Leadership practices of Kuwaiti Secondary School Principals for embedding ICT

Globalisation and the emergence of knowledge-based economies have forced many countries to reform their education system. The enhancement of human capital to meet modern day demands of a knowledge economy, and equip the new generation with the capacity to meet the challenges of the 21st Century has become a priority. This change is particularly necessary in economies typical of countries, such as Kuwait, which have been dependent on the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources. Transiting from a resource-based economy to an economy based on knowledge and intellectual skills poses a key challenge for an education system. Significant in the development of this new economy has been the expansion of Information Communication Technology (ICT). In education, in particular, ICT is a tool for transforming the education setting. However, transformation is only successful where there are effective change management strategies and appropriate leadership. At the school level, rapid changes have affected the role that principals take particularly in relation to leading the change process. Therefore, this study investigated the leadership practices of school principals for embedding ICT into schools. The case study assessed two Kuwaiti secondary schools; both schools had well established ICT programs. The mode of data collection used a mixed-methods design, to address the purpose of the study, namely, to examine the leadership practices of school principals when managing the change processes associated with embedding ICT in the context of Kuwait. A theoretical model of principal leadership, developed, from the literature, documented and analysed the practices of the respective school principals. The study used the following five data sources: (a) face to face interviews (with each school principal), and two focus group interviews (with five teachers and five students, from each school); (b) school documents (related to the implementation and embedding of ICT); (c) one survey (of all teachers in each school); (d) an open-ended questionnaire (of participating principals and teachers); and (e) the observation of ICT activities (PD ICT activities and instruction meetings). The study revealed a range of strategies used by the principals and aligned with the theoretical perspective. However, these strategies needed to be refined and selectively used to fit the Kuwait context, both culturally and organisationally. The principals of Schools A and B employed three key strategies to maximise the impact on the teaching staff incorporating ICT into their teaching and learning practices. These strategies were: (a) encouragement for teaching staff to implement ICT in their teaching; (b) support to meet the material and human needs of teaching staff using ICT; and (c) provision of instructions and guidance for teaching staff in how and why such behaviours and practices should be performed. The strategies provided the basic leadership practices required to construct a successful ICT embedded implementation process. Hence, a revised model of leadership that has applicability in the adoption of ICT in Kuwait was developed. The findings provide a better understanding of how a school principal’s leadership practices impact upon the ICT embedding process. Hence, the outcome of this study informs emerging countries, which are also undergoing major change related to ICT, for example, other members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. From an educational perspective, this knowledge has the potential to support ICT-based learning environments that will help educational practitioners to effectively integrate ICT into teaching and learning that will facilitate students’ ICT engagement, and prepare them for the ICT development challenges that are associated with the new economy; this is achieved by increasing students’ knowledge and performance. Further, the study offers practical strategies that have been shown to work for school principals leading ICT implementation in Kuwait. These strategies include how to deal with the shortage in schools’ budgets, and the promotion of the ICT vision, as well as developing approaches to build collaborative culture in the schools.

A randomised controlled trial of an enhanced interdisciplinary community based group program for people with Parkinson’s disease: study rationale and protocol

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive, chronic neurodegenerative disorder for which there is no known cure. Physical exercise programs may be used to assist with the physical management of PD. Several studies have demonstrated that community based physical therapy programs are effective in reducing physical aspects of disability among people with PD. While multidisciplinary therapy interventions may have the potential to reduce disability and improve the quality of life of people with PD, there is very limited clinical trial evidence to support or refute the use of a community based multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary programs for people with PD. A two group randomized trial is being undertaken within a community rehabilitation service in Brisbane, Australia. Community dwelling adults with a diagnosis of Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease are being recruited. Eligible participants are randomly allocated to a standard exercise rehabilitation group program or an intervention group which incorporates physical, cognitive and speech activities in a multi-tasking framework. Outcomes will be measured at 6-week intervals for a period of six months. Primary outcome measures are the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) cognitive test. Secondary outcomes include changes in health related quality of life, communication, social participation, mobility, strength and balance, and carer burden measures. This study will determine the immediate and long-term effectiveness of a unique multifocal, interdisciplinary, dual-tasking approach to the management of PD as compared to an exercise only program. We anticipate that the results of this study will have implications for the development of cost effective evidence based best practice for the treatment of people with PD living in the community.

