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Compulsory distance education has always sought to be inclusive, providing educational opportunities for K-12 students unable to attend mainstream, face-to-face schools for medical, geographical, or personal reasons. However, how to effectively engage these diverse learners has remained a perpetual challenge, with a need for further investigation into the nature of student engagement with compulsory school distance contexts and how teachers can best support it. This qualitative study used focus groups (n = 2 groups, n = 16 participants) to examine teacher definitions and student engagement strategies within eKindy-12 distance education in Queensland, Australia. Categorical analysis was conducted using a priori codes for definitions, focusing on four previously established engagement types (i.e. behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement), and in vivo codes for strategies. Teacher definitions focused strongly on behavioural engagement, but most also contained elements of emotional and cognitive engagement; agentic engagement was only occasionally evidenced via practice descriptions. Teachers described engaging students by: building relationships, creating a safe classroom environment through differentiation, using inclusive technological tools to facilitate interaction and monitor progress, making learning fun and relevant, drawing on school-wide pedagogical frameworks and teaching strategies, and encourage self-regulation. Findings suggest distance education teachers face unique challenges around evidencing engagement and supporting student agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the way in which regional development is framed in a hyperlocal regional newspaper. It presents findings from detailed analysis of selected news articles published in a locally-based newspaper about the progress of a proposal by the Adani group to establish a mine in the Galilee Basin, Central Queensland, Australia ('the Adani project'). The area has a traditional association with mining, and had experienced an economic downturn due to a reduction in mining activity in the region. We expected that the newspaper would frame the Adani project positively, reflecting local support for the project to promote economic recovery. This was not the case. Environmental concerns about the project were dominant in coverage and themes of political responsibility and attribution of blame emerged. The findings add to limited existing knowledge about regional media in Australia operate, and challenge general assumptions that equate being local with being 'parochial'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]