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Changes in computer and communication technology have sparked an educational revolution. For over 20 years, higher education, as a whole, has been adapting to the changing educational landscape. Christian theological education, which is not immune to changing educational realities, has also been adapting to decentralized educational tendencies and experiencing rapid growth in distance and online learning. Christian theological education appears to be a decade or so behind higher education in its contemporary adaptation to online learning,. Questions that higher education began asking over a decade ago about online learning are now part of the contemporary conversation within Christian online theological education. One of those questions asks, “What are standards of quality for Christian online theological education?” The purpose of this study was to identify standards of quality in Christian online theological education as well as issues related to implementing these standards of quality. This study was originally planned as an explanatory, sequential mixed methods study. Due to circumstances encountered during the administration of the originally planned study, this study’s approach had to be adapted to the descriptive survey research method. This study was conducted among an expert sample of distance learning professionals from within Association of Theological Schools (ATS) accredited schools. As indicated by distance learning professionals at ATS-accredited schools, this study: (a) identified 24 standards of quality for Christian online theological education, (b) discovered insights on how well these leaders perceive they are implementing quality standards, and (c) identified areas of both success and challenge when trying to implement quality standards in Christian theological education. These research findings led to two conclusions and produced seven key themes for Christian online theological education. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research were discussed in order to help Christian theological education not only survive the educational revolution it is immersed in, but to thrive within it.

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Understanding base-ten numbers is one of the most important mathematics topics taught in the primary school, and yet also one of the most difficult to teach and to learn. Research shows that many children have inaccurate or faulty number conceptions, and use rote-learned procedures with little regard for quantities represented by mathematical symbols. Base-ten blocks are widely used to teach place-value concepts, but children often do not perceive the links between numbers, symbols, and models. Software has also been suggested as a means of improving children's development of these links but there is little research on its efficacy. Sixteen Queensland Year 3 students worked cooperatively with the researcher for 10 daily sessions, in 4 groups of 4 students of either high or low mathematical achievement level, on tasks introducing the hundreds place. Two groups used physical base-ten blocks and two used place-value software incorporating electronic base-ten blocks. Individual interviews assessed participants' place-value understanding before and after teaching sessions. Data sources were videotapes of interviews and teaching sessions, field notes, workbooks, and software audit trails, analysed using a grounded theory method. There was little difference evident in learning by students using either physical or electronic blocks. Many errors related to the "face-value" construct, counting and handling errors, and a lack of knowledge of base-ten rules were evident. Several students trusted the counting of blocks to reveal number relationships. The study failed to confirm several reported schemes describing children's conceptual structures for multidigit numbers. Many participants demonstrated a preference for grouping or counting approaches, but not stable mental models characterising their thinking about numbers generally. The independent-place construct is proposed to explain evidence in both the study and the literature that shows students making single-dimensional associations between a place, a set of number words, and a digit, rather than taking account of groups of 10. Feedback received in the two conditions differed greatly. Electronic feedback was more positive and accurate than feedback from blocks, and reduced the need for human-based feedback. Primary teachers are urged to monitor students' use of base-ten blocks closely, and to challenge faulty number conceptions by asking appropriate questions.