Showing papers by "Australian Catholic University published in 2010"
TL;DR: In order for self-regulated learning to come to fruition, students need not only to be able to choose and personalise what tools and content are available, but also to have access to the necessary scaffolding to support their learning.
Abstract: Research findings in recent years provide compelling evidence of the importance of encouraging student control over the learning process as a whole. The socially based tools and technologies of the Web 2.0 movement are capable of supporting informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation, enabling access to a wide raft of ideas and representations. Used appropriately, these tools can shift control to the learner, through promoting learner agency, autonomy and engagement in social networks that straddle multiple real and virtual learning spaces independent of physical, geographic, institutional and organisational boundaries. As argued in this article, however, in order for self-regulated learning to come to fruition, students need not only to be able to choose and personalise what tools and content are available, but also to have access to the necessary scaffolding to support their learning. Emerging practices with social computing technologies, a number of examples of which are showcased in this article, signal the need for pedagogies that are more personal, social and participatory. The authors conclude with a discussion of some of the key implications for practice, including an outline of the current challenges faced by tertiary educators.
787 citations
TL;DR: This study aimed to test the impact of cognitive impairment on self‐care in patients with chronic heart failure and found it to contribute to sub‐optimal self-care.
Abstract: Aims
Cognitive impairment occurs often in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and may contribute to sub-optimal self-care. This study aimed to test the impact of cognitive impairment on self-care.
Methods and results
In 93 consecutive patients hospitalized with CHF, self-care (Self-Care of Heart Failure Index) was assessed. Multiple regression analysis was used to test a model of variables hypothesized to predict self-care maintenance, management, and confidence. Variables in the model were mild cognitive impairment (MCI; Mini-Mental State Exam and Montreal Cognitive Assessment), depressive symptoms (Cardiac Depression Scale), age, gender, social isolation, education level, new diagnosis, and co-morbid illnesses. Sixty-eight patients (75%) were coded as having MCI and had significantly lower self-care management (η2= 0.07, P < 0.01) and self-confidence scores (η2= 0.05, P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, MCI, co-morbidity index, and NYHA class III or IV explained 20% of the variance in self-care management (P < 0.01); MCI made the largest contribution explaining 9% of the variance. Increasing age and symptoms of depression explained 13% of the variance in self-care confidence scores (P < 0.01).
Conclusion
Cognitive impairment, a hidden co-morbidity, may impede patients' ability to make appropriate self-care decisions. Screening for MCI may alert health professionals to those at greater risk of failed self-care.
249 citations
TL;DR: Effective talent development needs to incorporate physical and psychological maturity, the relative age effect, objective measures of game sense, and athletic prowess and is a worthy investment in professional team sport.
Abstract: Traditional talent development pathways for adolescents in team sports follow talent identification procedures based on subjective games ratings and isolated athletic assessment. Most talent development models are exclusive rather than inclusive in nature. Subsequently, talent identification may result in discontentment, premature stratification, or dropout from team sports. Understanding the multidimensional differences among the requirements of adolescent and elite adult athletes could provide more realistic goals for potential talented players. Coach education should include adolescent development, and rewards for team success at the adolescent level should reflect the needs of long-term player development. Effective talent development needs to incorporate physical and psychological maturity, the relative age effect, objective measures of game sense, and athletic prowess. The influences of media and culture on the individual, and the competing time demands between various competitions for player training time should be monitored and mediated where appropriate. Despite the complexity, talent development is a worthy investment in professional team sport. No clear guidelines exist for the effective development of talented team sports athletes. Talent development issues are global and not exclusive to team sports athletes. 1 The one unifying factor is that because of the many factors associated with growth, development, and maturation, the same strategies employed with elite adult athletes are unlikely to be sustainable in adolescents.
190 citations
TL;DR: Medio-lateral motion of the knee can reliably be assessed during a single-leg mini-squat and is valid in 2-D, while the actual movement is mainly exhibited as increased internal hip rotation in subjects with the knee-medial-to-foot.
