Negotiating the dilemmas of community-based learning in teacher education
- Authors: Johnston, Robbie , Davis, Robert
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Teaching Education Vol. 19, no. 4 (2008), p. 351-360
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- Description: At the University of Ballarat, pre-service teachers (PSTs) in their second year of the Bachelor of Education (P-10) are required to plan community-based teaching and learning in conjunction with school students, their teachers and schools along with community organizations. These requirements are in synergy with curriculum developments in schools and appear to be valued by them. In this paper, the implementation of community-based teaching and learning programs developed by PSTs is examined for educational and organizational issues that shaped the outcomes for PSTs. The paper highlights a number of consistent themes that throw light on factors that appear to affect the success of such pre-service courses. These insights contribute to the understanding of community-based PST education curricula and pedagogies as an important and emerging area of interest.
Rage against the machine? Symbolic violence in E-learning supported tertiary education
- Authors: Johnson, Nicola , MacDonald, David , Brabazon, Tara
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: E-Learning and Digital Media Vol. 5, no. 3 (2008 2008), p. 275-283
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The move toward online course facilitation in tertiary education has the intent of providing education at any time in any place to any person. However, the advent of blended learning and e-learning innovations has ostracised, marginalised or ignored those who cannot afford or who are unable to access the latest hardware and software to take advantage of these opportunities. The Web 2.0 age is an era of assumptions: assumptions of participation, literacy and democracy. Yet such inferences are based on the need for high-speed Internet connections, and the latest computers are standard requirements. Those without the ability to access these necessities are being indirectly marginalised by the universities, which is particularly ironic in an era of ‘widening participation’. This article reveals a few tears in the fabric of wiki-enabled democratic education. The authors argue that there is a community of students that are subjected to what Bourdieu termed symbolic violence. Digitisation in tertiary education is reinforcing what it has always been through its history – a haven of the wealthy and the advantaged.
RSS and content syndication in higher education : Subscribing to a new model of teaching and learning
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Miller, Charlynn , Newnham, Leon
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Educational Media International Vol. 45, no. 4 (2008), p. 311-322
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- Description: While blogs, wikis and social networking sites are enjoying high levels of attention as tools to support learning, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) remains the 'poor cousin' of these technologies in the higher education classroom, with relatively low uptake amongst educators and students. In this article, the authors argue that the affordances of RSS and content syndication can be used to deliver rich, active, social learning experiences that promote a high degree of learner personalisation, choice and autonomy. They describe a number of ways in which the potential of RSS can be exploited to transform pedagogy in ways that are congruent with emerging theories and models of learning, and that are consistent with the philosophy and ethos of Web 2.0 and networked society at large. The article concludes with a consideration of some of the issues and limitations facing the uptake and use of RSS for teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Educational Media International is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
- Description: 2003006292
Student attitudes towards learning in differentiated settings
- Authors: Kronborg, Leonie , Plunkett, Margaret , Kelly, Liz , Urquhart, Felicity
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Journal of Gifted Education Vol. 17, no. 2 (2008), p. 23-32
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This research examined the attitudes of Year 7 students in an independent girls' school in Melbourne, towards the learning environment in their English, mathematics and science classes. Whilst science classes at the school were not explicitly differentiated on the basis of ability, an Extended Curriculum Program (ECP) operated for English and maths classes. Fifty-eight Year 7 students completed surveys examining their perceptions towards achievement, motivational orientation and overall satisfaction with their classes. Results indicated that students with involvement in extended curriculum classes had more positive perceptions of these classes but their overall attitude towards learning in the mainstream environment was also more positive. A finding of particular interest was that ECP students rated themselves as more intrinsically and less extrinsically motivated than peers in mainstream mixed-ability classes and thus had motivational orientations that were more likely to be associated with achievement, even in mixed ability settings.
Student motivation : premise, effective practice and policy
- Authors: Levy, Stuart , Campbell, Holly
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 33, no. 5 (2008 2008), p. 14-28
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- Description: The purpose of this article is to outline how motivation of first year university students can be enhanced through effective pedagogic practices and to discuss policy level decisions that impact upon the cultivation of student motivation. It reports on practices within a specific first year unit, Understanding University Learning, which successfully incorporates teaching and learning strategies to enhance academic motivation.
Students' perceptions of assessment process : questionnaire
- Authors: Waldrip, Bruce , Fisher, Darrell , Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 5th International Conference on Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. Science Mathematics and Technology Education: Beyond Cultural Boundaries
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Research aimed at developing and validating an instrument to assess middle school students’ perceptions of assessment was conducted. Following a review of literature, a tentative 6-scale instrument of 48 items was trialled with a sample of 320 students in 7 Australian schools. Based on internal consistency reliability data and exploratory factor analysis, refinement decisions resulted in a 5-scale instrument called the Student Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ). The scales of the SPAQ are Congruence with Planned Learning, Authenticity, Student Consultation, Transparency, and Diversity. A sample of 3,098 students in 150 classrooms was used to validate the final SPAQ.
