Who am I? Developing pre-service teacher identity in a digital world

The notions of identity and teacher education have attracted considerable research over the years, revealing a strong correlation between teacher beliefs and practices and the resultant impact on pedagogical practices in the classroom. In an era where the use of digital technologies should be synonymous with teacher pedagogical practices and transforming education, there is a growing need for pre-service teachers to develop an identity that resonates with pedagogical practices that engage and connect with students in a positive and productive way. With many educational institutions also mandating that educators use digital technologies as a tool to support and enhance teaching, pre-service teacher education needs to ensure that students understand and develop a positive identity within this digital world. Current literature acknowledges that many educators adopt digital technologies in the classroom without sometimes fully understanding its scope or impact. It is within this context that this paper reports on a three-year study of first year pre-service education students and their understanding of identity in a digital world. More specifically, the study identifies how students currently use social and digital media in their personal and professional lives to identify themselves online in order to promote a positive image. The study also seeks to identify how these technologies and an understanding of identity can be utilised to promote a positive first year experience.

Deeply superficial digital media engagement? The case of Twitter and Movember 2013

Using activity generated with Twitter during Movember 2013, we interrogate the natures of superficiality running through what can be defined as a highly successful public health engagement intervention. Indeed, Movember arguably has not just been successful in one year in terms of raising funds for the causes it is concerned with, it has done this year-on-year since 2004. We tracked the keyword 'movember' (without the hash symbol) using an in-house installation of YourTwapperkeeper hosted on a NECTAR server. Data collection ran from 01 October - 04 December 2013, covering the ramp-up and wind-down periods of the event. We collected a total of 1,313,426 tweets from 759,345 unique users.

Digital revolution or digital divide: Will rural teachers get a piece of the professional development pie?

In order to sustain the rural education community, access to high quality professional development opportunities must become a priority. Teachers in rural areas face many challenges in order to access professional learning equitable to their city counterparts. In the current climate, the Federal government of Australia is committed to initiatives that support the use of ICT in education. These include initiatives such as the Digital Education Revolution, including the National Broadband Network. This "revolution" includes the committal of $2.2 billion funding over six years from 2008 - 2013 which purports to bring substantial and meaningful change to teaching and learning in Australian schools. Of this funding, the Prime Minister (former Minister for Education), Julia Gillard, has committed $40 million of the total budget to ICT related professional development for teachers. But how will rural teachers ensure they get a piece of the PD pie? Access to professional learning is critical and isolation from colleagues, professional associations and support structures can affect the retention of teachers and in turn affect the sustainability of rural communities. This research paper describes the findings of the first phase of a study that investigates access to professional learning from rural and remote areas of Western Australia, the efficiencies of this approach including teacher perceptions and possible opportunities for improvement through the application of technologies. A survey instrument was administered and the results from104 principals and teachers within the Remote Teaching Service and the Country Teaching Program of the Department of Education and Training (WA) are discussed. Qualitative data was collected by semi-structured interviews and emailed questionnaires. Phase One findings highlight the principals and teachers? perceptions of their access to professional development opportunities, professional learning communities and their use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to bridge the gap

Digital videos in financial accounting: A sociocognitive approach to learning

Understanding the important concepts necessary to undertake the preparation of consolidated financial statements has proven challenging for many accounting undergraduate students. As a result, the development of multimedia modelling concepts such as acquisition analysis, business combination valuation entries, reacquisition entries and intragroup transactions were embedded within an e-learning environment. The principle of modelling, derived from social cognitive theory, was applied to the design of the multimedia. A study was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the approach and consider student perceptions with regard to learning through this approach. Quantitative data were collected from accounting undergraduate students (n= 464) enrolled across three different cohorts including international campuses (n=386), an Australian campus (n=49) and a distance education cohort (n=29). Analyses were undertaken to show significant differences between these cohorts. This research paper presents findings that indicate a positive and significant association between the number of times the videos were accessed, and the assignment score (p<0.05) was evident, suggesting that students that referred to the videos relatively frequently were able to utilise the knowledge gained from the videos to assist them in completing the assignment.

A versatile and flexible digital pulse programmer for pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance

A versatile and flexible digital pulse programmer for two-pulse, three-pulse, saturation burst and Carr-Purcell sequences is described. Independently variable controls for pulse widths (0.2 mu s to 100 mu s), delay between pulses (0.2 mu s to 100 s) and for number of pulses (1 to 99) for the saturation burst and for the Carr-Purcell sequence, are brought to the front panel. The programmer can be used for one-shot experiments as well as for repetitive experiments.