Abstract: Muscle function may influence the risk of knee injury and outcomes following injury. Clinical tests, such as a single-limb mini squat, resemble conditions of daily life and are easy to administer. Fewer squats per 30 seconds indicate poorer function. However, the quality of movement, such as the medio-lateral knee motion may also be important. The aim was to validate an observational clinical test of assessing the medio-lateral knee motion, using a three-dimensional (3-D) motion analysis system. In addition, the inter-rater reliability was evaluated. Twenty-five (17 women) non-injured participants (mean age 25.6 years, range 18-37) were included. Visual analysis of the medio-lateral knee motion, scored as knee-over-foot or knee-medial-to-foot by two raters, and 3-D kinematic data were collected simultaneously during a single-limb mini squat. Frontal plane 2-D peak tibial, thigh, and knee varus-valgus angles, and 3-D peak hip internal-external rotation, and knee varus-valgus angles were calculated. Ten subjects were scored as having a knee-medial-to-foot position and 15 subjects a knee-over-foot position assessed by visual inspection. In 2-D, the peak tibial angle (mean 89.0 (SE 0.7) vs mean 86.3 (SE 0.4) degrees, p = 0.001) and peak thigh angle (mean 77.4 (SE 1.0) vs mean 81.2 (SE 0.5) degrees, p = 0.001) with respect to the horizontal, indicated that the knee was more medially placed than the ankle and thigh, respectively. Thus, the knee was in more valgus (mean 11.6 (SE 1.5) vs 5.0 (SE 0.8) degrees, p 0.90 and 96 between raters. Medio-lateral motion of the knee can reliably be assessed during a single-leg mini-squat. The test is valid in 2-D, while the actual movement, in 3-D, is mainly exhibited as increased internal hip rotation. The single-limb mini squat is feasible and easy to administer in the clinical setting and in research to address lower extremity movement quality.
178 citations
TL;DR: Nine rights of medication administration are identified - patient, drug, route, time, dose, documentation, reason, and more recently, the seven rights (including documentation and reason) to help prevent errors.
Abstract: Nurses are responsible for ensuring safety and quality of patient care at all times. Many nursing tasks involve a degree of risk, and medication administration arguably carries the greatest risk. Unfortunately, patients are frequently harmed or injured by medication errors. Some suffer permanent disability and for others the errors are fatal. Nurses have traditionally followed the five rights of medication administration (patient, drug, route, time, dose) to help prevent errors, and more recently, the seven rights (including documentation and reason). This article identifies nine rights of medication administration.
166 citations
TL;DR: There is a need to develop interventions that focus on the symptom experience to help patients-particularly older ones-in somatic awareness and symptom interpretation, and the theory of an age-related decline in the ability to attend to internal physical symptoms is supported.
Abstract: Purpose: Aging is associated with losses in hearing and vision. The objective of this study was to assess whether aging also is associated with less ability to detect and interpret afferent physiological information.
Design: A cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted with 29 persons with a confirmed diagnosis of chronic heart failure of at least 6 months duration. The sample was divided at the median to compare younger (<73 years) versus older (≥73 years) patients in the ability to detect and interpret their heart failure symptoms.
Methods: Shortness of breath was stimulated using a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and used to assess the ability of heart failure patients to detect shortness of breath using the Borg measure of perceived exertion compared with gold standard ratings of each person's shortness of breath by trained registered nurse research assistants (inter-rater congruence 0.91). Accuracy of ratings by older patients was compared with those of younger patients. In-depth interviews were used to assess symptom interpretation ability.
Findings: Integrated quantitative and qualitative data confirmed that older patients had more difficulty in detecting and interpreting shortness of breath than younger patients. Older patients were twice as likely as younger to report a different level of shortness of breath than that noted by the registered nurse research assistants immediately after the 6MWT.
Conclusions: These results support our theory of an age-related decline in the ability to attend to internal physical symptoms. This decline may be a cause of poor early symptom detection.
Clinical Relevance: The results of this study suggest that there is a need to develop interventions that focus on the symptom experience to help patients—particularly older ones—in somatic awareness and symptom interpretation. It may be useful to explore patients’ statements about how they feel: “Compared to what? How do you feel today compared to yesterday?”
142 citations
TL;DR: The hypothesis that habitual and focally cued PM tasks are less demanding of attentional resources (specifically, WM), whereas tasks that are more demanding of controlled attentional processes produce larger age differences is supported.
