Education Commons^™

Students' Voices : Learning With Technologies : Students' Expectations About Learning With Technologies : A Literature Review, Kathryn Moyle, Susanne Owen

Professor Kathryn Moyle

This literature review is concerned with studies published since 2002 that take the perspectives of students in relation to learning with information and communication technologies. Students in schools, vocational education and training and in preservice teacher education, as well as early career teachers and other higher education students are included. The review examines published literature to: ascertain what recent research has already been undertaken in the field within Australia and overseas; ascertain the research methods used to underpin existing research; determine the gaps in existing knowledge; and consider the implications for determining what next steps could be undertaken. [Executive summary, …

International Civic And Citizenship Education Study : Assessment Framework, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon, John Ainley, Bruno Losito, David Kerr

Dr Wolfram Schulz

The International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) is the third lEA project investigating the role of schooling in preparing young people for their roles as citizens in society. The first study in this area began in 1971. The second Civic Education Study was undertaken in 1999. Almost 10 years on, global change has again prompted a new survey of civic and citizenship education. Amongst other considerations, the growing impact of the processes of globalization, external threats to civic societies and their freedoms, and the limited interest and involvement of young generations in public and political life. [p. 5, ed]

Career Advice And Career Plans: Sources, Satisfaction, And Realisation, Sheldon Rothman, Kylie Hillman, Julie Mcmillan, David Curtis

Dr Sheldon Rothman

The literature on career decision-making suggests that students make their decisions based on the degree of match between their own attributes and certain perceived characteristics of occupations and that these perceptions are generally accurate (Gottfredson, 2002). However, in Australia, there is also evidence that students have misunderstandings about the status of some occupations, including trades (Alloway, Dalley, Patterson, Walker, & Lenoy, 2004). The sources of career advice available to middle-secondary students and their satisfaction with that advice was found through a survey of a representative sample of Australian 15-year-old students. Nearly all Year 10 students reported that they had received …

Career Advice And Career Plans: Sources, Satisfaction, And Realisation, Sheldon Rothman, Kylie Hillman, Julie Mcmillan, David Curtis

Kylie Hillman

The literature on career decision-making suggests that students make their decisions based on the degree of match between their own attributes and certain perceived characteristics of occupations and that these perceptions are generally accurate (Gottfredson, 2002). However, in Australia, there is also evidence that students have misunderstandings about the status of some occupations, including trades (Alloway, Dalley, Patterson, Walker, & Lenoy, 2004). The sources of career advice available to middle-secondary students and their satisfaction with that advice was found through a survey of a representative sample of Australian 15-year-old students. Nearly all Year 10 students reported that they had received …

Keeping Your Classroom C.R.I.S.P.: Unity Of Purpose As An Organizing Principle, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

Are you and your millennial students losing your focus in the classroom? Here's a solution that works.

The Writing Community: A New Model For The Creative Writing Classroom, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

After creating a taxonomy of classroom approaches to the teaching of creative writing, the authors discuss a current practice they have employed, the writing community. The authors detail its success, place it within current pedagogical research into small-group and team-based learning, and suggest possible applications to allied fields.

International Civic And Citizenship Education Study : Assessment Framework, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon, John Ainley, Bruno Losito, David Kerr

Julian Fraillon

The International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) is the third lEA project investigating the role of schooling in preparing young people for their roles as citizens in society. The first study in this area began in 1971. The second Civic Education Study was undertaken in 1999. Almost 10 years on, global change has again prompted a new survey of civic and citizenship education. Amongst other considerations, the growing impact of the processes of globalization, external threats to civic societies and their freedoms, and the limited interest and involvement of young generations in public and political life. [p. 5, ed]

Over The Rainbow : A Rewarding Career Structure, Lawrence Ingvarson, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Historically, there has been little gold at the beginning or end of the career rainbow for teachers, and not a lot of colour in between. Until recently, teachers who wanted to advance into leadership positions were obliged to give most of their attention to management and administration. Because the teaching knowledge base was devalued, many teachers saw little point in trying to become skilled practitioners of their craft. Systems tend to reward what they value, and it is difficult to escape from the conclusion that, in terms of reward, the value placed on excellence in teaching has been very low. …

What Can Be Learned From The Roller Coaster Journeys Of Young People Making Ultimately Successful Transitions Beyond School?, Jennifer Bryce, Michelle Anderson

Dr Jennifer Bryce

This project investigated the interrelationships between family expectations and young people's post-school plans. The ten young people were achievers from The Smith Family's 'Learning for Life' program. All of the participants were from financially disadvantaged families. The research used interviews to understand these young people's perspectives of their transition experiences: the ways in which young people's school experiences impacted on their post-school pathways; how the young people weighed up costs and benefits in their decision-making; and exploration of the barriers and enablers encountered by the young people in their transition journeys. The findings endorsed the significant role played by families …

Staff In Australia's Schools : Teacher Workforce Data And Planning Processes In Australia., Susanne Owen,, Julie Kos, Phil Mckenzie

