Framing and enhancing distributed leadership in the quality management of online learning environments in higher education

This article reports on the findings of senior leadership interviews in a nationally funded project on distributed leadership in the quality management of online learning environments (OLEs) in higher education. Questions were framed around the development of an OLE quality management framework and the situation of the characteristics of distributed leadership at the core of the framework. The project’s premise is that distributed leadership is a descriptive reality of managing OLEs given the various leadership parties involved and the complexities of the contemporary technological landscape. Leaders’ understandings of distributed leadership were examined—its nature, value and potential for advancing the quality management of OLEs. There was confirmatory evidence of its reality, but its meaning and value were not uncritically accepted. It can be concluded that building distributed leadership must start through deliberative formal leadership commitment and action starting at the highest levels of the institution.

Fostering cultural diversity in Australia: a case study of teaching, learning and assessing African musical arts

Australia is forged by ongoing migration welcoming a range of cultures, languages and ethnicities thus celebrating a diverse range of musical arts. In this multicultural society, music and dance may serve as a positive medium to transmit and promote social cohesion. I argue that the inclusion of innovative and immersive practice of African music in particular where authentic teaching and learning is facilitated may help foster understandings of culture in educational settings and the wider society. As a migrant forming part of the African Diaspora in Melbourne, I am strongly connected to my ancestral homeland (South Africa) when teaching African music to Australian tertiary students. Having gained ethical clearance to undertake the two research projects at Deakin University in Melbourne (Attitudes and perceptions of Arts Education Students: preparing culturally responsive teachers and Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings of Music Education), I discuss tertiary students experience in relation to the teaching and learning of African music within higher education courses. Drawing on interview, questionnaire, observation notes, anecdotal feedback and narrative reflection, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and code the data into themes. By offering a discussion of assessment and evaluation, I explore and invite international dialogue in regards to how best we can prepare, assess and evaluate our students to improve the quality of musical arts education.

Culture and leadership in educational administration: a historical study of what was and what might have been

This paper examines the consequences for school leadership of the abandonment of Waller's insights into the school as a social organism and the embracing of the cult of efficiency as the foundation for the analysis of school culture. Tracing the separation of conception from execution, leadership from teaching, administration from education through the cult of professionalism and functionalist sociology, the paper argues that a more appropriate basis for understanding both leadership and the culture of the school can be derived from ethnographies of schooling which show the complex interactions of internal and external cultures in the construction of leadership and the culture of the school.

Toward supporting e-learning and providing e-teaching services for e-world

We are entering the e-World. One special part of it is an e-University that supports e-Learning and provides e-Teaching services. Graduates must be well prepared for working in, with and through the e-World. e-Learning and e-Teaching services are necessary to support modern students learning and help academics to provide excellent teaching. This document reports on the School of Information Technology' initiatives, projects, courses and systems that lead toward e-Learning and e-Teaching in preparation of graduates for the e-World. The major lesson of our work toward supporting e-Learning and providing e-Teaching services is that the School's (the authors believe higher education) greatest asset is intellectual capital (human capital), not intellectual property.

Developing and teaching information systems for construction management students: a perspective in Deakin University

A new unit named Information Systems in Construction was developed and taught for the first time in the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University in Semester 1 2003 for first-year construction management students. This paper reports on key issues that arose during the unit development process and the implementation of teaching activities. Special consideration is given to the learners (first year students), the teaching environment (online teaching and learning), the unit background (information technology and information system), and the discipline (international construction). Several suggestions are outlined for improving the unit development and delivery in the next round.

A study of face-to-face and online teaching philosophies in Canada and Australia

The perspectives of instructors who teach both online and face-to-face in a higher education context have been compared in this study. The differences and similarities between their approaches, and the influences each modality has on the other have been explored, as well as possible differences in organizational cultures between the groups who were based in Canada and Australia. The trend to blended learning in higher education was an important outcome of the study.

Trends, fads and futures : computers in learning in tertiary education, 1983-2002

ASCILITE, the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, is a professional society focusing on computers in learning in tertiary education that has been sponsoring conferences for its membership since 1986. Prior to this, three earlier conferences formed the genesis of ASCILITE. Over that period there have been significant changes in pedagogy and technology but few attempts, if any, have been made to analyse the ways in which conference proceedings have reflected these changes and shifts. The purpose of this research paper is to review the ASCILITE proceedings and provide an analysis of “trends, fads and futures” to reflect on past initiatives, propose potential directions and assist the society identify strategic directions. In addition, the analysis will provide a basis from which further research can be justified in terms of better understanding “computers in learning in tertiary education”.

Why are we still teaching the way we were taught in the 1980s?

The article discusses project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council which is designed to establish excellence in science learning and teaching in Australian universities. Six universities across the country were chosen for the initial implementation of the project. According to the article, during the duration of the project, leaders will undergo leadership training to equip them with skills necessary to foster change in classroom practices.

