ERIN PAST EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

FEDUA RESEARCH INSTITUTES' LAUNCH

The Faculty of Education and Arts will be officially Launch the three Research Institute

  • Educational Research Institute Newcastle (ERIN)

  • Humanities Research Institute

  • Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW)

WHAT    Research Institutes' Launch followed by Seminar Program
WHEN    Friday 3 December 2010 10:30am - 3:30pm               
WHERE  Crowne Plaza, Cnr Merewether St & Wharf Rd, Newcastle
RSVP     By Friday 26 November to Kristy Rocavert ext.15341
               
Please visit FEDUA Research Events for more details

"WITH OUR STUDENT PROFILE HERE, THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH WE CAN DO": TEACHERS READING THEIR STUDENTS' HOMES AND TEACHING READING IN SCHOOL

Presented by Associate Professor Anneliese Kramer-Dahl from the National Institute of Education, Singapore

Wednesday 3 November 2010
9:30am - 11:00am, Isabella Restaurant

Abstract:
This presentation draws on data from a professional development project with Singaporean secondary English teachers, which utilised reading circles to build their repertoires of reading and teaching reading (Albright, Kramer-Dahl & Kwek, 2009). The teachers work with students from mainly working-class, non-English speaking families who live in the surrounding public housing estate. Drawing from teacher interviews, lesson observations, and transcripts of the project’s reading circles, I examine how the teachers’ assumptions about their students’ home experiences, especially with texts, constrained what they put on offer in their classrooms. To do so systematically, I utilize Black’s (2007) multilayered methodological framework, which unpacks how teachers’ assumptions and ideas impact upon the micro-level of classroom practice and how, at the macro-level, they are framed by broader ideological and cultural discourses.  I will show how the teachers’ assumptions and beliefs, couched in a web of discourses – of deficiency, pastoral care, control and basic-skills - provided them with rationales for simplifying and fragmenting their English curriculum and even deferring a focus on curriculum teaching and learning altogether. Moreover, due to the resilience of these beliefs, the work of our reading circles was severely hampered, as will be made evident through the examination of the interactions within them. 

EDUCATION FOR MAKING A LIVING AND SUSTAINING A LIVELIHOOD

Presented by Professor Lesley Farrell from the University of Technology Sydney

Friday 1 October 2010
12:30pm - 2:00pm, Isabella Restaurant

Abstract:
In this symposium Professor Lesley Farrell will give a presentation on the challenges she believes that climate change and global knowledge economies place on local workforce education and, therefore, on national school curricula.   She will describe empirical research undertaken by herself and others on the textual character of global economies and the role of literacy in the production of global workforces in Australia and elsewhere. She will then consider the contribution that research on economic, environmental and social sustainability from within and beyond the field of Education can make to the development of durable and effective national curricula which allow educators, policymakers and education systems address these challenges.  There will be ample time for questions and discussion.

OPENING THEIR EYES: INTERACTIVE DISTANCE E-LEARNING FOR RURAL AND REGIONAL AUSTRALIA

Presented by Professor Stephen Crump from the University of Newcastle

Thursday 23 September 2010
12:30pm - 2:00pm, Isabella Restaurant

Abstract:
Satellite-based communication technologies are creating new opportunities in remote areas of Australia. However, whilst Australia has a long history of pioneering work in distance education, not all high-tech approaches have been successful. The future success of distance education depends upon a thorough understanding of the evolving needs of technology users – students, their families, teachers – and knowledge sharing of effective new technology use for educational benefit. This seminar reports on an Australian Research Council (ARC) project that investigated distance learning using two-way video and computer-based communities in small schools and remote communities in New South Wales and the Northern Territory. The overall project aims were to explore changes to curriculum and pedagogy, student-teacher interactions and broader connections between communities arising from the addition of vision, better sound and interactivity resulting from IT-enabled satellite delivery. The project also enabled comparisons between ‘school of the air’/open education lessons and radio lessons as well as paper/post distance education and VET in western regions of NSW. During this presentation, Professor Crump will be assisted by his two research assistants Dr Kylie Twyford and Dr Alan Anderson.

