The goal of the present project was to evaluate a mastery learning teaching method in mathematics for engineering undergraduates. Many mathematics teachers are very dissatisfied with the level of understanding displayed by students who pass traditional examinations. The Keller Plan requires mastery demonstrated by almost perfect performance on a sequence of tests which students repeat until they reach the high standard required.The study compared students in the same mathematics subject in the year before a change to Keller Plan teaching, and in the year of the change. Achievement scores, defined in terms of the completeness and consistency of solutions to test problems on the whole of the syllabus, were higher for the Keller Plan group. Measures of attitudes and approaches to study, which were positively related to achievement, indicated that the Keller Plan group had stronger intrinsic motivation, and more diligent study methods. Their confidence tended to be lower than that of the traditionally taught group, but was not low in absolute, and appreciation of the greater challenge of the Keller Plan appeared to be worked out via diligence. Students felt that individual work in the Keller Plan was a better use of time than attending traditional lectures.

This thesis constructs and verifies a methodological practice of conversation groups and grounded theory for examining and changing the dominant discourse that situates Indigenous Australian tertiary students in mainstream education. Within this research, not only was a rich shared discourse development on a conceptual level valuable and necessary in the telling of our stories but it offered us as co-researchers—Indigenous students and a non-Indigenous researcher—a means of revealing and working through understandings and mis-understandings. Using such a methodological approach also suggested future possibilities for effective Indigenous/non-Indigenous stakeholders’ working relationships in research, and possibly policy-making in Australian institutions generally. As a methodological and communicative tool for opening up a dialogic space, the use of conversation groups for developing effective communicative relationships held promise for highlighting the experiences of Indigenous students who themselves, then negotiated the position for theoretically and pragmatically directing individual and collective decisions and actions. Inviting Indigenous students into this space provided an environment for the development of an Indigenous standpoint, which is not merely an Indigenous opinion but requires an engagement with the questions and issues affecting Indigenous students as interdependent individuals. Such a standpoint does not happen automatically and needs opportunities to grow and mature. I found that conversation groups involving the Indigenous students and me working together as co-researchers provided this opportunity. With Indigenous students’ narratives of success chosen as the research topic, productively communicating views became a verification of the research methodology used and an enactment of their right to be heard, both highlighting voice and representation issues. The research methodology we used and the ensuing discourse development became an entwined interplay, where each served to reinforce the other. The Indigenous students and I were practising the research approach of conversation groups while developing a conceptualised discourse on being successful. This transdisciplinary approach in co-research, encompassing Indigenous and Western research approaches, allowed for experiential and theoretical engagement with questions of cultural authority, representation, power and agency by Indigenous students and me as a non-Indigenous researcher. Central to the Indigenous students’ stories were notions of “place” as created, negotiated and manipulated by successful Indigenous students as they move between and within fluid subjectivities or stances in relationships, time and space. A broader view was taken of how intersections, layers and parallels are negotiated by the Indigenous students within and between multitudes of places in the blurring of living in two worlds: Black and White.

This thesis constructs and verifies a methodological practice of conversation groups and grounded theory for examining and changing the dominant discourse that situates Indigenous Australian tertiary students in mainstream education. Within this research, not only was a rich shared discourse development on a conceptual level valuable and necessary in the telling of our stories but it offered us as co-researchers—Indigenous students and a non-Indigenous researcher—a means of revealing and working through understandings and mis-understandings. Using such a methodological approach also suggested future possibilities for effective Indigenous/non-Indigenous stakeholders’ working relationships in research, and possibly policy-making in Australian institutions generally. As a methodological and communicative tool for opening up a dialogic space, the use of conversation groups for developing effective communicative relationships held promise for highlighting the experiences of Indigenous students who themselves, then negotiated the position for theoretically and pragmatically directing individual and collective decisions and actions. Inviting Indigenous students into this space provided an environment for the development of an Indigenous standpoint, which is not merely an Indigenous opinion but requires an engagement with the questions and issues affecting Indigenous students as interdependent individuals. Such a standpoint does not happen automatically and needs opportunities to grow and mature. I found that conversation groups involving the Indigenous students and me working together as co-researchers provided this opportunity. With Indigenous students’ narratives of success chosen as the research topic, productively communicating views became a verification of the research methodology used and an enactment of their right to be heard, both highlighting voice and representation issues. The research methodology we used and the ensuing discourse development became an entwined interplay, where each served to reinforce the other. The Indigenous students and I were practising the research approach of conversation groups while developing a conceptualised discourse on being successful. This transdisciplinary approach in co-research, encompassing Indigenous and Western research approaches, allowed for experiential and theoretical engagement with questions of cultural authority, representation, power and agency by Indigenous students and me as a non-Indigenous researcher. Central to the Indigenous students’ stories were notions of “place” as created, negotiated and manipulated by successful Indigenous students as they move between and within fluid subjectivities or stances in relationships, time and space. A broader view was taken of how intersections, layers and parallels are negotiated by the Indigenous students within and between multitudes of places in the blurring of living in two worlds: Black and White.

