Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Learning To Read Equine Agency: Sense And Sensitivity At The Intersection Of Scientific, Tacit And Situated Knowledges, Sanna Karkulehto, Nora Schuurman

Animal Studies Journal

The aim of this essay is to address the challenges and problems in communicating with horses and interpreting their communication in everyday handling and training situations. We seek ways to learn more about equine communication and agency in the prevention of cruelty against animals and in enhancing animal welfare. We ask how it would be possible to learn to read the subtle signs of equine communication and agency in a sensible, sensitive, and ethical way to increase the health and wellbeing of horses that humans interact with. We have placed this theoretical examination in a multidisciplinary framework that consists of …

Meet Them Where They Are: Bringing The Learning Co-Op Into The Digital Space, Kristy Newton, Courtney A. Shalavin

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The University of Wollongong (UOW) Learning Co-Op developed an online portal to complement its physical services, providing support for the development of students’ academic, information, and digital literacies. A user-centred design process was used to identify student needs and create meaningful, relevant content. The project employed student partners to ensure the inclusion of a strong student voice, and integrated a peer-led design strategy where the student partners identified and advocated for the needs of other students. The project utilised a collaborative approach to the creation of resources and service models, working with UOW students and staff from multiple professional units.

Ethnography In Work Integrated Learning Research, Bonnie Amelia Dean, Christopher S. Sykes, Jan Turbill

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper introduces and discusses ethnography as a methodological approach to investigate phenomena at the place of practice in WIL. The commensurability of ethnography for examining WIL 'in situ' is presented in order to delve deeper into WIL phenomena on placement through greater temporal and physical proximity. Part of the reason we haven't been able to fully understand student learning on placement, for example, is because of a lack of awareness and uptake of methodologies that employ direct observation in WIL spaces. Ethnography could open the door to investigating a range of research areas previously obscured or inaccessible by methodologies …

Model United Nations And Deep Learning: Theoretical And Professional Learning, Susan Engel, Josh Pallas, Sarah Lambert

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

This article demonstrates that the purposeful subject design, incorporating a Model United Nations (MUN), facilitated deep learning and professional skills attainment in the field of International Relations. Deep learning was promoted in subject design by linking learning objectives to Anderson and Krathwohl's (2001) four levels of knowledge or cognition: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. Students demonstrated improvement in all four areas; however, this article focuses on outcomes in the conceptual and metacognitive realms as these were where students showed the most growth. In the conceptual realm, the subject aimed to increase students' capacity to apply international relations theories. Students tended …

Using Concept Maps And Goal-Setting To Support The Development Of Self-Regulated Learning In A Problem-Based Learning Curriculum, Lisa K. Thomas, Sue Bennett, Lori Lockyer

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Problem-based learning (PBL) in medical education focuses on preparing independent learners for continuing, self-directed, professional development beyond the classroom. Skills in self-regulated learning (SRL) are important for success in PBL and ongoing professional practice. However, the development of SRL skills is often left to chance. This study presents the investigated outcomes for students when support for the development of SRL was embedded in a PBL medical curriculum. This investigation involved design, delivery and testing of SRL support, embedded into the first phase of a four-year, graduate-entry MBBS degree. The intervention included concept mapping and goal-setting activities through iterative processes of …

The Learning Co-Op: A Showcase Of Cooperative Leadership To Provide A Coherent Model Of Student Academic Support, Rebecca M. Goodway, Fiona B. Macdonald, Alisa J. Percy, Sally G. Rogan, Melissa L. Stephen, Heather Thomas

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This presentation showcases a cooperative model of leadership and governance at one Australian university that emerged out of a shared vision to improve student access to extra-curricular academic support services. The presentation begins by describing the strategic partnership formed by the diverse academic support providers within the DVCA Portfolio (Library, Learning Development, Peer Learning, Digital Literacies and UOW College) to deliver their services in a less fragmented and more visible and accessible space within the University Library, called the Learning Co-op. Drawing on the principles of effective cooperative models (eg. Taylor, 2015), the paper will discuss how some of these …

Transforming Practice: Designing Rubrics For Cumulative And Integrative Assessment Of Disciplinary Learning And Development Of Students' Language Communication, Honglin Chen, Emily Rose Purser, Alisa J. Percy

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

While it is widely recognised that university graduates should be good communicators, and that close attention be paid to the development of students' communication skills within their disciplinary learning contexts (Arkoudis, 2014; Johnson, Veitch, & Dewiyanti, 2015), it remains open to debate how an effective and sustained focus on language communication can be achieved within disciplinary curricula. The past few years have seen major efforts to identify good practices in teaching language communication, yet as Arkoudis (2014) notes, these are often fragmented and not explicitly linked to disciplinary assessment. The existing literature on language communication consistently points out that designing …

New Learning Opportunities In A Networked World: Developing A Research Agenda On Innovative Uses Of Icts For Learning And Teaching., P A. Krischner, M J J P M Boon, P Janssen, Fleur Prinsen, Susan Mckenney, L Kester, S Stoyanov

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

No abstract provided.

