Supporting Technology-enhanced Teaching Practices

for Health Academics

Mark O’Connor

and Patrick Abela

Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, University of Technology Sydney,

PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia

Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia

Keywords: Technology Enhanced Teaching, Health, Academic Engagement, Student Engagement, Analytics,

Evaluation, Learning Design.

Abstract: Two learning technologists (LTs) at an Australian University support some 140 Health faculty academics.

Resources and strategies for innovative technology-enhanced teaching have been put in place, including a

MediaHub, iPad pack pool and a Blackboard community site with curated resources and templates for best

practice. Examples of LT-assisted and academic self-created media are presented. Designed in keeping

with the university’s central learning and teaching strategies, 85 ‘Landing pages’ for subject sites were

created. With a design and feel praised by students, they displayed subject outlines, welcome messages,

pre-class flipped activities, and library curated eReadings lists. Crucially, during the busy exam marking

winter period, academics unavailable to meet in person were engaged remotely by email and interactive

PDF Landing page request forms. This paper looks at this transformational subject design work and analysis

of student usage data. Academics feedback has been positive. Analytics reveal strong engagement by

students and academics. Suggestions for future work are also presented.

1 INTRODUCTION

A challenge for LTs in universities is to provide

methods for academics to easily create videos with

good quality audio and video. An ever-growing

reality in higher education learning and teaching is

that academics require good on-camera presentation

skills and basic audio video production capabilities

in creating videos for their students. The

university’s learning and teaching strategy

(Learning.Futures, 2017) espouses practices that aim

to combine the best blend of online, collaborative

and face-to-face teaching. The city campus is in the

midst of a $1 billion redevelopment. Newly

designed learning spaces have been created on

campus to accommodate contemporary approaches

to flipped learning and collaborative learning

initiatives.

In a prior role as LT at another Australian

University (O’Connor, 2013) and now at the current

University, the authors have followed an approach

of continuous improvement in LT service provision

for academics. Along with face to face meetings,

and a work request ticketing system, the authors,

responding to known academic needs, have designed

online resources, project planning practices and

acquired borrowable technological tools for

academics. While LTs may not be available at all

times, technological and pedagogical solutions are

always available to academics.

This initiative described in this paper constitutes the

deployment of a pool of 10 iPad Packs, a Learning

Futures MediaHub content creation studio, subject

site landing pages and a central Blackboard site of

curated resources and technologies in which all

health academics, fulltime and casual, are enrolled.

We also present illustrative examples and discuss

academic and student feedback data. Our evaluation

shows how LTs can help improve the digital self-

efficacy of health academics resulting in a rise in

student satisfaction ratings.

426

O’Connor, M. and Abela, P.

Supporting Technology-enhanced Teaching Practices for Health Academics.

DOI: 10.5220/0006334104260433

In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2017) - Volume 1, pages 426-433

ISBN: 978-989-758-239-4

2 INITIATIVES

2.1 The Health Learning Futures

MediaHub

The Health Learning Futures MediaHub (Figure 1)

is a space available to all academics containing:

 1 high performance Apple iMac + 6TB

External Hard drive – Includes Adobe

Creative Suite

 1 MacBook Pro – Allows mobile LT

support in academics’ offices and teaching

spaces

 1 PC – Most academics use staff PCs

 1 Zoom H6 Pro audio recorder/interface –

capable of stereo recording up to 6 tracks of

audio

 A pool of 10 iPad Packs

Figure 1: The Learning Futures MediaHub.

With this equipment academics can create screen

capture and head shot videos, excellent quality

stereo audio recordings and use a range of pc and

mac software for content design and in class uses.

2.2 iPad Packs

The authors purchased 10 iPad packs (Figure 2) for

academics to borrow to create learning and teaching

materials. Easily portable, the iPad pack is not only

an excellent video solution, but fosters uses of

teaching and/or health related apps in class.

Academics are encouraged to bring one of the packs

home for the weekend, to record visiting lecturers or

all 10 can be borrowed at once. 2 iPad packs can be

used for interview scenarios.

Figure 2: iPad Pack Pool: Each iPad Pack, 10 in all,

contains an iPad, Makayama Moviemount, Rode

SmartLav microphone and a Manfrotto tripod. Portable,

affordable and supported with how-to set up videos

(O’Connor, 2017).