Abstract: Prospective memory (PM) ability, reflected by tasks such as remembering to take one’s medication at the right time, is essential for successfully navigating the demands of everyday life. Studying the effects of age on PM performance in adulthood is important because PM failures can have severe consequences to activities of daily living (e.g., forgetting to take one’s medication or forgetting to turn off an appliance). The extant literature regarding the effect of aging on PM has revealed an interesting and complex pattern of results. Young adults tend to outperform older adults particularly on PM tasks with high levels of controlled strategic demands, whereas, age differences tend to be reduced when the demands on self-initiated retrieval are minimized (for reviews, see Henry, MacLeod, Phillips, & Crawford, 2004; Kliegel, Jager, & Phillips, 2008; McDaniel & Einstein, 2007). For example, age differences tend to be reduced for the performance of both regular (habitual) PM tasks, such as simulating the performance of medical tasks in the laboratory during a “Virtual Week” (Rendell & Craik, 2000), and for PM tasks with focal cues (Kliegel et al., 2008; McDaniel, Einstein, & Rendell, 2008; Rendell, McDaniel, Forbes, & Einstein, 2007). In regular PM tasks, the cues are presented in a consistent routine (e.g., take medication every day at breakfast) and therefore, the preceding situational cues might provide a richer, more extensive set of cues for triggering retrieval (cf. Kvavilashili & Fisher, 2007). With regards to cue focality, PM task cues are more focal when the ongoing task involves processing the defining features of the PM cues than when ongoing task processing is more peripheral. For example, during a word/non-word decision task, remembering to press the q key when the word “tortoise” is presented involves more focal processing of the PM cue than when the cue is the appearance of the syllable “tor” because the information extracted in the service of the ongoing task primarily involves words – not syllables (see Einstein et al., 2005). That both task regularity and cue focality tend to reduce age-related differences in PM is consistent with the hypothesis that PM cues that occur more regularly and/or are more focally processed may be more likely to spontaneously trigger intention retrieval, whereas tasks that are irregular or involve less focal processing may be more likely to involve strategic monitoring (Henry et al., 2004; Kliegel et al., 2008; McDaniel & Einstein, 2007).
126 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the pervasiveness of surplus safety in the lives of young children and argue that restrictions now imposed on children's play to promote safety may expose children to more serious short and longer term threats of illness and limit children's life opportunities.
Abstract: Play and playgrounds provide essential experiences for young children's growth, development and enjoyment of life. However, such play experiences are now limited for many children due to excessive fear of risk, or 'surplus safety'. In this article, the authors examine the pervasiveness of surplus safety in the lives of young children. They argue that restrictions now imposed on children's play to promote safety may, paradoxically, expose children to more serious short and longer term threats of illness and limit children's life opportunities. By comparing experiences from Australia and Norway, the authors demonstrate that surplus safety is not a necessary outcome of living in a modern Western society.
112 citations
TL;DR: The Australian Stroke Clinical Registry has been well established, but further refinements and broad roll-out are required before realising its potential of improving patient care through clinician feedback and allowance of local, national, and international comparative data.
Abstract: BackgroundDisease registries assist with clinical practice improvement. The Australian Stroke Clinical Registry aims to provide national, prospective, systematic data on processes and outcomes for ...
112 citations
TL;DR: Future event simulation significantly improved PM performance on these tasks and eliminated the PM deficit caused by acute alcohol consumption, the first evidence that future event simulation can overcome alcohol-induced deficits in prospective memory.
Abstract: It has recently been shown that acute alcohol globally impairs ‘prospective memory’ (PM)—remembering to do something in the future (Leitz et al. in Psychopharmacology 205:379–387, 2009). In healthy, sober individuals, simulating future events at encoding enhances PM performance. We therefore aimed to determine if future event simulation could attenuate the impairing effects of acute alcohol on PM. Using a double-blind independent group design, 32 healthy volunteers were administered a 0.6-g/kg dose of ethanol or matched placebo. PM performance was assessed using a behavioural task, the ‘Virtual Week’, which was adapted to enable future event simulation in both remote and recent contexts. Episodic memory was indexed with a source memory task and planning with the Tower of London task. We replicated the finding of Leitz et al. that acute alcohol consumption impairs prospective memory for event-based tasks. Future event simulation significantly improved PM performance on these tasks and eliminated the PM deficit caused by acute alcohol consumption. This is the first evidence that future event simulation can overcome alcohol-induced deficits in prospective memory and may have important clinical implications for the rehabilitation of chronic alcohol users.
