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Relationships between higher education and VET are significant and complex, and of increasing interest in many countries. Most analyses focus on systems, policies and structures. This paper takes a different perspective: what are the learners doing and thinking? It is based on data from research on students commencing study in one sector with experience of study in the other sector. It analyses their characteristics, motivations for study, how they experience study in both sectors and how they perceive their moves. The paper finds that, for these students, their learning trajectories are more circuitous than linear, which raises issues concerning seamlessness, equity and efficiency. Yet pathways are possible, are being used and allow for flexibility. The two educational sectors may be seen as parallel worlds. however, a more apt metaphor may be as tectonic plates creating convergent boundaries. The paper concludes that their relationships require serious rethinking. (Contains 1 figure, 3 tables, and a bibliography.)

The notion of work self-efficacy is significant as the self-efficacy beliefs of an individual have considerable influence on his/her level of motivation and performance in the workplace. This paper aims to determine the effects of the learning activities of a work-integrated learning course in Exercise Science in relation to students' perceived work self-efficacy in industries relevant to their studies. Comparison of pre- and post-course scores on the Work Self-Efficacy Scale demonstrated significant improvement in students' perceived work self-efficacy in all seven dimensions, as well as their perceived skill levels in thirteen important aspects of the work environment. The results suggested that all three course components (the work experience placement, career development workshops and presentations from practicing lecturers and professionals) provided important contributions to students' development. The factors that were considered to be most influential included feedback from supervisors, personal motivation and involvement, and regular workplace experience. [Paper presented at the World Association for Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, (2nd, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2016).]

This qualitative case study provides fresh understandings about first year undergraduate international students' library and information use at an Australian university, and their associated information literacy learning needs. The findings provide evidence to inform the development of library spaces and information literacy responses that enhance international students' transition and learning. The study was conducted in 2015 as part of a project that simultaneously investigated the same topic at three US universities. This paper presents the case study context, reviews relevant literature and identifies gaps in research about international students' library use and information literacy, and outlines the qualitative methodology--questionnaire, interviews and thematic analysis. The findings reveal international students' lived experiences of using the library and information, in general and for assignments. After presenting the students' recommendations to the library, the paper discusses the wider implications of the findings for university libraries and information literacy innovation.

The notion of employability is gaining importance as an essential outcome of many degrees in institutions of higher education throughout Australia. This paper aims to determine the effects of an Exercise Science course, which includes elements of both career development learning and work-integrated learning, on six dimensions of employability - commencement readiness; collaboration; informed decision-making; lifelong learning; professional practices and standards; and integration of knowledge/ theory and practice. The course components examined by the presented study included fieldwork placements, workshops and related career development assignments. Work Readiness Scales were administered prior to and on completion of the course. Students also rated the extent to which they considered any changes in their abilities were the result of each of the course components. Furthermore, responses to an openended questionnaire were analyzed to determine common themes affecting student development of each of the six dimensions. Comparison of pre- and post-work placement scores on the Work Readiness Scales demonstrated statistically significant differences in all the dimensions of employability except informed decision-making. Student ratings suggested that placements had a more significant effect on the changes in their abilities than the course workshops and assignments, however all three course components contributed to the development of workplace competencies. Student responses indicated that the course increased their awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses in relation to employability, as well as their knowledge of specific occupations relevant to exercise science. [This paper was first published in the WACE 19th Conference on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 2015, refereed proceedings held in Kyoto, Japan.]

The Australian Government recognizes that the Arts are a critical part of formal school education and it should not be viewed as subordinate or extra. This paper forms part of a wider research project titled "Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings of Music Education" that started in 2013. The focus of this paper investigates music teaching and learning in a core unit within the Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at Deakin University (Australia). Using questionnaire and interview data gathered in 2014, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and codify the data. Three themes are discussed in relation to: Why it is important to include music in the primary school? What was enjoyable and what aspects were challenging in the music workshops? What can students integrate as generalist teachers into their future classrooms? Though the findings focus on "we did the how to teach it", it also highlights some challenges and opportunities for students and staff. Tertiary educators are challenged to raise the capacity and status of music when preparing students to translate the music curriculum into their future classrooms.

