Central Queensland University showcased advancements in the delivery of courses during the 2004 Teaching and Learning Showcase this week.

CQU’s Shaune Sinclair and Jillian Litster introduced CQU staff and other educators and trainers from the region to the possibility of streaming multimedia content for teaching and learning purposes. A project has commenced to implement a university-wide platform for this delivery method this year.

Mr Sinclair said the project’s main aim was the implementation of a media streaming system that was reliable, flexible and extendable, allowing CQU to develop and implement new modes of flexible teaching and learning.

“It is important for the new system to provide good video and audio transmission quality and to support a variety of media platforms,” Mr Sinclair said.

“Through this we hope to increase access and convenience for working or distance students.”.

A pilot exploration of student use of videostreaming was undertaken in 2002 where students overwhelmingly indicated that they found the additional resource of videostreaming useful.

Ms Litster said students indicated that it was useful being able to fast forward to areas of uncertainty and to rewind sections until they were confident they understood the issue being discussed in the lecture.

CQU Problem Based Learning & Staff Development Coordinator Scot Aldred also introduced an innovative piece of educational technology that is more user friendly for teaching staff who lecture via Interactive System-wide Learning (ISL).

“AudioGraph is cheap and easy to use. While it has a number of uses, its greatest asset is the ability to turn existing PowerPoint presentations into streaming, annotated and interactive narrated presentations,” Mr Aldred said.

Participants at the Showcase also heard from internationally-recognised Australian keynote speakers including award winner for teaching excellence Peter O’Donaghue, Internet training consultant for TAFE Queensland Chris Sutton, researcher in online learning environments Associate Professor Jan Herington, senior lecturer in visual communication Darrall Thompson and Professor of Education at the School of Education and Early Childhood Studies, University of Western Sydney, Professor Michael Singh.

CQU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Jim Mienczakowski said this was an important event for CQU staff and the region’s educators.

“The Showcase has been designed to both expose educators and trainers to contemporary trends in education and to share CQU’s successes and challenges,” Professor Mienczakowski said.

“By sharing our experiences we can grow as a learning organisation and seek to adopt and model best practice in teaching and learning.”.

Although staged on-campus at CQU Rockhampton, the Showcase was also videoconferenced to the Bundaberg, Gladstone, Emerald and Mackay campuses.

Photo: Peter O'Donaghue was a keynote speaker at this week's Teaching and Learning Showcase.