107 citations
TL;DR: Peak KAM and KAM impulse are associated with cartilage defects and subchondral bone area in patients with medial knee OA, suggesting that increased mechanical loading may play a role in the pathological changes in articular cartilage andSubchondrals bone that occur with medial knees OA.
TL;DR: The men were better than the women at interpreting their symptoms as being related to HF and in initiating treatment and these differences were associated with differences in self-care confidence, social support, and mood.
TL;DR: Results indicate that individuals with MCI, and to a greater extent dementia, experience generalized difficulties with PM, and it is suggested that, while other cognitive deficits contribute to these difficulties, there is something unique to prospective remembering that may be additionally disrupted in these groups.
Abstract: When compared with controls, both mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia are each associated with impaired memory for future intentions, or prospective memory (PM). However, prior studies have failed to agree on whether there are group differences in PM function between those with MCI and dementia. Furthermore, the degree and nature of the impairment remains to be clarified, as does the degree to which this impairment is secondary to deficits in other aspects of cognition. In the present study, MCI (n = 48), dementia (n = 39), and control participants (n = 53) were compared on Virtual Week, a measure that closely represents the types of PM tasks that occur in everyday life. Both clinical groups exhibited impairment irrespective of the specific task demands, but the magnitude of this deficit was greater for those with dementia. After covarying for other key cognitive parameters, although the absolute magnitude of the deficit was reduced, significant impairment remained. These results indicate that individuals with MCI, and to a greater extent dementia, experience generalized difficulties with PM. It is suggested that, while other cognitive deficits contribute to these difficulties, there is something unique to prospective remembering that may be additionally disrupted in these groups.
TL;DR: Results indicate that the variability of age differences in laboratory prospective memory tasks may be due in part to differences in the features of the prospective memory task and increases in motivation to perform the prospective task seem to help remedy prospective memory deficits in young adults in the naturalistic setting.
Abstract: Previous research has identified the age prospective memory paradox of age-related declines in laboratory settings in contrast to age benefits in naturalistic settings. Various factors are assumed to account for this paradox, yet empirical evidence on this issue is scarce. In 2 experiments, the present study examined the effect of task setting in a laboratory task and the effect of motivation in a naturalistic task on prospective memory performance in young and older adults. For the laboratory task (Experiment 1, n = 40), we used a board game to simulate a week of daily activities and varied features of the prospective memory task (e.g., task regularity). For the naturalistic task (Experiment 2, n = 80), we instructed participants to try to remember to contact the experimenter repeatedly over the course of 1 week. Results from the laboratory prospective memory tasks indicated significant age-related decline for irregular tasks (p = .006) but not for regular and focal tasks. In addition, in the naturalistic task, the age benefit was eliminated when young adults were motivated by incentives (F < 1). In conclusion, the present results indicate that the variability of age differences in laboratory prospective memory tasks may be due in part to differences in the features of the prospective memory task. Furthermore, increases in motivation to perform the prospective task seem to help remedy prospective memory deficits in young adults in the naturalistic setting.
Book•
22 Mar 2010TL;DR: The third edition of Early Childhood Curriculum as discussed by the authors provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to curriculum theories and approaches in early childhood and early primary settings, drawing on a cultural-historical framework for education and equipping readers with the tools to effectively plan, design and implement curriculum strategies.
Abstract: The third edition of Early Childhood Curriculum provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to curriculum theories and approaches in early childhood and early primary settings. Drawing on a cultural-historical framework for education, the text explores a variety of approaches to learning and teaching and equips readers with the tools to effectively plan, design and implement curriculum strategies. Thoroughly revised and updated, this edition features up-to-date coverage of national curriculum documents, including the Early Years Learning Framework and Te Whāriki, and expanded content on play-based curriculum, assessment and documentation. Key domain areas of the curriculum are explored in depth and have been revised to include updated discussions of environmental factors, digital knowledge and multiliteracies. Each chapter is enriched with learning intentions, definitions of key terms, reflection points, links to current curriculum documents and illustrative case studies to help readers connect theory to practice.
TL;DR: The results suggest that WBV may improve muscle strength and contraction velocity in some muscle groups in older adults.
