Education Commons^™

Choral Educators’ Perspectives On Block Scheduling In Middle Schools, Heather Anderson Perryman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to identify how common the practice of block scheduling is currently among American public middle schools. This study also determines the perspectives of choral music educators working in public middle schools with existing block schedules. More extant literature is needed to examine block scheduling practices at the middle school level and the possible effects of block scheduling on middle school choral programs. Such an examination is essential for ascertaining curriculum needs, staffing issues, scheduling challenges, and choral music education advocacy initiatives. A qualitative design and case study approach are utilized to infer connections between …

Designing An Overseas Experiential Course In Data Science, Hua Leong Fwa, Graham Ng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Unprecedented demand for data science professionals in the industry has led to many educational institutions launching new data science courses. It is however imperative that students of data science programmes learn through execution of real-world, authentic projects on top of acquiring foundational knowledge on the basics of data science. In the process of working on authentic, real-world projects, students not only create new knowledge but also learn to solve open, sophisticated, and ill-structured problems in an inter-disciplinary fashion. In this paper, we detailed our approach to design a data science curriculum premised on learners solving authentic data science problems sourced …

Predicting Successful Completion Of Biology From Course Satisfaction And Curriculum Format For Nontraditional Students, Janet Elizabeth Forde

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The overall purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between the biology curriculum design with student course satisfaction and the successful completion for nontraditional adult students. The current study was important in determining course curriculum format leading to nontraditional students’ successful course completion. The selected college is a small two-year community college in the southeast United States. This quantitative, predictive correlation study surveyed 85 nontraditional students’ satisfaction with the biology course curriculum format using the Online Course Satisfaction Scale. The survey data was correlated along with the type curriculum used in the course section (Open …

Invisible Women: Gender Representation In High School Science Courses Across Australia, Kathryn Ross, Shanika Galaudage, Tegan Clark, Nataliea Lowson, Andrew Battisti, Helen Adam, Alexandra K. Ross, Nici Sweaney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the science courses by examining the mentions of male and female scientists along with the context of their inclusions in the syllabuses. We find a clear gender bias with only one unique mention of a female scientist. We also find a clear Eurocentric focus and narrow representation of scientists. This bias …

Opportunities And Barriers Faced By Early-Career Civil Engineers Enacting Global Responsibility, Shannon Chance, Inês Direito, John Mitchell

Articles

The term ‘global responsibility’ projects a holistic sense of ethics, sustainability, and obligation. To achieve the long-term viability of human life on Earth, civil engineering must be conducted in increasingly responsible ways, and civil engineers must value and enact global responsibility in their work. Interviews conducted with nine civil engineers in London provide insight regarding engineers’ familiarity with the term, how they learned about it, what opportunities and barriers they face, and what might be done by professional and educational institutions to help them practice more responsibly. Results indicate: the term itself is novel but underlying concepts are not; continuing …

Creating A Culturally Relevant Statistics Assignment On Z-Scores, Grace Pai

Publications and Research

Culturally relevant teaching or pedagogy has become increasingly popular both in practice and in research, but there are still few curricular resources for instructors to use, particularly for a college-level mathematics course. Departing from the question “relevant to whom,” this article illustrates how to design a statistics assignment on z-scores that is culturally relevant to students based on their prior experiences. Ultimately, the author shares design principles—which includes the importance of considering student trauma—that can be transferable to any statistics or quantitative analysis/reasoning class.

Exploring Cybersecurity Education At The K-12 Level, Weiru Chen, Yuming He, Xin Tian, Wu He, E. Langran (Ed.), D. Rutledge (Ed.)

