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Guide to teaching with technology

A wide range of technologies are used in teaching at RMIT; in classrooms, lecture theatres, laboratories, studios, and online.

In order to help you find the right technologies to assist in your current teaching practices, this site presents approaches that support seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education, as derived from 50 years of research on good teaching principles by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson.

(For further information, see Chickering, A & Ehrmann, S (1996), ‘Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever’, AAHE Bulletin, October, pp. 3-6.)

Tools to support the seven principles

1. Good practice encourages interaction between students and faculty

Elluminate Live! allows for real-time online interaction and collaboration
Blackboard provides various tools for interacting with students, including discussion boards, chat/ mail facilities and an electronic whiteboard
Personal response systems (Keepad) allow for student interaction in-class
eSimulations and virtual worlds (eg. Second Life) provide an immersive environment for interaction

2. Good practice encourages interaction and collaboration between students

Wikis allow groups of students to work collaboratively on a project, report or presentation
Blogs can be configured to allow students to critique each others work.
Blackboard fosters student collaboration through discussion boards, blogs and wikis
Elluminate Live! and Video conferencing allow for collaboration amongst students from multiple locations

3. Good practice uses active learning techniques

ePortfolios serve as a platform for collating, sharing and reflecting upon learning opportunities
Blogs allow students to reflect upon their learning, and to critique each others work.

4. Good practice gives prompt feedback

Blackboard can be used to provide feedback via quizzes, discussion boards, assignments and the grade book
Weblearn can also be used for online quizzes and tests, and provides some options unavailable in Blackboard (eg. randomly generated variations on questions)
Turnitin can be used to provide feedback on academic integrity and plagiarism

5. Good practice emphasizes time on task

Blackboard includes time management tools, including announcements, course calendar, timed quizzes and adaptive release

6. Good practice communicates high expectations

Blackboard can be used to communicate expectations via the grade book and/or adaptive release
Blogs, Wikis and ePortfolios can be used to archive previous students' work as examples of quality results

7. Good practice respects diversity – talents, experience, and ways of learning

Blackboard provides tools for building diverse content/assessment approaches into a course to cater for various learning styles
Lectopia caters for individual student needs by providing a means of accessing lecture material more flexibly
ePortfolios and Blogs allow students to demonstrate their work and abilities in diverse ways