Christian Education Research Centre
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Browsing Christian Education Research Centre by Author "Anderson, Malcolm"
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Item Designing an Innovative System to Evaluate a Postgraduate Supervision Support and Development Framework(2016-04-01) Carton, Janet; Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.; Mitchell, Brett G.; de Waal, Kayle; Anderson, Malcolm; Petrie, KevinThe supervision of a doctoral student engages the supervisor/s and the candidate in a professional learning and teaching relationship, described by some as the pedagogy of supervision (Grant, 2005; Nulty, Kiley, & Meyer, 2009). In the past few decades, many universities have developed ‘supervisor training’ programs and other innovations to support supervisors. These programs are designed to cultivate the necessary knowledge and skills to support academic and research staff to supervise postgraduate student(s) (Carton & Kelly, 2014; Carton, O’Farrell, & Kelly, 2013; Luca et al., 2013). As part of a project that was funded by an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Extension Grant, such a Framework was recently designed and implemented at Avondale College of Higher Education, a small higher education institution in the early phases of postgraduate program development (Petrie et al., 2015). The effectiveness of such initiatives is often difficult to measure in small institutions such as Avondale; the relatively small number of students and supervisors does not always provide the breadth of feedback necessary to evaluate success using traditionally employed evaluation methods. This paper reports on the innovative evaluation system developed as part of this project, using the pedagogy of supervision as a frame of reference to evaluate the Framework. This evaluation process is being undertaken using a design-based research methodology (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012) which has guided the construction of evaluation criteria and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of Avondale's Research Training Support Framework. The developed evaluation method and its initial findings will be reported in this paper.
Item Develop and Implement an Institutional Framework to Support and Improve Supervision of Honours and Higher Degree Research Students(2014-12-01) Mitchell, Brett; Anderson, Malcolm; de Waal, Kayle; Petrie, Kevin; Williams, Anthony; Northcote, MariaItem Develop and Implement an Institutional Framework to Support and Improve Supervision of Honours and Higher Degree Research Students(2016-04-01) Lemke, Gina; Mitchell, Brett G.; Anderson, Malcolm; de Waal, Kayle; Petrie, Kevin; Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.The purpose of this project is to develop and implement an institutional supervision support framework to improve and enhance the capacity of Avondale's academic staff to supervise honours and higher degree students.
Item Develop and Implement an Institutional Framework to Support and Improve Supervision of Honours and Higher Degree Research Students(2016-01-01) Lemke, Gina; Mitchell, Brett G.; Anderson, Malcolm; de Waal, Kayle; Petrie, Kevin; Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.Develop and Implement an Institutional Framework to Support and Improve Supervision of Honours and Higher Degree Research Students" (2016). Education Conference Papers. Paper 33. http://research.avondale.edu.au/edu_conferences/33
Item Development of an Evidence-based Professional Learning Program Informed by Online Teachers' Self-efficacy and Threshold Concepts(2016-09-01) Boddey, Chris; Anderson, Malcolm; Kilgour, Peter W.; Reynaud, Daniel; Northcote, Maria T.; Gosselin, Kevin P.As online education continues to expand across varied educational sectors, so does the demand for professional development programs to guide academic teaching staff through the processes of developing their capacities to design and teach online courses. To meet these challenges at one higher education institution, a mixed methods research study was implemented to identify the professional learning needs of academic teaching staff for the purposes of developing a tailor-made professional development program. The principles of self-efficacy and threshold concepts were used to inform the design of the study. Data were systematically gathered from the participants to determine self-efficacy, concerns, and questions and experiences of academic teaching staff with online teaching. Findings revealed that academic staff held threshold concepts, skills and attitudes about online teaching. Three groups of staff were identified, all with varying forms of professional development requirements. This case study account demonstrates how an evidence-based project provided the basis for a research-informed institutional professional development program that is currently guiding academic staff through their development as online course designers and teachers.
Item Navigating Learning Journeys of Online Teachers: Threshold Concepts and Self-efficacy(2015-08-20) Anderson, Malcolm; Kilgour, Peter W.; Reynaud, Daniel; Gosselin, Kevin P.; Northcote, Maria T.Higher education institutions are developing more and more online courses to supplement and augment the courses they offer in on-campus modes. In fact, some universities now offer the majority of their courses through online contexts. However, for academic staff who design and teach these courses, the transition from teaching on-campus courses to teaching in online learning environments is not always speedy or smooth. Academic teaching staff require support, mentoring and professional learning programs to develop their existing capacities and apply them to an online context.