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

K-12 cybersecurity education is receiving growing attention with the growing number of cyberattacks and a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. However, there are many barriers for teachers to implement effective cybersecurity education in formal classroom environments. This study conducts a systematic literature review to examine the current state-of-the-art on K-12 cybersecurity education. Through the systematic literature review, we identified 20 closely relevant papers and recognized that a well-designed curriculum in cybersecurity education at the K-12 level is strongly needed to motivate students to pursue cybersecurity pathways and careers. The challenge and suggestions of curriculum design, teaching strategy, and learning assessment are …

Hublinked: A Curriculum Mapping Framework For Industry, Paul Doyle, Cathy Ennis, Anna Becevel, Stephane Maag, Radu Dobrin, Mojca Ciglarič, Yunia Choi, Alan Fahey, Deirdre Lillis

Conference Papers

A key aim of HubLinked is to improve the effectiveness of University-Industry linkages between CS faculties and ICT companies. One of the problems identified as core to the Project was to match Learning Outcomes from different curricula with the requirements dictated by the ICT industry with the final aim to enhance students Graduate Skills and employability. Based on agreed core U-I linkage attributes, lower-level curriculum L0s have been designed and reviewed by industry partners. To enable the replication of this process, a tool was designed to make the comparison of graduates' skills from different institutions easily accessible. Using this tool …

Sustainable International Engagement Using A Partner Co-Hosted Teaching Model, Brian Gillespie, Paul Doyle, Zy Jiang, Derryl Humble

Conference Papers

Internationalisation is a significant activity of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide and is typically embedded within the aims, ambitions, vision, and strategy of the institution. It incorporates the policies and procedures required to facilitate participation within a global academic environment, and is often considered to be a transformative process that impacts practices in teaching and learning, research, and administration. With formal protocols to establish partnerships, such as memoranda of understanding and articulation agreements, the business of formally creating international partnerships is well defined. However, the motivations, corresponding metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) of successful partnerships are not as well …

Enhancing Students’ Global Competence Through International Business Study Missions, Mark Chong, Benjamin Gan, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article shares how an Asian University enhanced students’ global competence through international business study missions (BSMs). More specifically, it focuses on (i) how the design of these BSMs enabled “deep” learning beyond industry tourism and (ii) how 21st century competencies such as ‘global competence’ can be acquired through participation in short-term, faculty-led study missions.Using the case study approach, it critically analyses the learning goals and objectives, design decisions, implementation details and learning outcomes underlying three business study missions led by three instructors from the same university to the USA (New York), Germany (Berlin and Stuttgart), and South Korea (Seoul).The …

Applying Case-Based Learning For A Postgraduate Software Architecture Course, Eng Lieh Ouh, Yunghans Irawan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Software architecture remains a difficult subject for learners to grasp and for educators to teach given its level of abstraction. On the other hand, case-based learning (CBL) is a popular teaching approach used across disciplines especially in business, medicine and law where students work in groups apply their knowledge to solve real-world case studies, or scenarios using their reasoning skills and existing theoretical knowledge. In this paper, we provide how we apply case-based learning to address the challenge in teaching a postgraduate software architecture course. Our learners are postgraduate students taking a master’s program in software engineering. We first describe …

A Tesol Ma Introductory Course: A Course For New Tesol Ma Students At Brigham Young University, Paula Celina Cabrera Campos

TESOL MA Projects

Concerns at the beginning of a graduate program may or may not be met promptly enough to ensure students will all begin confidently. Not all graduate students understand what is expected of them at the beginning of their programs and where they can go to receive the necessary help. The Introductory TESOL MA Course has been designed to bridge this gap and support students in their desire to feel more prepared for this academic challenge. The three-module online course addresses the most common topics graduate students wish they had known at the beginning of their graduate experience. The course will …

Gonski, Learning And The Case For Change, Geoff Masters

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

The Gonski 2.0 recommendations may provide our best hope of reversing the long-term decline in the reading, mathematics and science levels of Australian 15-year-olds. A notable feature of Gonski’s report was that it looked at learning from the perspective of learners and recognised that the way we currently organise the school curriculum disadvantages some students.

The Role Of Evidence In Teaching And Learning, Geoff Masters

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Much discussion of evidence-based teaching is based on a narrow definition that would benefit from a broader recognition of the role of evidence in teaching and learning. Professor Geoff Masters explores the role of evidence in teaching and learning at the 2018 Research Conference . Evidence-based teaching involves the use of evidence to: (1) establish where students are in their learning; (2) decide on appropriate teaching strategies and interventions; and (3) monitor student progress and evaluate teaching effectiveness.

