Making science real:Photo-sharing in biology and chemistry

In this paper, we examine students’ reflections about the value of two photo-sharing activities that were implemented in undergraduate Biology and Chemistry subjects. Both activities aimed, broadly, to provide support for authentic and meaningful learning experiences in undergraduate science. Although the activities were similar – both required students to capture and share images as part of an independent inquiry activity – students in the Biology case study were more positive, overall, than the Chemistry students in their evaluation of the activity. In this paper, we examine the findings from the two case studies in parallel to provide insight into our understanding of meaningful learning in undergraduate science. The results suggest that, for meaningful learning to occur, the learning activity needs to be well aligned with students’ individual learning goals and with the objectives and characteristics of the course. In the two case studies examined in this paper, this alignment was successful for the Biology case study but less successful in the Chemistry case study

Improving access to and use of digital resources in a self directed learning context

This paper presents the background to and progress of a project investigating the use of courseware and other digital resources by undergraduate medical students in a self-directed learning environment (shared open-access computing space) within a problem-based curriculum. The investigation draws on three parallel streams of data collection; automated usage monitoring, survey and focus group. Over 60,000 individual computer sessions and more than 500 surveys are currently being analysed. Preliminary analysis reveals that only a small percentage of the available courseware resources are regularly used, and that the level of usage appears to be highly dependent the level of promotion and support provided by teaching staff. Analysis of Internet usage data reveals that medical students rely heavily on Google and Wikipedia to locate and access self-directed learning resources and that they are relatively unsophisticated in their use of search tools. The results of the investigation are informing the design and development of an innovative software support tool that aims to improve students' awareness of and access to a wide range of digital resources. Keywords: usage monitoring, self-directed learning, social bookmarking, Project background This paper reports on an ongoing project that investigates undergraduate medical students' use of 'courseware' and other digital resources to support self-directed learning activities within a problembased curriculum. It is being carried out a large Australian university that has invested heavily in educational technology to support and enhance teaching and learning across all curricula in recent years. The university's medical faculty has been a major recipient and participant in this investment, which among other things has seen the development of numerous innovative courseware resources to support the delivery of discipline-based knowledge in content areas that students consistently misunderstand or have difficulty with. While several courseware resources can be purchased (at low cost) by student on CD-ROM for use on personal or home computers, most can only be accessed via computers located in various shared computing spaces throughout the faculty and its allied clinical schools. Some of these courseware resources are occasionally timetabled as instructor-led 'laboratory' sessions, however they are more typically used by students in a self-discretionary, self-directed manner, with or without recommendation by teaching staff. We have been investigating students' use of selected courseware resources since 2000, using an automated data collection system developed in-house (e.g. The reasons why medical students did or did not use particular courseware were not investigated at that time. However, the extent to which particular courseware resources were used by students could have reflected a range of educational issues particular to their specific curriculum context. Some of the factor

Editorial: brain, mind and educational technology

There has been substantial hype around the growing body of research investigating how learning occurs in the brain. Over the last century, in particular, we have learned more about how the brain functions than has been discovered throughout history (Albright, Jessell, Kandel & Posner, 2000). New imaging techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have been pivotal in driving this research agenda. The emergence of the field of cognitive neuroscience has further helped to align foundational work on uncovering how the brain works with what is known about learning from the psychological sciences. In combination with education, new fields such as ‘educational neuroscience’ have emerged with the aim of translating the findings from the laboratory to the classroom (e.g. Ansari, Coch & De Smedt, 2011)

Integration of selectively grown topological insulator nanoribbons in superconducting quantum circuits

We report on the precise integration of nm-scale topological insulator Josephson junctions into mm-scale superconducting quantum circuits via selective area epitaxy and local stencil lithography. By studying dielectric losses of superconducting microwave resonators fabricated on top of our selective area growth mask, we verify the compatibility of this in situ technique with microwave applications. We probe the microwave response of on-chip microwave cavities coupled to topological insulator-shunted superconducting qubit devices and observe a power dependence that indicates nonlinear qubit behaviour. Our method enables integration of complex networks of topological insulator nanostructures into superconducting circuits, paving the way for both novel voltage-controlled Josephson and topological qubits.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Student retention and learning analytics:A snapshot of Australian practices and a framework for advancement

The analysis of data from user interactions with technologies is literally changing how organisations function, prioritise and compete in an international market. All industries have been influenced or impacted by the so called digital revolution and the associated analysis of user data. In the higher education (HE) sector this wave of data analytics has flowed through the concept of learning analytics (LA). This field of research has been touted as a game changer for education whereby the outcomes of LA implementations will address core education challenges. These include concerns regarding student retention and academic performance, demonstration of learning and teaching quality, and developing models of personalised and adaptive learning. While there is broad consensus across the sector as to the importance for LA there remain challenges in how such endeavours are effectively and efficiently rolled out across an organisation. The lack of institutional exemplars and resources that can guide implementation and build institutional capacity represents a significant barrier for systemic adoption. This report seeks to unpack these challenges to institutional adoption and provide new insights that can aid future implementations of LA and help advance the sophistication of such deployments. The study does so by interrogating the assumptions underpinning the adoption of LA in the Australian University sector and contrasting this with the perspectives of an international panel of LA experts. The findings and recommendations highlight the need for a greater understanding of the field of LA including the diversity of LA research and learning and teaching applications, alongside the promotion of capacity building initiatives and collaborations amongst universities, government bodies and industry