Education Commons^™

Development Of The New Academic: The Case For Blended Delivery, Boris Handal, Elaine Huber

Boris Handal

This case study reports the design, implementation and evaluation of an academic induction program, delivered using a blend of in campus and online environments at Macquarie University.

Collaborative Self-Study Supporting New Technology: The Mahara E-Portfolio Project, Philippa Gerbic, Marguerite Maher

Marguerite Maher

E-portfolios have long been used to support learning and development and to showcase achievement. This paper discusses a new and innovative use of e-portfolios which relates to the ways in which they can support collaborative research. The collaborative self-study which accompanied the implementation of an e-portfolio within a teacher education programme is described and then followed by discussion of three of its features. These were the value of the collaboration for supporting the deep understanding of a new technology, ethical issues for such a research study and the use of the e-portfolio environment as a data collection instrument.

Managing Student Distraction: Responding To Problems Of Gaming And Pornography In A Western Australian School For Boys, Frank G. Bate, Jean M. Macnish, Steven Males

Jean MacNish

This paper provides some initial findings from a current longitudinal study that examines the implementation of a 1:1 laptop program in a school for boys in Perth, Western Australia. One issue that has emerged from the study is the problem of managing student distraction. The school in this study has taken a proactive approach to managing student conduct on its own network. Two student monitoring initiatives were implemented during the course of the research. The first: parental control software sought to integrate the parental control features of the laptops with the school network. The second initiative: e-safe is a web …

Pre-Service Teachers Using The Le@Rning Federation's Digital Resources., Chris Campbell, Jean Macnish

Jean MacNish

This work in progress paper describes research that is investigating the use of learning objects, created by, and digital resources, negotiated by The Le@rning Federation and their use in a technology unit in pre-service teacher education as well as investigating how these learning objects are being used by the pre-service students while out in schools during their practicum. This study will have data collection in 2010 which will involve approximately 700 students across two campuses of the university which are located in Sydney and Fremantle. The study uses a qualitative research methodology and involves questionnaires as the primary data collection …

A Teaching Team: More Than The Sum Of Its Parts, Lorraine Day, Derek Hurrell

Derek Hurrell

Team teaching is not a new idea with a history spanning more than 40 years. It is an enduring idea yet its practice would not be the norm in most Australian school settings and across most content areas. This paper discusses the experiences of two educators who were given the opportunity to team teach in the area of mathematics education at a tertiary institution. It explores some of the challenges and joys of working in an educational environment which celebrates discourse, questioning and risk taking while modelling a collaborative approach for students.
Keywords: team teaching, professional practice, pedagogy, tertiary teaching, …

Managing Major Educational Change: Is The Cyclical Integration Model The Answer?, Richard G. Berlach

Richard Berlach

Where minds meet, there lies the change vector. I have for a long time been fascinated by the way in which change, and specifically educational change, is managed. More often than not it seems, minds fail to meet in a crucial change-space. They either unwittingly zip past each other, deliberately avoid one another, or worse still, collide with excruciating force. This paper examines the interrelated role of government, the public service and teachers in successfully transitioning major change. It is argued that unless these bodies operate in synchrony, change negotiation is likely to be hampered. To this end, a model …

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

Richard Berlach

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 …

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

Richard Berlach

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 …

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

Chris Hackett

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 …

Student Ministry: Preparing Young People As Leaders For The 21st Century, Chris Hackett, Shane D. Lavery

Chris Hackett

Ministry with young people has never been more important. Ever-increasing local, national and global concerns demand that schools must do more than prepare young people as responsible citizens. They must prepare young people as emerging leaders with a civic conscience who proactively seek solutions to issues such as increased poverty, the plight of refugees, terrorism, climate change, and corporate greed. This article is about student ministry. Student ministry, as defined in this article, specifically aims to build leadership capacity in school students. In particular, the article attempts to highlight the distinctiveness of student ministry and those ways it promotes and …