Category: Higher Education

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University-based enabling program outcomes: comparing distance education and internal study

Author: Cheryl Bookallil and John Rolfe, Central Queensland University

Edition: Volume 56, Number 1, April 2016

Summary: Enrolment in university enabling programs has expanded dramatically in the last decade as universities strive to increase enrolments, particularly of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Offering enabling study by distance education has been part of this expansion with the benefit of providing access to a wider enrolment base. The purpose of this study was to compare enabling program completions and articulations to undergraduate study as well as student academic performance between those students who undertook enabling by internal mode and those who opted for distance education. Archival data from the host university student records system was extracted covering the time period from 2001 to 2011. Statistical analysis found significant differences existed in both course completion and articulation for students enrolled in online learning versus face-to-face teaching. Analysis also revealed academic achievement in the enabling programs, as measured by Grade point Average (GPA), to be higher among internal students compared to
distance students.

Keywords: University enabling programs; distance education; attrition; completion; articulation; grade point average

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 56_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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A survey on the influence of titles on the visitor’s interpretation and learning in art galleries: an Iranian context

Authors: Kouros Samanian, Hoda Nedaeifar and Ma’soumeh Karimi, University of Arts, Tehran, Iran

Edition: Volume 56, Number 1, April 2016

Summary: As previous studies suggest, titles of works of art have generally proven to be influential elements in reading and interpretation of the artworks. In the exhibition context, titles can be considered as a physical component of the museum or art gallery’s space. According to the relatively new approaches, learning, being a subcategory of interpretation, occurs as a result of the dialogue between the personal background of the visitor and the context of museums. The present study takes shape on the ground of general studies on titles to account for titling role in the interpretation, hence the learning process of visitors. It also attempts to show whether the artistic background of visitors would influence the role they assign to titles in the process of interpretation. The results of this study can inform art galleries of how visitors regard titles and how titling can be a potential learning element. It may also suggest designing titling manuals to inform the artists of how titles can act as a medium between the artwork and audience. By following a survey method, 243 questionnaires were obtained from visitors of five painting exhibitions in the art galleries of Tehran. The data was analysed using SSPS software. The results suggested that interaction of visitors with titles can be categorised by two indicators of importance and functionality, both of which received high value by visitors to art galleries in Tehran. The most significant function of title for visitors was communicative function. Also, there was a significant, inverted relationship between the amount of artistic background and considering function and importance for titles.

Keywords: titles of artworks, art gallery, exhibitions, visitors’ learning, Tehran, Iran

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 56_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Opening the learning process: the potential role of feature film in teaching employment relations

Author: George Lafferty, Western Sydney University

Edition: Volume 56, Number 1, April 2016

Summary: This paper explores the potential of feature film to encourage more inclusive, participatory and open learning in the area of employment relations. Evaluations of student responses in a single postgraduate course over a five-year period revealed how feature film could encourage participatory learning processes in which students reexamined their initial perspectives on a series of employment relations topics and debates. Over time, the course became increasingly characterised by a pluralism in which all participants became more open to a range of different views, including those of students from diverse political, cultural and religious backgrounds. Of particular note was how the fictional situations depicted in feature films could expand the opportunities for participation and more complex, multidimensional approaches to learning. Following on from a discussion of how more open learning processes require a reconfigured conceptual framework, the paper concludes with some open-ended questions on the use of film in learning processes.

Keywords: feature film, employment relations, openness, learning process

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 56_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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“Come in and look around.” Professional development of student teachers through public pedagogy in a library exhibition

Authors: Anne Hickling-Hudson & Erika Hepple, Queensland University of Technology

Edition: Volume 55, Number 3, November 2015

Summary:  This paper describes a public pedagogy project embedded into The Global Teacher, a subject within the Bachelor of Education program for student teachers at an Australian university. The subject provides a global perspective on socio-political issues that shape education. In 2013, The Global Teacher introduced an approach that asked student teachers to create a museum-style exhibition depicting six global education themes. This exhibition was displayed in the State Library and the public were invited to engage with the installations and the student teachers who created them.

Our paper describes how the project was implemented by means of close collaboration between the QUT teacher educators, curators at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ), and student groups working
on visually translating their understandings of global educational issues into a public exhibition. We discuss what was learned by our students and ourselves, as teacher educators, by engaging in this public pedagogy.
Keywords: global education, public library, group work, transformative learning, social justice, public learning space.

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Motivating and enabling adult learners to develop research skills

Author: Grace McCarthy, University of Wollongong

Edition: Volume 55, Number 2, July 2015

Summary:  Adult learners undertaking a coursework masters are understandably nervous about undertaking research projects. However if done well, such projects represent a way to encourage the quantity and quality of practitioner research, which is important in all management disciplines, not only the emerging discipline of coaching. This paper offers an alternative to the individual master-apprentice model to which many research students are still exposed. Addressing the motivational needs identified in self-determination theory (autonomy, competence and relatedness) as well as self-efficacy and incorporating good practices in feedback, it outlines a way to make the process of learning how to do research more engaging than sitting listening to lectures. The paper reports the findings of a survey of the participants in the 2012 cohort who were asked if their competence and confidence in undertaking a research project had changed before and after undertaking the class, and if so, to list what they, their peers or staff had done to contribute to this change. The paper concludes that the approach offers a useful way to help adult learners develop research skills.

Keywords: coaching, research skills, adult learning, self-determination theory.