Curriculum Design For Assuring Learning - Leading The Way: Final Report, Romy Lawson

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Executive Summary: Assuring learning is a vital element in educational practice. It is a feedback mechanism for learning and teaching practice, allowing educators to review students' achievements in relation to the expectations set for the learning experience, and to use this data to continually inform practice. All those involved in education should be engaged with assuring learning, but in the current standards-driven climate, it is regularly viewed as a compliance activity and a burden that encroaches on teaching and research time. This view needs to be dismissed: a cultural change is required to encourage mindsets that recognise that assurance of …

Transforming Assessment Practice: Evidencing And Benchmarking Student Learning Outcomes In Chemistry, Siegbert Schmid, Simon Bernard Bedford, Adam Bridgeman, Glennys A. O'Brien, Ian Jamie, Gwen Lawrie, Kieran Lim, Samuel Priest, Simon Pyke, Madeleine Schultz, Daniel Southam

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Higher Education in Australia is in a phase of rapid change due to a number of regulatory changes. Over the past five years the Australian Chemistry community has agreed on a list of Chemistry Threshold Learning Outcomes (CTLOs) that every student graduating from an Australian University will have attained. In addition, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) has changed its accreditation process for Chemistry degrees and now uses these CTLOs as the basis for accreditation. Therefore, it is now paramount to ensure that our assessment items allow students to demonstrate attainment of the CTLOs during a degree [1]. The "Assessing …

Learning From Delusions, Brian Martin

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Once or twice a year, I receive a call or email from someone claiming to be under intensive targeted surveillance by the government. They contact me because there's a lot of material on my website about whistleblowing, and some about surveillance. I know governments carry out massive surveillance operations, for example collecting all sorts of electronic communications. However, these callers believe they have been specially selected as surveillance targets, and sometimes for electronic or chemical bombardment too.

A Critical Turn In Higher Education Research: Turning The Critical Lens On The Academic Language And Learning Educator, Alisa Percy

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper suggests that historical ontology, as one form of reflexive critique, is an instructive research design for making sense of the political and historical constitution of the Academic Language and Learning (ALL) educator in Australian higher education. The ALL educator in this paper refers to those practitioners in the field of ALL, whose ethical agency has largely been taken for granted since their slow and uneven emergence in the latter half of the twentieth century. Using the lens of governmentality, genealogical design and archaeological method, the historical ontology proposed in this paper demonstrates how the ethical remit of the …

Benchmarks For Technology Enhanced Learning, Michael Sankey, Helen Carter, Stephen Marshall, R Obexer, Carol Russell, Romy Lawson

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The ACODE benchmarks have been developed to assist institutions in their practice of delivering a quality technology enhanced learning experience for their students and staff (recognising that some institutions refer to their practice with terms such as e-learning, online or flexible learning, blended, etc.). There are eight benchmarks, each of which can be used as a standalone indicator, or used collectively to provide a whole of institution perspective. However, where these benchmarks become even more powerful is when they are used in association with other institutions, as part of a collaborative benchmarking exercise. This is where one or more institutions …

Learning Skills In Journalistic Skepticism While Recognising Whistleblowers, David Blackall

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper explains a didactic program of blending provocative teaching method with experiential learning - at third year of the Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies - University of Wollongong, Australia. There are pedagogical imperatives today for developing the professional ‘self’ in respect to citizenship, journalistic values and practice. The challenge is to acknowledge ethics and principles of human rights, while simultaneously embracing the transforming online, open-source Internet technologies. This can be achieved through a learning combination that exposes students to ‘provocative’ counter news, often whistleblower generated, while setting experiential learning assignments to engage volunteer journalism …

Motivations, Learning Activities And Challenges: Learning Mandarin Chinese In Australia, Xiaoping Gao

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Mandarin Chinese is ane of the priority languages in the Australian Government's {2012} 'Australia in the Asian Century' White Paper. However the number of Australian learners of Mandarin remains the smallest among six commonly taught foreign languages in Australia. What are Australian learners' motivations and preferred learning activities for learning Mandarin Chinese? What challenges do teachers face when promoting this language? To answer these questions, this study conducted surveys with 149 school students and with 18 principals and language teachers in New South Wales. Results show that the Australian students' study of Mandarin was primarily driven by extrinsic motivation although …