Using the concept of a developmental lens (Brighton, 2007; Caskey & Anfara, 2014; Davis, 2006; J-F, Pullen, & Carroll, 2013; National Middle School Association, 2010; Peterson, 2010), this article focuses on young teenage students' perceptions of teachers. School teachers play an important role in the educational development of teenagers but little is known about how teachers cater for teenage students' social, emotional, physical and cognitive developmental domains. Even less is known about teenage students' perceptions of their teachers. The current study asked a cohort of Year 9 students in a secondary school in Brisbane, Australia (N=182) to comment on what they "liked" about their teachers. The students' responses were mapped against each of the four developmental domains. Analysis of the data showed that students' emotional and social domains were more salient than their physical and cognitive domains. Specifically, the young teenage students reported liking their teachers when the teachers' were emotionally positive and socially accommodating. The findings of this paper are discussed via a developmental lens with regard to the implications for teacher education.

Guided Inquiry (GI) is an emerging pedagogy based on the Information Search Process (ISP), a research-based information-literacy model identified by Carol C. Kuhlthau (1985, 1988a, 1988b, 1988c, 1989b) and operationalized by the Guided Inquiry Design (GID) process (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, and Caspari 2007, 2012, 2015). This study investigated perceptions and use of GI by Year 9 students at an Australian independent private school engaged in an inquiry unit in their Personal Development, Health, and Physical Education class focused on "Overcoming Adversity." Two academic researchers and the school librarian collaborated on this mixed-methods study collecting data from survey questionnaires, focus-group interviews, and students' work in digital inquiry process journals and final product presentations. Findings indicate students understand important elements of the GID process, including its independent nature, structure, and pacing through stages, and the element of choice. However, they differ on whether these aspects have a positive or negative effect on their learning and research process. An implication for GI practice from this study is a greater focus on allowing students independence and to proceed at their own pace, as expressed in a student's comment and the title of this paper: "Just let me go at it."

The technological advancements for teaching and learning sciences for health science students are embedded in the Thalluri-Penman Good Practice Model, which aims to improve the learning experiences of science students and increase student retention and success rates. The model also links students from urban and rural areas, studying both on-and off-campus, with the university campus and with co-students and is primarily structured to boost students' confidence in studying sciences. This paper investigates the introduction of online initiatives, namely, electronic learning communities, online self-assessments, virtual classroom, and the inclusion of social media Facebook to offer practically oriented science learning to urban and regional science students. It examines the issues surrounding the implementation of these technological innovations by identifying the perceptions of the students about their use, illuminating their impact on students, and clarifying the practical issues encountered in the application of these online initiatives. A descriptive analytical approach was used to explore the experiences of students in the use of these innovations. Findings of the evaluations show that the technology exemplified in this paper provides: an approximation of face-to-face lecturing when it is not possible for a lecturer to be at the same site as the class; enhance communication between students and lecturers; and help students access, collaborate and interact with each other. The use of technology that is carefully considered in each stage of the program has been shown to enhance the quality of university teaching and learning, allowing students' greater accessibility, flexibility and interaction.

Midwifery educators have to provide students with stimulating curricula that teach academic and vocational content, as well as transferable skills. The Research Skills Development (RSD) framework provides a conceptual model that allows educators to explicitly scaffold the development of their students' research skills. This paper aims to demonstrate the effective use of the RSD framework and constructive alignment theory to redesign a second-year Midwifery assessment task. The assessment task was changed into a scenario-based question to better reflect the unit learning objectives and expected graduate attributes. Students were provided with extra time in class to explore the assessment task in a peer environment. Following the return of their assessments, students were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment redesign. We show that using a constructively aligned scenario-based assessment task in a second year unit more successfully articulated the expected graduate attributes of midwives. Qualitative and quantitative feedback suggested that students and staff appreciated a more clinically-relevant assessment task. This paper demonstrates that the use of the RSD framework to constructively align graduate attributes, learning experiences, and assessment tasks allows for the transformation of undergraduate assessment into a learning experience relevant to clinical practice.

This paper presents the research findings from a study reviewing graduates' opinions on completing online reflective journaling tasks during work integrated learning as an undergraduate. The study was divided into two parts with an initial focus group conducted with six physiotherapy graduates seven months following graduation. Findings from the focus group guided the development of a questionnaire sent to graduates nine months after course completion. Results from both the focus group and questionnaire (n = 25) highlighted the benefits of online, structured, assessed reflective writing tasks. Graduates provided specific examples of their personal and professional development and perceived benefits from undertaking reflective journaling during work integrated learning. These findings may have application across a wide variety of tertiary courses of study with work integrated learning incorporated into curriculum. [Papers included in this "Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education" ("APJCE") Special Issue stem from selected manuscripts from the Australian Collaborative Education Network Annual Conference 2012.]

This paper aims to answer how we can increase students' engagement in a large class. We hypothesised that the use of KeyPad, an interactive student response system, can lead to enhanced student engagement in a large classroom. We tested a model of classroom technology integration enhancing the students' engagement among first year undergraduate students (n = 131). This study provides evidence of significant effect of positive attitude and social pressure on the intent to use KeyPads. In turn, the intent to use KeyPads leads to the actual use of KeyPads which is directly associated with the level of student engagement. In addition, we find evidence for the relationship between extraversion and level of engagement such that compared to extrovert students, introvert students felt more engaged.

Assessment practice is a crucial component of higher education learning and teaching, however many academic teachers lack formal teaching qualifications and often fall back on teaching and assessing the way they themselves were taught. Furthermore, with increasingly diverse student cohorts, larger classes and increasing components of teaching delivered online, it is unsurprising that students rate assessment as one of the poorest features of their learning experiences. For these reasons, understanding the specific contexts of assessment is important now more than ever. This paper will present the findings of a case study of a cross-institutional initiative aimed at exploring how to improve digital assessment practice by focusing on context, and encouraging and facilitating collegial collaboration. The aim of the case study was to progress a digital assessment project at an Australian higher education provider. Teams of staff from two higher education providers collaborated to develop and implement eight prototype assessments to reform digital assessment practices. The assessments were selected from online undergraduate academic subjects across a range of disciplines. Findings reveal that both staff and students felt that there were benefits to the cross-institutional collaboration. The resulting assessment was perceived as improving student motivation and engagement and more tailored for the online environment than the existing assessment.

Textbooks have been used to enhance teaching in mathematics at all levels of schooling for many years. The use of textbooks enables the mathematics content to be presented in a sequenced, coherent and logical way. There are very few studies, however, that explore student thoughts about the use of electronic textbooks (e-texts) in secondary classrooms. This paper reports the results of a study that aimed to develop an understanding of the phenomenon of student experiences of using an e-text during mathematics lessons; specifically those aspects that dominate the experiences and the ways students perceive their relationships amongst themselves and their teacher when using a mathematics e-text. The results of this study suggest that students using the e-text had a very positive experience. The use of e-texts brings a renewed approach to learning by providing students with what they perceive to be a useful, empowering experience.

The student experience is a widely used term; however, what makes up its critical components is not well understood. The focus on "students" is a key feature of the government's demand-driven system and its proposed "myUniversity" website. Understanding all aspects of the student experience will be critical to attracting and retaining students. This article conceptually divides the student experience into the academic and non-academic experience. The focus of this article is the latter. Based on a review of the literature a definition of the non-academic student experience is provided. Survey comments from University of South Australia students, including their study abroad experiences, are analysed as an example of how the non-academic experience can influence students' personal development and their ability to foster connections and relationships with others. It shows that developing and fostering the non-academic experience can be an integral and indeed a highlight of the overall student experience. [This paper was first presented at the Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Institutional Research, "Has institutional research come of age in Australia?," in Geelong, 10-12 November 2010.]

Graduates need to be prepared for working in global organisations that increasingly rely on virtual, culturally diverse teams. This paper reports on a qualitative research study concerned with the perceptions of university business students who collaborated on a virtual and international project to learn about intercultural communication. The findings indicated that participants capitalised on the opportunity the project presented to find friends and to negotiate and deepen relationships. In addition, the analysis revealed that social interaction also characterised and influenced the learning experience itself and had implications for engagement. The paper concludes that the subjectivities of social interaction are powerfully embedded in the learning process and may play a part in engagement. Second, the project was perceived as a valuable way of preparing students for workplaces where developing intercultural communication skills and online, culturally diverse team relationships are required.

