Copyright (c) 2009 University of Wollongong All rights reserved. http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers Recent documents in Faculty of Education - Papers en-us Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:07:50 PST 3600 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/94 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/94 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:22:21 PDT Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) was introduced in the 1980s and brought a new focus to the teaching of games. The participant is placed in a game situation where problem solving, decision-making and tactical understanding are vital ingredients. Another key ingredient is enjoyment to enhance and promote physical activity. In order to understand the factors that impact on the teaching of games that directly relate to a quality experience for the participant, the researchers surveyed 31 co-ordinators in the Australian Active After Schools Communities (AASC) program. This program is a structured physical activity program delivered nationally to children enrolled in Australian primary schools and Childcare benefit (CCB) approved out of Schools Hours Care Services (OSHCS) during the timeslot of 3.30-5.30pm. The program is designed to engage traditionally non-active children in structured physical activities and build pathways between local community organisations and sporting clubs. The Playing for Life‟ approach is based on the TGfU model that maximises participation and learning. The 31 coordinators consisted of 12 teachers, 2 Development Officers, 6 Sport Administrators and 11 coaches. The questionnaire addressed four areas: how the Playing for Life‟ approach in teaching games promoted physical activity; factors that enhance the teaching of games; factors inhibiting the teaching of games; and other strategies used in the teaching of games. Results indicate that a fun, innovative environment enhances the quality of physical activity. Other factors such as knowledge, resources and support that promote physical activity are also discussed. P. Pearson http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/93 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/93 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:17:38 PDT TGfU has been in the Australian sporting community for over a decade and more recently as part of school curriculums across Australia. It has focused on a problem solving approach which has been primarily student centred and involves questioning as a primary ingredient. Sport Education in Physical Education Program (SEPEP) also focuses on students and promotes the development of skills by students taking on roles such as coaches, umpires, managers, game analysers, publicity officer etc.These roles increases their knowledge and understanding of the sporting environment.This paper will outline the TGfU and SEPEP models as a starting point. It will closely analyse the questioning technique which is essential to TGfU. With TGfU the questions are primarily directed at the participant or player. The focus here will be how this is now expanded to the SEPEP roles. It will illustrate how questions can be given to the coach and game analyser so that they will have a better understanding of the game. These questions will include the following areas: strategy/tactics, technique, cognition (decision-making, communication and concentration) and rules. Practical examples will be outlined from one of the categories of games (striking/fieldimg, target, invasion and net/court). It will describe the activity/game, and give examples of SEPEP roles and questions. P. Webb http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/92 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/92 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:19:33 PDT This paper summarises the work being conducted in an ongoing research agenda focused on exploring how the 'learning design' construct can be used to support university educators to create both pedagogically sound and interoperable e-learning experiences. The premise of this work is that a learning design can be used to support the pedagogical design process and the integration of international e-learning standards, such as learning object metadata and IMS-LD, enabling resources and tools to be technically interoperable across different standards-compliant systems. The paper presents the rationale guiding this research focus, describes the features of the research that is underway, and outlines future directions of this research. S. Bennett http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/91 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/91 Sun, 24 May 2009 17:09:31 PDT J. Herrington http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/90 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/90 Thu, 21 May 2009 16:23:54 PDT This article highlights the practice of a group of New Zealand teenagers who are considered by their family and themselves to be technological experts. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's key concepts of habitus, field and capital, this text identifies and discusses the cyber-relations that constitute the practice in the field of home computer use for leisure. The purpose of this article is to claim that though this field is predominantly a field of leisure, these are valid sites of informal learning. As almost all of the experts in the study gained their expertise through independent means, with minimal input from their schooling, discussion focuses on what these informal trajectories to technological expertise might mean for pedagogy and formal learning within schools. N. F. Johnson http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/89 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/89 Wed, 20 May 2009 20:05:53 PDT The Story Exchange section of the Sims 2 website offers Sims 2 players a forum to read andreview other players' original stories which they have written while playing The Sims 2. This article draws on interview data from Sarah, a 15-year-old female involved in reading and evaluating these online stories. Analysis of Sarah's experiences in playing The Sims 2 and using the Story Exchange website suggest that players who engage with these particular online narratives determine quality indicators of the stories, without guidance or instruction from external structures or authorities. Following this point, this Story Exchange is presented not only as an avenue of leisure, pleasure and informal learning, but one that is out of alignment with structures and institutions of formal schooling. This article argues that sites such as these should be read as legitimate learning spaces. N. F. Johnson http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/88 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/88 Sun, 17 May 2009 18:54:08 PDT The New technologies, new pedagogies project used a designbased research approach in the creation and evaluation of pedagogies and their use in a range of higher education classes. This chapter describes the findings of the project as a whole, and presents principles to inform the design of innovative learning environments employing mobile technologies in higher education learning environments. A. Herrington http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/87 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/87 Sun, 17 May 2009 18:48:02 PDT Mobile technologies are a recognised piece of our lives and a necessary attachment to our bodies. As educators we need to understand and consider the advantages of mobile technologies to education and exploit their use. This chapter presents two innovative case studies which use a mobile technology as the basis for an educational experience, through the exploration of the visual arts education. The mobile technology highlighted, involved the use of the iPod as a resource for learning. The experience resulted in a motivating and engaging experience for the learner through the true sense of a mobile learning experience I. Brown http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/86 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/86 Sun, 17 May 2009 18:43:20 PDT A common phenomenon in many countries is that science is often poorly taught or not taught at all in primary school classrooms. 'Slowmation' is a new yet simplified form of stop-motion animation that encourages school or university students to create their own animations of science concepts. Even though this process of creating an animation is relatively simple, there is still a need for teachers and students to have access to basic equipment such as a digital still camera, a tripod and a computer with relevant software. This chapter presents a study of a group of preservice primary teachers who guided their school classes in creating slowmations of science concepts using the camera in mobile phones to capture the images. Using a mobile phone camera improves the accessibility to a camera, but the quality of photos taken by mobile phone cameras needs to be improved to make it a worthwhile use of the technology for creating animations. G. Hoban http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/85 http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/85 Sun, 17 May 2009 18:38:09 PDT The processes of gathering and evaluating evidence are essential to inform and guide professional practice. This chapter explores the use of iPods as a tool to bring together the teaching field and the tertiary classroom. We report on two iterative cycles where we have designed and implemented a learning experience to engage our students in collecting, evaluating and reflecting upon knowledge shared by practitioners in the field. The task encourages students to consider the 'teacher wisdom' (Labbo, Leu, Kinzer, Teale, Cammack, Kara-Soteriou & Sanny, 2003) that can be gathered and disseminated through podcasts as they plan, record and edit an oral text to share with their student colleagues through their subject website. L. Kervin