Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Exploring The Beliefs Of Commencing Early Childhood Education Graduate Students: Providing Insights To Improve Teacher Education Programs, Susanne Garvis, Bev Fluckiger, Danielle Twigg

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In response to the increased demand for qualified early childhood educators in Queensland, many universities are being challenged to tailor make programs and identify innovative practices that support individuals interested in pursuing such a teaching qualification. Although research indicates that beliefs and perceptions are an important influence on pre-service teacher success in teacher education programs as well as in the workforce, little is known, however, about those of students as they enter early childhood education programs. This study focuses on the beliefs and perceptions that students bring to a Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education (GDipECE) being offered at Griffith …

Shall We Play A Game?, Craig Caulfield

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In response to real and perceived short-comings in the quality and productivity of software engineering practices and projects, professionally-endorsed graduate and post-graduate curriculum guides have been developed to meet evolving technical developments and industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software engineering management skills and soft, peopleware skills as critical for all graduating students, but they provide little guidance on how to achieve this. One possible way is to use a serious game — a game designed to educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This thesis presents …

Comparative Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Online Vs Paper Based Post Graduate Courses In Occupational And Environmental Safety And Health At Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Suzanna Paul

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although online / e-learning is shifting the teaching paradigm at tertiary institutions, there are limited studies that assess the effectiveness of online courses, particularly in the occupational and environmental health field and among mature aged students. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of online "Blackboard" units as compared to traditional "paper based" units taught as part of the Professional Masters in Occupational and Environmental Health at the Edith Cowan University. Unit commencement and completion questionnaires were designed and distributed over two academic semesters (in 2004 and 2005) to evaluate students' perceptions of the effectiveness of …

An Exploration Of Student Performance, Utilization, And Attitude To The Use Of A Controlled Content Sequencing Web Based Learning Environment, Justin A. Brown

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Universities, traditionally places of teaching and research, have seen and are continuing to see radical changes occur in the area of teaching and the methods of teaching delivery. The World Wide Web, or ‘Web’ has begun to subsume the classroom as the preferred means by which students access their tertiary learning materials, and ultimately, how academic staff deliver those materials. The delivery of learning via the Web takes many forms and is generically, and usually inaccurately, referred to by such names as e-learning, online learning, web-based training and web based education, using such technologies as virtual learning environments, learning management …

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 …

Reading The World Of University : What Counts?, Pamela Green, Gloria Latham

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper will address the issues encountered by first year students in reading and reshaping the culture of university. The interim findings of a six year study will be dismantled in order to uncover what counts in the experience of first year university and the ramifications for educational practice and discourse. Feedback from staff continues to indicate that there is growing disparity between their expectations of first year students and student performance in areas such as independent learning, research skills, academic reading and writing, as well as the use of new technologies. There also seems to be a gap between …

Teaching And Learning In Higher Education : Nurturing Critical Reflection For Bridging Theory/Practice Links : A Case Study In Social Work Education, Gary Keith Ovington

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The 1990s has witnessed two 'institutions' in 'crisis': higher education and social work. In higher education. government has brandished its quality sword and the long-neglected area of teaching is prominent in the war cry. In social work, major stakeholders have constructed the crisis as the 'theory/practice problematic' and the systemic intervention has been the prima facie increasing power of non-academic bodies to shape social work curriculum. This study is set within this context of quality teaching and theory/practice issues. It is an action research study of the teaching and learning dynamic of a first year social work subject which seeks …

A Focus On Learning : Wuality In Teaching & Learning : The Proceedings Of The Teaching & Learning Forum, Edith Cowan University, Perth, February 1995, Laurie Summers (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

These papers represent the proceedings of the fourth Teaching and Learning Forum conducted in Perth from February 7-9, 1995. Curtin University hosted the first two Forums and we at Edith Cowan University the third and fourth. In 1996 the honour (and the hard work) transfers to Murdoch.

The Forum's objectives were:

• To bring together people in higher education who are interested in practical teaching issues (Lecturers, managers, administrators, students, support, general and technical staff).

• To share ideas, information and practices in a variety of mutually supportive, friendly and co-operative ways.

• To celebrate quality in teaching and learning …

End-On Innovation : A School-Based Approach To Secondary Teacher Education, Kym L. Adey, Graeme Speedy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

One year "end-on" teacher education programs following a degree have long been a common approach to initial preparation of teachers, particularly secondary teachers. These programs have also been the subject of consistent criticism. They have been variously described as too brief, too theoretical, overcrowded with too many topics, superficial, short on school practice. Major reviews such as the Report of the National Inquiry into Teacher Education (Department of Education 1980) and the Discipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science (DEET 1989) have recommended increasing both the length of the programs and their emphasis on preparation for classroom practice. …

Reading "Academic Writing", Mary Scott

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Helping studetns learn how to learn is now a concern for most U.K. institutions of higher education. The study skill given most emphasis is "academic writing", no doubt because it is on the quality of their written assignments that students' success or failure larely turns.

In Defence Of Australian Academic Unionism, Grahame Mcculloch

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper does not aspire to be an objective account of academic unionism. It is written from my perspective as a committed union activist, and comes at a time when there is a real prospect of a substantial erosion of the role and authority of Australia's academic unions. I refer, of course, to the well publicised plans to developed a model of academic industrial relations in which working conditions would be radically deregulated, and in which unions would be given only a limited role. Unionism is seen as responsible for the debasement of collegial life in our universities, and the …

Curriculum Decision Making For National Interest In The Tertiary Sector: An Evaluation Of A Curriculum Project, Stephen Duggan, Lyndall Boyle

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper is concerned with a study of comparative curriculum practice within the tertiary sector. Within Australia, curriculum practice, innovation, planning and evaluation has occurred mainly within the primary and secondary school system. However, since the mid-1980s, educational strategies for national interest have seen the evolution of informed curriculum research and development within the tertiary sector, as universities and colleges endeavour to meet nationally determined educational goals and objectives. This study relates the research process involved when tertiary educators (and researchers) are faced with the task of reconciling local, regional and national objectives. In particular, it considers the dynamics of …

An Ethnographic Approach To The Initial Professional Education Of Teachers, K. J. Stevens

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Educational ethnography has become part of the research tradition of both sociology and anthropology, that is, "research on and in educational institutions based on participant observation and/or permanent recordings of everyday life in naturally-occurring settings" (Delamont & Atkinson, 1980). While most graduate students of education will today be familiar with ethnographic research, this paper outlines a way in which first year students can also make creative use of some aspects of this approach.

During their professional education, pre-service teachers are expected to make the transition from the status of student to that of teacher. For some this is an abrupt …

Success And Failure In Tertiary Education, With Reference To School Attended : A Re-Examination, E. P. Otto

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The first part of this paper reviews the research evidence accumulated to date which bears on the question, "How useful is information about a student's secondary school for an assessment of his likelihood of succeeding in tertiary studies?" Knowledge of whether a student entering university or college comes from a State, Catholic or other Private school appears to be useful to personnel making admissions decisions. The differing academic performance of students from these three types of schools is largely, unrelated to faculty choice, tertiary entrance qualifications, aptitude and intelligence. The way a student approaches his University or college work seems …