First year accounting has generally been perceived as one of the more challenging first year business courses for university students. Various Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) have been proposed to attempt to enrich and enhance student learning, with these studies generally positioning students as learners alone. This paper uses an educational case study approach and examines the implementation of the IGCRA (individual, group, classroom reflective action) technique, a Classroom Assessment Technique, on first year accounting students' learning performance. Building on theoretical frameworks in the areas of cognitive learning, social development, and dialogical learning, the technique uses reports to promote reflection on both learning and teaching. IGCRA was found to promote feedback on the effectiveness of student, as well as teacher satisfaction. Moreover, the results indicated formative feedback can assist to improve the learning and learning environment for a large group of first year accounting students. Clear guidelines for its implementation are provided in the paper.

Recruiting and retaining practitioners to rural and remote locations is a challenge for many industries including health and education. The medical, nursing and teaching professions have utilized immersion experiences for trainees and students to better prepare them and to address workforce shortages in crosscultural and underserved areas. This paper describes the steps taken to improve an immersion experience for medical students and evaluates the impact of these improvements. The University of Notre Dame's School of Medicine requires all second year medical students to undertake the Kimberley Remote Area Health Placement Program (hereinafter the "Program"). The Program provides opportunities to learn life skills required for remote area living via an immersion experience in which students live with, and do useful non-clinical work for, a host community or organization for one week in a remote area in Western Australia. A series of preparatory and post-immersion activities (including film viewing, debating and site visits) are provided to prepare students for the experience. In 2009, the "style and format" in which these activities were delivered was changed in response to student feedback. The changes comprised altering the format of the Program Handbook from an information repository to a workbook equipping students with critical thinking frameworks such as: de Bono's Six Thinking Hats (1992) and graphic organizers to facilitate reflection on preparatory and post-immersion activities. All changes were based on humanistic, cognitive and constructivist approaches to learning. These changes were followed by improvements in students' perceptions of several activities. Activities preparing students to undertake and reflect on a cultural immersion experience involve student engagement in active learning and critical thinking. Educators involved in preparing students for placements in other underserved, culturally and/or geographically diverse settings may employ these approaches to learning and adapt the activities described in this paper as suited to the needs of their particular professional group.

This paper reports the findings of a study on pre-service teachers' background and confidence in music and visual arts education. The study involved 939 non-specialist pre-service primary teachers from five countries. Initially the paper identifies the students' perceptions of their background and confidence in relation to music and visual arts education. Secondly it examines any differences between the visual arts and music education background and confidence of Australian students and those from the other four countries. Results indicated that 25% of the subjects agreed or strongly agreed that they had a good background in music education and 16% indicated that they had a good background in visual arts education. In relation to confidence, 56% of the respondents indicated they felt confident teaching visual arts and 50% felt confident teaching music. There were also significant differences between countries in relation to background and confidence in the two art forms. (Contains 6 tables.)

Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been used with increased frequency in Higher Education settings since first introduced by Barrows and Tamblyn during the 1980's. Since this time PBL has been used in medical, engineering and education faculties to support pre-service students in the acquisition of skills and content knowledge relevant to their disciplines. This paper explores the perceptions early childhood and primary pre-service teachers held regarding their participation in a unit of study structured around the use of a PBL scenario. The paper examines the frustrations pre-service teachers experienced within the PBL scenario as well as the perceived benefits regarding their participation in the unit of study.

Reflective practice is a key skill in many professions and is considered an essential attribute of healthcare practitioners. Healthcare students are often expected to develop reflection skills through their assignments, and this is frequently expected to occur with little explicit instruction, practice or guidance about how to reflect. Currently, there is limited guidance in the literature on how teachers can help students develop these reflective skills effectively. In this study, we describe a process for embedding reflective skills into a transition program for new healthcare students about to enter university. By allowing students to explore reflection through a method of self-discovery supported by peer discussion, we found that students were likely to recognize and value reflection as a learning tool (a concept we term "reflection for learning"). Additionally, these students were more likely to continue to practice reflection in their studies than students who had not participated in the training. In summary, this paper demonstrates that students are able to make meaningful deductions about reflective practice and their own learning through use of a basic framework in which to self-reflect, from the very start of their tertiary studies.

