Education Commons^™

On-Line Training For Smes: Final Report, Beth Walker, Beverley Webster, Sue Stoney

Research outputs pre 2011

This research aimed to explore the appropriateness of on-line training delivery methods for small business owner/managers.

It is widely recognised that training and education are effective ways to reduce small business failure. In Australia, small business accounts for 96 percent of Australian private sector, non-agricultural businesses and they employ 47 percent of the private sector, non-agricultural workforce. Not surprisingly then, encouraging the development of the skills of the workforce has emerged as a major priority for government policy. However, what is also recognised is that many small business owner/managers (SBOs) have limited e-competencies.

Results of this research confirmed this and …

Tackling Talk : Teaching And Assessing Oral Language, Rhonda Oliver, Yvonne Haig, Judith Rochecouste

Research outputs pre 2011

Tackling Talk was a collaborative research project sponsored by several bodies: the English Teachers Association (ETA), the Australian Literacy Educators' Association (ALEA) through Quality Teacher Program funding and the Association of Independent Schools of WA (AISWA). A team of researchers from the Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Research (CALLR), Edith Cowan University, guided teachers from the public and independent sectors through an action research program involving online/ electronic materials, professional development sessions and personal mentoring. Some 49 teachers from 28 schools from both metropolitan and regional districts of Western Australia were involved in the project.

Using A Blended Learning Approach To Support Problem-Based Learning With First Year Students In Large Undergraduate Classes, Ron Oliver

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper describes an exploration of the use of a technology-enabled problem-based learning approach undertaken with a group of first year students. The exploration sought to determine students' responses to the learning setting and to investigate its ability to successfully cater for the diverse needs and expectations of the subjects.

Online Learning As Information Delivery: Digital Myopia, Jan Herrington, Thomas Reeves, Ron Oliver

Research outputs pre 2011

In business and commerce, the concept of marketing myopia has been a useful tool to predict, analyze and explain the rise and fall of businesses. In this paper, we question whether the concept can also be used to predict the ultimate downfall of online learning in higher education, if universities continue to confuse their key mission— education—with the much more product-oriented aim of information delivery. The proliferation of information-based online courses is examined within the context of the limitations imposed by widely used course management systems, institutional impediments and other factors that encourage teachers to adopt information delivery in preference …

Building For The Future: The Aspirational Architecture Of Edith Cowan University, Glenys Haalebos

Research outputs pre 2011

When ECU decided to re-locate its headquarters, it not only made history- becoming the first modern university in Australia to take such a bold move - it also began a process of immense symbolic and strategic importance for its future. It was symbolic because, as this book illustrates, the University used inspirational architecture to create a powerful new public persona. It was strategic because these beautiful and functional structures have significantly enhanced our reputation as a provider of quality teaching and research and established us as a committed, energetic partner with our surrounding communities.

Learning Designs And Learning Objects: Where Pedagogy Meets Technology, Ron Oliver, Ralph Wirski, Lisa Wait, Vivienne Blanksby

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper discusses an Australian project where online learning materials with problem-based learning designs are being developed in a form which facilitates their inclusion in digital repositories and learning management systems. To that end the products are being developed as properly formed SCORM compliant IMS content packages. This paper discusses issues associated with the design of online resources characterised by quality learning designs and their subsequent redevelopment as IMS content packages.

The Status And Quality Of Secondary Science Teaching And Learning In Lagos State, Nigeria, Taiwo O. Ogunmade

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigated and described the status and quality of secondary science teaching and learning in Lagos State, Nigeria. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used for gathering research data. Quantitative data were obtained from the surveys of 78 junior secondary science teachers and 500 junior secondary students from three Local Education Districts of Lagos State. Qualitative data on the other hand, were gathered from analysis of national and state curriculum documents and from focus groups of science teachers, school principals, parent association representatives, education officers, teacher educators, representatives of the professional association for science teachers and representatives of examination bodies …

An Exploratory Cross-Cultural Investigation Of The Organisational Strategies Employed To Prevent And Ameliorate Workplace Bullying In University Settings, Dragana Krestelica

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Workplaces abound in conflict. Individuals within organisations are therefore vulnerable to a wide range of intimidating interactional tactics. These tactics can have an extremely negative impact upon individual workers and upon subsequent organisational performance. Consequentially, the diverse forms of organisational social harassment, and specifically bullying, place a large financial burden upon both organisations and nations. Therefore, the identification of strategies used to prevent and ameliorate workplace bullying and an examination that highlights their comparative success or failure is of great importance for all employers, employees and government. This study focuses upon those strategies used to prevent and ameliorate such workplace …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Visual Culture On Visual Arts Practice And Visual Arts Education, Robyn Roper

