## 3 Two Case Studies Using Web 2.0 Technologies for Distance Education
### Case Study 1, Advanced Financial Accounting  
Case 1, Advanced Financial Accounting (AFA), is an optional unit available in the Advanced Accounting major of the Bachelor of Business offered by the Southern Cross University Business School. Enrolments are typically small, facilitating a close working relationship with individual students who are nearing the end of their degree. 15 students enrolled in 2008. There were 5 withdrawals and 10 grades were awarded for successful completion of the unit. AFA has been offered entirely online since 2003, and utilises an ever-evolving range of asynchronous (discussion forum, blog, wiki) and synchronous (Elluminate Live!) Web 2.0 technologies accessed using the University Learning Management System (LMS) (Figure 2). Apart from some background readings and case study material, the LMS site at the beginning of the teaching session is, by design, a blank slate. Content is developed and created as a direct result of student engagement in their learning. There are non-compulsory weekly live online meetings scheduled for 2 h (7.30-9.30 pm). These meetings were recorded and available for attendees to review, or non-attendees to view. There were seven assessment tasks to be attempted for the unit. There is no final examination. The nature of the advanced units is expressed thus in their Unit Information Guide:  
\"Rather than learning about how to process numbers, you focus on problems, alternatives, and deciding what numbers to use. \(\ldots\) You will have the opportunity to work alone, to work with colleagues \(\ldots\) The idea is to collaboratively learn, but individually utilise and present what you are learning.\"Four assessment tasks had prescribed due dates, and three required students to make choices about when they completed the task. The latter were to offer flexibility for students, to cater for the myriad of constraints they need to deal with in their workloads. Four tasks were worth 10% each, the remaining three worth 15%, 20% and 25% respectively. One of the assessment tasks required students to maintain a personal Learning Reflection Blog (LRB, 10%). This was the only assessment task that was private between the student and the unit assessor; all others were public for all enrolled students in the unit to see. The online class and the reflective blog provided direct synchronous and asynchronous lines of support from the unit assessor (one public and one private). The introductory task (10%) was due in Week 2, and was designed to have students use a blog, a wiki and a discussion forum. By the end of Week 2, the Introductory Activities had been completed by 11 of the 15 enrolled students, and 8 had attended a live online meeting. This meant that those students who had completed the introductory task and attended weekly online meetings had been exposed to all the technologies they were required to use for the unit by the end of Week 2. The following is a typical initial LRB contribution at the beginning of the session:  
\"After reading the Unit statement and the Unit Introduction, I felt a little uneasy about the subject as it noticeably differs from all the other units I have studied so far at uni, particularly as nothing of the unit content seems to have been set down at the start. But after working through the introductory activities I do feel more comfortable, particularly as I now understand how the unit will form as the semester progresses. It is also good that the unit seems to further encourage collaboration and simulates a small classroom sort of situation, where everyone is encouraged to interact, as opposed to other external units which feel more isolated.\"  
Figure 2: Timeline for Case 1 (AFA), showing the use of Web 2.0 tools over the teaching session. External Auditor, [PERSON] and [PERSON] are names for the three student groups engaged in this learning activity. There were two case studies among the assessment tasks.