Project-Based Learning in Online Postgraduate Education

Introduction The growing trend for universities to offer postgraduate courses online (e-learning) is becoming increasingly attractive, as institutions seek to meet the needs of diverse student populations. (Maguire & Matejka, 2000) discuss various economic, commercial and educational influences. (Felix, 2003) identifies institutional, academic and students factors driving this trend. The promise of increased enrollments has not materialized for many institutions, but the online mode attracts students with the flexibility it offers and new pathways for learning. Online learning offers the potential through the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to improve opportunities for students' learning and to improve communication. The trend is aided by the widespread availability of low cost, low threshold e-learning tools such as email, web pages, real time chat, asynchronous discussion, streamed video and audio and other communication tools. Since 1997, the School of Education (New South Wales) at Australian Catholic University, (ACU) has delivered a Post Graduate Certificate in Information and Communication Technology (PGCICT) to cohorts of geographically dispersed teachers and educators across Australia and internationally via the internet. The course was designed in consultation with educators to meet their continuing professional development needs of practicing teachers coming to grips with applying information and communications technology (ICT) tools to for administration and learning. These include developing an understanding of the roles of ICT in pedagogy, design, construction and evaluation of a learning web site, planning and implementing educational change incorporating ICT and online project-based learning. Since then, it has been reviewed and refined to meet the changing needs of employing authorities. The practitioners base the solution to their practical projects on theoretical underpinnings. The units are designed so that authentic problems from any educational workplace or from any educational system may be instantiated in them. Post graduate Online Model Offering the PGCICT entirely online without any face-to-face meetings has proven to be beneficial for all stakeholders. For the institution, and academics, it has provided viable cohorts of full fee paying students, where once these units failed to attract sufficient numbers to the local campus when offered in traditional face-to-face mode. For the students, mainly classroom teachers, it has offered flexibility by allowing these life-long learners to engage in accessing the learning materials and contributing to online discussions when and where they choose. This creates potential access to knowledge, a community of learners and professional qualifications as they undertake university study in the context of their workplace. For employing authorities they have appreciated ACU 's capacity to deliver quality training and professional development within the context of their e-learning needs. In traditional delivery modes, the teaching and learning model has been restricted to weekly attendance patterns, the e-learning model, utilising communication tools expands the opportunity for learning and interaction by bringing the learning resources and support structures into the workspace. At ACU there has been considerable work undertaken, (Matejka & Maguire, 2003) to develop a model for online learning using e-learning tools based upon, reference to the literature, experience of the expert presenters and evaluation of online teaching practice. Examination of the literature reveals considerable support for the principle and practices implemented at ACU. Schneiderman's (1994) engagement theory encapsulates the features of the ACU model. Participants engage in project-based learning in collaboration with colleagues to seek practical solutions to authentic problems from within their own workplace. The learning paradigm uses a social constructivist model and a student centred approach as opposed to a transmission view of learning (Pea, 1996) that emphasises a teacher-centred whole-class approach to learning. …