Audiographics in transition: changing technologies and patterns of usage

This paper discusses the development and use of an audiographics program, Electronic Classroom®, at all levels of Australian education and analyses the manner in which the rapid improvements in computing performance have allowed the technology to meet the needs of users from new areas of the curriculum; illustrates the usage of the product in a variety of educational settings by pointing to a number of case studies; discusses the educational strategies used by teachers in their use of audiographics and makes conclusions on the role of audiographics in education.     

Introducing the Creative Learning Principles: Instructional Tasks Used to Promote Rhizomatic Learning Through Creativity

ABSTRACT

Proving a child has been adequately educated is manifest through assessments evaluating the recall of facts or the deciphering of codes. How this information is taught and learned is the issue. Webb's depth of knowledge (DOK) and Bloom's taxonomy are cognitive models that drive instruction in today's classrooms. According to these models, creativity is a higher-order learning process. Although creativity has gained a renewed prominence in theoretic academic arenas, on the battleground of the typical classroom, creativity takes a back seat to instructional strategies with the goal of successful standardization of knowledge. Creativity, however, is the cornerstone of arts instruction. Creative learning principles (CLPs) is a system of instructional tasks developed in the arts and used to facilitate the metacognitive act of learning through creativity to solve problems. This article discusses how the CLPs create rhizomatic learning by facilitating connections between art and other disciplines and how they are used in planning.     

Multisectoral partnerships in e-learning: A potential force for improved human capital development in the Asia Pacific

Since their inception, a dominant characteristic of higher education institutions has been their reliance on the advantages conferred by geographic and political boundaries. However, emerging technologies and growing consumer power are challenging the status quo. The application of Internet-based information and communication technologies in education—e-learning—is now making it possible for education to transcend space, time, and political boundaries. In e-learning, content and mode of delivery are increasingly defined by external groups: students as well as employers. The emergence of e-learning is weakening the dominance of traditional providers of higher and continuing education—nonprofit colleges and universities—and they are being challenged by a proliferation of alternative institutions and providers with the skills and attitudes required to succeed in the new educational marketplace. Partnerships will allow traditional suppliers and intermediaries to contribute from their respective comparative advantages. In a common emerging model, traditional universities provide the intellectual capital, content, and content support; evaluate student performance; and award appropriate degree credit or certification. Intermediaries contribute in such areas as hardware and software provision, instructional design for the Web, website and communication for maintenance, record keeping, teacher training, and technical support for courseware development and marketing. Although this trend is not yet well advanced in the Asia Pacific Region, there are already a few pioneers, and interest is strong and growing among the major stakeholder groups—traditional academic institutions, traditional students, emerging intermediaries, professionals with a need for continuing education, and private sector corporations with the need to provide educational opportunities for their workforce. The Asia Pacific Regional Technology Centre (APRTC) is an example of an emerging intermediary organization. Its primary focus is on providing continuing educational opportunities for agricultural professionals throughout the Asia Pacific. It relies almost exclusively on e-learning for educational delivery and carries out its work through multisectoral partnerships. Initial experience indicates that the approach works in the region and is cost effective and that all partners and the clients can and do benefit from the collaboration.     

Contract cheating in Australian higher education: a comparison of non-university higher education providers and universities

Abstract

This article reports on one aspect of a nationally funded research project on contract cheating in Australian higher education. The project explored students' and educators’ experiences of contract cheating, and the contextual factors that may influence it. This article reports the key findings from non-university higher education providers (NUHEPs). It compares survey responses from 961 students and 91 educators at four NUHEPs with previously reported findings from eight universities (14,086 students and 1,147 staff). NUHEP and university students report engaging in contract cheating in similar ways. However, while NUHEP educators spend more time teaching academic literacies and discussing contract cheating, NUHEP students are 12 times more likely than university students to report use of a professional academic writing service. Both NUHEP and university educators require systematic professional development regarding the relationship between the teaching and learning environment and students’ contract cheating behaviour. NUHEPs need to be cognisant of students’ vulnerability to commercial contract cheating services, and ensure they have access to timely academic and social support.     

Action research remodelled in a competitive,profit-oriented sector: teachers’ and managers’ perspectives

ABSTRACT

Action research has enjoyed phenomenal growth in the field of education as a catalyst for teacher professional learning with a view to school improvement, but it is commonly remodelled across various local settings. Adopting a Schatzkian perspective, this study investigates the experiences of a range of teachers engaging in an action research program in a competitive, profit-oriented setting – the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector in Australia – to explore how action research has been prefigured and remodelled in this unique context. A qualitative case study approach was adopted and a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers and managers of ELICOS centres. Results of this study indicate that the way action research is understood and practised by teachers and managers in the ELICOS sector has been shaped by the competitive, profit-oriented context in which they function, with an emphasis on ‘winning’ and gaining status through action research.     

Towards Treating Chemistry Teacher Candidates as Human

This research inquiry investigates the factors influencing chemistry teacher candidates’ development during their extended practica in the second and final year of an After-Degree Bachelor of Education at a university in central Canada. A variety of data sources are used to identify the risk and protective factors impeding and contributing to the achievement of their chemistry pedagogical aspirations. Two theoretical frameworks, both having their origins in the pioneering work of Kurt Lewin, are used to conceptualize how a complex amalgam of personal attribute and environmental factors and the interplay among these factors influence teacher candidate developmental trajectories. The tenets of both Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model and Learning Environment research provide insights into how the factors influencing teacher candidate development can be understood and systematically documented to provide a template for reflective consideration of the practicum experience for both teacher candidates and those involved in fostering the development of chemistry teacher candidates.

A clinical model for treatment of dyslexia

Children with moderate learning disabilities often fail to qualify for special education programs in public schools, but are ill-suited for placement in private schools concerned with the severely disabled. Parents of such children may place their hopes in the promises of private teachers or clinics. Yet the quality of services provided in the private sector varies widely. This paper describes a model program against which parents and private service providers can measure the strengths and weaknesses of the programs they are concerned with. The model places special emphasis on thorough evaluation, frequent reevaluation, staff accountability, program flexibility, and recognition of the parents’ role in the child’s education.     

Preserving digital scholarship: the future is now

The Cedars project in the UK has been set up to explore some of the issues associated with archiving of digital materials and to make recommendations to libraries about preserving digital materials. Cedars, which is led by the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL), is funded as part of the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) by the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils.     

Feasibility,acceptability, and potential efficacy of a childcare-based intervention to reduce sitting time among pre-schoolers: A pilot randomised controlled trial

The aim of this study was to test the feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of a childcare-based intervention to reduce total and prolonged sitting time in pre-schoolers. Four centres and 115 pre-schoolers (44 % boys; 4.1y) participated in a 3-month, 2-arm pilot cluster randomised controlled trial. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed through observations and semi-structured interviews. Sitting time, and breaks and bouts of sitting during childcare were assessed using an activPAL accelerometer over a one-week period at pre- and post-test (12wks). EF (inhibition, working memory and shifting) was assessed using the Early Years Toolbox. Intervention fidelity was high for both intervention centres (77 % vs 70 %) and educators reacted positively to the intervention. Proportion of sitting time per day reduced significantly at post-test in both intervention (?5.3%/day,[2.13, 8.50]) and control centres (?6.45 %,[4.20, 8.71]), resulting in a non- significant between-group difference (p = 0.51[2.4, 4.9]). EF scores did not significantly differ between groups (p > 0.05). Modifications to the childcare environment to reducing sitting, particularly the standing workstations, were feasible and acceptable to educators and children. No differences in sitting time between groups were seen; additional changes and longer-term trials are needed to reduce sitting time in pre-schoolers.