Dr Phillip McKenzie

This report forms part of the Australian School Teacher and Leader project which was commissioned by the former Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) in June 2006. The purpose of the project is to provide a detailed picture of the Australian teacher workforce and to gather information to assist future planning on teacher supply. This particular report focuses on longer-term approaches to workforce data and processes. The project also included the Staff in Australia's Schools survey, a national data collection involving all States and Territories and school sectors. [p.4]

Attitudes, Intentions And Participation, Siek Toon Khoo, John Ainley

Dr John Ainley

This report examines the relationship between students' attitudes to school and intentions to participate in education and training, and the influence of these attitudes and intentions on participation in Year 12 and in further education and training. Students' attitudes to school, educational intentions and attainments are considered in the context of earlier school achievement, social background, geographic location, language background and gender. These factors are related to attitudes, intentions and participation. [p.1]

Subject Choice By Students In Year 12 In Australian Secondary Schools, Sue Fullarton, John Ainley

Dr John Ainley

Choices that are in the subjects studied in senior secondary school influence differences in access to higher education, vocational education and training, and to labour market outcomes. Previous studies have shown that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, those from private schools, high early school achievers and students from non-English speaking backgrounds are more likely to participate in the courses that are avenues to higher education and the professions. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to participate in courses that lead to vocational education and training or more often to entry into the labour market without any further formal education or training. …

Peer Relationships In The Mathematics Classroom : A Social Network Approach To Understanding Anxiety And Motivation, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

The influence of the social context on learning and the motivation to learn are neglected areas of educational research. Peer relationships, particularly in early adolescence, are an important part of this social context and shape school development. In the present project, a social network approach was adopted to explore peer influences on adolescent students' motivation and anxiety in mathematics. Two types of relationships were investigated – time spent between peers in class and specific help-seeking interactions. Two hundred and twenty-three Year 8 students from two schools completed measures of mathematics anxiety and motivation, and a social network questionnaire. Social Influence …

The Case For Collaborative Tools: Long Distance Teamwork On A Shoestring Budget, Jessica De Perio Wittman, Lucie Olejnikova

Jessica de Perio Wittman

An article written on how to create podcasts using readily-available technology, and how to use these podcasts in legal education.

Ict Trends In Education Ii, Gerald White

Dr Gerald K. White

In the second part of this two-part article, the author looks at professional collaboration using Web 2.0, mobile technologies and the way the World Wide Web (www) is influencing scholarship, before investigating some of the likely future trends in ICT. A major question in education is how to maximise the uses of ICT in education, taking into account that ICT is much more than a tool and provides a digital window to globally accessible information and new ways to interact in the creation of knowledge. Web 2.0 applications are changing the manner in which people connect and interact in ways …

Keeping Your Classroom C.R.I.S.P.: Unity Of Purpose As An Organizing Principle, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Charlie Sweet

Are you and your millennial students losing your focus in the classroom? Here's a solution that works.

Teaching And Learning As Wayfaring, Martin Connell Sj

Martin T. Connell, S.J.

The article discusses how the wayfaring voyage made by St. Brendan to the Promised Land of the Saints contrasts sharply with following the linear, factory-model curriculum common in schools in the U.S. When based on a linear, technical model, it says that a school is perceived as an activity that principally entails both teachers and students following a map through a curriculum with few chances for wayfaring. Moreover, St. Brendan is considered as the patron saint of teachers who consider inquiry as a tool to promote learning and as a way of being.

Leadership : Is There A Looming Shortage?, Phil Mckenzie

Dr Phillip McKenzie

Many school leaders will retire in the next few years and their potential successors report little attraction to the leadership role. The author considers whether Australia is really facing a looming leadership shortage. The Commonwealth Department of Education commissioned ACER to conduct the Staff in Australia's Schools (SiAS) survey in 2006 and 2007 to help fill data gaps around educator workforce issues, and to gather information to assist in future leadership planning. The article discusses the survey results, with particular reference to estimated numbers of teachers and leaders; age profiles; career intentions; and teachers' intentions to apply for leadership positions. …

Understanding And Preparing Teachers Of Millennial Learners, Chris Haskell, Connie Pollard

Chris Haskell

This presentation will examine the results of a *Technology Proficiency and Use* survey of over 200 pre-service teacher education students. This session will discuss results, data, and trends related to current levels of technology knowledge, fluency, and patterns of use. The researchers will classify fluency and comfort in unique categories including software, mobile communications, gaming, social networking, and prevalent secondary technology experience. A framework for developing a pre-service teacher education technology class designed to help prepare the knowledge, skill, and comfort of use technology tools for learning and engagement will be provided. Additionally, the session will feature strategies, tools, structures, …

The 2007 Revised Ielts Pronunciation Scale, Sacha Develle

Dr Sacha DeVelle

A series of articles in Research Notes (February 2001, July 2001, November 2001, November 2006) reported the development, validation and implementation of the IELTS Speaking Test Revision Project (1998–2001). More recent research (Brown 2006, Brown and Taylor 2006) highlighted the need for clearer specification on the Pronunciation scale. Further revision arose as a consequence of this research and the continuing evolutionary process reflecting the test’s context of use. The present article describes a two-phase study using a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) approach to examine raters’ marking behaviour and perceptions of the newly revised IELTS Pronunciation scale.

