Building learning communities through technology

This paper describes an alternative approach to teaching and learning in the Faculty of Education, Curtin University of Technology. Universities are currently grappling with a shift in paradigms, from a traditional approach which considers learning and proof of learning residing with a single person, to, as yet, an undefined model which embraces the continuing interaction of minds from within a wide social fabric i.e., learning communities. Through a three year project the authors were able to reconceptualise and operationalise teaching and learning through two key components, one being technology which has been the force behind the building of the learning community and the other being assessment which is learner-focused. The authors have developed a Learner Mediated Approach (LMA) based on the nature of learning communities in which multiple approaches to learning reflect the learning process. This approach encapsulates a learning community in which the technology drives the model, and the assessment drives the learning.