Education Commons^™

Scale For Mapping Progress In Mathematical Competencies, Ross Turner, Gayl O'Connor, Thomas Romberg

Ross Turner

No abstract provided.

Engaging With Excellence In Mathematics Teaching : Creating Excellence In The Learning Environment, Ray Peck, Hilary Hollingsworth, W Morony

Ray Peck

No abstract provided.

It’S All Positive, Julie Mcmillan, Sheldon Rothman

Dr Sheldon Rothman

No abstract provided.

Signposts To Improved Test Scores In Literacy And Numeracy, Julie Mcmillan, Sheldon Rothman

Dr Sheldon Rothman

A recent study of year 9 students' results on reading comprehension and mathematics tests, by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) found that a positive school climate is associated with higher literacy and numeracy test scores. In other key findings, socioeconomic status, language background, Indigenous status, gender and educational aspirations were found to have significant effects on achievement in both literacy and numeracy. Parents' education had a significant effect on literacy but not on numeracy. This article gives an overview of the findings.

Teaching The Unreliable Narrator In 'Ligeia', Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

No abstract provided.

Course Writing Objectives And London's 'Law Of Life', Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

No abstract provided.

Flaws In The Wooden Bowl: A Reaction, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

No abstract provided.

The Evidence Doesn't Lie: An Approach To Teaching Updike's 'Flight', Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

No abstract provided.

It Works For Me, Online!: Shared Tips For Online And Web-Enhanced Teaching, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe, Douglas Robertson

Hal Blythe

It Works For Me, Online is designed primarily to aid instructors in two major types of classes: fully online and web-enhanced/hybrid courses. Those who teach fully online classes will find tips on such things as tricks you can use with synchronous chats, how to use blogging in your classroom to replace traditional chat-rooms (talk about your superannuation), and even ways of adapting Blackboard to meet administrative needs. Those who prefer web enhancements to the traditional classroom will find advice to navigate between the virtual and real world. And, truthfully, we are hopeful that even dyed-in-the-wool, card-carrying Luddites will skim through …

Total Team Teaching — Sharing Teaching Duties Equally, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

In his excellent book on team teaching (Interdisciplinary Courses and Team Teaching), James Davis posits two extremes on the continuum of team teaching. One pole consists of “courses planned by a group of faculty and then carried out in serial segments by the individual members of the group” (p. 7). At the opposite pole are “courses planned and delivered by a group … . They take primary responsibility for individual class sessions, but sometimes [italics ours] two or more faculty are involved in planning and delivering the instruction of a particular class.” (p. 7) The two of us take the …

Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

Examines the parallel between the poems "Song," by John Donne, and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T. S. Eliot. Description of Donne's and Eliot's characters; similarity of the situation and theme in the two poems.

Gender Differences In Education And Labour Market Outcomes, Kylie Hillman, Sheldon Rothman

Kylie Hillman

Despite numerous changes in policy and legislation, issues of gender equity in the Australian education system and labour market remain a concern, particularly the poorer performance of males on tests of literacy and in rates of Year 12 completion. The results of research on the topic are summarised in this article. They suggest that although there is a statistically significant difference between the average levels of reading comprehension of male and female students, this difference may not extend beyond the classroom to seriously affect later outcomes. Males on average continue to progress, through both the education system and the labour …

Developing Standards Of Practice For Leaders In Victorian Catholic Schools, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Lawrence Ingvarson, Anna Mcdonald

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

In 2003-4, the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) undertook a project to develop standards for school leadership. A specific aim of the project was to provide a 'bridge' to leadership that would encourage teachers to undertake leadership tasks and to consider moving into formal positions of leadership. This paper reports on the experiences and challenges of developing standards that matched this purpose. It also reviews school leadership standards that have been developed in Australia and overseas over the past decade. A comparison is drawn between standards for teachers and standards for …

Teacher Accountability In Australia : Current Policies And Practices And Their Relation To The Improvement Of Teaching And Learning, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Lawrence Ingvarson

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

The strong link between teacher quality and student learning outcomes calls for effective systems of teacher accountability. School systems in all Australian states have established policies and practices to raise levels of teacher accountability, but it remains doubtful whether they have the capacity to deliver on teacher quality assurance or improvement in teachers' practice. This paper reports some of the recent findings of an ARC funded project that mapped teacher evaluation practices across all Australian states and territories. After providing a brief historical overview of teacher evaluation in Australia, it discusses three recent initiatives at the 'accomplished teacher' level; namely …

Evaluation Of The Standards And Professional Learning Project 2003., Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Lawrence Ingvarson

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Launched in 2003, the brief of the ‘Standards and Professional Learning Project’ was: to develop professional teaching standards for full registration, and to support new teachers (who were mostly newly graduated teachers from tertiary teacher education programs) to move from provisional to full registration at the end of their first year of teaching. The role of the ACER team was to assist the VIT Standards and Professional Learning Branch (SPLB) in: Revising and using the interim Standards for Professional Practice; Developing a final set of standards, based on wide consultation on the interim standards; Developing appropriate assessment tasks to gather …

Policy Issues For Australia's Education Systems : Evidence From International And Australian Research, Gary Marks, Julie Mcmillan, John Ainley

Dr John Ainley

This article discusses education policy issues in the context of empirical evidence. It notes that many commonly held beliefs about Australian education such as, the relative performance and participation levels of Australian students; the importance of socioeconomic background on educational outcomes both relative to other countries and changes over-time; gender differences in mathematics and science; and the labour market situation of early school leavers; are not supported by empirical research. Such findings have implications for government policies. The article also questions current policy directions toward increasing Year 12 participation, expanding both secondary and post-secondary vocational education and reducing class sizes. …

