Microsoft Word - conts22-1.doc Australasian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 22, Number 1, 2006 ISSN 1449-3098 (print) 1449-5554 (online) Contents Editorial ..................................................................................... iii-vi Gender issues in preservice teachers’ training: ICT literacy and online learning ......................................................................... 1-20 Lina Markauskaite Students’ perceptions of a selected aspect of a computer mediated academic writing program: An activity theory analysis ................. 21-38 John Brine and Margaret Franken The design, development and evaluation of a virtual reality based learning environment ........................................................... 39-63 Chwen Jen Chen Using asynchronous online discussions in primary school project work .................................................................................. 64-87 Azilawati Jamaludin and Quek Choon Lang Degree of fit: University students in paid employment, service delivery and technology .............................................................. 88-103 Marilyn J. Anderson The prevalence and characteristics of online assessment in Australian universities .............................................................. 104-125 Rod Byrnes and Allan Ellis ] Modelling ICT integration in teacher education courses using distributed cognition as a framework .......................................... 126-144 Carole Steketee © 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers. The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is a refereed research journal published four times per year by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE). Members of ASCILITE and ISPI (Vic) receive AJET as a part of their membership benefits. i i Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(1) For details on submission of manuscripts, subscriptions and access to the AJET online archives, please see http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ For editorial inquiries, contact the Editor, Associate Professor Catherine McLoughlin, School of Education (ACT), Australian Catholic University, PO Box 256, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia. Email: C.McLoughlin@signadou.acu.edu.au, Tel: +61 2 6209 1100 Fax +61 2 6209 1185. For review process, production matters and subscriptions contact the Production Editor and Business Manager, Dr Roger Atkinson, 5/202 Coode Street, Como WA 6152, Australia. Email: rjatkinson@bigpond.com, Tel: +61 8 9367 1133. AJET is managed by a committee nominated by ASCILITE. Pending 2006 nominations, the interim AJET Management Committee comprises: Catherine McLoughlin (Editor), Australian Catholic University Roger Atkinson (Production Editor) Carolyn Dowling, Australian Catholic University Mike Keppell, Hong Kong Institute of Education Lori Lockyer, University of Wollongong Appointments pending Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education http://www.ascilite.org.au/ Copyright in individual articles contained in AJET is vested in each of the authors in respect of his or her contributions. Copyright in AJET is vested in ASET (1985-86), AJET Publications (1987-1996), ASET and ASCILITE (1997-2005), and ASCILITE (from 2006). Desktop publishing and HTML by Roger Atkinson. Printed and bound by Pilpel Print, Beaufort Street, Perth WA 6000, Australia. Supporting Societies Supporting societies obtain bulk supplies of printed copies of AJET at the same cost as applicable for ASCILITE members, and access to AJET online articles during the period of restricted access for each issue. Inquiries about supporting society status may be directed to the Production Editor. ISPI Melbourne Chapter http://www.ispimelb.org.au/ Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(1) iii Editorial Vale ASET This is the first issue of the Australian Journal of Educational Technology. Perhaps, in many years time, what you are holding may be a collector's item. What is more important is that this journal will continue to stimulate, to enthuse and, yes, to educate its readers as long as it exists. (ASET, 1985 [1]) There's no doubt that AJET continues very successfully, but the society that initiated the journal no longer exists. Effective end 2005, t h e Australian Society for Educational Technology has been dissolved. ASET was founded in 1975 and during its 30 year history, ASET and its members promoted educational technology through publications, conferences and local Chapter meetings. Achievements included founding AJET in 1985 and conducting the series of biennial EdTech Conferences. An archival site [2], kindly sponsored by ASCILITE [3] and NetSpot [4], has been established to preserve the EdTech Conference proceedings, and a brief historical record of other activities by ASET that is currently under development. AJET's first editorial also stated ASET's expectation that "…AJET should be both accurate and scholarly but … it should not become dessicated." AJET certainly has made the grade with respect to being "accurate and scholarly", but the dictate about "dessicated" may be a challenge! AS C IL ITE 200 6 - SYD N EY WHO’S LEARNING? WHOSE TECHNOLOGY 3-6 December. