Assessing students’ experiences in a virtual learning environment Chandrasekaran, Sivachandran, Orwa, Julius and Long, John 2016, Assessing students’ experiences in a virtual learning environment, in AAEE 2016 : The Changing role of the engineering educator for developing the future engineer : Proceedings of the 27th Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference, Australasian Association for Engineering Education, Canberra, A.C.T., pp. 1-12. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads long-assessingstudents-2016.pdf Published version application/pdf 1.32MB 120 Title Assessing students’ experiences in a virtual learning environment Author(s) Chandrasekaran, Sivachandran orcid.org/0000-0003-2871-880X Orwa, Julius orcid.org/0000-0001-6041-6751 Long, John orcid.org/0000-0001-6110-5904 Conference name Australasian Association for Engineering Education. Conference (27th : 2016 : Coffs Harbour, New South Wales) Conference location Coffs Harbour, New South Wales Conference dates 4-7 Dec. 2016 Title of proceedings AAEE 2016 : The Changing role of the engineering educator for developing the future engineer : Proceedings of the 27th Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference Publication date 2016 Start page 1 End page 12 Total pages 12 Publisher Australasian Association for Engineering Education Place of publication Canberra, A.C.T. Keyword(s) cloud learning project/design based learning collaborative learning active learning Summary CONTEXT Technology has played an important role in the provision of educational equity for learners inAustralian communities. Engaging off-campus students through technology resources is vital for avirtual learning environment in engineering education. To ensure a positive experience for thestudents in off-campus (virtual) learning, the use of modern technology is crucial for collaborative andactive learning. PURPOSE Design based education is a combination of project based and problem based approaches. Throughsmall or big projects, students work in teams with combinations of off-campus and on-campusstudents. Integration of technology resources takes place within these groups through collaborativelearning and active learning. Even though the facilities and technology support are provided for offcampusstudents, there is always a gap in fulfilling the off-campus students’ learning expectations in avirtual learning environment. Technology plays an important role in providing student engagement insolving design problems, which is a need for the distance learner community in future. The purpose ofthis study is to evaluate students’ experiences on the use of technology in learning and teaching,which is delivered in off-campus mode. APPROACH The cohorts of students involved in this online survey are from first year undergraduate engineering inTrimester 2, 2016. The online survey analysis of students’ perceptions will help teaching staff to betterunderstand and assess off-campus students’ experiences, challenges and barriers in a virtual learningenvironment. RESULTS The distance learners’ experiences are analysed from an online survey. This online survey analysesthe students’ experiences on use of technology and how it supports and enhances students learning indistance mode. It also analyses the student learning experiences on project/design-based learningapproach in engineering. In this particular unit (Electrical Systems), students work in teams of 2-3 onlab work and other assignments. The analysed results also discuss the students’ perceptions onteamwork, communication, interaction and assessment. CONCLUSIONS The aim of the engineering curriculum is to provide learning and teaching support equally for both oncampusand off-campus students. From the analysed survey results, this study reveals that the use oftechnology plays a vital role in students learning from availability and accessibility of materials toassessment methods, lab tutorials, and online seminars. In a project/design based learningcurriculum, the distance learners have an equal opportunity to enhance the learning skills as the oncampusstudents experience in a study environment. Language eng Field of Research 091503 Engineering Practice 091599 Interdisciplinary Engineering not elsewhere classified 099999 Engineering not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 930103 Learner Development HERDC Research category E1 Full written paper - refereed ERA Research output type E Conference publication Copyright notice ©2016, The Authors Free to Read? Yes Use Rights Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30088930 Document type: Conference Paper Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Engineering Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. 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