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This study reports on two key aspects relating to the use of the Online Learning Readiness Self-Check (OLRSC) survey, which has been proposed as identifying non-traditional students' readiness for online learning, and their strengths and weaknesses in six key areas. The first aspect validates the use of the instrument based on data from 199 students engaged in an online tertiary enabling course at a regional university in Australia. Factor analysis verified the scale structure of the instrument; however, two items were removed prior to the final analysis due to low communality and/or high cross loading with other items. This is followed by an examination of whether the instrument might be useful for the early identification of students who are at risk of disengagement from the enabling program. While it was hypothesised that the instrument, which measured factors such as the quality of interaction with peers and instructors, their capacity to manage technology and how well they managed learning, should have been a useful tool to identify early disengagement, the hypothesis was not supported. No significant associations were identified between any of the instrument's scales and early withdrawal from the course or completion of the first unit of study. Future recommendations for educators are made with a view to improving student engagement.

Teaching in today's complex and competitive university environment has become increasingly demanding as teachers try to respond to the stress and burnout negatively impacting their work performance. In this environment, it is more important than ever that university teachers build resilience to overcome stress and burnout and continue a career-long commitment to teaching effectiveness. The initial phase of this research systematically identified 39 empirical studies of school teacher resilience, and seven studies of university teacher resilience, to identify key resilience-building factors. The second phase, in-depth interviews, probed nine Australian and seven Canadian university teaching Fellows about their writing of their teaching philosophy. A close review of the outcomes of each phase prompted recognition of the similarity of resilience-building factors reported in the resilience literature and the benefits of developing a teaching philosophy reported by the university teaching Fellows. The similarities suggest that the benefits of developing a teaching philosophy could contribute to building university teacher resilience.

The predicted growth of the aged care sector in Australia, driven by the ageing population, is expected to create an increasing need for workplaces to support the development for all kinds and classifications of workers to undertake their work within multicultural settings. This paper describes and elaborates the necessary and increasing requirement for workplaces to support adult learning in multicultural circumstances. A mixed methods approach was used to collect data from workers undertaking the role of carer in residential aged care facilities across the east coast of Australia. Arising from the collection and analysis of these data are contributions to knowledge including a conceptual model for understanding learning in multicultural settings. This research emphasizes a notion that cultural diversity has a fundamental influence on workplace learning in aged care and identifies practices to support cross-cultural communication, coworking and learning. Further, inter-worker learning is reinforced as a key enabler of performance in aged care work. Such contributions help to understand what influences workplace learning in multicultural settings and how it may be better supported.

While ChatGPT has recently become very popular, AI has a long history and philosophy. This paper intends to explore the promises and pitfalls of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) AI and potentially future technologies by adopting a speculative methodology. Speculative future narratives with a specific focus on educational contexts are provided in an attempt to identify emerging themes and discuss their implications for education in the 21st century. Affordances of (using) AI in Education (AIEd) and possible adverse effects are identified and discussed which emerge from the narratives. It is argued that now is the best of times to define human vs AI contribution to education because AI can accomplish more and more educational activities that used to be the prerogative of human educators. Therefore, it is imperative to rethink the respective roles of technology and human educators in education with a future-oriented mindset.

Governance and regulation of the use of live animals in research and teaching is examined in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan and India. A comparison of the systems in different countries will enable the determination of best practice and fit-forpurpose regulation. The most comprehensive government regulation of animal welfare in institutions covers a broad range of animals and institutions are required to have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, whose membership is specified in guidelines or regulations. The work of the Committees is rigorously overseen by government and facilities that use live animals are audited externally. All countries examined have legislation governing the use of live animals in research, although only Australia and Malaysia have a fully equivalent mandated oversight of teaching. Teaching that uses live animals is partly covered in the Philippines, Japan, Singapore and Thailand This paper thus aims to review the regulation of animal use in different Asian jurisdictions in order to determine best practices that are appropriate to those settings. The most comprehensive oversight is provided in Australia and Malaysia that essentially use the same regulatory framework.

