The evolution of a state-wide continuing education programme for allied health professionals

Allied health professionals require continuing education (CE) to maintain and improve competencies and standards of care. Research suggests that professional access to CE in rural areas can be difficult.

This article uses an action research framework to describe the development and implementation of a CE programme for allied health professionals in a rural area in Australia, and its subsequent evolution into a state-wide programme. To evaluate programme relevance, attendance and perceived clinical relevance, physiotherapists (n = 75) in southwest Victoria were surveyed 1year after commencement of a CE programme. A secondary outcome was the perceived effect on clinical practice.

More than two-thirds (68.6%) of physiotherapists attended at least one workshop, 57.2% attended four or more sessions and 22.9% attended at least one of the two conducted courses over the period. In addition, 20% of the physiotherapists perceived that attending the programme had a large positive effect on their therapeutic skills, whereas 68.6% reported some effect. From a regional CE programme for physiotherapists the programme evolved into a state-wide programme for 22 allied health professions.

But they won't come to lectures ... : the impact of recorded lectures on student experience and attendance

The move to provide increasingly flexible platforms for student learning and experience through provision of on-line lecture recordings, is often interpreted by students as meaning attendance at lectures is optional. The trend toward the use of such recordings is often met with resistance from some academic staff who cite anecdotal evidence that student attendance will reduce. This study aimed to explore students’ views of the use of on-line recorded lectures and to measure the impact of this technology on student attendance at lectures. A pre and post evaluation methodology was undertaken using a self-administered questionnaire that gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from students. Overall attendance was recorded at each lecture throughout the semester. Results indicated that attendance remained high throughout the semester and while only a minority of students used the recorded lectures, those who did found them to be helpful to their learning. Most students used the recordings to either supplement their learning or to make up a lecture that they had not been able to attend due to other circumstances. The study also provides evidence that contrary to popular belief, not all Generation Y students aspire to replace lectures with downloadable on-line versions. Many of the students in this study still valued the opportunity for interactive learning provided by face-to-face teaching. Finally, a model that outlines the attributes that contribute to quality teaching is used to describe how recording technology can contribute to positive student experiences and can enhance reflective teaching practices on the part of teachers.

Barriers to learners' successful completion of VET flexible delivery programs

In the early 1990s, Australian policymakers began explicitly promoting increased use of flexible delivery in vocational education and training (VET). Some researchers argued that many students lack the learning skills required to deal with the unique demands of flexible delivery. Concerns were also raised about the VET sector's capacity to help students develop needed cognitive and metacognitive skills. A review of the literature revealed wide agreement that students' success in flexible delivery and open and distance education in Australia and elsewhere is generally determined by a complex interplay of factors, including the following: readiness for self-directed learning; ability to balance the time demands of study with other commitments such as family and work; level of literacy; ability to understand and deal with assessment requirements; level of motivation; and previous educational experiences. Two case studies based on the actual experiences of two of six students interviewed about their experiences in flexible VET delivery were reviewed. Both students decided to withdraw from their VET course because of several interconnected factors that built up over time. Both cases illustrated that some problems that can be addressed quickly in face-to-face learning environments are much more difficult to resolve when students are off campus.

e-Chatter : breaking down the languge barrier

The e-Chatter environment will provide a transformative bilingual environment that aims to facilitate the development of mother-tongue and bilingual expertise through its ability to do simultaneous bi-directional translation.

Technology adoption : voices of teaching academics, educational designers and students

