Digital portfolios in pre-service teacher education

With the pre-service student portfolio process and product well in hand in a paper-based format, in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) (B.Ed. Primary) at University of Western Sydney (UWS), new horizons have presented themselves. These new possibilities are facilitated but not driven by developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The impetus for this study comes from the changing context in which the students will work and from the rapidly evolving mediums of communication employed by the society these future teachers will serve. With new technologies being developed the use of digital portfolios could give an extra dimension to student learning as well as giving choice and variety to the reporting and presenting of that learning. This paper aims to report on the process of the development of digital portfolios as an alternative method of reporting and presenting student learning, as opposed to the current paper-based portfolios used in Pre-service Teacher Education at UWS. A study of the processes employed by nine students who elected to develop their portfolios digitally was carried out over a three-semester period. This resulted in a procedure that assisted students in using ICT to showcase their learning. The advantages and limitations of the use of such technology and the results of this process during its initial implementation are discussed.     

Mobile learning and student cognition: A systematic review of PK-12 research using Bloom’s Taxonomy

The rise of mobile learning in schools during the past decade has led to promises about the power of mobile learning to extend and enhance student cognitive engagement. The purpose of this study was to examine trends to determine the cognitive level students are involved in within mobile learning activities. This systematic review involved an aggregated and configurative synthesis of PK-12 mobile learning studies from 2010 to 16 and used Bloom’s Taxonomy as a theoretical framework for categorizing the cognitive level of student activities. Major new findings include that students are involved in activities at all six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. This study shows that over 60% of researchers are developing activities that require high levels of cognitive processing, a large increase from past studies. Nonetheless, 40% are integrating mobile devices in ways that keep students working with minimal cognitive processing. In both elementary and secondary studies, there was a 40/60% split in the use of lower versus high level thinking opportunities. New findings show that mobile devices were integrated into science, mathematics, social studies, literacy, art and special education. Studies in science settings were the majority of the studies (40%), followed by literacy (24%).     

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

Today, cities become more dense, green spaces disappear and children spend less time outdoors. Research suggests that these conditions create health problems and lack of ecological literacy. To reverse such trends, localities are creating urban green spaces for children to visit during school time. Drawing on ideas in ecological literacy, this study investigates school children’s perspectives on a forest garden, a type of outdoor educational setting previously only scarcely researched. Data were collected through walk-and-talk conversations and informal interviews with 28 children aged 7 to 9. Many children in the study expressed strong positive feelings about the forest garden, the organized and spontaneous activities there, and caring for the organisms living there. We observed three aspects of learning in the data, potentially beneficial for the development of children’s ecological literacy: practical competence, learning how to co-exist and care, and biological knowledge and ecological understanding.     

Using the Jigsaw Method to Teach Abdominal Anatomy

This study evaluates a cooperative learning approach for teaching anatomy to health science students incorporating small group and peer instruction based on the jigsaw method first described in the 1970's. Fifty-three volunteers participated in abdominal anatomy workshops. Students were given time to become an “expert” in one of four segments of the topic (sub-topics) by allocating groups to work-stations with learning resources: axial computerized tomography (CT) of abdominal structures, axial CT of abdominal blood vessels, angiograms and venograms of abdominal blood vessels and structures located within abdominal quadrants. In the second part of workshop, students were redistributed into “jigsaw” learning groups with at least one “expert” at each workstation. The “jigsaw” learning groups then circulated between workstations learning all sub-topics with the “expert” teaching others in their group. To assess abdominal anatomy knowledge, students completed a quiz pre- and post- workshop. Students increased their knowledge with significant improvements in quiz scores irrespective of prior exposure to lectures or practical classes related to the workshop topic. The evidence for long-term retention of knowledge, assessed by comparing end-semester examination performance of workshop participants with workshop nonparticipants, was less convincing. Workshop participants rated the jigsaw workshop highly for both educational value and enjoyment and felt the teaching approach would improve their course performance. The jigsaw method improved anatomy knowledge in the short-term by engaging students in group work and peer-led learning, with minimal supervision required. Reported outcomes suggest that cooperative learning approaches can lead to gains in student performance and motivation to learn. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000–000. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

School Library Services for SEN Students: Hong Kong Perspectives

There has been an increasing concern on supporting the teaching and learning needs for SEN students in recent years. This paper firstly introduces the government policy on special education and the support services to the SEN students in Hong Kong. The authors further discuss the roles of school library and teacher-librarian in enhancing the learning activities of SEN students from the perspectives of space design, collection development, library services and programs.     

