Education Commons^™

Attributions Of The Educational Outcomes Of Students With Learning Disabilities In China, Stuart Woodcock, Han Jiang

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of attributional beliefs in relation to the educational outcomes of students with a learning disability (LD) in China. The study presented in this paper examined the attributional beliefs that Chinese pre-service teachers had developed towards students with LD, in comparison to students without LD. The findings show that Chinese pre-service teachers did not differ in their attributional beliefs between students with and without LD. Implications from the findings, and future research recommendations are also presented.

Understanding The Design Context For Australian University Teachers: Implications For The Future Of Learning Design, Susan Bennett, Lisa Thomas, Shirley Agostinho, Lori Lockyer, Jennifer Jones, Barry Harper

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Based on the premise that providing support for university teachers in designing for their teaching will ultimately improve the quality of student learning outcomes, recent interest in the development of support tools and strategies has gained momentum. This article reports on a study that examined the context in which Australian university teachers design in order to understand what role design support tools and strategies could play. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 academics across 16 Australian universities. The findings suggest that most Australian university teachers have a high degree of flexibility in their design decisions suggesting that opportunities exist for …

Designing Instruction For The Contemporary Learning Landscape, Fred Paas, Jeroen Van Merrienboer, Tamara Van Gog

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

New Technologies To Support Language Learning, Lisa K. Kervin, Beverly M. Derewianka

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Language classrooms have always used technologies of various kinds, from the blackboard through to the language laboratory. In recent decades, however, there has been an explosion in the resources available to teachers, to the point where many feel overwhelmed. This chapter therefore, does not attempt to provide a comprehensive review of 'state of the art' technologies - primarily because the ground is shifting so rapidly that any such endeavour would soon be out of date. Rather, we have kept in mind an audience who are not necessarily interested in the finer points of technological innovations but who are seeking some …

Split-Attention And Redundancy Effects On Mobile Learning In Physical Environments, T C. Liu, Y C. Lin, M J. Tsai, Fred Paas

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This study investigated split-attention and redundancy effects in a mobile learningenvironment on leaf morphology of plants as a function of different combinations ofmedia. Eighty-one fifth-grade students were randomly assigned to the following threeconditions: texts with pictures embedded in the mobile device (TP condition); textsembedded in the mobile device and real objects that are outside of the mobile device(TO condition); and texts with pictures embedded in the mobile device and realobjects that are outside of the mobile device (TPO condition). Differences inperformance on comprehension tests and learning efficiency were examined acrossconditions. The TP condition was expected to perform better than the …

The Influence Of State Motivation, Content Relevance And Affective Learning On High School Students' Intentions To Use Class Content Following Completion Of Compulsory Physical Education, Collin A. Webster, Diana Mindrila, Robert Weaver

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Little research has examined mechanisms leading to the utilization of compulsory physical education content in future contexts. This study tested a model in which motivation to be in physical education class functions as a predisposition influencing perceptions of teacher communication of content relevance, perceptions of course relevance to one’s personal life, affect for physical education and intentions to apply class content in the future. High school students (N = 636) enrolled in compulsory physical education classes completed questionnaires assessing each of these variables. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated the questionnaire items were adequate indicators of the five constructs. Structural …

Are We Exacerbating Students' Learning Disabilities? An Investigation Of Preservice Teachers' Attributions Of The Educational Outcomes Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Wilhelmina J. Vialle, Stuart Woodcock

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

While claims of the importance of attribution theory and teachers’ expectations of students for student performance are repeatedly made, there is little comprehensive research identifying the perceptions preservice teachers have of students with learning disabilities (LD). Accordingly, 444 Australian preservice primary school teachers were surveyed using vignettes and Likert-scale questions, to ascertain their responses to students with and without LD. It was found that preservice primary school general education teachers held a negative attribution style towards students with LD. Preservice primary teachers perceived students with LD as lacking ability in comparison to others in the class. Recommendations for research and …

Understanding The Need: Using Collaboratively Created Draft Guiding Principles To Direct Online Synchronous Learning In Indigenous Communities, Michelle J. Eady, Stuart Woodcock

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This article reports on the experience of members of an Australian Aboriginal community as they used synchronous computer technologies to enhance their literacy learning. The aspiration to learn meaningful and relevant literacy and computer skills was discussed in focus groups, as well as the need to articulate the group’s position within the wider community, the value of the wisdom of the Elders, and the importance of the dissemination of traditional language and Aboriginal knowledge. Educational integrity was deeply embedded in the project’s approach to the Aboriginal learning experience, and included ensuring respect for cultural needs and traditions, as well as …

Attributional Beliefs Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Stuart Woodcock, Wilma Vialle

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

While claims of the importance of attribution theory and teachers’ expectations of students in regards to performance are repeatedly made, there is little comprehensive research identifying the perceptions preservice teachers have of students with learning disabilities (LD). Accordingly, this study examined 154 Australian preservice secondary school teachers to ascertain their responses to students with and without LD. It was found that preservice secondary school teachers held a negative attribution style towards students with LD. Preservice secondary teachers perceived students with LD as lacking ability in comparison to others in the class. Recommendations for research and training programs conclude the paper.

