Developing an engaging IT degree

Curriculum renewal is a constant activity in Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Computer Science (CS). Guiding documents from curriculum authorities such as AIS, IEEE and ACM assist in this process, as do those from professional societies, but these are often out of date when the institution seeks to refresh its approaches to learning, and position its graduates for emerging roles and technologies. This paper describes and discusses a curriculum renewal project undertaken in response to changing government requirements,student interests and the adoption of a learner-centric, active learning paradigm utilizing new physical collaborative learning facilities. This paper presents the stimulus for change, describes the use of reference resources and discusses the resulting degree structure, its majors and learning approaches.

Energy Efficiency Graduate Attributes Project: Final Report

The Energy Efficiency (EE) Graduate Attributes Project focuses on engineering as a priority profession that has a significant role to play in addressing energy demand and supply issues in Australia. Specifically, this project aims to support embedding EE knowledge and skills throughout the engineering undergraduate curriculum, to help build capacity within the Australian workforce across major sectors of the economy, from mining, manufacturing and industrial applications to design, construction, maintenance and retrofitting built environments. The resultant report is intended to assist in future consultation with key groups such as Engineers Australia (EA), the Australian Council of Engineering Deans (ACED) and the eight EA colleges, to support systemic curriculum renewal and promote the design and development of high quality EE engineering education resources. The project is based on a whole-of-program outcomes-based approach to curriculum renewal, creating a transparent framework for integrating EE. This comprises collaborative consideration by academics and professional engineers who have experience in teaching and practising EE, to identify what students should learn to be equipped with relevant competencies by the time they graduate.

Implementing a holistic process for embedding sustainability: A case study in first year engineering, Monash University, Australia

While there is clear recognition of the need to incorporate sustainable development into university curricula, there is limited research that examines how to achieve that integration or evaluates its impacts on student learning. This paper responds to these knowledge gaps through a case study of curriculum renewal that involved embedding sustainability into a first year engineering curriculum. The initiative was guided by a deliberative and dynamic model for curriculum renewal that brought together internal and external stakeholders through a structured sequence of facilitated workshops and meetings. That process identified sustainability-related knowledge and skills relevant for first year engineering, and faculty members teaching in the first year program were guided through a process of curriculum renewal to meet those needs. The process through which the whole of curriculum renewal was undertaken is innovative and provides a case study of precedent in the field of education for sustainability. The study demonstrates the contribution that can be made by a web-based sustainability portal in supporting curriculum renewal. Learning and teaching outcomes were evaluated through ‘before and after surveys’ of the first year engineering students. Statistically significant increases in student's self-reported knowledge of sustainability were measured as a result of exposure to the renewed first year curriculum and this confirmed the value of the initiative in terms of enhancing student learning. While applied in this case to engineering, the process to achieve integration of sustainability into the curriculum approach is likely to have value for other academic disciplines. Considering student performance on assignments and exam questions relating to sustainability would provide a stronger basis for future research to understand the impact of initiatives like this on student learning.

Renovación curricular en programas de ciencias de la salud y su impacto en las prácticas pedagógicas de los profesores

Este artículo es un avance del proyecto de investigación “Transformaciones de las prácticas pedagógicas de los profesores en un proceso de renovación curricular”. Su marco conceptual se fundamenta en el análisis de cuatro ejes centrales: el primero hace referencia al concepto de currículo, que compromete varios aspectos relacionados con los diferentes actores del sistema educativo; el segundo afronta las renovaciones curriculares en programas de Ciencias de la Salud, que permite aclarar y determinar lo que la comunidad académica entiende al respecto, sus características, fines y efectos; el tercero analiza la información para identificar los factores que posibilitan la apropiación o no de los principios de las renovaciones curriculares reflejados en las prácticas pedagógicas de los profesores; el cuarto explora conceptualizaciones acerca de cómo el profesor interpreta y orienta su actuar educativo. Finalmente, se propone una discusión cuyo hilo conductor responde a las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cómo los procesos de renovación curricular en programas de formación profesional en Ciencias de la Salud impactan las prácticas pedagógicas de los profesores? ¿Cuáles son los factores que posibilitan la apropiación de los principios de las renovaciones curriculares en las prácticas pedagógicas de los profesores en programas de formación profesional en Ciencias de la Salud?

