Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemInclusive gaming through AI: a perspective for identifying opportunities and obstacles through co-design with people living with MND(Frontiers Media S.A., 2024-04-10)This interdisciplinary research initiative seeks to enhance the accessibility of video gaming for individuals living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a condition characterized by progressive muscle weakness. Gaming serves as a social and recreational outlet for many, connecting friends, family, and even strangers through collaboration and competition. However, MND’s disease progression, including muscle weakness and paralysis, severely limit the ability to engage in gaming. In this paper, we desscribe our exploration of AI solutions to improve accessibility to gaming. We argue that any application of accessible AI must be led by lived experience. Notably, we found in our previous scoping review, existing academic research into video games for those living with MND largely neglects the experiences of MND patients in the context of video games and AI, which was a prompt for us to address this critical gap.
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ItemGrowing up in Victoria, Australia, in the midst of the climate emergency(SAGE Publications, 2024-03)Children and young people (henceforth referred to as young people) are one of the groups most affected by climate change and are at the forefront of climate action. Yet, there is scarce evidence on how young people navigate the challenges presented by climate change using their personal strengths and the resources accessible to them. This study aimed to address this gap by drawing on qualitative data from workshops with 31 young people between 12 and 22 years of age from metropolitan Melbourne and a bushfire-risk region in Victoria, Australia. An inductive thematic analysis of workshop transcripts showed that participants had progressively become aware of climate change in an increasingly uncertain world and sought to gain a sense of connection, agency, and hope. Participants aimed to achieve the latter by becoming aware of opportunities for climate actions in everyday life and developing themselves as agents of change. We discussed our findings from a developmental perspective to gain a better understanding of how supporting young people in learning about and acting on climate change can benefit their mental health and sense of agency.
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ItemConceptualising multilingualism in higher education in Timor-Leste: the case of petroleum studies(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2022-05-19)In this paper I present a critical discussion of the ways that multilingualism is conceptualised in the context of higher education in Timor-Leste, a small, developing nation in South-East Asia. Drawing on a range of ethnographic data collected at multiple Timorese tertiary institutions from 2015 to 2018, I focus especially on the language-related beliefs and practices of a small group of petroleum studies lecturers, who are at the meeting point of diverse ideological forces that impact their teaching. I discuss their conceptualisations of both the ‘language problem’ facing them, and their own hybrid classroom communication practices, examining how these conceptualisations are shaped by wider political discourses favouring Portuguese, Indonesian and English. I argue that these discourses not only complicate due recognition of the considerable resourcefulness these lecturers display in communicating disciplinary knowledge to students, but also weigh heavily on their own perceptions of their everyday work as tertiary educators.
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ItemTetun akademiku: University lecturers' roles in the intellectualisation of Tetum(Springer, 2021-02)In this article I examine lecturers’ beliefs about the use of Tetum for academic, scientific and vocational communication at university in Timor-Leste and discuss the discursive and performative language planning roles that they play in the intellectualisation of the language. Drawing on analysis of recorded discussions among university lecturers from different disciplinary areas and distinct institutional settings, I identify a range of discursive and ideological forces being brought to bear on the use of Tetum to communicate disciplinary and professional knowledge. I focus especially on lecturers’ value-laden explanations for how and why they ‘mix’ Tetum with Portuguese, English and Indonesian in particular contexts of classroom communication. Lecturers’ statements about the limitations of Tetum for academic and scientific communication, while grounded in the real need for coordinated intellectualisation of the language, also mask lecturers’ individual preferences for (and greater confidence in) the use of more established ‘academic languages’, stemming from their own past experiences of language socialisation. I argue that these negative beliefs about the potential reach of Tetum reinforce hegemonic discourses that work against its coordinated intellectualisation. Meanwhile, significant individual efforts towards the intellectualisation of Tetum endure in the form of innovative translation and translanguaging work; efforts that I argue require greater attention and support. I conclude with a discussion about the need to recognise and value the expertise and contributions of multiple stakeholders in the development and intellectualisation of the Tetum language, including those who are not traditionally understood as ‘language experts’.
