Mobile phones in education: Challenges and opportunities for learning

The millennials use mobile phones on a daily basis to keep in touch with family and friends (Lenhart 2010). However, the role of mobile phones in education needs to be close examined as educators strive to incorporate mobile leaning devices in the classroom. Consequently, schools will not only need to evaluate their school curriculums but also recognize the power in the digital devices to engage, enable, and empower Gen-M and iGen learners. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide a rationale for the need for administrators to design guidelines for schools planning to adopt mobile phones in their curricula. Additionally, this article is intended to stimulate reflections on effective ways to adopt mobile phones in education to engage learners.     

Cooperating Teachers' Perspectives Under Scrutiny: A comparative analysis of Australia and Canada

The ways in which cooperating teachers give shape and meaning to their work in practicum settings is one of the most critical elements of initial teacher education. This international comparison draws upon surveys of Australian and Canadian cooperating teachers. The global contrast highlights taken‐for‐granted assumptions in local settings that in some instances are cause for celebration and in other instances concern. The comparison of the two settings illustrates, among other things: some striking similarities in the profiles of cooperating teachers; important differences with respect to the cooperating teachers' preparation and remuneration for their role in practicum settings; and deeper complexities regarding the relationship between schools and universities.     

A computer simulation model of tennis racket/ball impacts

A forward dynamics computer simulation for replicating tennis racket/ball impacts is described consisting of two rigid segments coupled with two degrees of rotational freedom for the racket frame, nine equally spaced point masses connected by 24 visco-elastic springs for the string-bed and a point mass visco-elastic ball model. The first and second modal responses both in and perpendicular to the racket string-bed plane have been reproduced for two contrasting racket frames, each strung at a high and a low tension. Ball/string-bed normal impact simulations of real impacts at nine locations on each string-bed and six different initial ball velocities resulted in <3% RMS error in rebound velocity (over the 16–27 m/s range observed). The RMS difference between simulated and measured oblique impact rebound angles across nine impact locations was 1°. Thus, careful measurement of ball and racket characteristics to configure the model parameters enables researchers to accurately introduce ball impact at different locations and subsequent modal response of the tennis racket to rigid body simulations of tennis strokes without punitive computational cost.     

Factors influencing job attainment in recent Bachelor graduates: evidence from Australia

Favourable graduate employment outcomes are critical for future enrolments in higher education. Enrolments fund higher education providers and ensure a continuous supply of graduates to enhance organisational effectiveness, national productivity and global competitiveness. Recent evidence suggests the global financial crisis has softened graduate labour markets. Stakeholder concerns for graduate career prospects and the adequacy of return on investment from studying at university prompt exploration of those factors which influence graduate employment outcomes. This study tests, using logistic regression, a model of job attainment in recent Bachelor graduates of Australian higher education providers using national data gathered in 2011 (n = 28,246) and 2012 (n = 28,009). Findings indicate employer selection criteria broadly align with our understanding of what constitutes graduate employability, including technical expertise, generic skill mastery and a successfully formed graduate identity. Labour market opportunities, however, are not based on merit alone with employers favouring those graduating from prestigious universities, part-time students and whose study incorporated elements of on-campus learning. There were also noted variations by discipline, age and residency status. The study enhances our understanding of which factors influence graduate employment outcomes and discusses implications for relevant stakeholders.     

Development of a ‘universal’ rubric for assessing undergraduates' scientific reasoning skills using scientific writing

We developed a rubric for measuring students' ability to reason and write scientifically. The Rubric for Science Writing (Rubric) was tested in a variety of undergraduate biology laboratory courses (total n = 142 laboratory reports) using science graduate students (teaching assistants) as raters. Generalisability analysis indicates that the Rubric provides a reliable measure of students' abilities (g = 0.85) in these conditions. Comparison of student performance in various biology classes indicated that some scientific skills are more challenging for students to develop than others and identified a number of previously unappreciated gaps in the curriculum. Our findings suggest that use of the Rubric provides three major benefits in higher education: (1) to increase substance and consistency of grading within a course, particularly those staffed by multiple instructors or graduate teaching assistants; (2) to assess student achievement of scientific reasoning and writing skills; and (3) when used in multiple courses, to highlight gaps in alignment among course assignments and provide a common metric for assessing to what extent the curriculum is achieving programmatic goals. Lastly, biology graduate students reported that use of the Rubric facilitated their teaching and recommended that training on the Rubric be provided to all teaching assistants.     

Exploring the dimensionality of morphological knowledge for adolescent readers

This study examined the dimensionality of morphological knowledge. The performance of 371 seventh‐ and eighth‐graders on seven morphological knowledge tasks was investigated using confirmatory factor analysis. Results suggested that morphological knowledge was best fit by a bifactor model with a general factor of morphological knowledge and seven specific factors, representing tasks that tap different facets of morphological knowledge. Next, structural equation modelling was used to explore links to literacy outcomes. Results indicated the general factor and the specific factor of morphological meaning processing showed significant positive associations with reading comprehension and vocabulary. Also, the specific factor of generating morphologically related words showed significant positive associations with vocabulary, while specific factors of morphological word reading and spelling processing showed small negative relationships to reading comprehension and vocabulary. Findings highlight the complexity of morphological knowledge and suggest the importance of being cognizant of the nature of morphology when designing and interpreting studies.