The Digital Technology In The Learning Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders (Asd) In Applied Classroom Settings, Kathleen Tanner, Roselyn M. Dixon, Irina Verenikina

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes a research study that is a stepping stone to further research on the affordances of digital technologies in the learning of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The study is framed around the modern understanding of technologies as cognitive tools for learning based on the theory of social and cultural mediation of children’s development and learning (Vygotsky, 1978), together with Activity Theory (Engestrom, 2001). The study focuses on the day-to-day reality of the use of computer and other digital technologies to assist the classroom learning of children with ASD. A series of observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers …

Web 2.0 In Higher Education: Blurring Social Networks And Learning Networks, Lori Lockyer, Shane P. Dawson, Elizabeth Heathcote

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports on a study that investigated how two cohorts of students (in medicine and education) adopted a social networking platform to assist their university studies. The study examines the sites of dissonance between predicted and actual usage of the tool. Although the integration of social technologies into higher education is not new, there is mounting imperatives for developing creative, flexible, technologically literate graduates. Yet, to date, limited research has focused on how contemporary learners expect to and in actual fact, utilise these tools to support their study. This study observed that students’ perceptions of how technologies should support …

Literacy Practitioners' Perspectives On Adult Learning Needs And Technology Approaches In Indigenous Communities, Michelle J. Eady, Anthony Herrington, Caroline Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Current reports of literacy rates in Australia indicate an ongoing gap in literacy skills between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian adults, at a time when the literacy demands of work and life are increasing. There are many perspectives on what are the literacy needs of Indigenous adults,from the perspectives of community members themselves to the relatively under-researched perspective of literacy practitioners. This paper provides the insights, experiences and recommendations from adult literacy practitioners who work with adult Indigenous learners in communities across Australia. Focus group interviews, using an online synchronous platform, were used to elicit views about the literacy needs of …

Teaching, Learning And Talking: Mapping "The Trail Of Fire", Pauline T. Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper addresses the current resurgence of interest in classroom talk and its place in pedagogy; in particular the role of teachers in shaping students’ learning through the design of classroom interactivity. The importance of teacher agency with respect to pedagogic design is highlighted in recent studies of pedagogy in the UK (Alexander, 2008; Mercer, 2008) and in linguistically oriented studies of pedagogic discourse undertaken in the Australian context (Christie, 2002; Jones, 2005). The paper presents a case study of classroom talk to explore how such work might be brought into alignment in order to shed further light on the …

Articulating Constructionism: Learning Science Through Designing And Making "Slowmations" (Student-Generated Animations), Garry Hoban, Wendy Nielsen, Charles Carceller

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This conceptual paper analyses several theoretical frameworks for “learning through making” using technology. First, the theoretical framework of Constructionism, which was proposed by Seymour Papert (1987), is discussed which is based on an integration of constructivist views of learning and social views of learning. Second, several instructional design frameworks are analysed and finally a theoretical framework based on Peirce‟s (1931) Semiotic Triad is explained. An example of learning through making is provided in the form of a “Slowmation” (abbreviated from “Slow Animation”), which is a new way for preservice teachers to learn science by making a narrated animation. It is …

Collaborative Learning In An Online Course: A Comparison Of Communication Patterns In Small And Whole Group Activities, Wendy Nielsen, Eric Kh Chan, Namsook Jahng

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This article reports on the investigation of collaborative learning processes in an online course that examined students' communication during whole-group discussions and small-group activities. Content analysis and social network analysis methods were employed to code and categorize text messages to uncover students' communication behaviour. The results show that individuals' participation patterns were similar during the two different settings, but some inactive students during whole-group discussions were more active in small-groups. The social-out (sent-out messages) during whole-group discussions was a significant variable associated with cognitive contributions in whole-group as well as social and managerial contributions in small-group activities. It also identified …

Learning With The Arts: What Opportunities Are There For Work Related Adult Learning?, Claire Manning, Irina M. Verenikina, Ian M. Brown

