Reports by Philip Townsend
This article details the construction of a Grounded Theory to explain the concept of enhancing pr... more This article details the construction of a Grounded Theory to explain the concept of enhancing professional learning through mobile devices. The research data was delimited to the behaviours and beliefs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers enrolled in two community-based initial teacher education programs in very remote communities in Australia. Four educational uses of mobile devices were identified: accessing content, handling administration, collaborating for academic support and sharing personal encouragement. The use of mobile devices enabled adults to choose times of study, choose places of study, complete assessment relevant to their course and achieve a career goal. Three elements that impact the educational use of mobile devices were identified (i.e. context, precursors and catalyst). Seven categories underlie the concept of enhancing professional learning through mobile devices: fostering access, facilitating customisation, promoting collaboration, supporting relevance, completing the course, empowering agency and enabling networking.
10.4018/IJMBL.2018100102
This is the 5th project update for the Remote Education Systems research project. It outlines key... more This is the 5th project update for the Remote Education Systems research project. It outlines key findings, publications and activities associated with the project for the 6 months to December 2014.
Papers by Philip Townsend
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 2015
This paper reports preliminary findings from ongoing PhD research which is investigating how Abor... more This paper reports preliminary findings from ongoing PhD research which is investigating how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers view the use of mobile devices for their studies while living in remote communities.
Participants come from two community-based Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs in Queensland and South Australia. Qualitative data from individual interviews and focus groups indicates many of these pre-service teachers see the use of mobile devices as an innovative approach to learning which personalises their study by enabling them to participate at times and in places they find most convenient. Engaging features of mobile devices appear to contribute to students’ spontaneous participation in elements of their course. Pre-service teachers indicate use of mobile devices gives freedom from pursuing their course only in a designated study centre. Life events sometimes prevent them attending study centres, yet mobile devices are seen to grant pre-service teachers flexibility to continue their study.
This research is important as it aims to generate new knowledge about reasons for and hindrances to the uptake of mobile devices in community-based ITE programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities. see http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/2014ConfProceedingsFinal.pdf link to page 439
Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers undertake Initial Teacher Educati... more Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers undertake Initial Teacher Education
through Community Based Programs which enable them to study while living in their own
communities. The use of mobile devices – laptops, tablets and mobile phones – has not been integral
to these Community Based Programs. Yet many of these pre-service teachers already own and use
mobile devices for social purposes. This research examines their perspectives about the use of mobile
devices for professional study. Face-to-face qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted
with sixty four pre-service teachers and Aboriginal and Islander Education Workers in Queensland
and South Australia. Locations were categorised as very remote, outer regional and inner regional.
This paper shows that voluntary engagement with mobile devices for tertiary professional study
among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers enrolled in these Community Based
Programs is location neutral. If there is mobile network coverage and mobile Internet access at a
location, then there is similar uptake of the use of mobile devices, regardless of the remoteness
classification of that location. see http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/2014ConfProceedingsFinal.pdf
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tertiary students in remote communities are separated by ph... more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tertiary students in remote communities are separated by physical
distance from their institution and fellow students. The author’s current PhD research focusses on Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers in remote communities studying Initial Teacher Education
through Community Based Programs. Many of these pre-service teachers participate in digital communities
by means of mobile devices. Congruencies between constructs of mobile learning and Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander cultural philosophies are proposed as an explanation for membership of digital communities.
Policy implications regarding use of mobile devices in Community Based Programs may increase numbers of
graduates.
Conference Presentations by Philip Townsend
This paper, based on an upcoming CRC for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) research project... more This paper, based on an upcoming CRC for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) research project—‘Pathways to Employment’—will canvas the proposition that mobile technology can be used as an effective vehicle for vocational learning in remote communities. This proposition in itself is not new and indeed there are a number of examples in the literature that demonstrate the possibilities of mobile and emerging digital technologies in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia and indigenous communities elsewhere in the world. However, the application of technologies in vocational learning is often applied to the delivery of mainstream training packages for mainstream employment outcomes.
The ‘Pathways to Employment’ research project will consider pathways from a different starting point than many other research projects, which take as a given, the traditional notion of pathways to employment—typically linear, mainstream oriented and driven—with all the mainstream assumptions that go along with this notion of ‘pathway’. This paper foregrounds the research with a consideration of the literature on effective application of digital technologies in vocational learning and the intersection between these technologies, vocational learning and their fit within a pathway. The philosophical underpinnings behind the pathways construct are examined and questioned as to their fit within a remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context. The paper suggests that the reason the apparently successful applications of digital technologies in remote VET programs work is because of their fit with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies.
The data collection phase of the research project will commence later in 2012. However, ahead of the research itself, this paper poses several questions that will form the basis of one part of the ‘Pathways’ project. These will include questions about the scope of using technology for ‘Aboriginally’ constructed vocational training products and processes that fit the breadth of livelihood aspirations in remote communities.
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Reports by Philip Townsend
10.4018/IJMBL.2018100102
Papers by Philip Townsend
Participants come from two community-based Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs in Queensland and South Australia. Qualitative data from individual interviews and focus groups indicates many of these pre-service teachers see the use of mobile devices as an innovative approach to learning which personalises their study by enabling them to participate at times and in places they find most convenient. Engaging features of mobile devices appear to contribute to students’ spontaneous participation in elements of their course. Pre-service teachers indicate use of mobile devices gives freedom from pursuing their course only in a designated study centre. Life events sometimes prevent them attending study centres, yet mobile devices are seen to grant pre-service teachers flexibility to continue their study.