This paper reports on Phase 2 of a research project, which takes into consideration the cumulative effect of tailored professional development measures implemented in response to findings in Phase 1. The three aims were: 1) to identify the threshold concepts that teaching staff develop when they learn about online learning and teaching; 2) to compare self-efficacy levels and threshold concepts of staff who are experienced or inexperienced in online learning and teaching; and 3) to develop customised professional learning programs and resources to extend the online teaching and course design skills of academic staff. Findings from the study are outlined by identifying threshold concepts, threshold attitudes and self-efficacy levels of online educators and the implications these findings have for designing professional development programs in higher education contexts.
Item Professional Development of Research Supervisors: A Capacity-Building, Participatory Framework(2015-01-01) de Waal, Kayle; Anderson, Malcolm; Northcote, Maria T.; Mitchell, Brett G.; Williams, Anthony; Lemke, Gina; Petrie, KevinThe professional development of supervisors of higher degree research students is growing in importance and undergoing change, based on the demand for timely completion of higher degrees and the Australian federal government’s quality agenda driving improvement of practice. Research has informed the design of research supervision frameworks within large universities (Carton & Kelly, 2014; Luca et al., 2013) but smaller institutions face different issues, including the challenge of developing an active research culture.
This paper reports on the outcomes of an institution-wide project that was conducted in a small, private higher education institution involving the development and implementation of a framework for research supervision. The theoretical framework of the project drew on the pedagogical principles of research education (Kiley, 2009; Kiley & Wisker, 2009; Willison, 2010) and the project's methodological design adopted a utilisation-focused evaluation approach. By using a participatory research methodology, the perspectives of academic and administration staff, and higher degree students were gathered. Guidance was also sought from national and international experts in research supervision.
This paper outlines the research approach used and the framework that was developed, and reports on the issues raised during the initiative including insights into the success factors in changing culture.
Item Reversing the Tyranny of Distance Education: Using Research About Threshold Concepts in Online Teaching to Humanize Online Course Design(2016-11-01) Boddey, Christopher; Anderson, Malcolm; Kilgour, Peter W.; Reynaud, Daniel; Gosselin, Kevin P.; Northcote, Maria T.In today’s higher education environment, online education has become a rich and nuanced medium characterized by a dynamic and progressive use of technology. These technological advancements require research-informed guidelines and practices to facilitate understanding of how they can be used to foster positive outcomes in distance education contexts. By employing a mixed-methods multiphase design case study at Avondale College of Higher Education, the authors examine the challenges, self-confidence and threshold concepts, or transformative, conceptual understandings that academic faculty staff experience while engaging in distance education course design. The authors examine how these threshold concepts, attitudes and skills can be used to inform the design of professional development programs for academic staff who teach in online contexts. The results and associated recommendations of the six-year investigation are presented to inform professional development programs that aim to improve the quality of online teaching, course design and learning experiences of students.
Item Threshold Concepts about Online Teaching: Progress Report on a Five Year Project(2014-07-01) Boddey, Chris; Anderson, Malcolm; Kilgour, Peter W.; Reynaud, Daniel; Northcote, Maria T.; Gosselin, Kevin P.The burgeoning expansion of online education has presented the challenges of articulating an appropriate pedagogy for online education (Stevens, 2003; Runnels et al., 2006; Gosselin, 2009) while also contending with perceived and real deficits in lecturer competence (Shephard, 2007). Conceptually, the identified areas of concern are viewed as troublesome knowledge (Perkins, 1999), or knowledge that is counter intuitive to traditional teaching face to face teaching.
To meet the emerging difficulties of new modes of distance teaching, researchers have focused on transformative learning using threshold concepts, or new portals, that allow understanding of concepts through new modes of thinking (Meyer & Land, 2003). Northcote and her colleagues used findings from their research into threshold concepts of online teaching to develop a tailored staff development training program (Northcote et al., 2011; Northcote et al., 2013). By identifying troublesome knowledge and threshold concepts, several unique benefits have been realised that include: 1) a focus for professional development programs; 2) a clearer understanding of the processes and resources needed to facilitate development; 3) support from institutional leadership; and 4) increased competence and confidence for online course developers.