This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of... more
This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of the students from diverse ...
As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these... more
As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these environments. However, there is little guidance in the form of principled design frameworks that can assist the design practitioner in the development of online assessment strategies. From four cases, we have identified six design principles that represent the collective experience of our team of design practitioners in creating assessment strategies for online teaching and learning environments; (a) technology affordances, (b) alignment of objectives with assessment, (c) discipline-specific practices and approaches, (d) meaningful and timely feedback, (e) authenticity and transferability and (f) transparency of assessment criteria. We present in-situ qualitative case studies that articulate how these principles have informed our design practice in online a...
As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these... more
As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these environments. The assessment literature suggests a number of imperatives that should drive a renewed focus in assessment including; capturing the potential of online assessment, designing efficient and effective assessment, fostering academic honesty, and supporting effective group work. However, there is little guidance in the form of frameworks for the development of online assessment strategies. As a group of instructional designers engaged in a collaborative process of developing assessment strategies with online instructors, we present in-situ qualitative case studies that articulate our design practice in support of the development of online assessments, in line with the imperatives identified above. We discuss a range of assessment strategies and how...
As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these... more
As the demand for online learning environments grow in higher education, so does the need for systematic application of learning and educational theory to the design, development and delivery of assessment strategies within these environments. However, there is little guidance in the form of principled design frameworks that can assist the design practitioner in the development of online assessment strategies. From four cases, we have identified six design principles that represent the collective experience of our team of design practitioners in creating assessment strategies for online teaching and learning environments; (a) technology affordances, (b) alignment of objectives with assessment, (c) discipline-specific practices and approaches, (d) meaningful and timely feedback, (e) authenticity and transferability and (f) transparency of assessment criteria. We present in-situ qualitative case studies that articulate how these principles have informed our design practice in online a...
Abstract- This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the... more
Abstract- This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of the students from diverse backgrounds, educational goals and career pathways. Students in a first-year interdisciplinary cohort of 340
This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of... more
This paper describes a course on spatial thinking and communicating designed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to first-year university students. An important goal was to introduce spatial thinking while accommodating the needs of the students from diverse backgrounds, educational goals and career pathways. Students in a first-year interdisciplinary cohort of 340 represented Mechatronics Systems Engineering, Business, Interactive Arts, Communications, and Computing Science. A major feature of the course design was an integrated laboratory, which served to amplify lecture content via practicing exercises aimed at developing their abilities to think and work spatially in 2D and 3D using tools including pencil and paper, digital and physical Lego, and a computer-aided design system. We describe our course design and team-teaching processes, realities that constrained our choices, the tools we use to assist our decision making during course design and delivery, and the structure ...