The primary aim of this study was to validate interactive computer-assisted learning packages (ICALP) in a self operated computer controlled educational resource (SOCCER) to undergraduate (UG) physiotherapy students of anatomy. The development of ICALP, Test and FeedBack items for SOCCER are described, as well as the mechanism of delivery with continuous positive reinforcement to randomly selected students. To meet this requirement, a computer managed learning environment (CMLE) was established to affirm the value of ICALP and SOCCER materials to replace traditional lectures in anatomy. Quantitative data is given to verify this hypothesis during the education of UG physiotherapy students of anatomy. Throughout 1992, the UG population was randomly divided into Lecture and ICALP groups, with mutual exclusion of each to the other, for ten areas of study. These results were validated by re-application to the succeeding UG population in 1993. The secondary aim of this study was in two-parts. Firstly, to verify that ICALP materials can be applied to transfer 2-D cognitive anatomical information in a self-paced format of autonomous learning. Secondly, to investigate a premise that previously acquired 2-D anatomical information may be transferred into a 3-D psycho-motor skill. Ample data is given to verify the first hypothesis, with sufficient evidence to support the second. The subsidiary aim of this study compared the educational and administrative cost-effectiveness of ICALP and SOCCER with traditional lectures used in anatomy. Evidence is given to demonstrate that the time saved in lectures can be replaced by a lecture-seminar approach to problem-based learning to empower UG2 students to achieve at a level beyond that which would normally be expected. Sufficient data is provided to affirm the cost-benefits of ICALP and SOCCER to academic staff, individual students, and ++ / administrators. The untested belief held by schools of anatomy that high ranking pre-entrants in English, English Literature, and Human Biology, are more likely to transpose 2-D anatomical information into a 3-D skill than high ranking pre-entrants in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics was also investigated. Scrutiny of these data could not determine any discriminatory differences of ability to succeed in UG anatomy by either of these two categories.

Academic success is clearly linked to one's ability to write well. Given this close link between the two and the poor academic record of Pacific Island students within mainstream education in New Zealand, it is surprising that very little research has been undertaken to examine the academic writing problems of Pacific Island students. This emancipatory, critical study focused on tertiary students who identified as New Zealand-born Samoan. Since Samoans constitute half the Pacific Island population in New Zealand, New Zealand-born Samoan participants were chosen as being representative of this larger group. They were also chosen because they represented a group of New Zealanders identified as disadvantaged in terms of their largely low socio-economic status and poor academic achievement levels.The theoretical framework for this study is grounded in Bernstein's critical theories on communicative and teaching practices in mainstream education which disadvantage minority students from working class communities. These theories are discussed in conjunction with a general review of relevant literature in Chapter 2. The Samoan researcher in this study has added an inter-generational commentary to some of the views and experiences of school and Samoan homelife in New Zealand of participants, firstly from the perspective of her own first-hand experiences of school and Samoan homelife in the 50s and 60s and secondly from the perspective of an experienced English language teacher in New Zealand tertiary institutions.This study used a triangulation approach to enhance reliability and validity of quantitative and qualitative data collected. Three data collecting instruments were used: a written questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, and students' actual essay assignments. A written questionnaire was completed by 14 students who identified as NewZealand-born Samoan. A case study approach was then used with a sub-group of five students, representative of the original 14, who were interviewed more closely in the following areas of interest which emerged through the questionnaire: students' perceived and actual academic writing skills, communicative and teaching practices of high school and tertiary teachers, students' learning strategies, the role and effectiveness of Pacific Island support staff and programmes and the impact of the cultural and communicative practices of Samoan parents in traditional, bilingual Samoan homes on students' academic performance and success in the formal learning environment. The impact of factors such as poor self-motivation and time-management skills, inadequate reading skills and a lack of understanding of and exposure to the academic discourses of the formal learning environment, on the academic writing problems of the participants in this study, were also examined.Teaching methods which perpetuated rote learning practices amongst students were reported by participants in this study from both low and middle-decile high schools. The communicative and teaching practices of Pacific Island teaching staff were also examined in this study. Relevant data from the one-to-one teaching sessions with participants were also included as part of this study. The face-to-face interviews and one-to-one teaching sessions were tape-recorded.