Below (Figures 3 and 4) are examples of videos

created with academics in various campus locations.

Supporting Technology-enhanced Teaching Practices for Health Academics

427

2.2.1 Uses of iPad Packs at our City Campus

Figure 3: Academics utilizing different city campus

locations to shoot welcome videos including Health

Building, the Frank Gehry designed Business School

Building (with titles) and green screen backdrops.

2.2.2 Academic Self-created iPad Pack

Video at our Moore Park Campus

Figure 4: Stills from Dr Rob Bower’s self-created

welcome video for Sport and Exercise Science students

featuring Sydney Cricket Ground and Allianz Stadium at

the Moore Park campus.

2.2.3 Further Uses of iPad Packs

Other outputs of mobile learning include nursing and

midwifery simulation lab demo videos, twitter clubs

(Ferguson et al, 2016) and development of the

Growing Healthy app and website (Growing

Healthy, 2016).

Figure 5: iPad uses – Nursing & Midwifery simulation lab

videos and Growing Healthy Midwifery App.

2.3 Faculty Learning and Teaching

Community Blackboard site

This site features a range of regularly updated,

curated resources. All academics are enrolled and

can be readily updated using Blackboard

Announcements. Features include:

 Welcome landing page (see Appendix)

 News, Key Dates, Lunch and Learn

sessions, information on Teaching and

Learning Grants and Awards won by the

faculty

 Learning and Teaching Resources –

assessment, 3

party tools and social media

(O’Connor, 2016)

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 Subject Coordination Toolkit for first time

subject coordinators

 Learning Module templates – Adobe

Captivate, Blackboard Learning Module,

iSpring

 Additional face to face and online

classroom technologies e.g. Kahoot, Skype,

Kanopy, Lynda.com

 Landing Page Request forms (see Figure 6)

 YouTube Playlists – Student interview

skills, nursing reflection practice, clinical

placement videos

2.4 Blackboard Site Landing Pages

The Balanced Teaching Periods initiative was

introduced as part of Learning.Futures (Academic

Calendar, 2016). This proposed a gold, silver and

bronze standard (Bronze, 2016). To present

seamless integration of online and on-campus

learning, visually appealing, engaging landing pages

(Kats, 2013; Kickstart, 2015) were chosen to

introduce subject sites to students. “The purpose is

to help students create a sense of connection,

preparation, engagement and motivation in that

crucial lead up time to day one of week one.”

Yvonne Breyer, Kickstart Project. These were

found to be an excellent way to engage students.

Gantt Chart planning (Croft, 2015) fostered

engagement with academics during time challenged

end of term periods (marking and exams). The

design goal was to create streamlined interactivity

between support staff (LTs) and subject

coordinators. To facilitate quick engagement, the

authors developed the Landing Page Request Form

(Figure 6).

This interactive PDF form, designed

with faculty marketing images and faculty branding,

was emailed to all programs on June 6

th,

2016.

Follow up emails were sent on June 14, July 6 and

July 18. Academics filled out and returned this form

via email, taking only a few minutes. In this way, it

allowed the LTs to generate the lead time necessary

to create the landing pages and schedule follow up

meetings.

85 subject sites were designated for

Learning.Futures compliance for Spring 2016. All

85 subjects landing sites were built and populated

between June 6 and by the July 25 start of term.

Figure 7 in the results section shows the excellent

uptake by academics during this time poor period.

Without the Landing Page Request Form and the

planning behind its roll out, meeting this deadline

would not have been possible.

Figure 6: Landing Page Request Form, an Interactive PDF

with 20+ Panel choices and specify time for follow up

meetings with LTs.

2.5 Library Resources Page

A direct outcome from collaborations between the

Health team with the library has been the creation of

the Library Resources Page (See appendix). It has

been an easy to share, scalable, reusable resource

which allows the embedding of all the latest and best

of what the library has to offer on one. Namely;

Library Welcome, Harvard Referencing Guide,

HeadsUp (Captivate Modules to facilitate self-

directed learning), eReadings (customizable for each

subject), English Language Support and ‘Ask a

Librarian!’ The Library Resources Panel, designed

in by the authors, has since been shared in other

faculties’ subjects and learning and teaching sites.

