Communication dynamics : discussion boards, weblogs and the development of communities of inquiry in online learning environments

Online learning environments (OLEs) are now critical to teaching and learning across Australian higher education. Their influence impacts on the availability of content, the design of courses and, perhaps most pedagogically significantly, the nature of communication. The discussion board is the ubiquitous communication tool within these OLEs and hence significantly shapes the kind of communication that takes place. In light of this, the degree to which a successful community of inquiry can be facilitated through the use of discussion boards is examined and compared to the possibilities afforded by weblogs in the same role. Weblogs, it is argued, offer new opportunities in the development of social, cognitive and teacher presence online and should be considered in the development of or alongside established OLEs.

Dispositional and maturational development through a competency based training intervention : getting to the heart of the matter

Presents a formative perspective on vocational learning that proposes that vocational competence is dependent upon dispositional development, which in turn results in moves towards maturation. Further, that dispositional and maturational outcomes occur as a result of a lifetime goal-setting intervention employed prior to training Reports qualitative and quantitative research with unemployed adults engaging in vocational education that resulted in four findings. Firstly, that while Training Packages describe assessable outcomes in competency-referenced terms, trainees describe learning outcomes in non-competency referenced terms. Secondly, that vocational trainees describe their learning in terms of dispositional outcomes, that is, in terms of values, interests and attitudes. Thirdly, that dispositions can be categorised in terms of maturational concepts. Fourthly, in support of incremental theory, that trainees made moves towards maturation as a result of a lifetime goal-setting intervention employed prior to training.

Roles of MFI support of ICTs to aid socio-economic development

Today there is a consensus on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for development and ICTs are widely recognized as vital tools to promote various social goals. These collections of technologies ICTs have also enabled and smoothed an avenue for monumental tran formation in the process of socio-economic development in developing countries. In this paper, we discuss two major areas in the development arena associated with socio-economic development in South Asia, namely, the role of Microfinance in expansion of ICT in the region and its effects on development and poverty alleviatiori. We put forward the argument that through the intervention of microfinance, ICT can both directly and indirectly impact on growth and the way in which the adoption of ICT can be distributed to the poor.

Professional education and training for early career players in the Australian Football League: footy first, second and third

In this presentation we discuss some of the findings of a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) titled: Getting the Balance Right: Professionalism, Performance, Prudentialism and Playstations in the Life of AFL Footballers. The research explored the following issues: the emergence and evolution of a ‘professional identity’ for AFL footballers – an identity that has many facets including the emerging ideas that a professional leads a balanced life, and has a prudent orientation to the future, to life after football. This ‘professional identity’ isn’t natural, and must be developed through a range of ‘professional development’ activities (a common link to all other ‘professions’). In the AFL at this time professional development has a focus on engaging players in a variety of education and training activities – TAFE & University courses, and workshops and seminars that the industry has put in place to educate players about issues that the industry sees as important.

The presentation will focus on our research with players we classified as Early Career players. For many of these 17 to 21 year old young men the later years of secondary schooling were compromised in their pursuit of an AFL career, and their subsequent drafting is followed by intense efforts to physically prepare them for football. In this context our research indicates that many Early Career players put football first, second and third – education and training, and industry expectations that they participate in this sort of professional development come further down their list of priorities.

Measuring moral judgement and the implications of cooperative education and rule-based learning

The Defining Issues Test (DIT), developed by Rest (1986), measures a person's level of moral development using hypothetical social dilemmas. Although the DIT is useful for measuring moral development in social settings, it might not adequately capture an individual's moral judgement abilities in solving work-related problems (Weber, 1990; Trevino, 1992; Welton et al., 1994). In the present study, the moral judgement levels of 97 accounting students were measured over a 1 year period using two separate test instruments, the DIT and a context-specific instrument developed by Welton et al. (1994). The test scores are significantly higher on the DIT than the Welton instrument (between the instruments and over time), suggesting that accounting students use higher levels of moral reasoning in resolving hypothetical social dilemmas and lower levels of moral reasoning in resolving context-specific dilemmas. The difference in test scores was highest during cooperative education (work placement programme), implying that the environment is a significant determinant on students' test scores.

