Teacher education for rural–regional sustainability: changing agendas,challenging futures,chasing chimeras?

Rural schooling has remained a concern for policy‐makers, employers, teacher education providers and schools throughout our recent history. In particular, the allegedly variable quality of teaching and learning in rural Australia is a major concern for teacher educators and educational leaders alike, with the provision of quality services for rural Australians a major equity issue in social as well as political terms. Working from an explicitly situated perspective, this paper explores these issues in relation to a set of current and recent research projects and government reports, with particular reference to a study currently exploring the articulation of teacher education and rural schooling in New South Wales. This is contextualized within a larger agenda of national and environmental sustainability which raises the key issue of social policy and educational priorities as we look forward into a radically uncertain future for teacher education, rural schooling and rural‐regional sustainability.     

Context matters: increasing understanding with interactive Clicker Case studies

Although interactive technology is presumed to increase student understanding in large classes, no previous research studies have empirically explored the effects of Clicker Cases on students?? performance. A Clicker Case is a story (e.g., a problem someone is facing) that uses clickers (student response systems) to engage students in understanding the meaning of the science contained within the story. Using an experimental randomized Solomon design across 11 institutions, we found that Clicker Cases increased student understanding more than PowerPoint lectures in large introductory biology classrooms, although there was variation across institutions and topics. By examining student performance in conjunction with faculty experience, we found that strong Clicker Cases created dissonance, captured attention and involved students in interpreting data or making decisions. This study provides a model for collaborative research across multiple institutions and demonstrates the need for using multiple institutions and topics in research on education.     

Living with Children with an Intellectual Disability: Parents Construct their Reality

This paper reports a study that adopted an interpretivist paradigm as a basis for parents and researchers to co‐create a discourse that outlines life experiences as they relate to parenting a child with an intellectual disability. Repertory grid methodology was employed to inform the process of discourse development. A model of the five interrelated systems of events or issues that impinge upon the perceptions of parents of children with an intellectual disability is proposed. In addition, details about the group's perceptions of those environmental events or issues that are pertinent to living with and caring for a child with an intellectual disability are reported.     

Revitalising assessment design: what is holding new lecturers back?

This paper reports on a survey study exploring new lecturers’ views on assessment design (using a questionnaire called the Assessment Design Inventory) with 586 newly qualified or still qualifying lecturers from UK universities. A factor analysis established two factors labelled ‘desirable practice’ and ‘constraints’. Participants felt that their university teaching programmes had changed their views on assessment design and that assessment practices could be improved. Over 50 % agreed that there were practical restrictions on assessment design. Findings revealed a perception that there is little incentive to innovate in assessment and that students may not welcome such innovation in any case. Further statistical analysis specified the ‘external’ variables of institution and discipline to be important in shaping desirable practice and perception of constraints. ‘Individual’ variables of gender, length of teaching experience and qualification status showed a statistically significant effect. These analyses demonstrate some key influences on new lecturers’ views of assessment design and suggest reasons why they do not always feel able to put what they learn about assessment into practice.     

Business Model Sustainability in Book Publishing

In an earlier paper (Tian and Martin in Publ Res Q 27(3):230?C246, 2011) we identified ongoing developments in business models for book publishing consequent upon changes in such areas as those of organizational structure and culture, technology, publishing and the marketplace. However, it was already clear that book publishing, like every other industry would have to face up to the incipient challenges posed by the growing global phenomena of organizational sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Clearly this would require a response of a different order than before, not least in view of the greatly expanded range of potential factors involved. Our treatment of sustainability addresses two main themes: sustainability in the context of global concerns about resource depletion and destruction of the biosphere, and organizational sustainability in the at times adversarial relationship between profit seeking and good corporate citizenship. This paper begins with a look at some of the key terminology around sustainability in order to reinforce its relevance and applicability to the publishing industry. This necessarily limited treatment is confined to four key concepts namely: corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance and corporate measurement and reporting. We then present some evidence for industry response to the principles and practical challenges of sustainability and relate these to implications for the design of appropriate business models. Finally we model the ongoing process of business model innovation for sustainability in book publishing.     

Using Space Imagery in the Science Classroom: Efforts of the CASDE Project

This article describes the ongoing curriculum development efforts of the Consortium for the Application of Space Data in Education (CASDE), which is an evolving consortium of educators, engineers, scientists, and other professionals dedicated to providing the educational community with vast amounts of NASA imagery, tools, and interdisciplinary learning activities, distributed freely over the Internet. The article particularly details the curricular approach taken by CASDE, which involves the concept of curriculum building blocks that contain tools, data, tutorials, curriculum standards, assessments, and a sample lesson or instructional activity. The article also describes the student interactive DataSlate software, developed by engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to help teachers use space imagery conveniently with students in the science classroom. In addition, the article discusses the consortium's approach to providing ongoing training to teachers, and also describes the efforts of the consortium to evaluate some of the educational activities undertaken by participating teachers. Finally, a web-based link to all of the consortium's resources and curriculum activities is provided to the reader for their possible use and reference.     