The (im)possibility of poststructuralist ethnography : Researching identities in borrowed spaces
- Authors: Tsolidis, Georgina
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ethnography & Education Vol. 3, no. 3 (2008), p. 271-281
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The notion of site is critical to ethnography and provides a sense of spatial stability - somewhere the researcher enters in order to research what is contained within. Using contemporary understandings of space, the author reflects on two studies to explore the (im)possibility of poststructuralist ethnography. The first study was undertaken in a 'real' school utilising a multi-method approach over a long period of time. The other was conducted in community-based schools where minority language and culture are taught. Such schools operate on a part-time basis and are often referred to as 'after hours' schools. These operate, as if by stealth, in borrowed spaces - schools not in use by their normal classes, during normal school times. The nature of these schools necessitated utilising different research approaches. The almost transient nature of 'after hours' schools reinforce temporal-spatial instabilities as critical to understanding site as social rather than fixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Ethnography & Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
- Description: 2003006335
The effect of clustering on statistical tests : an illustration using classroom environment data
- Authors: Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology Vol. 28, no. 5 (2008), p. 583-596
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This paper discusses the effect of clustering on statistical tests and illustrates this effect using classroom environment data. Most classroom environment studies involve the collection of data from students nested within classrooms and the hierarchical nature to these data cannot be ignored. In particular, this paper studies the influence of intraclass correlations on tests of statistical significance conducted with the individual as the unit of analysis. Theory that adjusts t‐test scores for nested data in two‐group comparisons is presented and applied to classroom environment data. This paper demonstrates that Type I error rates inflate greatly as the intraclass correlation increases. Data analysis techniques that recognise the clustering of students in classrooms in classroom environment studies are essential, and it is recommended that either multilevel analysis or adjustments to statistical parameters be undertaken in studies involving nested data.
The potential affordances of enterprise wikis for creating community in research networks
- Authors: Johnson, Nicola , Clarke, Rodney , Herrington, Jan
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Full Text:
- Description: In this paper, we describe some of the affordance, the (specific enabling features or characteristics) of an enterprise wiki to meet the needs of a developing community of practice. The Social Innovation Network (SInet) is a nascent research network that spans the social sciences, education and commerce at the University of Wollongong. It will use the enterprise wiki software Confluence to assist in the development of communities of practice across its groups and sub-groups. This paper, describes some of the features of the software and how it might be used to perform some of the common activties identified by Wenger (nd) as contributing to development of community.
Understanding teenager technological expertise in out-of-school settings
- Authors: Johnson, Nicola
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AARE 2007 International Educational Research Conference
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, this study explored the construction of technological expertise of eight teenagers (five boys and three girls) aged 13 – 17. The qualitative study specifically employed observations and interviews and focused on home computer use, which for many of the participants was their primary site of leisure. All of the participants considered themselves to be technological experts, and their peers and/or their family supported this premise. This paper outlines findings that identify the participants’ multiple (and contradictory) understandings of expertise and the ways the participants perceive they have attained expertise and perform as experts in out-of-school settings. Traditional views of expertise are contrasted with what the teenagers think about their development of expertise, predominantly using Bourdieu’s framework for analysis. As almost all of the experts in this study gained their expertise through independent means, with minimal input from their schooling, discussion focuses on the trajectories to expertise inherent within these sites of informal learning, and what this might mean for pedagogy and formal learning.
Use of multitrait-multimethod modelling to validate actual and preferred forms of the What is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) Questionnaire
- Authors: Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Learning Environments Research Vol. 11, no. 3 (2008), p. 175-193
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This article describes the validation of scores on actual and preferred forms of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC). The WIHIC is a 56-item instrument that assesses seven classroom environment dimensions: Student Cohesiveness, Teacher Support, Involvement, Investigation, Task Orientation, Cooperation and Equity. A sample of 978 secondary school students from Australia responded to actual and preferred forms of the WIHIC. Separate confirmatory factor analyses for the actual and preferred forms supported the seven-scale a priori structure of the instrument. Fit statistics indicated a good fit of the models to the data. The use of multitrait-multimethod modelling with the seven scales as traits and the two forms of the instrument as methods supported the WIHIC’s construct validity. This research has provided strong evidence of the sound psychometric properties of the WIHIC.
What do we know about the chancellors of Australian universities?
