Katie Burke

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We teach maths and the arts for pre-service teachers, who enrol mainly in online courses. These are very hands-on practical subjects so we are always looking for ways to try and help our students ensure they learn the course outcomes while learning online. This is the story of how we changed our courses using constructive alignment to get our students to participate in practical learning activities

As educators who deliver online courses in a teacher education program, we wanted to find the most effective ways to facilitate online learning and teaching. We collected survey data and conducted interviews with three hundred university students about how they engaged with their online courses and found that, above all else, teachers help students feel connected and supported in their online studies and are essential to students' emotional engagement.

Online learning has radically altered educational access; however, challenges emerge for learning domains relying on practical learning experiences, such as the creative arts. Research shows praxis is vital to effective arts teacher preparation. However, as Australian initial teacher educators, we noted the challenges of engaging online students in arts praxis and held concerns regarding preparing them adequately for the primary classroom. In exploring solutions, we developed an approach mandating hands-on learning through assessment, theorizing this as praxis-focused pedagogy. Through surveys and interviews, we sought to understand student perspectives regarding the assessment processes and whether this improved online engagement and self-efficacy as future arts educators. Findings confirm students supported a praxis-focused approach to assessment, and reveal beneficial attributes of this approach. The study affirms significant potential for praxis-focused assessment to enhance online arts learning; an approach that may be useful in other online education courses where hands-on experience is central to learning.

Pre-service teachers need to experience authentic
arts activities to confidently impart the quality arts
engagement that young learners deserve. Most importantly,
these experiences should contribute to
shaping emerging teacher identities. We sought to
understand the student experience of online early
childhood pre-service in their arts courses, and
what they need to become competent and confident
teachers of the arts. Using data from 51 responses
to a 24-question qualitative survey distributed across
three Australian universities, we engaged in the methodological
process of qualitative bricolage to present
a story constellation offering important insights for
online teacher-educators in the arts.

Online learning has radically altered educational access; however, challenges emerge for learning domains relying on practical learning experiences, such as the creative arts. Research shows praxis is vital to effective arts teacher preparation. However, as Australian initial teacher educators, we noted the challenges of engaging online students in arts praxis and held concerns regarding preparing them adequately for the primary classroom. In exploring solutions, we developed an approach mandating hands-on learning through assessment, theorizing this as praxis-focused pedagogy. Through surveys and interviews, we sought to understand student perspectives regarding the assessment processes and whether this improved online engagement and self-efficacy as future arts educators. Findings confirm students supported a praxis-focused approach to assessment, and reveal beneficial attributes of this approach. The study affirms significant potential for praxis-focused assessment to enhance online arts learning; an approach that may be useful in other online education courses where hands-on experience is central to learning.

Research has identified that creative arts education in homeschooling contexts presents unique challenges. A range of factors contribute to this, including a dearth of home-education specific support. As such, the development of supporting resources that target the unique needs and approaches of homeschooling parents has previously been recommended. This paper reports on part of a larger, Design-Based Research project that consulted with up to 193 homeschooling families with the aim of developing such a support resource; one flexible enough to reflect the diversity of approaches across homeschooling contexts. The phase of the research reported here sought detailed insights into the processes that 5 families employed when planning and facilitating their children’s arts learning. Through a series of three semi-structured interviews with each family, observations of arts learning episodes in action, and arts artefact analysis, each family’s approach to arts learning was mapped and analysed for insights into processes that families employed when planning and actioning arts learning. The outcome of this phase of the project is a suggested framework to support homeschoolers in facilitating arts learning, aimed to be suitable across a variety of pedagogical approaches.

