Education Commons^™

Digital Forms Of Assessment: Aligning With Pedagogic And Curriculum Intentions, Christopher Newhouse

Research outputs 2012

Increasingly in the world fewer work tasks are done using paper and pen and yet most high-stakes assessment in schools continues to use this primitive technology. In the past it has been considered too difficult to reliably and manageably assess large cohorts of students using approaches more valid than using paper. The range of maturing digital technologies for handling multimedia now provides opportunities to address this discrepancy. This paper reports on a three-year project investigating the use of digital technologies to represent student work for high-stakes summative assessment in four senior secondary courses. The project used a range of digital …

Authentic Digital Representation Of Creative Works For Assessment, Christopher Newhouse

Research outputs 2012

This paper reports on the first stage of a three-year project to investigate the representation of student portfolios in digital forms for the purpose of summative assessment. In a number of senior secondary courses in Western Australia, such as Visual Arts and Design, students submit a physical portfolio for summative assessment that takes various forms dependent on the chosen context. The collection and judging/marking of these portfolios has increasingly been considered to be problematic by assessors, teachers and probably many students. While it should be feasible to digitize these portfolios and apply a similar method of marking, the digitization process …

Business Undergraduates' Perceptions Of Their Capabilities In Employability Skills : Implications For Industry And Higher Education, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2012

In response to the continuing disparity between industry expectations and higher education provision, this study examines the self-assessed capabilities of 1,024 business undergraduates in employability skills typically considered important by industry in developed economies. The findings indicate relative perceived strengths in 'social responsibility and accountability', 'developing professionalism' and 'working effectively with others', and weaknesses in 'critical thinking', 'developing initiative and enterprise' and 'self-awareness'. Although these findings align with those of recent employer-based studies, undergraduates rate themselves considerably higher than their industry counterparts. The implications of this overconfidence in personal ability, commonly associated with so-called Generation Y graduates, for persistent graduate …

Adolescent Bully-Victims: Social Health And The Transition To Secondary School, Leanne Lester, Donna Cross, Therese Shaw, Julian Dooley

Research outputs 2012

This study aimed to investigate the causal pathways and factors associated with being involved in bullying behaviour as a bully-victim using longitudinal data from students aged 11-14 years over the transition time from primary to secondary school. Examination of bully-victim pathways suggest a critical time to intervene is prior to transition from the end of primary school to the beginning of secondary school to prevent and reduce the harm from bullying. Negative outcome expectancies from bullying perpetration were a significant predictor of being a bully-victim at the end of the first year of secondary school. The findings show an association …

Evidence For Practice: Whole-School Strategies To Enhance Students' Social Skills And Reduce Bullying In Schools, Donna Cross (Ed.)

Research outputs 2012

While bullying behaviour is widespread and harmful in schools, research conducted at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC) at Edith Cowan University and elsewhere11 - 31 suggests bullying behaviour can be reduced. The CHPRC research team's ongoing empirical research, conducted since 1999, has focused primarily on what schools can do to effectively prevent and reduce bullying behaviour.

One of the most effective means to reduce bullying among young people is to enhance their social and emotional understandings and competencies, in developmentally appropriate ways throughout their schooling, using a whole-school approach. Friendly Schools Plus addresses the social and emotional learning …

Edith Cowan University 1991-2001: The Journey So Far, Ruth Callaghan

Research outputs 2012

In celebrating the 20th anniversary of Edith Cowan University (ECU), we have reflected on: our history; our rapid growth in student numbers; course offerings; infrastructure; and the many achievements of our talented people and, of course, the University as a whole. In looking to the future, we recognise the strength and determination of the people who make up our University community will drive our continued success - our students, staff, alumni, partners, and members of committees, Boards and Council.

Students With Asd In Mainstream Primary Education Settings: Teachers' Experiences In Western Australian Classrooms, Rebecca Soto, Julie Ann Pooley, Lynne Cohen, Myra Taylor

Research outputs 2012

The shift to inclusive education within Australia has resulted in increasing numbers of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) being placed in mainstream educational settings. This move has created new demands on teachers who are not necessarily trained to meet the challenge. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop an understanding of how 12 Western Australian primary school (K-7) teachers adapted to the challenge of having a student with ASD in their mainstream classroom. Using an interpretivist framework, data from semistructured interviews revealed that teachers perceived a need to first recognise and accept the challenges associated with having a student …

The Invisibility Of Covert Bullying Among Students: Challenges For School Intervention, Amy Barnes, Donna Cross, Leanne Lester, Lydia Hearn, Melanie Epstein, Helen Monks

