is currently lecturing in multimedia in the School of Information Technology, a background of 10 years experience in the design and development of educational multimedia has precipitated a strong research interest in the application of technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Steve Drew has taught in the Information and Communication Technology area for 20 years. Completing action research into engaging students with learning about information systems and a project to embed peer observation of teaching in science, engineering, environment and technology schools has seen him move full time into the academic development arena.

While many educators in higher education are using technologies in their teaching, their use of technology is generally restricted to meeting purposes of convenience and efficiency. Rarely are the affordances of technology being exploited by educators in higher education in order to develop teaching strategies that truly engage students, and help students develop self‐regulation and the ability to work collaboratively – both of which are important capacities in the information age. It is therefore desirable to encourage educators to make some changes to their online teaching practices. Achieving change in teaching practice is a challenging process. The authors suggest that adopting a critical theory perspective has the potential to empower educators to re‐examine their roles, beliefs and assumptions, and ultimately help to reform teaching practice in online environments to the benefit of both educators and their learners. Thus, the authors seek to encourage educators to re‐consider their philosophy of online teaching from the perspective of critical theory.

In many countries, one aspect of health education, namely child sexual abuse, has become an important issue for teachers in pre-schools, primary schools and high schools to address. In Australia, many states now have mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by teachers to their Principals then to the police or the Department of Families. Consequently, as preparation for this role, all teachers should have appropriate knowledge and attitudes about child sexual abuse. This paper analyses the educational bases of an interactive multimedia CD-Rom module on child sexual abuse designed for use by Australian university undergraduate teachers, to enhance their knowledge and attitudes about child sexual abuse. This application of Bloom's Levels of Thinking Skills as well as Constructivist principles in designing educational multimedia may assist other educational curriculum developers when designing pedagogical interactivities that are appropriate, productive and relevant in teaching about child sexual abuse to undergraduate teachers.

The fundamental tenet of critical theory is that knowledge cannot be separated from the agents of the system in which it exists-all knowledge is shaped by the interests of various people and systems (Author, 2015). The aim of critical theory is to "make problematic what is taken for granted in culture" for the purpose of "social justice," to the benefit of "those who are oppressed" (Nichols & Allen-Brown, 1996, p. 226). In making problematic what is taken for granted, critical theory as a theoretical orientation acknowledges power imbalances and represents a dialectic

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