Petrea Redmond

Reflection as an Indicator of Cognitive Presence

In the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model, cognitive presence indicators can be used to evaluate the quality of inquiry in a discussion forum. Engagement in critical thinking and deep knowledge can occur through reflective processes. When learners move through the four phases of cognitive presence (triggering, exploration, integration, resolution), the processes of discussion and reflection are important in developing deep understanding. In this article, data from the online discussion archives within a blended teacher-education course are analysed using the cognitive presence indicators from the CoI with the additional indicator of reflection. This study indicates that when instructors structure online discussions appropriately, learners are able to share and document their thinking and reflect on their contributions and the perspectives of others while developing new or deeper knowledge. To facilitate the coding of reflective activities and online posts the researcher proposes modifying the resolution phase of the original cognitive presence coding protocol to include an additional reflection indicator.

Discipline specific online mentoring for secondary pre-service teachers

This paper describes an online mentoring project which involved building online mentoring learning communities to support secondary pre-service teachers, and to provide them with the opportunity to interact and engage in professional learning dialogue with teaching professionals in their teaching disciplines. The practicing teachers took on the role of online mentors to the pre-service teachers who were personally, professionally and geographically isolated due to being located in regional, rural or remote areas. The goal was to develop discipline specific knowledge, skills and confidence in the pre-service teachers through ongoing electronic interaction with a discipline specific mentor. This paper describes enablers and inhibitors to online mentoring and identifies implications for implementation and suggestions for improvement. Participation in online mentoring communities was a positive experience.Online community mentoring can occur in open online spaces.Mentoring organizer should have initial synchronous contact with the mentees and mentors.Develop a network of discipline specialists.Online group mentoring leverages several mentors across a greater number of mentees.

Becoming a female leader in higher education: investigations from a regional university

ABSTRACT Issues of gender imbalance in leadership have long been a significant issue in universities, as is the case across most industries. This paper explores the experiences of seven females who have successfully achieved senior leadership positions at a regional university in Australia. While the experiences of these women differ in many ways, there are certainly similarities in the challenges and adversities that they have faced, and their perceptions of what has allowed them to experience success in their leadership roles. This paper provides a number of recommendations for women aspiring to be leaders in higher education, such as committing to ongoing development, taking opportunities when presented, developing resilience, developing a track record, and seeking support, and also recommendations for institutions.

Developing a generic review framework to assure capstone quality

ABSTRACT Within the higher education context, capstone units can be viewed as a significant means of assuring intended learning outcomes for programmes. They provide students with the opportunity to consolidate and apply prior and new disciplinary learning, as well as employability skills and graduate attributes. This paper describes the first stage of an initiative in a regional, Australian university to develop a capstone quality review framework that can be applied across disciplines. A deductive, thematic analysis of relevant literature, guides and institutional strategic documents using a constant comparison method was used to develop a collectively agreed upon set of capstone quality domains and related criteria. These would enable reviewers to assess whether capstone curricula were fit-for-purpose. Capstone domains and criteria were validated and revised using a multi-stage, moderated review of 10 capstone units. This validation process affirmed that to avoid issues with reviewer inter-rater reliability, future use of our framework should emphasise calibrating reviewer interpretation to ensure greater levels of shared understanding of underlying concepts. It further suggested the desirability of incorporating aspects of teacher self-assessment, teacher feedback and student results. Provided these findings are accounted for, we conclude that the proposed capstone review domains and criteria could be used for quality review and enhancement, or capstone benchmarking processes, regardless of discipline area.

Online collaboration as a pedagogical approach to learning and teaching undergraduate legal education

ABSTRACT Legal education is in a period of rapid development driven by changing industry demands and developing technologies. This paper will describe an innovative pilot study which utilises new technologies to provide an alternative mode of teaching and learning to meet growing industry demands for graduates who are technologically savvy and have strong communication and collaboration skills. The pilot study redesigns a law unit combining a more traditional approach with an approach in which online collaboration is critical to student learning as a teaching and assessment tool. After completing an online collaborative activity as part of their assessment for the unit, students completed an online survey to identify their perspectives of the online collaborative experience. The online survey data was analysed to identify common themes and the experiences of students are shared in this paper. The paper provides an example of how instructors might take advantage of a learning design process, online tools and infrastructure to develop educational experiences which promote communication and collaboration within the law discipline. It will also include five recommendations to consider when including online collaboration in unit design for law students.

