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In 2005 the Australian Council for Computers in Education (ACCE) was successful in obtaining a grant from National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) to undertake the Computing Studies Teachers Network Rural and Regional Focus Project. The project had five components: (1) Computer Education Group (CEG) Rural and Regional Projects; (2) National Portal; (3) Exploration of New Technologies; (4) National Computing Studies Survey; and (5) National Summit. The goals of the Summit were: (1) increased awareness and understanding of how to ensure equity of learning outcomes for students of computing studies regardless of school or location; and (2) the publication of a discussion paper and recommendations for the future in relation to the issues around the use of technologies and appropriate pedagogies to deliver quality computing studies program to all students, particularly in rural and regional Australia. The goals were achieved by scoping the existing territory in relation to open/distance learning, sharing existing teacher exemplary practice, exploring relevant online delivery systems and appropriate pedagogies to support open/distance learning, showcasing possibilities for the future and, identifying and sharing resources. An integral part of the program was the opportunity for participants in small groups and at the plenary session to discuss issues raised by speakers and to share ideas and possible actions. An underlying current of the Summit was a concern for falling student participation rates in computing studies and how this may be addressed. This paper presents a summary of the major issues and possible actions that emerged during the Summit. They are grouped under the broad areas of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Curriculum Delivery, Resources, Teacher Professional Learning, Links to Industry and Tertiary Sector, and The Technology.

This paper explores international students' engagement with educational technology for self-regulated English learning at an Australian university. Despite the increased use of automated feedback systems (AFSs) for language assessment, students' critical engagement with them for independent learning remains under-researched. The study primarily employed a qualitative approach to understand the students' preferred AFS tools and critical engagement throughout their personalised learning journeys but it also included a small-scale quantitative component. Data were gathered from seven students' e-portfolios, focus group interviews as well as a survey among 32 participants. Results highlight positive perceptions and successful use of AFSs, with students leveraging these tools to identify improvement areas, track progress and gain confidence. The study emphasises the importance of course structure, teacher guidance and a combination of human and automated feedback, in fostering learner autonomy and emotional self-regulation. The paper underscores the potential for sustained use of AFSs beyond the cours, and the significance of guiding learners to critically use these tools for ongoing learning and growth rather than dependence. These findings have significant implications, as readily available artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT hold great pedagogical potential for self-regulated learning within and beyond the language learning field.

Higher education informatization (HEI) is an interdisciplinary field that examines the use and integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education. This paper provides a bibliometric and visual analysis of the research trends, patterns, and topics in this field. Using the Web of Science database, the authors selected and analyzed 199 SCI and SSCI papers on HEI published from 2000 to 2023 by VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. The results indicate that the publication volume of HEI research has grown significantly in recent years. The author network shows the collaboration and contribution of different researchers and institutions, while the journal network reveals the multidisciplinary nature and scope of the field. The keyword network and the burst keyword analysis identify the main research themes and the emerging hot topics in HEI. The co-citation network of sources illustrates the theoretical and methodological foundations and influences of the field. The paper concludes with some implications and suggestions for future HEI research.

This paper aims to identify and explore the learning objectives outlining the core knowledge for forensic accounting education. Bloom's taxonomy is used to outline and analyze the core knowledge for forensic accounting education (e.g. fraud examination, litigation support, business valuation, and IT forensic accounting) in 15 Australian universities that provide forensic accounting courses. Furthermore, this paper applies a qualitative method to forensic accounting curricula, handbooks, and syllabi. These educational documents were retrieved from Australian universities. The findings report learning objectives under core content knowledge distributed over Bloom's cognitive areas. This study also provides a unified set of learning objectives to harmonize forensic accounting courses' teaching and learning processes. The most promising contribution of the paper is to provide a set of learning objectives in all forensic accounting subtopics. The main implications of this paper are relevant to forensic accounting educators, students, standard setters, researchers, regulators, and curricula designers.

A "knowledge society" relies on a workforce with high-level skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Continuing development of ICT will arise partly from research undertaken by doctoral graduates. However, compared to other cognate disciplines, ICT has relatively few students taking up doctoral studies. This article explores some of the perceived barriers to undertaking doctoral studies in ICT in three Australian universities. Current students were surveyed regarding their post-course intentions relating to employment and further study, and the resulting data was analysed in terms of type of university attended, gender, nationality and first-in-family status. Overall, the perceived barriers to doing a research degree were related to the financial implications of such study and a limited understanding of what research in ICT involves. The following recommendations are made to universities and higher education policy-makers: that universities ensure that students have accurate information about the financial costs of doctoral studies; that students be provided with authentic undergraduate research experiences; and that pathways be developed to facilitate a smooth return to research degrees after periods of working in industry.

The use of algorithms and automation of public services is not new, but in recent years there has been a step change in processing power and a decrease in the price of these technologies, which means we are seeing more widespread use. These advances are reframing our perception of what matters in ways that impact the ethical dimensions of day-to-day life. In turn, these changes challenge long-standing assumptions about public service ethics and how it is taught. In this multidisciplinary authored paper, we argue that public service leaders must be attentive to ethical questions that converge around adopting "data-driven" techniques, including algorithmic decision-making. Algorithmic and technology focused ethics question assumptions about the current deficits within public service ethics pedagogy in public service programs and university programs and the future direction of the discipline. To do so raises longstanding but neglected questions about the public services' role in the state and recovering what Rohr refers to as the 'ethics of the office.' This, we argue, will have implications for teaching public service ethics.

