|
Complementary
experiential Associate
Professor Philip Hirsch |
|
|
Anne Forster's introductory paper makes clear that online teaching and learning is not so much a substitute as a complement to classroom, laboratory or field-based learning. I have taught a senior Geography unit on Asia-Pacific Development in both lecture and field mode for more than a decade. The challenge for a lecture-based approach is to relate the reality of complex political-economic interests, decision-making and cross-cultural aspects of development more closely with students' cognitive milieu. Field-based learning is inherently experiential but requires adequate opportunities for reflection, conceptualisation and generalisation. An online electronic simulation/role-play initiative provides students with such complementary opportunities. The Mekong electronic simulation (E-sim) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-university online initiative run by Geosciences since 2001. It involves about 140 students - geography students at USyd, engineering students at Adelaide and technology assessment students at UTS. The four week interactive exercise is integrated into the coursework program of each institution. E-sim provides a hands-on experiential learning opportunity. Specifically, it asks students to: • identify the political, social, economic and scientific dimensions to decision making in the context of natural resource management conflicts; • identify the responsibilities and appropriate responses for characters in the roleplay-simulation; • develop communication, research, critical thinking, negotiation and decision-making skills and an appreciation of cultural differences and approaches; • utilise information technology and telecommunication skills. It involves four main stages, set in real time to facilitate phased interaction, each with an assessment component. A briefing stage helps students become familiar with their role personas and online process. The second stage comprises interactions between different personae in response to events within the simulated environment, but based on real-world developments. The third stage is a set of simultaneous intensive online public forums over a 48 hour period. The fourth stage is a reflective debrief. Student responses to E-sim emphasise problem solving skills, real-world feel, teamwork and active engagement. Initially they are concerned with having to adopt new learning styles and the work demands of such a tightly run program. From a teaching perspective, the approach is highly stimulating and provides a more grounded understanding of development and environment issues facing the Mekong Region, of the roles of different actors, and also of the different mindsets brought to the subject by geographers, engineers and technology assessment disciplines. The E-sim is demanding on teaching resources and reinforces an important consideration for those anticipating on-line teaching - done well, it is not a device for getting "more for less"! Mekong E-sim has won two national awards: the ASCILITE award for best Australasian web-learning project in 2001, and the Uniserve Science Teaching Award. Descriptions of E-sim can be seen in both poster format and article format. Philip
Hirsch is Associate Professor of Geography in the School of Geosciences
and Director of the Australian
Mekong Resource Centre. |
|
| Return to Contents | About Synergy | Back Issues | Past Contributors | Bookshelf Index | | |
|
Copyright ©2002 Institute for Teaching and Learning |
|