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ItemMindfulness in education: Critical debates and pragmatic considerations(Wiley, 2024)Mindfulness has all but become a mainstay in modern education. Yet despite the incredible enthusiasm and increased application in schools, there remains significant divergence between advocates and critics. Advocates assert that mindfulness practice promotes individual and societal health and well-being. Meanwhile, critics question the intention and the social and political implications of promoting these ancient practices in schools, arguing that the Buddhist ethics underlying mindfulness remain incompatible with the neoliberal ideology and instrumentalism of contemporary schooling. As mindfulness has been commodified, instrumentalised and used as a therapeutic tool for acute coping, its broader potential for human growth and development may be undermined. Furthermore, scholars caution that the fledging nature of mindfulness research leaves critical questions unanswered, especially the potential for adverse effects. The work herein examines these critiques, presenting three critical considerations for mindfulness in education, and articulates practical recommendations for educational leaders, policy makers and stakeholders. We aim to empower educators and others to make judgements about the promotion and integration of mindfulness into educational settings, considering context-specific factors such as developmental needs and capacities, as well as recommendations to support effective and ethical practice of mindfulness in education.
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ItemFrom apology to truth? Settler colonial injustice and curricular reform in Australia since 2008(Taylor and Francis Group, 2024)This article explores how recent curricular reform in Australia has been responsive to a culture of redress. It argues that taken together, the 2008 National Apology to the Stolen Generations and the 2010 national curriculum reform marked a turning point, whereby settler colonial injustices have since been systematically included in the curriculum. This is explored through a case study analysis of the two iterations of the Victorian Curriculum: History post-Apology— 2012 and 2016—the latter of which remains in current use. Using discourse analysis methods, this article argues that the inclusion of colonial injustice in the post-Apology era signals a consensus that has emerged around the significance of representing injustice in history curriculum, and by extension, for shaping future citizens. Through close textual analysis of the curriculum documents, this article finds that representations of historical injustice have been organized by four frames: memorialization, equivalence, personalization, and human rights. It argues that these frames curtail opportunities for the development of an understanding of the structural character and effects of settler colonialism, and limit consideration of the longer history of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. These failures raise questions about how impending reforms might respond to the contemporary political context where treaty negotiations and formal truth-telling with First Nations’ polities are unfolding.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableMayDay colloquium: Social media for good or evil in music learning & teaching(Canadian Band Association, 2023)
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ItemNavigating the transition to online teaching at the University of Melbourne during COVID-19: approaches, reflections and insights.( 2023-09-07)An Occasional Paper at the Melbourne CSHE describing the outcomes from an institution-wide survey distributed to teaching academics that sought to understand their experiences in moving their subjects online during the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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ItemPencil or Keyboard? Boys’ Preferences in Writing(Nova Southeastern University, 2020)Handwriting is an important subject in primary schools, especially in the Early Years. The importance of writing skill is now seen as a debate with the increasing demand on children to learn technology skills to help them with 21st Century learning—how to write on the keyboard effectively. The topic is important because handwriting is an essential life skill to have with or without technology. In this study, I looked at the importance of both in the context of the qualitative case studies in three schools in Melbourne, Australia. The aim of the research is to explore how do students understand the learning of handwriting and keyboarding in schools? This qualitative case study employed a Thematic Analysis approach in which the central intention was to understand the lived experience of six Year 6 boys across three schools and their attitudes to writing and technology. In this article, I addressed the importance of teaching handwriting to primary school students, especially in the first four years of their school life from Foundation to Year 3. The findings suggest that teachers should continue explicitly teaching handwriting to their students despite the heavy reliance on technology in today’s lifestyle.
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ItemEffects of a positive education programme on secondary school students' mental health and wellbeing; challenges of the school context(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2024-01-01)