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

What can arts‐based learning offer to adult, work‐related education? A study was undertaken that explored the benefits of learning with the arts for professional development of an adult learner in Australia. The individual experiences of nine adults who participated in arts‐based workshops to build work‐related skills were examined using the contextual model of learning where the personal, socio‐cultural and physical contexts were considered. To determine the potential for professional development, the participants' perceived learning outcomes were examined against the list of the skills valued in the modern workplace. The adult learners who participated in this research found learning with the …

Slowmation As A Pedagogical Scaffold For Improving Science Teaching And Learning, Stephen Keast, Rebecca Cooper, Amanda Berry, John Loughran, Garry Hoban

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

In this study, two classes of General Science Teaching Method preservice secondary teachers at Monash University (n = 38 in 2007 and n = 34 in 2008) developed Slowmation movies as part of their course work, then introduced Slowmation into the their science classrooms during their school practicum. On returning to university following their practicum these preservice teachers shared the Slowmations created by their students during the practicum, and discussed the impact of introducing this procedure on their students’ learning about science concepts. The classroom presentations and discussions of school students’ Slowmation movies post practicum provided valuable feedback to the …

Crocodiles And Polar Bears: A Cross Cultural Comparison Of Adult Learning In Remote Indigenous Communities, Michelle J. Eady, Alison Reedy

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This presentation compares and contrasts the context of adult learning for two groups of adult Indigenous students, one from the northern Australian tropics and one from far Northwestern Ontario. It also examines the ways that technology is used to try and bridge the distance between Indigenous adult learners' goals and educational opportunities. From this comparison we conclude that the educational gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous learners in Canada is closing, while the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is widening. We reflect on the reasons why Indigenous adult learners in Northwestern Ontario are being better served in comparison to …

The Potential To Learn: Pre-Service Teachers' Proposed Use Of Instructional Strategies For Students With A Learning Disability, Stuart Woodcock, Wilma Vialle

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Over recent years, moves toward the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms has brought about increasing attention to the way general education teachers perceive these students. Commensurate with this has been a growing interest in what may constitute educational success for children with special needs in mainstream classrooms, plus the ability of general education teachers to provide effective and appropriate instruction for them. It is known that teachers form beliefs about the process of teaching during their pre-service training and also that once a belief has been held for a long time, it becomes extremely difficult to …

This Is Me! Empowering Children To Talk About Their Learning Through Digital Story, Jessica Mantei, Lisa K. Kervin

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The transition from pre-school to Kindergarten is an important part of a child’s learning journey. In the early childhood setting children develop interests, knowledge and learning preferences that often remain unknown in the early days of Kindergarten. We argue that from this young age children can identify and articulate learning preferences as they use their literate practices to communicate their preferences, aspirations and reflections. Digital Stories are short, personal, multimedia presentations created through image (from still and/or video cameras), which are then edited on a computer with video editing software to include a spoken narrative. In this paper we share …

Data Dumping, After The Test You Forget It All: Seeking Deep Approaches To Science Learning With Slowmation (Student-Generated Animations), Garry Hoban

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

It Is not uncommon for university students to role learn facts and formulae to memorise information for a test. Unfortunately, these surface approaches to learning are encouraged by the complex teaching and learning system embedded in the context of university courses. Where possible, academics should encourage students to develop a deep approach to learning in their subJects. ' Slowmation" (abbreviated from Slow Animation) is an innovative teaching strategy that encourages students to design and make their own narrated digital animation that is played slowly at 2 frames/second to explain a concept. It is a simplified way of making animations that …

Indigenous Sharing, Collaboration And Synchronous Learning, Michelle J. Eady, Irina Verenikina, Sarah Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Online learning is progressively accepted in Indigenous communities with the realized potential for sharing, collaboration and learning for adults living in remote and isolated communities. This study used a design-based research approach that provided opportunity to integrate the current literature, literacy practitioners' views and community members' self identified literacy needs to generate ten draft guiding principles which guided this study. A collaborative community engagement project was created by the community members in consideration of these principles and presented in three iterations in a synchronous environment which will lead to design-based principles for working with technology and Indigenous communities. This paper …

Reframing Dyslexia As A Result Of Customised Educational Provision In An Adult Learning Environment, Kathleen Tanner

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Reframing has been identified as a process used by people with learning disabilities to change their beliefs and understanding about themselves and their learning disabilities (Gerber, Reiff and Ginsberg, 1996). This paper will discuss the influence of a specially designed course for people with dyslexia conducted through the tertiary TAFE (Technical and Further Education) system in Western Australia and how it provided the catalyst for participants to reframe their perceptions of their dyslexia through empowering them with knowledge and understanding of dyslexia alongside current societal perceptions toward people with literacy difficulties. Findings revealed that all 10 participants reframed their perceptions …

What Spaces? Designing Authentic, Sustainable Online Learning Spaces For Children With Diabetes, Shirley Agostinho, Richard Sprod, Barry Harper

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a work-in-progress of how social networking, Web 2.0 and emerging communication technologies might be successfully used to support authentic self-management education for children aged 11-13 years who are living with Type 1 diabetes. The study employs a mixed-method approach that has been adopted within a Design Based Research framework. This paper explains the research problem, the theoretical framework that will underpin the study and the overall research design.

