Personal epistemological beliefs, or beliefs about knowing, provide a way in which to understand learning in a range of educational contexts because they are considered to act as filters for all other knowledge and beliefs. In particular, they provide a useful framework for investigating learning and teaching for first year students in tertiary education, who are typically considered to hold less sophisticated epistemological beliefs. Using semi-structured interviews, this study investigated the nature of beliefs about knowing and learning of 35 first year teacher education and creative writing students at a large metropolitan university in Australia. The interview analysis indicated that a relationship existed between individuals' core beliefs about knowing and their beliefs about learning. This relationship has implications for the way in which we support first year students' learning as they transition into university and progress through their courses.

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As online environments gain an increasing presence in higher education for both oncampus students and distance learners, there is a need to examine how effective these environments are for student learning. Online environments require essentially different teaching and learning strategies from those used in the traditional face-toface contexts (for on-campus students) or with print-based material (for distance learners). This paper identifies early childhood teacher education students' perceptions of their learning experiences with the advent of an online learning environment. Perceptions of on-campus and distance learners are compared, and implications for teacher education staff interested in providing high quality learning environments within an online space are discussed.Online instruction: teaching and learning mediated by educators, using information and communication technologies as the vehicle for connecting, sharing and collaborating, is gaining an increasing presence in higher education due to its perceived benefits. These benefits include speedy and effective delivery of courses across geographical and time constraints, opportunities for improved pedagogical support, increased access for nontraditional students, and claims of cost savings (Bigum & Rowan, 2004;Natriello, 2005; Oblinger, Barone & Hawkins, 2001). For more than a century many universities have made provision for students and teachers separated by time and place. For these "distance education" students, technology (i.e., voice, video, data or print) is used as a bridge for communication (French, Olrech, Hale & Johnson, 2003, p 220). Traditionally, print resources were mailed to students and communication was slow and cumbersome, however, 3 3 in recent years more sophisticated technologies and delivery methods have been adopted (Finger, McGlasson & Finger, 2007). Universities have enhanced both their on-campus and distance-learning courses with online learning-management systems. "The traditional distinctions between distance education and campus-based institutions are blurring, with hybrid modes or 'distributed learning' where technology-mediated instruction provides greater flexibility for students and teaching staff, emerging as the new standard" (Masi & Winer, 2005, p. 149). Distance learning has become a subset of distributed learning which relies on a range of computing and communications technologies to provide extended opportunities for interaction and learning for all students; it can occur both on campus and off campus -anywhere, at any time (Oblinger, Barone & Hawkins, 2001). With institutional commitment to online instruction comes the need for evaluation and quality control to determine best practices in online learning communities. Furthermore, as flexible delivery increases, it is essential that lecturers identify potential barriers or stumbling blocks their students may encounter (Belcheir & Cucek, 2001). Bigum and Rowan (2004) argue that there has been limited attention given to what these new forms of distribu...

Whilst participation in higher education has increased dramatically over the last two decades, many universities are only now beginning to pay more attention to the learning experiences of first year students. It is important for universities to understand how first year students conceive of learning and knowing in order to promote effective approaches to learning. Even though an extensive body of research demonstrates that beliefs about learning and knowing influence student approaches to learning and learning outcomes, there has been no Australian research that has investigated this critical learner characteristic across first year university students. This paper reports on preliminary data from an ongoing longitudinal study designed to investigate first year students' beliefs about knowing and learning (epistemological beliefs). Students from teacher education and creative industry faculties in two Australian universities completed the Epistemological Beliefs Survey (EBS) in the first week of their first semester of study. A series of one-way ANOVA using key demographics as independent variables and the EBS factor scores as dependent variables showed that epistemological beliefs were related to the course of study, previous post-school education experience, family experience at University, gender and age. These data help us to understand students' beliefs about learning and knowing with a view to informing effective learning in higher education.

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