Facilitating an inclusive pedagogy to close the gap that exists within the teaching of Indigenous Knowledge in Australia is a tall order for many teachers. This paper draws on responses to a national study and explores how music educators include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music and culture into their practice. An online survey (December 2022-February 2023, N=109) informed the findings. Using thematic analysis, two themes (teaching challenges and opportunities, and bridging the gap) are discussed and key recommendations offered. Findings suggest that walking carefully towards bridging the gap is an opportunity for educational change in contemporary Australian classrooms.

There is no denying that the information technology revolution of the late twentieth century has arrived. Whilst not equitably accessible for many, others hold high expectations for the contributions online activity will make to student learning outcomes. Concurrently, and not necessarily consequentially, the number of science and technology secondary school and university graduates throughout the world has declined substantially, as has their motivation and engagement with school science (OECD 2006). The aim of this research paper is to explore one aspect of online activity, that of forum-based netspeak (Crystal 2006), in relation to the possibilities and challenges it provides for forms of scientific learning. This paper reports findings from a study investigating student initiated netspeak in a science inspired multiliteracies (New London Group 2000) project in one middle primary (aged 7-10 years) multi-age Australian classroom. Drawing on the theoretical description of the five phases of enquiry proposed by Bybee (1997), an analytic framework is proffered that allows identification of student engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation of scientific enquiry. The findings provide insight into online forums for advancing learning in, and motivation for, science in the middle primary years.

The goal of this position paper on ventilatory support at home for children is to provide expert consensus from Australia and New Zealand on optimal care for children requiring ventilatory support at home, both non-invasive and invasive. It was compiled by members of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) and the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA). This document provides recommendations to support the development of improved services for Australian and New Zealand children who require long-term ventilatory support. Issues relevant to providers of equipment and areas of research need are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, there is considerable investment in education technologies leading to increased attention from stakeholders (Trucano, 2017). For a deeper understanding about the implementation of various technologies, research is needed to examine how teachers are incorporating them in teaching and learning. This study focused on eight countries to examine how teachers used ICT in mathematics instruction and factors that contributed to ICT use. Results show that teachers' education levels and cooperation amongst educators are associated with ICT use in instruction. The paper includes recommendations and implications for practice and future research.

Professional development for teachers is often described as a journey. This paper, using the findings from a small-scale study interrogating professional development in ICT, offers the alternate metaphor of an interwoven Celtic knot to explain this phenomenon. It will show how the four key elements identified as being critical to creating the most conducive conditions for effective professional development are interdependent parts of a whole. This "whole" is here represented as an iterative loop with theory and practice as its diametric but connected opposites. The connections between these opposites encompass the four elements in a dynamic process. Like a Celtic knot, there is no defined beginning or end nor do these elements work in a straight line. This paper attempts to show the inherent dynamism and interdependence of these elements and argues for professional development for teachers which consider both theory and practice. The understandings from this dynamic model underpin the published position statement of QSITE (Queensland Society for Information Technology in Education). (Contains 4 figures.)

This paper explores the significance of schools' data infrastructures as a site of institutional power and (re)configuration. Using 'infrastructure studies' as a theoretical framework and drawing on in-depth studies of three contrasting Australian secondary schools, the paper takes a holistic look at schools' data infrastructures. In contrast to the notion of the 'platformatised' school, the paper details the ad hoc and compromised ways that these school data infrastructures have developed -- highlighting a number of underlying sociotechnical conditions that lead to an ongoing process of data infrastructuring. These include issues of limited technical interoperability and differences between educational requirements and commercially-led designs. Also apparent is the disjuncture between the imagined benefits of institutional data use and the ongoing maintenance and repair required to make the infrastructures function. Taking an institutional perspective, the paper explores why digital technologies continue to complicate (rather than simplify) school processes and practices.

The study of variables related to the use of ICT in the classroom is a topic of interest that has been frequently researched. In this paper, after examining the importance of teacher training in explaining the use of ICT in the classroom, we focused on analysing the weight of variables related to teaching practices and the organisational context of schools, which are variables that are less frequently addressed in the literature. To do so, a secondary analysis was carried out using data provided by the Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS 2018). Specifically, we worked with a sample of 3,918 principals and 64,899 teachers from a total of 3921 schools in 21 countries. A multilevel binary regression model with random intercept, fixed coefficients and a two-level structure with teachers at level 1 and schools at level 2 was used. The results indicate that the presence of ICT in the classroom is associated with self-efficacy in teaching and the cognitive activation of students and with the organisational aspects of the school, which are scarcely addressed by the existing literature on this topic of interest, such as school climate, educational innovation and cooperation among teachers. Based on these results, we reflect on possible ways to promote the use of ICT in the classroom.

FinTech refers to a set of new technologies employed to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. This study aims to provide some insightful information to: (a) universities on how to offer their FinTech education, and (b) graduates so that they can make an informed decision on whether they should start their FinTech career journey. To achieve these aims, we explore the credentials of recent and long-time graduates who are working in the FinTech area by conducting a questionnaire survey involving 48 Australian FinTech companies and 83 FinTech practitioners working in various IT functions of these companies. Among the various findings reported in this paper, some of them are: (a) the most straightforward way to start the "technical-oriented" FinTech career is to earn an undergraduate IT degree, (b) possessing previous IT work experience is almost a norm for FinTech practitioners, and (c) for those FinTech practitioners with previous work experience in financial services, they may have a higher chance to be promoted to executives.

