Constructivist learning: understanding and experience in IT tertiary education

This paper firstly introduces the concept of constructivist learning which advocates that students actively construct knowledge themselves with teachers’ assistance. Based on the six important elements of constructivist learning and teaching planning approach, detailed examples of designing the six constructivist elements of situation, groupings, bridge, questions, exhibit, and reflections for two units offered at school of Information Technology, Deakin University are provided. A conclusion emphasizing the learners' difference to be paid attention to while educators designing curriculum on CloudDeakin platform is made at the end of this paper.

Reflections on learning, life and work : completing doctoral studies in mid and later life and career

Book review of : Reflections on learning, life and work: Completing doctoral studies in mid and later life and career, by Maureen Ryan

Nonparametric discovery of learning patterns and autism subgroups from therapeutic data

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is growing at a staggering rate, but, little is known about the cause of this condition. Inferring learning patterns from therapeutic performance data, and subsequently clustering ASD children into subgroups, is important to understand this domain, and more importantly to inform evidence-based intervention. However, this data-driven task was difficult in the past due to insufficiency of data to perform reliable analysis. For the first time, using data from a recent application for early intervention in autism (TOBY Play pad), whose download count is now exceeding 4500, we present in this paper the automatic discovery of learning patterns across 32 skills in sensory, imitation and language. We use unsupervised learning methods for this task, but a notorious problem with existing methods is the correct specification of number of patterns in advance, which in our case is even more difficult due to complexity of the data. To this end, we appeal to recent Bayesian nonparametric methods, in particular the use of Bayesian Nonparametric Factor Analysis. This model uses Indian Buffet Process (IBP) as prior on a binary matrix of infinite columns to allocate groups of intervention skills to children. The optimal number of learning patterns as well as subgroup assignments are inferred automatically from data. Our experimental results follow an exploratory approach, present different newly discovered learning patterns. To provide quantitative results, we also report the clustering evaluation against K-means and Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF). In addition to the novelty of this new problem, we were able to demonstrate the suitability of Bayesian nonparametric models over parametric rivals.

E-learning opportunities and challenges for legal education in rural Victoria

Access to justice extends beyond consideration of the systems and institutions of justice; it includes infrastructure such as transport, health, education and communications. Rural, regional and remote (‘RRR’) communities are more likely to face difficulties in accessing advice and accurate information on laws and processes available for resolution of disputes. Perhaps more fundamentally, they rarely have a voice in effecting reforms in laws and related policies. For several decades, community legal centres, legal aid, courts, and a range of other institutions have used community legal education programs to improve knowledge and access to law and justice systems, services and organisations. The recent Productivity Commission Inquiry into Access to Justice Arrangements notes that, ‘Better coordination and greater quality control in the development and delivery of these [community legal education, legal information] services would improve their value and reach.’ At the same time, research into the professional needs of RRR legal practitioners has found that many of these practitioners face considerable difficulties accessing good quality continuing professional development (‘CPD’) and informal networking/support opportunities.6 Current and emerging internet-based technologies open up opportunities for legal organisations to better meet the educational needs of both rural communities and legal practitioners. Though limitations still exist at multiple levels, relatively low-cost, media-rich, synchronous and tailored education programs can now be delivered effectively in many rural and remote areas. However, complex layers of decisions are required to critically assess, harness and optimise technologies to best suit the needs of users, and to utilise teaching and learning techniques that best match the technologies and participant needs. Getting these elements — needs, technology and learning technique — right, nevertheless offers extraordinary opportunities. Sound decisions and good practices should enable state-wide and specialist law and justice-related services interested in improving their engagement with RRR communities to dramatically improve the reach and quality of outcomes, not only for distant participants but the spectrum of stakeholders.

Teaching and learning mathematics and science in a second or third language

 This study investigates the interaction between languages used for particular purposes in mathematics and science classrooms and the accompanying multimodal resources that support teachers’ strategies. The dual investigation sets this study apart, and produces its originality and contribution to the field. It develops a novel multimodal description of pedagogic strategies in multilingual mathematics and science classrooms in Malaysia.

‘I’m not like that, why treat me the same way?’ The impact of stereotyping international students on their learning, employability and connectedness with the workplace

A significant body of literature on international education examines the experiences of international students in the host country. There is however a critical lack of empirical work that investigates the dynamic and complex positioning of international students within the current education-migration nexus that prevails international education in countries such as Australia, Canada and the UK. This paper addresses an important but under-researched area of the education-migration landscape by examining how the stereotyping of students as mere ‘migration hunters’ may impact their study and work experiences. It draws on a four-year research project funded by the Australian Research Council that includes more than 150 interviews and fieldwork in the Australian vocational education context. Positioning theory is used as a conceptual framework to analyse how generalising international students as ‘mere migration hunters’ has led to the disconnectedness, vulnerability and marginalization of the group of international students participating in this research.

Constructive alignment and the research skills development framework: Using theory to practically align graduate attributes, learning experiences, and assessment tasks in undergraduate midwifery

Midwifery educators have to provide students with stimulating curricula that teach academic and vocational content, as well as transferable skills. The Research Skills Development (RSD) framework provides a conceptual model that allows educators to explicitly scaffold the development of their students’ research skills. This paper aims to demonstrate the effective use of the RSD framework and constructive alignment theory to redesign a second-year Midwifery assessment task.The assessment task was changed into a scenario-based question to better reflect the unit learning objectives and expected graduate attributes. Students were provided with extra time in class to explore the assessment task in a peer environment. Following the return of their assessments, students were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment redesign. We show that using a constructively aligned scenario-based assessment task in a second year unit more successfully articulated the expected graduate attributes of midwives. Qualitative and quantitative feedback suggested that students and staff appreciated a more clinically- relevant assessment task. This paper demonstrates that the use of the RSD framework to constructively aligngraduate attributes, learning experiences, and assessment tasks allows for the transformation of undergraduate assessment into a learning experience relevant to clinical practice.