How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed on 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activitiessuch as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to creat opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through traditional approaches

Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?

Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isn't without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the question: is it worth the effort?. © 2010 Helen Farley, Sue Gregory, Allan Ellis, Geoffrey Crisp, Jenny Grenfell, Angela Thomas & Mathew Campbell.

Project and Module Based Teaching and Learning

This paper proposes a new teaching and learning approach-project and module based teaching and learning (PMBTL). The PMBTL approach incorporates the merits of project/problem based and module based learning methods, and overcomes the limitations of these methods. The correlation between teaching, learning, practice and assessment is emphasized in this approach, and new methods have been proposed accordingly. The distinct features of these new methods differentiate the PMBTL approach from conventional teaching approaches. Evaluation of this approach on practical teaching and learning activities demonstrates the effectiveness and stability of the approach in improving the performance and quality of teaching and learning. The approach proposed in this paper is also intuitive to the design of other teaching units.

We did the how to teach it: music teaching and learning in higher education in Australia

The Australian Government recognizes that the Arts are acritical part of formal school education and it should not be viewedas subordinate or extra. This paper forms part of a wider researchproject titled “Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings ofMusic Education” that started in 2013. The focus of this paperinvestigates music teaching and learning in a core unit within theBachelor of Education (Primary) course at Deakin University(Australia). Using questionnaire and interview data gathered in 2014,I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse andcodify the data. Three themes are discussed in relation to: Why it isimportant to include music in the primary school? What wasenjoyable and what aspects were challenging in the musicworkshops? What can students integrate as generalist teachers intotheir future classrooms? Though the findings focus on “we did thehow to teach it”, it also highlights some challenges and opportunitiesfor students and staff. Tertiary educators are challenged to raise thecapacity and status of music when preparing students to translate themusic curriculum into their future classrooms.

Australian PLT practitioners’ engagements with scholarship of teaching and learning

 Drawing on Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology and Certeau’s heterological science to investigate individual and extra-individual dimensions of Australian PLT practitioners’ engagements with scholarship of teaching and learning, this thesis identified obstacles and opportunities for recognition of professional legal education and training as emergent professional practice in law and education.

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.

Pedagogy of the rural: teaching and learning for rural futures?

Pedagogy of the Rural illustrates the complexities of rural space and considers some of the underlying assumptions, ‘truths’ and ‘realities’ about rural education and teaching in a complicated and dynamic policy context. Pedagogy of the Rural offers an alternative to current teacher education practice – it is responsive to policy demands as well as local conditions and traditions, and has a futures orientation, in that it provides a way forward for valuing rural contexts for what they bring to teacher identities beyond traditional deficit positionings dominant in current discourses on rural. The authors examine notions of size and how this impacts on the ways in which beginning teachers in rural locations are positioned in terms of identity at a macro, meso and micro level. They also examine what it means to ‘be rural’ and use Pedagogy of the Rural to conceptualise rural understandings as a pedagogy that is not a pedagogy ‘for’ or ‘about’ but rather ‘of’ the rural. Complexities of the Pedagogy of the Rural are understood through Harré’s (2004) positioning theory, Baudrillard’s (1983) notion of simulation and simulacra and Lefebvre’s (2009) arguments around space and economic geographies. The interrelationship of place, space and identity unify teachers’ understandings of who they (or we) are, and are becoming, in a specific time and geographical location, raising questions about: subjectivity - who we are; power - what we can do; and desire- who we might become (Harré, Moghaddam, Cairnie, Rothbart, & Sabat, 2009), and the influence of personal and professional histories and what rural brings to our pedagogy within this.

Creating a standardised teaching and learning framework for social work field placements

© 2014, © 2014 Australian Association of Social Workers. Abstract: Mapping and evaluating a student's progress on placement is a core element of social work education but there has been scant attention to indicate how to effectively create and assess student learning and performance. This paper outlines a project undertaken by the Combined Schools of Social Work to develop a common learning and assessment tool that is being used by all social work schools in Victoria. The paper describes how the Common Assessment Tool (CAT) was developed, drawing on the Australian Association of Social Work Practice Standards, leading to seven key learning areas that form the basis of the assessment of a student's readiness for practice. An evaluation of the usefulness of the CAT was completed by field educators, liaison staff, and students, which confirmed that the CAT was a useful framework for evaluating students' learning goals. The feedback also identified a number of problematic features that were addressed in a revised CAT and rating scale.

Teaching and learning data structures supported by computers: An experiment using CADILAG tool

This paper aims to present the use of a learning object (CADILAG), developed to facilitate understanding data structure operations by using visual presentations and animations. The CADILAG allows visualizing the behavior of algorithms usually discussed during Computer Science and Information System courses. For each data structure it is possible visualizing its content and its operation dynamically. Its use was evaluated an the results are presented. © 2012 AISTI.

Experiencing Manipulative Material for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

This paper presents some outcomes from research based on classroom experiences. The main themes are the use of mirrors, kaleidoscopes, dynamic geometry software, and manipulative material considering their possibilities for the teaching and learning of Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries.