Supermarket Botany is a frequently-used teaching resource or strategy. It draws on a student's existing familiarity with plant-based foods to explore plant structure and life cycles. One of its strongest points is that it is adaptable to many age levels--from lower primary school to university and general interest groups. We have designed a unique…

This article describes the research design of, and reports selected findings from, a scoping study aimed at examining current and planned applications of 3D immersive virtual worlds at higher education institutions across Australia and New Zealand. The scoping study is the first of its kind in the region, intended to parallel and complement a…

The enhanced accessibility, affordability and capability of the Internet has created enormous possibilities in terms of designing, developing and implementing innovative teaching methods in the classroom. As existing pedagogies are revamped and new ones are added, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of these approaches from the students'…

This article aims to demonstrate how the use of an online journal, a bilingual blog, can contribute to filling in the language and cultural gaps of foreign language learners. This case study focuses on the participation, interaction, motivation, language acquisition, feedback and cultural input improved by students of Spanish as a Foreign Language…

This paper provides a description and critical analysis of student perceptions of a nationally funded university teaching development project that aimed to bridge gaps between research, teaching and academic development in music teacher education. Based on research recommendations the project utilised collaboration between schools and universities…

This article explores project-based cross-cultural and cross-institutional learning. Using Web 2.0 technologies, this project involved more than 240 students and eighteen academic staff from seven international universities. The focus of this article relates to a project-based learning activity named "The Gift". At each institution the…

The "Technology Outlook Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis" reflects a collaborative research effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Open Universities Australia to help inform Australian educational leaders about significant developments in technologies supporting teaching,…

This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she…

This paper reports on a collaborative staff development activity run across two Australian universities, for academic staff integrating Web 2.0 technologies into their teaching. It describes a three-week long virtual workshop on teaching with wikis, where participants in two groups developed a group project as students and then assessed the work…

Much of what is regarded as effective professional learning is that which is situated, incorporates a social dimension and enables practitioners to converge in and around authentic practice. This article describes an inter-university online learning resource for tutors which is underpinned by a practice based approach to professional learning. The…

This paper reflects a multi-year collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Griffith University to help inform Australian educational leaders about significant developments in technologies supporting teaching, learning, and research in tertiary education. The research underpinning the report makes use of the NMC's Delphi-based…

The context of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is changing dramatically. Today, Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook and MySpace are used ubiquitously in the general population, and Virtual Worlds are becoming increasingly popular in business, for example via simulations in Second Life. However the capacity of Virtual Worlds is…

This paper reflects a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the JISC Innovation Support Centres, CETIS and UKOLN. The research underpinning the report makes use of the NMC's Delphi-based process for bringing groups of experts to a consensus viewpoint, in this case around the impact of emerging technologies on teaching,…

A year-long collaborative action research project used networked technologies to connect researchers at a university-based online professional development program and a group of practitioner researchers based in a range of schools and educational agencies in several countries. They studied the process and effects of online professional development…

Technology holds the key for bridging the gap between access to quality education and the need for enhanced learning experiences. This book contains case studies on divergent themes of personalized learning environments, inclusive learning for social change, innovative learning and assessment techniques, technology and international partnership…