Research has identified that creative arts education in homeschooling contexts presents unique challenges. A range of factors contribute to this, including a dearth of home-education specific support. As such, the development of supporting resources that target the unique needs and approaches of homeschooling parents has previously been recommended. This paper reports on part of a larger, Design-Based Research project that consulted with up to 193 homeschooling families with the aim of developing such a support resource; one flexible enough to reflect the diversity of approaches across homeschooling contexts. The phase of the research reported here sought detailed insights into the processes that 5 families employed when planning and facilitating their children’s arts learning. Through a series of three semi-structured interviews with each family, observations of arts learning episodes in action, and arts artefact analysis, each family’s approach to arts learning was mapped and analysed for insights into processes that families employed when planning and actioning arts learning. The outcome of this phase of the project is a suggested framework to support homeschoolers in facilitating arts learning, aimed to be suitable across a variety of pedagogical approaches.

The opportunity to undertake teaching degrees entirely via online learning has proliferated in the last decade. Research shows that students choose to engage with content and application activities when they are directly aligned to assessment. The researchers trialled praxis-based assessment which required completion of practical learning tasks embedded in core learning content over two semesters in two Australian Initial Teacher Education courses. The aim was to enhance online student engagement in practical learning. Insights into the student perspective were gained through a survey, interviews, and learning analytics. The results from this study showed praxisbased assessment increased student confidence, classroom readiness and embodied understanding of theory.

Home education is increasingly recognised in Australia as a legitimate educational option. Given the significance of the Arts as an integral component of a quality holistic education, developing insight into how this rapidly growing educational sector is engaging with the Arts is a timely issue. This paper explores a doctoral project which is focusing on understanding and supporting arts practices in Australia's home education community. Motivated by a desire for research to have a beneficial impact, the researcher is working with home educators to develop an arts website and communication space that responds to the needs of home educators and is underpinned by the principles of quality arts education.

Educators, policy makers and researchers have repeatedly affirmed the significance of a quality arts education in developing the capabilities necessary for 21st century citizenship. However, facilitating an Arts education can be extremely challenging, especially for the generalist classroom teacher who may not possess the necessary background learning across all five arts subjects. Revelations from the first phase of my doctoral research with Australian home educating parents identified a similar dilemma with the delivery of authentic Arts learning in home contexts. A significant proportion of the home educator study participants admitted to no educational or artistic training. My doctoral research project has sought to understand how Australian home educators approach arts education, of the challenges they face, and the way that existing knowledge and strengths are harnessed in delivering their children’s education. Moreover, using a Design Based Research approach, I have attempted...

Online learning has been widely adopted in higher education but there is a need to better understand the nature of student engagement with online courses. For example, there are questions about whether students engage with courses as educators intend and what features of online courses engage students to enhance learning. Bringing together student and educator perspectives, this article reports on a study that identified ‘pedagogical touchpoints’ – opportunities within online courses for student engagement – to ascertain whether a better understanding of these could improve online course design and student engagement. Data were collected across three undergraduate online courses. Data analysis produced three key findings: mapping pedagogical touchpoints against dimensions of engagement reveals patterns that may inform enhanced course design, students’ engagement with pedagogical touchpoints varies according to their learning needs and desires, and mapping pedagogical touchpoints can...

ABSTRACT With the rapid expansion of online learning as a dominant pedagogical approach in higher education, significant research has been undertaken to explore the impacts of internet-based technologies to promote student engagement. Current advances in online learning have fostered innovative, and often nuanced approaches to teaching and learning that have the potential to promote rich and potentially transformative learning outcomes for higher education students. However, there is a growing body of evidence that clearly highlights that online learning may have a deleterious impact on a student’s sense of connection, leading to experiences of isolation and disempowerment. Such experiences call for an ongoing reimagination of the online teaching space to ensure that students maintain a strong sense of identity within their virtual educational community. This paper emphasises an approach to online learning that serves to foster positive engagement across the student lifecycle. Using Nell Noddings’ framework of Moral Education, we engaged in the process of critical reflection on our own teaching over time, using student data to support analyses.

