Education Commons^™

Integrating The Experience Of Students Through Collaborative Task Design Using Student Blogs, Chris Campbell

Education Conference Papers

There is interest in the social learning advantages technology-infused pedagogy gives higher-education students. This paper reports on data that was part of a wide project from multi-campus teaching in the Bachelor of Education course at La Trobe University. The project aim was to increase the use of technology in the course by enriching the student experience and moving beyond giving lecture content. The project used a blog as the main source of communication between students who were asked to collaboratively construct a definition of learning. Results show students were generally positive about the task, although improvements can be made to …

Education Students Use Of The Le@Rning Federation’S Digital Curriculum Resources, Chris Campbell

Education Conference Papers

The Le@rning Federation was created in order to assist educational facilities to provide 21st century education to school students. This study introduced and investigated the use of learning objects that were created by, and digital resources that were negotiated by The Le@rning Federation and their use in a technology unit in pre-service teacher education. This study involved 225 students from the Sydney campus of the University of Notre Dame Australia, with students signing up to The Le@rning Federation’s e-content website. This gave them access to the content in the website for the entire year from any computer with Internet access. …

Developing Online Training Materials In Molecular Biology: Enhancing Hands-On Lab Skills., Rachel Boulay, Cynthia Anderson, Alex Parisky, Chris Campbell

Education Conference Papers

A well-accepted form of educational training offered in molecular biology is participation in active research laboratories. However, this approach to learning severely restricts access. Addressing this need, the University of Hawaii launched a project to expand this model to include newly developed online training materials in addition to a hands-on laboratory experience. This paper explores the process of material development and assessment plans. A pilot case study of a science teacher who embarks on learning molecular biology over a four-month period through online training materials and working side-by-side with medical researchers in a laboratory is described. Feedback suggested that the …

Using Learning Activity Management Systems (Lams) With Pre-Service Secondary Teachers: An Authentic Task., Chris Campbell, Leanne Cameron

Education Conference Papers

Within an authentic learning framework, second year pre-service teachers were introduced to LAMS (the Learning Activity Management System) as part of one of the information and communication technology (ICT) units they are required to complete as part of their course. Using case study methodology, the students returned some interesting results: LAMS helped the students plan all aspects of their lesson and allowed them to preview their lesson from the learner’s perspective. Additionally, the software provided a visual overview of the lesson which assisted them to identify the learning styles that were addressed with the activities employed. Students also saw the …

Grouping & Regrouping Using Mixintools: An Exploratory Study, Richard G. Berlach, Keith Mcnaught

Education Conference Papers

On a regular basis, teachers find it necessary to place children into groups for instruction. Random assignment is typically the norm when group composition is immaterial to the task. When member-sensitive groups need to be created, teachers might associate specific assignment with colours, numbers or other coding systems. Mixintools offers the teacher a strategy for creating groups in an enjoyable, expedient and variable fashion. Or does it? The purpose of this research was to determine whether the resource had any value from the perspective of both the teacher and the student. Data were sourced from three primary schools and one …

The Complexities For New Graduates Planning Mathematics Based On Student Need, Carole Steketee, Keith Mcnaught

Education Conference Papers

During 2006, two teams of preservice teachers spent a week in three rural schools and completed diagnostic assessment tasks in mathematics using the Nelson Numeracy Assessment Kit. The classes that were assessed were all being taught by newly graduated teachers. The results were collated into detailed profiles, which enabled these teachers to identify whole class, small group, and individual strengths and weaknesses. It was anticipated that the new graduates would find these profiles of great benefit in planning for mathematics. However, the teacher-educators who continued to work with the new graduates discovered that this assumption was flawed, and that the …

Augmenting The Clinical Apprenticeship Model, Carole Steketee, Adrian Bower

Education Conference Papers

The School of Medicine at The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) has adopted a clinical apprenticeship model for the final two years of its MBBS course. In the context of real clinical settings, students observe experienced clinicians as they consult with real patients. Students are provided with opportunities to practice clinical skills under the watchful eye of these clinicians who provide constructive feedback and gradually relax their level of intervention as the students become more proficient.

For the first time since the course commenced, UNDA medical students began their clinical apprenticeships in 2007 and participated in six three week …

Service-Learning – Preparing Students For Leadership, Shane D. Lavery

Education Conference Papers

This paper explores ways in which participating in a service-learning program can enhance student leadership in secondary schools. The research is based on the perceptions of teachers who coordinate service-learning in eleven Catholic secondary schools in Western Australia. The paper initially examines literature on student leadership, servant leadership and service-learning. The research methodology is then summarized, in particular, the rationale for using Catholic schools, an indication of the range of schools involved, and an outline of the questionnaire. Teacher perceptions are considered, initially in the contexts of the Structure of Service-Learning and Rationale for Service-Learning. This is followed by teacher …

Realising Family Potential Through Choice Of Schooling, Angela Mccarthy

Education Conference Papers

School choice is an issue that continues to stimulate energetic debate. Realising Family Potential Through Choice of Schooling is a theory that was developed to explain the process in which families engage to make educational choices. The grounded theory method was used to build the theory and show that parents were challenged to make educational choices outside of the free government education system for a range of reasons. The grounded theory method provided the necessary rigour to develop a thoroughly robust and parsimonious theory that explains the process of educational choice. There were some surprises in the development of the …

Developing A Model For Teacher Formation In Religious Education, Chris Hackett

Education Conference Papers

The intent of this paper is to demonstrate how the development of research-based modelling can assist teachers and decision-makers in making improvements to the processes of curriculum implementation. The paper presents a model of teacher formation based upon findings from a two-year study on the responses of recently assigned Religious Education (RARE) teachers in Catholic secondary schools within Western Australia. Data from the study provided evidence that these teachers experienced deepening layers of personal and professional growth as they implemented a newly drafted RE Curriculum. The model provides a framework that caters for the desire of RARE teachers to be …

The Power Of Writing For All Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers, Keith Mcnaught

Education Conference Papers

Jane’s decision to write her maths-autobiography came as she witnessed the benefits achieved by other preservice teachers at UNDA undertaking the same task. However, unlike fellow students, Jane did not suffer from Mathematics Anxiety. Jane’s autobiographical writing demonstrates the potential uses and benefits for a non-anxious preservice teacher. Her autobiography provides insights for teachers and teacher educators into the everyday experiences of the classroom and students. For teacher educators, it further demonstrates the value of various writing styles as tools for self-growth. Jane’s writing contains a number of examples that demonstrate that her childhood experiences and subsequent writing about those …

Outcomes-Based Education And The Death Of Knowledge, Richard G. Berlach

Education Conference Papers

In a far off time, in the confederacy of Oz, teaching and learning coexisted in an artistically symbiotic relationship. Then the experts came along. No, not experts in educational theory, but experts in the art of Isms – scientific rationalism, reductionism, Fordism, Taylorism, sophism, postmodernism and above all, obscurantism. They took their Isms and applied them to the art of education, and lo and behold, outcomes-based education was born. The Ismistic parents cooed and gloated over their cleverly conceived offspring. In fact, the Ismites within one state of the confederacy hailed this birth as a watershed in education, a paradigm …