- Authors: O'Meara, Bernard , Petzall, Stanley
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management Vol. 30, no. 2 (2008), p. 187-199
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- Description: This research attempts to explore the key social characteristics and demographics of Australian chancellors to determine who they are and where they come from. The chancellor of an Australian university wields an enormous amount of power, from overseeing the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor (VC) to fulfilling various statutory requirements. Chancellors instil corporate values and they are pivotal to effective university governance and 'owner' representation. Yet, few have academic backgrounds. Chancellors are more than figureheads and ceremonial leaders and, as such, can have a significant impact on their individual universities and even on the higher education sector, overall. The research presented here demonstrates that it is possible to construct a reasonably accurate profile of the typical chancellor, based on factors such as occupation, age, academic field, gender and the undergraduate university that was attended. This research also mirrors similar research, undertaken by the authors, regarding Australian VCs.
- Description: C1
"Living on the edge" : A case of school reform working for disadvantaged adolescents
- Authors: Smyth, John , McInerney, Peter
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Teachers College Record Vol. 109, no. 5 (2007), p. 1123-1170
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP110102619
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The issue of why so many young adolescents around the world are disengaging from school and making the choice to drop out is one of the most intractable, vexed, perplexing, and controversial issues confronting educators. Tackling it requires courage and a radical rethinking of school reform around issues of power, ownership of learning, and the relevance of schooling and curriculum for young lives. This means a heightened institutional capacity to "listen." This article describes an instance of a disadvantaged urban Australian government school that realized it had little alternative but to try new approaches; "old ways" were not working. The article describes an ensemble of school reform practices, philosophies, and strategies that give young adolescents genuine ownership of their learning. This school stands out as a beacon that school reform is possible, even for young adolescents from the most difficult of circumstances. However, such approaches look markedly different from where mainstream educational reform is taking us at the moment. Copyright © by Teachers College, Columbia University.
- Description: 2003005576
Dominant discourses and teacher education : Current curriculum or curriculum remembered?
- Authors: Johnston, Robbie
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 35, no. 4 (Nov 2007), p. 351-365
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- Description: Research findings from a longitudinal, classroom-based study of Bachelor of Education students in Tasmania suggest that three dominant discourses of schooling are powerful shapers of pre-service teachers' pedagogical decisions in relation to the teaching of SOSE (studies of society and environment). These discourses appear to inform teaching practices and contribute to uncritical SOSE learning experiences for children. The findings from this naturalistic research grounded in teacher education suggest that teacher preparation programs should encourage far greater critical reflection on curriculum documents. In particular, the findings highlight tensions for teacher educators in selecting between experiential and/or interdisciplinary, critical approaches to teacher education. These issues are illustrated in the teaching of SOSE as locality focused knowledge. What this means for the selection of fieldwork sites for children's learning and teacher education pedagogies is explored in this paper.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005007
From naive optimism to robust hope : Sustaining a commitment to social justice in schools and teacher education in neoliberal times
- Authors: McInerney, Peter
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 35, no. 3 (Aug 2007), p. 257-272
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- Description: Drawing on a school ethnography and the voices of graduate students, this paper explores the concept of robust hope with reference to the ideal of social justice in education policy and practice. Although the arguments to support a commitment to social justice in education systems, schools and teacher education programs, are often well-articulated, the pedagogical and political strategies to achieve such goals often remain elusive. If we are to reclaim the utopian imagination of socially just schools and egalitarian society we need to move beyond naive optimism to cultivate a notion of robust hope that is praxis-oriented and fully cognisant of the complexities, tensions and difficulties associated with the task. "Getting real" in this sense requires the development of conceptual ideas to critique existing social arrangements, a vision of an emancipatory alternative, and a set of political strategies and resources to affect progressive change. Notwithstanding the difficulties of contesting market-driven approaches to education, this study reveals that there are "resources of hope" in schools, educational institutions and the broader community to guide teachers and teacher educators in pursuing a goal of socially just schooling.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005687
How important is the role of the chancellor in the appointment of Australian vice-chancellors and university governance?
