Education Commons^™

Effectiveness Of Teacher Professional Learning : Enhancing The Teaching Of Fractions In Primary Schools, Derek Hurrell

Derek Hurrell

This study was motivated by the need to develop professional learning for primary school teachers that would support them to more effectively teach the mathematics topic of fractions. What seemed evident, was that previous professional learning attended by teachers had not adequately met their needs.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether professional learning, with a focus on subject content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and reflective practice could enhance primary school teachers’ PCK for teaching fractions and make them more confident teachers of fractions. Demonstrating this to be the case would have wide implications for the development of professional …

Exploring The Relationship Between Online Discourse And Commitment In Twitter Professional Learning Communities, Fei Gao

Fei Gao

The Lived Experience Of Online Educators: Insights From Construction Management, William Sher, Anthony Williams, Maria T. Northcote

Maria Northcote

Academics in higher education institutions often experience the conflicting demands of teaching, research and administration. With the growth of online education these staff are frequently required to design, develop, teach, facilitate and, in some cases, administer online courses. Cumulatively these additional tasks challenge academics, not only in terms of the personal professional development but also in accommodating the range of tasks expected of them. This paper reports the findings of a study which investigated the lived experience of construction management academics teaching at universities in Australia. The study adopted a lived experience research approach that enabled the lives of construction …

Cross-Continental Research Collaborations About Online Teaching, Kevin P. Gosselin, Maria T. Northcote

Maria Northcote

Increasingly, faculty academics are required to teach and design online courses. However, in many cases, faculty members report having low levels of confidence, self-efficacy and competence to teach in online environments. Although their professional learning is often enhanced by institutional support strategies such as workshops, online instruction and mentoring systems, many faculty academics learn through “just-in-time” rather than “just-in-case” strategies. This paper reports on the findings from a cross-continental research project between researchers in two higher education institutions in the United States and Australia. The project was initiated to: 1) determine the learning needs of faculty members who teach online …

Benchmark Yourself: Self-Reflecting About Online Teaching, Maria Northcote, Jack Seddon, Philip Brown

Maria Northcote

Teachers need effective online teaching and course development skills to engage higher education students in meaningful, socially contextual, challenging and engaging learning experiences. To develop these skills, academic teaching staff typically attend professional learning activities, such as workshops to investigate online learning and strategies, engage in one-to-one consultations with online learning experts, and analyse practical exemplars. Online teacher/designers are often perplexed by the transitional conundrums between the modes of on-campus and online teaching, and grapple with how to endow online learning contexts with the same qualities of good on-campus learning contexts. Many online teachers and designers of online courses are …

The Lived Experience Of Online Educators: Insights From Construction Management, William Sher, Anthony Williams, Maria T. Northcote

Anthony Williams

Academics in higher education institutions often experience the conflicting demands of teaching, research and administration. With the growth of online education these staff are frequently required to design, develop, teach, facilitate and, in some cases, administer online courses. Cumulatively these additional tasks challenge academics, not only in terms of the personal professional development but also in accommodating the range of tasks expected of them. This paper reports the findings of a study which investigated the lived experience of construction management academics teaching at universities in Australia. The study adopted a lived experience research approach that enabled the lives of construction …

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2013: Main Report On The Survey, Phillip Mckenzie, Paul R. Weldon, Glenn Rowley, Martin Murphy, Julie Mcmillan

Dr Glenn Rowley (retired)

This report provides an overview of the results obtained from the Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) 2013 survey commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The work was supported by an Advisory Committee of government and non-government school authorities and other stakeholder groups. The survey was intended to provide a detailed picture of the Australian teacher workforce, and to gather information to assist in future planning of the workforce. It was also designed to provide comparative and updated data following on from the previous SiAS surveys conducted in 2006-07 …

Learning Needs Analysis For The Deaf Education Sector, Julie Kos, Marion Meiers, Lawrence Ingvarson

Marion Meiers

The Victorian Deaf Education Institute (VDEI), Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to undertake a project to design, conduct and analyse the learning needs of teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing. The focus of the study was to identify any gap between teachers’ existing skills and knowledge and the skills that are needed to optimise student learning outcomes.

Starting Coaching And Mentoring Conversations, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Establishing the right conditions for coaching and mentoring programs helps ensure these conversations play an important role in a school's improvement agenda.

Professional Learning Communities: What Are The Important Questions For An Educator To Ensure A Sustainable Community?, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

No abstract provided.