This folio presents three studies (a dissertation and two electives) which use qualitative case study methodologies to investigate technology adoption from three perspectives. Central to all three studies is the study context of Monash University. The Dissertation explores adoption of web-based learning and teaching approaches from the perspective of teaching academics as they incorporate these to facilitate their students’ learning. The study investigates teaching academics’ reasons for adopting these new technologies, the factors that influenced their adoption decisions, and the challenges they were confronted with, including the contributing factors that impacted on their adoption decisions. The study shows that while contextual factors such as power and politics of the school, department, faculty and the institution impact on adoption, supportive organisational infrastructures and policy frameworks are necessary to encourage adoption, including wider adoption. In turn, on going staff development, adoption of new work practices and being adaptive to changing work environments are key demands made on teaching academics as a result of adopting web-based teaching approaches. Elective 1, a smaller study, leads on from the dissertation and examines the impact of technology adoption on the evolving role of educational designers. The study identifies the educational designers’ role change in assisting teaching academics to move from more conventional forms of teaching to more technology based learner-centred collaborative models. An important aspect of the study is the managers’ perspectives of this role in a university that has adopted a strong flexible learning and technology policy. The findings show that educational designers now work as project managers in larger teams consisting of a wider range of professionals, their expanded role in introducing technology into learning designs, providing staff development in the area, and giving technical help including advice on copyright and intellectual property issues. Elective 2 explores student readiness to adopt these technologies for learning. The study is designed to achieve an understanding of three broad categories of learners from a first year design unit: (1) South East Asian and East Asian students, (2) all other international students, and (3) local Australian students are studied to examine their readiness for modes of learning that are flexible; their approaches to study in a creative discipline area; and their openness to using technology. Findings of the study are discussed under the key themes – dependence on the teacher and classroom environment, flexible learning and working alone, structure, communication and work patterns. The study concludes by discussing the possible cultural attributes that have an impact on the learning. The three studies found that the institution, its people, structures and processes must all adapt, evolve and grow in order to provide effective, engaging, student-centred web-based learning environments. Students in turn must be enabled to manage their study, make use of the technologies and maximise their learning experience. The findings revealed the stage of technology use reached at Monash University at the time of the study through the voices of the teaching academics, educational designers and students.

Using information and communications technology in higher education

A folio-based doctoral study comprising a dissertation, a major literature review, and a website. The dissertation identified key dimensions of blended learning environments created by the teachers in the study. These environments were characterised by different media blends and learning activities underpinned by resource-based learning approaches to teaching and learning.

Secondary students

Results indicated: Literacy programs provided optimal learning environments for access, participation and outcomes, reconnecting marginalised students to education; students were able to determine their preferred reading methods and educational pathways; students could negotiate work requirements, learned to be optimistic through creative pedagogies and built solid relationships through improved social skills.

Advice on online assessment

A good deal of investigation and development is underway in Australian universities into the possibilities for effective and efficient on-line and computer-based assessment. The current commercial ‘virtual learning environments’, which integrate various curriculum elements at subject level into a single software portal, usually offer various built-in options for student assessment. As well, many on-line assessment initiatives are being locally developed to suit specific curriculum needs.

There are many reasons why on-line assessment is being adopted by Australian universities. Many academics are seeking to diversify assessment tasks, broaden the range of skills assessed and provide students with more timely and informative feedback on their progress. Others are wishing to meet student expectations for more flexible delivery and to generate efficiencies in assessment that can ease academic staff workloads. All staff involved in such initiatives are discovering they face a large number of technical and educational decisions.

The move to on-line and computer based assessment is a natural outcome of the increasing use of information and communication technologies to enhance learning. As more students seek flexibility in their courses, it seems inevitable there will be growing expectations for flexible assessment as well.

At the same time, in a climate of increasing academic workloads, the adoption of on-line assessment may help to manage large volumes of marking and assessment-related administration efficiently. The automation of routine on-line tasks, in particular, may have the potential in the long-term to provide time/cost-efficient student assessment, though the present evidence suggests that some on-line assessment, at least in the early stages, can add significantly both to staff workload and to overall expenses.

An examination of the role of the e-tutor

As online learning environments continue to evolve, both teachers and students need to adapt to make the most of opportunities afforded by these environments for teaching and learning. The focus of this paper is on the changing role undertaken by tutors in online learning environments. We present a brief review of the current perspectives on the roles and responsibilities suggested for the e-tutor for effective teaching, and then report on a study where roles of e-tutors in a large wholly online unit were examined. The study supports the view that although the role of the e-tutor is similar to that of the face to face tutor in some respects, there are sufficient differences to make e-tutoring challenging to those who have not undertaken such online activities previously. Ongoing professional development is required to meet the changing demands of the technological environment, as well as the changing needs of
students.

Technographic research in online education : context, culture and ICT consumption

Technologically-mediated learning environments are an increasingly common component of university experience. In this paper, the authors consider how the interrelated domains of policy contexts, new learning cultures and the consumption of information and communication technologies might be explored using the concept of technography. Understood here as a term referring to “the apprehension, reception, use, deployment, depiction and representation of technologies” (Woolgar, 2005, pp. 27-28), we consider how technographic studies in education might engage in productive dialogues with interdisciplinary research from the fields of cultural and cyber studies. We argue that what takes place in online learning and teaching environments is shaped by the logics and practices of technologies and their role in the production of new consumer cultures.

