Transformational  Educational Technologies

7170EDN Transformational Educational Technologies

Through developing a Systems lens for thinking about educational transformation in conjunction with Design-Based research, students will analyse an educational organisation, develop a simulation of the interactions occurring within the organisation, develop policy frameworks to support the effective and appropriate use of Educational Technologies, and develop an implementation plan to guide the application of Educational Technologies to transform learning and teaching for an educational organisation.

Change in educational organisations is inherently difficult due to their conservative nature, but Educational Technologies are commonly used as a catalyst for driving change in educational organisations, transforming pedagogy, assessment, and curriculum, through the affordances of technology. Students will explore the complex processes involved through Design-Based Research, using Socio-Ecological Modelling of an educational organisation to understand the challenges and opportunities available. This understanding is then developed into a dynamic computer simulation using Systems Engineering research processes, and a range of transformational approaches simulated and analysed. Using this analysis, existing vision statements, goals, policy and procedures in the organisation will be deconstructed and redeveloped using an Action Research approach, and finally, using Policy-Oriented Research approaches, a transformation plan will be developed to guide the organisation in implementing the Educational Technologies needed to achieve the organisations vision. 

Online Cohort

Students will complete online course work, contribute to online discussions using Microsoft Teams, view one hour of recorded video presentations and/or guided course material weekly, and attend a one-hour weekly online video-conference using Microsoft Teams from Week 1 to Week 12 (Online students only), sessions recorded.

On Campus Cohort (no On Campus cohort currently available)

Students will complete online course work, contribute to online discussions using Microsoft Teams, view one hour of recorded video presentations and/or guided course material weekly, and attend a two-hour weekly on-campus tutorial (On-Campus students only) from Week 1 to Week 12, sessions will not be recorded.

This course engages with a range of emerging technologies and assumes competency with computer technologies and a positive attitude to exploring what can be achieved with Educational Technologies. While students have an opportunity to focus on educational issues in a range of contexts, the course assumes an understanding and interest in education as a field of study. While the course has a focus on Educational Technologies in western K-12 and higher educational systems, opportunities exist to study the application of Educational Technologies in other systems and countries through assessment tasks.

The course is best completed after 7131EDN Digital Culture, Games and Education (Creating Educational Technologies) and 7134EDN Making Sense of Learning and New Technologies (Researching Educational Technologies), which provide experience with Educational Technologies used as a context for policy and planning conducted during this course. The course complements the 7510LFC Community Internship, where students can explore the community-based organisation in which they are placed, and develop policy and planning documents to support the use of Educational Technologies in this organisation.

Innovations in Technologies for Learning and Practice (Transformational Educational Technologies) aims to provide students with:

• research-informed strategies to lead transformational change in educational organisations; and

• policy development experience to support organisational changes.

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

1. apply a Design-Based Research approach using Socio-Ecological Modelling to analyse an educational organisation;

2. apply Systems Engineering Research to develop a Dynamic Simulation Model for analysis of an educational organisation;

3. apply an Action Research approach to develop policies that support the implementation of Educational Technologies in an educational organisation;

4. apply a Policy-Oriented Research approach to develop an Organisational Transformation Strategy; and

5. demonstrate understanding of a range of research-informed Educational Transformation approaches. 

Log of Learning Activities (20%)

Each week you are expected to do completion activities that contribute towards your Log of Learning Activities assessment:

• • complete an online quiz via L@G, each weekly quiz contributing 1% towards your final grade; and

  • contribute to online discussion, each module (3 weeks) contributing 2% towards your final grade and evidence submitted of these contribution via L@G by the Week 12 due date. 

The Log of Learning Activities will comprise quizzes and discussion contributions that you complete during the course. While designed to scaffold learning and be completed progressively to support the development of Portfolio of Learning subtasks, students may complete Log of Learning Activities at any time during the course. The 12 quizzes may be retried as many times as you wish, and the best result by the Week 12 due date will be counted. While guided discussion with peers will be supported only during the three weeks for each module, full marks for each module can be achieved with 5 discussion contributions per module. These 5 contributions must be made during the three weeks of the module, with evidence of these discussion contributions submitted using L@G up to the Week 12 due date, but must have occurred in Microsoft Teams within the three weeks of each module. A discussion contribution must add substantively to the discussion by raising a new point, contributing a reference or resource, or making an argument. Simple questions, agreements or encouragements, while welcome in discussions, do not meet the requirements of a discussion contribution.

Quizzes and submission of evidence of your discussion contributions will be through L@G.

Marks for quizzes will be available on L@G immediately and finalised on the due date in Week 12. Marks for discussion contributions will be available on L@G within two weeks of the final due date in Week 12.

Portfolio of Learning (80%, 20% per portfolio subtask)

Each module (3 weeks) your are expected to complete an assessment task that contributes to your Portfolio of Learning.

The Portfolio of Learning will comprise four subtasks that evidence your learning throughout the course. Three Research Based subtasks where you develop in stages a process of transforming an educational organisation through the application of educational technologies , and a final Presentation during the online video-conference or on-campus tutorial, where you present your transformation plan.

The Portfolio of Learning is designed to be scaffolded by learning activities and collaborative discussions, and completed in stages, with subtasks submitted in weeks 4, 7, 10 and 12. Collaborative discussion in online forums and video conferences (online) or tutorials (oncampus) will support the development of these subtasks during the 3 weeks each subtask is being developed. You may submit all portfolio items on the portfolio due date in Week 12, however, you have the opportunity to submit portfolio items throughout the semester and if submitted by the subtask due date in Week 4, 7 and 10, marks and feedback will be provided within 3 weeks, and if you fail the item, you will have 5 days from receipt of the mark and feedback to resubmit that item for re-examination. Items submitted on the portfolio due date in week 12 may not be resubmitted for re-examination (including the final presentation item) and marks will be available on L@G within 2 weeks of the due date in Week 12.

The four portfolio tasks for this course are:

While this course (7170EDN) focuses on how to apply your understanding of Educational Technologies within educational organisations, exploring the complex systems involved in successfully implementing Educational Technologies and the policies and processes that can result in transformational practice in educational organisations, two other courses are available on Educational Technologies.

If you are interested in researching existing Educational Technologies, 7134EDN Making Sense of Learning and New Technologies (Researching Educational Technologies) (a Semester 1 course) explores approaches to researching Educational Technologies, with students completing four mini research studies by the end of the course.

If you are interested in how to create Educational Technologies, 7131EDN Digital Culture, Games and Education (Creating Educational Technologies) (a Semester 1 course) explores the specific technologies of Educational Computer Games and AI applications in depth, with students proposing their own new Educational Technologies by the end of the course.