Is Setting Higher Standards The Answer?, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Raising the expected performance standard in each year of school and holding all teachers and students accountable for achieving these higher standards may not be the most effective way to improve levels of performance in Australian schools.

A Different Way To Organise The School Curriculum, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

There are good reasons to rethink how we organise the school curriculum. An alternative would be to structure the curriculum as a sequence of proficiency levels unrelated to age or year level.

Introductory Information Systems Course Redesign: Better Preparing Business Students, Gina Harden, Robert M. Crocker, Kelly Noe

Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose The dynamic nature of the information systems (IS) field presents educators with the perpetual challenge of keeping course offerings current and relevant. This paper describes the process at a College of Business (COB) to redesign the introductory IS course to better prepare students for advanced business classes and equip them with interdisciplinary knowledge and skills demanded in today’s workplace.

Background The course was previously in the Computer Science (CSC) Department, itself within the COB. However, an administrative restructuring resulted in the CSC department’s removal from the COB and left the core course in limbo.

Methodology This paper presents a …

Curriculum For An Introductory Computer Science Course: Identifying Recommendations From Academia And Industry, Simon G. Sultana, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to define the course content for a university introductory computer science course based on regional needs. Delphi methodology was used to identify the competencies, programming languages, and assessments that academic and industry experts felt most important. Four rounds of surveys were conducted to rate the items in the straw models, to determine the entries deemed most important, and to understand their relative importance according to each group. The groups were then asked to rank the items in each category and attempt to reach consensus as determined by Kendall's coefficient of concordance. The academic experts …

Pedagogy For A Plugged-In Age, Independent Study 2017, Andrew Hladkyj

Publications and Scholarship

This is an independent study for Hladkyj's graduate studies in Strategic Foresight and Innovation (MDes) at OCAD University. The study’s goal is to establish a “lay of the land” informing how technology and pedagogy might be designed in the Web Design Graduate Certificate program Hladkyj spearheaded at Sheridan College.

The research consists of a literature review validated by primary sources, composed of four 30-minute, semi-structured expert interviews with college-level design educators, administrators, and students (both current and former).

A modified, “human-centred” STEEP V (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Values) framework provides context to the findings.The output is actionable and threefold: …

The School Curriculum: About Time, Geoff N. Masters, Ray Adams

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

When it comes to the school curriculum, it’s about time we asked a question about time.

An essential feature of the school curriculum is the specification of what teachers are to teach and students are to learn at particular times in the schooling process. In other words, the curriculum spells out not only what teachers are to teach and students are to learn, but also whenthis is to occur.

When it comes to the school curriculum, it’s about time we asked a question about time.

An essential feature of the school curriculum is the specification of what teachers are …

The School Curriculum: About Time, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

'Too often in our schools, the time-bound curriculum does not deliver learning experiences matched to individuals’ present levels of achievement and learning needs,' Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his latest Teacher column.

Reflection For Tri-City Student Exchange Programmes On Students' Learning, Chun Sing, Raymond Man, Kam Fat, Jonathan Lee

Staff Publications

Student exchange programmes or study tours have been used in various education institutes in different regions to enrich students’ learning experience. Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impacts of student exchange programmes to students’ learning and development. However, the effectiveness in achieving the intended goals of a student exchange tour might substantially affected by the programme design, planning and implementation. This paper discusses the development and implementation of a tri-city student exchange programme in achieving the intended learning outcomes based on a joint student exchange programme to Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), Singapore. A group of higher diploma engineering students in …

A 21st Century Curriculum, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

One of the biggest challenges we face in school education is to identify and develop the knowledge, skills and attributes required for life and work in the 21st Century, writes Professor Geoff Masters AO.