Music education and minority groups cultural and musical identities in the 'newer' South Africa : white Afrikaners and Indians

Music Education, as well as cultural and musical identities are all being renegotiated, post-Apartheid, within the so-called 'newer' rather than the commonly known 'new' South Africa. The developing situation with certain minority groups is particularly interesting. Education in general has undergone much change since the first democratic elections in 1994: music education specifically has been affected by such change in terms of content, delivery and assessment. Within the South African context, cultural and musical identities are often intertwined with language, racial and even tribal identities, and discussing one implies the others. We are particularly interested here in the role of formal Music Education in relation to white Afrikaners and Indians as they renegotiate their cultural development, including musical aspects

A new broad composite model of regional economic development as a framework for research

The mechanism of regional economic development has been studied extensively by economists, geographers, town planners and other academics. The existing wide varieties of theories into regional economic development are insufficient on their own in explaining how a region can develop and prosper. Each theory has evaluated a few facets of regional economic development. Research from these different perspectives is narrow and prevents any cross-fertilization of research from all these diverse
theories.

Recognition of multiple factors affecting the development process has led the author to create a new broad composite model of regional economic development. The paper first sets out to describe and explain this broad composite model. Each of the components of this new model draws heavily upon seminal work in the field. This model proposes three rings. Each ring is at a different level of abstraction. The determinants of development described in each ring can influence each and every other determinant of development shown in the three ring structure. This model recognises that development in any centre, regional or urban, nascent or established is a composite end result of the complex interplay of all the determinants of development.

The paper then goes on to show how this model can provide a broad holistic approach to regional economic development that can assist researchers in their attempts to understand and link the various theories of regional economic development.

Student learning: "the heart of quality" in education and training

This paper surveys the development of various approaches to quality that are essentially learning-centred:

•In the Schools sector: a brief overview of the Victorian Quality in Schools project;

•In Higher Education: work in progress at two Australian universities (Victoria University of Technology and Swinburne Universities of Technology in Melbourne); and

•In Vocational Education and Training: work in progress in re-orienting the policy approach to Quality towards a more flexible and learning-centred model.

This paper will argue that when looked at from the perspective of the individual learner, there is a strong case for student learning to be placed at the very heart of Quality Systems in all sectors of education, and also therefore in related sectoral Quality Assurance programs and processes.

Traffic safety education and health promoting school : a metropolitan and rural pilot study

Traffic Safety Education (TSE) is an important part of a school's program; however, it competes with many other components of schooling such as literacy, numeracy and a number of health areas. Hence TSE provision in Victorian schools has been somewhat fragmented and haphazard in its delivery. This small pilot study involved two metropolitan and two rural schools which attempted to link TSE into mainstream school activities through the new Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) utilising the internationally accepted Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework.
The findings of the pilot study showed that though schools face many demands, understanding and ownership of TSE is possible when administrative support, professional development and adequate planning time are made available. The report outlines several key recommendations to improve the delivery of Traffic Safety Education in Victorian schools.

Some conceptual issues in education for sustainable development

There is a strong international, national and regional mandate for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): the United Nations has gazetted a 'decade of education for sustainability; sustainability is Australia's top research priority area; and there is increasing local concern about specific sustainability issues like the effect of the sea change movement on Australia's coastal communities. In this paper I will consider two contemporary conceptual issues in ESD: the contested nature of the field itself; and the relationship between traditional discipline-based educational structures and ESD. In addition to these conceptual issues, I will draw on a recent practical example of fl sustainability project in raising some questions concerning the distinguishing characteristics of sustainability issues that perhaps ought to be addressed in ESD.

