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COVID-19 has recently driven a shift in formal education environments through the transition from on-campus to online learning. The urgency of this transition has challenged the traditional perception of what a higher education experience should look like for educators and higher education institutions. However, flexibility in the delivery of formal education environments is not new. This paper explores the development of flexibility as a concept within higher education against an established flexibility framework. This paper adapts the 'Roberts Model' to reflect contemporary definitions of flexibility and uses this adapted framework to evaluate 12 online courses to validate/moderate. It then considers the implications for institutions who are increasingly exploring online delivery models appropriate for the contemporary student.

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.

This paper examined Australian distance education teachers' perspectives about how they drew on technological tools to support their primary and secondary students' learning. Via two focus groups (n = 9, n = 7), teachers identified that technology greatly assisted them in relation to developing relationships with students and families, creating interactive lessons, differentiating learning, providing quality feedback, and connecting peers. However, they also reported experiencing ongoing challenges and constraints related to gaining technology expertise, overcoming technology faults, and coping with additional accountability. Data made it clear that teacher use of technology was driven by specific student needs and that teachers drew heavily on both core pedagogical knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge. Findings suggest the need for more distance education specific professional development to ensure that teachers have the knowledges needed to support diverse learners in this context.

Background: Time insufficiency is frequently cited as a reason for poor dietary habits. This does not adequately explain the variations in how time is perceived as a factor in healthy eating. Aims: This study placed the eating behaviors of rural Australian women within the contexts of their stories to understand the factors that influenced healthy eating and how rural communities could enhance their health and well-being. Method: A three-phase sequential multimode narrative inquiry was used within four communities in rural Queensland, Australia. Each phase used a different mode of data collection: photo elicitation focus groups, narrative interviews, participatory workshops. Data were thematically analyzed iteratively to inform subsequent phases. Results. Nine final themes were identified. This article explored the theme of time and two contrasting perceptions of time sufficiency regarding healthy eating within a rural context during a drought. Discussion: Exploration of "time as a commodity" and "time as a duty" allowed a deeper understanding of time as a social and environmental determinant of health. Conclusion: Time's influence on healthy eating is much more than the minutes it takes to prepare a meal. To fully appreciate its impact, time should be considered as a social and environmental determinant of health.

Collaboration or competition? This question is at the centre of this editorial, which explores the importance of sector-wide approaches to research into educational technology. This has become particularly relevant in recent years in response to a range of significant challenges or disruptions the tertiary education sector has had to face, for example, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic or the emergence of new generative AI tools. To address these challenges, we have taken a collaborative approach to writing this editorial, with contributing authors from across the world responding to four key questions. The responses to those questions were then arranged into four key themes: collaboration in response to disruption, individual benefits from collaboration, communal benefits from collaboration, and ensuring collaborative wisdom. The editorial concludes with a section that situates the preceding discussion in a broader context and challenges us to consider our wider impact on the world as a sector and, in particular, as related to educational technology. We conclude that collaboration is a must and has the potential to empower us to push the boundaries of what is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military spouses are situated at the junction of the military and civilian worlds. They provide necessary support to military strategic and operational objectives and are also expected to perform a traditional spousal role of the 'good' military wife. This article demonstrates the existence of strong military partner archetypes which guide military community norms and expectations of spousal behaviour. In 14 qualitative interviews and five focus groups with Australian military partners, participants revealed many different, yet firm, sentiments related to identity, including fierce independence; a sense of belonging; self-reliance; a desire to help others; belief in fairness and pragmatism. The archetypes outlined in this article shape how partners see their role, and how they interact with other non-military partners and the military organization. This research delivers insights into optimizing military partner services to better support spouses through deployment, relocation and other military experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]