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney06/ iv Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(1) Figure 1: Some AJET covers produced in A5 format during ASET's stewardship - issues 2(1), 5(2) and 11(2) The Production Editor has commenced a small project to add editorials for Volumes 2-12 to AJET's website. When AJET digitising commenced in 1996, editorials were omitted, to economise with the time spent on the task. However, editorials must be preserved, being an important part of t h e record of what is r e a l l y happening in journal publishing. Consider t h i s plea from John Hedberg, Editor of AJET, 1986-1996 [5]: For the next issue at the end of this year, I would welcome other comments and especially reports about developments that have paid off! There must be some light at the end of the tunnel. AJET's review process: An update Table 1 presents an update on the review process data published in AJET 21(4) Editorial [6]. It contains good news, a strong start to 2006 submissions, and not so good news, slow progress towards our goal of a maximum of three months for review turnarounds ('turnaround', a jargon term borrowed from distance tutoring, is the time elapsed between receipt of an article and the emailing of review outcomes advice to the authors). AusWeb 2006 1-5 July http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/ Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(1) v Table 1: Article review outcomes AJET 2003-2005 Year of receipt No. rec'd No. rejected editorially (b) No. reject ext review (b) No. with- drawn (c) No. pending No. accept (d) No. publ- ished % accep- ted (e) 2003 6 1 3 4 1 4 0 0 1 3 2 4 21.3% 2004 9 7 5 1 1 3 2 0 3 1 2 1 32.0% 2005(a) 9 1 3 9 6 2 2 2 2 2 3 0 - 2006(a) 2 1 3 0 0 1 6 2 - - a. Data in columns 2-8 is at 16 Mar 2006. We expect to resolve the 22 year 2005 receivals that are pending at 16 Mar by mid-Apr 2006 (our goal is a three month maximum for the review process). The acceptance rate for a year cannot be finalised until after resolving all receivals in the pending category for that year. b. Some of the rejected articles may appear again as receivals in a subsequent year. The reasons for counting these instances as rejections are to enable a clearer cut off for each year's outcomes, and to align data collection with the editorial advice, used in a significant proportion of cases, 'Reject. Invite resubmission of a revised or expanded work for a new review process'. c. Withdrawn means withdrawn at the request of the authors. d. The number of articles accepted from a particular year's receivals does not correspond to the number published in each year, owing to time taken for review and revisions, and fluctuations in the speed of these processes. For example, AJET published 24 articles in 2003, the majority being 2002 receivals. e. % accepted is calculated from column 2 (No. rec'd) and column 7 (No. accepted). During 2006 we will pursue the strategies foreshadowed in Editorial 21(4) concerning an expansion of AJET's editorial team, in order to keep t h e numbers in the 'Pending' category at a level that is fairer to authors and in accord with journal publishing norms. Though we have little evidence at present, review process times is an issue in the competition between journals. Here is some illustrative advertising (turnarounds 'within 10 days'!) from the Journal of Medical Internet Research [7]: Advantages of choosing JMIR to publish your research: Fast-track review and rapid publishing: guaranteed peer-review and editorial decisions within 10 days, guaranteed publication within 4 weeks after acceptance (peer-reviewers are paid to deliver rapid and high-quality peer review reports) 10-13 July 2006, The University of Western Australia, Perth WA http://conference.herdsa.org.au/2006/ vi Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2006, 22(1) Open Access: FREE access, NO subscription required to read articles, first open access journal in health informatics (since 1999) Authors retain copyright and can republish their work for example as book chapters or their personal homepage (as long as the original publication in JMIR is acknowledged) ... Author-friendly services and processes… ... Acceptance rate 40% (as of 2/2004): Save yourself the hassle to send around your paper from journal to journal (and hearing after 6 months that it has not even been sent out for peer-review).... [8] JMIR advertising contains a point with which we can certainly agree: "…papers which are 'just' poorly written but contain great data are never rejected, instead, we actively work with authors to produce a publishable manuscript."[8] This indicates the task area, working with authors t o produce a publishable manuscript, that will be central in our forthcoming search for (honorary!) editorial co-workers for AJET. Roger Atkinson and Catherine McLoughlin AJET Production Editor and AJET Editor E n d n o t e s 1. ASET (Australian Society for Educational Technology) (1985). Editorial. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 1(1), 1. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet1/editorial1-1.html 2. ASET Archives. http://www.ascilite.org.au/aset-archives/ 3. We are grateful to President Cathy Gunn and the ASCILITE Executive for supporting the creation of this archive. 4. We acknowledge with thanks the excellent support from Allan Christie and NetSpot staff. http://www.netspot.com.au/ 5. Hedberg, J. G. (1986). Editorial. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 2(1), ii. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet2/editorial2-1.html 6. Atkinson, R.J. and McLoughlin, C.M. (2005). Editorial. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 21(4), iii-viii. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html 7. Journal of Medical Internet Research. http://www.jmir.org/ 8. Why choose JMIR? http://www.jmir.org/?JMIR_Home:Why_choose_JMIR%3F ALT-C 2006 The next generation http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2006/ 13th International Conference of the Association for Learning Technology Edinburgh, Scotland, 5-7 September 2006