Crossing the line : collusion or collaboration in university group work?

In both policy and practice, collusion is a perplexing area of academic integrity. Students are expected to learn to work collaboratively in university courses, yet are often required to submit assessment tasks as individuals whilst in group-work situations. This paper discusses the tension between 'collaboration' and 'collusion' in group-work and the consequences for crossing the line. Adopting a theoretical framework from Bourdieu's work (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1971; Bourdieu, 1991) on symbolic power, the notion of legitimate voice and intertextuality, this paper outlines the effects on the academic identities of 17 students found 'guilty' of collusion in one Australian university. In addition, 34 staff involved in formal disciplinary procedures were interviewed. The findings indicate that collusion is a fraught notion and not approached systematically across the university, nor with any degree of confidence by staff or students. The delineation between 'acceptable collaboration' and 'collusion' appears to be founded in shifting sands, with negative attitudes towards collaborative tasks being the main lesson learned by students.

Teaching primary science : emotions, identity and the use of practical activities

This paper uses cultural historical activity theory to examine the interactions between the choices primary teachers make in the use of practical activities in their teaching of science and the purposes they attribute to these; their emotions, background and beliefs; and the construction of their identities as teachers of science. It draws on four case studies of science lessons taught over a term by four exemplary teachers of primary science. The data collected includes video recordings of science lessons, interviews with each teacher and some of their students, student work, teachers’ planning documents and observation notes. In this paper, we examine the reflexive relationship between emotion and identity, and the teachers’ objectives for their students’ learning; the purposes (scientific and social) the teachers attributed to practical activities; and the ways in which the teachers incorporated practical activities into their lessons. The findings suggest that it is not enough to address content knowledge, pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education, but that efforts also need to be made to influence prospective primary teachers’ identities as scientific thinkers and their emotional commitment to their students’ learning of science.

Associations between confidence, persistence, and optimism : illuminating optimistic problem solving activity

As part of video-stimulated post-lesson student interview studies of problem solving activity, Williams (2005, 2011) found successful problem solvers were optimistic. This study interrogates data from three students from a broader study: the role of optimism in collaborative problem solving and how to build it. The research question that focuses this study is “What associations exist between confidence, persistence, and optimism?” The question is explored both theoretically and empirically for the purpose of increasing understanding of the nature of optimistic problem solving activity by linking it to more familiar constructs. Students were progressively selected to further the interrogatory process. It was found that confidence and persistence did not necessarily occur together, and when they did, activity associated with these two characteristics was not sufficient for optimistic problem solving activity to occur. Perseverance was also required.

Instrumental vision

This chapter interrogates stereo-immersive ‘virtual reality’ (VR), the technology that enables a perceiver to experience what it is like to be immersed in a simulated environment. While the simulation is powered by the “geometry engine” (Cutting, 1997: 31) associated with high-end computer imaging technology, the visual experience itself is powered by ordinary human vision: the vision system’s innate capacity to see “in 3D”. To understand and critically appraise stereo-immersive VR, we should study not its purported ‘virtuality’, but its specific visuality, because the ‘reality’ of a so-called ‘virtual environment’ is afforded by the stereoacuity of binocular vision itself. By way of such a critique of the visuality of stereo-immersive VR, this chapter suggests that we think about the ‘practice’ of vision, and consider on what basis vision can have its own ‘materiality’. Pictorial perception is proposed as an exemplary visual mode in which the possibilities of perception might emerge. Against the ‘possibilities’ of vision associated with pictures, the visuality of stereo-immersive VR emerges as a harnessing, or ‘instrumentalisation’ of vision’s innate capabilities. James J. Gibson’s ‘ecological’ approach to vision studies is referenced to show the degree to which developers of VR have sought — and succeeded — to mimic the ‘realness’ of ordinary perceptual reality. This raises a question concerning whether the success of stereo-immersive VR is simultaneously the source of its own perceptual redundancy: for to bring into being the perceptual basis of ordinary ‘real’ reality, is to return the perceiver to what is already familiar and known.