Anatomy and physiology teaching has undergone significant changes to keep up with advances in technology and to cater for a wide array of student specific learning approaches. This paper examines perceptions towards a variety of teaching instruments, techniques, and innovations used in the delivery and teaching of anatomy and physiology for health science students, and asks whether active learning through more progressive methods of teaching is beneficial for students across health science disciplines. In total, 138 health science students consisting of 32 biomedical science students, 52 exercise and sports science students, and 54 health and physical education students completed the retrospective study. Biomedical science students were least receptive to progressive teaching modalities, preferring anatomical dissections to laboratory workbooks (p <0.05) and body painting (p <0.05). In comparison, students from health and sport related degrees responded significantly better to anatomical models and laboratory workbooks than anatomical dissections (p <0.001). While gender differences were subtle, males responded positively to online multiple-choice question resources (p < 0.05) in comparison to females. Following a multimodal delivery of anatomy and physiology, students from all cohorts reported feeling significantly more confident (p < 0.005) when discussing all material in the course. The results obtained demonstrate differences amongst cohorts, which indicate that student perceptions to learning anatomy and physiology are dependent on individual course expectations. Moreover, these results support "hands on" practical teaching, and the use of a variety of teaching tools to foster learning and enjoyment of anatomy and physiology in health sciences.

Health professional students must be equipped with the skills necessary to interact with patients. Effective interpersonal skills are difficult to both learn and teach, requiring development, practise and evaluation in both educational and clinical settings. In professions such as physiotherapy, traditional approaches to teaching these skills have encompassed clinical modelling, and stand-alone didactic teaching of the theory behind communication. These provide limited opportunity for students to practise and receive feedback on their interpersonal and communication skills. This paper describes the implementation of an experiential small group learning approach in an undergraduate physiotherapy program and discusses outcomes. Implications for practice are that: experientially based small group learning with opportunities for practise, reflection, self-evaluation and feedback, can improve students' confidence and interpersonal skills; consistent and scaffolded participation in experiential learning opportunities and assessment of this participation across the program is key to this approach. Interpersonal skills remain a challenge for new graduates; support and mentoring in this domain by supervisors may enhance the transition to work.

Australia is forged by ongoing migration, welcoming a range of cultures, languages and ethnicities, celebrating a diverse range of the Arts. In this multicultural society, music and dance may serve as a positive medium to transmit and promote social cohesion. I argue that the inclusion of innovative and immersive practice of African music in teaching units may foster understandings of culture in education settings. In this paper I discuss tertiary students' experience in relation to the teaching and learning of African music within higher education courses. Drawing on interview data with six sessionals, questionnaire data, observation notes, anecdotal feedback and narrative reflection, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and code the data into two broad themes. By offering a discussion on teaching and learning African music, I invite international dialogue regarding best practice for preparing, assessing and evaluating our students to raise/enhance the quality of Musical Arts Education.

In view of the minimal attention pronunciation teacher preparation has received in second language (L2) teacher education, this study examined the cognition (i.e. beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and knowledge) development of 15 student teachers during a postgraduate subject on pronunciation pedagogy offered at an Australian tertiary institution. Findings revealed that, as a result of taking the subject, student teachers' cognition shifted from teaching individual sounds (i.e. segmentals) to favouring a more balanced approach to pronunciation instruction. That is, teaching the melody of the English language (i.e. suprasegmentals) was seen as important as teaching segmentals. Non-native speakers' self-perceived pronunciation improvement, an increase in their awareness of their spoken English, and native/non-native collaboration played critical roles in facilitating participants' cognition growth. The findings also showed that cognition development is a complex process. The paper concludes with recommendations for preparing L2 teachers to teach English pronunciation in their classroom contexts.

Australian pre-service teachers (PST) frequently report feeling isolated and vulnerable during the high stakes Assistant Teacher Program (ATP) final practicum. Mentoring and online learning communities have been shown to offer effective support during periods in which pre-service and beginning teachers feel challenged. As social media progressively infiltrates all aspects of contemporary life, individuals and organisations are opting to use technology in highly adaptive ways; as a result, they have to navigate both the positive aspects and pitfalls of the medium. In this paper we examine whether university Facebook© support groups, coupled with professional standards training and moderator involvement by university staff, enhanced ATP outcomes for preservice teachers in art and science.

