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With many science teachers from the Caribbean migrating to more developed countries in order to take up more lucrative contracts, the need to increase the training opportunities for teachers has taken on greater urgency. Online learning is considered a convenient option to address this increased demand for in-service training and upgrading of teachers. While this form of course delivery has several strengths, there are several drawbacks that are of particular significance for training and professional development of teachers.

This paper highlights some of the challenges with respect to the types of assessment activities and the management of the assessment process of one university online programme involved with the professional development of teachers. It discusses some implications for graduates of this programme moving on to higher educational opportunities, with an emphasis on science education and the assessment of students enrolled in online teacher upgrading programmes.

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This paper describes a method for analysing the learning processes that take place in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The approach is based on tracking the interactions between learners and tutors. Keeping track of meaningful events serves three main purposes: evaluation of the quality of the process, monitoring students’ performance in real time and the assessment of individual learning performances. The results can be of benefit to course designers, tutors/instructors and researchers involved in collaborative learning experiences. The method is based on a five-dimensional model that includes a participative, an interactive, a social, a cognitive and a teaching dimension. Each dimension can be analysed through a set of indicators obtained by tracking course participants’ behaviour within the learning environment. Examples of significant indicators, drawn from the literature and the authors’ field experience, are discussed for each dimension. The paper also proposes a taxonomy of the data needed to obtain the described indicators. Finally, possible directions for further research are outlined.

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The 2007 conference of the Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL) was organised jointly with Workbase: the New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development, ESOL Home Tutors and Literacy Aotearoa. The available presentations from the Pre-Conference Workshop are: (1) What works: research and practice in adult ESOL / Heide Spruck Wrigley; (2) Can you see it? The experience of integration of language, literacy and numeracy in the Australian vocational and education training system / Michelle Circelli and Louise Wignall; and (3) Foundation learning and e-assessment: adding value to teaching and learning / John Hattie and Alison Sutton.

The available presentations from Day One, Concurrent Sessions One are: (1.1) Mother tongue and ESOL literacy / Jenny Field and Dorothy Thwaite; (1.2) Indigenising adult literacy / Atawhai Li; (1.3) What is health literacy and how can we use it as a preventive approach to increasing chronic disease in our societies? / Pat Millar; (1.4) The Adult Numeracy Initiative: focusing on learner achievement / Gill Thomas, Victoria Yee, Kim Hastwell and Joan Morley; (1.5) Global/local racisms and adult literacy work / Sue Shore; (1.6) Valuing outcomes for family literacy / Bernardine Vester, Robin Houlker and Moana Whaanga; (1.7) The Get Real Factor / Louise Wignall; (1.9) Developing web-based dramatised scenarios / Keith Tyler-Smith and Terri Brian; (1.10) Literacy and the health sector: partnerships for social capital outcomes / Stephen Black; and (1.11) Supporting aspiring bilingual workers in the community services field / Anna Walker.

The available presentations from Day One, Concurrent Sessions Two are: (2.1) Future I don't know... and now? An investigation of pathways for EAL migrants and refugee students in New Zealand / Pat Strauss, Kevin Roach, Annelies Roskvist, Frank Smedley and Victoria Yee; (2.2) On our own terms: can adult literacy support Indigenous communities cultural continuity and dynamism? / Aneta Rawiri; (2.3) Formative assessment: it makes a difference / Alison Sutton and John Benseman; (2.4) Learning for living: evidence based adult learning / Anne Lee and Stephanie Doyle; (2.5) Face to face and online learning in the numeracy classroom / Julia Kearton and Libby Rowswell; (2.6) Digital stories / Debbie Soccio; (2.8) Adult literacy in Australia: a human capital model. Is there an alternative? / Margaret McHugh; and (2.10) Intergenerational literacy programmes / Jane Furness.

The available keynote and dinner addresses from Day One are: (1) Getting the most from this 'great' conference / keynote address from Ed Bernacki; (2) Bringing in the outside: implications for policy and practice / keynote address from Heide Spruck Wrigley; (3) Check up with Ed Bernacki; (4) Ask your Aunties / keynote panel: Carol Nicoll, Karen Sewell, Janice Shiner and Mary Anne Thompson; (5) The Power of And / Conference dinner speaker Pita Sharples.