Such connectivity across faculties is a strength.

Networks such as the central LT team along with

FLAG (Flipped Learning Action Group), FYE (First

year education group) and the annual Teaching and

Learning Forum are ways to further disseminate

these ideas.

3 RESULTS

The following data were collected to evaluate the

previously described initiatives.

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3.1 Online Engagement with

Academics by Email and Follow Up

Meetings

Figure 7: Early engagement and buy in by academics by

email (grey) and face-to-face meetings (black) in

June/July ‘16.

Engagement with academics was measured from

email responses and meeting dates. Note how email

responses occurred during the busy exam/marking

period. All landing pages were created prior to the

follow up meetings where welcome videos and all

content links were finalized in time for start of term.

3.2 Academics’ Landing Page Choices

An evaluation of the 85 spring sites showed that

after the 3 Learning.Futures recommended (Bronze

level) prep items of ‘Welcome video’, ‘Subject

Outline’, and ‘Pre-class activity’, the most popular

panel chosen by academics was the Library

Resources panel. See Table 1. For Autumn 2017,

these choices by academics will inform Landing

Page design.

Table 1: Top panel choices by academics, Spring 2016.

1 Subject Outline

2 Welcome Message

3 Pre-class activity

4 Library Resources

5 Announcements

6 Staff Contacts

7 Learning Futures Animation

8 Custom panel

The library resources panel, created by the

authors with the Library, was the next most popular.

The option to customize panels, 8

out of 20, was

also popular facilitating academics’ differing

teaching styles.

3.3 Academic Feedback

Feedback on these landing pages from academics

has been very positive:“I filled in the form. I didn’t

have to think about it. It just appeared!” Dr. Jo

Lewis, Autumn 2016.

“It has been a culture shift. These landing pages

have been drivers for change. You have given every

subject an identity and brought the look and feel of

these sites to an appropriate level, where they

should be. It has allowed for better engagement,

clarity and ease of use by students.”



Dr. Carla

Saunders, Spring 2016.

Feedback on the learning and teaching community

site: "This has been a Godsend! The Health

Learning and Teaching Community site is the most

helpful tool I have access to. It has every resource

or link to resource needed for coordinating subjects

and teaching at your fingertips. No more searching

and asking around! This year I have eight new

casual teachers/coordinators so being able to show

them how to access online everything they need, any

time they need, any place they are has helped me

and them enormously." Nicki Watts, Jan 2017.

This feedback forms part of an ongoing conversation

with academics. Reflecting on what is working,

redesigning where necessary and answering requests

for new solutions ensures continuous improvement.

3.4 Student Usage Results and

Feedback

Student usage analytics (Figure 8) gathered in

Blackboard show an average of over 6 hits per

student on landing pages in orientation week and

week 1 from July 25 to Aug 7. Low non-

engagement was also recorded.

Figure 8: Subject sites vs. hits per student, averaging at 6

hits per student, and low non-engagement.

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Figure 8: Subject sites vs. hits per student, averaging at 6

hits per student, and low non-engagement (cont.).

Landing Page panels proved popular with

students in a focus group:

“The graphics look good. It should be rolled out

across more pages.” 1st year nursing student.

“Why don’t we have the library page on our first

page in UTSOnline? Why is it specific to a unit?

You’ve got the nice graphics... why is it not here (on

our homepage)?” 1st year nursing student.

This feedback has been shared with academics

and with the central LT team. Further focus groups

with students in March 2017 will form part of next

term’s evaluations.



Figure 9: YouTube analytics: Hits for student views of

subject welcome videos for small, medium and large

classes.

Figure 10: A sample of the Health’s student satisfaction

ratings for Autumn/Spring 2016 compared with the

university mean rating.

For the criteria shown, the Health Faculty’s student

satisfaction ratings were the highest in the

university. They also increased from Autumn into

Spring of 2016 (figure 10) for all 14 criteria. The

Nursing/Midwifery ranking rose from 20th to 4th in

the world and from 4

to 1

in Australia. Sport (first

ranked in 2017) is 41

in the world and 5

Australia.