This thesis is concerned with the development of tertiary students' experiences of learning as they progress through three years of undergraduate study in two different psychology programs. Previous research that is relevant to this topic has tended to focus either more narrowly on the development of epistemic beliefs or more broadly on the variation of learners' experiences of learning. Research on epistemic beliefs has tended to focus on the structural aspects (stages) of development and to ignore the content of thinking. In contrast, research on experiences of learning has concentrated upon the content of students' experiences, yet it can be criticised for the way in which it decontextualises students' experiences and for its limited attention to change and development. Moreover, despite evidence suggesting that learning comprises a complex of phenomena such as understanding, memorising and knowing, this line of research has tended to treat learning as a single phenomenon. In the thesis I draw on Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics, Gurwitsch's view of awareness, and much of the conceptual framework of the phenomenographic perspective to argue a case for a theoretical framework and consequential practices that are more plural and inclusive of learner's experiences of learning. The new approach refocuses the relationship between researcher, knower and known in terms of the knowing relation-one that involves a dynamic iterative interweaving of first and second order perspectives. Using this new approach, students' experiences are analysed to provide rich description and ontological explanation of both change and development over time. The approach allows the unity of the partlwholelpart relation of an individual's experience to be recognised. So the method is able to take account of the contextual relevancy of the individual whilst also focusing on the experiences of the group. The results show that rather than comprising a single phenomenon, learning is itself part of a multi-dimensional (depth, spatial and temporal dimensions), multi-phenomenal field. The phenomena of learning, understanding, memorising and knowledge are described in detail, and their individual internal relations are elaborated along with the internal relations between the phenomena. Four main groups of experiences of learning are described within this framework: reproductive experiences; relational experiences; constructive experiences; and transformative experiences. Each of these categories comprises several sub- categories. This fine-grained focus on individual students' data, and the use of the phenomenographic whadhow framework, allows the development of experiences to be traced and interpreted as a gradual morphing over time. The pattern of development suggests that each part of the learners' journey plays an important role in the growth of skill and competence in learning. Thus, it may be important that curricula account for variation not by focussing upon transformative experiences of learning, as is often the case, but by facilitating shifts through all of the experiences that learners may pass through.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between computer attitudes held by tertiary students and the selected variables of gender, age and previous computer experience. It was hypothesized that no statistically significant differences would be found within the relationships tested. A questionnaire comprising the Computer Attitude Scale (CAS), demographic and other questions was administered to the population enrolled in an introductory computer unit at the University of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory in Semester 1, 1992. The results were subjected to t-test and one-way analysis of variance testing. Statistically significant findings were noted between both gender and computer anxiety, and gender and computer confidence, with female students being more anxious and male students being more confident. Students with previous computer experience were found to be significantly less anxious and more confident with computers. More research on possible causes of these relationships and ways of overcoming computer anxiety is needed before the findings can be fully implemented.

