Exploring the Potential of Fully Online Global Learning Communities
The Omnium Project is an ongoing research study investigating how the Internet can be used to help creative individuals interact and work collaboratively from any location worldwide. Founded in 1998 by Rick Bennett, Omnium has linked over 5000 creative students, educators, professionals, theorists, and writers from over forty countries through its online projects, courses and communities.
Rick, who is now a Senior Lecturer at Australia’s University of New South Wales, will lead a workshop at this year’s ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN, offering insight into the work of the project, supported by his colleagues Andy Polaine, Vince Dziekan, and Simon McIntyre.
The Internet revolution has not only produced extremely diverse web communities but has also given rise to a culture of distanced individuals connecting online to benefit from each other’s collaborative interactions. What has eventuated is a highly connected global society that frequently uses web technologies to enhance nearly every facet of day-to-day life. Education should not isolate itself from such communal and collaborative potential, and ‘classrooms’ that are inter-locational and have multi-cultural enrolments offer amazing opportunities for both students and teachers alike.
However preparing fully online global learning communities to make the most of the advantages they offer can at first appear daunting. For example, how can effective learning and teaching take place when students and teachers are in far-flung locations and will most likely never meet? How can fully online communities avoid the ‘isolation of participants’ that is often prevalent in traditional distance learning modes?
This half-day seminar, presented in four parts, explores a wide range of issues to consider when preparing and hosting fully online communities for learning and teaching. It includes structured examples of online curriculum preparation and teaching approaches; suitable technology choices; and approaches to online learning and teaching that respond to an ever-expanding demand for flexible and global delivery.
The audience will have the opportunity to witness numerous case studies from nearly a decade of research by The Omnium Project [
http://www.omnium.edu.au] into online collaborative learning and teaching - particularly in the visual arts and design. Participants have the opportunity – and are urged - to contribute to discussions on a variety of important theoretical viewpoints and practical applications of collaborative approaches to online learning and teaching. These range from undergraduate and postgraduate issues, through to integration between education and multi-disciplinary professional practice. The seminar’s main goal is to provide practical aid and advice to anyone interested in forming and hosting fully online global learning communities.
Part One: Research:
Enabling Collaborative and Creative Education through Fully Online Global Learning Communities
Part Two: Teaching and Learning:
Preparing and Teaching in a Fully Online and Communal Context
Part Three: Postgraduate Supervision:
Hosting Local and Global Online Communities to Enhance the Postgraduate Experience
Part Four: Life-Long Learning:
Education Meets Professional Practice via Fully Online Global Communities
About the Seminar Leaders
Rick Bennett
In 1991, Rick began working at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), where he is now Senior Lecturer in Design Studies and Head of Online-Learning at the faculty of the College of Fine Arts. In 1998 Rick founded The Omnium Project – a research group investigating futures for e-learning in the visual arts and the potential of fully online creative communities. Since 2000, Omnium has received recognition through numerous awards and research grants, most recently the President’s Award (2005) from the Australasian Society of Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (Ascilite). Nowadays, Rick is invited to collaborate in research projects and give lectures alongside some of the world’s leading names in e-learning.
Andy Polaine
In 1995, Andy was a co-founder of the renowned and multi-award-winning new-media collective Antirom. With over twelve years’ experience as an interactive designer, having worked with clients such as the BBC, Levis Strauss and Co. and The Science Museum (UK), Andy is now a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) and until 2006 was Head of the School of Media Arts. Still employed by UNSW, he now resides in Germany, where he continues his own research, supervises PG students online, and is the Co-Convener of the Omnium Creative Network – a global online creative community exploring socially aware approaches to creative projects. Andy has presented and published widely, with over eighty articles, book chapters and papers to his name. He has been invited to lecture about his work and research, and to perform and exhibit, in numerous countries worldwide.
Vince Dziekan
Vince Dziekan is Senior Lecturer in Digital Imaging, and Deputy Head of Multimedia & Digital Art at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). His involvement with e-learning began in 2004 when he was invited to co-convene the global online design project Creative Waves with The Omnium Project on behalf the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda). The current focus of his research involves the establishment and facilitation of fully online research networks in Australia and overseas. Vince uses photography as a basis for his interdisciplinary research activities and towards negotiating the impact of digital technologies on art practice. He has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
Simon McIntyre
In 2003, Simon McIntyre joined the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), to help coordinate online courses and programs through their newly established academic unit - COFA Online. The previous decade had seen Simon gain a thorough understanding of interactive principles of communication through his extensive professional experience in the design and interactive media industries. Integrating this knowledge with nine years of teaching experience and continuing research in areas of online education, Simon has since co-developed an Online Education Fellowship Program specifically designed for the planning, writing and delivery of online subjects and courses at the tertiary level. Simon’s current PhD study focuses on collaborative, multidisciplinary and fully online learning and teaching.
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