In terms of scale, shock, and disenfranchisement, the disruption to formal education arising from COVID-19 has been unprecedented. Anecdotally, responses from teachers and educators around the world range from heightened caution to being inspired by distance education as the "new normal." Of all the challenges, face-to-face and formal teaching have been most heavily affected. Despite some education systems demonstrating resilience, a major challenge is sustaining quality and inclusiveness in formal education suddenly delivered at a distance. In probing these issues, this article profiles international perspectives on the role of open education in responding to the impact on formal school and higher education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We proceed by highlighting and analysing practices and case studies from 13 countries representing all global regions, identifying and discussing the challenges and opportunities that have presented themselves. Reports cover the period from the beginning of 2020 until 11 March 2021, the first anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak as declared by the World Health Organization. In our comparative study, we identify seven key aspects of which three (missing infrastructure and sharing OER, open education and access to OER, and urgent need for professional development and training for teachers) are directly related to open education at a distance. After comparing examples of existing practice, we make recommendations and offer insights into how open education strategies can lead to interventions that are effective and innovative--to improve formal education at a distance in schools and universities in the future.

This paper contributes to international scholarship on racial literacy in teacher education. Specifically, we consider filmic counter stories as bodies that carry an affective charge with the potential to ignite dialogic and embodied/emotional learning. The football documentary The Final Quarter is our case study. This film traces the racially explosive final years of First Nations Australian, Adam Goodes' elite playing career. The film floodlights football as a site for public pedagogy where people learn racism, with the film offering means of developing racial literacy through examining its encounters. The paper describes racial literacy and establishes affect/embodiment as a contribution to the field. We analyse the film using an affective-discursive lens and genealogical methodology and consider implications for teacher education. We argue that language is insufficient for understanding racism and that the affective intensities activated by film may help to pedagogically illuminate the role of emotions in reproducing racism.

Clinical nurse educators within Queensland, Australia, tend to be selected for the job based on their clinical expertise and consequently may lack knowledge of educational theories and practices. Within the Nursing School in which this project was based, there is interest in developing expertise in Transformative Learning theory. To share this knowledge with clinical educators, a workshop was designed using short films produced by the research team that focused on potentially transformative moments in clinical placement settings that the literature and the researchers' experience had shown to be important. As the project developed iteratively through various stages, action research was chosen as the most suitable methodology to research and document the evaluation of this training workshop, which brought together 20 nursing clinical nurse educators. Interpretive data analysis approaches were employed to understand participants' learning experiences resulting from the workshop, which led to four key themes: 1) first encounters with students need to be engaging and energising; 2) teach students how to bracket personal needs so they can provide professional empathic actions; 3) teach students to value both procedural- and person-centred care; 4) a transformative learning pedagogy is useful for clinical nurse educators to frame and enhance their teaching practice. Learning experiences produced using an action research methodology can stimulate clinical nurse educators to engage with and use relevant educational theory in ways that enable some of the more nuanced and affective dimensions of clinical training.

Papua New Guinea confronts unique and complex challenges with national reform policies promoting the increase of children with a disability enrolling in mainstream schools. Despite these policies being introduced in the last two decades, the translation to practice has been slow. In order to equip teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge and dispositions to implement inclusive education in Papua New Guinea, there is a pressing need to identify and understand the challenges teacher-educators experience. Data collected as part of an Australian-funded Fellowship, from ten Papua New Guinea education leaders, elucidate the perceived challenges associated with teacher-training for inclusive education. Content analysis of the participants' reflections revealed insights into how and what pedagogical and curriculum transformations in teacher education training courses could improve inclusive education practices in Papua New Guinean schools. These findings enhance agency for the education leaders to promote positive change so that Papua New Guinea can further its implementation of inclusive education.

