and modified 11 March 1999 by D. Reiss