Education Commons^™

Reflective Practice With Teachers Of Early Writers 2014: A Professional Learning Research Project For Early Childhood Teachers, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Janet Fellowes, Amelia Ruscoe

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Reflective Practice with Teachers of Early Writers was a professional learning project that sought to develop teacher understanding and practice in relation to how young children learn to communicate through writing. The project, which was funded by the association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA), was a collaborative venture between AISWA and Edith Cowan University (ECU). It built on the success of the 2013 project, Creating Texts with 21st Century Early Learners in which teachers undertook an action research project to explore effective ways of facilitating early writing...

Teaching Reading: A Shared Vision And A Shared Responsibility 2012-2013: Principals As Literacy Leaders In Ceo Schools, Deslea Konza, Paul Woodley, Sam De Leo, Helen Dixon

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The PALL Plus professional learning and research project was a collaborative effort between the Fogarty Learning Centre at Edith Cowan University and 16 Catholic primary schools within the Western Australian Catholic Education Office (CEO). It was initiated by the principal of Star of the Sea Primary School, Tim Emery, who coordinated involvement of the other schools and managed contractual responsibilities on behalf of the CEO. The project was based on the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) pilot project funded by the Commonwealth Government in 2009-2010, and originally developed in partnership with the Australian Primary Principals Association, Griffith University and the …

Embodied Learning: Towards New Models For Engaging With Art Within The University, Clive Barstow, Paul Uhlmann

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Mark Johnson’s embodied mind thesis (2007) makes a case for aesthetics as being the most important philosophy for the 21st century. If this is the case, then art schools become even more important to the advancement of knowledge; however economic reforms clearly place traditional art schools under enormous pressure. These two points provide a background for considering two ongoing projects as flexible models for embodied learning – the Jimmy Pike Scholarship, which is an annual artist-in- residency programme for Aboriginal artists, and the Third Space Project which is an ongoing International exchange programme between Edith Cowan University and University of …

Capturing Creative Practice, Lyndall Adams, Christopher Kueh, Renee Newman-Storen, Neil Ferguson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper will map the initial research surrounding capturing creative practice for the improvement of supervision and learning experiences in higher degree creative arts research in the School of Communications and Arts and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University. Despite differences in what constitutes ‘practice’ across creative disciplines, the difficulties in representing practice-led research processes in an academic context are shared. Through interviews and focus groups, this research explored how the failure to capture the creative process impacts on supervision and learning experiences for creative arts Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates and their supervisors. …

Exploring The Role Of Parents In Supporting Recreational Book Reading Beyond Primary School, Margaret K. Merga

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Levels of aliteracy have been found to rise in adolescence, and this article explores the potential influence of parents on this trend. The views of adolescent students who took part in semi-structured interviews for the West Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading (WASABR) provide insight into how parental support may change in the adolescent years. Student perspectives support earlier findings that there is an expiration of parental encouragement in many cases, though this sometimes occurs as children are avid readers and thus the support is no longer deemed necessary. The experiences of students with parents who provided continued encouragement into …

Personality Traits In Australian Business Graduates And Implications For Organizational Effectiveness, Denise A. Jackson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The Five-Factor model is widely accepted as a robust model of personality that influences workplace behaviour and performance. Given evidence of persistent skills gaps in Australia, it is important to explore personality traits in business graduates to understand whether they have the necessary characteristics to enable the country to perform successfully nationally and to compete on a global level, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty. This study examines personality traits in 674 Australian business graduates, using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), and variations in traits across demographic/background characteristics. The results indicate that graduates are relatively high in extroversion, conscientiousness and …

Pathways To Success: Evaluating The Use Of "Enabling Pedagogies" In A University Transition Course, Jeniffer M. Lane, Suzanne Sharp

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

All universities in the Western world strive to attract and retain students, particularly those students who would not normally engage in tertiary studies. One way to widen access to university courses is to provide an enabling or alternative entry pathway course. The research reported in this paper was undertaken at an Australian university that has a social equity agenda to support students from diverse backgrounds to successfully engage in tertiary study. An evaluation was conducted of a particular pathway course at this university, with a view to contributing to knowledge on teaching and learning strategies in enabling courses. The research …

Digitizing Practical Production Work For High-Stakes Assessments, Christopher P. Newhouse, Pina Tarricone

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

High-stakes external assessment for practical courses is fraught with problems impacting on the manageability, validity and reliability of scoring. Alternative approaches to assessment using digital technologies have the potential to address these problems. This paper describes a study that investigated the use of these technologies to create and submit digital representations of practical production work and forms of creative expression for summative high-stakes assessment. The study set out to determine the feasibility of students creating and submitting these digital representations for assessment and to identify which of analytical or comparative pairs scoring generated the more reliable scores. This paper proposes …

Visual Recognition Difficulties: Identifying Primary School Students' Directional Confusion In Writing Letters And Numbers, Janet E. Richmond, Myra F. Taylor

