Cross-border academic collaborations in conflict zones are vulnerable to escalated turbulence, liability concerns and flagging support. Multi-level stakeholder engagement at home and abroad is essential for securing the political and financial sustainability of such collaborations. This study examines the multilayered stakeholder arrangements…

With an increasing number of students enrolling into Australian universities, developing an understanding of the variables underlying academic success, is growing in importance. In the present study, three first-year cohorts (2013-2015) studying towards five allied health or science degrees (n = 1,676 students) were examined to ascertain the…

Online discussions have become inherent components of both face-to-face and distance education college courses, yet they often fail to provide much benefit to students' learning outcomes. One reason behind this phenomenon is the lack of or inadequate scaffolding or guidance provided to students when participating on asynchronous discussion boards.…

Consumer-grade virtual reality has recently become available for both desktop and mobile platforms and may redefine the way that students learn. However, the decision regarding which device to utilise within a curriculum is unclear. Desktop-based VR has considerably higher setup costs involved, whereas mobile-based VR cannot produce the quality of…

This article details reflections of an interdisciplinary team of educators working with groups of health sciences students in preparing them for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The first-year common core unit discussed here is one attempt to equip future health practitioners with skills and knowledges to work adequately…

The purpose of this study was to determine the current perspectives of feedback from first and second year undergraduate students enrolled in blended units of study which incorporated both face-to-face and online components. Students enrolled in a unit of study taught by the School of Health Sciences at the University of Tasmania were surveyed to…

Clinical education is foundational to health professional training. However, it is also a time of increased stress for students. A student's perception of stressors and their capacity to effectively manage them is a legitimate concern for educators, because anxiety and decreased coping strategies can interfere with effective learning, clinical…

In 2008, the Indiana University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the School of Education, admitted its first student to a newly approved PhD program in Anatomy and Cell Biology focusing on educational research rather than biomedical research. The goal of the program is twofold: (1) to provide students with extensive training in all of the…

New media communication tools used in health science education may help enhance student engagement and sense of community, improve retention and persistence, and provide a richer academic experience, but the research is limited on non-traditional online learners. The studies described here therefore, focus on fully online, undergraduate health…

Learning advisors provide academic literacy development support in a variety of configurations, ranging from one-on-one consultations through to large-scale lectures. Such lectures can be generic, stand-alone modules or embedded within a discipline-specific course. Pragmatic and institutional considerations suggest that a generic model of delivery…

Health indicators for rural populations in Australia continue to lag behind those of urban populations and particularly for Indigenous populations who make up a large proportion of people living in rural and remote Australia. Preparation of health practitioners who are adequately prepared to face the "messy swamps" of rural health…

Multidisciplinary educational curriculum development is a fundamental part of my role as an academic. In practice, the term historically meant that students were segregated into their respective professional disciplines and taught in 'optional modules' of relevance only to them. One of the aims of my work is to build capacity within and between…

Program evaluation is a process of carefully collecting information in order to make informed decisions to strengthen specific components of a given program. The type of evaluation an institution decides to undertake depends on the purpose as well as on the information the institution wants to find out about its program. Self-evaluation represents…

Social media now form a common part of university students' experience. Both at university and after graduation, in their personal and professional lives, social media offer opportunities for connection previously unavailable. The ubiquitous nature of social networking has brought with it professional and ethical issues that need to be…

The implementation of a Post Entrance Numeracy Assessment (PENA) program at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) Fremantle campus, demonstrated that many Health Science students had inadequate mathematical skills on entry. The development of a support course, offered as a "strongly encouraged" option, resulted in only 4% of…