Back To The Classroom: Language Educators Learning A Language, Lidia Bilbatua, Laetitia Vedrenne, Rowena G. Ward

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

As part of our preparation for this presentation, we undertook research into the field of teachers as students etc but there is virtually none irrespective of language or other. Research on the motivation of students and teachers and the differences between teachers’ beliefs and their actual classroom practice is ample but there is virtually nothing on teachers as students and the impact that being a student had on their teaching practise etc. In some ways, it seems that once you are a language teacher, you are expected to remember what it is like to study a language – from our …

'Sense Of Belonging' Enhances The Online Learning Experience, Lisa K. Thomas, James Herbert

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

For the past couple of years Australian universities' enthusiasm for online learning has increased, following the lead of international universities in realising the potential of MOOCs to replace traditional face-to-face learning. While the number of students undertaking studies on campus has remained relatively stable over the past three years, the number undertaking online or a combination of on-campus and online education continues to grow.

Teachers' Attitudes Towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning In Australia And Spain, Lidia Bilbatua, Alfredo Herrero De Haro

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

A review of the existing literature shows that when it comes to studying attitudes towards CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning), researchers have traditionally focused on students’ perspectives and ignored teachers’ views. This study focuses on teachers’ attitudes towards CALL in order to gain a better understanding of what issues, advantages, and disadvantages teachers come across when incorporating CALL into their teaching. Furthermore, a group of teachers from Australia and Spain has been interviewed to compare how views on CALL vary across professionals in these two countries. As some authors have previously proved, the more IT literate teachers are, the more likely …

Tools For Learning: Technology And Teaching Strategies, Michelle J. Eady, Lori Lockyer

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This chapter aims to help preservice teachers consider the possibilities for embedding technology into teaching. After reading this chapter you should be able to: 1. Understand the role of technology in education. 2. Identify technological applications and resources used in classrooms today. 3. Be aware of how you might embed technology through a range of teaching and learning strategies. 4. Evaluate technological tools to support teaching and learning. 5. Understand possible challenges and barriers you may face as a new teacher using technology.

Realising The Potential Of Peer-To-Peer Learning: Taming A Mooc With Social Media, Emily Rose Purser, Angela Towndrow, Ary Aranguiz

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

ELearning and Digital Cultures, from the University of Edinburgh, was offered on the Coursera platform in January 2013. Over 40,000 enrolled, from every continent. The course was aimed mainly at educators wanting to “deepen their understanding of what it means to teach and learn in the digital age”. As participants, we experienced deep and significant learning, very much through social media. The peer-to-peer learning we engaged in and benefitted from was not traditionally organised ‘group work’ or micro-managed interaction, but something more fluid, open, student-initiated and led, that seems to have gone to the very core of what online learner …

Representing Learning Designs - Making Design Explicit And Shareable, Grainne Conole, Sandra Wills

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Most teacher design practice is implicit and practice based, focusing primarily on discipline content. In recent years, a number of visual design representations have emerged that help guide teachers; design practice, enabling them to create explicit designs, which can then be shared and discussed with others. These design representations help guide the design process and help teachers to think beyond content to the learning activities the learners will be engaged with and the ultimate learner experience. The paper will describe the representations and draw on empirical evidence of their use in a range of contexts, including the Joint Information Systems …

Creating Socially Inclusive Online Learning Environments In Higher Education, Lisa Kay Thomas, James Herbert

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The expansion of higher education across the broader Australian population has led to a more diverse student population than ever before. While research in the Australian context has focussed on support for some traditionally underrepresented students in a face-to-face learning context, how to enhance participation and success of these groups in online education has remained relatively unexplored. This paper presents the rationale and approach of a study investigating the challenges of students from traditionally underrepresented groups in online higher education (i.e. low SES, first in family, indigenous, disability, mature age, primary caregivers, remote and regional students, international, English as a …

Managing Institutional Change Through Distributive Leadership Approaches: Engaging Academics And Teaching Support Staff In Blended And Flexible Learning, Merilyn Childs, Mark Brown, Mike Keppell, Zeffie Nicholas, Carole Hunter, Natasha Hard

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Higher Education institutions face a challenge: how to transform traditional learning and teaching to create enhanced learning for current digital age students. In some universities this challenge is acute - particularly in those Universities that focus on blended and flexible learning (BFL), and distance education (DE) approaches. Many universities have emphasised the development of leadership capacity. From 2008 to 2011, utlising a partnership research grant funded by DEHub, Charles Sturt University and Massey University studied their approaches to fostering change in blended and flexible learning and DE. The study research question was: What do the strategies and activities designed to …

