Josephine Lang

Finding common ground: enhancing interaction between domestic and international students in higher education

A feature of Australian Higher Education over the last 10 years has been the increased numbers of international students. This feature has been perceived to have great potential for enhanced learning for all students – both international and domestic. Yet, student surveys and research clearly indicate that there is very little interaction occurring between domestic and international students. This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which university teaching can promote interaction between students from diverse cultural and linguistic background. Using an innovative video-analysis methodology, the research found that academics engage in a variety of activities to encourage interaction between student groups. In order to assist academics in planning interaction, one of the main findings of the study was the development of ‘The Interaction for Learning Framework (ILF)’, that identifies key dimensions for curriculum design that can be used by academics to inform ways that they can enhance interaction between diverse student groups within teaching and learning contexts.

Education for Sustainability in Australian Universities: Where Is the Action?.

As institutions of education and learning, the higher education sector has a significant role to play in implementing the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). Some institutions have already acknowledged, and are shaping, their roles in working towards sustainability through appropriate development and implementation of institutional policy and practices, including the signing of international agreements related to sustainability. Such institutions are specifically linking learning to sustainable development. This study was initiated as a result of our interests to i) identify the current commitment to education for sustainability and ii) learn from the institutional lived experiences about how education for sustainability may be realised, within the Australian university context. This is a preliminary investigation to provide baseline insights into how education for sustainability with a focus on curriculum innovation is being implemented within the Australian university landscape. This investigation is informing our further research to understand institutional change of education for sustainability in universities.

The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: A Perspective from Australia

The invitation to respond to this theme enables me to reflect on my country’s efforts in grappling with the implications of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It is a personal perspective within the contexts of the Australian society and its environment. It reflects my experiences as the President of the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) and work with government as a member of the Minister’s advisory body, the National Environmental Education Council (NEEC) over a 2-and-half-year period leading up to the Decade. During this time I worked as a teacher educator, which helped me to further engage with the theories and practices of learning and teaching, focusing me to re-think and re-vision what and how education and learning for sustainability may evolve. Combined, these roles have helped me to explore and examine the intricacies of Education for Sustainability.1 Amidst Australia’s background of ecological devastation there is hope as people and their communities search for ways to re-think and revision our future, moving ever so slowly towards sustainability (e.g., Australian State of the Environment Committee, 2001; Barr & Cary, 1992; Campbell, 1994; Cosgrove, Evans, & Yencken, 1994; Yencken & Wilkinson, 2000). For me, sustainability is the intersection where humanity consciously engages with the

Digital Credentialing: Does It Offer a Meaningful Response to Initial Teacher Education Reform?

The chapter briefly outlines the initial teacher education (ITE) reform landscape, particularly within the current Australian policy context with the release of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) report. At the heart of the most recent call for initial teacher education policy reform in Australia is to seek graduates that are able to provide evidence of their professional learning and practice and demonstrate how it is/will improve student learning in order to illustrate their classroom readiness. This policy ask is no small endeavor. The policy reform report challenges initial teacher education to seek new ways of learning and working to build enriched and stronger bridges between diverse high quality learning experiences for pre-service teachers in their coursework and professional experience contexts. The chapter examines the nature and affordances of digital credentialing and its role in education. Digital credentialing offers promise and potential to address meaningfully the calls for initial teacher education reform, particularly in areas of evidence and classroom readiness. Yet as a disruptive technological innovation it also presents its own sets of challenges and tensions.