Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
Encyclopedia
The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, also known as ascilite, is an association for academics, staff developers and trainers involved in tertiary computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

-based education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 and training. Ascilite acts as a forum for discussing issues on the use of technology in education, and promotes research and evaluation. Ascilite holds an annual conference and runs a community mentoring program.

The association has some 590 members located in 24 countries and has been in existence since the early 1980s.

The elected executive consists of ten committee members from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and is supported by a Secretariat.

Annual conference

The annual ascilite conferences have been a key part of ascilite since its beginning and are very popular within the international higher education community. The Conference provides opportunities to meet with practitioners from different national contexts to exchange ideas and information. It provides a forum for the presentation of refereed papers, short "work-in-progress" papers and posters.

In addition the ascilite community provides a repository of downloadable papers from each conference. These papers are publicly available refereed papers addressing key themes in the educational technology field. In 2007, ascilite will be held in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. This year's theme is "ICT: Providing Choices for Learners and Learning".

Community Mentoring Program

The ascilite Community Mentoring Program seeks to involve participants in a professional mentoring relationship built between an early career professional (the mentee) and an experienced practitioner (the mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...

). The ascilite Community Mentoring Program is a vehicle for enhancement of specific knowledge, skills or capacities in an area of developing expertise. It targets ascilite members and aims to provide mentoring opportunities across a number of fields including technical, academic development, learning development, faculty academics, graphic designers, and programmers.

Ascilite Awards

The internationally judged ascilite awards are designed to reward leaders in the use of electronic technologies in teaching and learning in tertiary education
Tertiary education
Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...

. Each year at the ascilite conference these awards recognise exemplary design and development in this area.

AJET

The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) is a refereed journal publishing research and review articles in educational technology, instructional design, educational applications of computer technologies, educational telecommunications and related areas. It is published three or four times each year. Ascilite members are encouraged to contribute to the Journal as a means of disseminating their work.

Early Researcher Grants

The objectives of the ascilite Research grant scheme are to:
  • Provide the opportunity for New Researchers to initiate research within the ascilite community.
  • Provide stronger support for Early Researchers to begin to establish their research potential.
  • Assist New and Early Researchers to reach national and international levels of recognition through ascilite-related publications.
  • Provide support for small projects or pilot projects likely to form the basis for a larger grant proposal.
  • Support team research, especially that involving several less experienced researchers from the ascilite community.

Newsletter

In addition ascilite has a regular Newsletter and communication network with Campus representatives. ascilite is also actively collaborating with the Association for Learning Technology
Association for Learning Technology
The Association for Learning Technology is a United Kingdom professional body and scholarly association. ALT brings together people and organizations with an interest in the use of learning technology...

(ALT) as part of its research agenda.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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