Author: Henrik Steenberg

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Enabling learners starts with knowing them: Student attitudes, aspiration and anxiety towards science and maths learning in an Australian pre-university enabling program

Author: Joanne G. Lisciandro, Angela Jones, Peter Geerlings

Murdoch University

Edition: Volume 58, Number 1, April 2018

Summary: Pre-university enabling programs provide an important pathway to university for underprepared and disadvantaged students. In order to adequately prepare students for their university journey, enabling educators need to understand and respond to the evolving needs of their learners; not only their academic disparity, but also their past learning experiences and perceptions towards particular subjects. In the current study, students entering an Australian enabling program, ‘OnTrack’, were surveyed on their attitudes, emotions and aspirations towards the study of science and mathematics. Responses were associated with student perceptions of their past science and maths learning experiences. There was incongruity between student expectations of what future study would entail and the realities of their degree choices and career aspirations. This study suggests the need for social and emotional learning and teacher training. Greater attention should be given to both student’s affective needs and their understanding of future course content during their enabling education experience to redress negative emotional learning experiences and safeguard student expectations, satisfaction, and retention in the future.

Keywords: enabling program, affective domain, attitudes, emotion, science, mathematics

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 58_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Gender differences in online participation: Examining a History and a Mathematics Open Foundation online course

Author: Annette Morante, Valerie Djenidi, Helene Clark & Susan West

Newcastle University

Edition: Volume 57, Number 2, July 2017

Summary: With enrolment and completion rates in the University of Newcastle’s online Open Foundation enabling program being considerably higher for women than for men, this case study investigates the engagement of male and female students in two different subject areas. History and Mathematics students’ online behaviour is examined to identify whether they differ and if there is a correlation between time spent online and student results. Is low-level, or no online interaction a problem or does it differ for the two genders, and the two subjects?  It is generally accepted that women engage more but does this lead to higher results for them? Students do not always appreciate how different the world of online learning is, and, in addition, some experience difficulties in understanding how to use Blackboard effectively. By examining students’ online engagement we seek to identify the behaviours that lead to retention of students and ultimately to their successful completion of the program.

Keywords: gender, Blackboard, Higher Education, online learning, online participation

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Experiences of bridging program students at a regional satellite campus

Author: Sandra Elsom, Ruth Greenaway & Margaret Marshman

University of the Sunshine Coast

Edition: Volume 57, Number 2, July 2017

Summary: The benefits of higher education to individuals and to society are acknowledged both in Australia and internationally. Increased access to higher education means that greatly diverse students are beginning their tertiary learning journey. We investigate the experiences of a group of non-traditional students undertaking a tertiary preparation program at a regional university, based at a satellite campus in a low socio-economic area.  Bourdieu’s conceptual tools are used to frame the significance that symbolic capital has on the experience of students. Using phenomenography, the experiences of nine students were recorded and interpreted. Interviews were used to identify which aspects of the university experience they considered were the most important. Students’ motivation, social networks, staff-student interactions and the various challenges were among the most important experiences mentioned. These combined to create three analogous categories, stairway, doorway and hallway (SDH). The students’ experiences in the program may be likened to a stairway that must be climbed; a doorway that must be passed through; or a hallway that offers opportunities for exploration along the journey. The SDH model is a useful way to categorise students, to identify their experiences and develop strategies to support them.

Keywords: Tertiary preparation, bridging programs, non-traditional students, satellite campus, widening participation, access to higher education

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Adult offenders’ perceptions of rehabilitation programs in Africa

Author: Nomazulu Ngozwana

University of South Africa

Edition: Volume 57, Number 2, July 2017

Summary: This article reflects on adult offenders’ perceptions of rehabilitation programs in Africa. It also evaluates whether offenders are consulted when planning rehabilitation programs.  Adult education principles were used as a lens to understand offenders’ perceptions of rehabilitation programs. Using an interpretive paradigm and qualitative approach, individual interviews, observations and focus group meetings were held with offenders and other participants who were chosen through purposive and snowball sampling. Qualitative data analysis was used to generate the themes from the data. The findings revealed that rehabilitation programs are ineffective and imposed on offenders. Furthermore the data revealed that offenders see themselves as hard- labour while participating in rehabilitation programs. This has an implication for offenders’ rehabilitation and reintegration into their societies as transformed citizens.

Keywords: rehabilitation programs, adult offenders, reintegration, ownership, participation, motivation

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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‘The trails to get there’: Experiences of attaining higher education for Igorot Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines

Author: Digna Adonis & Jen Couch

Australian Catholic University

Edition: Volume 57, Number 2, July 2017

Summary: The title of this paper alludes to the hours of walking on mountain paths, which one of the authors, growing up in an Igorot Indigenous community in post-colonial Philippines undertook to go to school. This is an apt symbol of the sheer effort it can take to overcome physical, social, cultural and psychological barriers to access, persevere with and complete, higher education. This article explores the hardships of attaining higher education and the effects of education on the Igorot community. The article shares the experiences of Igorot leaders and how they have used their higher education learning to work for the promotion of maintenance of their Igorot culture.

Keywords: barriers to education, Indigenous learning, westernized higher education

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Bringing together learning from two worlds: Lessons from a gender-inclusive community education approach with smallholder farmers in Papua New Guinea

Author: Barbara Pamphilon & Katja Mikhailovich

University of Canberra

Edition: Volume 57, Number 2, July 2017

Summary: Smallholder farmers are the backbone of food production in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Due to an increasing need to pay for schooling and health costs, many farming families are seeking ways to move from semi-subsistence farming to activities that generate more income. The long tradition of agricultural training in PNG to support the development of farmers has focused on technology transfer and on the production of cash crops. This form of farmer education has primarily benefited men, who typically control cash crop production. It has often excluded women, whose significant engagement in it is precluded by their low literacy, low education, family responsibilities and daily work on subsistence crops. This article examines the lessons learned from a project that facilitated village-level community education workshops that sought to bring male and female heads of families together in a culturally appropriate way in order to encourage more gender-equitable planning and farming practices. Through the development and capacity building of local training teams, the project developed a critical and place-based pedagogy underpinned by gender-inclusive and asset-based community development principles.

Keywords: farmer learning; non-formal education; gender equity; critical place-based pedagogy; peer education; developing countries

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.