Enhancing student learning in a first year business program

The central purpose of this study was to investigate whether specific teaching and learning activities, such as concept mapping and reconceptualising the assessment criteria, could improve student learning outcomes in a first year Business program. The rationale for designing such strategies was based on a preliminary study, which examined the specific characteristics of the student cohort, and relevant literature. Overall, findings of this research suggest that these measures can improve student learning outcomes on a written task and further lighlighted the importance of engaging the student within the learning process.

Enriching student experience and inter-professional learning of inclusive design with Second Life

This position paper reflects rapid advances in immersive 2D and 3D eLearning technologies and the expanding pool of ideas and applications in higher education across two professions. Inspiration has been drawn from examples in design learning, and various multidisciplinary collaborative projects through developmental research in Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs). Linden Lab's Second Life (SL) is the most mature and popular of the ‘persistent’ virtual worlds. The study described in this paper aims to increase the authenticity of student learning through a range of SL simulated ‘life experiences’ relating to accessibility and mobility in the built environment. Significantly, the successes of such initiatives lie in several elements: teaching champions with vision and courage; detailed scripting of precise role-play encounters for first-time users to provide supportive ‘blended learning’ contexts; careful and vigilant strategic management of facilities and resources, and a robust design program. This paper focuses on the crucial alignment of these elements to the specific challenges of designing and navigating conception and development processes, to enable the execution and delivery of a tightly defined script for meaningful and memorable learning outcomes. This innovative pedagogical approach lacks time-tested outcomes, but is recognised equally as opportunity and challenge; risk and reward.

Vignette 6 Pluridisciplinary learning and assessment : reflections on practice

While designing group assessment for student learning outcomes is always difficult, the task is made more challenging in an interdisciplinary context. How much focus should be placed on assessment of discipline-specific knowledge, how much on the interdisciplinary knowledge that emerges as students work together in a non-linear, co-rational design and how much on the group dynamic (generic capabilities) being developed? While additional learning outcomes can be expected from the activities in which students engage in an interdisciplinary context, there is also an expectation, particularly for disciplines such as accounting, engineering and architecture where courses are professionally accredited, that discipline-specific learning outcomes are not compromised. This vignette presents some of the complexities that surfaced during the implementation of a pilot course designed as an experiential real world of work challenge for student.

Why use action research for teachers’ professional learning in PNG?

This paper reports on a study of the use of action research for remote primary school teachers’  professional learning in two provinces in PNG. There is significant international literature and research available on the characteristics of professional learning models that lead to quality outcomes for teachers and students alike. Action research is one approach to professional learning that includes a number of these internationally recognised characteristics. It constitutes an inquiry-based approach that encourages teachers to reflect on their own practices, and take ownership of the solutions to problems occurring in their own contexts.

The project draws on the international literature and research on effective professional learning, as well as the particular requirements of teachers in remote areas of Papua New Guinea, to develop a model for professional learning that could be adopted as a sustainable and effective approach to improving student learning outcomes. Improving such outcomes is essential in countries such as Papua New Guinea as they strive to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Basic Education.

The paper first provides a rationale for using action research in the context of remote schools in Papua New Guinea. A critique follows of the issues associated with the methodology and how these issues were resolved throughout the action research process and, finally, the paper concludes with some suggestions on how this model can be appropriated in other countries’ contexts.

Splash!: a prospective birth cohort study of the impact of environmental, social and family-level influences on child oral health and obesity related risk factors and outcomes

Background: Dental caries (decay) is the most prevalent disease of childhood. It is often left untreated and can impact negatively on general health, and physical, developmental, social and learning outcomes. Similar to other health issues, the greatest burden of dental caries is seen in those of low socio-economic position. In addition, a number of diet-related risk factors for dental caries are shared risk factors for the development of childhood obesity. These include high and frequent consumption of refined carbohydrates (predominately sugars), and soft drinks and other sweetened beverages, and low intake of (fluoridated) water. The prevalence of childhood obesity is also at a concerning level in most countries and there is an opportunity to determine interventions for addressing both of these largely preventable conditions through sustainable and equitable solutions. This study aims to prospectively examine the impact of drink choices on child obesity risk and oral health status.
Methods/Design: This is a two-stage study using a mixed methods research approach. The first stage involves qualitative interviews of a sub-sample of recruited parents to develop an understanding of the processes involved in drink choice, and inform the development of the Discrete Choice Experiment analysis and the measurement instruments to be used in the second stage. The second stage involves the establishment of a prospective birth cohort of 500 children from disadvantaged communities in rural and regional Victoria, Australia (with and without water fluoridation). This longitudinal design allows measurement of changes in the child’s diet over time, exposure to fluoride sources including water, dental caries progression, and the risk of childhood obesity.
Discussion: This research will provide a unique contribution to integrated health, education and social policy and program directions, by providing clearer policy relevant evidence on strategies to counter social and environmental factors which predispose infants and children to poor health, wellbeing and social outcomes; and evidence-based strategies to promote health and prevent disease through the adoption of healthier lifestyles and diet. Further, given the absence of evidence on the processes and effectiveness of contemporary policy implementation, such as community water fluoridation in rural and regional communities it’s approach and findings will be extremely
informative.