Creating An Experiential Learning Based Multi-Disciplinary Program, Jeff Moretz, Steve Marsh, Jennifer Percival

Stream 2: Curriculum

For many years, curriculum development has considered learning outcomes at the program level largely via learning outcomes at the course level. Some programs have modified their designs to use different structures such as condensed courses or project based learning. Recently, there has been an increased interest in experiential learning as a way to facilitate student acquisition of real-world applicable capabilities while enhancing student learning of ‘soft skills’ such as professionalism, communication, and team management. Historically, such engagement including complexities of real-world problems has been accomplished through internships, co-op, capstone courses, or project based learning. In this paper we present an …

Experiences Of Computer Science Curriculum Design: A Phenomenological Study, Art Sloan, Brian Bowe

Articles

This paper presents a qualitative study of twelve computer science lecturers’ experiences of curriculum design of several degree programmes during a time of transition from year-long to semesterised courses, due to institutional policy change. The background to the study is outlined, as are the reasons for choosing the research methodology. The main findings are presented and the implications of the study described. The methodology chosen was hermeneutic phenomenology. The data were the texts of interview transcripts of the twelve participant lecturers. The experiences that emerged from analysis of the data grouped naturally in identifiable and presentable themes and these themes …

Theater Education Through The Common Core, Brandon Nease

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

As school budgets have plummeted, one of the extra curriculums that has suffered by losing funding has been the theatre department (wheeler 2007). The common core of education focuses on the four subjects of math, science, English, and history. The subjects are traditionally separated from each other with separate specialized teachers. However, several instructors try to utilize various methods in order to teach individual subjects more effectively. Even though the arts as a separate subject have slowly been cut from school programs around the nation, they have become an integral part of many teacher's curriculum to aid students in understanding …

Growing Ideas - Increase Access: Universal Design In Early Care & Education, University Of Maine Center For Community Inclusion And Disability Studies

Early Childhood Resources

According to Ron Mace of the Center for Universal Design, universal design is the philosophy of designing and creating products and environments to be accessible to the greatest extent possible, to the people who use them, without the need for adaptation (http://www.cast.org). The principles of Universal Design have been broadened beyond the creation of physical space and materials, to include the design of curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessment. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is based on the understanding that children learn in different ways. This framework focuses on planning from the start for the widest diversity of learners.

Phenomenology And Hermeneutic Phenomenology: The Philosophy, The Methodologies And Using Hermeneutic Phenomenology To Investigate Lecturers' Experiences Of Curriculum Design, Arthur Sloan, Brian Bowe

Articles

This article investigates the philosophy of phenomenology, continuing to examine and describe it as a methodology. There are different methods of phenomenology, divided by their different perspectives of what phenomenology is: largely grouped into the two types of descriptive and interpretive phenomenology. The focal methodology is hermeneutic phenomenology – one type of phenomenological methodology among interpretive phenomenological methodologies. The context for phenomenology and the location of hermeneutic phenomenology is explained through its historic antecedents. When using phenomenology as a methodology there are criteria for data gathering and data analysis and examples of these are cited in this paper. Also in …

A Primer For Mathematical Modeling, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

With the implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommendations and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, modeling has moved to the forefront of K-12 education. Modeling activities not only reinforce purposeful problem-solving skills, they also connect the mathematics students learn in school with the mathematics they will use outside of school. Instructors have found mathematical modeling difficult to teach. To successfully incorporate modeling activities I believe that curricular changes should be accompanied by professional development for curriculum developers, classroom teachers, and higher education professionals. This article serves as an introduction to modeling by …

Employability Skill Development In Work-Integrated Learning: Barriers And Best Practice, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2013

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is widely considered instrumental in equipping new graduates with the required employability skills to function effectively in the work environment. Evaluation of WIL programs in enhancing skill development remains predominantly outcomes-focused with little attention to the process of what, how and from whom students acquire essential skills during work placement. This paper investigates best practice in the classroom and placement activities which develop employability skills and identifies factors impeding skill performance during WIL, based on survey data from 131 undergraduates across different disciplines in an Australian university. What students actually experienced during placement, or what they felt …