Overview

In the ever changing times that characterise the 21^st century, educators from diverse backgrounds are increasingly brought together by a shared commitment to responding in productive and creative ways to this turbulent environment.

At the centre of many debates is a commitment to identifying those pedagogical practices which have the most to offer increasingly diverse groups of educators and students. These practices must relate not only to the world within which students are currently positioned, but also to the future environments within which they may find themselves.

In this context, emphasis is increasingly placed upon the need for educators to develop futures oriented pedagogies: approaches to teaching and learning that are grounded in the present but cognisant of and responsive to diverse possible futures. It is this commitment to the development and understanding of futures-oriented pedagogies which ties the papers in this book together.

Covering a range of themes, using different resources, and relating to multiple educational sectors, the papers explore important issues concerning the ways in which futures oriented pedagogy can be conceptualised and actualised. As such they are a valuable resource to educators in all areas and raise important questions for those seeking to respond in effective and meaningful day-to-day ways to the challenges of the 21^st century.

Proudly published by Post Pressed

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter One -
Researching Futures Oriented Pedagogy

Leonie Rowan & Bruce Allen Knight

Chapter Two -
Actor-network theory and online university teaching:

• Translation versus diffusion

Chris Bigum

Chapter Three -
Diffusion Theory and Actor-Network Theory:

• Two Views on an Innovation

Nola Simpson

Chapter Four -
Cautiously Optimistic:

• The work associated with online university teaching

Leonie Rowan

Chapter Five -
Towards a More Successful School-University Transition:

• Insights From a Case Study

Louise Soper

Chapter Six -
Preservice Teachers' Understandings of Being a Primary Teacher

Mary McDougall

Chapter Seven -
Getting it Write:

• A Comparison of Whole Language and Genre Approaches to Literacy Education

Bruce Allen Knight, Peter Freebody & Carole McDiarmid

Chapter Eight -
Interactions Between Analogical and Mental Models

Allan G Harrison

Chapter Nine -
Rhetoric or reality:

• The role of the peer assessor in user choice traineeships in the Queensland Government

Christine Lister

Chapter Ten -
Positioning Children to Cope with Change

Cecily Knight