Supporting academic workloads in online learning

Academic workloads in online learning are influenced by many variables, the complexity of which makes it difficult to measure academic workloads in isolation. While researching issues associated with academic workloads, professional development stood out as having a substantive impact on academic workloads. Many academics in applied health degrees commence their educational careers as specialists or experts within their profession, rather than as professional educators. New educators may have limited access to professional development when orientating to their new role. The available professional development focuses on technological and presentation aspects, rather than pedagogy in practice, increasing workloads and adding complexity without the understanding. This study argues that academics become empowered to better understand and manage their workloads through the implementation of targeted professional development, as well as the use of clear institutional frameworks for instructional design. A framework for course design (LATARE) is presented as part of this study.     

Using classroom videos to stimulate professional conversations among pre-service teachers: windows into a mathematics classroom

This paper reports on the novel use of classroom videos by 71 pre-service teachers enrolled in a one-year graduate diploma pre-service teacher education program across three Australian universities. The classroom videos were of an experienced teacher delivering a Year-6 mathematics lesson. Students observed, discussed and debated practices that were evident. Data were collected via observation protocols and through recorded focussed discussions. Pre-service teachers, even at the early phase of their course, were able to articulate theoretical explanations for events occurring in the lesson. All students, irrespective of the progression in the course, lamented the absence of prior opportunities to engage in analysis and discussion of classroom lessons. The study reinforces the value of dialectical interactions focussed on authentic teaching scenarios.     

Improving quantitative volumetric analysis skills in first year university chemistry courses

This paper describes a project in the School of Chemistry at The University of Melbourne. During 1992 thirty hours of videotapes were taken of students doing quantitative volumetric work in first year laboratories. These were viewed to find out what problems students encountered and what interactions they had with other students and with demonstrators. The data were logged on a Hypercard stack and novel visual images were produced to map student activity, both qualitatively and quantitatively. These data contributed to the design of a multimedia learning package which students worked through at the beginning of 1993. Video data of their laboratory performance after this intervention provides evidence of improved performance. Specializations: academic development in the sciences, evaluation of computer-based learning materials. Specializations: physical chemistry, chemical education at tertiary level. Specializations: design and development of computer-based learning materials. Specializations: electrochemistry, general physical chemistry at secondary and tertiary level. Specializations: chemical education at secondary and tertiary level, theoretical chemistry.     

American Hegemony in Packaged Software Trade and the 'Culture of Software'

United States-based companies continue to dominate the global market in packaged software. Although many have predicted this U.S. dominance will wane, particularly as a result of competitive threats from Japan, and more recently from low-wage, developing nations, erosion has yet to be significant. The United States benefits from nine factors that sustain its advantage in this industry: skilled labor, favorable capital conditions, sophisticated customers, close association with hardware vendors, a competitive marketplace, geographic concentrations, first-mover advantage, a strong intellectual property regime, and English as the software lingua franca. Industry-specific strengths and weaknesses vis-a-vis Europe, Japan, and other nations are also discussed. In addition to these nine better known U.S. competitive advantages, two culturally linked assertions are presented that have received scant attention vis-a-vis competitive analysis. First, the industrial evolution of software development is at an immature stage-still a cottage industry practiced by craftsmen in a cultural milieu of artisans-and thus does not track other global high-technology trends. Second, packaged software is part of the copyright industry (e.g., film and music) in which United States-based firms have a sustained advantage. While manufacturing capabilities are significant for technology industries, culturally related factors, such as creativity, are more important for copyright industries. The U.S. 'culture of software,' which helps explain U.S. hegemony, is introduced and discussed. The three elements of this culture are the culture of individuals as manifested by the individualistic computer hacker; the entrepreneurial culture and its risk-taking ethos; and the software development culture with its embrace of ad hoc, innovation-driven development as opposed to routinized, production-driven development.     

Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers: a curriculum for a Research Pathway in pre‐service teacher education

This paper advocates the development of high‐level research capability in some students in their undergraduate Bachelor of Education course. The rationale for this viewpoint is presented in relation to three questions: ‘What is educational research?’ ‘Why should universities develop high‐level research capability in some pre‐service teacher education graduates?’ and ‘What type of curriculum can support the development of high‐level research capability in some pre‐service teacher education graduates?’ The first two questions are addressed broadly. The latter question is addressed with reference to an existing Research Pathway within a Bachelor of Education course. The paper concludes with the identification of a priority issue for subsequent iterations of the Pathway and a reflection on the shift in my role as a teacher in this Pathway from ‘teacher researcher’ to ‘scholarly teacher’.     

Criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments: compatibility and complementarity

The tension between criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessment is examined in the context of curriculum planning and assessment in outcomes-based approaches to higher education. This paper argues the importance of a criterion-referenced assessment approach once an outcomes-based approach has been adopted. It further discusses the implementation of criterion-referenced assessment, considering to what extent the criteria and standards adopted are implicitly norm referenced. It introduces a compatible interpretation of criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments in higher education, and illustrates how their combined use can avoid grade inflation and also provide useful information to educators, employers and learners. Instead of seeing criterion referencing and norm referencing as a dichotomy, assessment in higher education benefits from their synthesis through a feedback loop that emphasises alignment between learning and assessment; such feedback and alignment are essential features of quality assurance and enhancement.     

Age and Sex Differences in Performance in an 11‐plus Selective Examination

The aim of the study was to investigate age and sex differences in performance in an 11‐plus selective examination. The sample was made up of 3460 pupils who were born in 1981 and who had sat the examination for the first time. Results based on a data set consisting of raw scores in Maltese, English, mathematics, social studies and religious knowledge showed a strong and consistent age effect in all five attainment measures: performance decreased with age from the ‘oldest’ pupils to the youngest’. In regard to sex differences, girls outperformed boys in Maltese, English and religion, with differences being most marked in the two languages. The performance of the two sexes in mathematics and social studies was very similar, with the boys’ performance being slightly, but not significantly, better. These age and sex effects were also evident in the proportions of pupils who passed or failed the examination. Older pupils tended to be more successful than younger pupils, and girls were more likely to pass the examination than boys.     

Detail and background in audiovisual lessons and their effect on learners

Does complexity of detail, accuracy of scale, and use of background help subjects learn technical information? Apparently not — at least not the 80 soldiers who learned about bore sighting of tank machine guns in this study. Half the subjects used the existing self-contained learning package, a tape-filmstrip lesson containing a large number of complex visuals. The other half used lessons identical in the audio portion but containing simplified (but not deliberately improved) visuals. There were no significant differences between the two groups in achievement, and both were strongly favorable toward their respective lesson.     

A narrative across 28 years in academic development

ABSTRACT

This paper is a narrative across 28 years in academic development. Four phases are described, showing how initially naïve conceptions about academic development have been addressed, enabling a growth towards a more holistic understanding of how diversity, quality assurance, and community networks can productively interface. This narrative will, hopefully, assist reflection by other academic developers.     

Addressing the challenge of legitimate international comparisons of classroom practice

In this article, we address the choice of suitable instructional units that might serve as the basis for cross-cultural analyses of classroom practice. Our argument draws on analyses undertaken as part of the Learner's Perspective Study (LPS). The database comprised a three-camera video record of sequences of 10 consecutive lessons in each classroom, supplemented by post-lesson video-stimulated interviews with teachers and students: a total of over 180 videotaped lessons, over 50 teacher interviews and almost 400 student interviews. The results of these analyses challenge the suitability of the lesson as the unit of comparative analysis. In particular, the location of the lesson in the topic sequence is seen to be a key influence on the lesson's structure, critically affecting the teacher's deployment of the constituent activities that we have called ‘lesson events.’ The lesson event is proposed as an alternative unit of international comparative analysis of classroom practice.