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2013: Main Report On The Survey, Phillip Mckenzie, Paul R. Weldon, Glenn Rowley, Martin Murphy, Julie Mcmillan

Dr Martin Murphy

This report provides an overview of the results obtained from the Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) 2013 survey commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The work was supported by an Advisory Committee of government and non-government school authorities and other stakeholder groups. The survey was intended to provide a detailed picture of the Australian teacher workforce, and to gather information to assist in future planning of the workforce. It was also designed to provide comparative and updated data following on from the previous SiAS surveys conducted in 2006-07 …

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2013: Main Report On The Survey, Phillip Mckenzie, Paul R. Weldon, Glenn Rowley, Martin Murphy, Julie Mcmillan

Dr Phillip McKenzie (retired)

This report provides an overview of the results obtained from the Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) 2013 survey commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The work was supported by an Advisory Committee of government and non-government school authorities and other stakeholder groups. The survey was intended to provide a detailed picture of the Australian teacher workforce, and to gather information to assist in future planning of the workforce. It was also designed to provide comparative and updated data following on from the previous SiAS surveys conducted in 2006-07 …

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2013: Main Report On The Survey, Phillip Mckenzie, Paul R. Weldon, Glenn Rowley, Martin Murphy, Julie Mcmillan

Dr Julie McMillan

This report provides an overview of the results obtained from the Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) 2013 survey commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The work was supported by an Advisory Committee of government and non-government school authorities and other stakeholder groups. The survey was intended to provide a detailed picture of the Australian teacher workforce, and to gather information to assist in future planning of the workforce. It was also designed to provide comparative and updated data following on from the previous SiAS surveys conducted in 2006-07 …

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2013: Main Report On The Survey, Phillip Mckenzie, Paul R. Weldon, Glenn Rowley, Martin Murphy, Julie Mcmillan

Dr Paul Weldon

This report provides an overview of the results obtained from the Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) 2013 survey commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The work was supported by an Advisory Committee of government and non-government school authorities and other stakeholder groups. The survey was intended to provide a detailed picture of the Australian teacher workforce, and to gather information to assist in future planning of the workforce. It was also designed to provide comparative and updated data following on from the previous SiAS surveys conducted in 2006-07 …

Confronting Persistent Challenges Through Research-Based Programming For Experienced School Leaders, Jane Clark Lindle, Kenyae L. Reese, Matthew Della Sala, Hans W. Klar, Robert C. Knoeppel

Jane Clark Lindle

This paper’s thesis of human agency derived from the South Carolina Successful School Principalship Project’s (SCSSPP) findings. In these schools, principals had leveraged a variety of schoolwide initiatives to enact the vision that all students would be successful despite their rurality and poverty. These findings were the underlying design for two regional cross-district pilot programs. Known as Leadership 2.0 and Leadership 3.0, the development of agency was constructed through cognitive coaching and based on principals of adult learning. Initial evaluation of participants' first year reactions show consistently high perceptions of all aspects of the principals used for their professional learning.

Reflections On An Inherent Tension Between Peer Collaboration And Individual Assessment In Online Professional Learning, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Leena Vainio

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

In this paper, the authors reflect on potential tensions between peer learning among adult students and current forms of assessment in two professional learning contexts: one in Finland, and one in Australia. The two groups participated separately in online and face to face learning that required them to gather data, reflect, communicate and try out new strategies in their workplaces. Formal learning outcomes and assessment were expected.

Partnerships, Policies And Professional Learning: Experiences From An Australian Government-University Partnership, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

No abstract provided.

Standards-Based Professional Learning And Certification: By The Profession, For The Profession, Lawrence C. Ingvarson

Dr Lawrence Ingvarson (Consultant)

This chapter presents a model for a standards-based professional learning and certification system, a system controlled and provided by the teaching profession itself. It is a model of a highly educated profession, capable of defining research-based standards for effective teaching, promoting the development of its members toward those standards, and providing a rigorous and respected process for recognizing and certifying those who reach them. It is a model that calls for the teaching profession to be entrusted with the responsibilities of a profession; one of these is the responsibility and resources to establish its own standards-based professional learning and certification …

Learning Needs Analysis For The Deaf Education Sector, Julie Kos, Marion Meiers, Lawrence Ingvarson

Dr Julie Kos

The Victorian Deaf Education Institute (VDEI), Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to undertake a project to design, conduct and analyse the learning needs of teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing. The focus of the study was to identify any gap between teachers’ existing skills and knowledge and the skills that are needed to optimise student learning outcomes.

Quality Of Professional Learning Index: Measure Of Outcomes Of Professional Development, Lawrence C. Ingvarson

Dr Lawrence Ingvarson (Consultant)

No abstract provided.

Can Video With Professional Conversations Improve Teacher Education?, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Top of the Class, the recent House of Representatives Report of the Inquiry into Teacher Education has reinforced the importance of good practice and the value of the practical dimension of teaching as part of universities' higher education teacher education programs. At the same time, in Australia and in countries in which off-shore teacher education programs are conducted, there are three other concurrent concerns: 1. the shortage of science, maths and literacy teachers and teacher educators; 2. the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in schools and higher education; and 3. the availability of schools and high quality teachers …