In his book "Physical Education Futures" (Routledge, London) David Kirk (2010) introduces the notion of the idea of the idea of physical education, which challenges all physical educators to think more deeply and broadly about physical education as a school subject. The notion of the idea of the idea enables a "big picture"…

Currently postgraduate hospitality courses are attracting large numbers of international students, many of whom do not speak English as a first language. In addition, these programmes are also popular with first language students drawn from non-traditional academic backgrounds. Both cohorts experience difficulties with the academic genre…

The demands on academic staff in all sectors to adopt best ODL practices to create effective and efficient models of learning in the face of increasing external pressures show no signs of abating. The massification of higher education, diversified access, and pressures to meet institutional visions and research objectives demand of teaching staff…

The short history in the field of online learning of the UNITEC Institute of Technology (New Zealand) provides a story of changing attitudes and usage at three levels--organizational, tutorial, and student. From the first course designed for flexible delivery in 1994, UNITEC has progressed through three distinct phases of course development (i.e.,…

This paper describes the theoretical foundations of an online course to teach clinical educators how to convert a traditional face-to-face course for either flexible or distance delivery. We describe the design research approach to the creation of the course and the pedagogical theory behind the course development. We also present the details of…

Two online collaborative assignments that connected students in courses at Unitec, New Zealand, and Baruch College, City University of New York, are the focus of this article. For the first assignment, small, blended groups used five different online techniques to explore topics being discussed in an intercultural communication course at each…

The Graduate Diploma in Education Technology (GDipEdTech) was developed at the UNITEC Institute of Technology (New Zealand) in 1993 as an open and distance program to meet the needs of teachers in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. The program aims to integrate the use of new and emerging technologies into their classroom programs. It…