2005 pedagogical orientation program in the School of Architecture and Built Environment : a case study

The University of Newcastle (UoN) offers various access and support programs for a range of students through the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre and a University orientation for students. At UoN, students are required to engage in a learning experience, meet program outcomes and demonstrate the core attributes of the University at each graduation point. For a University with a strong focus on access is there a missing facet to the access programs where students are required to study within a teaching delivery style which may be vastly different to their previous educational experience? This paper will describe a pedagogical orientation program currently delivered at UoN School of Architecture and Built Environment in 2005 to assist in the transition of students from different cultural and pedagogical backgrounds into “Problem Based Learning” as delivered by this School. Furthermore the paper will analyse how this program has enabled students from diverse backgrounds to understand and successfully embrace the new learning opportunities.

The value of community wellbeing for locality based practice

This presentation put forward six propositions regarding the value and character of community wellbeing, in particular the economic contribution of social and community programs and initiatives. The six propositions are: 1. Community wellbeing is a useful umbrella concept 2. Everyone benefits from public programs 3. There is an economic as well as social cost of not responding well 4. Local government is key in fostering community wellbeing 5. Good practice involves bringing together a number of perspectives and levers, including social and cultural initiatives 6. Engaging with the community around wellbeing offers an opportunity to enhance the political process

Power of engineering : changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 female school students towards an engineering career

BACKGROUND The engineering profession in Australia has failed to attract young women for the last decade or so despite all the effort that have gone into promoting engineering as a preferred career choice for girls. It is a missed opportunity for the profession to flourish as a heterogeneous team. Many traditional initiatives and programs have failed to make much impact or at best incremental improvement into attracting and retaining more women in the profession. The reasons why girls and young women in most parts of the world show little interest in engineering haven't changed, despite all the efforts to address them, the issue proposed here in this paper is with the perceptions of engineering in the community and the confidence to pursue it. This gender imbalance is detrimental for the engineering profession, and hence an action-based intervention strategy was devised by the Women in Engineering Qld Chapter of Engineers Australia in 2012 to change the perceptions of school girls by redesigning the engagement strategy and key messages. As a result, the “Power of Engineering Inc” (PoE) was established as a not-for-profit organisation, and is a collaborative effort between government, schools, universities, and industry. This paper examines a case study in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 school girls towards an engineering career. PURPOSE To evaluate and determine the effectiveness of an intervention in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 school girls about engineering career options, but specifically, “What were their perceptions of engineering before today and have those perceptions changed?” DESIGN/METHOD The inaugural Power of Engineering (PoE) event was held on International Women’s Day, Thursday 8 March 2012 and was attended by 131 high school female students (year 9 and 10) and their teachers. The key message of the day was “engineering gives you the power to change the world”. A questionnaire was conducted with the participating high school female students, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The survey instrument has not been validated. RESULTS The key to the success of the event was as a result of collaboration between all participants involved and the connection created between government, schools, universities and industry. Of the returned surveys (109 of 131), 91% of girls would now consider a career in engineering and 57% who had not considered engineering before the day would now consider a career in engineering. Data collected found significant numbers of negative and varying perceptions about engineering careers prior to the intervention. CONCLUSIONS The evidence in this research suggests that the intervention assisted in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 female school students towards engineering as a career option. Whether this intervention translates into actual career selection and study enrolment is to be determined. In saying this, the evidence suggests that there is a critical and urgent need for earlier interventions prior to students selecting their subjects for year 11 and 12. This intervention could also play its part in increasing the overall pool of students engaged in STEM education.

The creative citizen : understanding the value of design education programs in the knowledge economy

The knowledge economy relies on the diffusion and use of knowledge as well as its creation (Houghton and Sheenan, 2000). The future success of economic activity will depend on the capacity of organisations to transform by increasing their flexibility. In particular, this transformation is dependant on a decentralised, networked and multi-skilled workforce. To help organisations transition, new strategies and structures for education are required. Education systems need to concentrate less on specialist skills and more on the development of people with broad-based problem solving skills that are adaptable, with social and inter-personal communication skills necessary for networking and communication. This paper presents the findings of a ‘Knowledge Economy Market Development Mapping Study’ conducted to identify the value of design education programs from primary through to tertiary level in Queensland, Australia. The relationship of these programs to the development of the capacities mentioned above is explored. The study includes the collection of qualitative and quantitative data consisting of a literature review, focus groups and survey. Recommendations for the future development of design education programs in Queensland, Australia are proposed, and future research opportunities are presented and discussed.