This study utilised students' online engagement, digital technology attitude, digital literacy, and self-efficacy theories to develop and test a model connecting these factors within a regional university in Australia. A field survey collected data from 110 first-year students. AMOS 28 was employed for measurement and structural model path analysis. The study initially examined the impact of students' attitudes and digital literacy on their self-efficacy. Subsequently, the effects of self-efficacy on five dimensions of online engagement were assessed: social, collaborative, cognitive, behavioural, and emotional. The findings indicated that positive student attitudes and digital literacy significantly contributed to self-efficacy, which, in turn, positively affected the engagement dimensions. This suggests that when designing and facilitating online, blended, or technology-enhanced courses in higher education, educators should pay attention to various elements of engagement. The study highlights the importance of considering students' attitudes and digital literacy in fostering self-efficacy and enhancing online learning engagements. Further research and implications for future studies are also recommended.

Over the years, there have been various calls to increase and better represent astronomy in curricula. This is motivated by views within the astronomy and astronomy education communities that the awe, wonder, and interdisciplinary nature of astronomy has the potential to engage students in STEM across disciplines. Reviews of curricula have shown that astronomy topics are represented in most mandated curricula around the world and although there is a homogeneity of astronomy topics in most mandated curricula, this representation has its limitations. By using the Australian National Curriculum, the USA-based Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the Swedish National Curriculum as examples, this study unpacks ideas around "How much astronomy is enough?", the mismatches between astronomy topics in curricula and what constitutes astronomical literacy within the context of the Big Ideas in Astronomy document. The results identify that there is a significant gap at the galactic and extragalactic scales when considering the typical progression of astronomy topics when considering the conceptual, spatial, and temporal scales of the topics. Specifically, topics in curricula jump from tangible concepts within the student's immediate and Solar System spatial scales in primary school to cosmological spatial scales in upper high school, without reference to spatial and conceptual connecting topics at galactic scales. Potential sample curriculum statements drawn from the Big Ideas are presented as a suggested curriculum inclusion. This curricula gap is identified as a potential source of a similar gap in education research in these topics at these levels, which in turn perpetuates the problem by there being a lack of research-based evidence for inclusion in the curriculum.

Purpose: The aim of the article is to develop a framework for assessment for contemporary commercial music (CCM) in a music department that is still organised in a traditional way. Assessment of CCM in tertiary institutions and external graded music exams were described and analysed, followed by the presentation of an assessment framework. Design/methodology/approach: This research design is a content analysis. Data was collected through purposive sampling of primary sources of CCM syllabi. These syllabi are used descriptively and analytically for comparison. Findings: The major findings from the content analysis are presented as an assessment framework for CCM. The assessment framework has implications for teaching and learning vocal CCM at both undergraduate and postgraduate in higher education. Practical implications: The study focused on the development of assessment criteria for CCM, in a music department where no degree specialisation for CCM exists, and CCM is manifested in the principal instrument only. The framework for assessment may be useful to practitioners and academics who are attempting to introduce CCM in classically oriented music departments and where external constraints prohibit the introduction of a degree specialising in CCM. Originality/value: This article presents an authentic assessment framework for CCM, that considers its style and performance practices.

As additional preparation while teaching for the K-12 medium of instruction, the Korean Ministry of Education has actively promoted diverse professional development (PD) programs to promote English teachers' "Teaching English through English" (TETE) implementation. This study explored Korean K-12 English teachers' self-efficacy about TETE implementation and their experiences of participating in a long-term PD program (six-months). Through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and teachers' after-PD evaluations, the data analysis showed that PD could enhance English teachers' self-efficacy about implementing TETE, and that the PD site provided a professional learning community for English teachers to reflect on what they had learned from their training. However, further data analysis found that self-efficacy and experiences in the PD program were different for elementary and secondary English teachers. Several suggestions are provided in terms of effectively preparing K-12 English teachers for TETE implementation through the long-term PD program.