This research is important as it aims to generate new knowledge about reasons for and hindrances to the uptake of mobile devices in community-based ITE programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities. see http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/2014ConfProceedingsFinal.pdf link to page 439
through Community Based Programs which enable them to study while living in their own
communities. The use of mobile devices – laptops, tablets and mobile phones – has not been integral
to these Community Based Programs. Yet many of these pre-service teachers already own and use
mobile devices for social purposes. This research examines their perspectives about the use of mobile
devices for professional study. Face-to-face qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted
with sixty four pre-service teachers and Aboriginal and Islander Education Workers in Queensland
and South Australia. Locations were categorised as very remote, outer regional and inner regional.
This paper shows that voluntary engagement with mobile devices for tertiary professional study
among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers enrolled in these Community Based
Programs is location neutral. If there is mobile network coverage and mobile Internet access at a
location, then there is similar uptake of the use of mobile devices, regardless of the remoteness
classification of that location. see http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/2014ConfProceedingsFinal.pdf
distance from their institution and fellow students. The author’s current PhD research focusses on Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers in remote communities studying Initial Teacher Education
through Community Based Programs. Many of these pre-service teachers participate in digital communities
by means of mobile devices. Congruencies between constructs of mobile learning and Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander cultural philosophies are proposed as an explanation for membership of digital communities.
Policy implications regarding use of mobile devices in Community Based Programs may increase numbers of
graduates.
Conference Presentations by Philip Townsend
The ‘Pathways to Employment’ research project will consider pathways from a different starting point than many other research projects, which take as a given, the traditional notion of pathways to employment—typically linear, mainstream oriented and driven—with all the mainstream assumptions that go along with this notion of ‘pathway’. This paper foregrounds the research with a consideration of the literature on effective application of digital technologies in vocational learning and the intersection between these technologies, vocational learning and their fit within a pathway. The philosophical underpinnings behind the pathways construct are examined and questioned as to their fit within a remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context. The paper suggests that the reason the apparently successful applications of digital technologies in remote VET programs work is because of their fit with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies.
The data collection phase of the research project will commence later in 2012. However, ahead of the research itself, this paper poses several questions that will form the basis of one part of the ‘Pathways’ project. These will include questions about the scope of using technology for ‘Aboriginally’ constructed vocational training products and processes that fit the breadth of livelihood aspirations in remote communities.
10.4018/IJMBL.2018100102
Participants come from two community-based Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs in Queensland and South Australia. Qualitative data from individual interviews and focus groups indicates many of these pre-service teachers see the use of mobile devices as an innovative approach to learning which personalises their study by enabling them to participate at times and in places they find most convenient. Engaging features of mobile devices appear to contribute to students’ spontaneous participation in elements of their course. Pre-service teachers indicate use of mobile devices gives freedom from pursuing their course only in a designated study centre. Life events sometimes prevent them attending study centres, yet mobile devices are seen to grant pre-service teachers flexibility to continue their study.
This research is important as it aims to generate new knowledge about reasons for and hindrances to the uptake of mobile devices in community-based ITE programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities. see http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/2014ConfProceedingsFinal.pdf link to page 439
through Community Based Programs which enable them to study while living in their own
communities. The use of mobile devices – laptops, tablets and mobile phones – has not been integral
to these Community Based Programs. Yet many of these pre-service teachers already own and use
mobile devices for social purposes. This research examines their perspectives about the use of mobile
devices for professional study. Face-to-face qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted
with sixty four pre-service teachers and Aboriginal and Islander Education Workers in Queensland
and South Australia. Locations were categorised as very remote, outer regional and inner regional.
This paper shows that voluntary engagement with mobile devices for tertiary professional study
among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers enrolled in these Community Based
Programs is location neutral. If there is mobile network coverage and mobile Internet access at a
location, then there is similar uptake of the use of mobile devices, regardless of the remoteness
classification of that location. see http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/2014ConfProceedingsFinal.pdf
distance from their institution and fellow students. The author’s current PhD research focusses on Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander pre-service teachers in remote communities studying Initial Teacher Education
through Community Based Programs. Many of these pre-service teachers participate in digital communities
by means of mobile devices. Congruencies between constructs of mobile learning and Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander cultural philosophies are proposed as an explanation for membership of digital communities.
Policy implications regarding use of mobile devices in Community Based Programs may increase numbers of
graduates.
The ‘Pathways to Employment’ research project will consider pathways from a different starting point than many other research projects, which take as a given, the traditional notion of pathways to employment—typically linear, mainstream oriented and driven—with all the mainstream assumptions that go along with this notion of ‘pathway’. This paper foregrounds the research with a consideration of the literature on effective application of digital technologies in vocational learning and the intersection between these technologies, vocational learning and their fit within a pathway. The philosophical underpinnings behind the pathways construct are examined and questioned as to their fit within a remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context. The paper suggests that the reason the apparently successful applications of digital technologies in remote VET programs work is because of their fit with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies.
The data collection phase of the research project will commence later in 2012. However, ahead of the research itself, this paper poses several questions that will form the basis of one part of the ‘Pathways’ project. These will include questions about the scope of using technology for ‘Aboriginally’ constructed vocational training products and processes that fit the breadth of livelihood aspirations in remote communities.