Sustaining the Momentum: A Cross-Institutional Community of Practice for Research Supervisors

Research supervision is an important learning and teaching issue in Higher Education Institutions. This paper reports on the history and outcomes of a community of practice that has been meeting since 2009 to improve the capability of research supervisors at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Australia. The Community of Practice—Research Supervisors (CoP-RS) includes academic staff from all USQ Faculties and across all campuses. We describe the background that prompted the formation of the CoP-RS and then detail the activities undertaken to date. The outcomes and challenges are discussed with the view to identify critical success factors to ensure sustainability of the CoP. Conclusions are drawn and future research directions suggested.

VET practitioner’s perceptions of VET higher-education qualifications

Abstract The quality of vocation education and training (VET) teaching in Australia has long been contested. Six Australian universities jointly conducted an online survey exploring the experiences of practitioners who were undertaking undergraduate studies in VET. This paper explores the experiences of VET practitioners as students in one regional university who were enrolled in a Bachelor of Vocational Educational and Training and compared them to the larger national cohort. While the background and capabilities of these practitioners differed in numerous ways there were similarities in their perceptions of what constitutes quality VET teacher education and the knowledge and skills they gained from studying a Bachelor-level qualification when compared to the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Investigating pre-service teachers’ inquiry into Indigenous perspectives

Within Australia and in many other nations, there is a mandate for teachers to embed Indigenous perspectives in the teaching of all curriculum areas. Indigenous populations have deep, rich and diverse traditional knowledge and ways of working linked to their identities and communities. In the past, the Queensland curriculum required Indigenous perspectives to be embedded in teaching and learning to increase the awareness by both students and teachers of Indigenous perspectives and to improve the learning outcomes of Indigenous students. The new Australian Curriculum includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island histories and cultures as a cross-curriculum priority. In particular, it focuses on identity ‘through the interconnected aspects of country/place, people and culture. Embracing these elements enhances all areas of the curriculum’ (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, n.d.).

Researching and extending developments in contemporary educational practice

The field of contemporary education abounds with multiple practices designed to enhance the effectiveness of teaching approaches and to maximise students’ learning outcomes. Yet we still know relatively little about what works in terms of teaching and learning in different educational contexts. In particular, if we are to advocate the wider application of particular kinds of educational developments, we need to conduct and evaluate research about the foundations of those developments and the factors that promote and/or inhibit their success. This chapter distils some key findings from current scholarship about educational developments and how they are practised in varied professional contexts. The analysis of these findings is informed by a number of conceptual frameworks gleaned from contemporary research into the elements of effective educational strategies in specific teaching and learning domains. Key concepts from these frameworks are in turn used to identify the central questions about educational developments and practices addressed by the authors of the subsequent chapters in this book. More broadly, this chapter contributes to continuing debates about both the pre-requisites and the effects of effective teaching and learning approaches and strategies in widely varying educational contexts.

Interrogating Contemporary Research in Educational Innovation

Contemporary educational issues are abundant and diverse. These issues include claims and counter-claims, debates and questions about matters ranging from national curricula (Oates, 2011; Tani, 2011) and standardised assessment of students’ learning (Au, 2009; Richards, Vining, & Weimer, 2010) to parental involvement in school governance (Addi-Raccah & Ronit, 2009; Blackmore & Hutchison, 2010) and government funding of public education (Tandberg, 2010; White & Friendly, 2012) to the empowerment of so-called marginalised communities (Chilisa & Ntseane, 2010; Morton & Montgomery, 2012) and the ethics and politics of education research (Sikes & Piper, 2010; Basit, 2013).