- Authors: O'Meara, Bernard , Petzall, Stanley
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Educational Management Vol. 21, no. 3 (2007), p. 213-231
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- Description: Purpose - This paper seeks to investigate the role of the university chancellor in the appointment of Australian vice-chancellors. Design/methodology/approach - Prior to this research it was evident that little research had been undertaken on the role of the chancellor. While the chancellor chairs Council, the incumbent also presides over quite a complex selection process, including chairing the selection Panel, when the need to appoint a new VC arises. Research into the recruitment and selection practices used to appoint vice-chancellors in Australia, undertaken as part of a PhD, yielded a wide range of useful material. The research also exposed some unexpected surprises, one of which was the role of the chancellor in the appointment process. Findings - The chancellor not only appeared to lead these processes, as would be expected, but was viewed as the key, if not sole, person who determined the successful candidate. It was found that the relationship between the chancellor and vice-chancellor was crucial and this was evident both in determining successful candidates and the decision for incumbents to seek a role elsewhere. However, in almost all cases the chancellor made the final decision when appointing a new VC. In some cases it appeared that selection panels considered their role as being simply to assist the chancellor to make a decision. This contrasted with the expectation that the panel as a whole would make a decision and recommend it to Council. Originality/value - Thus understanding the role of the chancellor is important when considering university governance and VC succession. This paper provides the findings of the research highlighting the significance of the chancellor's role in the context of appointing a new VC. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005164
Re-deploying techniques of pastoral power by telling tales on student teachers
- Authors: Tsolidis, Georgina , Pollard, Vikki
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Teaching Education Vol. 18, no. 1 (2007), p. 49-59
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This paper draws on interviews undertaken with second year student teachers. They describe their motivations for wishing to enter the profession and imagine the type of teacher they wish to become. These student teachers express a desire to make a difference as strong motivation for wanting to enter the profession. This is not uncharacteristic. Here we explore this motivation as possibly illustrative of an uncritical adoption of teacher subjectivities underpinned by notions of pastoral power. The argument is made that current debates that reinscribe the binary between teacher as 'moral' and teacher as 'market-orientated' may make teacher subjectivities premised on pastoral power a more intuitive and attractive choice. The desire to make a difference can be worthwhile. However, if read as a non-reflexive expression of pastoral power, it can also risk consolidating teachers as knowing what is best for students and students as disempowered. In this context, these interviews are used as a means of telling tales on student teachers in order to reflect on our own practices as teacher educators. What do their words tell us about the ways the profession is being imagined in the current social context? How do students' tales reflect the messages transferred through our own classes? And finally, how can retelling these tales help to create practices that are more responsive to students' motivations and imaginings and the current professional contexts? We argue that it is important to explore techniques of pastoral power and the potential for these to delimit rather than expand multiple subjectivities within teacher education. Telling tales on student teachers, in this context, is a means of reflecting on our own practices as teacher educators and is an apt beginning and integral part of this redeployment of techniques of pastoral power.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003004991
Teacher development against the policy reform grain : An argument for recapturing relationships in teaching and learning
- Authors: Smyth, John
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Teacher Development Vol. 11, no. 2 (2007), p. 221-236
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP0665569
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP0560339
- Full Text: false
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- Description: As public schools in countries like the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand continue to suffer from the damaging effects of poorly conceptualized educational reforms, educators struggle to come up with alternatives with which to reclaim schools. While acknowledging the situational, contextual and temporal differences between these countries, this paper presents a rationale for reinserting the relational work of schools at the centre of a teacher development-led form of recovery. The central claim advanced herein is that teacher development in schools must have a central and demonstrable concern with the primacy of relationships in teaching and learning. Schools and teachers have the collective capacity to reclaim the ground that has been severely eroded by managerialist and marketizing agenda that have been allowed to intrude on schools and subjugate the importance of relational forms of knowing. Placing students at the centre is crucial to creating the direction necessary for re-establishing the relational complexity of schools.
- Description: 2003005582
The social characteristics and demographics of Australian Vice-Chancellors, 1960-2000
- Authors: O'Meara, Bernard , Petzall, Stanley
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Educational Administration Vol. 45, no. 5 (2007), p. 621-634
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- Description: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the key demographics and social characteristics of Vice-Chancellors of Australian universities so that an accurate profile of Vice-Chancellors can be established. At present, there is no contemporary profile of incumbents despite the high level of responsibility associated with these roles. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative approach was used in the research that required the collation and analysis of public domain material regarding vice-chancellors. Multiple sources were used in order to ensure depth, breadth and accuracy of data collected. A questionnaire that was used as part of the PhD research allowed new data to be accessed and existing data verified. Finally, interviews with various incumbents allowed pertinent information to be discussed where applicable. Findings - The research outlines the changes in the roles of Vice-Chancellors that have occurred since 1960. The changes in the role reflect changes in government policy and social trends. Further, the research demonstrates that incumbents are now chief executive officers and require a broader range of business competencies and academic experience compared to their predecessors in order to meet contemporary challenges. These changes are reflected in the demographics and social characteristics of incumbents. Originality/value - This paper addresses this gap in knowledge and provides information about the people who are appointed vice-chancellors. The research gives an insight into all incumbents between 1960 and 2000 and where possible, examples of post-2000 trends have also been given. The creation of this profile will allow further and more in-depth research to be undertaken. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005163
'When students have power': Student engagement, student voice, and the possibilities for school reform around 'dropping out' of school
- Authors: Smyth, John
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International journal of leadership in education: Theory and practice Vol. 9, no. 4 (2006), p. 285-298
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: It is no coincidence, that disengagement from school by young adolescents has intensified at precisely the same time as there has been a hardening of educational policy regimes that have made schools less hospitable places for students and teachers. This paper argues that producing the circumstances necessary to turn this situation around requires invoking a radically different kind of ethos and educational leadership-one that encourages and promotes the speaking into existence of authentic forms of student voice.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001899