MAKING EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FUTURES IN AN ERA OF STANDARDISATION AND GLOBALISATION

Presented by Professor Barbara Comber from the University of South Australia

Friday 13 August 2010
12:30pm - 2:00pm, Michael Nelson Room, Shortland Union Building

Abstract:
In this presentation Barbara will explore dilemmas and possibilities in imagining and putting together educational research futures now. Given the domination of standardisation agendas in the broad field of education, how might educational researchers continue to engage in ethical and distinctive scholarly inquiry that builds both careers and valuable bodies of work? Who will make up the educational research workforce? What repertoires of practices and research literacies will they need? What do contemporary preoccupations of governments and industry suggest in this regard? What keywords might shape the research imaginations of the next generation of educational researchers? How might historical ethical narratives, such as democratising educational research, play out as the population of educators/researchers undergoes a demographic shift? To what extent might multi-disciplinarity and global mobility open the discourses and practices of educational research? With reference to her experience of directing an educational research centre and a multi-disciplinary institute, and her own research, Barbara will invite participants to consider the implications of such questions for research problems, designs, scales, collaborations, policy/practice interfaces, publication and dissemination and to imagine the kinds of contexts likely to support positive and productive educational research.

ERIN ECR Fellow - Dr Nicole Mockler

ERIN is pleased to introduce our inaugural early-career research fellow, Dr Nicole Mockler.  Dr Mockler's research is focused on teacher professional learning, innovative pedagogies and school structures, and she has a strong history of working with teachers across the K-12 curriculum through providing educational consultancy.

During her fellowship, she will be working towards the publication of two books, numerous journal articles, as well as a presentation at AERA 2011, and a submission for an ARC Linkage Project.

To view her research interests and publications, teaching interests and programs, click her profile here.

ERIN, RISIW, ELFSC, and EDU RESEARCH COLLABORATION - 21 July 2010

ERIN, Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), English Language and Foundation Studies Centre (ELFSC) and the Equity and Diversity Unit (EDU) held a research workshop that began an inter-Faculty research collaboration investigating the educational pathways and experiences of low socioeconomic status background students at the University of Newcastle.

The purpose of the research collaboration was to bring together the research expertise from the education and humanities disciplines combined with the teaching and potential research capabilities of staff of ELFSC who have been involved in the delivery of enabling programs to a large cohort of students.

Over 30 academics were in attendance and opening and closing remarks were provided by Professor Kevin McConkey and Professor Terry Lovat.  Further details will be dissiminated to the Faculty in the coming weeks.

AN ACADEMIC LIFE: A HANDBOOK FOR NEW ACADEMICS by Robert Cantwell & Jill Scevak

An Academic Life assists in the process of orienting new academics to the nature of academic life, particularly greater accountability in all aspects of academic life, growth in the numbers of academic staff, and increasing demands and expectations from the growing student population. This title addresses the key areas of academic work: teaching and learning; research, research training and publication; administration and community service; and the social and cultural aspects of academic life.

Robert Cantwell and Jill Scevak have brought together new academics and experienced educators from a variety of discipline backgrounds to provide clear and practical insights into the journey of entering the world of academic life. Any new academic will find this book an invaluable resource for conceptualising and contextualising the academic world they are now part of.

Available from the ACER Shop Online.

EDUCATING FOR LIFELONG LEARNING: CAN THE DRAFT NATIONAL CURRICULUM DELIVER?

Presented by Professor Ruth Deakin-Crick from the University of Newcastle and the University of Bristol, UK.

Friday 14 May 2010
12:30pm – 2:00pm, HA96, Hunter Building

Abstract:
In this symposium Professor Deakin-Crick will give a presentation on her latest research which focuses on the learning and pedagogies for schooling in the 21st century as well as implications for work-based and organisational learning. She will illustrate the researched dimensions of learning that promote lifelong learning; the extent to which the draft National Curriculum supports these dimensions of learning; measurement of student achievement on each of these dimensions and the associated pedagogy. There will be ample time for questions and discussion.

Downloads: Audio recording of seminar (MP3, 68MB) and PowerPoint presentation (PDF, 6MB)

EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH: OPPORTUNITIES AND PITFALLS IN INFLUENCING PRACTICE & POLICY

Presented by Professor Peter Freebody from the University of Sydney.

Tuesday 30 March 2010
2:30pm - 4:00pm, Treehouse, Shortland Union Building

Abstract:
In this symposium Professor Freebody will give a presentation on the kinds of research he sees as meeting the needs of teachers, students, curriculum specialists, school leaders, and systems in the years ahead. He will illustrate key points with some ongoing research, some of it his own. The presentation will conclude with a set of desirable research specifications that seems most likely to produce new educational knowledge that challenges current practice and policy at the same time as engaging creatively with the needs of educators operating across a range of administrative and classroom levels. There will be ample time for questions and discussion.