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ALTC to fund Adaptive Tutorials in leading Australian Universities |
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Gangadhara Prusty (Mech Eng) has been awarded an ALTC competitive grant funding of $211,000 to develop and share use of adaptive tutorials in mechanics courses in engineering.
Adaptive Tutorials (ATs) provide a way of dealing with common sticking points, or 'threshold concepts' that prevent students progressing in the study of mechanics. These can sometimes be picked up by skilled one-to-one coaching but are usually missed by traditional 'book and board' teaching in large classes. The Adaptive tutorials use artificial intelligence (AI) principles along with online interactive virtual laboratory activities (simulations), to:
- track each student’s interaction with the simulation, and provide tailored feedback
- generate data that teachers can use to identify common conceptual sticking points in large classes
- provide information for adjusting the simulation, feedback and other learning activities in a course to help students through threshold concepts.
Pilots in Mechanical Engineering courses at UNSW have established the effectiveness of the tools and method. The ALTC funded project is entitled 'An adaptive eLearning community of practice for mechanics courses in engineering' and aims to extend use of this technology through the development, use and dissemination of a set of Adaptive eLearning Tutorials that target identified threshold concepts in the field. Furthermore, this project will foster a community of practice revolving around the use of such technology through a strong focus on staff training and cross-institutional, cross disciplinary, collaboration and related staff development events.
Led by Dr. Prusty, the project team involves engineering educators in UNSW and three other universities Zora Vrcelj (Civen), Prof Tim McCarthy (U Wollongong), Anne Gardner UTS, and Roberto Ojeda (U Tasmania). Other Faculty staff on the team include Carol Russell (Education Research Fellow), Nadine Marcus (CSE), Dror Ben-Naim (CSE) and Shaowei Ho (Mech Eng Hons Grad). |
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SiTEL’s Inovative Education Conference 2010 |
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In April we shall be flying over to Washington D.C. to take part in SiTEL’s Innovative Education Conference 2010.
We are excited to have been invited, and honoured to be seen as an innovator in a conference which aims to “join innovators and educators that can help provide the tools and approaches for effective engagement of the workforce”.
SiTEL (Simulation and Training Environment Lab) is a division of MedStar Health's ER One Institute and is considered to be a fast, reliable solution necessary to address the unmet need for training and education in mass casualty incidents at MedStar hospitals. SiTEL work as an “expert team of skilled clinicians, law enforcement, healthcare educators and interactive multimedia developers to create a comprehensive, hands-on training platform that provides flexible, customizable and engaging education and training solutions in the market for high-reliability organizations.”
The conference, hosted by SiTEL, holds and enforces its goals to explain and discuss new and developing technologies…
- Technologies which create leverage & enrich complex learning organizations.
- New learning environments & platforms/applications which cultivate inventive learning strategies.
- How educators, students and leadership will be effected by these technologies.
- How one incorporates these new strategies & technologies to improve safety, quality, and overall standard of learning amongst learners. We shall be discussing the role of the AeLP in learning and the exciting new possibilities now open to us with the further development of our own technology.
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