The student as customer model and its impact on the academic leadership role in higher education

This paper posits that the 'student as customer' model has a negative impact upon the academic leadership which in turn is responsible for the erosion of objectivity in the assessment process in the higher education sector. The paper draws on the existing literature to explore the relationship between the student as customer model, academic leadership, and student assessment. The existing research emanating from the literature provides the basis from which the short comings of the student as customer model are exposed. From a practical perspective the arguments made in this paper provide the groundwork for possible future research into the adverse affects of the student as customer model on academic leadership and job satisfaction in the academic work force. The concern for quality may benefit from empirical investigation of the relationship between the student as customer model and quality learning and assessment outcomes in the higher education sector. The paper raises awareness of the faults with the present reliance on the student as customer model and the negative impact on both students and academic staff. The issues explored have the potential to influence the future directions of the higher education sector with regard to the social implications of their quest for quality educational outcomes. The paper addresses a gap in the literature in regard to use of the student as customer model and the subsequent adverse affect on academic leadership and assessment in higher education.

The effectiveness of a short-term group music therapy intervention for young parents and their children

The quality of early life experiences are known to influence a child’s capacities for emotional, social, cognitive and physical competence throughout their life (Peterson, 1996; Zubrick et al., 2008). These early life experiences are directly affected by parenting and family environments. A lack of positive parenting has significant implications both for children, and the broader communities in which they live (Davies & Cummings, 1994; Dryfoos, 1990; Sanders, 1995). Young parents are known to be at risk of experiencing adverse circumstances that affect their ability to provide positive parenting to their children (Milan et al., 2004; Trad, 1995). There is a need to provide parenting support programs to young parents that offer opportunities for them to come together, support each other and learn ways to provide for their children’s developmental needs in a friendly, engaging and non-judgemental environment. This research project examines the effectiveness of a 10 week group music therapy program Sing & Grow as an early parenting intervention for 535 young parents. Sing & Grow is a national early parenting intervention program funded by the Australian Government and delivered by Playgroup Queensland. It is designed and delivered by Registered Music Therapists for families at risk of marginalisation with children aged from birth to three years. The aim of the program is to improve parenting skills and parent-child interactions, and increase social support networks through participation in a group that is strengths-based and structured in a way that lends itself to modelling, peer learning and facilitated learning. During the 10 weeks parents have opportunities to learn practical, hands-on ways to interact and play with their children that are conducive to positive parent-child relationships and ongoing child development. A range of interactive, nurturing, stimulating and developmental music activities provide the framework for parents to interact and play with their children. This research uses data collected through the Sing & Grow National Evaluation Study to examine outcomes for all participants aged 25 years and younger, who attended programs during the Sing & Grow pilot study and main study from mid-2005 to the end of 2007. The research examines the change from pre to post in self-reported parent behaviours, parent mental health and parent social support, and therapist observed parent-child interactions. A range of statistical analyses are used to address each Research Objective for the young parent population, and for subgroups within this population. Research Objective 1 explored the patterns of attendance in the Sing & Grow program for young parents, and for subgroups within this population. Results showed that levels of attendance were lower than expected and influenced by Indigenous status and source of family income. Patterns of attendance showed a decline over time and incomplete data rates were high which may indicate high dropout rates. Research Objective 2 explored perceived satisfaction, benefits and social support links made. Satisfaction levels with the program and staff were very high. Indigenous status was associated with lower levels of reported satisfaction with both the program and staff. Perceived benefits from participation in the program were very high. Employment status was associated with perceived benefits: parents who were not employed were more likely than employed parents to report that their understanding of child development had increased as a result of participation in the program. Social support connections were reported for participants with other professionals, services and parents. In particular, families were more likely to link up with playgroup staff and services. Those parents who attended six or more sessions were significantly more likely to attend a playgroup than those who attended five sessions or less. Social support connections were related to source of family income, level of education, Indigenous status and language background. Research Objective 3 investigated pre to post change on self-report parenting skills and parent mental health. Results indicated that participation in the Sing & Grow program was associated with improvements in parent mental health. No improvements were found for self-reported parenting skills. Research Objective 4 investigated pre to post change in therapist observation measures of parent-child interactions. Results indicated that participation in the Sing & Grow program was associated with large and significant improvements in parent sensitivity to, engagement with and acceptance of the child. There were significant interactions across time (pre to post) for the parent characteristics of Indigenous status, family income and level of education. Research Objective 5 explored the relationship between the number of sessions attended and extent of change on self-report outcomes and therapist observed outcomes, respectively. For each, an overall change score was devised to ascertain those parents who had made any positive changes over time. Results showed that there was no significant relationship between high attendance and positive change in either the self-report or therapist observed behavioural measures. A risk index was also constructed to test for a relationship between the risk status of the parent. Parents with the highest risk status were significantly more likely to attend six or more sessions than other parents, but risk status was not associated with any differences in parent reported outcomes or therapist observations. The results of this research study indicate that Sing & Grow is effective in improving outcomes for young parents’ mental health, parent-child interactions and social support connections. High attendance by families in the highest category for risk factors may indicate that the program is effective at engaging and retaining parents who are most at-risk and therefore traditionally hard to reach. Very high levels of satisfaction and perceived benefits support this. Further research is required to help confirm the promising evidence from the current study that a short term group music therapy program can support young parents and improve their parenting outcomes. In particular, this needs to address the more disappointing outcomes of the current research study to improve attendance and engagement of all young parents in the program and especially the needs of young Indigenous parents.

