Educational Research and Development
Mission Statement The focus of this group has been to provide support for physiology students to experience a wide range of teaching and learning approaches to help them develop the skills of professionals in their chosen fields of endeavour. The Department's emphasis is on a research-based approach to teaching in all its aspects, in alignment with the University of Melbourne's Teaching and Learning Management Plan. The Department provides the most modern computer-based research-quality equipment in its undergraduate laboratory classes. It currently has 48 PowerLab Laboratory Workstations with Macintosh Computers for its practical classes as well a 15 iMac G5 computers for use in the Computer Assisted Learning laboratory. These, and the previous generation of computers, have allowed us to be in the forefront of development of interactive multimedia programs to help students understand difficult concepts in physiology as well as develop a computer-aided learning course to replace one lecture/week in science. The Department has received over $700,000 in competitive development grants for these developments since 1992. We currently have 5 published CDs and a further 4 being readied for publication. In addition, we continue to develop our highly successful and well-received practical classes for science students with an increased emphasis on students learning by experience the experimental design and investigative skills of scientists. We are currently revising the science physiology practical class curricula, with lectures e-learning support to allow more student-centred learning activities. All our developments are guided by extensive evaluation and research into what is working (or not working) in our approaches to assist student learning. We are also initiating international collaboration with several overseas Universities and the Centre for the Study of Higher Education to determine best practice in implementing and evaluating the outcomes of Research Led Teaching approaches in curriculum change. This international collaboration has been assisted by Dr. Kemm's David White Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and by his Universitas 21 Fellowship in 2005. The success of the group is also dependent on the diligence and forethought of the Teaching Support Group in ensuring that the practical classes run smoothly. As well, the group plays a major role in the current strategic infra-structure planning for the future and will be key players in providing students advice in the new 3rd Science practical classes in 2007 that will have an emphasis on individual student projects. |
Members of the Educational Research Group
Mifsud, SA & Kemm, RE, e-Learning: Variety is the Spice for engagement, in Lorenzo Cantoni & Catherine McLoughlin (Eds) 'World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications', Proceedings EdMedia 2004 (pp 2947-2952), AACE, Norfolk, VA, USA, CD Publication ISBN: 1-880094-53-3
Dantas, AM Weaver, DA & Kemm RE (2003) Hypothesis Testing as a Core Component of a Virtual Experiment, In D. Lasner & C. McNaught (Eds), 'World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications', Proceedings EdMedia 2003 (pp 2328-2335), AACE, Norfolk, VA, USA, CD Publication ISBN: 1380094-48-7
Dantas, AM Weaver, DA & Kemm RE (2003) 'Using QuickTime in a Virtual Experiment to present Data for Analysis and Videos of Procedures' in N. Smythe (Ed.) Digital Voyages 2003, Proceedings of Apple University Consortium (pp 6.1-6.13) Academic and Developers Conference, Adelaide, Apple Computer Australia, Sydney Australia ISBN 0-947209-34
Weaver, D.A., Kemm, R.E., Petrovic, T., Gilding, T., Harris, P.J. and Delbridge L.M. Evolution of a Student Model-Building Program Advan. Physiol. Edu. 26: 288-298, (2002)
Kemm,
RE, Williams, NT, Kavnoudias, H, Fritze, P and Weaver DA (2001)
Collaborative learning: on-campus in a technology based environment
In N. Smythe (Ed) 'e-Xplore 2001:a face-to-face odyssey' Proceedings
of the Apple University Consortium Conference 2001 Townsville
(pp 7.1 - 7.14), Apple Computer Australia, Sydney Australia
ISBN 0-947209-33-
2004-2005
TeLARS $30,000
‘e-Learning in Practical Classes’, A.Dantas, S.Ping, R.E. Kemm
Funding since 1992 in multimedia development and evaluation exceeds $700,000 in competitive grants from the VEF, CAUT, CUTSD, AUDF, TaLMET, Melbourne/Monash Teaching and Learning Fund.
In kind support from the BMU
http://eshowcase.unimelb.edu.au/eshowcase/index.htm
Latest Modules Include:
Our Computer Assisted Learning Classes are a small group collaborative environment designed to provide a student-centered peer learning environment.
These images show the CAL classes in operation. Students work in groups of three to a computer to solve physiological problems.
Permission from each student was obtained for reproduction of these photos.
This area is currently under construction.
- All members of this group are affiliated with the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Teaching Group.
- Assosciate Professor Kemm is an Editorial Board Member of the following journals:
Advances in Physiology Education
http://advan.physiology.org/
Journal of Interactive Learning
http://www.aace.org/pubs/jilr/default.htmJournal of Computers in Mathematics & Science Teaching
http://www.aace.org/pubs/jcmst/default.htm