Learning through constructing representations in science : a framework of representational construction affordances

Compared with research on the role of student engagement with expert representations in learning science, investigation of the use and theoretical justification of student-generated representations to learn science is less common. In this paper, we present a framework that aims to integrate three perspectives to explain how and why representational construction supports learning in science. The first or semiotic perspective focuses on student use of particular features of symbolic and material tools to make meanings in science. The second or epistemic perspective focuses on how this representational construction relates to the broader picture of knowledge-building practices of inquiry in this disciplinary field, and the third or epistemological perspective focuses on how and what students can know through engaging in the challenge of representing causal accounts through these semiotic tools. We argue that each perspective entails productive constraints on students’ meaning-making as they construct and interpret their own representations. Our framework seeks to take into account the interplay of diverse cultural and cognitive resources students use in these meaning-making processes. We outline the basis for this framework before illustrating its explanatory value through a sequence of lessons on the topic of evaporation.

Online role play stories, engagement and learning in higher education

This thesis studies online role plays as they are used in higher education. It finds that where students are able to develop engaging stories together, their story-building can promote a range of learning outcomes. It also identifies techniques to develop their critical awareness and skills, and makes design recommendations.

Learning science through representational generation/negotiation

This paper will describe the key features and theoretical underpinnings of a representation-intensive pedagogy developed in a six-year research program, and its relationship to the epistemic practices of science. The pedagogy draws on socio cultural, pragmatist perspectives on learning and cognition that view knowledge as grounded in multi modal representations that are discursively generated, negotiated and coordinated in science classrooms. From this perspective, the learning challenges identified by research in the conceptual change tradition are seen as inherently representational in nature, and the central feature of the pedagogy involves students generating representations in response to structured challenges. The paper will interrogate the key aspects of the pedagogy and the way it supports learning, using evidence from a range of units designed by the researchers working in partnership with a small group of teachers. The role of representations in supporting learning will be explored in terms of the way they afford and productively constrain knowledge generation, mirroring the epistemic practices of science. Lesson transcripts, and examples of student artefacts will be presented to demonstrate significant reasoning and learning outcomes.

Using video tutorials as a carrot-and-stick approach to learning

Traditional teaching styles practiced at universities do not generally suit all students' learning styles. For a variety of reasons, students do not always engage in learning in the courses in which they are enrolled. New methods to create and deliver educational material are available, but these do not always improve learning outcomes. Acknowledging these truths and developing and delivering educational material that provides diverse ways for students to learn is a constant challenge. This study examines the use of video tutorials within a university environment in an attempt to provide a teaching model that is valuable to all students, and in particular to those students who are not engaging in learning. The results of a three-year study have demonstrated that the use of well-designed, assessment-focused, and readily available video tutorials have the potential to improve student satisfaction and grades by enabling and encouraging students to learn how they want, when they want, and at a pace that suits their needs.

Creating high challenge/high support academic environments through constructive alignment: student outcomes

Higher education needs to provide challenging yet supportive learning environments catering for students with diverse academic needs. There is also an emphasis on using student-driven outcome measures to determine teaching effectiveness. How can these measures be used to reflect upon and evaluate teaching initiatives? Using an undergraduate occupational therapy programme as the site for exploration, this article reports on an application of constructive alignment principles and describes how available empirical data were used to explore student outcomes. A comparison was made between student evaluations and academic grades prior to, and after the implementation of the initiative. Results provide evidence of improvement in student satisfaction and academic grades as a result of implementing constructive alignment. Whilst it is acknowledged that changes in academic grades and student evaluations can be attributed to a number of factors, findings of this study support a view that constructive alignment facilitates students' learning and experiences.