An innovative design and studio-based CS degree

The University of Queensland has recently established a new design-focused, studio-based computer science degree. The Bachelor of Information Environments degree augments the core courses from the University's standard CS degree with a stream of design courses and integrative studio-based projects undertaken every semester. The studio projects integrate and reinforce learning by requiring students to apply the knowledge and skills gained in other courses to open-ended real-world design projects. The studio model is based on the architectural studio and involves teamwork, collaborative learning, interactive problem solving, presentations and peer review. This paper describes the degree program, its curriculum and rationale, and reports on experiences in the first year of delivery.

E-portfolios : developing nurse practitioner competence and capability

Objective: This paper aims to integrate nurse practitioner literature on competence and capability with post graduate and nursing literature on e‑portfolios in order to demonstrate the potential merits of e‑portfolios in nurse practitioner education for competence and capability development. Primary Argument In the Nurse Practitioner Standards Project, competence and capability were proposed as key criteria to assess candidates in nurse practitioner educational courses. Portfolios have traditionally been used to demonstrate competence in nursing and are integral to nursing education as well. An examination of the portfolio and electronic portfolio literature in postgraduate nursing education and professional practice indicates that these portfolios fall under two main structures, each with different purposes: 1) A spinal column structure, with evidence and reflective pieces aligned to competency standards or course objectives, for the purposes of meeting prescribed competencies, professional development planning and showcasing evidence for authorisation or potential employers; and 2) A cake mix structure, which consists of a reflective narrative tying evidence together, which enables a greater focus on personal learning journeys, reflection and the development of personal qualities. Finally, evidence from the general nursing literature suggests the complexity of e‑portfolios in assessment and evaluation can be overcome by using qualitative research methods. Conclusion: To meet the competence and capability needs of nurse practitioners, portfolios could be used, for competence and showcasing and for learning and capability. Further research would be useful to refine and explore the use of e‑portfolios to meet the needs of NP candidates and their educators, clinical mentors, authorisation personal and employers. The current evidence on nurse practitioner education, competence, capability and e‑portfolios points to the integration of the use of an e‑portfolio into current nurse practitioner curriculum models to meet the unique needs of nurse practitioner candidates.

Evaluating the learning outcomes of an international field trip in postgraduate lighting design courses

Lighting industry professionals work in an international marketplace and encounter a range of social, geographical and cultural challenges associated with this. Education in lighting should introduce students to aspects of these challenges. To achieve this, an international field trip was recently undertaken that sought to provide an authentic learning experience for students. Twelve Masters of Lighting students from two Australian universities took part in a field trip to Shanghai, China and surrounding areas. The goal was to offer students insight into practical issues in the lighting industry at an international level and to do so in a unique and authentic context. To evaluate the outcomes of the trip, each participant was surveyed afterwards. Benefits were identified in terms of: increased knowledge and insight into manufacturing issues in lighting, experiential learning in lighting design practice not available locally (e.g, master planning), increased understanding of cultural influences in design and enhancing professional contacts within the lighting industry. Field trips may also act as an inverted curriculum experience for new students to engage them and promote learning within a professional context.

Influences on student learning in engineering : some results from case study fieldwork

This paper closely examines factors affecting students’ progression in their engineering programs through fieldwork conducted at three Australian universities. To extract clues on how specific teaching methods can be used to maximize learning, the investigation considered factors such as understanding how students take in, process and present information. A number of focus groups were conducted with students and the data gathered was combined with survey results of students’ and academics’ learning styles. The paper reports on the process followed, and provides some analysis of the gathered data, as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council, ALTC, Associate Fellowship program.

