Jason M. Lodge

Early career academic perceptions, attitudes and professional development activities: questioning the teaching and research gap to further academic development

Early career academia is a challenging time, particularly as academics are facing increasing pressures to excel across a range of areas. Boyer argued for the ‘true scholar’ versed in the overlapping areas of scholarship in research, teaching, integration and engagement. Academic developers have an important role to play in assisting the transition to academia, particularly as the diverse pathways leading to academia often mean limited knowledge or skills in curriculum development, teaching or assessment of learning. In a quantitative study, self-identified early career academics from three Australian universities reported attitudes and perceptions of teaching and research, and involvement in academic development. The implications of their responses for academic developers are discussed in terms of institutional and disciplinary differences.

Academic workload: the silent barrier to the implementation of technology-enhanced learning strategies in higher education

The effect of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) strategies in higher education has arguably been transformative despite the not-insignificant barriers existing in this context. Throughout the discourse very little attention has been paid to those primarily responsible for this implementation—academic teaching staff. This paper aims to highlight the impact of academic workload allocations, an often silent barrier to the uptake of TEL strategies in higher education. We will discuss the effects of academic identity and culture, preferential time allocation to associative activities, academic technological capacity, university policies and workload and funding models on the uptake, and implementation on TEL in higher education. Our aim is to highlight the risks to staff, students and institutions should these concerns not be addressed and to propose a model for utilisation by all staff responsible for implementing flexible workload models supportive of further implementation of TEL strategies across the sector.

Evaluating quality learning in higher education: re-examining the evidence

The ways in which the value-added benefits of higher education are conceptualised and measured have come under increased scrutiny as universities become more accountable to their funding bodies in a difficult economic climate. Existing approaches for understanding quality learning often rely on measuring the subjective student experience or on instruments that have questionable reliability and validity. In order to overcome these issues, the gap between rigour and relevance in higher educational research must be addressed. It is therefore suggested that the learning sciences play a greater role in understanding quality learning in universities. By directly examining the assumptions underpinning the conceptions of quality learning through an expansion of the evidence base available, more valid and reliable methods can be developed. These methods will then allow more sophisticated indicators for assessing what students gain from their time in higher education.

Inside Out Detecting Learners’ Confusion to Improve Interactive Digital Learning Environments

Confusion is an emotion that is likely to occur while learning complex information. This emotion can be beneficial to learners in that it can foster engagement, leading to deeper understanding. However, if learners fail to resolve confusion, its effect can be detrimental to learning. Such detrimental learning experiences are particularly concerning within digital learning environments (DLEs), where a teacher is not physically present to monitor learner engagement and adapt the learning experience accordingly. However, with better information about a learner’s emotion and behavior, it is possible to improve the design of interactive DLEs (IDLEs) not only in promoting productive confusion but also in preventing overwhelming confusion. This article reviews different methodological approaches for detecting confusion, such as self-report and behavioral and physiological measures, and discusses their implications within the theoretical framework of a zone of optimal confusion. The specificities of several methodologies and their potential application in IDLEs are discussed.

Can New Digital Technologies Support Parasitology Teaching and Learning

Traditionally, parasitology courses have mostly been taught face-to-face on campus, but now digital technologies offer opportunities for teaching and learning. Here, we give a perspective on how new technologies might be used through student-centred teaching approaches. First, a snapshot of recent trends in the higher education is provided; then, a brief account is given of how digital technologies [e.g., massive open online courses (MOOCs), flipped classroom (FC), games, quizzes, dedicated Facebook, and digital badges] might promote parasitology teaching and learning in digital learning environments. In our opinion, some of these digital technologies might be useful for competency-based, self-regulated, learner-centred teaching and learning in an online or blended teaching environment.

Redefining ‘early career’ in academia: a collective narrative approach

ABSTRACT ‘Early career’ in academia is typically defined in terms of research capability in the five years following PhD completion, with career progression from post-doctoral appointment to tenure, promotion and beyond. This ideal path assumes steady employment and continuous research development. With academic work increasingly casualised, experiences of ‘early career’ are changing and definitions in use by institutions and research bodies do not reflect the lived experiences of early career academics (ECAs). This paper presents five collective narratives and a thematic analysis of survey data from 522 ECAs in three Australian universities. The results offer insights into the diverse experiences of the early stages of academic careers and provide an opportunity to reconsider current definitions. We argue that the employment context in higher education makes it crucial to consider scholars’ self-definitions alongside existing objective indicators to redefine early career in academia.