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project is based on the premise that school students have a right to an education that assists them to "develop a sense of personal meaning and identity, and be encouraged to reflect critically on the ways in which that occurs." (Curriculum Frameworks, 1998, Values, Statement 2.2 Personal meaning: 325). Not only should education offer students a sense of well being, it should make a difference to their lives and foster an appetite for life long learning. A key ingredient that makes for a rich, fulfilling and rewarding life, is an understanding of visual culture, that according to Freedman …

Meaning And Emotion In Squaresoft's Final Fantasy X: Re-Theorising Realism And Identification In Video Games, Glen R. Spoors

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis takes the position that traditional theories of "realism" and "identification" misrepresent the relationships between players and videogames, and that a cross·disciplinary approach is needed. It uses Ed Tan's (1997) and Torben Grodal's (1997) analyses of narrative, cognition, and emotion in film as a basis for interrogating existing research on, and providing a working model of, video gameplay. It develops this model through an extended account of Squaresoft's adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy X (FFX) (2001), whose hybrid narrative and game macrostructures foreground many of the problems associated with video games. The chapters respectively address; existing research on video …

Language Learning Strategies Of Botswana Students : An Exploratory Study, Joel M. Magogwe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this research is to explore the learning strategies used by Botswana students acquiring English as a second language. It also examines whether the choice of strategies is affected by the factors of different age/level of education, proficiency and gender. The research also explores whether the students’ self-efficacy beliefs correlated with their use of language learning strategies. Specifically this research examined the types of strategies used by primary, secondary and tertiary students. It also examined the types of strategies used by the students deemed by their teachers to have good, fair or poor levels of English proficiency. The …

Character Cars : How Computer Technology Enhances Learning In Terms Of Arts Ideas And Arts Skills And Proceses In A Year 7 Male Visual Arts Education Program, Gemma E. Scarparolo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

'The possibilities that the technology can offer are seemingly endless and remain to be fully explored in [visual] art education." (Callow. 2001. p,43) The aim of this research is to investigate whether the integration of Visual Arts Technology Tools (TECH-TOOLS) into Traditional Visual Arts Programs (TRAD-['ROG) enhance the students' learning in terms of Arts Ideas (AI) and Arts Skills and Processes (ASP) and whether it is a cost effective option for Western Australian primary schools. To determine whether it is worth the inclusion of TECH-TOOLS in terms of enhancing learning. this research will statistically state whether the combination of TECH-TOOLS …

An Exploratory Case Study Using An Expert Learning Process Designed To Promote Number Sense In A Year 6 Classroom, Paula Mildenhall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

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Towards A Pro-Active Model Of Professional Development For Tertiary Level Teachers In The United Arab Emirates, Lynn J. Nicks-Mccaleb

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This body of work identifies the professional development needs of teachers at Abu Dhabi Men's College in the UAE as their role in the classroom and pedagogical trends change in response to the needs of the 21st century global workforce. The aim of the research was to identify what pedagogical changes had impacted the teaching and learning environment at the college and subsequently to identify strategies and professional development models to prepare the teachers for dynamic developments in their teaching and learning environment. A pragmatic, interpretive approach was taken in the study, drawing on qualitative data to explore ways to …

A Study Of Feelings Of Alienation Among Relief Teachers Servicing Western Australian Government Metropolitan Primary Schools, Ralph G. Lunay

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

It is perhaps fair to say that the relief (substitute) teacher should be viewed as an extremely important educational resource, Reviewed literature spanning the better part of twenty years indicates that in parts of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, many students spend as much as one full year (or more) of their K-12 education having curriculum delivered to them by these individuals. Unfortunately, the literature also indicates that many relief teachers are still viewed by many as less than "real" teachers in terms of perceived competence, skill and capability. In addition to this, the existence of a …

Boys And Writing: Attentiveness Levels And The Impact Of Single Gender Classes And Teaching Methods, Janet Fellowes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The study is concerned with boys' literacy learning. It seeks to gauge whether the change to a single-gender class brings about any improvement in the boys' attentiveness levels during writing lessons and also to ascertain whether attentiveness is influenced by other factors associated with the learning tasks, and with the teacher's pedagogical and management practices.