The principles of learning and teaching (PoLT)

In Victoria, Australia, under the Blueprint agenda, The Principles of Learning and Teaching (Department of Education and Training, 2005) are being used to operationalise pedagogical change and curriculum renewal. The University of Melbourne is one of the three contracted providers and in 2005 and 2006 has supported 450 teachers from state, independent and special schools in Victoria and 70 teachers in Singapore. The paper outlines the workings of the model and illustrates how through a deeper and renewed focus on pedagogy schools are being asked to examine and change their practice for all students. One benefit of the initiative is that special schools are an integral part of the cluster network and are reconsidering their role in school renewal and systems transformation more broadly. However the regime of pedagogical renewal must be understood as part of the past and the present, multiple transgressions and intense struggles in reform practices more broadly. None the least being the persistent stratification of schooling into special and regular in the Victorian context and professional learning being constructed as weak professional socialization. Working visually and reading intertextually undoing some of the problematics of the implementation process the challenges of system wide professional learning and curriculum reform are exposed.

Cultivating teachers' knowledge and skills for leading change in schools

Australian policy initiatives and state curriculum reform efforts affirm a commitment to address student disengagement through the development of inclusive school environments, curriculum, and pedagogy. This paper, drawing on critical social theory, describes three Australian projects that support the cultivation of teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and skills for critical reflection and leading change in schools. The first project reports on the valued ethics that emerged in pre-service teacher reflections about a Service-learning Program at a university in Queensland. The second project reports on a school-based collaborative inquiry approach to professional development with a focus on literacy practices. The final project reports on an initiative in another university in Victoria, to operationalise pedagogical change and curriculum renewal in Victoria, through the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PoLT). These case studies illustrate how critical reflection and development of beliefs, knowledge and skills can be acquired to better meet the needs of schools.

A abordagem de questões sociocientíficas na formação continuada de professores de ciências: contribuições e dificuldades

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Comparing european and asian studies : towards the renewal of curriculum programmes. 'Comparación de estudios europeos y asiáticos : hacia la renovación de los programas de estudio'.

Publicación financiada por el Programa Asia-Link de la Comisión Europea. - Notas a pie de página.

Urban renewal from the inside out: Spatial and critical literacies in a low socioeconomic school community

This article focuses on how teachers worked to build a meaningful curriculum around changes to a neighborhood and school grounds in a precinct listed for urban renewal. Drawing on a long-term relationship with the principal and one teacher, the researchers planned and designed a collaborative project to involve children as active participants in the redevelopment process, negotiating and redesigning an area between the preschool and the school. The research investigated spatial literacies, that is, ways of thinking about and representing the production of spaces, and critical literacies, in this instance how young people might have a say in remaking part of their school grounds. Data included videotapes of key events, interviews, and an archive of the elementary students' artifacts experimenting with spatial literacies. The project builds on the insights of community members and researchers working for social justice in high-poverty areas internationally that indicate the importance of education, local action, family, and youth involvement in building sustainable and equitable communities.

Spatial literacies, design texts and emergent pedagogies in purposeful literacy curriculum

There has recently been an emphasis within literacy studies on both the spatial dimensions of social practices (Leander & Sheehy, 2004) and the importance of incorporating design and multiple modes of meaning-making into contemporary understandings of literacy (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; New London Group, 1996). Kress (2003) in particular has outlined the potential implications of the cultural shift from the dominance of writing, based on a logic of time and sequence in time, to the dominance of the mode of the image, based on a logic of space. However, the widespread re-design of curriculum and pedagogy by classroom teachers to allow students to capitalise on the various affordances of different modes of meaning-making – including the spatial – remains in an emergent stage. We report on a project in which university researchers’ expertise in architecture, literacy and communications enabled two teachers in one school to expand the forms of literacy that primary school children engaged in. Starting from the school community’s concerns about an urban renewal project in their neighbourhood, we worked together to develop a curriculum of spatial literacies with real-world goals and outcomes.

Partnerships for effective teacher renewal

The Quality Teacher Program (QTP) recently introduced by the Commonwealth Government is a three year program that provides funding to strengthen the skills and understanding of those in the teaching profession.

In Victoria, The Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV) in response to this initiative, has developed a project entitled ‘School-based Teacher Renewal’ involving three independent sector specific strategies and one cross-sectoral strategy.

One of these strategies, ‘Teacher Renewal Through Partnerships’ is a strategy which focuses on schools establishing a teacher renewal coordinating team being assisted by a university facilitator to address issues of teacher renewal. Schools were required to develop a Quality Teacher Strategic Plan associated with target curriculum area/s. Integral to this strategy is the provision of an external facilitator to support the teacher renewal coordinating team in each school

Approximately 46 academic staff from Faculties of Education at Deakin University and The University of Melbourne are working in partnership with AISV across 50 schools on this three year project.

This project builds on successful teacher professional development outcomes learned from the previous Commonwealth project, the Innovative Links Between Universities and Schools under the National Professional Development Program (NPDP) from 1994 to 1996.

This paper, presented by the Project Directors from Melbourne University and Deakin University will describe outcomes of the ‘Teacher Renewal Through Partnerships’ program and discuss findings gathered from experiences to date of those involved in this partnership program.