Focusing on the learner: charting a way forward for Australian education

This paper argues that Australia is unlikely to reach its goal of becoming a top 5 nation in education by 2025 without a major change in education policies.Executive summaryThe Australia in the Asian Century White Paper has set the laudable goal that: “By 2025, Australia will be ranked as a top five country in the world for the performance of our students in reading, science and mathematics literacy and for providing our children with a high-quality and high-equity education system”. This is a challenging goal and it demands that every child receives a first class education; however, this paper argues that the policies currently on the agenda will not deliver the standard of education required.The big picture for Australia’s education system is being held back by a confused and often incoherent debate. While discussion at the political level focuses on issues such as funding, public/private schooling, principal autonomy, performance pay, student and teacher tests and sector comparisons, policy makers risk oversimplifying teaching and missing the most important point.When it comes to achieving the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper’s goal, these issues are relatively irrelevant and lacking a strong evidence base on how they make an impact on student learning. Moreover, they imply a simplistic view of teaching as nothing more than information transmission and behaviour management, with an underlying message that for Australia’s education system to improve, teachers just need to work harder.This paper argues that teaching is far from simplistic but rather a complex, challenging, clinical practice profession that requires high calibre individuals. It outlines a way forward that has the potential to make a significant impact on the learning outcomes of all young Australians, focusing on the issues that matter: teachers and teaching

2017-18 VCU Faculty Handbook

The VCU Faculty Handbook contains information about the university, its campus and the surrounding community. The Handbook is not a complete guide to academics, research and other services, but is intended as a reference guide to orient new and continuing faculty to the university and provides additional sources for information. For detailed school or department information, please reach out to the specific departmental office. The VCU Office of Faculty Affairs is committed to updating the Handbook on a yearly basis

Graduate Catalog, 2002-2003

https://scholar.valpo.edu/gradcatalogs/1029/thumbnail.jp

Graduate Catalog, 2005-2006

https://scholar.valpo.edu/gradcatalogs/1032/thumbnail.jp

Providing behaviour awareness in collaborative project courses

Several studies show that awareness mechanisms can contribute to enhance the collaboration process among students and the learning experiences during collaborative project courses. However, it is not clear what awareness information should be provided to whom, when it should be provided, and how to obtain and represent such information in an accurate and understandable way. Regardless the research efforts done in this area, the problem remains open. By recognizing the diversity of work scenarios (contexts) where the collaboration may occur, this research proposes a behaviour awareness mechanism to support collaborative work in undergraduate project courses. Based on the authors previous experiences and the literature in the area, the proposed mechanism considers personal and social awareness components, which represent metrics in a visual way, helping students realize their performance, and lecturers intervene when needed. The trustworthiness of the mechanisms for determining the metrics was verified using empirical data, and the usability and usefulness of these metrics were evaluated with undergraduate students. Experimental results show that this awareness mechanism is useful, understandable and representative of the observed scenarios.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Graduate Catalog, 2004-2005

https://scholar.valpo.edu/gradcatalogs/1031/thumbnail.jp

Providing behaviour awareness in collaborative project courses

Several studies show that awareness mechanisms can contribute to enhance the collaboration process among students and the learning experiences during collaborative project courses. However, it is not clear what awareness information should be provided to whom, when it should be provided, and how to obtain and represent such information in an accurate and understandable way. Regardless the research efforts done in this area, the problem remains open. By recognizing the diversity of work scenarios (contexts) where the collaboration may occur, this research proposes a behaviour awareness mechanism to support collaborative work in undergraduate project courses. Based on the authors previous experiences and the literature in the area, the proposed mechanism considers personal and social awareness components, which represent metrics in a visual way, helping students realize their performance, and lecturers intervene when needed. The trustworthiness of the mechanisms for determining the metrics was verified using empirical data, and the usability and usefulness of these metrics were evaluated with undergraduate students. Experimental results show that this awareness mechanism is useful, understandable and representative of the observed scenarios.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version