Designing online role plays with a focus on story development to support engagement and critical learning for higher education students

Online role plays, as they are designed for use in higher education in Australia and internationally, are active and authentic learning activities (Wills, Leigh & Ip, 2011). In online role plays, students take a character role in developing a story that serves as a metaphor for real-life experience in order to develop a potentially wide range of subject-related and generic learning outcomes. The characteristics of these stories are rarely considered as factors in the design―and success―of these activities. The unspoken cultural assumptions, norms and rules in the stories that impact on the meanings students make from their experiences are also rarely scrutinised in the online role play literature. This paper presents findings from a case study of an asynchronous text-based online role play involving politics and journalism students from three Australian universities. The findings highlight the centrality of students’ collaborative story-building activity to their engagement and learning, including their development of critical perspectives. The study underlines the importance of certain aspects of the role play's design to support students' story-building activity.

Analysis of asynchronous online discussion forums for collaborative learning

Online discussion forums are well suited for collaborative learning systems. Much of the currently available research indicates that effectively designed collaborative learning systems motivate and enhance learning experiences of the participants which in turn lead to enhanced learning outcomes. This paper develops taxonomy of the asynchronous online discussion forums with the aims of increasing the understanding and awareness of various types of asynchronous discussion forums. The taxonomy is framed by constructivist pedagogical principles of asynchronous online discussion forum. The key attributes of online discussions and the factors influencing the discussion forum’s design are identified. The taxonomy will help increase the online course designers’ ability to design more effective learning experiences for student success and satisfaction. It will also help researchers to understand the various features of the asynchronous discussion forums. The article concludes with implications for pedagogy and suggestions for the direction of future theoretical and empirical research.

Evaluation of delivery of the switched on secondary science professional learning (SOSSPL) program

The Switched On Secondary Science Professional Learning (SOSSPL) program consisted of three days professional learning. Days 1 and 2 were undertaken consecutively, with Day 3 following a break of several weeks. The break allowed sufficient time for teachers to undertake a small classroom-based project within one of the topics teachers will be teaching at the time. The program was designed to build teacher capacity to improve learning outcomes in secondary science.

Evaluation of delivery of the switched on secondary science professional learning (SOSSPL) program (2011-12)

The Switched On Secondary Science Professional Learning (SOSSPL) program consisted of three days professional learning for Victorian DEECD secondary science teachers. Days 1 and 2 were undertaken consecutively, with Day 3 following a break of several weeks. The break allowed sufficient time for teachers to undertake a small classroom-based project within one of the topics they were teaching at the time. The program was designed to build teacher capacity to improve student learning outcomes in secondary science.

The program supported teachers to plan and implement classroom sequences that focused on student construction and interpretation of different representations of the science concepts and processes that are described by the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS): Science and the Science Continuum P-10. The Deakin University team in collaboration with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) produced curriculum resources for the program that encapsulated a representational focus to the teaching and learning of science. The program explored and linked to core DEECD resources such as the e5 Instructional Model and the Science Continuum P-10.
The SOSSPL program was delivered in all Victorian DEECD regions in 2010-11 and was evaluated (Hubber et al, 2011). The program was delivered again in all Victorian DEECD regions in 2011-12. The evaluation of the 2011-12 program is reported here with some comparisons made to the findings from the previously delivered program.
This evaluation of the SOSSPL program involved an online survey, daily workshop evaluations, focus group and presentations data of the participating teachers’ classroom-based projects. The aim of the evaluation was to make a judgement about the effectiveness of the SOSSPL program in terms of building teacher capacity to improve student learning outcomes in secondary science.

Social moderation, assessment and assuring standards for accounting graduates

Evidencing student achievement of standards is a growing imperative worldwide. Key stakeholders (including current and prospective students, government, regulators and employers) want confidence that threshold learning standards in an accounting degree have been assured. Australia’s new higher education regulatory environment requires that student achievements are benchmarked against intended programme learning outcomes, guided by published disciplinary standards and a national qualifications framework, and against other higher education providers. Here, we report on a process involving academics from 10 universities, aided by professional practitioners, to establish and equip assessors to reliably assure threshold learning standards in accounting that are nationally comparable. Importantly, we are learning more about how standards are interpreted. Based on the premise that meaning is constructed from tacit experiences, social interactions and intentional reflection on explicit information, we report outcomes of three multi-part calibration interventions, situated around judgements of the quality of the written communication skills exhibited in student work and their related assessment tasks. Qualitative data from 30 participants in the calibration process suggest that they perceive that the process both assists them both in developing a shared understanding of the accounting threshold learning standards and in the redesign of assessment tasks to more validly assess the threshold learning standards.