The development of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) is in the scope of research groups and educators aiming to propose suitable mechanisms for the organization of self-controlled and self-directed learning, providing students with tools and services for access to content and human intelligence inside and outside the educational institutions.…

In this article we present a partially realized project for building a distributed learning environment for studying digital circuits Test and Diagnostics at TU-Sofia. We describe the main requirements for this environment, substantiate the developer platform choice, and present our simulation and circuit parameter calculation tools.…

This article describes the research design of, and reports selected findings from, a scoping study aimed at examining current and planned applications of 3D immersive virtual worlds at higher education institutions across Australia and New Zealand. The scoping study is the first of its kind in the region, intended to parallel and complement a…

Notions of what it is to be knowledgeable and skilled in one's profession have evolved in recent decades. For instance, medical practitioners are expected to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and to be a professional and community leader. While these attributes have always been well regarded, it is only relatively recently…

In response to an exponential growth in enrolments the "Tutorial Support Management" (TSM) model has been adopted by Open Universities Australia (OUA) after a two-year project on the provision of online tutor support in first year, online undergraduate units. The essential focus of the TSM model was the development of a systemic approach to the…

In this study, a group (N=15) of final year non-Aboriginal preservice teachers participated in an elective subject that aimed to raise their awareness about Aboriginal ways of knowing. A vital aspect of the course was developing the preservice teachers' awareness of "relatedness to country" which is a key belief for Aboriginal people. The…

The outcomes of educational systems continue to lag far behind expectations at all levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Meanwhile, the sheer amount of educational research published in refereed journals has expanded enormously. There is an obvious disconnect between the educational research papers published in professional journals or…

This case study examined the integration of a media annotation tool ("MAT") into the learning and assessment activities of an undergraduate teaching (physical education) course. The media form or artefact for annotation was video recordings demonstrating individual learners' teaching practice. The learners categorised (marked sections) and…

Recent studies on technology have shifted from the emphasis on technology skills alone to integrating pedagogy and content with technology--what Mishra and Koehler (2005) call technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Deeper understanding on how TPACK can be cultivated is needed. This design-based research explored how an improvised,…

International studies and theorists have posited that digital technologies play an important role in students' lives and that students display a broad range of literacy skills when using them. The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) states that students should be literate, critical thinkers who actively seek, use and create knowledge. This paper reports…

Recently, in Australia both the "National Review of School Music Education" and "The Australian Curriculum" identify the importance of technology in school music education. However, the understanding of music technology, as demonstrated by state and territory curricular guidelines, is limited with technology mostly recognised as a tool. In…

In this exploratory study, we sought to examine the influence of mathematics teachers' beliefs on their intended and actual usage of dynamic mathematics software in their classrooms. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) were used to examine the influence of teachers'…

This report examines factors associated with integration of online learning in Sydney region high schools. Past studies have shown that schools can be identified as operating at a certain level of use--ranging from non-use, through stages such as entry, and adaptation, arriving at transformation--when a focus on technology shifts to a focus on the…

The purpose of this paper is to familiarize instructional designers and researchers with a useful design and research paradigm known as "Ask Systems." Ask Systems are interrogative interfaces to information and learning environments that model conversations with a skilled, reflective practitioner (Schon, The reflective practitioner, "1983") or…

We discuss the design, creation and implementation of an instructional game for use in a high school poetry class following a commitment to an educational game design principle of "alignment". We studied groups of instructional designers and an interactive fiction computer game they built. The game was implemented in a 9th grade English classroom…