When the internal student is external: using Sakai for the ‘Virtual Workshop’

Margaret Van HeekerenLecturer (Journalism)

School of Communication, Charles Sturt University

SubjectJRN308 Advanced Magazine and Newspaper Production

ServesFinal semester print journalism students

in the BA (Communication) degree

CohortApprox. 30

OfferingInternal

Year 1: 3x 1 week workshops

Year 2: 3x 1 week workshops with repeats of each workshop

Problems Internship clashes led to non-attendance Poor quality learning outcomes Equity of student experience

JRN308

Distribution of cohort

FullAttendance

PartialAttendance

No Attendance

Non attending student“As I was in England and then Queensland for a large portion of this semester, the virtual workshops were vital to my learning. I think my good marks reflect the success of the virtual workshops”

Partial attendance“I only used the virtual workshops for one of the topics. It was good because I could go at my own pace.”

Full attendance“Even though I didn’t use the virtual workshops the material in them was handy to refer to when we went to do the assignments at a later date.”

“I found the varied formats of resources useful. Reading pages of a word document can be sometimes daunting, but the audio files and Powerpoints really broke the content up and complemented/supported each other well.”

“For virtual workshops to be successful I think it’s important that the lecturer provides adequate feedback to replace interaction that occurs through physical attendance. You were incredibly quick to respond to questions and provide feedback, which was very helpful because I couldn’t ask questions in the workshops.”

“I have completed two subjects through Distance Ed and I don’t believe they were as well structured or as successful as the Virtual Workshops.”

“The virtual workshops must be dropped. They are useless, difficult to negotiate and not always clear. It needs to be delivered in hard copy or not at all.”

Virtual Workshop Advantages

Provides equity to all students regardless of geographical location

Gives all students flexible access to materials

Through the mp3 recordings a more personal link with students is established

Marking load is distributed throughout the semester

Virtual Workshop Disadvantages

One-to-one lecturer/student interaction can’t be replicated

20mb upload limits limit mp3 content

Web design tools are limited and presentation erratic

Less motivated students ignore learning materials and target assessments

Summary

Sakai offers a superior method for the provision of flexible delivery

Further development is needed to enhance the student experience – visually and aurally

Lecturers need to remain closely involved with “virtual students” through other technologies (eg email, Skype) and not solely rely on Sakai

Ultimate success remains student dependent