In late 2013, PhD candidate Megan Jackson presented her confirmation seminar at the University of Canberra. In it she described her examination of the potential for linking students with serious chronic illness to their classes and teachers using real-time Voice Over Internet Protocols (VOIP).
Megan notes that chronic illness generally means periods of relative wellness interspersed with periods of illness when the student is likely to be absent from school. School absence means that the student is not participating in learning activities, and this is likely to lead to reduced school engagement and motivation. Megan is examining the effect of using VOIP to maintain connection between students and their learning communities, and is focusing in particular on measuring student motivation and engagement, and identifying barriers to the use of VOIP in schools. She hopes to be able to use her research to improve educational outcomes for sick kids everywhere across Australia. Listen to her talk here. (Image © teachingsagittarian available under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons licence.)