The climate crisis has detrimental impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Psychological effects include feelings of fear, overwhelm, worry, distress, hopelessness and anger; PTSD; depression; anxiety; phobias; panic disorder; sleep disturbances; attachment disorders; learning difficulties; substance abuse; shock and trauma symptoms; adjustment problems; behavioural problems; and, suicidal thinking. First Nations' children and young people are particularly at risk due to loss of place, identity, culture, land and customs informed by kinship relationships with the Earth; while sustainable land use practices and connection to Country and community can enhance climate resilience. In Western Australia (WA), some young people engage in climate activism – including striking from school – to demand government action to address the causes of climate change, including colonisation and capitalism. Climate activism can promote resilience, particularly when children and young people can emotionally engage in the climate crisis; when mental health is systemically supported; when climate communication is transparent and comprehensive; and, when activism is informed by the knowledges and wisdoms of First Nations peoples and grounded on Country. This article is co‐authored by WA young people, Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal academics, activists and practitioners engaged in youth, mental health and climate justice spaces. We argue for structural change to address the causes of the climate crisis, alongside enhanced evidence and approaches to appropriately support the mental health of children and young people. Furthermore, we support the call of Aboriginal peoples to ensure culturally appropriate, place‐based responses based in caring for Country.
The case study discussed in this article examines how the community of inquiry (CoI) model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010) was used to redesign the digital learning environment in the context of an Australian university. Some purposes were to replicate features of a traditional classroom and to support collaboration between professionals with different expertise. The discussion addresses three questions. Firstly, how useful was the CoI model in context and to what extent was the success (or failure) of the redevelopment attributable to the CoI? Secondly, what are the implications for current debates about the CoI model? Thirdly, what are the emergent issues and areas for future research? The paper concludes that the CoI model was useful as a communication and design heuristic rather than as a model that makes universal truth claims about the world.
Executive SummaryThis paper outlines the main findings of research about online portfolio information systems. This research focused on the educational integrity of these educational systems and the maximisation of value across all stakeholders, in particular the value gained from the automation and interaction potential of the online environment.The findings and analyses were based on a review of current practices in online portfolios along with secondary analysis of the existing literature on portfolios and online portfolios. The research focused on the ways stakeholder value is created through different approaches to design composition. From this perspective, the paper explores issues relating to: the automation of administrative functions; matching context, discipline and technology; information storage; interface issues; quality assurance; equity issues; security, fraud and plagiarism detection; and the ability to realise curriculum innovations, such as providing and assessing evidence of professional skills and graduate attributes. The authors propose these are the central functional issues in designing of online portfolio assessment system and as such takes precedence over decision making about the technical means by which online portfolio systems are instantiated and implemented.The findings of this critical review of contemporary practice in designing online portfolio systems indicated a widespread neglect of those factors necessary to achieving educational integrity and maximising value across all stakeholders. Typically, design processes were marked by an overemphasis on technical issues about facilitating implementation rather than addressing the primary educational goals.In conclusion, the research suggests that most online portfolio systems fall significantly short of their potential, and, in many cases, are inferior to conventional portfolio assessment and traditional assessment approaches. The analyses suggest the design of online portfolio assessment systems should, like any other educational process, be grounded in achieving educational integrity, and, to gain the benefits of the online environment, focus on those factors that maximise value across all stakeholders. In particular, the research draws attention to the most significant, and most commonly underrealised, benefit offered by online environments: the ability to effiMaterial published as part of this journal, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the publisher of the Journal of Information Technology Education. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact...
This article examines the practical difficulties encountered when a renewed curriculum is implemented in higher education. Attention has been given in the literature to the importance of coherent curriculum and approaches to curriculum design. Less attention has been paid to whether the renewed curriculum can be faithfully implemented within a given university context and how constraints to implementation change the curriculum design. Practical barriers to implementation arose from several sources. These included: how to ensure that all staff understood and supported the new approaches, in the context of a casualized academic workforce; the need for academics to find sufficient time to engage with the renewal process and complete the necessary work to implement the new curriculum, in the context of intensification of academic work; how to support academic staff to gain an understanding of curriculum design changes in a context where few staff have formally studied education; and, the tension between explicit curriculum philosophies that inform alternative curriculum designs and tacit curriculum philosophies embedded in university systems. The project used an action-learning approach and situated the learning in the context of literature on curriculum, academic work and contemporary university practices, to draw conclusions about how universities can better support successful implementation of curriculum change. The article concludes that successful realisation of curriculum change requires on-going support from management and a flexible environment to ensure that planned changes can be implemented effectively. This has implications for many university systems including, academic support, professional development, academic workloads, and university reporting systems.
This paper reports on findings from four case studies, as part of a large-scale study undertaken to evaluate the KindiLink initiative across Western Australia in remote, regional and metropolitan communities. KindiLink is an educator-led playgroup initiative in public school sites in Western Australia targeted at Aboriginal children and their families. KindiLink aims included the cultivation of Aboriginal families’ and children’s developing sense of belonging and engagement at their local primary school. A constructivist paradigm was used to describe the subjective experiences of individuals, which was important to ascertain if the aims of KindiLink had been met. To complement the meaning-making of the experience, qualitative data were collected via detailed studies of four KindiLink sites to capture similarities and differences of the settings and gain depth of experience through the voices of the participants. The study found KindiLink successfully connected Aboriginal children and families to schools and built a sense of belonging and productive relationships between families, staff, school and the community in a culturally safe space. Furthermore, KindiLink developed the capacity and confidence of parents as their children’s first teachers and supported the home learning environment. The Aboriginal Indigenous education officer in each programme was critical to the engagement of Aboriginal families and acknowledgement of cultural aspects important to children’s growing cultural identities. The relationships built between KindiLink staff and families, and between families, were important for children’s and their families’ growing sense of belonging to the school, which assisted participation at school.
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