The English language is now widely used in Vietnam. Consequently, the teaching and learning of English has become more significant , but, on the other hand, teaching methodologies, in Vietnam , still reflect those used in the past to teach other foreign languages. Vietnamese English teachers also experience difficulty coping with the many new problems which they now face. One of these difficulties is the teaching of English vocabulary. In order to develop an understanding of how best English vocabulary might be taught in the Vietnamese setting , this study identifies a particular group of students: Vietnamese tertiary students attending the Hanoi Foreign Languages Teachers' College, and then explores ways how teachers might introduce the teaching of English vocabulary, both to these students, and to the subjects the students will finally teach themselves. In order to prepare for an outline of how to carry out this teaching role, the study investigates the various problems associated with defining : the word; the types of meaning conveyed by the word; the relationship of phonology, syntax and semantics to the word, and other related matters . The study also looks at the problems which Vietnamese students have with learning English vocabulary. In this context a comparison is made of English and Vietnamese lexical and related systems. Subsequently, the study considers the different types of foreign language methods which have and are being used, with particular reference to how they were used to teach vocabulary. Finally, the study considers questions of the need to select appropriate vocabulary for the targetted students and details how teachers might effectively teach vocabulary.

Academic success is clearly linked to one's ability to write well. Given this close link between the two and the poor academic record of Pacific Island students within mainstream education in New Zealand, it is surprising that very little research has been undertaken to examine the academic writing problems of Pacific Island students. This emancipatory, critical study focused on tertiary students who identified as New Zealand-born Samoan. Since Samoans constitute half the Pacific Island population in New Zealand, New Zealand-born Samoan participants were chosen as being representative of this larger group. They were also chosen because they represented a group of New Zealanders identified as disadvantaged in terms of their largely low socio-economic status and poor academic achievement levels.The theoretical framework for this study is grounded in Bernstein's critical theories on communicative and teaching practices in mainstream education which disadvantage minority students from working class communities. These theories are discussed in conjunction with a general review of relevant literature in Chapter 2. The Samoan researcher in this study has added an inter-generational commentary to some of the views and experiences of school and Samoan homelife in New Zealand of participants, firstly from the perspective of her own first-hand experiences of school and Samoan homelife in the 50s and 60s and secondly from the perspective of an experienced English language teacher in New Zealand tertiary institutions.This study used a triangulation approach to enhance reliability and validity of quantitative and qualitative data collected. Three data collecting instruments were used: a written questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, and students' actual essay assignments. A written questionnaire was completed by 14 students who identified as NewZealand-born Samoan. A case study approach was then used with a sub-group of five students, representative of the original 14, who were interviewed more closely in the following areas of interest which emerged through the questionnaire: students' perceived and actual academic writing skills, communicative and teaching practices of high school and tertiary teachers, students' learning strategies, the role and effectiveness of Pacific Island support staff and programmes and the impact of the cultural and communicative practices of Samoan parents in traditional, bilingual Samoan homes on students' academic performance and success in the formal learning environment. The impact of factors such as poor self-motivation and time-management skills, inadequate reading skills and a lack of understanding of and exposure to the academic discourses of the formal learning environment, on the academic writing problems of the participants in this study, were also examined.Teaching methods which perpetuated rote learning practices amongst students were reported by participants in this study from both low and middle-decile high schools. The communicative and teaching practices of Pacific Island teaching staff were also examined in this study. Relevant data from the one-to-one teaching sessions with participants were also included as part of this study. The face-to-face interviews and one-to-one teaching sessions were tape-recorded.

This thesis describes research investigating the learning environment of tertiary students undertaking their studies through a mixture of online learning management systems and traditional tertiary classroom delivery. A review of the literature examined traditional learning environments, pure online virtual environments and more recent literature pertaining to a blended environment. The examination of student and staff perceptions of learning environments in different contexts served to generate recommendations to help tertiary teachers optimise online and traditional teaching practices within a mixed-mode environment. Students' experiences of their learning environment were discovered through quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data on students' experiences were gathered by using an adapted version of the Web-based Learning Environment Instrument (WEBLEI). Qualitative data on students' experiences were collected by discussion questions added to the WEBLEI survey. Qualitative data on the use of online and blended learning environment experiences by tertiary staff were gathered by email and supplementary interviews. The study synthesised results from these multiple sources within a tertiary institute environment and made recommendations and gave insight into optimal blended learning environments within the tertiary sector. Overall, the study provided a perspective on the psychology and strategic view of the learning environment for the future tertiary institute.