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Occupational therapists often assess primary school learners for letter and number reversal tendencies using scales which require recognition of reversed letters and numbers; however, these scales do not generally look at learners’ written production of letters and numbers to measure their reversal tendencies. This study aimed to determine whether learners reverse the same letters and numbers in reading and in writing. Method: This study utilised the Richmond Reversal Rating (RRR) Scale to identify which language symbols 118 primary school learners found difficult to recognise as being reversed when reading a series of letters and numbers and writing 20 letters …

Embedding Academic Socialisation Within A Language Support Program: An Australian Case Study, Shelley E. Beatty, Ashok Collins, Maureen A. Buckingham

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper describes discipline-specific transition support utilised to follow-up the Post-Entry Language Assessment (PELA) recently introduced at Edith Cowan University as one strategy to address declining rates of English language proficiency. Transition support was embedded within a first year core unit and emphasis was placed on assisting students to develop spoken and written communicative competencies by scaffolding assessment tasks and providing other academic supports that used contextualised examples. While general satisfaction with the academic support offered during the course was high, the program achieved limited success in encouraging at-risk students to seek support. Further investigation into methods of encouraging student …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Merit Pay In Georgia, Jessica Edenfield

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study explored the perceptions of implementing a merit pay plan as reported by elementary teachers in three rural Georgia school districts, one of which was participating in the Race to the Top (RT3) initiative. The study examined the perceptions of 109 elementary teachers in regard to merit pay implementation, models of merit pay, factors worthy of reward, and the impact that perceptions of school culture has on attitudes towards merit pay. The study employed a descriptive survey approach to address the research questions. An amended version of the Teacher Survey on Performance Pay was employed to explore the perceptions …

An Examination Of The Correlation Between The Seven Critical Leadership Functions And Middle School African-American And Hispanic Student Achievement, Shannon A. Flounnory

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This quantitative study examined possible correlations between each of the seven critical leadership functions and achievement in the areas of mathematics for eighth grade African-American and Hispanic students. The 117 participants included school leaders and students from 12 of the 19 middle schools in a metropolitan school district in the southeastern region of the United States. Principals from the middle schools in the district distributed the Critical Leadership Functions Questionnaire to members of their leadership team (e.g., assistant principals, school counselors, department chairs, etc.). CRCT scores measured student achievement. The researcher conducted a correlation study, using Pearson’s multivariable correlation data …

Retention Pathways For African American Males, Thaddeus L. Shubert

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a dropout prevention intervention on attitudes toward education among African American males in a rural alternative school in southeast Georgia as a means of understanding retention pathways for this population of students. The researcher approach to retention personified the slogan “Think Globally, Act Locally” by examining the nationwide dropout rate in the United States and implementing a dropout prevention program in a rural Georgia county. African American males have an alarmingly high attrition rate at the middle school, high school, and college levels and so research on how to …

A Mixed Methods Case Study Exploring The Outcomes Of Implementing A Digital Learning Management System In A Fourth Grade Language Arts Classroom, Sarah C. Mayberry

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Classrooms of today are in continual flux and state and local mandates are constantly reforming the curriculum in order to help prepare students to compete in a global society; in addition, advancements in technology have greatly impacted today’s students and how they learn as well as the way teachers instruct. As educators, we need to recognize what our students need to become successful citizens in today’s society, which often requires students to be critical evaluators of various types of information and requires them to become literate across a wide range of literacies. Not only is it critical that classroom teachers …

The Screen Speaks: Disability, Media & Schooling, Alicia S. Campbell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

As society becomes more technological on a daily basis, we are heavily influenced by the steady influx of information we receive from various types of media. This dissertation will investigate the relationship between our investments with popular media, particularly film, and with teachers’ perceptions of students with disabilities in secondary schools. I will first look at how disability is viewed in society, discussing both the more traditional models that are moral, medical and rehabilitative in nature and the more contemporary social model. I will explore the history of disability in society, schooling, and film and uncover patterns that illustrate the …

Development And Support Of Dual Language Policies, Hollis Derek Cone

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Teaching a second language is not a new idea. Bilingual education has gone through a metamorphosis over the years. The most current bilingual program is the two-way or dual language program. Dual language programs educate students that speak a different language in the same classroom. The idea is that one group is strengthened in its native language; the other group acquires the second language.

Each local school board must implement its own policies to create a dual language program; unfortunately, few, if any, research studies exist that identify how local school boards can implement a dual language program. School districts …

Hostos Community College Academic Bulletin 2014-2016, Hostos Community College

College Bulletins

This is the official college catalog for 2014-2016. It contains course descriptions as well as information on degree programs, college resources and services, financial aid, admissions, and the academic calendar.