Reporting Refugees: A Case Study In Interdisciplinary Research-Led Experiential Learning, Julie N. Posetti, Jonathan Powles

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Inflammatory Australian media coverage of refugees and asylum seekers – an utterly marginalised subset of those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities portrayed as "mad, bad, sad or other" (Phillips & Tapsall 2007a, 2007b; Phillips 2009; Phillips 2011) - is frequently blamed for entrenched bigotry against these groups (Posetti 2007, 2009, 2010; Ewart & Posetti 2010; McKay, Thomas & Blood 2011).

How should journalism educators respond to this problem? And how should they respond in the context of an increasingly converged and social media-engaged industry, with a research objective?

At the University of Canberra (where the lead author taught broadcast …

Learning To Love Rejection, Brian Martin

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

In my career, I've published a great many articles and books. What most of my colleagues don't know is that I've had lots of rejections too - hundreds of them.

Rejections are a dirty secret among academics. Publication successes are cause for celebration, or at least a proud listing on CVs and departmental lists. Failures - rejected papers and unsuccessful grant and promotion applications - are usually hidden and sometimes a source of shame. The result is that many scholars, especially junior ones, have unrealistic expectations. For this reason Donald Hall, in his book The Academic Self, recommends that experienced …

Social Learning, Critical Reflection And The Perception Of Facticity In Deliberation On Water Reuse, Gregory R. Hampton

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Critical reflection involves the uncovering and understanding of the assumptions, which are made in the development of knowledge and the establishment and perception of facts. A capacity to understand the development of facts is proposed as an important outcome of social learning. The public perception of the facticity of expert scientific and technological knowledge is analysed in four sets of workshops conducted with publics who utilised recycled water, were within close proximity to water recycling schemes or lived in an area where planned water recycling schemes were to be implemented. The purpose of these workshops was to develop a social …

The Effect Of Viva Assessment On Students' Approaches To Learning And Motivation, Romy Lawson

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Higher education aims to encourage students to achieve a higher level of understanding of their subject matter. In order for students to achieve these higher levels, they have to approach their learning at a deeper level (Prosser and Trigwell, 1999; Barrab and Plucker, 2002), and be motivated to achieve (Deci and Ryan, 1985). One factor that is seen as a major influence on students' intentions is their perception of the assessment of their learning (Gibbs, 2007; Ramsden, 2003; Biggs, 2003; Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000). A learner, who perceives that the learning outcome requires demonstration of understanding, application, and critical …

Supporting The Language And Learning Development Of Eal Students In Australian Higher Education, Paul J. Moore

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The role of learning advising in improving the educational outcomes of students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) in Australian universities has received significant attention in recent years. A combination of research findings, governmental pressure and media scrutiny has provided renewed impetus for universities to address issues of language proficiency and academic literacy amongst the growing population of onshore international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL). In this paper, I discuss the role of academic language and learning advising in the Australian university context, including how this practice is influenced by a range of political, …

Verbal Learning And Memory In Adolescent Cannabis Users, Alcohol Users And Non-Users, Nadia Solowij, Katy A. Jones, Megan E. Rozman, Sasha M. Davis, Joseph Ciarrochi, Patrick C. L Heaven, Dan I. Lubman, Murat Yucel

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Rationale Long-term heavy cannabis use can result in memory impairment. Adolescent users may be especially vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effects of cannabis. Objectives and methods In a cross-sectional and prospective neuropsychological study of 181 adolescents aged 16–20 (mean 18.3 years), we compared performance indices from one of the most widely used measures of learning and memory—the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test—between cannabis users (n=52; mean 2.4 years of use, 14 days/month, median abstinence 20.3 h), alcohol users (n=67) and non-user controls (n=62) matched for age, education and premorbid intellectual ability (assessed prospectively), and alcohol consumption for cannabis and alcohol …

Constructively Aligned Teaching Methods And Students' Approaches To Learning And Motivational Orientations, Romy Lawson

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Most studies have found that, at the contextual level (e.g. degree programme) approach to study is stable over time (e.g. Busato, Prins, Elshout and Hamaker, 1998). At the situational level (e.g. a module) the results are possibly less equivocal, with studies reporting a decrease in deep approach at the end of the module (e.g. Newstead, 1998). Fazey & Lawson (2000) conducted a study that was contingent upon the use of a teaching approach that consistently raises expectations that a deep approach to learning is required and uses an assessment methodology that will reward such an approach. They found that students …