This paper draws on a webinar on digital technology and networked spaces in outdoor education, where three researchers presented their work through responses to two discussion statements: First, 'the use of digital technology in outdoor education is fundamentally contrary to all its values.' Second, 'if we accept that digital technology is embedded in outdoor education, what do we know about its potential? And what are key areas to explore more deeply?.' Despite there being no advance planning to produce a research output from the webinar, the organisers' basic analysis of the webinar's frontchannel and backchannel revealed areas of the conversation that may merit targeted empirical attention. Three principal themes emerged from participants' responses during the webinar: the need to move beyond binary thinking; the importance of considering digital technology in regard to specific learning objectives and contexts; and to inform oneself about the affordances of digital technology, while thinking critically about its applications.

This article explores the wide-ranging impact of inviting architecture students to increase conscious somatic awareness of their body and function, and the effects on their design process. This paper analyses the results of a Movement Awareness Intervention conducted prior to students undertaking their usual architectural design studio at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. The impact of a global trend in extensive use of digital design tools has resulted in impacts on components in the architecture design process that appear to be slipping under the radar in architecture education and practice. This article addresses issues raised by Juhani Pallasmaa and Paolo Belardi, bolstered by neuroscience research by Harry Mallgrave and colleagues, to explore the impact of heightened conscious bodily awareness upon the cognitive design thinking processes required in the architecture. The case study research using mixed data collection methods on 39 participants draws upon surveys, hand notations, and audio interviews to track participant perceptions of the impact on their design process in action. Analysis of the data produced in this study addresses the concerns raised by theses seminal writers. This paper argues for new approaches to reconfiguring and recalibrating of emotional, cognitive, and physical stimulants that were once invisibly physically embedded in the traditional architectural design process to work with digital design technology.

Over the past decade Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies and perspectives have been mandated across the Australian national curriculum and all teachers are now required to demonstrate strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and have a broad knowledge of Aboriginal histories, cultures and languages. This paper describes a project focused on enabling Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) to play a critical role in transforming these initiatives into real and sustainable change through authentic, technology-based pedagogy. Indigenous research methodologies and design-based research (DBR) were used to investigate the potential educational roles for AEWs enabled by elearning and new technologies. The project, called "Skilling Up: Improving educational opportunities for AEWs through technology based pedagogy" was funded by the Office of Learning and Teaching. This paper reports on the findings of the study conducted in Western Australia, including pre-study survey results, together with a description of a unit of study to provide opportunities for AEWs to use technologies in their work, and to create authentic digital stories for use in teacher education. The development of design principles for the design of such environments is also discussed.

Purpose: Digital literacy is not the mere ability to use a digital device or know to use various software. It is a domain of exploration for sociology, psychology, education and, of course, technology. This study aims to present a quantitative analysis of the literature on digital literacy using a bibliometric approach. Design/methodology/approach: Using data from the Web of Science database, the importance of the research is evaluated by reviewing 2307 publications and examining the yearly publication, field category productivity, citation structure, most cited resources, documents, most-cited authors, most productive authors, and country in the field of digital literacy. Further, a cluster analysis is conducted to see the most recurrent keywords and emerging trends in this field. At last, the authors analyzed the thematic progression of keywords over these five years based on the normalized citations. Additionally, a graphical representation of the bibliometric data using VOSviewer is presented in the paper. Findings: The results suggest a steady rate of publication in this field, with most of the research published in education and library fields and the USA leading the country in this realm. The emerging themes in this field are 'Fake News', 'Competence', 'Educational Technology', 'Health Literacy', 'Self-Efficacy' and, interestingly, 'COVID-19'. The results also revealed that COVID-19 has been examined and associated with fake news, higher education, social media and information literacy. Originality/value: This paper provides an overall summary of the most recent research work published from 2017 to 2021 on digital literacy in the backdrop of COVID-19. The study presents the thematic progression over the years and particularly the new keywords that emerged in the limelight of the pandemic. It contributes by updating the existing body of knowledge in the field of digital literacy and presents preliminary results related to COVID-19.

The demands arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have amplified the importance of resilience not only for students, but also for academics. This narrative review examines a phenomenon which has received little research attention, despite its significance during the pandemic, namely the resilience of academics in higher education. We refer to this as 'academic resilience'. The review investigates how academic resilience in higher education has been addressed in scholarship, with particular attention to the five major pandemics from 2001 to 2020. A review of fourteen relevant papers shows a lack of attention to the resilience of university teaching staff. Uncovering how academics overcome and withstand adversity on the one hand, and how higher education institutions have managed and supported the resilience of their staff on the other, this paper offers a conceptualisation of academic resilience that goes beyond the individual/environmental binary in scholarship.