Upcoming changes in the teacher labor supply will have an impact on nations that provide government-based education for their youth. Faced with a significant global shortfall of educators, most countries have taken steps to incentivize teaching as a profession and ensure that qualified teachers are available to students in all locations -- particularly in rural environments. To understand these initiatives more thoroughly, a short-term policy analysis focused on incentives for teacher labor through a lens of governmental policy implementation has been completed. This resulted in a review of the efforts three nations (Australia, the United States and Zambia) have undertaken to ensure a viable and consistent teacher workforce in rural areas. While each nation has specific factors that contribute to current and projected shortages, each also provides unique solutions to assist in resolving this ongoing issue. Through the examination of multiple hiring factors and incentives used in each location, a better understanding of the specific challenges and strategies employed to secure a viable teaching workforce has been developed. Outcomes related to this policy analysis showed commonalities in the lack of developed strategies to prepare rural educators to address teacher shortages in more remote regions. In addition, while education leaders in each country continue to publicly call for additional support for rural teachers -- very little legislation or policy implementation has been enacted to bolster this subsection of public education in any of the specified nations. Additional discussion about the long-term concerns regarding rural teacher supply and student equity is also developed.

The Australian regional university where this pilot study was completed is confronted with a number of demographic factors that challenge the delivery of effective student support and engagement. In 2020, the teacher education student cohort comprised of approximately 5,100 students, with 82.6% 25 years of age or older, 20.3% identified as having a low SES background, 43.7% being first-in-family, and 96.1% studying off-campus. Student demographic characteristics such as these are commonly cited as factors that contribute to increased challenge in completing tertiary study (Grebennikov & Shah, 2012; Li & Carroll, 2020). The attrition rate for commencing students for the period from 2010 to 2018 ranged between 24.6% and 36.2%. While these demographic characteristics are largely objective in character and may not be able to be addressed by university-based intervention, the nature and quality of the learning environment students? experience is able to provide the best opportunity for them to successfully complete their tertiary study endeavours, despite their personal context and backgrounds. One factor that has been identified as critical to the success of commencing students, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds, is the nature of their relationships with, and the academic environment established by the academics teaching first-year units (Farr-Wharton, Charles, Keast, Woolcott, & Chamberlain, 2017).

Teachers have come under increased pressure to improve educational outcomes as Australia has sought to meet the challenges of competing on an international level. This intensified pressure has been accompanied by improved levels of funding, a National Curriculum for all Australian states, and territories, along with assessments to measure these key outcomes. However, this increased level of scrutiny has affected the pedagogical choices of teachers. Traditional modes of instruction have been reinforced, with teachers moving away from effective constructivist approaches to learning. This article will propose that a reinterpretation of constructivist theories of development is needed to arrest this decline, so that increased accountability measures, like NAPLAN, can be perceived as constructivist opportunities to build both core subject knowledge and broader 21st Century skills, such as resilience.

With the internationalisation of higher education, students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds represent a significant proportion of the university student body in Australia. Research literature indicates that the unique cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by these students may adversely impact their academic performance and social integration in university settings. However, less is known about how the socio-emotional competencies of undergraduate CALD and non-CALD domestic English-speaking students compare. This cross-sectional quantitative study compares the emotional and social competencies in a cohort of CALD and non-CALD occupational therapy undergraduates. Data were collected at one Australian university from a group of 360 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours) course. Participants completed the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory-- University edition (ESCI-U). Multivariate regression analyses were used to compare between CALD and non-CALD students, controlling for students' year level of study, age, and gender. Key findings from the regression analysis included the observation of indicate that non-CALD students having significant higher scores than CALD students on all the ESCI-U socio-emotional subscales, especially the Emotional Self-control, Achievement Orientation, Empathy and Teamwork from western perspectives. No difference was found between CALD and non-CALD student on two cognitive competencies- systems thinking and pattern recognition. These findings should be interpreted with caution considering CALD students may interpret the questions differently and demonstrate the competencies in different ways. Specific emotional and social competencies that need to be strengthened in students are discussed and recommendations are made to inform the preparation of evidence-based curricula.