Transnational higher education programs for facilitating inter-university knowledge transfer : University of Indonesia’s experience

This paper explores the impacts and extent of knowledge transfer (KT) in an undergraduate engineering transnational program with an Australian university partner at the University of Indonesia (UI) using an inter-university KT conceptual framework (Sutrisno, Lisana, & Pillay 2012). For the purpose of this paper, the opportunity for KT in curriculum design is examined. Given the explicit nature of curriculum knowledge, assessing each partner’s curriculum was pivotal in allowing UI to enrich its own curriculum. The KT mechanism of face-to-face contact between Indonesian and Australian academics led to not only transfer of knowledge related to the curriculum of the undergraduate program but also to other cooperation beyond the transnational program in the form of joint research and joint supervision of post-graduate theses. Positive inter-university dynamics, such as trust and willingness to work together between the partners were underpinned by the presence of key actors from both sides at the earlier stages of the partnership. Retrospectively exploring the KT process in the UI’s transnational programs with its Australian partner suggests that there have been both structured and unstructured mechanisms, highlighting the ubiquitous and unbounded nature of KT between universities. While initially successful in facilitating KT, due to rapid succession of persons in charge of the program and the increasing focus on revenue generation, the useful lessons and practices unfortunately are being lost. Although the intention to use the transnational program for KT was always implied, it gradually was overlooked by newer staff members. Based on UI’s experience as the first provider of transnational program in Indonesia and other similar cases in China, seemingly transnational programs driven by short-term immediate financial return are unsuccessful in facilitating KT due to sensitivities to unfavourable economic situation. Those that remain operational and contribute to knowledge exchange between the partners apparently have genuine long-term engagement objective.

An automated tool for assessing security-critical designs and programs

This paper describes in detail our Security-Critical Program Analyser (SCPA). SCPA is used to assess the security of a given program based on its design or source code with regard to data flow-based metrics. Furthermore, it allows software developers to generate a UML-like class diagram of their program and annotate its confidential classes, methods and attributes. SCPA is also capable of producing Java source code for the generated design of a given program. This source code can then be compiled and the resulting Java bytecode program can be used by the tool to assess the program's overall security based on our security metrics.

The recruitment of STEM - Talented students into teacher education programs

This paper begins by identifying three main reasons why many of the more STEM-Talented students at our universities do not consider enrolling in STEM teacher education programs. Then based on a review of the literature, a framework for addressing this dilemma is presented and discussed. This framework consists of a set of three principles together with eleven strategies for the operationalization of these principles. During the presentation of the framework, the roles of governments and of universities at the institutional, faculty/division and departmental levels in the operationalization of the frameworks are examined.

Organisational culture in airworthiness management programs : developing a measurement model

All civil and private aircraft are required to comply with the airworthiness standards set by their national airworthiness authority and throughout their operational life must be in a condition of safe operation. Aviation accident data shows that over twenty percent of all fatal accidents in aviation are due to airworthiness issues, specifically aircraft mechanical failures. Ultimately it is the responsibility of each registered operator to ensure that their aircraft remain in a condition of safe operation, and this is done through both effective management of airworthiness activities and the effective program governance of safety outcomes. Typically, the projects within these airworthiness management programs are focused on acquiring, modifying and maintaining the aircraft as a capability supporting the business. Program governance provides the structure through which the goals and objectives of airworthiness programs are set along with the means of attaining them. Whilst the principal causes of failures in many programs can be traced to inadequate program governance, many of the failures in large scale projects can have their root causes in the organisational culture and more specifically in the organisational processes related to decision-making. This paper examines the primary theme of project and program based enterprises, and introduces a model for measuring organisational culture in airworthiness management programs using measures drawn from 211 respondents in Australian airline programs. The paper describes the theoretical perspectives applied to modifying an original model to specifically focus it on measuring the organisational culture of programs for managing airworthiness; identifying the most important factors needed to explain the relationship between the measures collected, and providing a description of the nature of these factors. The paper concludes by identifying a model that best describes the organisational culture data collected from seven airworthiness management programs.

What can grassroots leadership teach us about school leadership

This paper explores grassroots leadership, an under-researched and often side-lined approach to leadership that operates outside of formal bureaucratic structures. The paper’s central purpose is the claim that an understanding of grassroots leadership and tactics used by grassroots leaders provides valuable insights for the study of school leadership. In this paper, we present and discuss an original model of grassroots leadership based on the argument that this under-researched area can further our understanding of school leadership. Drawing upon the limited literature in the field, we present a model consisting of two approaches to change (i.e. conflict and consensus) and two categories of change (i.e. reform and refinement) and then provide illustrations of how the model works in practice. We make the argument that the model has much merit for conceptualizing school leadership, and this is illustrated by applying the model to formal bureaucratic leadership within school contexts. Given the current climate in education where business and management language is pervasive within leadership-preparation programs, we argue that it is timely for university academics, who are responsible for preparing school leaders to consider broadening their approach by exposing school leaders to a variety of change-based strategies and tactics used by grassroots leaders.