Implementation of e-learning: A case study of three schools

As Western Australian schools move to implement technology into the classroom, there appears to be prevalence in combining e-learning with face to face traditional classroom practice. This has been accompanied by a shift toward a digital curriculum that incorporates re-usable learning objects. Essential to any teacher contemplating the use of a digital curriculum resource is not only the knowledge of learning theories but models of best practice to create online curriculum for students to use in every day classrooms. This paper explores the e-learning practices in three case study schools (n=3) in Western Australia. Data were collected by observation and interviews (n=11) conducted with the teachers and the ICT co-ordinators, to ascertain their perceptions and experiences with regard to the e-learning environment. There were challenges associated with the implementation of e-learning by teachers into their classroom such as skill development, changes in their role and the pedagogies they employ. The case study schools were pilot schools breaking new ground in order to test a new portal technology. Findings indicated that successful implementation of the e-learning environment was dependent on the four key factors of ICT infrastructure, ICT leadership, support and training initiatives and the teachers’ ICT capacity.

Learning style and digital activity: An ecological study

In order to understand student engagement in higher education through the use of digital technologies, it is necessary to appreciate the broader use of differing technologies. Forty-eight first-year university students completed an online survey that queried patterns of digital activity across home, school and community contexts and that included rating scale items that measured learning style (i.e., active-reflective, sensing-intuitive, visual-verbal, sequential-global). Results suggest that students vary widely in digital activities and that such variation is related to differences in learning style. For example, active learners were more likely than reflective learners to engage in digital activities in the community and users of some specific application, as opposed to non-users, were more likely to be verbal than visual learners. Implications for instructional applications of digital technology in higher education are presented.

Using Web2.0 applications to close the digital divide in Western Australia

The research reported in this paper documents the use of Web2.0 applications with six Western Australian schools that are considered to be regional and/or remote. With a population of two million people within an area of 2,525,500 square kilometres Western Australia has a number of towns that are classified as regional and remote. Each of the three education systems have set up telecommunications networks to improve learning opportunities for students and administrative services for staff through a virtual private network (VPN) with access from anywhere, anytime and ultimately reduce the feeling of professional and social dislocation experienced by many teachers and students in the isolated communities. By using Web2.0 applications including video conferencing there are enormous opportunities to close the digital divide within the broad directives of the Networking the Nation plan. The Networking the Nation plan aims to connect all Australians regardless of where they are hence closing the digital divide between city and regional living. Email and Internet facilities have greatly improved in rural, regional and remote areas supporting every day school use of the Internet. This study highlights the possibilities and issues for advanced telecommunications usage of Web2.0 applications discussing the research undertaken with these schools. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

headspace Digital Art Exhibition

headspace Digital Art Exhibition is a curated collection of artwork created during a youth arts project and research in which young people’s improved mental health wellbeing and mental health literacy were the focused outcomes for the project. The project aimed to improve mental health literacy, and offer greater opportunities for creative expression supporting young people facing mental health challenges. The Inside project aimed to build dialogue related to youth, arts, mental illness and recovery, through a partnership approach. The partnership approach involved artists and health workers in two separate headspace youth mental health services and aimed to provide opportunities to explore the potential of an arts and health framework. The project ran over ten weeks at both centres, incorporating themed activities such as unleashing inner selfie (sketching, photography and digital manipulation); creating dioramas (found object, three dimensional modelling); creating avatars (sculptural and digital animation); and digital narrating and poster creation (visual, written and spoken texts). Two professional artists facilitated the project, one in each location alongside headspace health workers at weekly workshops. A research component explored the appreciation of how artsbased workshops can be used alongside more traditional responses in youth specific mental health services. Both headspace centres had previously provided unstructured art activities as a way to showcase their services to young people, increase access, and to create a welcoming ‘safe’ youth friendly environment. However, these activities were generally extemporaneous and not specifically evaluated. The digital art exhibition collectively shares the artwork created by the young people and reveals the inter-relationships between risk and resilience and overcoming the odds. Inside unleashed possibilities for a sense of well-being and even happiness into the future.

An absolute digital positioning numerical control system

A module containing all the functional components required for a digital absolute positioning process of one axis of a machine tool has been designed and constructed. Circuit realization makes use of integrated circuit elements.

A digital beehive could warn beekeepers when their hives are under attack

Honey bees are in decline, and the current method of keeping them can be disruptive to a colony. But new designs allow beekeepers to monitor a hive remotely, even sniff out disease and pests.

Designing an emotional strategy : Strengthening digital channel engagements

The emergence of new technologies has revolutionized the way companies interact and build relationships with customers. The channel–customer relationship has traditionally been managed via a push approach in communication (“What can we sell customers?”) with the hope of cultivating customer loyalty. However, emotional understandings of customers and how they feel about a product, service, or business can drastically alter consumers’ engagement, behavior, and purchasing preferences. This rapidly evolving landscape has left managers at a loss, and what they are experiencing is likely the beginning of a tectonic shift in the way digital channels are designed, monitored, and managed. In this article, digital channel relationships are examined, and useful concepts for clarifying and refining the emotional meaning behind company strategy and their relationship to corresponding digital channels are detailed. Using three case study examples, we discuss the process and impact of such emotionally aware digital channel designs. Recommendations are made regarding how companies can select, design, and maintain digital engagements based on their strategy and industry needs.