Learning Or Performance: Predicting Drivers Of Student Motivation, Shane P. Dawson, Leah Macfadyen, Lori Lockyer

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

There is substantial research demonstrating that a student’s motivation for learning can be largely explained in terms of their preferred achievement orientation. This paper explores a case study investigating ICT derived lead indicators of student achievement orientation, and therefore underlying motivations. The study incorporated Tan’s (2009) research on learning dispositions to quantify student achievement orientations. These findings were then correlated with student LMS data to identify if patterns of online behaviour are indicative of the observed achievement orientation scores. The results suggest that there is a significant correlation between student achievement orientation and participation in discussion forums. Students reporting a …

Simplifying Animation With "Slowmation" To Encourage Preservice Teachers' Science Learning And Teaching, Garry F. Hoban, David C. Macdonald, Brian Ferry, Sharon Hoban

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Preservice elementary teachers often lack science content knowledge which reduces their confidence to implement the subject in school classrooms. “Slowmation” (abbreviated from “Slow Animation”) is a new yet simplified form of stop-motion animation that encourages preservice teachers to engage with science content because they create their own animations to represent key concepts. This paper presents a study of 29 preservice elementary teachers in a science method class to ascertain if they improved their science knowledge when they created their own animations and whether they used the approach to teach science in classrooms on practicum. Qualitative data (three interviews, two concept …

An Examination Of Learning Design Descriptions In A Repository, Shirley Agostinho, Susan J. Bennett, Lori Lockyer, Lisa Kosta, Jennifer Jones, Barry Harper

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The past decade has seen a significant expansion of flexible learning in higher education as new communication technologies have broadened the scope and potential for online learning. With this expansion has come the need for pedagogically sound learning experiences and an interest in reusing effective pedagogical designs. The concept of a ‘learning design’ - a formalism for documenting educational practice to facilitate sharing and reuse by teachers, is being researched as one way of supporting dissemination of ‘best practice’. This paper reports an analytical study that sought to advance understanding of what constitutes an effective learning design description based on …

"Authentic" Learning Experiences: What Does This Mean And Where Is The Literacy Learning?, Jessica Mantei, Lisa K. Kervin

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Teachers are challenged to adopt practices that facilitate the development of “necessary” skills and strategies for learners. For many, however, what is required in policy and curricula is increasingly obscured and even confusing as teachers are bombarded with jargon prescribing seemingly similar (yet apparently different) approaches such as “rich tasks”, “big questions” and “fertile questions” that are to be “relevant”, “authentic” and “engaging” for the learner. Barton and Hamilton (2000) argue that literacy learning should take the learner beyond the transmission of technical skills in the classroom to an understanding of its role within a community’s cultural practices. These literacy …

One Teacher's Response To Literacy Learning And Teaching Using Technology, Lisa K. Kervin, Pauline T. Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The federal government’s pledge for increased access to computers for students has been held up as “groundbreaking reform” as “digital schools” become a reality for more students. However, access to technology remains uneven across schools, student competency levels differ and teacher expertise varies considerably. Incorporating new technologies such as laptops, wireless connectivity, smartboards and mobile communication devices into interactive practices frequently requires rethinking configurations of curriculum, bodies and space.

Teachers are experts in pedagogy, but not necessarily in technology. It is vital that teachers are acknowledged for the considerable knowledge they have about their profession – what constitutes ‘good’ pedagogy, …

Establishing Design Principles For Online Synchronous Literacy Learning For Indigenous Learners, Michelle J. Eady, Anthony Herrington, Caroline Jones

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Synchronous learning has the potential to provide literacy and essential skills training to Indigenous learners living in remote and isolated communities. Although there is considerable research completed in the area of internet-based learning technologies in general, there is very little research in the area of online synchronous learning opportunities for remote Indigenous learners. This paper presents the results and theoretical framework of the first and second phases of a four phase design-based research approach that aims to establish design principles to guide the future development of synchronous online literacy services for Indigenous learners living in remote Australian communities.