Multidisciplinary team approach for a peer-support based cardiac-diabetes self-management program

Background: Cardiac patients with diabetes are at higher readmission rates (22%) compared to only 6% for those patients without diabetes. Evidence shows benefits of peer support and using information technology to improve chronic illness and achieve better health outcomes. However limited evidence suggests that cardiac or diabetes self-management programs incorporating peer supporters (patients with similar conditions) or telephone and text-messaging, have improved health outcomes and reduce health care utilisations. A multidisciplinary research team approach is crucial to accommodate the complex aspects of delivering intervention programs for these at-risk patients. However, challenges such as the inconsistency in significance of key concepts across research fields, as well as practical and operational issues within different contexts are often experienced. Aims: To develop an effective multidisciplinary team approach to deliver a peer support based cardiac-diabetes self-management program incorporating the preparation of lay personnel to provide telephone and text-messaging follow up support. Methods: The approach was used for a multidisciplinary project using randomised controlled trial. Results: The findings from multidisciplinary team approach reveal the feasibility of a Peer support based cardiac-diabetes self-management program.

Community-based control of Aedes aegypti by using Mesocyclops in southern Vietnam

We previously reported a new community-based mosquito control strategy that resulted in elimination of Aedes aegypti (Linn.) in 40 of 46 communes in northern and central Vietnam, and with annual recurrent total costs (direct and indirect) of only $0.28-$0.89 international dollars per person. This control strategy was extended to four provinces in southern Vietnam in Long An and Hau Giang (2004-2007) and to Long An, Ben Tre, and Vinh Long (2005-2010). In a total of 14 communes with 124,743 residents, the mean ± SD of adult female Ae. aegypti was reduced from 0.93 ± 0.62 to 0.06 ± 0.09, and the reduction of immature Ae. aegypti averaged 98.8%. By the final survey, no adults could be collected in 6 of 14 communes, and one commune, Binh Thanh, also had no immature forms. Although the community-based programs also involved community education and clean-up campaigns, the prevalence of Mesocyclops in large water storage containers > 50 liters increased from 12.77 ± 8.39 to 75.69 ± 9.17% over periods of 15-45 months. At the conclusion of the study, no confirmed dengue cases were detected in four of the five communes for which diagnostic serologic analysis was performed. The rate of progress was faster in communes that were added in stages to the program but the reason for this finding was unclear. At the completion of the formal project, sustainability funds were set up to provide each commune with the financial means to ensure that community-based dengue control activities continued.

Quantum one-time programs

A one-time program is a hypothetical device by which a user may evaluate a circuit on exactly one input of his choice, before the device self-destructs. One-time programs cannot be achieved by software alone, as any software can be copied and re-run. However, it is known that every circuit can be compiled into a one-time program using a very basic hypothetical hardware device called a one-time memory. At first glance it may seem that quantum information, which cannot be copied, might also allow for one-time programs. But it is not hard to see that this intuition is false: one-time programs for classical or quantum circuits based solely on quantum information do not exist, even with computational assumptions. This observation raises the question, "what assumptions are required to achieve one-time programs for quantum circuits?" Our main result is that any quantum circuit can be compiled into a one-time program assuming only the same basic one-time memory devices used for classical circuits. Moreover, these quantum one-time programs achieve statistical universal composability (UC-security) against any malicious user. Our construction employs methods for computation on authenticated quantum data, and we present a new quantum authentication scheme called the trap scheme for this purpose. As a corollary, we establish UC-security of a recent protocol for delegated quantum computation.

Mothers' perceptions of introducing solids to their infant at six months of age : identifying critical belief-based targets to promote adherence to current infant feeding guidelines

We investigated critical belief-based targets for promoting the introduction of solid foods to infants at six months. First-time mothers (N = 375) completed a Theory of Planned Behaviour belief-based questionnaire and follow-up questionnaire assessing the age the infant was first introduced to solids. Normative beliefs about partner/spouse (β = 0.16) and doctor (β = 0.22), and control beliefs about commercial baby foods available for infants before six months (β = −0.20), predicted introduction of solids at six months. Intervention programs should target these critical beliefs to promote mothers’ adherence to current infant feeding guidelines to introduce solids at around six months.