Using and creating knowledge in the high school years: Performance, production, process and value-adding in electronic curricular literacy. Success in the emerging communicational demands of high-school learning is crucial for cultural cohesion, economic productivity, and employment. It also minimizes inter-generational exclusion and alienation for at-risk socio-economic and cultural groups. No research exists into the products and processes associated with high-school students' engagements in e ....Using and creating knowledge in the high school years: Performance, production, process and value-adding in electronic curricular literacy. Success in the emerging communicational demands of high-school learning is crucial for cultural cohesion, economic productivity, and employment. It also minimizes inter-generational exclusion and alienation for at-risk socio-economic and cultural groups. No research exists into the products and processes associated with high-school students' engagements in electronic curricular literacy practices (ECLs), so 'standards' frameworks for ECL cannot be developed. This project will provide an empirical map of students' expected achievements in ECLs in key curricular areas at various year levels. It aims to inject a practical and a futures orientation into research, debate and policy formation in literacy education.Read moreRead less
Investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of work for authentic and reliable performance assessment in senior secondary school courses. Nationally, school curricula are increasingly focused on performance outcomes, such as technology literacy, because of the need for a highly skilled workforce. The study aims to provide credible assessments of these outcomes to ensure that they become an integral part of the delivered curriculum and in so doing better meet the needs of a di ....Investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of work for authentic and reliable performance assessment in senior secondary school courses. Nationally, school curricula are increasingly focused on performance outcomes, such as technology literacy, because of the need for a highly skilled workforce. The study aims to provide credible assessments of these outcomes to ensure that they become an integral part of the delivered curriculum and in so doing better meet the needs of a diverse set of students and enhance school retention with the ensuing economic and social benefits to the students and society. A capacity to conduct reliable assessments around agreed standards will also further the national curricula consistency agenda.Read moreRead less
ABRA: improving foundational literacy through technology in regional and remote schools through a randomized controlled trial. Education outcomes in regional and remote Australia, particularly for Indigenous students, are worsening, to the point of constituting a national crisis. Skilled educators are not consistently available in sufficient numbers to arrest this trend in the early years by giving the intensive, continuous expert instruction required. Under limited pilot conditions, a web-base ....ABRA: improving foundational literacy through technology in regional and remote schools through a randomized controlled trial. Education outcomes in regional and remote Australia, particularly for Indigenous students, are worsening, to the point of constituting a national crisis. Skilled educators are not consistently available in sufficient numbers to arrest this trend in the early years by giving the intensive, continuous expert instruction required. Under limited pilot conditions, a web-based instructional tool known as ABRACADABRA has shown considerable promise as a means of conferring the foundational skills in literacy for emerging learners, despite high workforce turnover. Testing the effectiveness of ABRACADABRA under more stringent experimental conditions is an essential precursor to offering tested solutions based on evidence, not advocacy.Read moreRead less