Abstract: Background
Whole body vibration (WBV) is a novel modality of exercise shown to improve musculoskeletal function. This study aims to examine the effects of standing posture during low magnitude WBV training on muscle function and muscle morphology in older adults.
TL;DR: The reproductive health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and infants are significantly poorer than they are for other Australians; they worsen with increasing remoteness where the provision of services becomes more challenging.
Abstract: A B S T R A C T Context: The reproductive health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and infants are significantly poorer than they are for other Australians; they worsen with increasing remoteness where the provision of services becomes more challenging. Australia has committed to ‘Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage' and ‘Closing the Gap’ in health outcomes. Issues: Fifty-five per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander birthing women live in outer regional and remote areas and suffer some of the worst health outcomes in the country. Not all of these women are receiving care from a skilled provider, antenatally, in birth or postnatally while the role of midwives in reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity is underutilised. The practice of relocating women for birth does not address their cultural needs or self-identified risks and is contributing to these outcomes. An evidence based approach for the provision of maternity services in these areas is required. Australian
TL;DR: These findings provide useful baseline data for evaluation of nurse practitioner positions and the service effect of these positions, however, the study also raises questions about the best use of nurse practitioners time and the influences of barriers to and facilitators of this model of service innovation.
Abstract: Aim: This paper is a report of a study of variations in the pattern of nurse practitioner work in a range of service fields and geographical locations, across direct patient care, indirect patient care and service-related activities. Background: The nurse practitioner role has been implemented internationally as a service reform model to improve the access and timeliness of health care. There is a substantial body of research into the nurse practitioner role and service outcomes, but scant information on the pattern of nurse practitioner work and how this is influenced by different service models. Methods: We used work sampling methods. Data were collected between July 2008 and January 2009. Observations were recorded from a random sample of 30 nurse practitioners at 10-minute intervals in 2-hour blocks randomly generated to cover 2 weeks of work time from a sampling frame of 6 weeks. Results: A total of 12,189 individual observations were conducted with nurse practitioners across Australia. Thirty individual activities were identified as describing nurse practitioner work, and these were distributed across three categories. Direct care accounted for 36·1% of how nurse practitioners spend their time, indirect care accounted for 32·0% and service-related activities made up 31·9%. Conclusion: These findings provide useful baseline data for evaluation of nurse practitioner positions and the service effect of these positions. However, the study also raises questions about the best use of nurse practitioner time and the influences of barriers to and facilitators of this model of service innovation. © 2010 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing
TL;DR: Level of experience is a determinant of self-care skills suggesting this factor should be considered in determining an individual education plan.
Abstract: Background: There are many reasons to explain why achievement of optimal self-care can be difficult for many patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).Aim: To investigate differences in self-care s...
TL;DR: While pre-flight and table contact times are relevant training measures, approach velocity and board contact time are more reliable when quantifying vaulting performance.
Abstract: Inter-day training reliability and variability in artistic gymnastics vaulting was determined using a customised infra-red timing gate and contact mat timing system. Thirteen Australian high performance gymnasts (eight males and five females) aged 11-23 years were assessed during two consecutive days of normal training. Each gymnast completed a number of vault repetitions per daily session. Inter-day variability of vault run-up velocities (at -18 to -12 m, -12 to -6 m, -6 to -2 m, and -2 to 0 m from the nearest edge of the beat board), and board contact, pre-flight, and table contact times were determined using mixed modelling statistics to account for random (within-subject variability) and fixed effects (gender, number of subjects, number of trials). The difference in the mean (Mdiff) and Cohen's effect sizes for reliability assessment and intra-class correlation coefficients, and the coefficient of variation percentage (CV%) were calculated for variability assessment. Approach velocity (-18 to -2m, CV = 2.4-7.8%) and board contact time (CV = 3.5%) were less variable measures when accounting for day-to-day performance differences, than pre-flight time (CV = 17.7%) and table contact time (CV = 20.5%). While pre-flight and table contact times are relevant training measures, approach velocity and board contact time are more reliable when quantifying vaulting performance.
TL;DR: Most hospital systems appear to be poorly designed to care for this vulnerable population and the current absence of systems to accommodate the special needs of people with intellectual disability in hospital settings has significant consequences for group homes, family members, hospital staff, and residents.