Game-centred models and teaching in culturally diverse settings

This presentation draws on the observations and experiences that we, as teacher educators, have had using Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) as a pedagogical tool with generalist pre-service teachers in two different sites: Malaysia and Australia. TGfU is a game-centred pedagogy in which students learn the „Why‟ of game playing before the „How‟ of the skills associated with the game. This concept is based on a student-centred approach to learning. The benefit of this pedagogy to generalist teachers is the notion that they are not required to be a master of many sports. This narrative relates the observations and experiences of teacher educators of Malaysian and Australian generalist pre-service teachers confronted with teaching and learning TGfU for the first time in their culturally specific contexts. The two key issues arising from teaching the TGfU model were: the disparity in the cohorts‟ experiences arising from institutionalised conceptions by the pre-service teachers of what and how learning occurs in physical education; and the pre-service teachers‟ difficulty with implementing the TGfU model in a practical situation. Crossing the cultural divide for the Malaysian and Australian pre-service teachers required them to explore more fully the range of approaches to teaching and to recognise a more student-centred approach as a valid and authentic tool. As both teachers and observers of this process, our intention was to examine the two cohorts‟ learning and subsequent teaching with the aim of developing better understandings of the challenges when teaching TGfU in tertiary settings.

Using everyday experiences in teaching secondary mathematics in Malawi : possibilities and constraints for change

Proponents of socially and culturally oriented mathematics education have argued that teaching approaches which value and connect with the learner's prior knowledge and everyday experience are more likely to promote active, meaningful, relevant and liberatory learning than approaches which rely on transmission and abstract presentation of mathematical content. In Malawi, proposals to reform the outdated secondary mathematics curriculum have been made with the aim of aligning mathematics instruction with the social and political changes in the current Malawian society. Using a case study approach, this study investigated the extent to which everyday experiences could be used as a vehicle for changing the learning and teaching of secondary mathematics in Malawi. The study was collaborative, taking place over a period of five months in severely overcrowded and poorly resourced classes in two schools. It involved three mathematics teachers in a cycle of planning and teaching mathematics lessons based on the use of everyday experiences, and observation of and reflection on these lessons, in order to document the effects of using everyday experiences on student learning and teachers' teaching practices. The data was collected through student questionnaires; classroom observations and fieldnotes; interviews and reflective meetings with teachers; and informal meetings with key education officials in Malawi. Mathematics examination results from students involved in this study and a corresponding group from the previous year were collected. A reflective and critical approach was adopted in the interpretation and discussion of the data. Teachers' participation in this study resulted in heightened awareness of their teaching roles and the value of linking school mathematics with everyday experience. The study also shows that students found mathematics interesting and important to learn despite their lack of success in it. In addition, the study documented a number of constraints to change in mathematics instruction such as teachers' focus on mathematics content and examination requirements, and students' resistance to inquiry learning. It also recorded possibilities and barriers to collaboration both between teachers and researchers, and teachers themselves. The findings of this study are timely since they could serve to inform the reform of the Malawian secondary mathematics curriculum currently being undertaken, which began without a critical examination of the classroom conditions necessary to accommodate a socio-politically relevant mathematics education.

Examining the development of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning and its implications for schools and teacher education in Australia

The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a very successful senior secondary school qualification introduced in the Australian state of Victoria in 2002. Applied learning in the VCAL engages senior students in a combination of work-based learning, service-learning, and project-based learning and aims to provide them with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to make informed choices regarding pathways to work and further education. The program has enjoyed rapid growth and its system-wide adoption by Victorian secondary schools, Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions, Registered Training Organizations (RTOs), and Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers has broadened significantly the range of senior schooling pathway options for young people. This paper will examine reasons for developing an applied learning senior secondary certificate and its rapid growth in Victoria since 2002. The authors draw on a number of case studies to profile the unique nature of applied learning in the VCAL, including its dimensions of service learning, work-based learning, and project-based learning. These case studies are also used to discuss a number of implications that have emerged from the use of applied learning in the VCAL, including approaches to teaching and assessment that will support applied learning and the development of new partnerships between VCAL providers and community partners. Finally, the paper considers significant implications the VCAL has created for teacher education in Victoria by discussing the new Graduate Diploma of Education (Applied Learning) developed by Deakin University.

The development of professional learning and a research culture in a primary school in Melbourne, Australia

This paper outlines the development a/professional/earning and a research culture at Benleigh West Primary School, which is located in a middle class suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Whilst leadership is widely dispersed at BWPS, as it is in other schools, from students to teachers to the Assistant Principal and Principal, the primary focus in this paper is on the Principal and the ways she has influenced the professional and research culture at the school. Evidence of a change in school climate is presented as are the steps taken to create and foster learning collaborative communities among the staff at BWPS.

Using open-ended tasks for teaching, learning and assessment

This article explores the use and development of open- ended tasks in classrooms. Open-ended tasks can be used in teaching situations, for learning about student learning, and for assessment.

S(t)imulating learning : pedagogy, subjectivity and teacher education in online environments

Australian higher education increasingly relies on flexible modes of delivery as a means of attracting and retaining students in a highly competitive global education market. While education is among those disciplines that have been most actively involved in the shift from face-to-face to online learning and teaching, the transition for many teacher educators is fraught with tensions and contradictions. For some, teaching online is seen as primarily a cost-cutting exercise on the part of universities, and has little to do with improving the quality of student learning. For others, the online environment offers multiple pedagogic possibilities that have yet to be fully explored. Yet others consider online environments as problematic, posing challenges to pedagogic and peer relationships that are generally seen as integral to 'good' teaching. This paper draws on an empirical study of teacher education faculties in five Australian universities, and analyses excerpts from interviews about learning and teaching with teacher educators, educational designers and faculty management. We argue that understanding how teacher educators constitute learner and teacher subjectivities through their beliefs about and approaches to pedagogy is crucial to the future of online tertiary education. In particular, we consider how teacher educators' attitudes toward and approaches to online learning and teaching are predicated on their perceived subject positions as either 'stimulating' or 'simulating' particular kinds of learning interactions.