Professional conversations : a new approach to professional learning in ECEC

In 2009, Australia celebrated the introduction of a national Early Years Learning Framework. This is a critical component in a series of education reforms designed to support quality pedagogy and practice in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and successful transition to school. As with any policy change, success in real terms relies upon building shared understanding and the capacity of educators to apply new knowledge and support change and improved practice within their service. With these outcomes in mind, a collaborative research project is investigating the efficacy of a new approach to professional learning in ECEC: the professional conversation. This paper reports on the trial and evaluation of a series of professional conversations on the Early Years Learning Framework, and their capacity to promote collaborative reflective practice, shared understanding, and improved practice in ECEC. The paper details the professional conversation approach, key challenges and critical success factors, and the learning outcomes for conversation participants. Findings support the efficacy of this approach to professional learning in ECEC, and its capacity to support policy reform and practice change in ECEC.

Transferring knowledge through peer-reviewed assessment : the creation of a community of practice and the threats to its survival

While it is generally accepted in the learning and teaching literature that assessment is the single biggest influence on how students approach their learning, assessment methods within higher education are generally conservative and inflexible. Constrained by policy and accreditation requirements and the need for the explicit articulation of assessment standards for public accountability purposes, assessment tasks can fail to engage students or reflect the tasks students will face in the world of practice. Innovative assessment design can simultaneously deliver program objectives and active learning through a knowledge transfer process which increases student participation. This social constructivist view highlights that acquiring an understanding of assessment processes, criteria and standards needs active student participation. Within this context, a peer-assessed, weekly, assessment task was introduced in the first “serious” accounting subject offered as part of an undergraduate degree. The positive outcomes of this assessment innovation was that student failure rates declined 15%, tutorial participation increased fourfold, tutorial engagement increased six-fold and there was a 100% approval rating for the retention of the assessment task. In contributing to the core conference theme of “seismic” shifts within higher education, in stark contrast to the positive student response, staff-related issues of assessment conservatism and the necessity of meeting increasing research commitments, threatened the assessment task’s survival. These opposing forces to change have the potential to weaken the ability of higher education assessment arrangements to adequately serve either a new generation of students or the sector's community stakeholders.

Learning or legitimacy? an exploration of business planning amongst Australian social enterprises

In recent years, the value of business planning for new business ventures and small firms has been the subject of debate amongst entrepreneurship researchers (Brinckmann et al 2010: 24). Drawing on institutional theory, a number of writers suggest that business planning is primarily used to confer symbolic legitimacy on businesses seeking investment and engagement from external stakeholders ( Karlsson & Honig 2009; Zimmerman & Zeitz 2002; Delmar & Shane 2004). In this sense, business planning may not have any significant effects on firm learning, but may be used as evidence of good business operations in order to attract external resources. Meta-evaluation of the available empirical literature contests this proposition, finding that both the symbolic and organisational learning effects of business planning influence small firm performance (Brinckmann et al 2010: 36) While social enterprise – which we define as organisations that exist for a public or community benefit and trade to fulfill their mission - the study of social enterprise is a nascent and pre-paradigmatic area of inquiry (Nicholls 2010). As a consequence, there has been relatively little empirical analysis of the nature or effects of business planning amongst social enterprises (for two exceptions, see exploratory studies by Hynes 2009 and Bull & Crompton 2006). In this paper, we examine business planning practices amongst Australian social enterprises. Drawing on a survey of 365 social enterprises conducted in 2010 and in-depth interviews with 11 social entrepreneurs and managers from eight social enterprises, we find that social enterprises report being more actively engaged in business planning activities than their mainstream business counterparts. Our exploratory research suggests that both legitimacy and learning drive business planning amongst social enterprises, although legitimacy is the stronger driver. Our results also suggest that, as multi-stakeholder businesses led by mission, business planning can serve unique communicative and relational functions for this business type.