Inspiring connections: The student experience of an online creative arts journal

This study investigates the learning potential of students' experiences working as editors and publishers for a university's creative arts e-journal. The study is based on a project which aimed to strengthen creative arts students' graduate attributes and employability skills associated with interpersonal and written communication skills, specifically editing and e-publication. The participants were surveyed prior to and after e-publication of each issue of the journal over a two year period. The study focuses on students' and teachers' perceptions of participating in a non-graded, discipline-based work-integrated learning (WIL) activity. The data were analysed in order to explore students' and teachers' attitudes and responses to the challenges with participating in an e-publication process. The findings indicated that students chose to participate in the activity to address certain employability skills as well as desiring an authentic work-based challenge that enhanced the university experience. The results revealed that students require more guidance and informal set lesson plans. The teachers' responses indicated that the most important teaching methods were: (i) provide authentic communication to students and (ii) illustrate relevant industry experience. Recommendations are made for the careful implementation and integration of the online creative arts WIL project into the University's curriculum in order to: (i) connect WIL pedagogy, courses, policies and objectives in higher education, (ii) provide career and self development for WIL teaching and learning practices, and (iii) continually redevelop and evaluate the WIL activity in order to pursue accreditation.

Morphometric and molecular characterization of the species of Uncinaria Frölich, 1789 (Nematoda) parasitic in the Australian fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus (Schreber), with notes on hookworms in three other pinniped hosts

This study presents morphological and molecular data on hookworms from the Australian fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus (Schreber) currently identified in Australian waters as Uncinaria hamiltoni Baylis, 1933. Additional specimens from the Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea (Péron) and the New Zealand fur seal Arctocephalus forsteri (Lesson) from Australia, and the Southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina (Linnaeus) from Antarctica, were included. Using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), hookworms from A. p. doriferus, N. cinerea and A. forsteri were found to be genetically similar but distinct from Uncinaria spp. found in M. leonina from Antarctica, as well as from Zalophus californianus (Lesson) and Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus) from California. Few morphological differences were detected between these taxa.

Incorporating the aesthetic dimension into pedagogy

One of the dimensions of learning experiences, which is not often given much attention outside of the creative arts, is the aesthetic dimension. In this paper we report on a study we conducted which explores the importance of learning through aesthetic experiences as identified by Dewey. While there is literature available which engages with the significance of such experiences (Hinchliffe, 2011; Nakamura, 2009) there is little which explores the nexus between this and specific practices in classrooms. Through examining pedagogical practices and beliefs of some exemplary teachers (as identified by their community), our study uncovered some approaches which offer alternate considerations for pedagogy. These have the potential to further enrich the sometimes static nature of the ‘official’ curriculum (Apple, 2000) as often assumed by pre-service teachers who attempt to deliver it through experiences.

Marking time: leading and managing the development of assessment in higher education

This book highlights the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Assessment as Learning Project, a three year process of assessment change in faculty. The UNSW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frederick Hilmer charged faculties with a learning and teaching agenda to investigate ways to make quality assessment practices more effective and efficient for both staff and students. The examples provided in this edited collection demonstrate exemplary case studies and theoretical perspectives on learning, teaching, and assessment. This book presents leading research in assessment as learning with a focus on changing practices as well as discipline specific practices.

Ghost muscle: stonewalling teams past and present

An imaginative arts project inspired by the Volcanic Plains region of Western Victoria will be showcased in Warrnambool this week where participants will also be able to experience the art of dry stone walling. The aim is to imagine the life of the stones and to re-perform and experience what it might have been like to work alongside a team of stonewallers from the late 1800's out in the fields producing about 30 meters of wall per day. This imaginary archaeology provides lesson in the doing of our ongoing relationship to the land and to place and place-making.

Spoken mathematics as an instructional strategy: the public discourse of mathematics classrooms in different countries

This chapter examines the use of spoken mathematics in the public discourse of eighth-grade mathematics classrooms internationally. By “spoken mathematics” we mean the recognizably mathematical terms used in spoken interaction in the classroom. Our principal focus was the relatively sophisticated terms by which each lesson’s central concepts or procedures were named. In our analysis we addressed the question(s): “What is the occurrence of publicly spoken mathematics in the different classrooms studied and what efforts do the teachers appear to make to promote students’ use of technical mathematical terms in their public classroom talk?” A companion chapter examines the question of students’ private spoken mathematics in the classroom and the possible learning that might result.