This study involves the scrutiny of writing lessons in three classes in Western Australian metropolitan primary school - a Year 5 co-educational class, a Year 6 allboy's class ( comprising boys from the Year 5 class) in the hands of one teacher and the same …

Teacher Torque: A Research Project Investigating Student Cognitive Engagement Through Observations Of Non-Verbal Responses To Certain Forms Of Classroom Questions, Moya A. Lewis

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project investigates student cognitive engagement through observations of nonverbal responses to certain forms of classroom questions. The basic assumption of this thesis is that education is the intentional act of expanding or evolving each individual student's model of the world. This study explores the non-verbal responses that various forms of questions generate in order to assess the level of student thinking that occurs as a direct result of the question. It looks at responses to closed, open and schema accessing questions to discover the role that they play in the expansion of student schema. The expected readership of …

The Pulse Of Change : E-Education And Other Reforming Influences On Vocational Education And Training, Robin Stark

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Reform has been a feature of the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) system for more than a decade. The Portfolio tracks the theme of reform through the sub-themes of e-education and globalisation, considering each as a set of changing hegemonic discourses that have redefined VET over the intervening years. Into this mix it is speculated a third sub-theme, that of social capital development, is now emerging. The new social paradigm however is likely to create new uncertainties and expectations in a system that struggles to cope with existing reforms.

Exploring A Technology-Facilitated Part-Complete Solution Method For Learning Computer Programming, Stuart K. Garner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Learning to program is now a requirement in many courses of study in such areas as computer science, information technology, information systems, multimedia. engineering, and science. However, research indicates that many students have great difficulties in learning to program and this results in high failure rates and high levels of withdrawal from academic courses. It is accepted that programming is an intrinsically difficult subject however the teaching and learning methods used in many programming courses have changed little over the years. The literature indicates the importance of reducing the cognitive load that students experience when learning programming and that one …

A Study Of Intercultural Discourse Between Mainland Chinese Speakers Of English And Anglo-Australians, Leng Hui

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Intercultural communication between mainland Chinese speakers of English and Anglo-Australians is receiving ever-increasing attention in many fields. These fields include intercultural communication. English language teaching, education and business. This study approached the intercultural communication between mainland Chinese speakers of English and Anglo-Australians from a cognitive perspective by applying the theoretical framework of cultural linguistics. The intercultural discourse produced by mainland Chinese speakers of English in the context of them interacting with Anglo-Australians was analysed. The analysis was made by employing key concepts such as schemas, cultural schemas, discourse scenarios and discourse indexicals. A body of 39 audio-taped conversations between mainland …

The Impact Of Digital Persona On The Future Of Learning: A Case Study On Digital Repositories And The Sharing Of Information About Children At Risk In Western Australia, Mark Balnaves, Joseph Luca

Research outputs pre 2011

Modern databases and digital depositories have the capacity to store vast amounts of information on individuals. In the case of normal everyday affairs, of course, there may be many databases and many organizations involved in collecting information on individuals. There are two types of digital persona possible in these environments —active persona and passive persona (Clarke, 2001). In this paper the authors will report on initial results from an exploratory study on attitudes towards information sharing in Western Australian education and explore the role of active and passive digital persona in information sharing. Many organizations collect information on students, ranging …

Maximising Parent Involvement In The Pedestrian Safety Of 4 To 6 Year Old Children: December 2005, Donna Cross, Margaret Hall, Greg Hamilton

Research outputs pre 2011

In Australia, pedestrian injury is the leading specific cause of death among five to nine year old children (AI Yaman, Bryant & Sargeant 2002). In 1999-00 in Australia, there were 1,144 hospitalisations of children aged 0-14 years for pedestrian injuries, with a hospitalisation rate of 29.1 per 100,000 children. These rates decreased with age and were lowest for children aged 1 0-14 years. Pedestrian injuries among 0-14 year olds in 1999-00 were the second highest cause of hospitalisation in children (AI Yaman, Bryant & Sargeant 2002). While fatalities from pedestrian injuries among children 0-14 years have declined from 3.7 per …

Walk With Your Kids: Early Childhood Pedestrian Injury Prevention Project: Classroom Activies: Pre-Primary, Marnie House, Maree James

Research outputs pre 2011

This resource contains learning activities designed to provide a review for children of the five road crossing steps, to introduce chiidren to sequencing these steps and then road crossing scenarios to build children's problem solving skills. The learning activities are designed to be developmentally and cognitively appropriate for pre-primary children, with a focus on learning through play.

