Editorial
Meanings Emerging in Practice (Part 2)
Patrick Alan Danaher
Faculty of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba QLD
Carmen Mills
School of Education, University of Queensland, Australia
Robert D White
Faculty of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Shirley O'Neill
Associate Professor, Language and Literacies Education, Faculty of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba QLD, Australia
Jeong-Bae Son
Faculty of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
PP: 1 - 3
Article Text
This issue publishes the second set of refereed papers from the first wave proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Pedagogies and Learning, held at the Springfield Campus of the University of Southern Queensland in Australia on 27 and 28 September 2007. This third conference in the series focused on 'meanings emerging in practice' as a lens for examining and evaluating multiple enactments of pedagogies and learning.
Seven anonymously peer refereed articles have been selected for publication in this second issue. Each article engages with a different theme nominated by the conference organisers as a useful means of identifying whether and how pedagogies and learning can be maximised through meanings emerging in practice.
The first article, by Bernadette Lynch, contributes to the theme of researching personal pedagogies by exploring her role in teaching in-text referencing to undergraduate Faculty of Business students at the University of Southern Queensland. Drawing on concepts synthesised from personal pedagogy, reflective practice and cognitive theory, Lynch advocates the careful and systematic use of humour as an antidote to cognitive depletion and as a way of both facilitating effective reflection and (re)kindling irreverence and joy in academics' work. The article provides a fresh perspective on the hardy perennials of student plagiarism and academic integrity.
In the second article, Cassandra Star and Jacquelin McDonald engage with the theme of features of successful pedagogical practice by arguing that the transition to first year in a diverse, multi-campus, multimodal university provides significant difficulty and disorientation for school leavers, mature age and international students. The authors report on a case study from a first year Faculty of Business core course at the University of Southern Queensland to outline a successful pedagogy for supporting students through this transition. Key elements of this pedagogy include constructive alignment, formative and developmental assessment, proactive and extensive scaffolding for student learning and a central role for an active online community.
Ting Wang and Leah Moore use the third article to consider how exploring the learning style preferences of Chinese postgraduate students in Australian transnational programs offered by the University of Canberra can be considered one manifestation of the theme of developing the globalised learning environment. Reporting an empirical study of pre- and post-questionnaire responses by two groups of students from different parts of China in two Australian offshore Masters programs, the authors highlight considerable diversity in those responses, contesting the assumption that Chinese learners are homogeneous, passive and teacher-dependent. Wang and Moore argue that these results should contribute to helping Australian academics working in transnational programs to understand their students' learning preferences and thereby to maximise their educational outcomes.
The fourth article, by Susan Bolt, takes up the theme of meeting the pedagogical challenges in new contexts by investigating problems and possibilities in integrating research, action and learning in the workplace in order to generate productive organisational change. The questionnaire and interview data presented in the article were collected from staff members of a state branch in Western Australia of a large Australian charitable organisation. While the organisation had made significant strides in adapting to changing circumstances and new ideas about work and identity, the data indicated that many workers were not learning optimally and reflected the complexities confronting organisations seeking to promote such optimal learning.
In the fifth article, Jill Willis interrogates the theme of exploring the challenge of pedagogical change by presenting a carefully considered meta-analysis of Assessment for Learning, particularly from the perspectives of teacher and student beliefs about learning and assessment. The meta-analysis focuses on such significant issues as knowledge beliefs and practices, identity formation, power and control, and practice informing theory. The article highlights the crucial importance of a sociocultural perspective on Assessment for Learning as manifested through the social and cultural interactions and contexts of classrooms.
Michael D Sankey uses the sixth article to contribute to the theme of e-learning and multimodalities by providing a richly illustrated account of 15 multimodal design heuristics distilled from four research projects focused on three learning environments at the University of Southern Queensland. Ranging from 'less is more' and 'when using animation, use image and spoken text' to 'prevent the need for visual search' and 'make transcripts of audio and video components available if subsequent content does not replicate the audio content', these 15 heuristics encapsulate effective practice derived from wide experience. Sankey argues that these and other lessons can help academics to design multimodal learning environments that cater for a wider range of learners.
In the seventh and final article, PA Danaher, Mark A Tyler and Catherine H Arden add to the theme of constructing new futures for learning through their ongoing critical reflection on challenges and opportunities in redesigning the further education and training teacher education programs at the University of Southern Queensland. Informed by concepts of curriculum leadership, quality and technology, they elaborate a set of questions intended to assist them and other teacher educators working in this field in helping their programs to respond to multiple and sometimes conflicting external and internal pressures while also enacting effective, efficient and equitable teacher education. The article concludes with a conceptual synthesis and framework that the authors hope to apply in future publications.
It is clear that these seven articles contribute in multiple ways and from several perspectives to extending our understandings of both international pedagogies and learning and meanings emerging in practice. We commend them to the journal's readers and look forward to the future theme issues in this series.
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