Dear subscriber,

Welcome to the last Insite for the year. The December edition of ultiBASE has now been published and is available at http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au

We are still seeking articles across a wide range of topics which relate to tertiary teaching and learning. UltiBASE seeks to cover all areas of post secondary T&L and encourages authors in the VET sector, as well as those in Higher Education to contribute material.

We at ultiBASE would like to wish all our subscribers best wishes for the holiday season and a refreshed return to work in 2000.

Regards Mark Laidler and Marita Mueller

Abstracts December 1999

From Co-operative Learning to the Virtual Class: An Experience in Composition Techniques by M. T. Blasco, J. L. Barrio, Y. A. Dimitriadis, C. A. Osuna, O. M. González, M .J. Verdú, D.Terán - University of Valladolid, Spain.

Abstract

This paper describes the work with PENCACOLAS; an application in the field of the CSCL, created to support collaborative composition. The application helps students and teachers follow the co-operative writing processes. The experience develops at the Valladolid's Faculty of Education in our course of "Composition Techniques".

Educating for the Imagination by Dr Gregory Heath - RMIT University.

Abstract

This paper discusses the discovery of the radical imagination in Aristotle and Kant. Following Castoriadis it claims that the radical imagination was discovered and then, curiously as it were, once again "lost". The radical imagination can be distinguished from the more familiar type of imagination in that it is present in the category of ontology and is necessary for the attribution of being to both self and to the objects of experience. In this sense it is essential to the creation and re-creation of the lifeworld. It is then claimed that the process of education, particularly higher education, now precludes the cultivation of the radical imagination in the processes of learning and the discovery process of research. This is seen as a major threat to universities as distinctive key social institutions based on the autonomy of scholarship.

The Pedagogy of the Impossible: The Role of Social Foundations in Initial Teacher Education in Australia by Dr. Elizabeth Hatton - Edith Cowan University, South West Campus (Bunbury).

*This paper also contains audio files

Abstract

In this paper, it is argued that the social foundations have an unquestionable place in initial teacher education (ITE) in Australia. However, it is suggested that given the limited impact of social foundational work as it is currently taught, teacher educators need to search for new, and more effective ways of presenting and teaching social foundations. Thus, the failure of social foundations to impact on preservice teachers’ racism, sexism, classism etc. is conceived as problem of content and pedagogy. This position is oppositional to the view that racism, sexism and the like are essential characteristics of preservice teachers. The latter view often used to justify the failure of social foundational subjects to impact significantly on preservice teachers.

Embodied sociology, with its challenging of mind/body dualisms and the postmodern willingness to present social scientific knowledge differently conjoined with feminist pedagogy is suggested as a possible route to a pedagogy of the possible. This potential is illustrated through poeticised ethnographic texts which, it is suggested, provide a way out of ‘the numbing, deadening, disaffective, disembodied, schizoid sensibilities characteristic of phallocentric social science’ (Richardson, 1993, p. 695). Poetics, it is suggested, have potential as a pedagogical starting point given its capacity to evoke a response in the body even when the mind is resistant (Richardson, 1994). Combined with feminist pedagogy which also challenges the disembodied approaches typical of teaching based on rationalist discourse, it is suggested that there is a possibly more productive content and pedagogy to commit teachers to the social justice concerns which should be at the core of their teaching.

Managing Language and Learning Diversity in Higher Education: Enhancing the Graduate Experience by Dr. Prem Ramburuth - University of New South Wales.

Abstract

The internationalisation of Higher Education in Australia has contributed towards tertiary classrooms becoming increasingly diverse in their student populations. Institutions and their staff are faced with the problem of managing this diversity, and ensuring quality learning for all students.

This paper reports on strategies adopted by a large and diverse Commerce and Economics Faculty at an Australian University, and discusses efforts to understand and address issues of language and learning diversity amongst its graduate student population. It reports on a study that investigated language diversity in a cohort of 381 students and found significant differences in English language capabilities, with 79% of international students requiring language support in comparison to 21% of local students. The study found no significant differences between international and local graduate students when language results were linked to average academic results.

The findings raised awareness of the need for educational support and assistance for students who were otherwise highly competent. They also acted as a catalyst for change in the Faculty’s approach to managing the diverse needs of its students, with a major shift from accessing centralised support to the location of language and learning support within the Faculty. Initiatives reflecting this change, such as discipline specific support courses, the integration of this support into subjects, Faculty-specific induction programs, extensive involvement of academic staff, postgraduate staff training and colloquia, and the establishment of a Faculty-based Education Development Unit, are discussed in the context of this paper.

Ensuring Skills’ Breadth across the Curriculum: a case study and a method by Dr. Peter deVries and Nina Downie - Oxford Brookes University

Abstract

Statistical indicators were used to determine whether the skills facilitated by a study programme were broad enough to meet the industry’s needs for labour, skilled in the processes hospitality management. The paper exemplifies the methodology and provides information on the breadth of provision of the skills across the curriculum in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. The value of the methodology lies in the issues which it highlighted for further analysis. For example, although skills were being taught and practised, insufficient attention was being paid to their assessment. Though the analysis emphasised that the measures were merely indicating a possible problem, for, although, in one instance, the number of skills facilitated for IT development appeared to be low, further probing revealed that, as they were focused on industry applications, they were, in fact, meeting industry’s needs.

Mark Laidler (m.laidler@rmit.edu.au)

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