Within Education Queensland's recent "new basics" curriculum initiative, Education Queensland developed 20 transdisciplinary learning and assessment tasks for Years 1 to 9, called "rich tasks". This paper critiques two of the rich tasks that were most closely aligned to knowledge and skills within the health and physical…

Gaps between teaching practices and research recommendations have been well documented. One challenge for research is in understanding the processes and systems that promote a bridging of these gaps. A year-long study with four primary teachers documented ten support mechanisms, or connection levers, that the teachers raised as important for…

This paper investigates various approaches to learning and their effect on performance of a cohort of international students in two different pedagogical environments. The effect of approaches to learning on performance was determined by using Cohen's "d" with Hedges "g" correction. Coe's spread sheet was used for the purpose.…

There is an increasing acceptance in the education literature and in classroom settings for "best practice" to be linked with verbal clarification of knowledge and reasoning, ideally in collaborative contexts where students construct both group and individual knowledge. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one such classroom context in which…

This paper reports the development of innovative assessment sessions within two core technical courses in Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland. Peer Assessment Learning Sessions (PALS) facilitate a student's peer assessment of a colleague's problem-based learning assignment or tutorial within a "traditional" whole-class…

In 2009 Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system, in common with so many other areas of public policy and the economy, was preoccupied by the effects of the global economic downturn and, like other sectors, sought to reposition itself to deal with the economic fallout, while anticipating its role in the recovery. Yet, as…

Problem based learning is a successful teaching and learning strategy used to engage students in deep rather than surface learning and where the learning is student focused rather than teacher focused (Biggs, 1999; 2003). The strategy is also successful in aligning university courses with the real-life professional work which students are expected…

Purpose: This paper aims to document the development and use of cases for the leadership development of principals in one large education system in Australia. The case initiative was specially targeted at deepening understandings of the department's recently released statement about the principalship, "Leadership Matters". The…

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conferences on Educational Technologies (ICEduTech 2014), and Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE 2014). The International Conference on Educational Technologies (ICEduTech 2014) is the scientific conference addressing the real topics as seen by teachers, students, parents and…

This article presents a reflection and comparison of two of my teaching pedagogical approaches for the Business Organisations Law curriculum to undergraduate non-law students at Charles Sturt University. The purpose is to compare and evaluate efficacy of a traditional, lecture-based learning (LBL) with a combination of LBL and problem-based…

It would be difficult to argue that the use of online technology to support teaching and learning has not undergone significant change in the last two decades. Recently, with the promotion of social software technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and virtual classrooms, we have seen the emergence of the idea of e-learning 2.0. That is, the…

Traces development of the problem-based, five-year curriculum of the new medical school at the University of Newcastle (Australia), outlining the events of the three years before it opened and commenting on the experiences of its first year. A timetable of medical problems studied by the students is presented. (Author/JD)

While some geographers have embraced active learning as a means to engage students in a course, many others stick to conventional teaching methods. They are often deterred by suggestions that it can be difficult to implement active learning where students have no prior knowledge of a subject, that active learning requires too much work of…

A study involving 180 Australian nursing students and 41 clinical mentors evaluated a flexible delivery system rotating clinical practice with classroom/online courses involving problem-based learning. There was evidence of increased self-confidence, self-direction, and goal setting. Faculty, students, and mentors had concerns about assessment and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on research into the ethical dilemmas faced by school heads from seven independent schools in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the research were gathered by semi-structured in-depth interviews with the Heads, all of whom were experienced school leaders. All the schools had religious…