Dorit Maor

With over 5,000 students hospitalised each year in just one Australian hospital, mobile technologies offer a means for a large number of students to stay connected with their peers and engaged with their learning. Hospital schools are investing heavily in technology to support students and teachers, but state-of-the-art rethinking about pedagogy is required to effectively utilise mobile technology in this complex teaching environment where so many different factors and pressures are juggled. This project examines the impact of an innovative professional development program to transform teaching in the hospital context via the integration of mobile technologies with sound content and pedagogical knowledge. It highlights the importance of pedagogy-focused training alongside coaching in a collaborative group setting. The project illustrates what is possible with teachers, university researchers, hospital school leadership and students working together to enable an innovative, relevant and flexible program to be developed.

There is a strong need to improve supervision of higher degree students (HDR) and to increase their completion rates within the time limits. The project team will take an innovative approach to tackle this issue through using technology to facilitate the process of training HDR students. A major trend in higher education is the use of Web2.0 technologies not only to create knowledge collaboratively, but also to create and sustain communities of learners/professionals. There is a need to theorise and provide a robust framework for the utilisation of social learning media to create a multifaceted platform for practical support with conceptualising the supervision process. As a seed grant, this will involve trialling existing technologies and conducting a feasibility study in two universities for the support of supervisors and HDR students in their learning journey. The objective will be to enhance the process of research supervision in a more participatory way by developing inclusive pedagogy.

This research was planned to investigate three semester-length courses/units1 that were designed to introduce students to the university environment, and that thoughtfully blended technology and communication between teachers and students. The planned research objectives, methods and outcomes are given below, as submitted in the original application for funding: The three courses initially planned for investigation2 were: • T100: Introduction to University Learning, offered at two campuses in on-campus, blended and distance modes; • F100: Foundation Unit, offered at one Australian campus and transnationally, and in on-campus, blended and distance modes; • E10x: One of several introductory first year teacher education courses, offered at several campuses in on-campus blended and online modes;

This summative evaluation examines a pilot program supporting beginning science and mathematics teachers through mentoring. It includes mentors' and mentees' expectations of the outcomes of participation in the program and their perceptions of the success of their mentoring relationships across the latter part of the 2008 school year. As well, this evaluation provides examination of the actual outcomes that participants experienced as a result of their mentoring experiences as well as participants' views of what worked and what didn't, and their suggestions for future program enhancements. The approach taken for the evaluation of the Mentoring Program for Beginning Science and Maths Teachers pilot program may be characterized as collaborative, outcomes based, and mixed method. Three key questions guided the pilot program evaluation: (1) To what degree was the pilot program implemented as planned?; (2) To what degree did the project accomplish its goals and objectives (i.e. improvements in the capacity and resiliency of mentors and mentees and improvements in the likely retention of beginner science and maths teachers)? and (3) To what degree can the work and achievements of the project be considered scalable and sustainable? The Pilot Mentoring Program for Beginner Science and Mathematics Teachers was implemented with a high degree of fidelity to its funded plans, and has enjoyed a good degree of success with regard capacity-building for both mentees and mentors, and enhancement of the likely retention of this cadre of beginning science and maths teachers in the teaching profession. Additionally, the pilot mentoring pro highly scalable and its outcomes sustainable if appropriate conditions (especially workload reduction for new teachers) can be met by the key system stakeholders involved. Having heard the stories related by this cadre of new and experienced maths and science teachers, such investment in the near term induction of new teachers is likely to pay large dividends for schools and students over the medium and longer terms. Appended are: (1) Pre-program survey (mentees); (2) Pre-program survey (mentors); (3) Post-program survey (mentees); (4) Post-program survey (mentees); (5) Initial focus group interview protocol (mentees); (6) Initial focus group interview protocol (mentors); and (7) Post-program focus group interview protocol (mentees). (Contains 5 figures and 2 tables.)

The document series was initiated as part of UNESCO's Programme on the Teaching of Science and Technology to encourage an international exchange of ideas and information on science and technology education. The present volume under the theme of "Technology in Life" addresses the ways in which energy can be harnessed to improve the quality of human life. It comprises seven units: - Sundials: Solar Timing Devices - The Solar House: A Passive Solar Structure - The Green House: A Passive Solar Structure - Solar Hot Water Heater, Solar Oven, Solar Still: Solar Thermal Systems - The Windmill: Using the Wind's Energy - Biomass: Energy from Plant and Animal Materials - Photovolaic Cells: Solar Energy in the Future. Each unit has been treated under six sub-headings: Objectives, Introduction, Presentation and Investigation, Association and Systematization, Application,and Bibliography. "Presentation and Investigation", forming the main part of each unit, consists of a series of investigations to be carried out with the design and development of functional products of technology. The section on "Application" addresses general problems to be solved within the community. Since it is not possible to describe all possible communities, this part of the unit will require additional input from the teacher to specify the actual environment's concern, for example, reducing heat gain to a house, or building a greenhouse. All units involve the students in decision-making as well as in the design and production processes of a wide range of solar collection devices. Evaluation of each unit has been left to the individual teacher. It could, however, take the form of a pencil and paper test and the decision-making/design/production processes involved in each case. The materials have been prepared under the auspices of the Science and Mathematics Education Centre of the Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, under contract with UNESCO. They were developed by Dr David Treagust as the Project Director. He was assisted by Ms Marjorie Beckingham and Ms Dorit Maor (Project Writers) and Ms Trudy Tanner (Word Processing). Their services are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions expressed in the text are those of the authors and not necessarily those of UNESCO.