This paper investigated the stress levels of first-year education students who undertake teaching practicum and theory units during their first year of teacher education program. First, 139 first-year and 143 other years' education students completed the PSS-10 scale, which measures perceived level of stress. Then, 147 first-year education students completed an online questionnaire to identify the particular stressors in their learning experience. The first-year education students had significantly higher stress levels than other years' education students, (p < 0.01). Contributing stressors included academic work commitment; completing placement and related performance assessments in schools and at university; having a good understanding of the requirements of professional teaching, such as classroom management, and working with mentor teachers; and conflicting work and family commitments. These findings provide greater understanding about the stressors experienced by first-year education students and usefully inform ways to help this group achieve their study and career goals.

This paper reports on a number of blended learning activities conducted in two subjects of a Master of Architecture degree at a major Australian university. The subjects were related to "professional practice" and as such represent a little researched area of architectural curriculum. The research provides some insight into the student perceptions of learning opportunity and engagement associated with on-line delivery modes. Students from these two subjects were surveyed for their perceptions about the opportunity for learning afforded by the on-line components, and also for their perceived level of engagement. Responses to these perceptions of traditional and on-line modes of delivery are compared and analysed for significant differences. While students were generally positive in response to the learning experiences, analysis of the results shows that students found the traditional modes to assist in their learning significantly more than on-line modes. Students were neutral regarding the opportunity for engagement that on-line modes provided. Analysis of the students' gender, age and hours of paid work was also conducted to ascertain any relationship with attitudes to the flexibility of on-line delivery; no significant relationship was detected. This study has shown that students were generally resistant to on-line engagement opportunities and their ability to support learning.

Recently the adoption of mindfulness or contemplative based approaches has escalated across many sectors, including in education. Proponents argue that mindfulness based teaching programs improve students' life skills, provide emotional balance, reduce stress and enhance classroom climate. To date though there is little evaluation or knowledge of how young people experience such programs introduced to classroom settings. This paper reports some key insights gained from an independent evaluation of a pilot mindfulness based teaching program implemented (over nine weeks) with a class of thirty, year seven students at a private school in Adelaide. The research methods incorporated a self-completed student questionnaire and Smiley Face evaluation sheets, interviews with teachers and classroom observations. The implications for teachers are about who should teach mindfulness in school settings, the sorts of curricula adopted, and recognition that a general school classroom is not an ideal space for conducting mindfulness-based activities.

This study reports on a three-year group randomized controlled trial, the Cyber Friendly Schools Project (CFSP), aimed to reduce cyberbullying among grade 8 students during 2010-2012. In each year, 14-15 year old student "cyber" leaders acted as catalysts to develop and implement whole-school activities to reduce cyberbullying-related harms. This paper examines students' leadership experiences and the effectiveness of their training and intervention efforts. A mixed methods research design comprising interviews and questionnaires was used to collect data from 225 grade 10 students at the end of their leadership years (2010 & 2011). Four to six cyber leaders were recruited from each of the 19 intervention schools involved in each year of the study. The cyber leaders reported high self-efficacy post-training, felt their intervention efforts made a difference, and experienced a sense of agency, belonging and competence when given opportunities for authentic leadership. They identified key barriers and enablers to achieving desired outcomes. Students greatly valued having their voices heard. Their engagement in the development and delivery of whole-school strategies allowed them to contribute to and enhance efforts to promote their peers' mental health and wellbeing. However, a lack of support from school staff limits students' effectiveness as change-enablers.

Despite ample research indicating creativity is valuable in creating a competitive advantage and enabling individual success in the global knowledge economy, there are still industry concerns about how adequately individual student's creative abilities are developed for the workplace (McCorkle, Payan, Reardon & Kling, 2007). In considering how well teaching practices can strengthen creative performances in classrooms, this paper details an action research project that investigates creative and critical thinking among an undergraduate cohort of marketing and public relations students in the School of Business, The University of Notre Dame Australia. In particular this study: 1) considers how business students understand creativity; 2) examines whether the performance of creativity can be enhanced through individual critical reflection on the nature and value of creativity; and 3) analyses how student's self-assessment data can extend teaching practice and improve curriculum design so business students can better meet industry expectations of creative skills.