Aim/Purpose: This paper focuses on understanding undergraduate computing student-learning behaviour through reviewing their online activity in a university online learning management system (LMS), along with their grade outcome, across three subjects. A specific focus is on the activity of students who failed the computing subjects. Background: Between 2008 and 2020 there has been a multiplicative growth and adoption of Learning Analytics (LA) by education institutions across many countries. Insights gained through LA can result in actionable implementations at higher institutions for the benefit of students, including refinement of curriculum and assessment regimes, teacher reflection, and more targeted course offerings. Methodology: To understand student activity, this study utilised a quantitative approach to analyse LMS activity and grade outcome data drawn from three undergraduate computing subjects. Data analysis focused on presenting counts and averages to show an understanding of student activity. Contribution: This paper contributes a practical approach towards LA use in higher education, demonstrating how a review of student activity can impact the learning design of the computing subjects. In addition, this study has provided a focus on poor performing students so that future offerings of the computing subjects can support students who are at risk of failure. Findings: The study found that: (1) Collecting data relating to student activity and analysing the activity is an important indicator of engagement, with cross referencing the data to grade outcome providing information to support modification to the learning design of the computing subjects (2) The computing subjects in this study all had the majority of the assessment marks awarded at the later part of the study period; (3) Students that fail subjects are active within the LMS for the period of the subject even when they submit no assessments; and (4) Assessment weight and the time of delivery could influence the out-comes Recommendations for Practitioners: The collection and analysis of student activity in the LMS can enable learning designers and practitioners to better reflect the subject design and delivery to provide more informed ways of delivering the learning material. Recommendation for Researchers: Collecting LA requires a thought-out process, designed well in advance of the teaching period. This study provides useful insight that can impact other researchers in the collection of assessment related analytics. Impact on Society: The cost of education is expensive to those that undertake it. Failing, although expected, potentially can be reduced by examining how education is designed, delivered, and assessed. The study has shown how information on how students are engaging has the potential to impact their outcomes. Future Research: Further work is needed to investigate whether intervention may assist the poor performing students to improve their grade outcomes relative to activity levels, subsequently impacting their retention.

This paper presents findings from qualitative research which examines school principals' understandings of digital technologies policies for Australian schools during the period of the Digital Education Revolution (2008-2013). The concepts of 'steering at a distance' and policy enactment are used as a conceptual lens from which to position and analyse the principals' interpretations of digital technologies policies designed for schools. The research involved semi-structured interviews with school principals, and an assistant principal, which revealed a range of themes including compliance and latitude in policy responses, policy accountability, policy language, accountability and symbolism, and the purpose of 'acceptable use' policies. This paper contributes to a theoretical and historical understanding of school principals' agency as policy actors which can inform an analysis of the contemporary federalist school policy trajectories and how principals are positioned in relation to them.

Significant concerns have been raised about supplying sufficient numbers of qualified and experienced information and communications technology (ICT) workers to meet the ongoing demands of the industry. This paper explores how professional identity and self-interest shape the career choices of ICT students. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 52 ICT students from four Australian tertiary education institutions. The findings reveal that nascent professional identity (such as mastery, sense of belonging, and status and esteem) and self-interest (such as anticipated income, perceived opportunities, and work-life balance) work together to exert a strong push away from or pull toward, seeking an ICT career following graduation. The findings contribute to understandings of how ICT students conceptualize a professional career in the ICT industry and the expectations of the emerging ICT workforce. This can influence the development of career marketing materials to attract high-quality entrants into undertaking ICT qualifications and ultimately an ICT career and assist universities and professional associations in their efforts to attract and educate a diverse and inclusive ICT workforce.

This national study explored the role of digital technologies in early childhood education and care settings and whether they could contribute to quality improvement as reported by educators and assessors of quality in Australia. In this paper, data from Stage 2 of the Quality Improvement Research Project were used, which comprised 60 Quality Improvement Plans from educators linked with 60 Assessment and Rating reports from the assessors who visited early childhood centres as part of the administration of the National Quality Standards by each of Australia's State and Territory jurisdictions. Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In P. Moen, G.H. Elder, Jr., & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecologyof human development (pp. 619-647). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10176-018; Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, Psychological Review 101:568-586, 1994) was adopted to facilitate a systemic and dynamic view on the use of digital technologies in these 60 ECEC settings. References (e.g. comments/ suggestions/ examples) made by the educators about the implementation of digital technologies were counted and thematically analysed. Results revealed the strong role new technologies (e.g. documentation and management platforms, tablets, apps, etc.) play in the majority of ECEC settings and especially in relation to three of the seven Quality Areas: Educational programme and practice (Quality Area 1); Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (Quality Area 6) and Governance and leadership (Quality Area 7). Future directions for research are suggested and implications for embracing a more holistic, integrated and broad view on the use of digital technologies are discussed.

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate how skills taxonomies can be used in combination with machine learning to integrate diverse online datasets and reveal skills gaps. The purpose of this study is then to show how the skills gaps revealed by the integrated datasets can be used to achieve better labour market alignment, keep educational offerings up to date and assist graduates to communicate the value of their qualifications. Design/methodology/approach: Using the ESCO taxonomy and natural language processing, this study captures skills data from three types of online data (job ads, course descriptions and resumes), allowing us to compare demand for skills and supply of skills for three different occupations. Findings: This study illustrates three practical applications for the integrated data, showing how they can be used to help workers who are disrupted by technology to identify alternative career pathways, assist educators to identify gaps in their course offerings and support students to communicate the value of their training to employers. Originality/value: This study builds upon existing applications of machine learning (detecting skills from a single dataset) by using the skills taxonomy to integrate three datasets. This study shows how these complementary, big datasets can be integrated to support greater alignment between the needs and offerings of educators, employers and job seekers.

