Digital Commons Network^™

Threshold Concepts About Online Teaching: Progress Report On A Five Year Project, Kevin P. Gosselin, Maria T. Northcote, Daniel Reynaud, Peter W. Kilgour, Malcolm Anderson, Chris Boddey

Daniel Reynaud

The burgeoning expansion of online education has presented the challenges of articulating an appropriate pedagogy for online education (Stevens, 2003; Runnels et al., 2006; Gosselin, 2009) while also contending with perceived and real deficits in lecturer competence (Shephard, 2007). Conceptually, the identified areas of concern are viewed as troublesome knowledge (Perkins, 1999), or knowledge that is counter intuitive to traditional teaching face to face teaching. To meet the emerging difficulties of new modes of distance teaching, researchers have focused on transformative learning using threshold concepts, or new portals, that allow understanding of concepts through new modes of thinking (Meyer & …

Role-Playing As A Tool To Facilitate Learning, Self Reflection And Social Awareness In Teacher Education, Peter W. Kilgour, Daniel Reynaud, Maria T. Northcote, Marion Shields

Daniel Reynaud

Meaningful learning in the tertiary sector benefits from the inclusion of a variety of teaching and learning techniques including active learning. Role-plays are one type of active and participatory learning activity that creates interaction between students and a simulated scenario. This reality can serve to open the minds of participants to issues they need to be able to deal with in their chosen careers. This paper reports role-plays in four different learning applications: the first was in a multicultural education class and simulated a microcosm of society where students took on the roles of minority groups. The second reports on …

South Pacific Cultures And The Concept And Practice Of History, Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud

The practice of history is often assumed to be transparent and universal, but in fact it is a highly specialised phenomenon which exists only in certain societies. This raises problems for those writing about cultures where the practice of history has not traditionally existed, one such region being the South Pacific. A better understanding of the oral nature of Pacific societies and the way in which this affects one’s understanding of the past will be helpful to the historian of this region, and others like it.

Literary Theory And Biblical Interpretation, Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud

The purpose of this paper is to outline a Seventh-day Adventist worldview in the light of literary theories and the work of other Christian scholars, with particular reference to the interpretation of the Bible. A glance at the development of literary theory will give a context in which to understand traditional Christian thought and the challenges of literary theory.

Navigating Learning Journeys Of Online Teachers: Threshold Concepts And Self-Efficacy, Maria T. Northcote, Kevin P. Gosselin, Daniel Reynaud, Peter W. Kilgour, Malcolm Anderson

Daniel Reynaud

Higher education institutions are developing more and more online courses to supplement and augment the courses they offer in on-campus modes. In fact, some universities now offer the majority of their courses through online contexts. However, for academic staff who design and teach these courses, the transition from teaching on-campus courses to teaching in online learning environments is not always speedy or smooth. Academic teaching staff require support, mentoring and professional learning programs to develop their existing capacities and apply them to an online context.

This paper reports on Phase 2 of a research project, which takes into consideration the …

Engaging In Deep Cultural Learning Through The Intersection Of Multiple Contexts, Maria T. Northcote, Peter W. Kilgour, Daniel Reynaud, Phil Fitzsimmons

Daniel Reynaud

The type of learning that takes place in teacher education courses typically results in pre-service teachers developing a mixture of knowledge, skills and values that enable them to become effective teachers in schools in the future. During their journey to become qualified teachers, pre-service teachers typically engage in coursework and experiential-based learning.

By engaging in coursework experiences, an overseas practicum and an overseas study tour, students experienced a range of reflection-promoting activities and contexts during which they broadened and deepened their understanding of cultures other than their own.

Using a cross-case analysis approach, the data gathered in these three cases …

Development Of An Evidence-Based Professional Learning Program Informed By Online Teachers' Self-Efficacy And Threshold Concepts, Kevin P. Gosselin, Maria T. Northcote, Daniel Reynaud, Peter W. Kilgour, Malcolm Anderson, Chris Boddey

Daniel Reynaud

As online education continues to expand across varied educational sectors, so does the demand for professional development programs to guide academic teaching staff through the processes of developing their capacities to design and teach online courses. To meet these challenges at one higher education institution, a mixed methods research study was implemented to identify the professional learning needs of academic teaching staff for the purposes of developing a tailor-made professional development program. The principles of self-efficacy and threshold concepts were used to inform the design of the study. Data were systematically gathered from the participants to determine self-efficacy, concerns, and …

Bumpy Moments And Joyful Breakthroughs: The Place Of Threshold Concepts In Academic Staff Development Programs About Online Learning And Teaching, Maria T. Northcote, Daniel Reynaud, Peter Beamish, Tony Martin, Kevin P. Gosselin

Daniel Reynaud

In this article the authors address the situation in higher education of academic staff facing what they conceptualise as “bumpy moments and joyful breakthroughs” as they work through the process of becoming teachers in online learning environments. The article comes from a research project, which gathered and analysed data from systematic observations and questionnaires. The authors base their study on the known fact that while many academics have grounded experience in on-campus teaching and learning situations they do not necessarily have the skills required today for extending learning through on-line environments. The authors discover that when academics start teaching in …

Captains Of The Soul: A History Of Australian Army Chaplains, Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud

No abstract provided.

Anzac's Long Shadow: The Cost Of Our National Obsession, Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud

No abstract provided.

A Christian Aesthetic For The Arts, Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud

No abstract provided.