Evaluating the use of a collaborative content curation tool to support online assessments

Abstract

The University of the South Pacific (USP) is one of three regional education institutions in the world. The History Department which is based in Fiji represents one of the few disciplines at USP which delivers its undergraduate programme fully online. Together with the Centre for Flexible Learning (CFL), the History staff have been evaluating the effectiveness of online teaching and experimenting with technologies and tools to overcome teaching and learning challenges. This paper discusses an experimental mobile app which was created by third year History students at USP in 2018 to document local historical sites in the Suva area. It considers the challenges and opportunities created by online learning in the uniquely regional environment of the South Pacific. It further explores how technology can enable more practical and relevant applications and assssments of History content curation to better prepare students for future careers.