Educational publishing awards for Wollongong

26 June 2001

The University of Wollongong has won two awards in the 2001 Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing sponsored by The Australian.

The TAFE Technology Showcase category was won by the OnSite 3.0 CD, which was produced by Jim Meek, Geoff Hamer, Helen Carter and Gerry Lefoe from the Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources (CEDIR).

The Tertiary Technology Showcase category was won by the Academic Writing CD produced by Robyn Woodward-Kron and Elizabeth Thomson from the Faculty of Arts and Jim Meek from CEDIR supporting English For Academic Purposes.

The technical production of both CDs was undertaken by staff of CEDIR.

In the opinion of the judges Onsite 3.0 is "one of the most useful CD-ROMS's ever entered into the competition. Onsite is superbly structured, well organised, interesting and user-friendly and can be used in a multiplicity of contexts. Academic Writing uses the power of technology to help students master and succeed in writing at university. The key features of the CD-ROM is the way that students can access and analyse existing writing work samples to learn new skills."

For further information regarding Onsite 3.0 contact:
Paula McGregor, CEDIR, phone: (02) 4221 4895.

For further information regarding Academic Writing contact:
Elizabeth Thomson, phone: (02) 4221 4002.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Onsite

OnSite! has been developed in four stages, three funded by CERT, the Construction Employees' Redundancy Trust, and the fourth by DETYA, the Department of Training and Youth Affairs. It is based on learning materials supplied by CTA, Construction Training Australia, and the general Construction Training Package, BCG98, supplied by ANTA, the Australian National Training Authority.

The CD-based program, OnSite!, runs on the Windows and the Macintosh computers; it is highly interactive and designed to appeal to young people of all ages. It supports over 70 topics and includes 1,500 screens of information, animations, self-testing blocks and simulated activities. An easy-to-access glossary of over 600 terms used in the building industry is also included on the CD.

Dave Higgon, the Manager of Employee Relations and Workplace Reform at Multiplex Constructions said: "This resource will revolutionise training in the construction industry."

Ray Hutt, who runs Construction Training Australia and chaired the Project Steering Committee, said the CD training program would be a great boon to the construction industry and an exemplar for other industries.
Geoff Hamer, the project manager, said that the CD had been very popular with students and trainees during test runs. No-one had difficulty using the computer-based system.

Academic Writing

An innovative and unique CD-ROM that will assist university students to improve their academic writing skills was launched at the University of Wollongong (UOW) on Wednesday 21 February.

With the assistance of the Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources (CEDIR), the interactive teaching and learning tool was developed by staff of the Modern Languages Program in the Faculty of Arts.
The CD will be extremely useful for international and Australian students commencing university studies at either undergraduate or postgraduate level.

The CD introduces students to the types of writing expected in a university environment and presents model examples. These models are de-constructed and their language features highlighted. Students then can practise these features in a range of writing tasks either independently or within a classroom setting.

Elizabeth Thomson who co-developed the project with Robyn Woodward-Kron said: "it is a unique language-based approach because it presents real examples of successful academic writing and annotates them using dynamic computer effects."

It was reviewed by Margaret Allan, Senior Lecturer in Language Education at James Cook University, in Australian Language Matters as "a rare combination of sound language theory, intelligent instructional design and elegant navigational devices".

Published by Gonichi Language Services, the CD-ROM will be available as a teaching and research resource at all UOW campuses and also available commercially.