Different Measures, Different Informants, Same Outcomes? Investigating Multiple Perspectives Of Primary School Students' Mental Health., Katherine Dix, Helen Askell-Williams, Michael Lawson

Dr Katherine Dix

Youth Poets: Empowering Literacies In And Out Of Schools, Korina Jocson

Korina Jocson

Youth Poets explores the literacy learning of high school youth who participated in June Jordan's Poetry for the People program. It is based on an ethnographic study that examined the various processes, products, and practices associated with poetry in youth's lives.

Ict In Education., Gerald White

Dr Gerald K. White

Information and communications technology (ICT) in education has been taken up by educators and educational researchers since the 1980s with varied success, although it is the relatively new uses of the Internet and World Wide Web that are stimulating new demands and expectations in education, even if research to guide best practice remains scant. In order to identify the trends occurring in ICT in education and research, the author starts with a brief history that has a number of implications that might help us to think about the pathways that ICT may take in an education context. From this brief …

Bouncing Between The Dark And Bright Sides: Can Technology Help Qualitative Research?, Ivan Jorrín Abellán, Bartolomé Rubia Avi, Rocio Anguita Martinez, Eduardo Gomez Sanchez, Alejandra Martinez Mones

Ivan M. Jorrín Abellán

The authors carried out a 4-year qualitative analysis of a case study in higher education. An undergraduate course based on the principles of computer sup- ported collaborative learning (CSCL) was designed, implemented, and eval- uated. The process was developed by a community of practice, formed by quite a number of researchers coming from the information and communica- tion technology and education fields. All of them belong to the Intelligent & Cooperative Systems Research Group–Education, Media, Informatics and Culture transdisciplinary group. The case provided many “tasty” partial results that were used to develop and improve three ad hoc supporting tools: Quest, …

Teaching The Teacher: How To Integrate Information Literacy Into The Curriculum, Robert Fernekes, Sonya Shepherd

Sonya S. Gaither

No abstract provided.

Using Data To Improve Learning, Marion Meiers

Marion Meiers

This Digest is focused on studies that have investigated how data can be used in schools to examine teaching practices in order to improve student learning. A selection of relevant websites is listed, and a full reference list is provided. Links to those references for which full-text online access is freely available are also included. School systems, principals and teachers have access to an extensive range of data that can be used for a variety of purposes. Accountability processes and data have come to play a significant place in policy development and reform efforts. There is a large body of …

Educational Inequity From The Perspectives Of Those Who Live It: Urban Middle School Students' Perspectives On The Quality Of Their Education, Mark Storz

Mark G. Storz

Abstract In interviews with over 250 urban young adolescents, many students make it clear that they are acutely aware of the educational inequities that exist in their schools and that these inequities are having a negative impact on their education. Student voice is used to highlight urban middle school students’ perspectives on the quality of their education particularly in terms of curricular issues, teacher quality, and lack of resources.

Portrayals Of Print Literacy In Children's Television Programming, Annie Moses, Nell Duke

Annie M. Moses

Television continues to be an important part of young children's daily lives. Therefore, an important question lies in how popular television programs depict aspects of children's development and learning, including literacy. Through a content analysis, this study analyzed the top 10 programs for viewers between the ages of 2 and 5 for portrayals of literacy, specifically looking at the amount of and affective qualities of print literacy events in these programs. Print literacy events were defined as any time print appeared and was read, written, or listened to by characters in the sample episodes. They were coded for characteristics of …

Expanding The Space Of F2f: Writing Centers And Audio-Visual-Textual Conferencing, Melanie Yergeau, Kathryn Wozniak, Peter Vandenberg

Kathryn Wozniak

Able to link tutors across distance while closely approximating the tenor of face-to-face tutoring (f2f), synchronous audio-video-textual conferencing (AVT) is a semiotically rich medium that sustains critical “social cues” and enhances interaction and exchange. The authors theorize and demonstrate the potential of synchronous digital exchange, including functions that surpass the affordances of paper-based f2f tutorials—such as real-time modeling and web-based referencing.

Student Engagement In The Teaching And Learning Of Grammar, Peter Smagorinsky, Laura Wright, Sharon Augustine, Cindy O'Donnell-Allen, Bonnie Konopak

Bonnie Konopak

This article reports a study of coauthor Laura Wright as she learned to teach secondary school grammar in four settings: university teacher education program, student teaching, her first job, and second job. Data for her university program came from Laura’s journals and projects from her course work. Data from student teaching and her first job included interviews and field notes from observations and interviews and self-reports by Laura of teaching conducted on other occasions. Information from her second job came from self-reports by Laura. The data were analyzed using a system that identified the pedagogical tools Laura employed and the …