learning - Academic Conferences Limited

Gabriele Frankl and Sofie Bitter
whenever they want: instead of having to watch an entire 90 minute video, the presentation slides can
be used to navigate exactly to the section students want to watch again.
OpenCourseWare Klagenfurt, inspired by the MIT OpenCourseWare Initiative, is a collection of free
educational resources organized in courses. Since 2005 we are part of this initiative and still the only
university in the German-speaking area participating in it. Finally, we have set up platforms where
students can exchange anything from their personal experiences to lecture notes in a self-organized
way. At the moment we are sustaining such platforms for beginner students in the most popular
subjects at the AAUK as well as for incoming/outgoing students. Additionally, we provide information
and communication platforms for lectures to exchange study programme relevant issues e.g.
methods, literature. Lectures are no lonesome fighters anymore but support each other enhancing the
teaching quality. Additionally, we are planning to expand our learning services to support mobile
learning.
5. Conclusion
The survey results have given us a first picture of the status quo of eLearning and blended learning at
the AAUK. The surveys have revealed the scope of eLearning and blended learning as well as its
most common forms. At the same time it helped us to identify facets of eLearning potentials which
have not been fully explored or which have been underestimated. These forms of eLearning can thus
be put into the centre of interest for university-internal training programmes. The students’ ratings of
benefits and risks of eLearning and blended learning as well as their wishes have shown the direction
into which to promote further eLearning activities.
Further, we are in the starting phase of offering a “secure exam environment” (SEE) where online
exams can be conducted without being restricted to computer labs. The purpose of this environment
is to enable students to conduct tests online on their own devices without having access to any of
their own files and to the Internet (except if explicitly stipulated by the lecturer). Thus also no other
form of communication among the students is possible e.g. chats, mails. Students who do not have
own mobile devices receive loan devices. This insular testing is possible thanks to special software.
Students have to boot their devices from an USB stick or from a DVD and immediately are directed to
the Moodle log-in screen. They can then navigate to the respective course and open the exam. The
SEE uses the save-exam-browser hindern access to any materials/resources that are not permitted in
the test. Thanks to various Moodle features, answers and questions can be mixed hindering cheating.
The development of the secure exam environment is a major leap forward and constitutes an
enormous workload relief for lecturers and students. Lecturers can decided whether to prompt
automatic feedback (e.g. in case of standardized questions like multiple-choice) or to provide
individual feedback. With standardized questions, students also immediately receive the test scores
and – if applicable – feedback. For a detailed overview on the development and technical as well as
organizational implementation of the secure exam environment, confer to Frankl, Schartner and
Zebedin (2011). A survey, after the first exams, reveals a very positive feedback of students and
lectures about this new way of testing. The negative critique is the unfamiliar handling of the loan
devices. Furthermore, in the next development phase of the SEE, Excel will be integrated. Hence, this
enables certain study programs (e.g. information systems, mathematics) to test common calculation
methods. Up-to-date learning also requires up-to-date testing.
Concluding, we would like to add that online collaboration still needs time to settle and get more
advanced. Especially lecturers need time to accustom to these new ways of teaching and to
restructure their previous teaching methods. However, according to Prensky (2008), lecturers do not
need to be scared of implementing new eLearning and blended learning methods since there is no
need for them to fully understand the digital technology. The new generation of students, namely the
“digital natives” are already experts for these new learning technologies. The role of the lecturers is to
foster curiosity and to activate learning processes.
Each terms new students are joining the university being much more connected and feeling part of
the digital era we face. It is of utmost importance to foster, enhance and further develop our services
to optimally support these future students. The mood towards eLearning and blended learning at the
AAUK makes us confident to move forward making most efficient use of the potentials eLearning and
blended learning offers.
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