How E-business can provide a sustainable framework for online learning in the vocational education and training arena

The author undertook a major national study of e-business for the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) from November 1999 - February 2000, resulting in the report E-competent Australia: The Impact of E-commerce on the National Training Framework (ANTA, 2000; available at http;://www.anta.gov.au). This ANTA study and other research by the author show that e-business will eventually have a significant impact on the Australian economy, on industries, organisations, occupations and education and training organisations. From April-May 2000, the author is undertaking a major study for the Commonwealth Government (DETYA): a scoping study of e-commerce in the education and training sector (higher education, VET, schools) of Australia.

This paper starts where the ANTA study (Mitchell 2000a) and the DETYA study stop, by exploring the implications of e-business for online learning systems. E-business will eventually impact not only on the organisations providing online education but on their online learning systems.

The paper is based also on research by the author for a Doctorate in Education within the Faculty of Education at Deakin University that commenced in 1997 and is continuing. The research for this paper involved a review of national and international developments in ebusiness, relating them to online learning systems.

This paper traces the origins, definitions and drivers of both e-business and online learning systems in the 1990s, showing how e-business principles and strategies in the future will have a beneficial impact on online learning systems, even if online learning systems eventually lose their identities as separate from the rest of the organisation.

An e-business focus for online learning systems would start with an understanding of the customers' needs; would find a customer-centric solution, not a technology-centric solution; would empower the customer; would provide sufficient and multiple types of support for the customer; would provide quality and skilled input; and would provide cost effective, reliable and accessible technology.

This vision of an e-business approach to training varies greatly from the traditional business model for the delivery of training, particularly by VET Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). The traditional business model includes real estate prices dictating location of campuses; architecture dictating class sizes; industrial relations dictating the number and length of sessions and prescribing tight role descriptions; queues of students enrolling in February and July each year; and students seated in teacher-dominated classrooms. In contrast, an e-business basis for RTOs would involve the use of electronic communication to improve business performance, improve the use of existing resources, enhance existing services and increase market reach.

An e-business model for RTOs would include the following features: the development of new relationships with customers, using electronic communication to strengthen the relationship; the pursuit of new student markets; and the development of new relationships and alliances between providers. In this new arena of potential and threat, of disintermediation and reintermediation, there will be new roles for new intermediaries; and there will emerge new ways of supporting teaching and learning. Progressive education and training organisations will realize the potential offered by e-business and enjoy the fruits of reintermediation.
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Prominent messages in education and applied linguistic abstracts : how do authors appeal to their prospective readers?

This study investigates the rhetorical structure of abstracts of papers published in Applied Linguistics and Education. It examines how abstract authors in these two fields emphasise the significance of their research, and how they appeal to their prospective readership. Although abstracts in both disciplinary groups are found to display a coordinate textual development they exhibit a utilization of different relational schemata to indicate the functional prominence of textual propositions. In particular, different relational patterns are seen to be employed to fulfil the two primary objectives of an abstract: to provide a synopsis of the accompanying article, and to promote it to relevant research and professional communities. The way authors demonstrate the value of their research and their professional credibility appears to be conditioned by disciplinary writing conventions. It is proposed that relational choices, which result in differences in the accentuation of communicative messages in Applied Linguistics and Education abstracts, depend on the perceived relationship between the author and the discourse community in terms of expectations of prior knowledge.

Vocational education and training at a distance : transformation to flexible delivery

This chapter will explore the position that distance education has held in the past in Australian vocational education and training (VET) and how that position has developed and transformed over the past couple of decades. It is argued here that after a period of VET provision through distance education that was largely based around an earlier centralised model, VET was early to recognise the potential that new technologies in distance education had for VET learners and learning. Concurrently there was recognition of the substantial limitations a centralised model of distance education posed for new demands on VET. Economic imperatives also contributed to what became a revolution in VET and its delivery to learners.
The chapter identifies these developments and the factors that have contributed to them, and tracks the transition of Australian VET distance education as it transformed away from centralised distance education provision towards its more recent forms of locally provided flexible delivery and blended learning.