This paper examines the experience and role of negative emotions in facilitating university students' learning in world music courses. Based on a review of literature in music psychology and music education, we posit that negative emotions can engender a meaningful learning context. In this project conducted in an Australian university, we created a condition in which students were engaged in repeated listening to recordings of music from cultures different from their own, which they reported as sounding "unpleasant." We then analysed how they overcame emotional responses through a listening exercise. The findings suggest that the students developed enhanced motivation and cognitive reflection by facing their own negative emotions through repeated listening. The article finishes with a discussion about the positive side of negative emotions and the negative side of positive emotions as they relate to music education.

Mature-age postgraduate students are those who are late to higher education or have returned to postgraduate study after an educational hiatus in industry. While some mature-age students seek a postgraduate qualification out of extrinsic motivations such as for vocational reasons, there are older non-traditional students who seek higher status; cultural, social, financial, or symbolic. However, some undertake doctoral study with intrinsic motives (based on an intrinsic desire or love of learning) which may have an extrinsic outcome. Mature-age students, who are a subgroup of non-traditional students are categorized demographically by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as being over the age of 35 years. This paper analyses empirical and peer reviewed journal and book research with additional secondary data collected from contemporary sources to inform the literature of the aspirations, motives, and outcomes of mature-age doctoral students.

The present study aimed to empirically evaluate the knowledges, attitudes and perspectives of pre-service teachers towards Indigenous peoples, and to identify relationships between student learning experiences and student knowledges, attitudes and preparedness to work with Indigenous peoples, at one Australian university. The project was part of a broader mixed-methods study utilising an Indigenous Graduate Attribute evaluation instrument developed by Indigenous scholars at another Australian university, hence we also present construct validation of the instrument for the present sample. The project identified that students entered the units with positive attitudes towards Indigenous peoples and knowledges and found value in their learning. Students reported that the units facilitated authentic engagement with Indigenous standpoints even though some educators were non-Indigenous. Visible pedagogical and content decisions such as Indigenous leadership in the course, collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff, professionally relevant learning opportunities, and engaging with Indigenous perspectives through assessment were all identified to be related to positive experiences of learning.

This study investigated the relations between students' self-reported perceptions of the blended learning environment, their observed online learning strategies, and their academic learning outcomes. The participants were 310 undergraduates enrolled in an introductory course on computer systems in an Australian metropolitan university. A Likert-scale questionnaire was used to examine students' perceptions. The digital traces recorded in a bespoke learning management system were used to detect students' observed online learning strategies. Using the data mining algorithms, including the Hidden Markov Model and an agglomerative hierarchical sequence clustering, four types of online learning strategies were found. The four strategies not only differed in the number of online learning sessions but also showed differences in the proportional distribution with regard to different online learning behaviors. A one-way ANOVA revealed that students adopting different online learning strategies differed significantly on their final course marks. Students who employed intensive theory application strategy achieved the highest whereas those used weak reading and weak theory application scored the lowest. The results of a cross-tabulation showed that the four types of observed online learning strategies were significantly associated with the better and poorer perceptions of the blended learning environment. Specially, amongst students who adopted the intensive theory application strategy, the proportion of students who self-reported better perceptions was significantly higher than those reporting poorer perceptions. In contrast, amongst students using the weak reading and weak theory application strategy, the proportion of students having poorer perceptions was significantly higher than those holding better perceptions.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the measurement invariance of an adapted assessment of motivations for social withdrawal ("Social Preference Scale--Revised"; SPS-R) across cultural contexts and explore associations with loneliness. Participants were a large sample of university students (N = 4,397; M[subscript age] = 20.08 years, SD = 2.96; 66% females) from 10 countries (Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States). With this cross-cultural focus, we illustrate the "multiple-group factor analysis alignment method," an approach developed to assess measurement invariance when there are several groups. Results indicated approximate measurement invariance across the 10 country groups. Additional analyses indicated that overall, shyness, avoidance, and unsociability are three related, but distinct factors, with some notable country differences evident (e.g., in China, India, and Turkey). Shyness and avoidance were related positively to loneliness in all countries, but the strength of the association between shyness and loneliness differed in Italy and India relative to the other countries. Results also indicated that unsociability was related positively to loneliness in the United States only. Theoretical and assessment implications are discussed.

