conts16-3 Australian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 16, Number 3, Summer 2000 ISSN 0814-673X Contents Editorial .......................................................................................................... iii-iv Online development using WebCT: A faculty managed process for quality .................................................................. 201-214 Sally Burford and Lesley Cooper IT skills of university undergraduate students enrolled in a first year unit ..................................................................... 215-238 Kieran F. Lim and Jeanne Lee "I hope this goes somewhere": Evaluation of an online discussion group .......................................................................... 239-257 Wendy McKenzie and David Murphy Case studies: Integrating the use of web based learning systems into student learning ................................................................. 258-282 Simon Housego and Mark Freeman “A website for my subject”: The experiences of some academics’ engagement with educational designers in a team based approach to developing online learning materials ............................. 283-301 Geraldine Torrisi-Steele and Glenda Davis Creating web-integrated learning environments: An analysis of WebCT authoring tools in respect to usability ................................ 302-314 Allison Piguet and Daniel Peraya © 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers. The Australian Journal of Educational Technology is published three times per year jointly by the Australian Society for Educational Technology and the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. For details on submission of manuscripts, subscriptions and access to the AJET online archives, please see: http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/ajet/ ii Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 2000, 16(3) or for manuscript submission contact the Editor, Dr Ron Oliver, Mt Lawley Campus, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050, r.oliver@cowan.edu.au, or for subscriptions contact the Production Editor, Dr Roger Atkinson, Teaching and Learning Centre, Murdoch University, Murdoch Western Australia 6150, atkinson@cleo.murdoch.edu.au. Members of ASET, ASCILITE and ISPI (Vic) receive AJET as a part of their membership benefits. AJET’s 2000 Editorial Board, nominated by ASCILITE and ASET is: Ron Oliver (Editor), Edith Cowan University Roger Atkinson (Production Editor), Murdoch University Cathy Gunn, University of Auckland Barry Harper, University of Wollongong Mary Jane Mahony, University of Sydney Clare McBeath, Curtin University of Technology Sue McNamara, Monash University Rod Sims, Southern Cross University Australasian Society for Computers Australian Society for in Learning in Tertiary Education Educational Technology http://www.ascilite.org.au/ http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/aset/ Copyright in individual articles contained in AJET is vested in each of the authors in respect of his or her contributions. Copyright in AJET is vested in ASET (1985- 86), AJET Publications (1987-1996), and ASET and ASCILITE (from 1997). Republishing in the online archives at ASET's web site is by permission. Desktop publishing and HTML by Roger Atkinson. Supporting Societies Supporting societies obtain bulk supplies of printed copies of AJET at the same cost as applicable for ASCILITE and ASET members, and access to AJET online articles during the period of restricted access for each issue. Inquiries about obtaining supporting society status may be directed to the Production Editor. ISPI Melbourne Chapter http://www.ispi.org/ Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 2000, 16(3) iii Editorial Welcome to the third issue of The Australian Journal of Educational Technology for 2000. We have some very interesting papers in this issue and trust that you will find them useful as a source for new ideas and helpful in providing some literature to use in your own explorations and inquiries. The papers in this issue cross a broad range of areas but are very much concerned with factors associated with developing and delivering quality learning experiences in online settings. Sally Burford and Lesley Cooper from Flinders University have provided a paper in which they describe how they are using WebCT in their Faculty as a course delivery tool. In particular the paper describes how they are using WebCT to support the adoption of online delivery and the development processes which they find useful for this purpose. Geraldine Torrisi-Steele and Glenda Davis from Griffith University describe in their paper, the use of campus based production centres within their university as a support for academics in the development and delivery of technology based learning. The centres offers academics the services of multimedia development teams to support their activities. The paper explores the expectations, experiences and of lecturers as they engage with the educational designer to develop online learning materials in such settings. This issue also contains several papers that report findings from implementations of online learning settings. Allison Piguet and Daniel Peray from TECFA at the University of Geneva in Switzerland describe the creation of WebCT learning environments. The paper reports the levels of user satisfaction and control demonstrated among students across a variety of WebCT tools. Wendy McKenzie and David Murphy, Monash University, have provided a very interesting paper that describes results from an exploration using content analysis of an online discussion group. The discussion group was part of the learning environment for a subject of the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. The results confirm the success of the discussion group, and provide a useful conceptual lens with which to study online environments. Simon Housego and Mark Freeman, University of Technology Sydney, have written a paper for readers who are looking to explore more innovative and imaginative uses of course delivery systems. Their paper describes five fictional case studies based on their experiences in innovation and academic development. iv Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 2000, 16(3) And on another theme Kieran Lim and Jeanne Lee at Deakin University have produced a paper that provides insights into the adoption of technology-based teaching in universities by exploring aspects of students' computer literacy and readiness for computer based delivery. The paper reports the results of a survey of first year undergraduate students at Deakin University. The results reveal high penetration of IT usage but variable levels of IT skills development. The paper argues an urgent need for IT training for university students in order to achieve successful learning outcomes using IT and to satisfy the needs of future employers. Ron Oliver Editor Twelfth International Conference on College Teaching and Learning Teaching, Learning and Technology: Humanizing the Learning Technologies April 17-21, 2001 The Radisson Riverwalk Hotel, Jacksonville, Florida Florida Community College at Jacksonville http://www.teachlearn.org/ http://www.fccj.org/Teaching%26LearningConference/final.html Keynote Presentations Ray Bradbury Futurist and author Rosalind Picard Media Center, MIT Oliver Sacks Author and Neurologist