New publications

This paper provides an overview of Re-conceptualising and Re-positioning Australian Library and Information Science Education for the Twenty-first Century', a research project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) under its 2010 Priority Projects Program. The project commenced in November 2009, and will be undertaken over a 12-month period. This paper draws upon the original project application submitted to ALTC. It includes a summary of the project and is designed to provide a context for additional discussion papers that will be produced during the course of the project. It outlines the project's aims, motivation and intended outcomes; its timeline and activities; and strategies for evaluation, profile building and communication dissemination. Adapted from the introduction.

Aimed at scholars, educators, researchers and practitioners, this text aims to provide a technological and sociological approach to digital literacy from an educational perspective. A conceptual framework for understanding the social changes produced by digital media is defined, and a framework within which digital literacy acts as a tool to assist younger generations to interact critically with digital media and their culture is provided. Topics include integrating technological and information literacy; adolescents' use of the internet; paradigm changes involved in media education to digital literacy; and the digital divide. Adapted from publisher's description.

This text is designed to help content area teachers improve their understanding of the role that reading and writing play in specific subjects. It emphasises how the prevailing cultures in high school affect students' literacy and learning, and how educators can draw upon these cultures to make literacy in content learning relevant to students. It also contains step-by-step approaches to gauge student literacy; build vocabulary; and implement instruction that improves comprehension, encourages critical reading, supports writing for learning, and facilitates collaboration for literacy development. Chapter titles include: Engaging Cultures and Literacies for Learning; Motivation to Read Content-Area Texts; and Inside the Meaning Construction Zone: Readers Reading. Adapted from publisher's description.

This text offers theoretical, practical and research-based perspectives for approaching technologies that support online communication for language learning. The authors examine tools such as forums, chats, and audio and visual real-time platforms, as well as virtual worlds and mobile devices, and review the literature around how such tools are used in educational settings. Key theoretical issues, such as pedagogic developments in online language learning, learning theories, teacher and student experience, and assessment, are identified, and an appraisal of the potential benefits and challenges of learning and teaching a language via these technologies is offered. An extensive annotated collection of online resources is also provided. Adapted from publisher's description.

This study examines tracking, or streaming, at middle-school level in Massachusetts, as well as the performance of high-achieving students in tracked and untracked schools. Large changes have occurred in tracking since the 1990s: students now spend most of their day in detracked, rather than tracked, classes. Several factors influence tracking, such as socioeconomic status, the influence of parents, and a school's grade configuration. Detracking has become more prevalent in low-socioeconomic schools in high-density areas. While detracking in English was not found to have any significant effect on student outcomes, detracking in maths may have potential risks for high-achieving students. The full report is available online.

This book describes the classroom behaviour management techniques developed and used by the author. It outlines the difficulties that teachers face in trying to manage students' misbehaviour in the school environment, and describes four categories of students, and how they can be helped to behave responsibly using particular classroom techniques, such as setting classroom roles and goals. The book also provides a framework to help teachers make a long-term commitment to developing productive interactions with students. Adapted from the publisher's description.