The available presentations from Day Two, Concurrent Sessions Three are: (3.1) Critically reading and writing the words and the world / Ann Kelly; (3.3) Looking behind the numeracy component of the ALLS survey / Dave Tout; (3.4) Community and university research: consultation and collaboration / Sally Patrick and Frank Sligo; (3.5) The logic of whanau / Bronwyn Yates; (3.6) Getting business productivity benefits and literacy gains from workplace literacy programmes / Katherine Percy; (3.7) Experience and pictures then words: extending a language experience approach through technology / Celia Hope; (3.8) The NZ Draft Foundation Learning Progressions / Jill Heinrich; (3.10) The challenge of literacy: unions, workplaces and tertiary institutions / Chris Holland; (3.11) An innovative Australian partnership to build a self sustaining future for East Timor's Defence Force / Lorraine Sushames; and (3.12) Laying footprints / Estelle Rozinski and Jenny McGuirk.

The available presentations from Day Two, Concurrent Sessions Four are: (4.1) The power of engagement / Alison Reedy; (4.3) Workplace numeracy: reflections on learning, identity and training / Beth Marr; (4.5) Lost in translation: the problems and contradictions of a competency based model for adult literacy in South Africa / Elda Lyster; (4.6) ... and literacy beyond the classroom / Pauline O'Maley; (4.8) Evaluating the Upskilling Partnership projects / John Benseman and Ginnie Denny; (4.9) Choice, change and freedom / Haami (Sam) Chapman and Jodi Maniapoto; (4.10) The success of literacy team teaching in the trades classroom / Wendy Roberts, Kathleen Krsinich, Lisa James, Grant Cole and Dee Parker; (4.11) Interacting and engaging with technology / Helen Cartner and Elizabeth Brugh; and (4.12) Teaching critical thinking / Nicky Mohan.

The available presentations from the closing of Day Two are: (1) Preparing for the release of ALLS in Australia / Chris Duncan; (2) Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey: preparing for the release of ALLS / Paul Satherly; and (3) Check out with Ed Bernacki. Show less

In this book, there is a discussion about e-learning as an area of research generating its own issues, activities and complexities. Six major themes form linkages in and between chapters. They are: (1) the interdisciplinary nature of e-learning; (2) access and inclusion to the use of such technology; (3) change management facilitating increased use of e-learning; (4) technical elements involved in e-learning in particular converging technologies; (5) interactivity and social interaction; and (6) political aspects including interaction between strategy and practice.

Papers included in this book are: Knowledge, society and perspectives on learning technology / Martin Oliver, George Roberts, Helen Beetham, Bruce Ingraham, Martin Dyke and Phil Levy (pp.21-37); A critique of the impact of policy and funding / Grainne Conole, Janice Smith and Su White (pp.38-54); The design of learning technologies / John Cook, Su White, Mike Sharples, Niall Sclater and Hugh Davis (pp.55-68); The impact of e-learning on organisation roles and structures / Grainne Conole, Su White and Martin Oliver (pp.69-81); Learning theory and its application to e-learning / Martin Dyke, Grainne Conole, Andrew Ravenscroft and Sara de Freitas (pp.82-98); Designing for learning / Grainne Conole, Martin Oliver, Isobel Falconer, Alison Littlejohn and Jen Harvey (pp.101-120); Designing digital resources for learning / Jane Seale, Tom Boyle, Bruce Ingraham, George Roberts and Claire Mcavina (pp.121-133); Managing educational resources / Allison Littlejohn, John Cook, Lorna Campbell, Niall Sclater, Sarah Currier and Hugh Davis (pp.134-146); E-assessment / Niall Sclater, Grainne Conole, Bill Warburton and Jen Harvey (pp.147-159); Academic literacy in the 21st century / Bruce Ingraham, Phi Levy, Colleen McKenna and George Roberts (pp.174-190); Collaboration / Chris Jones, John Cook, Ann Jones and Maarten De Laat (pp.174-189); Learning technologies: affective and social issues / Ann Jones and Kim Issroff (pp.190-202); Evaluation / Martin Oliver, Jen Harvey, Grainne Conole and Ann Jones (pp.203-217). Show less