Julia Avenell and David Balfour CREATIVE PRACTICE EDUCATION ONLINE Using core Moodle tools to merge creative practice pedagogies with online pedagogy Julia Avenell and David Balfour Introduce ourselves Acknowledgement of country 1 minute

OUR PURPOSE We FIND, SUPPORT AND DEVELOP Australian Storytellers of tomorrow. National screen and broadcast training agency Established in 1973 to promote the Australian film industry Who are we? How did we come to be? What do we do?

THE STUDENTS Merit based selection process Diverse backgrounds and ranging experience levels Not all school or HE leavers Share a passion to tell Australian stories and contribute to the broadcast industries. Who are our students? Where do they come from? What are their goals? We are small. Next year we will just under at most 350 students across BA MA and Grad Dip Programs

OUR PHILOSOPHY Industry relevant education Experiential Learning model Conceptual approach to understanding creative practice Collaborative based learning Reflection and self directed study are key elements What is our approach to learning? What is our teaching philosophy?

Experiential Learning ACTION: Doing (Concrete Experience) ACTION: Again! Planning - Research: Further Skills & Resources Reflection Abstract Conceptualization

CONCEPTUAL APPROACH BA Screen Production Not traditional disciplines – but the six pillars of screen storytelling BA Screen Production

Semester Overview Structured and managed experience for the students. As you can see we are very different in experience from typical HE providers. There is a lot of similarity with High School – but also a lot of difference. LAST WHO WE ARE SLIDES

OUR SOLUTION COURSE SET UP Course as one format = collapsed topic format  Each section of weekly content is released the week before class, unless required earlier  Students consume resources at their own pace Completion tracking is turned off to prevent confusion That is who we are and what we do. This is how we have evolved an eLearning solution to support students on that journey. We have used basic Moodle tools and themes and pushed them to make an improved experience with limited resources. How do we expect students to engage with their course? How have we used Moodle to match the unique situation of our course with our students needs? Why completion tracking is turned off? (Students consume resources at their own pace, and completion tracking affected the dashboard progress bar – some students found that confusing and inaccurate) ?

COURSE PAGE We have chosen to use the boost theme. How is the architecture of the course set up? How do we use STEALTH MODE? The icons provide navigation to essential places – like their course outline, online timetabling system and their Office 365 Accounts, and their assessments Some links external > Some link to moodle objects in the course > if so these are hidden using “stealth mode”

STEALTH OBJECTS Example of hidden navigation objects using STEALTH MODE How is the hidden content managed and why? The set up of the hidden content section and the architecture of the page is managed by the Administration and elearning staff. This leaves the teaching staff to focus on the learning content It also ensures that everything is set up the same way and the student experiences consistency throughout the course.

COURSE PAGE How do we use the collapsed topics? follows the weekly timetable pattern per subject How is content released? Released the week before What / how is content is going up? Staff are populating their teaching weeks before and after the workshops that happen in those weeks with lecture notes, lecture recordings and readings

WEEKLY CONTENT Example of a standard week in a subject called story. The design is very simple What is the advantage of that? We have lots of staff > with varying levels of Moodle experience > everyone can easily get their content up

ATTENDANCE How is attendance monitored? How is attendance reported on?

THE GRADEBOOK Teaching staff mark directly into the Rubric > leave a comment or upload a feedback document > some will use the comments function. What is the workflow process? Grading Workflow is turned on Tutors mark > grades are reviewed by panel consisting of Head Teacher and Course Leader and someone from the Education Team > course leader releases

THE LEARNING PLAN

AUDIO / VISUAL STRATEGY An evolved a strategic view on the use of video and audio Use it to accommodate learning styles Sourced Material (Kanopy / Lynda / Click View) Records of Events: Zoom sessions / lectures/ webinars Low: quick updates from lecturer to class Formative feedback to individual students High: fixed assets re-useable What is our strategic view on using video? We have evolved a strategic view on the use of video Sourced Material Zoom / lectures/ webinars Low – quick updates to camera High – fixed assets re-usuable

Our delivery approach has many unique challenges. And we are always looking for new and better ways to drive our teaching and learning with Moodle Now we would like to open up the conversation > to hear any suggestions YOU might have on how we can improve our approach > and also take any questions you might have. For this we will use Mentimeter – please take out your phones or devices! Send us your thoughts and questions.

OUR CHALLENGES Large gradebooks Assessment Collaborative Tools Large gradebooks Lots of staff working in the gradebooks Transient staff Notifications Finding the right collaborative tools for creative practice Managing Content Avoiding the scroll of death. What are the challenges of the gradebook being set up as a course in one? Size > the number of assessable items > can be overwhelming for less experienced staff Many lecturers and staff are marking and monitoring them > this is why we need a robust workflow marking process Lots of transient lecturers > means regular and ongoing training and support > everyone knowing what they need to do at their stage in the process Notifications > lecturers get late notifications about assessments that don’t apply to them Collaboration – difficult for us to find the right collaborative tools - Moodle doesn’t have enhanced collaborative learning tools. (examples the artefact assignment / post production documents) Managing Content > scroll of death > encourage use of books

THANK YOU Thank you for being part of the conversation We hope you found some of the ways we are driving experiential and collaborative learning with Moodle useful. Please come and talk to us throughout the rest of the conference if you have any questions or thoughts on our process. THANK YOU