In Teachers' Hands : Effective Literacy Teaching Practices In The Early Years Of Schooling, William Louden, Mary Rohl, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Claire Brown, Trevor Cairney, Jess Elderfield, Helen House, Marion Meiers, Judith Rivalland, Ken Rowe

Research outputs pre 2011

Aim and Methods

The aim of this study was to identify teaching practices that lead to improved literacy outcomes for children in the early years of schooling.

Literacy Assessments

The study began with literacy assessments of a representative national sample of 2,000 children using a literacy scale prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research for the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study (LLANS). Assessments were caried out by 200 classroom teachers, half of whom were teaching in the first year of formal schooling and half of whom were teaching in the second year of formal schooling. A random sample of …

A Randomised Control Trial To Reduce Bullying And Other Aggressive Behaviours In Secondary Schools, Donna Cross, Hall Marg, Stacey Waters, Greg Hamilton

Research outputs pre 2011

In Australia bullying tends to peak twice in a school student's life - firstly at age 1 0 to 12 and then during the two years following their transition to secondary school (Rigby, 1994; Slee, 1995b) This transition to secondary school is considered a critical period to intervene on bullying (Farrington, 1993; Rigby, 1997, 1999; Sharp, 1995; Stevens, Bourdeaudhuij, & Van Oost, 2000; Whitney & Smith, 1993). It is suggested that compared with primary schools, the change in friendship structures that accompanies the move to secondary school, large student numbers and the less consistent contact and fewer close relationships between …

Design Explorations For An Online Environment To Promote Metacognitive Processing Through Negotiated Assessment, Mark Mcmahon, Joseph Luca

Research outputs pre 2011

This study uses design-based research to explore how negotiated assessment contributes to students metacognitive processing. Metacognitive processing is shown to be linked to self-regulation and the development of generic skills. The research derived a conceptual framework from the literature that was integrated into a face-to-face learning strategy and evaluated. The results of this study were then used to refine the learning design, and another study was conducted with a view to explore its potential to be instantiated into an online electronic performance support system. Results from the second study are discussed and a new conceptual framework is proposed to promote …

Prepared To Teach : An Investigation Into The Preparation Of Teachers To Teach Literacy And Numeracy, William Louden, Mary Rohl, Jennifer Gore, Daryl Greaves, Alistair Mcintosh, Robert White, Dianne Siemon, Helen House

Research outputs pre 2011

Teacher education in Australia is a large and diverse enterprise. There are more than 400 programs in 36 universities, enrolling a total of about 35,000 preservice teachers (DEST, 2003).

The labour market for newly graduating teachers, pattern of entry to teacher education, the range of courses offered, the place of literacy and numeracy in those courses, and the provision of school experience influence the quality of beginning teachers' literacy and numeracy teaching.

Better Beginnings: A Western Australian State Library Initiated Family Literacy Project, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Mary Rohl, Grace Oakley, Jessica Elderfield

Research outputs pre 2011

Better Beginnings is an early intervention family literacy program that has been developed by the Public Library Services Directorate, at the State Library of Western Australia. Its stated purpose is to provide positive language and literacy influences for children in their first three years of life. The program is thought to be the first of its kind in Australia and has recently been taken up by another Australian Territory State. A fully evaluated pilot of Better Beginnings commenced in January 2004 in Gosnells, Mandurah, Midland, Carnarvon, Halls Creek and Kalgoorlie and in September was extended to include Armadale, Rockingham, Bayswater, …

The Educational Beliefs Of A Group Of University Teachers And Their Students: Identification, Exploration And Comparison, Maria T. Northcote

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The quality of teaching and learning in tertiary education contexts is influenced by many factors including the educational beliefs of the university teachers and students who teach and learn in such contexts. Most belief research in the tertiary education sector has, to date, reported on the teaching or learning beliefs of just teachers or the teaching or learning beliefs of just students. Much less research has explored the connections between the educational beliefs of these two groups. This research has aimed to extend the parameters of previous research by investigating the point of intersection between the educational beliefs of a …

An Investigation Of The Factors That Influence The Career Aspirations Of Year 12 Science Students, Christina R. Holly

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

What has become apparent in recent years is the lack of upper secondary students choosing science related subjects in their final years of schooling. Even of those students who choose science subjects to study in Years 11 and 12 in Australia, many tend to choose non-science pathways for tertiary education options (department of Education, Science and Training, 2003). This is worrying trend, given the numbers of science professionals and teachers required in the new age of technology. By investigating a sample of Western Australian Year 12 students that study any science related subjects, it is expected that there may be …