Abstract Higher education, and in particular, initial teacher education, has been significantly transformed through the introduction of e-learning. However, online teacher education presents particular challenges in the creative arts, which has traditionally developed student understanding through embodied and collaborative learning experiences. In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight online arts educators in teacher education programs to understand their perspectives and pedagogy in online arts coursework. Using Engestrom’s Activity Theory as an analytical lens, the findings highlight how these academics navigated challenges and opportunities to facilitate authentic, praxis-focused arts experiences to prepare pre-service teachers for the classroom.

ABSTRACT This paper explores understandings and implications arising from research conducted into how home educating families approach learning in the creative arts. Through a series of online focus groups with 14 Australian home educating families, the authors sought to understand the strategies and learning activities that families employed when teaching their children about the arts, and the factors that influenced this process. An earlier paper based on this investigation uncovered the strategies employed by participating families, and in this successive paper, they now focus on the variety of ways that the arts learning strategies were flexibly incorporated into individual educational family practice according to the fluctuating needs and dynamics of individual contexts. The findings highlight how families engage in arts learning as a form of sociocultural practice, with individuals as joint members in a family ‘Community of Practice’ and where authentic, collaborative and child-centred arts experiences are valued.

Research into the ways that “authentic” arts teaching and learning are conducted in Australian home education contexts has not yet been undertaken. Given that home education is experiencing rapid growth and that many current global education reforms place emphasis on the arts as vital to creative futures, the development of deeper understanding is warranted. In order to address the shortfall, this paper reports on the first phase of a qualitative study that investigated the arts practices of 14 Australian home educators for the purpose of understanding the variety of ways that arts learning and teaching are incorporated in individual home education contexts. The study sought to identify the issues that participants experience when facilitating their children’s arts education, the specific strategies they adopt, and how arts teaching and learning approaches are adapted to the fluctuating needs and dynamics of their individual contexts. The paper begins by outlining home education as ...

The opportunity to undertake teaching degrees entirely via online learning has proliferated in the last decade. Research shows that students choose to engage with content and application activities when they are directly aligned to assessment. The researchers trialled praxis-based assessment which required completion of practical learning tasks embedded in core learning content over two semesters in two Australian Initial Teacher Education courses. The aim was to enhance online student engagement in practical learning. Insights into the student perspective were gained through a survey, interviews, and learning analytics. The results from this study showed praxisbased assessment increased student confidence, classroom readiness and embodied understanding of theory.

Many universities in Australia and internationally now offer education
degrees entirely online, without any requirement for face-to-face
learning on university campuses. The transition to online learning
has occurred rapidly, and has had particularly strong uptake in Initial
Teacher Education. This paper examines the perspectives and experiences
of eight academics in Australian higher education who teach
creative arts courses to pre-service teachers via online modes of
delivery. Research indicates that insufficient opportunities have
existed for some time in adequately providing opportunities to preservice
teachers to develop the arts teaching and learning skills, and
these concerns are potentially compounded in online contexts which
do not readily permit the interpersonal, kinaesthetic and collaborative
engagement with arts-specific materials and processes that are
usually central to creative arts learning. Using in-depth interviews
and thematic analysis, the researcher sought to understand the
individual perspectives and experiences of arts academics who now
deliver creative arts learning in teacher education online. The
research reveals that arts learning must be significantly re-imagined
for the online learner, that the potential to do this can be realised,
but that additional support will be required to ensure this is
a consistent reality.

With the rapid expansion of online learning as a dominant pedagogical
approach in higher education, significant research has been undertaken
to explore the impacts of internet-based technologies to promote student
engagement. Current advances in online learning have fostered innovative,
and often nuanced approaches to teaching and learning that have
the potential to promote rich and potentially transformative learning
outcomes for higher education students. However, there is a growing
body of evidence that clearly highlights that online learning may have
a deleterious impact on a student’s sense of connection, leading to
experiences of isolation and disempowerment. Such experiences call for
an ongoing reimagination of the online teaching space to ensure that
students maintain a strong sense of identity within their virtual educational
community. This paper emphasises an approach to online learning
that serves to foster positive engagement across the student lifecycle.
Using Nell Noddings’ framework of Moral Education, we engaged in the
process of critical reflection on our own teaching over time, using student
data to support analyses.