A Survey Study on the Adoption and Implementation of Automation Projects in Federal University Libraries in the South-West of Nigeria

This article reports on a survey study on the adoption and implementation of automation projects in federal university libraries in the south-west of Nigeria (SWN). The objectives are to ascertain the implementation status of automation projects, discuss the accruable benefits, investigate the library management system software being used, determine the modules already activated and fully implemented and their web presence, highlight the challenges encountered, draw conclusions and recommendations on enhancing successful implementation of library automation projects in Nigeria. The method used for gathering data for the study is questionnaire-based survey, using google form template. The findings of the study are that all the six federal university libraries in the SWN have adopted and implemented automation; two out of them are using open source integrated library automation software (Koha), one library uses in-house built integrated library system (ILS), while the remaining three use different proprietary software for their automation projects; and all the ILSs being used for automation projects are interoperable. The conclusion from the study is that the effective performance of libraries lies in the ability to access research materials and other relevant information contents with remarkable ease. This becomes achievable when libraries adopt and implement automation in their respective domains.     

Quantitative insights into televised birth: a content analysis of One Born Every Minute

This article explores birth representations through a content analysis of two seasons of the U.K. program, One Born Every Minute (OBEM) (Channel 4, 2010–). Reality television (RTV) has been a fertile ground for the mediation of birth, but has also stoked controversy among feminist critics and the birth community about how birth is represented and the impacts this might have for women and society. International research has explored problematic over-representation of white, heterosexual couples, as well as noting a predominance of medicalized birth experiences. However, this research is formed largely of qualitative studies that are necessarily based on small samples of episodes. To contribute to this literature, we apply a quantitative and interdisciplinary lens through a content analysis of two seasons of the U.K. version of OBEM. Paying attention to the geographical and temporal context of OBEM, this article confirms over-representation of white, heterosexual couples and medicalized birth on RTV birth shows while also providing novel insights into the ambiguous representation of birthplace and lead caregivers, the medicalization of birth through the routinization of supposedly minor birth interventions, and the absence of the representation of women’s choice over such interventions.     

Opportunities for a democratic pedagogy: a comparative study of South African and Swedish teachers' attitudes to inclusive education

This paper is based upon the collaboration between two research groups from Stockholm University and the University of South Africa. The main objective is to compare attitudes between South African (SA) and Swedish teachers regarding inclusive education (IE). IE in this paper is examined as a distinct part of the Swedish welfare system. The method used can be characterised as a combined, quantitative and qualitative research design with a purposive sampling. A similar adapted questionnaire was distributed in the two countries. The Swedish teachers in our data are more pro‐inclusion and more hesitating to accommodate learners with barriers in special schools. However, both the Swedish and the SA teachers in the study are hesitating towards the feasibility to implement IE practically. A team approach is concluded to be an adequate pedagogy for supporting IE both in South Africa and Sweden.     

Whose participation is it anyway? Examining the context of pupil participation in the UK

Helen May recently completed her doctoral studies at the University of Leeds. Her EdD thesis, written with the benefit of extensive experience of practice, focused on the engagement of children with learning difficulties in interactions in primary classrooms. In this article, Helen May draws on her familiarity with the literature to explore the topic of pupil participation. This issue has attracted considerable attention in recent years, especially since it is on the Government's agenda for education in the UK. Here, Helen May examines the political, research and pedagogical contexts in which pupil participation is currently being addressed. She notes that the adult role in bringing about pupil participation is currently emphasised in each of these contexts and expresses concern that pupil participation is therefore being portrayed as requiring professional intervention. By calling for greater exploration of pupil participation from the perspectives of pupils themselves, Helen May makes a persuasive case for seeking a more balanced recognition of the active roles that pupils and professionals can play in this area.     

Shifting goal posts: the impact of academic workforce reshaping and the introduction of teaching academic roles on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This qualitative study reports on findings from interviews with ten academics in an Australian university six to twelve months following academic workforce reshaping and the widespread introduction of teaching academic roles. The research aimed to determine how the workforce reshaping impacted on the capacity of academics with teaching responsibilities to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Findings indicate that whilst academics were willing to undertake SoTL, participants’ capacity to engage was hampered by the workload model, middle academic leaders’ capacity to define and lead SoTL, and a perceived lack of SoTL value. A major concern for participants was that shifting goal posts (in relation to roles and expectations) would make it difficult to successfully apply for future academic work. The research indicates the need for the sector to consider the selection criteria for middle leadership roles, as well as ongoing academic leadership development to support adaptability and change agility.