WebForward Conference 2011 - Robert Hill, University of Adelaide

2nd June 2011Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

WebForward Conference 2011

Understanding How to Exploit The Power of Tablets in Education

Professor Robert HillExecutive Dean - Faculty of Sciences

The University of Adelaide

Prof. Robert HillThe University of Adelaide

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What is the problem?

• Scientists are too often portrayed as disconnected individuals, with little concern for public good, who have difficulty reaching a position on any issue.

• This has become more serious as politics has become increasinglyprofessional and many industry lobby groups only consider short term economic gain.

• Students are therefore not engaging in science – it is seen as important, but someone else’s problem.


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Before and after drawings of a

scientist from a Fermilab

website.

From: http://ed.fnal.gov/projects/scientists


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We don’t need a significantly larger number of working scientists, but we do need many more scientifically literate people.


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Why is scientific literacy important?

• Population growth and climate change make a useful example.


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World Population Growth Through History


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World Population Growth Through History


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Tester & Langridge (2010) Science 327: 818-22


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The context

More crops need to be produced, in the face of rapid global environmental change

Food securityRising population - 9 bn by 2050

Fuel securityDemand for bio-fuels is putting Pressure on food crops

Climate changeImpact is greater for Australia than for any other developed countryImpact is greater for the agricultural sector than for any other sector

FAO (Rome, 2009) predicts we need 70% more food by 2050, but little more land can be brought in to production


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Field trials by Australian Grain Technologies, University of Adelaide

- a macroarray


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• Nevertheless, economic rationalists still believe that the only solution for future prosperity is economic growth and this is underpinned by population growth.

• We need a new paradigm for the future and scientifically literate people must lead the debate.


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This was our problem, what was our solution?

• We have rewritten our curriculum to make it relevant to incomingstudents and to present it in a way that connected students closely with society and its current and future problems.

• We also needed a device to allow for seemless access and exchange of information, so that students could learn to educatethemselves – our choice was the Apple iPad.


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This led to the 10 Big Questions:


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• Every lecture is anchored to at least one of these questions.

• Follow up work includes freeing ourselves from set text books and completely changing our assessment process to move away from rote learning as the key factor for success.


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We committed to the Apple iPad as the best tool to deliver this new curriculum

Why?• Students will carry it with them

• It is great for accessing the internet (we bought 3G enabled iPads)

• It has lots of relevant apps for education

• It allows for e-books to be purchased

• Staff were easy to persuade to be involved

• It was the shiny new device at the time and attracted a lot of

attention


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What were the challenges?

• Some anti-Apple sentiment

• The ponderous University system

• IT staff, but they came on board when they realised it wasn’t a gimmick – they became enablers, not owners which was a critical point in the success of the project

• Developing an approach to marketing to students -several approaches tried, most failed


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How well has it worked?

• First year enrolments increased significantly

• Retention has improved

• Student reaction has varied from non-commital to very strong, with no negative feedback

• The University is watching us very closely and several targets for success have been set and so far met

• There are major improvements in approach to teaching and content

• This is the start of a long process of continual improvement


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What next?

• Remove text books from courses

• Radically change assessment practices

• Move strongly into on-line space

• Close large lecture theatres

• Teach students anywhere in the world • Contribute strongly to solving the major problems we face in

the future


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http://annares.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/happy-birthday-dr-seuss/