2009 Humanities and Social Sciences Projects
CHNS 1101 Chinese 1A and CHNS 1102 Chinese 1B WebCT Sites
The existing sites for first-year Chinese language studies in WebCT are being further developed. The materials, which are currently organized into stylistic groupings, will be restructured into a learning module for each week which leads the students through their required tasks. It is hoped that this will increase student engagement and improve preparation for face-to-face classes. Online multiple choice quizzes with feedback are also being developed from paper-based quizzes which are currently marked by tutors. This will reduce staff workload considerably.
Online resource delivery for the Master of Interactive and Digital Media degree
One program site plus sites for all units of study in the degree will be built with the intention of creating a cohesive online experience for students. The Master of Interactive and Digital Media degree attracts a high number of overseas students. Feedback from past cohorts indicates the need for a centralized hub of information and resources so students experience a greater institutional presence and sense of community.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Stage 2
Building on the 2008 project and responding to feedback from students and staff, the wiki assessment activity will be improved and the resource restructured to be more usable and engaging for students. A new learning module will be created for storytelling in the business context and assistance will be given to develop marking criteria for existing assessment activities.
SCA Online Student Feedback and Learning Development Record
This project will explore a way of improving the current online mechanism for providing student review and feedback at the Sydney College of the Arts. Its aim is to provide a stable and usable platform that will be easy for academics to use and for students to access.
Chamber Music LMS site
A site will be developed in WebCT for the Chamber Music program. It will provide a central repository for information connected with both undergraduate and postgraduate units and assist with communication between and amongst the various student ensembles, tutors and coordinators. It is anticipated that the site will also streamline the administration of the program, which is complex because it provides many options and involves stakeholders from all of the performance units at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Electric Rhetoric: Improving blended inquiry pedagogy in WRIT1002 Academic Writing (Contemporary Rhetoricians Stage 3)
Work is continuing on the online site for Academic Writing (formerly ENGL1000). Online discussions will be graded using WebCT’s grading forms, online exams will be built using the WebCT quiz tool and a weekly schedule of tasks will be developed to help students navigate through the online tasks and materials.
Upcoming projects for the second half of 2009
Models for the use of ePortfolios in Humanities and Social Sciences
Design templates and/or instructions will be produced which can act as models for educators starting out in using ePortfolios. They will be designed to fulfil the needs for the ePortfolio tool that were articulated by each of the Faculties in HASS during a recent needs analysis.
ARTS1000 eSearch to Research: Library Skills Stage 2
Development of an additional module, more Flash-based activities, WebCT quizzes and Camtasia demonstrations in the current WebCT site (ARTS1000) which is used by all students enrolled in a first year Arts subject.
2009 & 2010 Conservatorium of Music New Degree Program in Music Education (Music Practicum Stage 3)
This project is an extension of the work done in previous project periods on the Music Education Program. It will develop an additional case-study activity and formative quizzes, and continue the process of restructuring online material for the new curriculum.
Mustech Stage 2
‘Mustech’ is a website dealing with technical aspects of music to be made available to all students and staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Work will continue on the development and web production of the remaining content for the website that was built in stage 1 of the project.
RLST6951 Spirituality, Consumerism and Health
A blended online unit of study will be developed that will be based on the site ‘Healing in Buddhism’, which was developed as part of a strategic eLearning project in 2008.
A WebCT Site for the Masters Program in Film & Digital Image
A site will be developed for postgraduate students in the Master of Film & Digital Image degree program at the Sydney College of the Arts. It will form a central repository for information, materials and communication within the program.