Associations between psychosocial environment and outcomes in technology-rich classrooms in Australian secondary schools
- Authors: Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Education Vol. 2009, no. 82 (2009), p. 69-84
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This research investigated associations between classroom environment and student affective outcomes in Australian secondary schools. The Technology-Rich Outcomes-Focused Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) was used to assess 10 classroom environment dimensions: student cohesiveness, teacher support, involvement, investigation, task orientation, cooperation, equity, differentiation, computer usage, and young adult ethos. A sample of 4,407 secondary school students from 286 classes in Queensland and Western Australia responded to the TROFLEI and three student outcome measures: academic efficacy, attitude to the subject, and attitude to computer use. Multilevel analyses with the 10 TROFLEI scales as explanatory variables and the three outcome scales as response variables were conducted. Statistically significant associations between classroom environment and these student affective outcomes were evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 48688520)
New teachers learning in rural and regional Australia
- Authors: Somerville, Margaret , Plunkett, Margaret , Dyson, Michael
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 38, no. 1 (2010), p. 39-55
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of beginning primary school teachers in rural and regional Victoria, Australia. The study uses a conceptual framework of place and workplace learning to ask: How do new teachers learn to do their work and how do they learn about the places and communities in which they begin teaching? In this paper, we focus on data from the first year of the three-year longitudinal study, using a place-based survey and ethnographic interviews. We found that the space of the classroom was the dominant site of learning to become a teacher for the new teachers in this study. This learning was understood through the discourse of classroom management. Analysis of these storylines reveals the ways in which the community and classroom are not separate but intertwined, and the process of learning about their communities began through the children in their classes.
Mindfulness in the academy : Practices and perspectives from scholars
- Authors: Lemon, Narelle , McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This book focuses on the way academics understand, embrace and enact the concepts of mindfulness in approaching their work in demanding and dynamic contemporary higher education environments. It examines how they implement formal and informal mindfulness practices that increase the capacity to transform mind and body states by drawing on concepts such as compassion, kindness, gratitude, curiosity, self-awareness and non-judgemental stances. The book provides insights into and highlights the struggles of scholars through their experiences and perspectives in relation to their identities, practices and job enactment. Each chapter author explains their mindfulness practices and their motivations for implementing them, and explores how mindful ways of researching, writing, learning and teaching, leading, and engaging with others leads us to self-awareness and engagement in the present.
Mindfully living and working in the academy : Continuing the conversation
- Authors: Lemon, Narelle , McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Mindfulness in the academy : Practices and perspectives from scholars Chapter 17 p. 259-283
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: As scholars and administrators in higher education institutions begin to implement mindfulness practices and perspectives, it is worth examining what can be learned through examining their diverse understandings and perspectives. In identifying the formal and informal mindful practices used by the contributing authors of this volume, we argue that they provide others with a basis for reflection on their own practices and perspectives. In this chapter, we present seven approaches to mindfulness as enacted by the chapter authors. We present an overview of these key strategies and approaches and suggest the possibility of such approaches for individual and collective change.
Mindfulness in the academy : An examination of mindfulness perspectives
- Authors: Lemon, Narelle , McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Mindfulness in the academy : Practices and perspectives from scholars Chapter 1 p. 1-21
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: In a complex and demanding higher education, environment wellness for scholars is an ethical imperative and is an essential component of self-care, required to prevent burnout, distress, and impairment. As we navigate the contemporary higher education environment, it is important to look at ways of working that bring to the forefront self-care and mindfulness. In this chapter, we explore how scholars understand and apply the concept of mindfulness in higher education contexts. We examine ways academics implement mindfulness practices that build the capacity to accept, tolerate and transform mind and body states without reacting so intensively to them by drawing on concepts such as compassion, kindness, gratitude, curiosity, self-awareness and non-judgmental stances. We explore how mindful ways of researching, writing, learning and teaching, leading and engaging with others leads us to be self-aware and engaged in the present. We introduce the notion of Dramaturgical Theory of Social Interaction as a framework for examining mindful practices in academia. This chapter presents a thematic analysis of the work of the authors presented in this volume, situating this in a broader discussion of mindfulness, and we raise questions for further consideration.
A glitch in the machine or a glimmer of what could be? Mindfulness as resistance in higher education
- Authors: McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Mindfulness in the academy : Practices and perspectives from scholars Chapter 16 p. 247-258
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The work of academics in higher education institutions is widely recognised as having intensified in demands and in accountability measures. In the field of teacher education, this intensification alsomanifests in academics needing to meet the requirements of both the university and external stakeholders and accrediting bodies. In this chapter, I draw on a central narrative “A glitch in the machine” to explore the demands that academics face in contemporary higher education contexts. I use this narrative as a stimulus for considering the nature of academic work and I contend that the adoption of the principles and practices of mindfulness provides an opportunity for academics to engage in resistance that enables them to remain focused on their authentic self and purpose as academics. In so doing, I describe the strategies I have adopted in order to make mindful choices about my work and identity as an academic in this space.
The role of mindfulness in managing HRM challenges for senior higher education learning and teaching leaders
- Authors: Fotinatos, Nina
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Mindfulness in the academy : Practices and perspectives from scholars Chapter 11 p. 173-185
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: In this chapter, I focus on common challenges encountered by senior, higher education learning and teaching (L&T) leaders, within a central academic development unit (ADU). An ADU is primarily a central service area in higher education institutions, which provides varied services and functions to students and staff, associated with teaching quality, learning quality and product quality (for example, programs, courses, units design and delivery, etc.). I highlight the role, function and importance of central ADUs within higher education institutions. I discuss the types of broad and human resource management (HRM) challenges that occur in ADUs and the associated impact on service, team functionality and leader well-being. I provide an honest and raw reflection on significant health and well-being challenges that I faced as a senior L&T leader in this environment. I discuss key mindfulness strategies most useful in my personal situation and demonstrate how they can be incorporated into everyday practice of leading and managing. I highlight how mindfulness practice can be useful in maintaining a positive, optimistic perspective particularly in times of uncertainty and change.