Transferring knowledge through peer-reviewed assessment : the creation of a community of practice and the threats to its survival

While it is generally accepted in the learning and teaching literature that assessment is the single biggest influence on how students approach their learning, assessment methods within higher education are generally conservative and inflexible. Constrained by policy and accreditation requirements and the need for the explicit articulation of assessment standards for public accountability purposes, assessment tasks can fail to engage students or reflect the tasks students will face in the world of practice. Innovative assessment design can simultaneously deliver program objectives and active learning through a knowledge transfer process which increases student participation. This social constructivist view highlights that acquiring an understanding of assessment processes, criteria and standards needs active student participation. Within this context, a peer-assessed, weekly, assessment task was introduced in the first “serious” accounting subject offered as part of an undergraduate degree. The positive outcomes of this assessment innovation was that student failure rates declined 15%, tutorial participation increased fourfold, tutorial engagement increased six-fold and there was a 100% approval rating for the retention of the assessment task. In contributing to the core conference theme of “seismic” shifts within higher education, in stark contrast to the positive student response, staff-related issues of assessment conservatism and the necessity of meeting increasing research commitments, threatened the assessment task’s survival. These opposing forces to change have the potential to weaken the ability of higher education assessment arrangements to adequately serve either a new generation of students or the sector's community stakeholders.

Learning informative features for indoor traversability

This paper presents a method for automatic terrain classification, using a cheap monocular camera in conjunction with a robot’s stall sensor. A first step is to have the robot generate a training set of labelled images. Several techniques are then evaluated for preprocessing the images, reducing their dimensionality, and building a classifier. Finally, the classifier is implemented and used online by an indoor robot. Results are presented, demonstrating an increased level of autonomy.

Engaging parents in STEM: Coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing in a Queensland high school

Diminished student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is recognised by educators, researchers and public policy makers as a concerning global trend. Inviting stakeholders like scientists and industry specialists to discuss their work is one means schools use to facilitate student engagement in the sciences. However, these visits generally comprise one-off sessions with minimal relevance to students’ particular and ongoing learning needs. This case study investigated coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing with parents in teaching a Year-8 multidisciplinary unit with science and technology foci. Two parents cotaught alongside the resident teacher and researcher over eight months. This paper concentrates on one parent, a medical scientist by profession. Data sources included video and audio recordings of cogenerative dialogues and classroom interactions, student work samples and journal entries. Data were interrogated using the sociological constructs of fields and capitals and the dialectic of structure|agency. The findings reveal how (a) the parent’s science and technology knowledge was tailored to the students’ needs initially and continually and (b) student-generated data indicated enhanced engagement in science and technology. The research speaks to schools and governments about enhancing STEM education by furthering collaborative relationships with relevant stakeholders.

The learning climate of chartered quantity surveying practices

This paper reports on a fully structured interview survey investigating the relationship between the learning climate of chartered quantity surveying practices and individual learning styles, approaches to learning, ability, measures of length of service and the size of the quantity surveying organisation. The results indicate that the learning environment is generally supportive in terms of human support, but less supportive in terms of staff development systems; as individuals rise in the hierarchy of an organisation, their perception of its ability to provide an appropriate learning environment increases. Likewise, perceptions of human support and working practices within organisations increase significantly with length of time in the profession; larger organisations have more advanced staff development systems but provide less human support; and the learning environment both overall and in terms of working practices correlates positively with learning styles and approaches to learning.

Re-thinking physics teaching with web-based learning

There is extensive uptake of ICT in the teaching of science but more evidence is needed on how ICT impacts on the learning practice and the learning outcomes at the classroom level. In this study, a physics website (Getsmart) was developed using the cognitive apprenticeship framework for students at a high school in Australia. This website was designed to enhance students’ knowledge of concepts in physics. Reflexive pedagogies were used in the delivery learning materials in a blended learning environment. The students in the treatment group accessed the website over a 10 week period. Pre and post-test results of the treatment (N= 48) and comparison group (N=32) were compared. The MANCOVA analysis showed that the web-based learning experience benefited the students in the treatment group. It not only impacted on the learning outcomes, but qualitative data from the students suggested that it had a positive impact on their attitudes towards studying physics in a blended environment.

Preparing general technology teachers in China for new roles and responsibilities

This paper discusses the conceptualization, implementation and initial findings of a professional learning program (PLP) which used LEGO® robotics as one of the tools for teaching general technology (GT)in China’s secondary schools. The program encouraged teachers to design learning environments that can be realistic, authentic, engaging and fun. 100 general technology teachers from high schools in 30 provinces of China participated. The program aimed to transform teacher classroom practice, change their beliefs and attitudes, allow teachers to reflect deeply on what they do and in turn to provide their students with meaningful learning. Preliminary findings indicate that these teachers had a huge capacity for change. They were open-minded and absorbed new ways of learning and teaching. They became designers who developed innovative models of learning which incorporated learning processes that effectively used LEGO® robotics as one of the more creative tools for teaching GT.