What does distributed cognition tell us about student learning of science?

This paper reports multi-layered analyses of student learning in a science classroom using the theoretical lens of Distributed Cognition (Hollan et al. 1999; Hutchins 1995). Building on the insights generated from previous research employing Distributed Cognition, the particular focus of this study has been placed on the “public space of interaction” (Alac and Hutchins 2004, p. 639) that includes both participants’ interaction with each other and their interaction with artefacts in their environment. In this paper, a lesson from an Australian science classroom was examined in detail, in which a class of grade-seven students were investigating the scientific theme of gravity by designing pendulums. The video-stimulated post-lesson interviews with both the teacher and the student groups offered complementary accounts (Clarke 2001a) that assisted the interpretation of the classroom data. The findings of this study provide supporting evidence to demonstrate the capacity of Distributed Cognition for advancing our understanding of the nature of learning in science classrooms.

Spoken mathematics as a distinguishing characteristics of mathematics classrooms in different countries

This paper reports research into the occurrence of spoken mathematics in some well-taught classrooms in Australia, China (both Shanghai and Hong Kong), Japan, Korea and the USA. The analysis distinguished one classroom from another on the basis of public “oral interactivity” (the number of utterances in whole class and teacher-student interactions in each lesson) and “mathematical orality” (the frequency of occurrence of key mathematical terms in each lesson). Our concern in this analysis was to document the opportunity provided to students for the oral articulation of the relatively sophisticated mathematical terms that formed the conceptual content of the lesson. Classrooms characterized by high public oral interactivity were not necessarily sites of high mathematical orality. The contribution of student-student conversations also varied significantly. Of particular interest are the different learning theories implicit in the role accorded to spoken mathematics in each classroom.

Meta-analysis and research synthesis in education

This bibliography begins with this introduction followed by a general overview of meta-analysis and research synthesis methods in education. The third section cites references to illustrate how the concept of statistical integration of research findings dates back to early 20th century. Citations in the fourth section highlight early calls from educational researchers to recognize the process of synthesizing research as a scholarly endeavor in its own right. As evident from the citations in the fifth section, it was in the 1980s when monographs exclusively devoted to research synthesis methods started to be published. Since then, a number of books have been published on research synthesis methods. The sixth section cites some of the most comprehensive books on research synthesis methods and includes contributions from key players of meta-analysis current at the time. The citations in the seventh section illustrate how meta-analysis has become very popular over time. Several large organizations have been set up and software developed to support systematic reviews of research. These are cited in the eighth section. Citations in the ninth section illustrate critiques of systematic reviews. As qualitative research is becoming popular in education, sophisticated discussions of issues associated with synthesizing qualitative research have also been published, some of which are cited in the tenth section. The eleventh section presents a methodologically inclusive account of current developments in research synthesis methods. The final section cites examples of journals exclusively devoted to publishing research reviews and exemplary research synthesis with different methodologies. Individual methods of research synthesis are discussed chronologically as they became popular in educational research. Accordingly, this bibliography starts with a discussion of statistical methods of integrating research that parallels the dominance of quantitative research in education until the 1970s. As the popularity and diversity of qualitative research methods have been increasing in educational research, more methodologically inclusive discussions of research synthesis methods are becoming popular as described in the later sections of this bibliography.

Developing noticing of reasoning through demonstration lessons

Observation of fellow educators conducting demonstration lessons is one avenue for teachers to develop sensitivity to noticing students’ reasoning. We examined teachers’ noticing of children’s learning behaviours in one demonstration lesson of the Mathematical Reasoning Professional Learning Research Program (MRPLRP). The observations of teachers evident in the audio-taped post-lesson group interviews conducted at one school are reported in this paper. The teachers noticed that the children struggled to employ mathematical language to communicate their reasoning and expressed concern about gaps in children’s understanding of key mathematical concepts. The teachers viewed limitations in language and mathematical conceptual understandings as a barrier to effective reasoning.