Purpose: This paper explores how education and training systems can support a digitally-enabled workforce for the Australian manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on interviews with 17 sector-level manufacturing stakeholders from industry, government and education/training organisations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of how education and training systems currently support a digitally-enabled manufacturing workforce as well as opportunities for alternative configurations or developments. Findings: Analysis revealed three themes reflecting core dimensions of a supportive education and training system--partnerships, pedagogy and prospects. Cooperative, integrated and sustained partnerships are needed between vocational education and training (VET) institutions, universities, government, industry, high schools and private training providers. Pedagogy emphasises the vital importance of infusing curriculum with digital and technology skills and capabilities, alongside innovative and experiential delivery modes including simulated environments, online learning, on-the-job training, flexible delivery and micro-credentials. Prospects reflects the need for forward-looking assessment and planning to respond to industry trends and develop associated qualifications, skills and investments required to meet future industry needs. Originality/value: With growing demand for digitally-enabled skills to support manufacturing, an industry which is acknowledged as critical for economic prosperity and national sovereignty, the findings contribute novel insights into current limitations and future opportunities to bridge the gap between skills shortages in the manufacturing industry, and education and training systems that deliver graduate readiness and a digitally-enabled workforce.

The theorisation of digital technologies for play-based settings has received a great deal of attention. However, less is known about how zoom modalities, which are increasingly becoming commonplace at work and in the home, have impacted on the play of children in Family Day Care. Whilst theoretical attention has been given to conceptualising multimodalities in centre programmes, Family Day Care is uniquely different. This paper takes up this challenge by studying Family Day Care educators, their leaders (n = 7) and the children (n = 38) from their respective FDC homes (digital data of 797.46 min). The results identify the pedagogical practice of "zoom play," which is a form of collective imaginings, a common narrative, and a crystallised affective imagining when digitally connected across a virtual landscape.

Digital technologies are a part of schooling, however, given the significant focus on using of digital technologies in teaching and learning, there is little evidence of wide scale transformation. It is within this context that this paper reports on a qualitative, explanatory case study of six teachers, with experience in enhancing pedagogies in a well-established ubiquitous technologies environment, consciously seeking to transform their practice to enact personalized digital learning. The findings indicate three interacting factors contributed to the degrees of transformation: teachers' frames of reference (beliefs and attitudes), habits of mind (prior experience), and modes of transformative learning. This paper highlights how diversification of classroom roles, relationships and actions created challenges for teachers with experience integrating digital technologies in teaching and learning.

With global conflict currently riding at its highest levels in the past 30 years, the international community has recognised the importance of engaging young women and men in shaping lasting peace. In 2015 the United Nations Security Council passed a ground-breaking resolution, Youth, Peace and Security: Resolution 2250 (United Nations Security Resolution 2250, 2015). This urged member states to increase inclusive representation of young people in institutions to establish mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict, and to counter violent extremism. Youth were finally recognised as 'the missing peace' in the role of global peace processes. The United Nations acknowledged the potential for good of these 1.8 billion young people who, on a daily basis, seek creative ways to prevent violence and consolidate peace across the globe in devastated and conflict-affected societies. Technology-based peacebuilding practices, collectively known as Peacetech, were enshrined as a route forward in this complex task. Peacetech, combining the strategic use of technology in peacebuilding practice, has been pioneered as one pillar of Resolution 2250. Post-conflict education programs often deliver Peacetech's technology-based peacebuilding programs to post-conflict youth groups. This paper on Peacetech is divided into three parts. First, it outlines the definition and goals of Peacetech. Secondly, it outlines the definition and goals of Peacebuilding and outlines the significant role post-conflict education can have in peacebuilding. Thirdly, it highlights three Peacetech case studies evaluated in the field by the author. Overall, it is hoped that the paper will enthuse researchers in both the education and development fields to engage in further extensive research on post-conflict education.

The premise of this brief opinion piece is that the fundamental paradigm of education appeared with Plato. It is that there is a co-location in time and space of learners, teachers, and resources. The absence of any of these elements can lead to shortcomings in the meaning of the term "to be educated". Recent events such as COVID-19 demonstrate that the paradigm is subject to challenge but that its premises are firmly established. It is recognised that there are complex philosophical and theoretical arguments surrounding distance education debates. It is not possible in a short article like this to canvass all the possible philosophical positions that affect education. Pointers to these debates are referenced in the article. For the purpose of this article, "philosophy" is taken to mean that department of knowledge or study that deals with ultimate reality, or with the general causes and principles of things. More narrowly, it is the study of general principles of some particular branch of knowledge, experience, or activity--in this case, distance education or flexible learning. "Theory" is taken to mean a scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena.

In contemporary society nationally and internationally, the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) has become a vitally important component in the workforce, recreationally, and in schools. In Australia, as in many countries, there is a nation-wide priority within education systems that endeavours to ensure that in an increasingly digital world, students possess the ICT skills to participate fully in their schooling and, later in contemporary society. While progress has been made towards achieving these goals, research demonstrates that there is a general loss of engagement and confidence in ICT tasks as student progress through school systems. In order to explore what students currently in secondary schools think and feel about their use and engagement levels regarding ICTs, this paper draws on a pilot project conducted in Australian schools. This pilot study found that agency and design-based pedagogy concerning the use of ICTs were key factors in engaging students and promoting learning. To further explore the findings of the project, the authors have formulated a model of Digital Agency. This term, 'Digital Agency' is defined as "the students' experience of autonomous technology learning in the classroom."