Abstract: Background This study reports on the hospitalisation experiences of older adults with intellectual disability living in group homes. Methods Grounded dimensional analysis was used to guide data collection and analysis. Group home residents were tracked prospectively over a 3-year period. Interviews were conducted with family, group home, and aged care staff and managers, and some residents. Results Findings highlighted the difficulty people with intellectual disability experience in hospital settings. Findings revealed extensive strategies undertaken by family members and group home staff to improve hospital experiences. Ageing of the family members and staffing implications for group homes complicated efforts to improve hospital experiences. Conclusions The current absence of systems to accommodate the special needs of people with intellectual disability in hospital settings has significant consequences for group homes, family members, hospital staff, and residents. Most hospital systems appear ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined training outcomes of a standardised introductory mindfulness program for mental health professionals and found that participants demonstrated increased mindfulness in clinical work, increased capacity to intentionally invoke mindful states of consciousness, and higher participant ratings of well-being over the course of training sessions.
Abstract: Introduction: Initially proposed as a treatment modality for psychological disorders, mindfulness is now being promoted as a means of enhancing both therapist self care and therapeutic efficacy. The degree to which mindfulness can be learned by therapists to manage their own and clients' processes in therapy is as yet unknown. This study examines training outcomes of a standardised introductory mindfulness programme for mental health professionals. Methods: Forty-seven mental health professionals completed an eight-week mindful therapy (MT) training programme and associated measures. Results: Compared with baseline scores, participants demonstrated knowledge acquisition on all measures, including increased mindfulness in clinical work, increased capacity to intentionally invoke mindful states of consciousness, and higher participant ratings of well-being over the course of training sessions. Discussion: This research provides preliminary evidence that a brief, standardised mindfulness training pr...
TL;DR: Recording the paradox within a single dataset, data indicate that older adults can effectively act on intentions during everyday activities, but have difficulty in prospective remembering during experimenter-generated ongoing tasks.
Abstract: Previous research has identified "the age-prospective memory paradox"-that adult ageing results in reliably poorer performance on laboratory-based tasks of prospective memory (PM), but improved performance on such tasks carried out in real-life settings. We hypothesized that even in their everyday environment, older adults might be worse at PM tasks that are triggered during an experimenter-generated ongoing activity. The present study used a task that captured the key features of the classic laboratory paradigm, but which was completed in a setting that met key criteria to be considered naturalistic. In their everyday setting, participants' PM was assessed, with the cue to remember occurring either (a) during their day-to-day activities, or (b) during an experimenter-generated ongoing task. The results confirmed previous naturalistic findings, in showing that older adults (n = 28) exhibited better PM than their younger counterparts (n = 65) when prompted during their everyday activities. However, older adults were also then subsequently less likely to show effective PM during experimenter-generated ongoing activity. Reproducing the paradox within a single dataset, these data indicate that older adults can effectively act on intentions during everyday activities, but have difficulty in prospective remembering during experimenter-generated ongoing tasks.
TL;DR: Findings are consistent with predictions that salient cues facilitate participants’ prospective memory performance and reduce age-related differences, while extending the concept of saliency to include emotional valence.
Abstract: Cue saliency is known to influence prospective memory performance, whereby perceptually or conceptually distinct cues facilitate remembering and attenuate adult age-related deficits. The present study investigated whether similar benefits for older adults are also seen for emotional valence. A total of 41 older and 41 younger adults performed a prospective memory task in which the emotional valence of the prospective memory cues was manipulated. Emotionally valenced cues increased prospective memory performance across both groups. Age deficits were only observed when neutral (but not positive or negative) prospective cues were presented. Findings are consistent with predictions that salient cues facilitate participants' prospective memory performance and reduce age-related differences, while extending the concept of saliency to include emotional valence.
TL;DR: The authors argue that it is teachers' expertise as analysts and critics of texts that needs to guide their planning and teaching in this multimodal text world and propose some signposts to assist teachers with navigating in this environment.
