[Note: Questionnaire participants are limited geographically but all are invited to become involved in the project. –ML]
Dear colleagues,
Synchronous learning technologies are transforming the way many students learn and academics teach, but exactly how are they being used? To help answer this question we are seeking your input. Specifically, we invite Australian and New Zealand tertiary educators to take 15 minutes and share their related expertise and experiences by completing an online questionnaire:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/blendedsynchronicity (Australian and New Zealand participants only)
This questionnaire is being administered as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)-funded project titled “Blended synchronicity: Uniting on-campus and distributed learners through media-rich real-time collaboration tools”. Over two years the BlendSync project (www.blendsync.org) will explicitly consider how three media-rich synchronous technologies, in particular–videoconferencing, web conferencing, and 3D virtual worlds–can be best used to support activities that engage students and teachers in real-time collaborative learning irrespective of their location. The project’s outputs will offer tertiary educators frameworks, tools, and guidelines, developed from questionnaire data and six comprehensive implementation case studies.
Should you decide to complete the questionnaire before Christmas (December 24, 2011)–and remember to include your email address!–your name will be placed in a draw for a AUD$300 gift voucher redeemable at a nominated retail outlet, as a token of our appreciation.
Furthermore, we would be delighted if you wish to become more involved in the project. To get involved, please indicate your interests at the end of the questionnaire, including: (i) joining the collaborator network to provide/receive updates on the latest developments in the field; (ii) being one of six project partners to work with the project team and implement and evaluate your setting and uses of media-rich real-time collaboration tools for uniting on-campus and distributed learners (a $2,500AUD honorarium will be paid to selected case-study partners); and (iii) receiving a copy of the final report when it is available.
We also welcome contact from interested others who are based outside Australia and New Zealand. Such individuals are eligible to join the collaborator network, and may also get in touch with us to express a desire to be sent a copy of the final report.
For further information, comments, or questions regarding the questionnaire and the project, please email a project team member (see below) or team (info@blendsync.org). Additionally, if you are aware of others who share our passion for blended synchronous learning and teaching in higher education, please feel free to forward this message to them, copying the project team via info@blendsync.org.
Thank you in advance for your time, networking assistance, and insights!
Yours sincerely,
Matt Bower, Macquarie University – matt.bower@mq.edu.au (Project Leader)
Jacqueline Kenney, Macquarie University – jacqueline.kenney@mq.edu.au (Project Manager)
Gregor Kennedy, The University of Melbourne – gek@unimelb.edu.au
Barney Dalgarno, Charles Sturt University – bdalgarno@csu.edu.au
Mark J.W. Lee, Charles Sturt University – malee@csu.edu.au
Charles Sturt University
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