What data and analytics can and do say about effective learning

The collection and analysis of data about learning is a trend that is growing exponentially in all levels of education. Data science is poised to have a substantial influence on the understanding of learning in online and blended learning environments. The mass of data already being collected about student learning provides a source of greater insights into student learning that have not previously been available, and therefore is liable to have a substantial impact on and be impacted by the science of learning in the years ahead. However, despite the potential evident in the application of data science to education, several recent articles, e.g., 3 have pointed out that student behavioural data collected en masse do not holistically capture student learning. Rogers contends that this positivist view of analytics in education is symptomatic of issues in the social sciences more broadly. While there is undeniable merit in bringing a critical perspective to the use of data and analytics, we suggest that the power and intent of data science for understanding learning is now becoming apparent. The intersection of the science of learning with data and analytics enables more sophisticated ways of making meaning to support student learning.

Effects of anatomical variation on trainee performance in a virtual reality temporal bone surgery simulator.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the importance of anatomical variation in acquiring skills in virtual reality cochlear implant surgery. METHODS Eleven otolaryngology residents participated in this study. They were randomly allocated to practice cochlear implant surgery on the same specimen or on different specimens for four weeks. They were then tested on two new specimens, one standard and one challenging. Videos of their performance were de-identified and reviewed independently, by two blinded consultant otolaryngologists, using a validated assessment scale. The scores were compared between groups. RESULTS On the standard specimen, the round window preparation score was 2.7 ± 0.4 for the experimental group and 1.7 ± 0.6 for the control group (p = 0.01). On the challenging specimen, instrument handling and facial nerve preservation scores of the experimental group were 3.0 ± 0.4 and 3.5 ± 0.7 respectively, while the control group received scores of 2.1 ± 0.8 and 2.4 ± 0.9 respectively (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION Training on temporal bones with differing anatomies is beneficial in the development of expertise.

Modality preference and learning style theories: rethinking the role of sensory modality in learning

Learning styles have been widely accepted in pedagogical practice but suffer from a distinct lack of empirical support. While a diverse range of learning styles have been proposed, modality preference has received the most attention within educational research and practice. Supporters of this theory posit that each individual has a dominant sense and that when new material is presented in this preferred modality, learning is improved. For the most part this theory has been debunked, however, it leaves open the question of exactly how sensory modality influences learning. This critical review identifies methodological limitations in previous research and provides a perspective from psychological science, which supports the implausibility of modality preference as a basis for instructional design. To extend on the existing literature, an alternative position is presented suggesting that modality effects are task dependent, hence modality matters, but it matters for everyone in the same way depending on the nature of the learning activity.

The hard problem of ‘educational neuroscience’

Differing worldviews give interdisciplinary work value. However, these same differences are the primary hurdle to productive communication between disciplines. Here, we argue that philosophical issues of metaphysics and epistemology subserve many of the differences in language, methods and motivation that plague interdisciplinary fields like educational neuroscience. Researchers attempting interdisciplinary work may be unaware that issues of philosophy are intimately tied to the way research is performed and evaluated in different fields. As such, a lack of explicit discussion about these assumptions leads to many conflicts in interdisciplinary work that masquerade as more superficial issues. To illustrate, we investigate how philosophical assumptions about the mind (specifically the hard problem of consciousness and mind-body problem) may influence researchers in educational neuroscience. The methods employed by researchers in this field are shaped by their metaphysical beliefs, and arguments around these issues can threaten accepted disciplinary ontologies. Additionally, how a researcher understands reduction in the special sciences and how they place their colleagues in this ontology constrains the scope of interdisciplinary projects. In encouraging researchers to explicitly discuss the philosophical assumptions underlying their research we hope to alleviate some of the conflict and establish realistic expectations for collaborative projects.