An Arakawa and Gins experimental teaching space - a feasibility study

Many researchers and practitioners currently teaching at Universities use the works of Arakawa and Gins within their courses and some go as far as structuring entire courses on their work. This indcates the value of Arakawa and Gins’ insight which offers many opportunities to intensify the relationship of theory to practice, disciplinary inquiry to knowledge and art to life. Having spent time in each of Arakawa and Gins’ built works, I have experienced and evaluated the benefits of constructing relationships among bodily movement, tactically posed surrounds and the discursive sequences that best constrain them. Based on my experience, I advocate going beyond the study of finished products towards the practice of coordinating history, community, person and body that occurs when inventing and assembling architectural procedures. This paper will outline my efforts over the last eighteen months to produce a feasibility study for building an experimental teaching space at my University (Griffith University, Australia). The experimental teaching space that I am proposing would commission and enact the architectural procedures of Arakawa and Gins in a constantly changing built (in-the-process-of-being-built) environment, where the guided construction of the teaching space is the curriculum. This approach would offer an alternative to the design trend in teaching and learning environments toward technologically driven smart spaces. An experimental space based on “perceptual learning”, “sited awareness” and “daily reserach” would address the disconnection between current research from the life sciences, developmental psychology, rehabilitation science and blended learning—and the enrivonments in which learning occurs. My discussions will address two issues: the link between pedagogical concerns of advanced study with the production of commual space (organism-person-surrounds) and how these goals can be implemented within the institutional planning processes while adhering to new federal funding guidelines, new performance indicatiors, and public tender guidelines. Throughout my paper, I argue that an experimental teaching space would accentuate multidisciplinarity and offer budding teachers, life scientists, sociologists, historians, and artists the enactive tools by which to affect change and provide grounded cultural leadership.

The interactional effects of the internal and external university environment, and the influence of personal values, on satisfaction among international postgraduate students

The article investigates the interactional effects of internal and external university learning environments, and the influence of personal values, in the satisfaction formation process of international postgraduate students from Asia. Past research on student satisfaction has been narrowly focused on certain aspects of the university internal environment such as teaching, learning and support services. While acknowledging the impact of the internal learning environment on student satisfaction, the article argues that the external community environment, where students spend most of their academic life, has a much stronger influence on their satisfaction. It is also argued that students’ personal values have a mediating influence on the impact on student satisfaction of the internal and external learning environments. A sample of 411 international postgraduate business students from five Australian universities is used in the study. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data. Practical implications for universities are provided.

If you build it will they come? Exploring the student perspective of weekly student evaluations of teaching

This exploratory study investigated the students’ use of formative, weekly, online evaluations of teaching through a virtual learning environment. Results were based on in-depth interviews of seven students at a rural university college in the UK. Students from different genders, education levels and backgrounds volunteered for the study. The students thought it was a good tool and useful for providing anonymous feedback. However, their motivation to fill in the evaluations every week varied throughout the period of study, and the weekly feedback soon became routine and too onerous a task, and thus had a tendency towards being superficially conducted. Students were more inclined to comment on negative issues, rather than critically analyse positive ones. They also tended to be more positive towards conducting the evaluation if the lecturer discussed them and/or made changes to their future lectures.

Gender and socio-economic issues in the use of digital technologies in mathematics

This paper has been prepared to address the issues and questions of the theme ‘access, equity and socio-cultural issues’. Findings from two studies are reported. In the first study gender issues in mathematical learning environments when computers were used were investigated. In the second effective practices for teaching disadvantaged or marginalised students with digital technology are canvassed. Teaching for equity and social justice in the digital age is complex. Teachers need to be aware that their beliefs and classroom practices may exacerbate gender and cultural inequalities in mathematics learning. Approaches that are consistent with social-constructivist and democratic theories need further investigation.

Pedagogical practices with digital technologies : pre-service and practicing teachers

In this paper the pedagogical practices of practising teachers and pre- service teachers when using digital technologies are described and compared. Data were collected by observation of presentations about using digital technology in mathematics by teachers and pre-service teachers and practising teachers were interviewed. Teachers generally used pedagogical approaches involving student-centred activity whereas pre-service teachers were more likely to use technology to teach concepts by demonstration and were not inclined to use the more student- centred approaches, though many used guided tasks. The study enabled some analysis and reflection upon the promoted action in the learning environments of pre-service teachers.