3.5 Teaching and Learning

Community Site and Learning.

Futures MediaHub

Figure 11: Usage of our blackboard community site since

deployment in November 2016.

Peaks occur following a faculty retreat and in the

run up to the Autumn 2017 term. Sustained usage is

shown with a rise in pre-term activity in February

‘17.

Figure 12: Weekly MediaHub bookings from Sept ’16 to

March ‘17 demonstrating sustained use by academics and

LTs.

Supporting Technology-enhanced Teaching Practices for Health Academics

431

Figure 13: Faculty YouTube page analytics showing

increasing yearly video creation by LTs/academics and

views by students.

The timeline of the Faculty’s YouTube page, on

which all academic videos are hosted, shows arrival

of the authors, dramatic increases in activity and the

opening of the MediaHub. Note significant rise in

Autumn 2016 and peaking in Spring 2016 with

continued sustained use thereafter.

4 DISCUSSION

Autumn 2016 saw the creation of 45 landing pages

for some health subjects. Applying improvements

including Gantt chart project planning, interactive

pdfs and follow up meetings, the Spring term saw 85

landing pages created for all Health subjects. All

Health subjects reached at least Learning.Futures

bronze standard level (Bronze standard, 2016) a

result not matched by any other faculty. Analysis of

the usage of these sites by students reveals strong

student engagement. More analysis of data can

enhance student learning (Scott, 2016).

Production and on-camera skills are an essential tool

for academics. YouTube statistics show (figure 9)

that the welcome videos may need redesigning in

some cases. Better verbal communication of the

resources contained in the landing page and library

resources page would encourage student self-

directed learning. The Health Faculty

Learning.Futures team meets on a biweekly and

offers ongoing connectivity with key stakeholders,

fellows and LTs across the university. Academic

feedback of a culture shift is consistent with the

sustained uses by academics of LT created resources

(Blackboard community site, Figure 11) and

MediaHub equipment (Figure 12) throughout 2016.

Analytics from the faculty’s YouTube page (Figure

13) shows a vast increase since 2013 in video

creation by LTs/academics and views by students.

These increases are consistent with the arrival of the

authors, working independently and as a team, along

with the impact of the opening of the MediaHub.

5 FUTURE WORK

Further transformational improvements can be made

to subject sites based on student usage and dialog

with academics. Discussions are underway towards

incentivizing academics to build on excellent video

work done. Workshops (The power of Screen

Presenting, 2016) run by the Postgraduate.Futures

team’s studios have been embraced (21 out of the

146 university academics were from Health).

Academic feedback was excellent. 2017 will see

more such workshops offered as a key part of

professional development. This training will include

deliverables such as improved welcome videos.

Such LT assisted recording sessions engender self-

efficacy in academics towards producing content

independently(Vygotsky, 1981). The university is

currently trialling the Canvas LMS for some

postgraduate subjects. If extended to undergraduate

subjects, this could give further functionality.

Kaltura, a soon to be introduced video hosting

platform, will give analytics for each student. We

also hope to facilitate further discussion, resource

and experience sharing, and a community of practice

among academics through our community

blackboard site and ongoing interactions. The new

Futures Teaching and Learning Blog is a public

facing site where these ideas can become OERs for

all (Futures Blog, 2017).

6 CONCLUSIONS

The work done and successes achieved by the

authors is consistent with the Health Faculty scoring

the highest student satisfaction ratings of any faculty

at the university and the rise in international and

Australian rankings. Sustained use by academics of

tools and curated resources has fostered a culture

shift in the use of technology enhanced teaching and

learning for our students. This workflow could be

adopted by other faculties in other universities to

realise the potential of these new approaches in

learning technology project management.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Professor Roger Hadgraft, Professor Peter Scott,

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Associate Professor Matthew Kearney, Dr Damian

Maher, Dr Amanda White, Emma Davidson, Sonia

Matiuk, Jenny Pizzica, Jackie Edwards, Jo

McKenzie, Elaine Huber, Detlev Kerkovius, IML

team, Jackie Edwards.

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APPENDIX

Welcome page for the Learning and Teaching Community

Site.

Library Resources Landing Page.

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