Predictive Variables of Success for Latino Enrollment in Higher Education

It is necessary to better understand the unique variables that serve as predictors of Latino students’ postsecondary enrollment and success. Impacts of various variables were examined among 850 Latino and Caucasian students (76% and 24% of the sample, respectively). Gender, ethnicity, perceived affordability, high school grade point average, and high school credits earned served as significant predictors. Yet the highest mathematics class taken by the 11th grade was not significant, and Latino students’ negative perceptions of college affordability may have hindered students’ postsecondary enrollment aspirations, despite their having access to a guaranteed scholarship.     

Parental Participation and Partnership in Pre-school Provision Participation et partenariat parental dans les prestations pre´scolaires Participación y Asociación de Los Padres en la Provisión de la Enseñanza Preescolar

Parental participation in pre-school provision does not reflect a close partnership between parents and pre-school service providers in the statutory sector. A multi-method approach involving survey, interviews and observations revealed that opportunities across pre-school provision for parental participation vary considerably between different types of provision. While parental needs for participation were largely satisfied by the levels and types of participation offered in the playgroup sector, parental willingness to participate in local authority (LA) and private nurseries is not matched by the opportunities available, particularly with respect to active help in daily activities. This desire for increased levels of parental participation stems from three sources: (i) to monitor and obtain feedback on their own child's progress; (ii) to enable them to experience how pre-school provision is delivered; and (iii) to satisfy their own needs for social contact and making friends. Results suggest that parents' actual and desired participation falls short of genuine partnership and raise questions about parental training and the precise roles and responsibilities which parents should have. La participation des parents aux prestations préscolaires ne fait pas apparaître un partenariat étroit entre les parents et les services préscolaires dans le secteur officiel. Une approche multi-méthodes comprenant une enquête, des entretiens et des observations a révélé que les opportunités de participation parentale aux prestations préscolaires variaient considérablement selon les différents types de prestations. Alors que les besoins parentaux de participation soient largement satisfaits par les niveaux et les types de participation offerts par le secteur des garderies communautaires, la disponibilité des parents à apporter une participation aux écoles maternelles d'État et privées n'est pas satisfaite par les occasions disponibles, notamment en matière d'aide active aux activités quotidiennes. Le désir des parents d'augmenter leur participation se base sur trois raisons: (i) suivre les progrès de leur enfant, et obtenir des informations sur ces progrès; (ii) savoir comment les prestations préscolaires sont assurées; et (iii) satisfaire leurs propres besoins de contacts sociaux et se faire des amis. Les conclusions indiquent que la participation apportée et souhaitée par les parents ne correspond pas à un véritable partenariat et soulèvent des questions sur la formation des parents et les rôles et responsabilités précis àdonner aux parents. La participación de los padres en la provisión de la enseñanza preescolar no refleja una asociación estrecha entre los padres y los proveedores del servicio de enseñanza preescolar en el sector estatal. Un enfoque multimétodo utilizando sondeos, entrevistas y observaciones puso de manifiesto que las oportunidades a través de toda la provisión de la enseñanza preescolar para la participación de los padres varía bastante entre los diferentes tipos de provisión. Mientras que las necesidades de los padres de participación fueron en gran parte satisfechas pos los niveles y los tipos de participación ofrecidos en el sector de los "playgroup" (grupos de actividades lúdico-educativas para niños de edad preescolar), la buena disposición de los padres a participar en las guarderías municipales y en las privadas no se corresponde con las oportunidades disponibles, especialmente en lo que concierne a la ayuda activa en las actividades diarias. Este movimiento hacia mayores niveles de participación de los padres tiene de tres razones: (i) el deseo de seguir el desarrollo y de obtener "feedback" sobre el progreso de los hijos; (ii) el deseo de permitirles experimentar cómo se imparte la provisión de los servicios de la enseñanza preescolar, y (iii) el deseo de satisfacer sus propias necesidades para establecer contactos sociales y hacer amistades. Los resultados indican que la participación deseada y real de los padres está muy por debajo de una asociación genuina y plantean cuestiones sobre la capacitación de los padres y sobre las responsabilidades y funciones específicas que deberían tener los padres.     

Scaffolding group explanation and feedback with handheld technology: impact on students’ mathematics learning

Based on strong research literatures, we conjectured that social processing of feedback by cooperating in a small group setting—with social incentives to ask questions, give explanations and discuss disagreements—would increase learning. We compared group and individual feedback, using two technologies: (1) Technology-mediated, Peer-Assisted Learning (TechPALS), which uses wireless handheld technology to structure feedback in small groups as they solve fractions problems and (2) a popular desktop product, which provides feedback to individual students as they solve fractions problems individually. Three elementary schools participated in a randomized controlled experiment conducted in the 2007–2008 school year. Students in the TechPALS condition learned more than did the control group students, with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.14 to d = 0.44. Analysis of observational data confirmed that students in the TechPALS condition participated socially in questioning, explaining, and discussing disagreements, whereas students in the individual condition did not. We conclude that an integration of technology, cooperative activity designs and broader educational practices can lead to impact on students’ mathematics learning.