Innovation Education In Nsw Design And Technology Curriculum (With Seemann, K,W.), Angela Turner

Dr Angela Turner

INNOVATION EDUCATION IN NSW DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM Angela Turner and Dr Kurt Seemann School of Education Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450, Australia Corresponding e-mail: angela.turner@scu.edu.au Abstract Do technology teachers in secondary schools and academic stakeholders share the national vision of knowledge and innovation when implementing Design and Technology curricula? Directions for an innovation climate have been endorsed by the federal government, and demanded by various industry groups, since 1996. This paper explores the extent to which education providers of secondary schooling have embraced the call for teaching and developing innovation capacities through technology curriculum. The Australian Science, …

Managing Better: Measuring Institutional Health And Effectiveness In Vocational Education And Training, Graham Maxwell, Peter Noonan, Mark Bahr, Ian Hardy

Mark Bahr

Vocational education and training (VET) policy is increasingly focused on the importance of quality in each VET institution's capacity to deliver effective programs. This report addresses institutional-level monitoring and evaluation of performance and provides a comprehensive model which institutes can use for this purpose. The model draws on background theory and practice and identifies a range of relevant indices across three dimensions: inputs, processes, and outputs/outcomes. The results are an important first step to an improved and empirically based understanding of the factors that contribute to successful outcomes from VET providers.

© Copyright Australian National Training Authority, 2004

Affective Engagement : A Person-Centred Approach To Understanding The Structure Of Subjective Learning Experiences, Sarah Buckley, Galit Hasen, Mary Ainley

Dr Sarah Buckley

Accounts of students' learning have increasingly emphasised the role of affective engagement in achievement settings. Although most studies have focused on negative emotional experiences such as anxiety, more recent studies have investigated the role of positive emotions. This study examines the structure of students' subjective learning experiences in relation to individual interest profiles. It measured two components of affect: activation as positive arousal that indicates engagement, and valence as an evaluative quality of the students' experience. Senior secondary students (females, N=162) completed measures of individual interests, curiosity and prior knowledge, read three social issues texts and then answered some questions …

Australian Assessment In Literacy And Numeracy, Marion Meiers

Marion Meiers

Reports that the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study has traced the growth in literacy and numeracy of a single cohort of students in primary school. Number of children from a random Australia-wide sample of 100 schools formed the cohort; Understanding of the nature of growth in literacy and numeracy amongst Australian students.

Self Efficacy, Alcohol Expectancy And Problem-Solvingappraisal As Predictors Of Alcohol Use In College Students, Nancy Taylor, Michael Biscaro, Karen Broer

Nancy P. Taylor

This study updated that of Broer 1996 and re-examined self-efficacy, alcohol expectancy and problem-solving appraisal as predictors of alcohol use in undergraduate college students. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that alcohol expectancy of Global Positive Changes and gender were significant predictors for both number of drinks and binge episodes.

Pica: A Review Of Recent Assessment And Treatment Procedures

John J. Wheeler

Good Governance In Microcredit Strategy For Poverty Reduction: Focus On Western Mindanao, Philippines, Frede G. Moreno

Frede G Moreno

The study argues for the integration of good governance principles in developing financially viable, effective and social equity-laden microcredit strategy for the impoverished agrarian reform beneficiaries in Western Mindanao. It particularly examines the program design and implementation strategies of the Enterprise Development Credit (EDC) sub-component of the Western Mindanao Community Initiatives Project (WMCIP). The study aims to provide lessons and insights for the planning and implementation of comprehensive and integrated Official Development Assistance (ODA)-funded government programs for poverty reduction and rural development. The data and information were generated from combined descriptive and field studies covering a sample survey, group discussions, …

Representing Cultural Diversity Through Tourism: A Critical Analysis Of English Tourism Board Texts, William Feighery

William Feighery

No abstract provided.

Good Governance In Microcredit Strategy For Poverty Reduction: Focus On Western Mindanao, Philippines, Frede G. Moreno

Frede G Moreno

The study argues for the integration of good governance principles in developing financially viable, effective and social equity-laden microcredit strategy for the impoverished agrarian reform beneficiaries in Western Mindanao. It particularly examines the program design and implementation strategies of the Enterprise Development Credit (EDC) sub-component of the Western Mindanao Community Initiatives Project (WMCIP). The study aims to provide lessons and insights for the planning and implementation of comprehensive and integrated Official Development Assistance (ODA)-funded government programs for poverty reduction and rural development. The data and information were generated from combined descriptive and field studies covering a sample survey, group discussions, …

Assessing Assessment: What Is Being Assessed? So What? And Then What?, K Rowe, Andrew Stephanou

Dr Andrew Stephanou

No abstract provided.

Reading Strategies For All Content Areas, D. Jill Williams

D. Jill Williams

No abstract is currently available.

Sear – Your Answer To Assessment In Science, Gayl O'Connor, Helen Trotter

Gayl O'Connor

No abstract provided.

Pedagogical Agents’ Personas: Which Affects More, Image Or Voice?, Yanghee Kim, A. L. Baylor, G. Reed

Yanghee Kim

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of image and voice of pedagogical agents on student perception and learning. Pedagogical agents were developed with differing image (expert-like vs. mentor-like) and voice (strong vs. calm vs. computer-generated), but with identical gesture, affect, comments, and gender. 109 undergraduates in a computer literacy course were randomly assigned to one of the six conditions. The results revealed a significant main effect for agent image on role perception: the mentor-like image was perceived as more motivating, as hypothesized. Also, there was a significant main effect for voice: the strong voice was overall …

Post Literacy And Continuing Education For Vocational Training, John A. Henschke Edd

John A. Henschke

No abstract provided.