Higher education, and in particular, initial teacher education, has been significantly transformed through
the introduction of e-learning. However, online teacher education presents particular challenges in the
creative arts, which has traditionally developed student understanding through embodied and collaborative
learning experiences. In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight
online arts educators in teacher education programs to understand their perspectives and pedagogy in
online arts coursework. Using Engestr€om’s Activity Theory as an analytical lens, the findings highlight
how these academics navigated challenges and opportunities to facilitate authentic, praxis-focused arts
experiences to prepare pre-service teachers for the classroom.

This paper explores understandings and implications arising from research conducted into how home educating families approach learning in the creative arts. Through a series of online focus groups with 14 Australian home educating families, the authors sought to understand the strategies and learning activities that families employed when teaching their children about the arts, and the factors that influenced this process. An earlier paper based on this investigation uncovered the strategies employed by participating families, and in this successive paper, they now focus on the variety of ways that the arts learning strategies were flexibly incorporated into individual educational family practice according to the fluctuating needs and dynamics of individual contexts. The findings highlight how families engage in arts learning as a form of sociocultural practice, with individuals as joint members in a family ‘Community of Practice’ and where authentic, collaborative and child-centred arts experiences are valued.

Home education is increasingly recognised in Australia as a legitimate educational option. Given the significance of the Arts as an integral component of a quality holistic education, developing insight into how this rapidly growing educational sector is engaging with the Arts is a timely issue. This paper explores a doctoral project which is focusing on understanding and supporting arts practices in Australia’s home education community. Motivated by a desire for research to have a beneficial impact, the researcher is working with home educators to develop an arts website and communication space that responds to the needs of home educators and is underpinned by the principles of quality arts education.

This paper represents understandings and implications arising from research conducted into arts learning within Australian home education.  New understandings are developed into the variety of ways that arts learning is incorporated into individual families’ educational and life-wide practices, identifying that specific strategies are adopted and adapted flexibly according to the fluctuating needs and dynamics of individual contexts.  The project was grounded in critical theory, intentionally choosing an action research methodology and focus group setting that valued participants’ voices and invited their collaborative consideration of the project’s analysis.  Further, focus upon delivering genuine benefits to participants was addressed through collaborating with participants to generate solutions to identified issues.  The project resulted in a booklet for home educators that contains support plans for reflection and action.  This will be made available to Australian home educators who seek assistance in facilitating authentic arts experiences for their children, thus fulfilling the project’s intended goal of making authentic arts learning in home education more achievable.
Key words: homeschooling, home education, arts, authentic arts, Australian curriculum.

The notion that online study is a placeless endeavour, that where students learn doesn’t matter, is being challenged via a second-year teacher education course. Focussed on the Australian History and Geography Curricula, the course is designed to facilitate understanding of curriculum and pedagogies relevant to these disciplines in a place-responsive manner. Inquiry pedagogy, conceptual learning, and integration of core and elective content are integral to the Humanities subjects of the Australian Curriculum and are consequently reflected in the course. These focus areas are complemented by a valuing of places as important contexts within which pre-service teachers (and their future students) can engage in learning experiences. In order to address multiple goals of the course-development team, including modelling pedagogy, promoting the pedagogical potential of places, and reinforcing the value of ‘informal’ learning contexts, the team developed a course that required students to venture into their communities to complete learning activities and assessment items. This paper reports the results of the course team’s collective reflections upon the principles driving the development of the course, the theory underpinning decision making, and implications of place-based education for students and educators within the course.