Abstract: Contemporary commentary notes that students are frequently ahead of their teachers in their ability to manipulate and be creative with the internet, digital programs, and mobile technology. In this context it is important to ask, ‘What knowledge do teachers need to teach in the contemporary context where texts are elaborately multimodal, constructed not just of print but of image, sound, and movement?’ This paper proposes some signposts to assist teachers with navigating in this environment. Using teachers’ and researchers’ reflections on practices in a diverse range of settings, both primary and secondary, the analysis explicates the challenges that teachers face in this multimodal context and elucidates some ways they can effectively operate within it. In particular, it argues that it is teachers’ expertise as analysts and critics of texts that needs to guide their planning and teaching in this ‘new’ text world.
TL;DR: Analysis of a one year study of three secondary school classrooms indicates that CAS enabled technologies have a role to play as provocateurs of productive student-student-teacher interaction in both small group and whole class settings.
Abstract: This paper draws on a one year study of three secondary school classrooms to examine the nature of student-student-technology interaction when working in partnership with computer algebra systems (CAS) on mathematical modelling tasks and the classroom affordances and constraints that influence such interaction. The analysis of these data indicates that CAS enabled technologies have a role to play as provocateurs of productive student-student-teacher interaction in both small group and whole class settings. Our research indicates that technologies that incorporate CAS capabilities have the potential to mediate collaborative approaches to mathematical enquiry within life-related mathematical tasks.
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, the Galbraith, Stillman, Brown, and Edwards Framework for identifying blockages hindering progress in transitions in the modeling process is applied to a modeling task undertaken by 21 Year 9 students.
Abstract: The Galbraith, Stillman, Brown, and Edwards Framework (2007) for identifying blockages hindering progress in transitions in the modeling process is applied to a modeling task undertaken by 21 Year 9 students. The Framework identified where challenges occurred; but, because some blockages proved to be more robust than others, another construct “level of intensity” was added. The blockages described here occurred during the formulation phase of the modeling cycle. We infer that blockages induced by lack of reflection, or by incorrect or incomplete knowledge, are different in nature and cognitive demand from those involving the revision of mental schemas (i.e., cognitive dissonance). The nature and intensity of the blockage have consequences for teacher intervention and task implementation.
TL;DR: This paper conducted an exploratory study of international academics working at a multi-campus university in regional Australia and found that institutional cultures play an important role in the transitional experiences of academics working outside their country of origin.
Abstract: Internationalisation in the Australian higher education sector has most usually been considered in relation to issues concerned with the attraction, retention and experience of students studying both on and offshore at Australian universities. Less attention has been paid to the experiences of the international academics that represent a significant percentage of the increasingly heterogeneous Australian academic workforce. In this paper, we consider findings from an exploratory study of international academics working at a multi-campus university in regional Australia. We draw on interview data to consider international academics' observations about their experiences of transition to work and community life. Based on these data, we suggest that institutional cultures play an important role in the transitional experiences of academics working outside their country of origin. We consider the implications of these findings for recruitment planning, workplace induction and other programmes aimed at staff dev...
TL;DR: It is proposed that it is now possible to view learning mathematics as an activity that is performed rather than passively acquired and re-examine what it means to learn and do mathematics.
Abstract: This paper documents both developments in the technologies used to promote learning mathematics and the influence on research of social theories of learning, through reference to the activities of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), and argues that these changes provide opportunity for the reconceptualization of our understanding of mathematical learning. Firstly, changes in technology are traced from discipline-specific computer-based software through to Web 2.0-based learning tools. Secondly, the increasing influence of social theories of learning on mathematics education research is reviewed by examining the prevalence of papers and presentations, which acknowledge the role of social interaction in learning, at ICMI conferences over the past 20 years. Finally, it is argued that the confluence of these developments means that it is necessary to re-examine what it means to learn and do mathematics and proposes that it is now possible to view learning mathematics as an activity that is performed rather than passively acquired.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate how trust affects the performance of ongoing teams and propose a multiple mediator model in which different team processes act as mediating mechanisms that transmit the positive effects of trust to team performance.
Abstract: In this study, we investigate how trust affects the performance of ongoing teams. We propose a multiple mediator model in which different team processes act as mediating mechanisms that transmit the positive effects of trust to team performance. Drawing on a data set of ongoing tax consulting teams, we found support for the mediated effects of trust via team monitoring and team effort. Our results did not support the mediating role of “team reflexivity.” These findings contribute to understanding how trust operates within ongoing teams in a way that is distinct from what is known from studies of short-term teams.