Research outputs 2012

Covert bullying behaviours are at least as distressing for young people as overt forms of bullying, but often remain unnoticed or unacknowledged by adults. This invisibility is increased in schools by inattention to covert bullying in policy and practice, and limited staff understanding and skill to address covert behaviours. These factors can lead to a school culture that appears to tolerate and thus inadvertently encourages covert bullying. This study explores these dynamics in Australian primary and secondary schools, including the attitudes of over 400 staff towards covert bullying, their understanding of covert bullying behaviours, and their perceived capacity to address …

Is Being “Smart And Well Behaved” A Recipe For Happiness In Western Australian Primary Schools?, John O'Rourke, Martin Cooper, Christina Gray

Research outputs 2012

Little is known about the relationship between students’ perceptions of their behaviour and intellectual status within the classroom and their happiness. Educational practitioners consistently confront misbehaviour and academic failure; whether this is an indicator of student happiness is unclear. In this exploratory research two hundred and fifty six students were asked to self-rate their happiness via a faces scale. These students also completed a self-concept scale focussed on behavioural adjustment and intellectual and school status to determine whether these were factors that impacted on their happiness. Additionally, parents and teachers rated the participant’s happiness. The findings of this research indicate …

Developmental Trajectories Of Adolescent Victimization: Predictors And Outcomes, Leanne Lester, Donna Cross, Julian Dooley, Therese Shaw

Research outputs 2012

Chronic victimization negatively affects mental health, making it crucial to understand the key predictive social health (e.g., loneliness, isolation) factors. Evidence suggests that the effects of victimization are worse over the transition from primary to secondary school. Longitudinal data from 1810 students transitioning were used to identify victimization trajectory groups, classified as low increasing, low stable, medium stable, and not bullied. Adolescents with poorer social health were more likely to be in the increasing and stable victimized group than in the not bullied group. Students in the low increasing victimized group had poorer mental health outcomes than those in the …

Teaching Journalism Students How To Tell Indigenous Stories In An Informed Way: A Work Integrated Learning Approach, Heather Stewart, Michael Williams, Trevor Cullen, Michelle Johnston, Gail Phillips, Pauline Mulligan, Leo Bowman, Michael Meadows

Research outputs 2012

Australian journalism schools are full of students who have never met an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island person and who do not know their history. Journalism educators are ill-equipped to redress this imbalance as a large majority are themselves non-Indigenous and many have had little or no experience with the coverage of Indigenous issues or knowledge of Indigenous affairs. Such a situation calls for educational approaches that can overcome these disadvantages and empower journalism graduates to move beyond the stereotypes that characterize the representation of Indigenous people in the mainstream media. This article will explore three different courses in three …

Interprofessional Clinical Placement Involving Speech Pathology And Counselling Psychology: Two Students' Experiences, Natalie Ciccone, Lynn Priddis, Amanda Lloyd, Deborah Hersh, Ashleigh Taylor, Georgina Standish

Research outputs 2012

This paper examines the interprofessional learning of a speech pathology and counselling psychology student in an interprofessional placement within an institution of the Department of Corrective Services in Perth, Western Australia. The institution is a pre-release centre that promotes rehabilitation and community reintegration in which up to six women are able to have their children, aged 0–4 years of age, live with them. The students provided a program to the mothers to facilitate development of a healthy mother–child relationship and the children’s communication development. This paper utilised qualitative descriptive analysis to explore two examples of student learning and found perceived …

Leading Learning In Australian Tertiary Institutions: Narrative Support For Unit Coordinators, Coral Pepper, Susan Roberts

Research outputs 2012

This research investigates the experience of unit coordinators across Australia. It builds on an earlier Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project that examined and clarified the role of unit coordinators as leaders of learning in higher education (UCaLL). In this paper we focus on the first phase of the project that involved crafting narrative accounts from semi-structured interviews describing the lived experiences of participants. We wanted to know how unit coordinators perceive their role as leaders of learning in higher education and whether the support provided to them met their needs. Nine themes were identified among the narrative accounts …

Press Any Key: Repositioning Digital Literacy As An Enabler For Self-Regulated Learning, Joo Jung, Mark Mcmahon

Research outputs 2012

Millennial students are often seen as digital experts. This generalisation implicitly assumes that millennial students are equipped with necessary digital literacy skills to undertake their university learning such as searching curriculum-based information. But are they? And what is digital literacy and how can it be embed in teaching and learning? This paper examines the key characteristics of a contemporary view and multiplicity of digital literacy. An implementation of digital literacies in a first year undergraduate unit is described.