This paper describes a doctoral research project that engages with Arts teaching and learning practices in Australia’s fastest growing educational sector: home education. Importantly, the study commenced with recognition that educational research has frequently come under fire for its loose and indirect impact upon educational practice, and therefore has employed Design Based Research (DBR) as an approach to research that attempts to bridge the theory-practice divide and promote theoretical and practical advances that have direct impact upon educational settings. Using DBR, the project includes the construction of an online Arts learning environment developed co-operatively with a sample of volunteer participating home educators. This online learning environment was theoretically developed through a systematic analysis of existing guidelines and models for home education, arts education, and online learning environments, and in response to data collected from the contributing home educating participants who had expressed their needs for the facilitation of an effective arts education. The resulting arts website for home educators now operates as an online Community of Practice, and this has been iteratively trialled and refined throughout the course of the year. This presentation will explore the researcher’s process of identifying the need for such a website, of the theoretical and practical development of the website, and the process of its transformation in response to the feedback from participants. It will reveal important understandings about how participating home educators teach and engage with the arts, and how a learning environment contextually suited to an authentic arts education in the home might be designed.

Once frowned upon as an extremist or eccentric educational option, home education is now gaining broad acceptance and global momentum as a legitimate educational choice.  Owing to the large number of parents who do not register with any educational body, accurate statistics of home educating families are difficult to obtain, however all estimates indicate that it is the fastest growing educational sector in Australia (Townsend, 2012).  Given the significance of the arts as an integral component of a quality holistic education, developing insight into how this rapidly growing educational sector is engaging with the arts is considered a timely issue.
Katie Burke’s background as a home educator to her two children for 8 years, and a tertiary arts educator for the same period of time has directly contributed to her interest in researching arts practices in Australian home education. This focus actually arose from a personally experienced difficulty: ironically, as a tertiary art educator, Katie experienced difficulty in facilitating an arts education within her home education practice. Pedagogical challenges were raised by the difference in her children’s ages and the diversity of their interests.  Arts resources and time were both limited and the general demands of teaching across all subject areas meant that she often carried a sense of ineffectiveness in the facilitation of Arts learning with her children. Informal conversations with other home educators highlighted they shared these difficulties, and in some cases, did not engage with arts learning at all.
Such experiences, and the dearth of research into arts practices within home education, indicates the need for research at the intersection of the arts and home education. However, beyond merely gaining understandings into how home educators engage with the arts, Katie desires to use research to facilitate innovation in arts practices in Australian home education. In conceptualising her research project, she has therefore sought to move beyond traditional education research practices, and has sought an approach that re-engineers research as an endeavour that both engages in - and results in – innovations in the arts. 
Her doctoral project will explore how the arts are being taught in Australia’s home education community, and, using a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, will also work with home educators to develop an arts support resource and communication space that responds to the needs of home educators that is underpinned by the principles of quality arts education. DBR provides a viable alternative to traditional educational research that attempts to bridge the gap between research and practice.  It is advocated as a means to simultaneously advance learning design, educational research and practical application (Reeves, McKenney, & Herrington, 2011; Wang & Hannafin, 2005).  It is suitable for this project, which aims to simultaneously develop understanding of arts practices in home education, whilst advancing learning design and practical application of best practice in arts learning, thus enabling participants to experience practical benefit from their engagement with the research. This presentation will thus explore how the research is being used to generate innovation in the arts within Australian home education.

The metaphor of the maze is often used to convey the complexity and confusion of research, and yet for many, the act of entering a maze is undertaken in the spirit of adventure, converting risk into a strategic act, where the journey and outcomes are all the more enriching for the twists, turns and dead-ends. In this chapter I reflect on my emergent doctoral journey using Design-Based Research to explore how Australian home educators teach and engage with the Arts, and focus on the way in which various research decisions to date have been made in response to the complexities and unexpected outcomes that have emerged in my own research process. In an attempt to engage in authentic research that has genuine benefit for participants, the challenges encountered have come to be appreciated as some of the most beneficial enhancers of the research process and potential outcomes.