The Educational Green: Researching Ways of Combining Professions

The Educational Green was an innovative 3rd year design studio held in 2007 in the faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. The studio both informed and was informed by the authors’ involvement in a Research Council (RC) grant (ongoing 2007-2010). It involved collaboration between university staff and students, a teacher educator and staff and students at a local secondary school as a case study and the studio leader wished to experiment with her teaching, evaluate it and respond to her evaluation immediately. Keywords: School Design; Environmentally Responsible; Sustainability</p

Student engagement with self-instructional course materials : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Distance and On-line Learning at Massey University, Extramural, New Zealand

This study is concerned with understanding how students engage with self-instructional materials on campus and at a distance within the context of the hybrid course offered at ABC College. This study examines the interrelationship of (a) time engaged with course materials, (b) the perceived value of course materials, (c) student approaches to engagement and (d) the integration of the course materials into the student learning experience in order to construct an understanding of student engagement with course materials. This study employed multiple case studies which formed a holistic collective case study. Data on student engagement with the course materials was collected using a questionnaire instrument. The resulting data was analysed using descriptive statistics to create a picture of how students engaged with the course materials. Correlation statistics were used to identify possible relationships between the items. Emerging themes were then explored in focus groups. Subsequent analysis of the focus group data explored the causation and interrelationships between themes resulting in an understanding of student engagement with the course materials. The findings from this study suggests that student engagement with self-instructional course materials (readings, learning guide, multimedia, etc.) are the result of complex interactions between a student's preferred approach to engagement, their locus of control and the method of integration of the course materials. The majority of participants preferred to engage with the course materials using a deep approach. Participants with an external locus of control reflected the assumptions and approaches they perceived from the method of integration. Participants with an internal locus of control engaged with the course materials using their preferred approach unless they were convinced that another approach served their needs better. The majority of participants exhibited an external locus of control. When a presentation or supplemental method of integrating was used, participants were more likely to engage with the course materials using a surface approach to engagement. They were also more likely to spend less time engaging with the course materials and place a lower value on the course materials. When a discussion or springboard method of integration was used participants were more likely to engage the course materials using a deep approach to engagement. They were also more likely to spend more time engaging with the course materials and place a higher value on the course materials

Educational Materials in a Private School Setting: An Industrial Ethnography and Document Analysis of One School’s Presently-Used Educational Documents

This study utilized an industrial ethnographic framework to perform a document analysis on educational classroom documents presently used at a single small, private boarding school. This school, where students are given an individualized curriculum and experience immersed in technology, frequently uses Google Apps for Education to share electronic documents used in the classroom.Qualitative information was gathered using an instrument created for this study, the Educational Document Design and Information Evaluation (EDDIE) form. EDDIE forms in the areas of Supplemental Documents, Adopted Textbooks, and Lesson Plans were used to evaluate presently-used classroom documents with current information design and educational trends.The document analysis found that teachers at the school choose and create educational document based on the individual student needs in the classroom. The study demonstrated that teachers need more knowledge and practice in the area of adding stylistic changes to user-created documents to ease document comprehension and understanding for students

Content Analysis of International Standards for Human Factors in Ship Design and Operation

Human-related factors account for more than 80% of accidents at sea, based on studies. According to Global Claims Review 2017 released by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, an estimated 75-96% of shipping accidents have a high probability of involving human error (AGCS, 2017). Designs that do not meet human factors\u27 needs play a significant role in contributing to human error. Documents in terms of design standards and guidelines, rules, and laws are analyzed. As a result, several documents related to human factors have been identified. These documents are based on whether to implement it, even if some are prescriptive, and others are mandatory, being published at different enforcement levels. In ensuring the consistent implementation of human factors, regulators and authorities need to take stricter measures in all the processes involved in designing and building such ships

Can an electronic textbooks be part of K-12 education?: Challenges, technological solutions and open issues

An electronic textbook (e-Textbook) is a digitized (or electronic) form of textbook, which normally needs an endorsement by the national or state government when it is used in the K-12 education system. E-Textbooks have been envisioned to replace existing paper-based textbooks due to its educational advantages. Hence, it is of paramount importance for the relevant parties (i.e. national and state governments, or school districts) to draw a comprehensive roadmap of technologies necessary for the successful adoption of e-Textbooks nationwide. This paper provides a brief overview of e-Textbooks and subsequently an extensive discussion on challenges associated with e-Textbooks in the pursuit of replacing traditional textbooks with e-Textbooks. This paper further provides an extensive review on how the challenges have been approached using existing e-Textbook technologies, such as multi-touch technology, e-Paper, Web 2.0 and cloud computing. Literature review and interview have been conducted to identify the challenges of e Textbooks implementation in terms of e-Textbook usage levels and the reasons of its refusal. There were 180 students and 20 academic staff participated as a sample for interviews. Eight categories of key challenges were identified. Subsequently, assessment was performed on how the evolving e-Textbook technology has been applied to address the key challenges and problems. This article aims to provide a strong foundation for further investigations in e-Textbooks for successful adoption of e-Textbooks in school education

Developing an E-book with Past Tenses Materials for the Students of English Education Study Program in the Indonesian Context

An e-book is one type of instructional materials that play important roles to ensure learning interactivity by integrating technology to its context. However, studies on the integration of an e-book in English language teaching mostly focus on its implementation process, not its developing process which in fact may influence the validity quality of an e-book. Thus, this study aims to use expert’s review to develop an e-book with past tenses materials for students of English study program. Development research design proposed by Akker was used to develop the e-book. Expert’s reviews on the past tenses materials and the e-book media design were used to determine the validity of the e-book. The results showed that the e-book with past tenses materials was valid which indicated that it can be employed in teaching and learning simple past tense and past continuous to the students of English education study program

Education for citizenship: measuring the impact on learners of the community-based learning program in Palestine

The community-based learning (CBL) methodology was introduced at An-Najah University, Palestine for the first time through an initiative led by the Center for Excellence in Learning in 2013. The initial objectives for the CBL scheme were set at three different, yet interrelated aspects. On one hand, the learning environment was expanded to include direct engagement with the Palestinian community organizations through implementing need based projects for these organizations. On the other hand, through such engagement the learners were expected to develop key critical thinking skills which included self-learning, decision making, and testing theoretical models as they relate to community problems. Additionally, and as a direct impact for this initiative, it was hoped that the community work will prepare the learners for their responsibilities as Palestinian citizens. This research project is intended to measure the direct impact that the CBL program had on the learners’ skills on all three levels. This will be done by interviewing a representative sample from CBL participant groups. To measure the indirect impact on the CBL participants, the research will report on any unanticipated outcomes resulting from the CBL experience. In other words, this research will highlight the snowballing effect for the CBL program – aspects of growth in the learners experience beyond the originally planned objectives