This paper describes a study aimed at assessing the ability of report templates to help students learn key concepts during undergraduate laboratory classes. The report templates were designed so that a set of assessment questions led the students through the logical steps required to perform the laboratory exercise and to calculate the required quantitative results. Additional questions probed the students' understanding of the key concepts covered. The study assessed the efficacy of the report templates in achieving these goals over a 3 year period via the use of a questionnaire, laboratory marks and marks awarded for examination questions that tested one of the key learning outcomes. The report templates were found to save time for students and academics alike without any negative (or positive) effect on learning outcomes.

The push to ensure pre-service teachers are numerate, on face value, is appropriate. However, the way in which numeracy is described is of great importance as it will determine what is assessed and how it is assessed. The way numeracy is described will also impact on how teacher educators assist pre-service teachers to develop their numeracy. This paper proposes that numeracy incorporates mathematical skills and disposition towards mathematics. A discussion of what disposition towards mathematics is and how it may be measured is provided, together with the proposition that addressing pre-service teacher disposition towards mathematics may help pre-service teachers to develop their numeracy-numeracy that reflects willingness to actually use mathematics in the real world. Suggestions on how this may be achieved are outlined.

This paper examines the interrelationships between teaching beliefs and approaches, instructional design, relationships with students, and academics' and students' perceptions of effective teaching and learning. Mixed methodology was utilised and included interviews with academics and students, and questionnaires, inventories, and learning journals. As anticipated educationally optimal instructional design was appreciated by academics and students, however, it was not the most significant aspect in influencing students' perceptions of "good" or effective teaching. Differences were found between two teaching academics' beliefs about students and these translated into varied approaches to teaching, interactions with students, and different capacities to establish positive classroom environments and relationships. Academics' ethic of care and relational acumen were the pivotal components in students' criteria for effective teaching, which may present a quandary to academic developers. Findings indicate the importance of relational acumen and an ethic of care and may also have significance for university leaders in matching academic teaching activities to faculty strengths and potentially explaining negative student feedback in well-designed units.

Whilst the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) model has been increasingly adopted for understanding teachers' use of technology, there have been many calls for greater discussion about the constituent constructs, their relationship with one another and the central TPACK. This paper analyses qualitatively the TPACK demonstrated by the teacher of a Year 11 class who used web-based simulated contexts and interactive web objects in a Mathematics Studies course. The findings indicate aspects of TPK relating to academic learning time and the transformational mode of the technology were not fully realised in this case study. The implications these has for teacher professional development are discussed.

In many higher education systems around the world increasing retention is vital if institutions are to produce the number of graduates identified through government projections to meet industry needs. Taking Australia as an example, the analysis uses results from a large-scale survey of undergraduate students to review rates and rationales for students giving serious consideration to departing before graduation. Demographic, educational and contextual concomitants of departure intention are explored. From there, the analysis looks at the role played by student support in mitigating departure intentions, showing that effective provision and use of support is strongly correlated with retention. Yet there are major disjunctions between the support used by students and the support they need, disjunctions that evidence-based practice can do much to resolve. In closing, the paper makes research-driven suggestions about how institutions can increase student support and retention.

Reflective practice is an important lifelong skill for business professionals. In the work integrated learning (WIL) curriculum, supporting interns' development of reflective practice is critical to their experience in WIL as well as their transition into professional practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore students' perceptions on the use of online assessments for engagement in reflective practice as they undertake internships as part of WIL. The findings demonstrate online assessment as commensurate with facilitating reflection-on-action. Students report on the benefits of the online environment for enabling accessible and flexible engagement with assessments. The online assessments are endorsed as critical learning opportunities for students to iteratively look back on their actions to consider or record improvements as well as to "practise reflective practice". Although few students found online reflective assessments constrained social learning, we argue that a balance between face-to-face and online learning is essential to supporting learners in dispersed contexts in WIL.