Information Communication Technology (ICT) integration in a science education unit for preservice science teachers; students' perceptions of their ICT skills, knowledge and pedagogy

There is an expectation that new science teachers will be able to effectively use a range of information communication technology (ICT) related resources inthe science classroom in order to enhance student learning. All school systems in Australia are in the process of providing teachers with ICT professional development and infrastructure. This paper outlines a range of initiatives designed to integrate ICT in a compulsory science education unit for students enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. An action research model based on constructivist principles was used to evaluate the effectiveness of modelling, open-ended co-operative group activities and authentic assessment in enabling students to enhance their ICT skills, knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in a science education context. Multiple sources of data were generated including a pre and post unit questionnaire that was analysed using Rasch modelling. The questionnaire determined students' perceptions of their preparedness to teach using ICT. The findings of this research suggest that some skills warranted greater attention in the unit, but students' pedagogical knowledge and knowledge and critique of ICT resources were enhanced over the duration of the unit.     

Technology‐enhanced learning in higher education: How to enhance student engagement through blended learning

Blended learning has risen in popularity in the last two decades as it has been shown to be an effective approach for accommodating an increasingly diverse student population in higher education and enriching the learning environment by incorporating online teaching resources. Blending significant elements of the learning environment such as face‐to‐face, online and self‐paced learning leads to better student experiences and outcomes and more efficient teaching and course management practices if combined appropriately. Hence, an appropriate systematic and dynamic approach of blended learning design is crucial for a positive outcome, starting with planning for integrating blended elements into a course and creating blended activities and implementing them. Evaluating their effectiveness and knowing in which environments they work better and improving the blended activities designed from both the student’s and instructor’s perspective are critical for the next delivery of the course. This article aims to increase awareness of higher education educators about how traditional face‐to‐face learning can be transformed into blended courses so as to develop student engagement with both in‐class and online approaches, whilst being time effective for the instructor.     

Program Assessments: Success Strategies for Three Canadian Teaching Centers

Program assessments are an essential part of the ongoing survival of teaching centers performed by faculty development personnel at institutions of higher education. Little research is available to guide developers in performing these assessments. In this article we describe assessments conducted at three Canadian universities and highlight the theoretical models used to guide the process. Reflections on the strengths and challenges are discussed for each program assessment for the purpose of assisting faculty developers in performing similar program assessments of their faculty development offices.

Marketing the recreational sublime: Jumbo Wild and the rhetorics of humans in nature

Since Carleton Watkins and Ansel Adams captured the sublime landscapes of Yosemite, immense technological changes have occurred that demand we revisit discourses about the sublime. Panmediation combined with ever-reaching capitalist practices have shifted the ways in which the sublime is imaged, conceptualized, and utilized. In this paper, we turn to DeLuca and Demo’s (2000. Imaging nature: Watkins, Yosemite, and the birth of environmentalism. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 17(3), 241–260.) and Stormer’s (2004. Addressing the sublime: Space, mass representation, and the unpresentable. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21(3), 212–240.) essays on the sublime to trace the trajectory of the sublime’s domestication and the ways in which its use in contemporary environmentalist discourses, led by corporations like Patagonia, have reinforced human–nature binaries and anthropocentric discourses. To do so, we examine the 2015 documentary Jumbo Wild, which represents one example of a new turn in depictions of the sublime—what we term the recreational sublime—and how it is rhetorically grounded in visual discourses.     

Lifelong Learning and T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets [1]

This article challenges the dominant policy discourse about lifelong learning as a tool for economic productivity and competitiveness, and proposes the alternative language of poetry as a means to return to the vision of lifelong learning as a process of "learning to be", as first proposed in Edgar Faure et al. 's (1972) landmark UNESCO report of that title. T.S. Eliot's classic poem Four Quartets is examined as an example of poetic work that articulates a richly nuanced view of lifelong learning as a process of grappling with major existential questions about identity and existence. The prospect of truly learning to be, as Eliot shows us, is not a straightforward task of acquiring government-sanctioned skills, knowledge, and attitudes, but one of venturing into the dark unknown, and "costing not less than everything" in the process.     

The new higher education reality: what is an appropriate model to address the widening participation agenda?

Along with the massification of higher education comes a need for new models to support the success of greater numbers of diverse students. A greater proportion of these students are ‘non-traditional’ in terms of preparedness, socioeconomic status and geography. This paper introduces an Associate Degree model designed to support this new higher education reality of broader student cohorts, thin regional markets and cross-sectoral collaboration. Background literature on challenges facing the higher education sector and its prospective students is presented, with a particular focus on regionality. An argument is made for the role of curriculum and pedagogy as enablers of non-traditional student success. This is supported by the results of a mixed-methods exploratory study. This Associate Degree model was attractive to students and institutes. Students experienced similar levels of challenge, workload and progress to their traditional peers. While technology was essential for the success of the model, it played a supporting role to the relationships and multiple modes of learning it facilitated. This article provides insights for institutions seeking to address the broadening participation agenda.     

Examining Student Digital Artifacts During a Year-Long Technology Integration Initiative

This study was situated within a year-long, statewide technology integration initiative designed to support technology integration within science, technology, engineering, and math classrooms. It examined the elements used in student artifacts in an attempt to investigate trends in digital artifact creation. Among several conclusions, this examination highlighted areas of significant improvement in student use of technology, such as an increase in the creation of PowerPoint presentations and the inclusion of multimedia elements. The study also highlighted areas for improvement, such as the low cognitive demand for content in the majority of the artifacts.     

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