Developing A Taste For Coffee: Bangladesh, Nescafe, And Australian Student Photographers', Duncan Barnes, Danielle Fusco, Lelia Green

Research outputs 2012

Not available

Web 2.0 Technologies In Remote Community Schools In Western Australia, Philip Bradbury, Mark Mcmahon

Research outputs 2012

Web 2.0 Technologies are increasing in their use, particularly as tools for social networking. Their uptake has been pioneered by Generation Y, also known as the ‘Net’ Generation, or ‘Digital Natives’ as tools to enhance online collaboration and communication but the extent to which educators embracing such technologies to enhance teaching and learning is less evident. The purpose of this paper is to report on the research findings of a survey undertaken by teachers in remote community schools in Western Australia focussing upon their use of Web 2.0 technologies in their teaching and learning programs. The results present a number …

Learning In Transformational Computer Games: Exploring Design Principles For A Nanotechnology Game, Martin Masek, Karen Murcia, Jason Morrison, Christopher Newhouse, Mark Hackling

Research outputs 2012

Transformational games are digital computer and video applications purposefully designed to create engaging and immersive learning environments for delivering specified learning goals, outcomes and experiences. The virtual world of a transformational game becomes the social environment within which learning occurs as an outcome of the complex interaction of persons and digital resources. Engaging individuals with learning in these societal situations means concepts and skills are connected to the context and remain a powerful tool for decision making and problem solving in the world. Yet, a range of barriers need to be overcome to make a game effective for its educational …

School Administrators' Beliefs That Actual School Improvements Were Due To Formal School Registration: Guttman Scales And Their Inter-Correlations, Harm Witten, Russell Waugh, Jan Gray

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents an investigation into the attitudes of School Administrators to the relationship between formal school registration and school improvement. It concerns a mandatory inspection-type registration process for all Non-Government Schools in Western Australia. Part of the aim of this registration process was to help schools improve twelve educational and administrative aspects. These were: (1) School Governance, (2) School Financial Viability, (3) Enrolments & Attendance, (4) Number of Students, (5) Instructional Time, (6) School Staff, (7) School Infrastructure, (8) School Curriculum, (9) Student Learning Outcomes, (10) Care for Students, (11) Disputes and Complaints, (12) Legal Compliance. A questionnaire based …

Go Online And Have A Chat With Your Colleagues: A New Image Of Teacher Professional Learning In Indonesia, Eunice Sari, Jeremy Pagram, Christopher Newhouse

Research outputs 2012

This paper describes the design and implementation of an online learning community-based Teacher Professional Development (TPD) model to support ongoing teachers’ professional learning in Indonesia. Teaching can be a very isolating career, frustrating, especially for those who work in rural and remote areas and can receive little support from other colleagues. Research shows that ICT displays a lot of potential to support teachers’ ongoing professional learning process. However, ICT itself is not the only answer to tackle this challenge. The key is the process of facilitating of online social learning. This paper presents the results of research, which undertook a …

Education Evolution: A Qualitative Study Of Student Perception, Dylan Hart, Tingyue Fu, Gary Marchioro, Maria Ryan

Research outputs 2012

The educational imperative of textbooks was examined for university business students. 82 students were interviewed to determine their perceptions of textbooks and the factors that affect their willingness to purchase. Student preferences on delivery format, content style and price were examined using choice activities. Issues raised related to the practical nature of print, price sensitivity, student collaboration and the tradeoffs of current and future learning materials for students. Print textbooks were more popular than e-Books and summary chapters are favoured for ease of information consumption. Pacific Rim editions are favoured over International editions and currency and local relevance are key …

Shall We Play A Game? [Journal Article], Craig William Caulfield, Stanislaw Maj, J C Xia, David Veal

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents the results of a qualitative research project that used a simple game of a software project to see if and how games could contribute to better software project management education, and, if so, what features would make them most efficacious. The results suggest that while games are useful pedagogical tools and are well-received by players, they are not sufficient in themselves and must be supplemented by other learning devices.

Embodying Knowledge Of Breast Cancer In A Disembodied Community?, Vanessa Bradshaw, Cynthia Witney, Lelia Green, Leesa Costello

Research outputs 2012

Few life experiences have a greater impact upon the sense of self than the diagnosis of a life-challenging illness. Breast cancer is such an illness, and the sudden transition from 'well' to 'ill' is unsettling for a person's sense of knowing who they are in 'their' own body. What you know about your body, what others know about your body and what your biology knows about your body become suddenly problematic. This paper addresses what people know about their bodies before and after experiencing a breast cancer diagnosis by examining relevant theory and empirical data drawn from an online community …

School Administrators' Beliefs That School Improvements Were Due To Formal School Registration: A Rasch Measurement, Harm (Pete) Witten, Russell Waugh, Jan Gray

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the attitudes of School Administrators to the relationship between formal school registration and school improvement. It concerns a mandatory inspection-type registration process for all Non-Government Schools in Western Australia. Part of the aim of this registration process was to help schools improve twelve educational and administrative aspects. These were: (1) School Governance, (2) School Financial Viability, (3) Enrolments & Attendance, (4) Number of Students, (5) Instructional Time, (6) School Staff, (7) School Infrastructure, (8) School Curriculum, (9) Student Learning Outcomes, (10) Care for Students, (11) Disputes and Complaints, (12) Legal Compliance. …