This paper describes opportunities to improve the current support provided to beginning teachers in Australia. It holds that there is a need for approaches that go beyond school-based induction and support. The paper presents data from a survey of beginning teachers in Queensland, with aims to determine current access to support and perceptions about gaps in support. It uses these findings alongside existing evidence to make arguments that some beginning teachers are effectively unsupported and that universities have the potential to play a greater role in beginning teacher support. Further results are used to suggest guidelines for developing a national online community of pre-service and beginning teachers. A case study of a successful online professional support community is used as a model for how this may be implemented.

Today's graduates need the skills to enable them to "persevere in the face of complexity and unresolvability" (McWilliam and Haukka 2008: 660), and to respond creatively in work environments that are increasingly dependent on digital technologies (Cunningham 2006). However, although many higher education institutions (HEIs) acknowledge the importance of creativity within the curriculum (McWilliam 2007a), it is argued that universities are failing to equip graduates with the creative skills they require to be effective in the workplace. Design-based learning (also referred to as learning by design) is ideally suited to facilitating the development of creative problem solving (CPS) skills by engaging students in complex learning activities involving the active construction of knowledge through a series of iterative cycles of experimentation and refinement of concepts (Naidu 2004). Similarly, design-based research (DBR) involves a series of iterative steps to design and develop learning environments and theories the design, while also informing the development of practical guidelines (Reeves, Herrington and Oliver, 2005). This paper reports on findings from a project funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, which aimed to develop a CPS framework and supporting online system to scaffold teachers and students through a creative problem solving approach founded on the principles of DBR. The study employed a mixed-methods DBR approach involving multiple iterations to design, develop, trial and implement the framework and tool, as well as the development of principles and practical guidelines for application in the classroom. The findings reported in this paper focus on the DBR process and the experience trialling the CPS tool in a first-year undergraduate course offered in the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages at the University of South Australia. The paper reports on the implications of the findings from the project and the benefits of DBR as a methodology informing the design, development and implementation of a technology enhanced learning approach to fostering CPS in the undergraduate curriculum.

Education in the 21st century demands a model for understanding a new culture of learning in the face of rapid change, open access data and geographical diversity. Teachers no longer need to provide the latest information because students themselves are taking an active role in peer collectives to help create it. This paper examines, through an Australian case study entitled "Design Minds," the development of an online design education platform as a key initiative to enact a government priority for statewide cultural change through design-based curriculum. Utilising digital technology to create a supportive community, "Design Minds" recognises that interdisciplinary learning fostered through engagement will empower future citizens to think, innovate, and discover. This paper details the participatory design process undertaken with multiple stakeholders to create the platform. It also outlines a proposed research agenda for future measurement of its value in creating a new learning culture, supporting regional and remote communities, and revitalising frontline services. It is anticipated this research will inform ongoing development of the online platform, and future design education and research programs in K-12 schools in Australia.

Utilising appropriate Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as instructional tools in teacher education can be a challenging yet worthwhile endeavour. This paper reports the difficulties and benefits of a recent inter-university project requiring preservice primary teachers to construct professional digital portfolios using the support of ICT. Challenges with regard to communication and learning were numerous as 34 preservice teachers (PSTs) from three universities in NSW (situated in country towns, and in Sydney) worked together as a collaborative learning community. Meeting regularly face-to-face during the 12-month process was not always possible and so ICT resources were employed to facilitate instruction and communication. An action research methodology generated a data set of surveys, observational field notes, and student assessment artefacts. We share the findings in this paper so that others may learn from our experiences in using free access software and commonplace hardware when constructing digital portfolios with students who are some distance from campus. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)

In this conceptual paper, we draw upon Pittaway's (2012) Engagement Framework, using it as a lens through which to examine the personal, professional, academic, intellectual and social dimensions of teacher educators' engagement within an online teaching environment. We reflect on findings from our pilot study (Downing & Dyment, 2013) and draw on key literatures in the fields of higher education, teacher education and online teaching to explore the various dimensions of the Engagement Framework, particularly as they relate to teacher educators' engagement. We offer recommendations for teacher educators to consider as they contemplate the move to online preparation of pre-service teachers. Our paper concludes with the recognition that for teacher educators to feel engaged in the online learning environment, they must be confident that it offers an engaging and effective form of learning for pre-service teachers. This paper will help teacher educators to better understand how to engage with the growing phenomenon of online preparation of pre-service teachers. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

This paper firstly introduces the concept of constructivist learning which advocates that students actively construct knowledge themselves with teachers' assistance. Based on the six important elements of constructivist learning and teaching planning approach, detailed examples of designing the six constructivist elements of situation, groupings, bridge, questions, exhibit, and reflections for two units offered at school of Information Technology, Deakin University are provided. A conclusion emphasizing the learners' difference to be paid attention to while educators designing curriculum on CloudDeakin platform is made at the end of this paper.

This collective paper on radicalization and violent extremism part of the 'Philosophy of education in a new key' initiative by "Educational Philosophy and Theory" brings together some of the leading contemporary scholars writing on the most pressing epistemological, ethical, political and educational issues facing post-9/11 scholarship on radicalization and violent extremism. Its overall aim is to move beyond the 'conventional wisdom' associated with this area of scholarly research best represented by its many slogans, metaphors and other thought-terminating clichés. By providing conceptual lenses on issues previously compartmentalized primarily [or even exclusively] in security and intelligence studies or at the fringes of scholarly interest, radicalization and violent extremism turn out to be much more complex than 'radicalization studies' has been eager to acknowledge.