This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the academic experience at international branch campuses (IBCs) and has changed the relationship between the IBC and the home campus. Semi-structured interviews with 26 leaders, academic staff, and students at seven IBCs in Malaysia revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the experience at IBCs in unique ways, including collaboration and communication with the home campus; increasing campus-specific resources for student wellbeing; and playing a larger role in student enrollment, recruitment, and mobility initiatives. Findings provide useful insights for higher education institutions (HEIs) engaged in transnational education (TNE).

Launched in 2010 by the Gillard Labor Government, the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rankings (ATAR) system is the first national unified system for reporting the educational attainment of successive cohorts of Year 12 school leavers. The system is widely regarded as fit for purpose, being both predictive of academic success and rates of completion (Higher Education Standards Panel, 2017; Marks, 2007; Wilson, 2020; Shulruf et al., 2018). The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) infer the minimum entry standards for initial teacher education be set at ATAR 80 and above, drawing prospective teachers from among the best and the brightest. However, this is not the trend, and neither side of politics has a serious national plan to redeem falling standards. Moreover, since its inception, the ATAR system has become increasingly politicised and dragged into 'culture wars' over access, funding, standards and social justice. The aim of this commentary is to highlight the profound systemic problems of falling standards in school student outcomes; in part due to lowered ATARs as well as problematic standards in teacher education.

Teaching second year undergraduate digital electronics is a serious business, designed to impart individual technical mastery. In this paper we attempt to embed several key digital logic concepts within an escape room game. We report results of iteratively piloting our game with academic engineering staff and then used them with students showing promise for using escape rooms to support undergraduate engineering education.

Research at the University of New South Wales with Defence Force Academy students found timemanagement skills significantly improve the academic results of male students but not female students when controlling for the usual effect of prior academic ability. While much previous research has revealed a positive link between time management and academic results within civilian environments, there is a lack of research on this link in dual-military or employment and academic settings. Our research also extends on many national and international studies' by researching the efficacy of a direct training intervention in time-management skills. The study is unique in evaluating the size of the likely effect on academic results. This study used a mixed-methods evaluation design and a standardised questionnaire to compare two groups of 70 first-year undergraduate students. The experimental group were taught time-management skills in a workshop setting, while a control group did not attend time-management workshops. While the time-management workshop interventions did not improve the academic performance of female students, female students did benefit comparably to males in fewer subject failings and improved attitudes towards time-management attributes. The findings confirm an effect between time-management skills and academic success that offers substantial savings from fewer lost students. Recommendations are made to improve time-management skills and academic performance for all transitioning university students and examine if this significant effect translates to other initial training employment.

The Australian higher education sector has promoted internationalisation opportunities for students, including through international studies (IS) courses that entail language and culture study and international exchange. Educators promote internationalisation for many reasons, including enhanced employability, and international studies degrees are increasingly offered in combination with professional courses. Students, however, do not necessarily share in the belief that international opportunities and language study will increase their employability. A thematic analysis of statements (n=223) supplied on student applications to withdraw from combined international studies courses in favour of single professional degrees, reveals that students fail to see employability benefits and may even perceive their international studies course as a professional liability. Understanding these beliefs can allow educators to more effectively promote the value of not only international studies degrees, but also language and culture study and exchange opportunities, and to counter some of the myths that prevent students from undertaking international opportunities.

Students, faculty, and staff in postsecondary institutions around the world are engaging in conversations about decolonization and Indigenization. These conversations are also emerging in the context of work-integrated learning and experiential learning programs. This article presents the key findings of a research project investigating the impacts of an Indigenous international work-integrated learning (WIL) exchange between the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) and three partner institutions in Australia. It introduces key concepts and insights from the literature about decolonizing and Indigenizing postsecondary education and links them to WIL. It describes the specific context at the University of Victoria out of which this programming emerges and the values that guided its creation. It presents the key findings of the research to date related both to Indigenous perspectives and the application of a Cultural Intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003) framework. Finally, it offers some reflections on the implications of the findings for decolonizing WIL moving forward.