Mathematical games can be used to engage learners, promote fluency and deepen conceptual understanding. When considering the level of engagement of students, sometimes a small change can have a large impact. Something as simple as switching dice for cards in a game and, importantly, introducing a 'non-replacement' mechanism to the gameplay, can…

Purpose: This article explores key features of effective professional learning as identified in research, exploring in-depth the potential of co-mentoring as a transformative model for teacher development. Design/methodology/approach: This article focuses on the Foundation for Learning and Literacy's (FFLL) Touchstone 11, which underscores the…

This paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the rationale and purpose of religious education (RE) in Catholic schools. RE in Australian Catholic schools has always been a feature of the curriculum and the expectation is that all students take part in this. Several salient features of contemporary culture that impact on faith-based schools…

The Charles Sturt University Retention Team has developed, tested, evaluated, and refined a retention model through 14 action-research cycles from 2017-2021. The project has expanded from a small pilot in one faculty to monitoring the engagement and submission of an early assessment item for over 70% of all commencing undergraduate students across…

Within the contemporary higher education landscape, maintaining student engagement and retention has become of critical concern to universities. Universities have mostly responded to this concern by implementing institutional engagement and retention initiatives by professional university staff. Thus far, however, the role that teaching academics…

When teaching practice changes due to unwelcome forces, like COVID-19, there still could be pedagogical innovations worth keeping in post-pandemic toolboxes. This leads to the questions: What teaching practices from the pandemic do we want to keep or modify? What lessons learned from the pandemic should we consider keeping when moving forward?…

The growing trend for massification in higher education delivery has contributed to challenges in student engagement and experience. This has been further compounded by the global pandemic, with the sector experiencing reduced financial, staffing and resourcing budgets. The authors identified the delivery of meaningful feedback at scale as a…

In the present moment, art educators need to facilitate high-quality online learning experiences through the integration of collaborative learning, peer-based feedback, and effective educational technologies. In practice-based visual arts courses, it is also essential to focus on student engagement with the studio processes and material outcomes…

In this article, a teaching artist shares their understandings about designing a large-scale interactive intermedial arts experience for children aged five to eight years, and articulates findings about the conditions that promote quality experiences of this kind. When designing interactive arts experiences, a tension exists between providing…

When Indigenous and non-Indigenous postgraduate research students start researching Indigenous topics, how can we best prepare them for the task ahead? In this article, I describe the approach taken by one regional Australian university to support research students with Indigenous topics through a Master of Philosophy (Indigenous). Drawing on…

The importance of engaging students with complex societal challenges has led to the adoption of various interdisciplinary teaching and learning practices in both K-12 and higher education. However, interdisciplinary learning is one of the most complex domains of contemporary educational practice, and, despite its significance, remains…

This paper provides a conceptualisation of relational pedagogy in which informality is proposed as a pedagogical modality to activate inclusive, socially just learning and teaching encounters. Findings from two ethnographic studies conducted in alternative learning contexts are examined, which demonstrated that informality was crucial to the…

Academic underachievement of students from disadvantaged backgrounds is an ongoing problem for Australian schooling. Schools serving these communities face profound challenges in meeting their students' educational needs. "Creative and Embodied" approaches draw on pedagogical practices inherent in Health and Physical Education and the…

Tertiary institutions are migrating away from didactic and teacher-centred approaches, and instead, pivoting to lesson designs that encourage hands-on learning and student engagement. However, this practice is often "try and see", with few frameworks providing evidence-based approaches for practical application that demonstrates how…

Through the lens of the Community of Inquiry education experience (Vaughan & Garrison, 2006), this practice report provides guidance and examples for online instructors to engage students within discussion boards in the digital realm. Five elements will be discussed: embedding multi-media, affiliative humour and storytelling, Socratic…