The entropic state that engulfed the East Coast of Australia in the first eight months of 2020 followed thirty years of uninterrupted economic growth and 10 years of tenuous federal governments divided on the question of climate change. The twin geophysical crises of catastrophic bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a public reckoning around our guardianship of the environment, as well as our relationship with science and indigenous knowledge. Congruent with this was the rapid transformation of both schools and universities to online learning, causing the most significant rupture to the traditional 'grammar of schooling' for decades. This unprecedented conflation of crises has resulted in the unusual situation where education can be radically transformed, as the material conditions that usually remain latent (thus negating the possibility for change) suddenly exist. As a result, there has been an increased openness to pedagogies of potentiality, as schools and universities resist the urge to 'return to normal'. Amongst these pedagogies, the philosophy of Bernard Stiegler is unique in its direct response to the entropic state with a counter-impulse, negantropy, which seeks to harness our technological capacity under an ethos of care and unite it with our existential purpose to flourish and thrive. This paper will consider the possibilities of Stiegler's utopian call for action in relation to the Australian context, as schools and universities reconceptualise the sharing of knowledge and the purpose of education that seeks to rectify the gaps of the past.

This paper explores how changing digital literacy practices in educational contexts require that we continually revisit conceptualisations of digital literacy education. We begin by analysing the positions taken by stakeholders who contribute to digital literacy discourses in Australia, exploring how competing interests produce effects which manifest in ways that differently consecrate social and cultural practice in the digital age. We advocate the need for pedagogic frameworks that support digital literacy education. Existing approaches tend to privilege the operationalisation of digital technology. By contrast, teaching is needed which focusses on meaning-making and creating. However, the 'datafication of everyday life' (Barassi, 2018, p.170) has included extraordinary interventions into schooling that have significant implications for teachers and students. We argue that preparing young people for digital citizenship must include a focus on critical digital literacies that are responsive to contemporary digital forces (e.g. platformatisation, artificial intelligence, edu-apps, algorithms) as well as those digital technologies that are yet to make their way into formal schooling.

In this paper, we discuss the role of the educator in terms of designing a learning environment for the student which encourages the student to develop their own academic integrity. In such an environment, there is no need for the student to resort to plagiarism, as the learning and assessment tasks are not conducive to cheating, being unique and challenging for each student, regardless of the number of students enrolled in the particular course. We consider the learning design approach to assessment in the context of high-level vocational education. Educational resources are designed to support work-based knowledge and personal development capabilities. Educators assess to provide for professions, work contexts and individual learning needs. The major focus of this paper is discussion of the design of learning approaches and assessment tasks that disenable plagiarism and cheating, and promote problem-solving skills, academic integrity and creativity. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper explores the transformative power of digital humanities in teaching family history online to large cohorts of Australian domestic students. It takes as a case study a unit developed specifically for students to learn about how to research their convict ancestors' lives and how to situate their ancestors' lived experiences within relevant wider contexts. Its focus is twofold. The convergence of rapidly expanding digital repositories and databases of family history-related information and increasingly sophisticated online teaching platforms and how this has facilitated a shift from face-to-face to fully online learning and teaching is examined. The ways in which this transformative change was engineered through the unit design, delivery, and evaluative processes are then canvassed. The case study demonstrates how, with thoughtful, well-structured, and innovative approaches to design and by adopting a bespoke delivery model for online delivery, students can readily learn to access and engage critically with extensive online resources and can be equipped with the digital tools to use these optimally and to their satisfaction.

Democratic citizenship education in the information age must concern itself with the goal of nurturing future generations with the capacity to make appropriate use of the changes driven by the advances of ICTs so as to activate political and social democracy. Using Australia and South Korea as case studies, this paper discusses the role that citizenship education can and/or should play in producing democratic citizens in the information age. This paper analyses and compares the recent curricula and educational policy developments in citizenship education in Australian and South Korea. More specifically, the paper attempts to identify what implications the advances of ICTs have and what future tasks they impose for the field of democratic citizenship education. (Contains 6 endnotes.)

Career development is a multifaceted, life-stage-dependant and discipline-specific process that is difference for every decision maker. During their time at university, students are building upon their career choice through discipline-specific activities yet many still find the transition into the workforce problematic, particularly for those in the discipline of IT. With the varied nature of the labour market in Australia, it is more important than ever before for universities to assist students in their career development through various opportunities for career education. With this in mind, this research asked: What career development model, and curriculum recommendations, can support IT students to be better prepared for life after university to achieve their graduate outcomes? To answer this, this research will present how career education has been implemented in undergraduate IT education at Deakin University in Australia. In addition, this paper demonstrates how a career development model together with appropriate curriculum resources can assist in addressing students' career needs, specifically for the IT context. The model will help educators' better support students to build their career interest and navigate the changing labour market.

