I am en educationist, working at the Commonwealth of Learning. I am focused on developing partnerships in varying Commonwealth countries to advance access to education, mediated through the use of varying technologies.
In school science, students often experience simplistic representations of knowledge-building pra... more In school science, students often experience simplistic representations of knowledge-building practices in science and technology – which, in reality, are complex, unpredictable and theory-limited. While there are a great variety of reasons (many of which are beyond teachers' direct control), this occurs partly because teachers of science generally have not had such realistic experiences. While student-teachers can develop this kind of ‘meta-scientific’ literacy in university-based science teacher education programmes, this depends on the extent to which activities are legitimised through close associations with authentic school contexts. In this paper, we report effects on science-specialist student-teachers' conceptions about science and technology, and corresponding priorities for school science, after interacting with a case documentary that depicted students collaborating in development and evaluation of pneumatic-controlled robotic arms. Data, including video footage of student-teachers' interactions with cases and audio recordings of interviews with them and their teacher, indicated that many student-teachers developed more naturalistic perspectives on knowledge development in science and technology and corresponding pedagogical priorities. At the same time, most also recommended an ‘apprenticeship’ for students, gradually moving them from unrealistic (e.g., following a linear model for technological design) to more realistic (e.g., accommodating flexibility in design, while pointing out such limits to creativity as techno-determinism) problem solving contexts.
In this study, we hypothesize that cases demonstrating exemplary practice in the science classroo... more In this study, we hypothesize that cases demonstrating exemplary practice in the science classroom can be used as a source for learning content and pedagogical skills that will improve teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. Twelve preservice elementary science teachers are followed as they participate in a case and case method activity illustrating the Grade 7 topic of robotics and fluids. While there was little evidence to show improvements in content knowledge, results indicate that the case acted as a boundary object for brokering between individual experiences and those found in the science teaching community by scaffolding for multiple points of entry, bridging the theory practice gap and offering beginning teachers more immediate access to the community of already practicing teachers.
Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 2004
This article reports on a collaborative effort amongst scholars from ODL institutions across Asia... more This article reports on a collaborative effort amongst scholars from ODL institutions across Asia that resulted in an analysis of the status of online learning. Eleven leading open universities participated in this project, each having representatives join the project team. ...
The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the di... more The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the distance learning environment. The university has arranged these courses to provide students with greater flexibility in interacting with tutors, classmates, and the content itself. Integral to learner flexibility online is access, valuing computers and online learning, endorsement, and language proficiency. The current investigation attempts to explore these issues by examining the perceptions of OUHK students enrolled in courses with online tutorial supports. The methods of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview were employed. Surveyed using multistage stratified sampling technique were 449 OUHK students enrolled in 18 upper level courses (9 English, 9 Chinese) at the OUHK. Forty-two students were randomly selected for a follow-up interview. Five major topics were explored including: (1) accessing the Internet; (2) perceptions of technology; (3) rationale for using the Internet in course work; (4) learning strategies used by the tutor online; and (5) perceptions of the online tutorial support.
In school science, students often experience simplistic representations of knowledge-building pra... more In school science, students often experience simplistic representations of knowledge-building practices in science and technology – which, in reality, are complex, unpredictable and theory-limited. While there are a great variety of reasons (many of which are beyond teachers' direct control), this occurs partly because teachers of science generally have not had such realistic experiences. While student-teachers can develop this kind of ‘meta-scientific’ literacy in university-based science teacher education programmes, this depends on the extent to which activities are legitimised through close associations with authentic school contexts. In this paper, we report effects on science-specialist student-teachers' conceptions about science and technology, and corresponding priorities for school science, after interacting with a case documentary that depicted students collaborating in development and evaluation of pneumatic-controlled robotic arms. Data, including video footage of student-teachers' interactions with cases and audio recordings of interviews with them and their teacher, indicated that many student-teachers developed more naturalistic perspectives on knowledge development in science and technology and corresponding pedagogical priorities. At the same time, most also recommended an ‘apprenticeship’ for students, gradually moving them from unrealistic (e.g., following a linear model for technological design) to more realistic (e.g., accommodating flexibility in design, while pointing out such limits to creativity as techno-determinism) problem solving contexts.
In this study, we hypothesize that cases demonstrating exemplary practice in the science classroo... more In this study, we hypothesize that cases demonstrating exemplary practice in the science classroom can be used as a source for learning content and pedagogical skills that will improve teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. Twelve preservice elementary science teachers are followed as they participate in a case and case method activity illustrating the Grade 7 topic of robotics and fluids. While there was little evidence to show improvements in content knowledge, results indicate that the case acted as a boundary object for brokering between individual experiences and those found in the science teaching community by scaffolding for multiple points of entry, bridging the theory practice gap and offering beginning teachers more immediate access to the community of already practicing teachers.
Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 2004
This article reports on a collaborative effort amongst scholars from ODL institutions across Asia... more This article reports on a collaborative effort amongst scholars from ODL institutions across Asia that resulted in an analysis of the status of online learning. Eleven leading open universities participated in this project, each having representatives join the project team. ...
The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the di... more The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the distance learning environment. The university has arranged these courses to provide students with greater flexibility in interacting with tutors, classmates, and the content itself. Integral to learner flexibility online is access, valuing computers and online learning, endorsement, and language proficiency. The current investigation attempts to explore these issues by examining the perceptions of OUHK students enrolled in courses with online tutorial supports. The methods of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview were employed. Surveyed using multistage stratified sampling technique were 449 OUHK students enrolled in 18 upper level courses (9 English, 9 Chinese) at the OUHK. Forty-two students were randomly selected for a follow-up interview. Five major topics were explored including: (1) accessing the Internet; (2) perceptions of technology; (3) rationale for using the Internet in course work; (4) learning strategies used by the tutor online; and (5) perceptions of the online tutorial support.
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