Curriculum mapping to embed graduate capabilities

Graduate capabilities are an essential aspect of undergraduate development in higher education. Accordingly, La Trobe University's Design for learning has identified particular university-wide graduate capabilities and required all faculties to explicitly embed these in their curricula. The Faculty of Law and Management developed an approach to map the teaching and assessment of eight graduate capabilities across the first year of the faculty's degree programmes, allowing staff to evaluate the embedding of graduate capabilities and identifying where they might further develop their curricula. This article describes a process designed to collect, analyse and present data on current teaching and assessment of graduate capabilities. The discursive approach supports reflective practice in curriculum design while the resulting heat maps provide diagrammatic accounts of current practices and indicators of where redesign of curriculum should centre.     

Development and Construct Validation of a Situational Judgment Test of Strategic Knowledge of Classroom Management in Elementary Schools

The current study describes the development and construct validation of a situational judgment test for assessing the strategic knowledge of classroom management in elementary schools. Classroom scenarios and accompanying courses of action were constructed, of which 17 experts confirmed the content validity. A pilot study and a cross-validation with preservice teachers and inservice teachers revealed the assumed factor structure and sensitivity of the test to differences in expertise. The results indicate that the situational judgment test for assessing strategic knowledge of classroom management in elementary schools is a valid assessment tool for investigating the acquisition and promotion of classroom management knowledge during teacher education.     

Conditioned inhibition of rotation-induced taste aversion

In three experiments, we investigated the existence of conditioned inhibition of body rotation-induced taste aversion. Rats were given conditioned inhibition training in which the taste of saccharin was always followed by rotations, but the taste of vanilla was not. Flavor-preference tests, retardation-of-acquisition tests, and summation tests of inhibition indicated that the vanilla stimulus had acquired conditioned inhibitory properties. These findings could not be interpreted as functions of either initial solution preferences or simple nonassociative effects of flavor preexposure. They lend support to a theory that views learning mechanisms as being central to the phenomenon of motion sickness, and suggest that inhibitors might be effectively employed to ameliorate its symptoms.     

Exploring differences between self-regulated learning strategies of high and low achievers in open distance learning

Open distance students differ in their preparedness for higher education studies. Students who are less self-regulated risk failure and drop out in the challenging milieu of open distance learning. In this study, the differences between the application of self-regulated learning strategies by low and high achievers were explored. A multi-method research design was applied. Quantitative data were statistically analysed by factor analysis (n = 246) and effect sizes. Medium to small effect sizes were found in quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. Low achievers rated their self-regulatory behaviour higher than high achievers, yet qualitative data revealed that high achievers are more self-regulated. The value of this research lies in the identification of low achievers’ use of self-regulated learning, and recognising the need to create awareness of the self-regulated learning skills necessary to support these students.     

Practitioners’ constructions of love in early childhood education and care

Love is rarely mentioned in Early Childhood Education and Care and there is no agreed definition for love in this context. In order to explore love in settings practitioner views on the topic should be sought. Unstructured interviews were carried out with senior practitioners in five contrasting settings. A range of qualitative methods were applied to the constructions over an extended period, and a thematic analysis was carried out at the last. Practitioners talked about wide-ranging aspects of practice in response to the narrative prompt about loving children, including the importance of showing to love through touch, familial and non-familial love, loving to be with children, and love as incorporating teaching lessons for the future. A definition of love is needed to facilitate professional discussions about love in settings, away from children’s own homes.