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Work-based researchers and Communities of Practice: Conceptual and gestational dilemmas

Author: Andrew Sense, University of Wollongong

Edition: Volume 55, Number 2, July 2015

Summary:  Drawing on a presumption that a Community of Practice (COP) can add significant value to the situated learning development of adults in any context, this paper exposes and analyses the challenges faced in facilitating the development of a COP involving part-time work-based researchers. Using an empirical case example involving a collaborative research network of five industry organisations and a university, the specific purpose (and outcomes) of this paper are to (a) conceptualise
a researcher COP involving part-time work-based PhD and Masters of Philosophy candidates (b) examine the pragmatic dilemmas these part-time researchers face in seeking to develop such a supportive social learning construct in respect to their research activities (c) tentatively indicate some challenges that higher education institutions and industry organisations confront in facilitating and nurturing such learning structures which span industry and academia contexts. Through its analysis, this paper draws attention towards the complex issues involved in developing a functioning rather than the often idealised COP in the part-time work-based researcher space.

Keywords: Work-based researchers; Communities of Practice; Social learning.

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Listening to hear: Critical allies in Indigenous Studies

Author: Colleen McGloin, University of Wollongong

Edition: Volume 55, Number 2, July 2015

Summary:  This paper reflects on a particular class in an undergraduate seminar in Australian Indigenous Studies where anecdote played a crucial role and where both the teacher and learners were challenged to consider their implication as racialised subjects in the teaching and learning process. The paper argues that student anecdote can be a vital bridge between theory and practice in adult learning. It suggests that all learners in Indigenous Studies, and also in studies of race and difference more generally, need to undertake effective listening and hearing practices in order to consider, imagine and engage with experiences and worldviews other than their own. Drawing from work dealing with critical alliances, discomfort in pedagogical contexts, and effective listening practices, this paper provides a conceptual analysis of the seminar in question extrapolating from this to engage critically with broader issues concerning Indigenous Studies and non-Indigenous critical allies.

Keywords: Critical allies, Indigenous Studies, white discomfort, antiracist pedagogy, listening practices.

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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What are the key ingredients for an effective and successful tertiary enabling program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students? An evaluation of the evolution of one program

Author: Lisa Hall, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

Edition: Volume 55, Number 2, July 2015

Summary: Tertiary enabling programs have become an increasingly important part of the post-secondary schooling landscape. In recognition of the need for increased access for certain under-represented groups within the university population, enabling, bridging or foundational programs are offered by a large number of universities in Australia as alternative entry pathways. This paper explores the outcomes of an enabling program being offered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults who are arguably one of the most under-represented groups within the university system in Australia. It explores, in two parts, the combination of factors that are resulting in these positive outcomes. Part one explores the ‘data story’ of the course and the factors that support retention and completion. Part two explores the ‘stories of transformation’ as told by the students themselves, providing insider accounts of richness and depth about the things that truly enable success in a tertiary learning environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. While not ignoring the limitations of evaluating a course that is still in its infancy, the students undertaking this course are completing and moving on into higher education courses at an impressive rate, empowered by the skills, strategies and confidence they have developed through the course.

Keywords: enabling, Indigenous, education, bridging, foundation, Aboriginal

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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1974 -1976: The seeds of longevity in a pathway to tertiary participation at University of Newcastle, NSW

Authors: Josephine May and Rosalie Bunn, University of Newcastle

Edition: Volume 55, Number 1, April 2015

Summary:  By the 1960s equality of opportunity was a dominant theme in social science research, and in keeping with this trend, the Whitlam Labor Government abolished university fees in 1974 to open university access, especially to talented women and men who otherwise would not contemplate a university career. In the same year also the
University of Newcastle instituted a radical new plan to open up its doors to the wider community of ‘non traditional students’. This paper explores the history of the enabling program that resulted, the Open Foundation Program, focusing on the 1974 pilot program and its first two years of full operation. Thought at the time likely to ‘drain its
market’ within five years, the Open Foundation has flourished and grown for forty years. The analysis focuses on hitherto unexplored aspects of the program and canvasses three key themes: curriculum and pedagogy, access and success, and support and retention, in order to understand the seeds of this longevity.

Keywords: enabling education; history; widening participation; access programs; non traditional students

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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The quest for authenticity: A study of an online discussion forum and the needs of adult learners

Author: Jenny McDougall, Central Queensland University

Edition: Volume 55, Number 1, April 2015

Summary:  The objective of achieving a sense of ‘authenticity’ in an educational context is one that might have immediate appeal, though how this is defined, let alone achieved, remains contested. The concept of ‘authentic
discussion’ has traditionally been used in the context of classroom English teaching in schools, but this paper explores its possible application to an online discussion forum at university. Participants in this forum were students in a program designed to prepare adult learners for higher education. Though communication in an online environment differs from face-to-face dialogue, it was found not to be a barrier to ‘authenticity’ in some respects. Multiple perspectives were evident with students building on the ideas of each other, but also being prepared to disagree. The level of support and respect was such that they were willing to tackle sensitive issues, and share in an honest and sometimes revealing way. The role of the lecturer emerged as a critical component in achieving such outcomes. Though claims of ‘authenticity’ are always difficult to substantiate, this study concludes that elements
of an ‘authentic discussion’ can be achieved in an online environment and this objective has a particular salience in the context of adult learning.

Keywords: authentic discussion, adult learning, online learning, critical thinking, enabling education

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 55_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.