This paper presents the results of a study undertaken from a phenomenographic perspective, which examines teachers' approaches to information communication technology (ICT)-enhanced teaching in vocational tertiary education. Twenty-three teachers from three Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews about their ways of experiencing the use of ICT in various vocational courses. The findings revealed two strategies with five main orientations to ICT-enhanced teaching distributed along a continuum from teacher-focused approaches: comprising information-oriented, feedback-oriented and practice-oriented to student-focused approaches: consisting of activity-oriented and industry-oriented teaching. The identified strategies and orientations extend the frameworks of teachers' approaches to ICT-enhanced teaching revealed in the previous phenomenographic studies in tertiary education. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings for TAFE sector and tertiary education in general.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a justified, legitimate and validated model on entrepreneurship education programmes (EEPs), by combining recent research and scholarship in leading edge entrepreneurship education (EE). Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review of recent EE research and scholarship is followed by an empirical study to develop a model of EEPs. This was adopted by employing an emergent inquiry perspective incorporating participatory action research, using frame analysis and NVIVO to develop and analyse themes. Findings: This research identified three unique dimensions currently excluded from the theoretical and scholarship of EEPs, being distinct contextualisation, entrepreneurship ecosystems and recent content innovation in entrepreneurship. It also identified updates to current EEPs dimensions, such as online technologies, authentic alignment, causation, effectuation and bricolage, technology transfer the entrepreneurial university. Research limitations/implications: The discussion and model presented in this paper may be a starting point for future empirical studies on EEPs, by developing additional validation, justification and legitimisation. Practical implications: The study indicates that EEPs are integrative and dynamic, and always limited to contextual and contemporary inferences; providing guidance to developing such programmes. Hence, the applicability to update the original framework developed by Maritz and Brown (2013) as Part 2 of illuminating the black box of EEPs. Originality/value: This paper provides a first of its kind empirical study in the development of EEPs frameworks and models, deepening the theory, scholarship and development of such models. [For Part 1, see EJ1005932.]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is widely acknowledged as a digital technological revolution building on the convergence of Robotics, the Internet of Things, and the Internet of Services. What is less often acknowledged is that it is also a revolution in the social practice of work. Literacy is a core social technology of work and it is changing as rapidly and radically as the digital technologies that are reshaping work, workers and working. This article is concerned with this new generation of workplace literacy practices as they shape, and are shaped by, the Fourth Industrial Revolution -- what we call Literacy 4.0. We explore two related fields of inquiry. The first is research related to the impact of technology on work practice, work organization, and employment in a period sometimes called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The second is research about literacy, specifically workplace literacy. In this paper we argue that it is necessary to take account of each of these fields of inquiry if we are to better understand how the next generation of workplace literacy practices is emerging and helping to constitute the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In November, 2005, an article entitled "No train no gain" (Thorp, 2005) quietly appeared in "The Australian." In the closing paragraphs of the article, the President of the Australian Computer Society placed the blame for the falling number of students enrolling in IT courses at university on how IT is taught in our schools. This paper is written in response to this accusation and in defence of Australia's teachers and IT curricula. Accusations like this, however specious, need to be challenged to prevent their gaining credence through repetition. Accusations made by groups with the status of the Australian Computer Society similarly need to be challenged before they become the cornerstone of policy directives. This paper identifies a number of problematic definitions and assumptions underlying the accusation and suggests that there is danger in offering simple causes for complex problems.

Computer science has been a discipline for some years, and its position in the school curriculum has been contested differently in several countries. This paper looks at its role in three countries to illustrate these differences. A reconsideration of computer science as a separate subject both in primary and secondary education is suggested. At EDUsummIT 2015 it was argued that the major rationales for including computer science as a subject in the K-12 curriculum are economic, social and cultural. The paper explores these three rationales and also a beneficence matrix to assist curriculum designers. It also argues computer science is rapidly becoming critical for generating new knowledge, and should be taught as a distinct subject or content area, especially in secondary schools. The paper concludes by looking at some of the key questions to be considered when implementing computer science in the school curriculum, and at ways its role might change in the future.

This paper reports on a research project, examining the role of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum design and management. A goal was to investigate how SFIA informs a top-down approach to curriculum design, beginning with a set of skills that define a particular career role. A further goal was to evaluate the extent to which SFIA facilitates stakeholder interaction, such that academic programs can better identify industry needs while preparing graduates for the intended career role. The paper also evaluates the extent to which SFIA informs the identification of authentic forms of assessment and the skills and levels of autonomy and responsibility required by entry-level and Masters graduate ICT positions. Processes and practices for ICT curriculum design and management are recommended based on findings arising from this research. Although this research was conducted in an Australian context, findings suggest that there is value in using SFIA for ICT curriculum design and management, even in those jurisdictions where it is not required for accreditation or professional certification purposes.

EPortfolio use meets institutional reporting requirements and provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate learning, showcase their strengths to future employers, and develop lifelong reflective practice. At the same time, ePortfolio use offers students repeated opportunities to develop the skills necessary for academic progress and participation in contemporary online professional environments. To ensure that any ePortfolio implementation is making a positive impact across these areas it is important to be informed about the users' attitudes, conceptual understanding and achievements when using this pedagogical and professional tool. We report student ePortfolio use at an Australian regional university. The paper compares students' conceptual understanding and attitudes towards technology and user experience before and after use of an ePortfolio. It provides an overview of pertinent literature, outlines the research context and methodology, followed by the comparison results. Its contribution to ePortfolio research and practice, and implications for educators and institutional decision makers are also discussed. These results highlight the importance of adopting innovative ways to reinforce the value of ePortfolio for students through external motivation until they adopt their career persona and become intrinsically motivated to embrace strategies and tools that facilitate their progression.