Teaching English As A Second Language Through Rap Music: A Curriculum For Secondary School Students, Beth Segal

Master's Theses

This project provides a sample of the curriculum, Rapping English, which uses rap/hip-hop style music to teach ELLs vocabulary, grammar, discourse and prosody. The rationale for using musical instruction is based on Gardner’s (2006) multiple intelligence theory and Bloom’s (1978) learning domains. This curriculum instructs students through musical intelligence and the affective domain which are often neglected in traditional instruction. Furthermore, this project explores how musical curriculum can be used to lower the affective filter (Krashen, 1981) and provide emotionally appealing and memory stimulating instruction in line with the findings of current neuropsychology, specifically the work of R. Caine and …

An Investigation Of The Private Efl Sector In South Korea: Meeting Students’ And Parents’ Goals And Expectations, Stephen Ostermiller

Master's Theses

In South Korea, there is an abundance of expatriate educators working in the large, private English education industry. Many of these educators work for private language institutes known as hagwons, where they teach English as a foreign language (EFL) to preschool and primary school students. However, due to language barriers and other circumstances, these workers rarely communicate with the parents of their students. Couple this with a lack of knowledge about the history and current state of EFL education in Korea, and many of these educators are left unaware of the goals and expectations that these parents have for their …

Secondary Teachers As Early Childhood Principals: A Qualitative Case Study, Brian Dale Kingrey

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Research has demonstrated a correlation between effective education leaders, principals in particular, and student achievement. The correlation included characteristics, or responsibilities, that effective principals exhibit in order to raise student achievement. These responsibilities, along with developmentally appropriate practices, serve as conceptual frameworks for this case study. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of preschool through third grade teachers who have served under principals with early childhood/elementary backgrounds and those with backgrounds in middle/secondary education. This qualitative case study focused on 10 Iowa early childhood classroom teachers in grades preschool through third. Further, all participants currently …

The Effects Of Living In A Springboard House During One's First Year At The University Of Northern Iowa, Laura Trettin

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines the effects and benefits of college students residing in a Springboard house community at UNI during one’s entire freshmen year. Springboard house communities are unique to the University of Northern Iowa as they provide a living environment in which first-year students can self-select to participate. However, there is no common class that complements the community. In addition, the RAs do not go through any separate training to learn how to work with the springboard house students, but they do offer programming that is geared towards first-year students. This study investigated the freshmen experience by gathering data regarding …

Problem Based Learning 4, Robert Howard

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Assessment criteria for teaching groups through PBL.

Context Based Learning, Claire Mcdonnell, Sarah Rawe

Assessment & Feedback Cases

The students are provided with journal articles or academic papers from which they must design their experimental procedure to produce a target drug (or compound). The student then carries out all the typical duties of an industrial scientist (e.g. health and safety, reagent preparation, reactions, analysis, data recording, data analysis and report writing). Finally, the student must estimate the cost of producing a specific quantity of the target drug based on their method.

Wikis, Theresa Ryan

Assessment & Feedback Cases

This assessment on e-tourism asks students to evaluate the e-tourism strategies of a particular destination. Students are broken into groups of 4-5 and all have to participate in all tasks. The wiki style allows the lecturer to see exactly who is contributing to what extent. It also encourages collaboration and students like it as it is something new.

Reflective Practice, Robert Tully

Assessment & Feedback Cases

This project is for students to communicate through a Design Manifesto, where they are in relation to design. It is a reflective piece of work in any medium, with recommendations to consider video/dance/music. One of the students wrote, recorded and performed a song on video about design, some make cartoons, magazines etc.. They are put up on Vimeo or YouTube, DIT are populating Design Manifesto on YouTube. This project sits within a Professional Practice Module and must be a piece of work that can be displayed professionally and should be focussed on adequate reflection. Final presentation is to the class …

Students Learning With Communities, Claire Mcdonnell, Sarah Rawe

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Students work in groups to research and prepare a short scientific demonstration and hands-on activities for partner primary school children in an initiative called “A Slice of Science”. Each member of the group prepares on section of the lesson plan and the group has time to practice and prepare the lesson on-site before going to the primary school to run the demonstration/workshop. Students are assessed based on the use of online discussion board activities and their participation in class. Further assessment includes the standard of the lesson delivered off site, a reflective essay and a log-book.

Literature Review, Patricia O'Byrne

Assessment & Feedback Cases

This use case describes how one assessment method was designed and implemented by a lecturer or a group of lecturers in DIT. The use case was compiled from an interview conducted as part of DIT’s RAFT project (2013-14), the aim of which was to provide a database of assessment practices designed and implemented by academic staff across DIT.

Digital Media, Catherine Barry-Ryan

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Students produce a short (3 to 4 minute) group (4/group) video production, detailing a biochemistry concept. The group decides the choice of content during the initial meetings and storyboarding of the idea(s). The content must address, in some way, a biochemical concept related to TFBC2001. This concept could be the basis of an important biochemical experiment, a creative explanation of a biochemical hypothesis, addressing a biochemical misconception, or exploring a biochemical model. The video can contain any form of multimedia (video, sound, audio, animation etc.) but it must be visual, engaging and creative.

Blogs For Workplace Assessment, Julie Dunne, Sinead Ryan

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Students out on work placement undertake a period of writing individual reflective blogs (4 x weekly blog @ 400 words per blog) to capture their experiences and reflections on experiences. Assigned to small groups, they also are required to interact with the blogs of peers though reflective comments. Students are also encouraged to read as many blogs written by their peers (outside their assigned group) and comment if they wish. Marking is across several desired outcomes (see rubric). Feedback is provided after the first blog which is not marked. Feedback is via a comment on the student blog. All students …

Portfolio, Matt Bowden

Assessment & Feedback Cases

Practice based assessment using concepts and theories. Students write about 4 different elements in 2,000 words.