The silence about oral presentation skills in distance and online education: new perspectives from an Australian university preparatory programme

Oral presentation skills are considered essential workplace skills and are therefore highly valued in higher education. However, research into this aspect of adult learning is limited, especially in the context of distance and online education. This paper reports on an innovative approach used in a university preparatory program in Australia. Distance students were responsible for choosing a topic, setting and audience, and assessment was based on their self-reflections on the experience. Such an approach represents a radical departure from the usual methods used to practise and assess oral presentations. In this qualitative case study, we draw on students’ responses via portfolio reflections and interviews, using principles of adult learning as a framework for thematic analysis. Findings suggest that this activity fulfilled the needs of adult learners in a number of significant ways, and for some of these students, this oral presentation was a meaningful, even transformative experience.     

‘I think autism is like running on Windows while everyone else is a Mac’: using a participatory action research approach with students on the autistic spectrum to rearticulate autism and the lived experience of university

This co-authored article outlines the research process and key findings from the Stratus Writers Project, a participatory action research project with a group of seven students on the autistic spectrum at a university in the North of England. The project explores their experiences of university through critical autobiographies and offers unique insider perspectives into some of the key issues, challenges and successes. Building on a participatory action research approach, the data were collected by the participants themselves; however, this study departs from traditional research in that the participants also analysed the data, thus offering rich and potentially overlooked theoretical knowledge. The article concludes by demonstrating the strength of participatory action research approaches by identifying the impact that our project and its findings have had so far.     

The social dynamics of changing practice

In this paper we develop a socio‐dynamic account for the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on practice. The model we propose for changing practice challenges the essentially individualised explanation of practical learning offered by a number of writers and researchers in the field of CPD such as Joyce and Showers (1988 Joyce B Showers J (1988) Student achievement through staff development (London, Longman)  [Google Scholar]), Eraut (1994 Eraut M (1994) Developing professional knowledge and competence (London, Falmer Press)  [Google Scholar]), and Schön (1983 Schön DA (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action (London, Temple Books)  [Google Scholar]). It also offers a basis for exploring the micro‐political realities of changing practice and the links between individual and group learning that are largely absent in the socio‐cultural accounts of organisational and situated learning (Senge, 1990 Senge P (1990) The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organisation (New York, Doubleday Currency)  [Google Scholar]; Lave & Wenger, 1991 Lave J Wenger E (1991) Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) [Crossref] [Google Scholar]; Weick, 1995 Weick K (1995) Sensemaking in organisations (Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications)  [Google Scholar]). It proposes a model that allows for tracking the influence of discourses in relation to teacher re‐professionalism from the level of policy to the point of enactment in the school and re‐examines the connections between individual and group learning to arrive at a dynamic framework for understanding changing practice.     

Evaluating courses: an examination of the impact of student gender

Previous research into the effects of gender differences on course evaluations has failed to take into account a number of intervening variables. In part 1 of the present study a questionnaire was administered to 504 female and male students measuring whether they noticed, remembered things, and related to others. These are all measures which have been linked to evaluation abilities. Females were found to score more highly on all three. In part 2 of the study 23 presentations of a course were evaluated, and it was shown that females and males do respond differently. Females evaluated certain, but not all, aspects of the courses more favourably, but the pattern of differences varied depending on whether the measure used was a structured or an open‐ended evaluation.     

‘That Tricky Subject’: The Integration of Contextual Studies in pre‐Degree Art and Design Education

Contextual studies (CS), ‘theory’, ‘visual culture’ or ‘art history’ (amongst other labels) refer to a regular and often compulsory feature in art and design education. However, this takes many forms and can sit in a variety of relationships with the practical elements of such courses. This article is based on mixed method research on CS in the BTEC Extended Diploma in Art and Design, a course that makes up a substantial proportion of pre‐degree provision in the UK. We describe aspects of the wider study then draw on two cases to illustrate and discuss the implications of different approaches to the curriculum and its integration. Our analysis suggests that a seemingly progressive flight from a discrete CS towards a designed form of integration can have unintended negative consequences, and in the light of this we suggest some ways in which course teams might reflect on their practices.     

Conceptions of moral,social-conventional,and personal events among Chinese preschoolers in Hong Kong

Sixty-one Chinese preschoolers from Hong Kong at 2 ages (Ms = 4.36 and 6.00 years) were interviewed about familiar moral, social-conventional, and personal events. Children treated personal events as distinct from moral obligations and conventional regulations. Children judged the child as deciding personal issues, based on personal choice justifications, whereas children judged parents as deciding moral and conventional issues. With age, children granted increased decision-making power to the child. In contrast, children viewed moral transgressions as more serious, generalizably wrong, and wrong independent of authority than other events, based on welfare and fairness. Punishment-avoidance justifications for conventional events decreased with age, whereas conventional justifications increased. Young Chinese preschool children make increasingly differentiated judgments about their social world.     

Mentor perspectives on the place of undergraduate research mentoring in academic identity and career development: an analysis of award winning mentors

Abstract

This study examines how Undergraduate Research (UR) mentoring fits into the career profile of award-winning UR mentors and the factors that motivate engagement as UR mentors. Twenty-four award-winning UR mentors in four countries were interviewed about their mentoring practices. Six themes emerged: (1) Academic Identity and Motivations; (2) Challenges to Academic Identity and Career Development; (3) Enhanced Research Productivity; (4) Recognition and Reward; (5) Institution Values Commitment and (6) Developing Other Mentors. The authors discuss these themes and how the findings can be utilized for academic development and identity formation for faculty.     

Practitioners' perspectives and experiences of supporting bilingual pupils on the autism spectrum in two linguistically different educational settings

With greater linguistic diversity in educational settings around the world as a result of international migration, and a rise in autism diagnoses, educators are more frequently teaching children who are both neurodiverse and linguistically different to their peers. The aim of the present study was to uncover the perspectives and experiences of educational practitioners who provide support for bilingual learners on the autism spectrum in two linguistically different educational settings: England and Wales. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 practitioners (5 teachers, 4 teaching assistants, 3 special educational needs coordinators and 1 speech and language therapist) working in mainstream schools. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), which seeks to illuminate participants' lived experience. Three superordinate themes were extracted from the data: (1) perspectives on bilingualism in autism; (2) comparisons across two linguistically different settings; (3) creating inclusive learning environments. The results demonstrate that practitioners had concerns about the feasibility of bilingualism for some autistic pupils, and argued that exposure to two languages may have a negative impact on their development. Future research should focus on finding effective ways to identify and support learning needs among bilingual pupils to ensure that children who are ‘doubly different’ from their peers not only have access to educational provision, but also have opportunities to harness and celebrate their differences.     

Re-engagement with education over the life course: motivations and barriers

ABSTRACT

As the Australian labour market restructures and the pace of technological advances quickens, reskilling and up-skilling are now required for sustained employability. Thus, many adults embark on further study after spending a period of time in the workforce. To examine the reasons for re-engaging, and for not re-engaging with education during adulthood, we conduct analysis of longitudinal data collected from a cohort of people who completed school in 1991. The majority of the participants completed an educational qualification between 25 and 44 years and were thus, lifelong learners. Understanding the patterns of re-engagement with education and the reasons why some people choose to re-engage whereas others do not contributes to current policy debates about how education prepares Australians for life.