The large influx of international students to universities of the developed world, the increased use of Problem-Based method of teaching and learning in the field of Health Education and growing awareness of the need to accommodate varying learning styles in any classroom are the three factors that influenced this research. This study was designed to investigate the effect of learning styles and demographic differences on performance in Biology when taught using two different methods of teaching. One was the teacher-directed Traditional Teaching and Learning (TTL) and the other was the student-centred Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The preferred learning styles of all Foundation Studies (FS) Biology students over four academic years at RMIT were determined using the Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI). These students were taught two selected topics in Biology by the researcher using the two different methods and their performance assessed by a written test at the end of each topic. Two instruments were developed to assess student participation in PBL. The first instrument Students' Participation in Group Discussions (SPGD) rating scale was designed for teacher evaluation of student participation in PBL group discussions while the second instrument the Student Self Evaluation (SSE) rating scale was for self-evaluation by stud ents. Individual interviews provided students' views and opinions about their learning styles and the two teaching methods. The analysis of data was predominantly conducted by quantitative methods, supported by qualitative analysis of the interview data. Effect size analyses were used to investigate differences in performance under the two teaching methods on the basis of demographic and learning style differences. Further probes were conducted to elicit any interactions among the demographic variables and the learning style traits in their effect on performance under the two teaching methods and a quantitative measure for interaction was derived using effect sizes. While results confirmed some of the trends displayed by learning style traits in other disciplines, a number of interactions among variables were found to affect performance in Biology as well as performance under the two teaching methods. Gender, age, prior qualification and the language of instruction of prior education had various levels of interactions with the introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensing, thinking/feeling and perceiving/judging learning traits and affected performance in Biology to varying extents. However, it was found that international students from diverse backgrounds were able to cope with both methods of teaching though there was a definite preference expressed for the traditional teacher directed method. The conclusions from this study have resulted in a number of recommendations for Biology educators, FS administrators, authors and all practitioners of PBL. Several suggestions have opened new avenues for future research. These recommendations for pedagogy and suggestions for future research can improve the outcomes of Biology education as well as other disciplines in related fields. As a consequence of this study two new instruments have been developed to assess student participation in the group discussions of PBL. These could prove to be valuable assessment tools for practitioners of this methodology.

With the growing need for secure and high-capacity communications, innovative solutions are needed to meet the demands of tomorrow. One such innovation is to make use of the still unutilized spatial dimension of light in communications, which has promising applications in both enabling higher data traffic as well as the security protocols of the future in quantum communications. The perhaps most promising way of realizing this technology is through spatial division multiplexing (SDM) in optical fibers. There are many challenges and open questions in implementing this, such as how perturbations to the signal should be kept under control and which type of optical fiber to use. Consequently, this thesis focuses on the implementation of SDM in few-mode fibers where the perturbation effects on the spatial distribution have been investigated. Following this investigation, an implementation of adaptive spatial mode control using a motorized polarization controller has been implemented. The mode control has been done with the focus on having relevance for quantum technology applications such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and quantum random number generation (QRNG) but also for spatial division multiplexing (SDM) for general communications. For this reason, two evaluation metrics have been optimized for: extinction ratio and equal amplitude. The control algorithm used is an adaptation of the optimization algorithm Stochastic Parallel Gradient Descent (SPGD). Control has been achieved in stabilizing the extinction ratio of LP11a and LP11b over 12 hours with an average extinction ratio of 98 %. Additionally, equal amplitude between LP11a and LP11b has been achieved over 1 hour with an average relative difference of 0.42 % and 0.45 %. Out of the perturbation effects investigated; temperature caused large disturbances to the signal which later is corrected for with the implemented algorithm.