Literacy teaching and learning in a digital world: Challenges of a new era

Teachers the world over are aware of the range of new challenges that arise from this new era. One challenge is the role of digital technologies in literacy learning. Despite its reputation for being engaging, digital technologies do not always enhance learning outcomes. Whilst the concerns vary across time and place, the core issue of what is a highly sought after literacy learning outcome in this new era warrants consideration. This paper introduces Kalantzis and Cope’s (2005) theorisation of eight knowledge processes for literacy learning. They claim that experiencing the known, conceptualising by naming, analysing functionally and applying appropriately, whilst necessary, are not on their own sufficient for the development of high level literacy practices. It is their contention that students must also be able to experience the new, conceptualise by theorising, analyse creatively and apply critically. This theorisation forms an auditing framework for considering the outcomes of different uptakes of digital technologies in a Social Studies and a Science unit.

Using children's picture books to develop students' critical literacy responses

This lecture introduces a range of children's picture books from around the world and teaching strategies that develop students' critical literacy responses. Whilst children's picture books have not traditionally been seen as sophisticated resources for developing students' critical literacy responses, this lecture presents research that shows young children as code breakers, text participants, text users and text analysts (Luke & Freebody, 1999) of written, visual, oral and gestural texts. This lecture also outlines the teaching strategies as they have been used in language instruction in primary classrooms with diverse student groups.

Differences in the accommodation stimulus response curves of adult myopes and emmetropes: A summary and update

Purpose To provide a summary of the classic paper "Differences in the accommodation stimulus response curves of adult myopes and emmetropes" published in Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics in 1998 and to provide an update on the topic of accommodation errors in myopia. Summary The accommodation responses of 33 participants (10 emmetropes, 11 early onset myopes and 12 late onset myopes) aged 18-31 years were measured using the Canon Autoref R-1 free space autorefractor using three methods to vary the accommodation demand: decreasing distance (4 m to 0.25 cm), negative lenses (0 to -4 D at 4 m) and positive lenses (+4 to 0 D at 0.25 m). We observed that the greatest accommodation errors occurred for the negative lens method whereas minimal errors were observed using positive lenses. Adult progressing myopes had greater lags of accommodation than stable myopes at higher demands induced by negative lenses. Progressing myopes had shallower response gradients than the emmetropes and stable myopes; however the reduced gradient was much less than that observed in children using similar methods. Recent Findings This paper has been often cited as evidence that accommodation responses at near may be primarily reduced in adults with progressing myopia and not in stable myopes and/or that challenging accommodation stimuli (negative lenses with monocular viewing) are required to generate larger accommodation errors. As an analogy, animals reared with hyperopic errors develop axial elongation and myopia. Retinal defocus signals are presumably passed to the retinal pigment epithelium and choroid and then ultimately the sclera to modify eye length. A number of lens treatments that act to slow myopia progression may partially work through reducing accommodation errors.

Development of the dimensions of adult mastery motivation questionnaire

Mastery motivation is an important developmental construct that has implications for development across the lifespan. Research to date has focused predominantly on infants and children, with the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ) being the most widely used measure of mastery motivation. This paper reports on the development and initial validation of an adult measure: the Dimensions of Adult Mastery Motivation Questionnaire (DAMMQ). Six hundred and twenty-eight adults (68 % female) aged 18 to 90 years completed the questionnaire. Factor analysis produced 24 items that represented five factors: task persistence, preference for challenge, task related pleasure, task absorption and competence/self-efficacy. The DAMMQ was found to have good internal consistency, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity. Within group differences for age, gender and education are reported. The development of the DAMMQ paves the way for future research about mastery motivation in adult populations.

Critical criminological understandings of adult pornography and woman abuse: New progressive directions in research and theory

There is a small, but growing, social scientific literature on the racist and violent nature of contemporary adult pornography. However, considerably more empirical and theoretical work needs to be done to advance a critical criminological understanding of how such hurtful sexual media contribute to various forms of woman abuse in intimate relationships. The main objective of this article is to briefly review the relevant literature and to suggest a few new progressive empirical and theoretical directions.

Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height

Using genome-wide data from 253,288 individuals, we identified 697 variants at genome-wide significance that together explained one-fifth of the heritability for adult height. By testing different numbers of variants in independent studies, we show that the most strongly associated approximately 2,000, approximately 3,700 and approximately 9,500 SNPs explained approximately 21%, approximately 24% and approximately 29% of phenotypic variance. Furthermore, all common variants together captured 60% of heritability. The 697 variants clustered in 423 loci were enriched for genes, pathways and tissue types known to be involved in growth and together implicated genes and pathways not highlighted in earlier efforts, such as signaling by fibroblast growth factors, WNT/beta-catenin and chondroitin sulfate-related genes. We identified several genes and pathways not previously connected with human skeletal growth, including mTOR, osteoglycin and binding of hyaluronic acid. Our results indicate a genetic architecture for human height that is characterized by a very large but finite number (thousands) of causal variants.

Replication of the association of common rs9939609 variant of FTO with increased BMI in an Australian adult twin population but no evidence for gene by environment (G x E) interaction

OBJECTIVE: To further investigate a common variant (rs9939609) in the fat mass- and obesity-associated gene (FTO), which recent genome-wide association studies have shown to be associated with body mass index (BMI) and obesity. DESIGN: We examined the effect of this FTO variant on BMI in 3353 Australian adult male and female twins. RESULTS: The minor A allele of rs9939609 was associated with an increased BMI (P=0.0007). Each additional copy of the A allele was associated with a mean BMI increase of approximately 1.04 kg/m(2) (approximately 3.71 kg). Using variance components decomposition, we estimate that this single-nucleotide polymorphism accounts for approximately 3% of the genetic variance in BMI in our sample (approximately 2% of the total variance). By comparing intrapair variances of monozygotic twins of different genotypes we were able to perform a direct test of gene by environment (G x E) interaction in both sexes and gene by parity (G x P) interaction in women, but no evidence was found for either. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to supporting earlier findings that the rs9939609 variant in the FTO gene is associated with an increased BMI, our results indicate that the associated genetic effect does not interact with environment or parity.

Comparing population attributable risks for heart disease across the adult lifespan in women

Background Recent estimates suggest that high body mass index (BMI), smoking, high blood pressure (BP) and physical inactivity are leading risk factors for the overall burden of disease in Australia. The aim was to examine the population attributable risk (PAR) of heart disease for each of these risk factors, across the adult lifespan in Australian women. Methods PARs were estimated using relative risks (RRs) for each of the four risk factors, as used in the Global Burden of Disease Study, and prevalence estimates from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, in 15 age groups from 22–27 (N=9608) to 85–90 (N=3901). Results RRs and prevalence estimates varied across the lifespan. RRs ranged from 6.15 for smoking in the younger women to 1.20 for high BMI and high BP in the older women. Prevalence of risk exposure ranged from 2% for high BP in the younger women to 79% for high BMI in mid-age women. In young adult women up to age 30, the highest population risk was attributed to smoking. From age 31 to 90, PARs were highest for physical inactivity. Conclusions From about age 30, the population risk of heart disease attributable to inactivity outweighs that of other risk factors, including high BMI. Programmes for the promotion and maintenance of physical activity deserve to be a much higher public health priority for women than they are now, across the adult lifespan.

The validity of the GENEActiv wrist-worn accelerometer for measuring adult sedentary time in free living

OBJECTIVES Based on self-reported measures, sedentary time has been associated with chronic disease and mortality. This study examined the validity of the wrist-worn GENEactiv accelerometer for measuring sedentary time (i.e. sitting and lying) by posture classification, during waking hours in free living adults. DESIGN Fifty-seven participants (age=18-55 years 52% male) were recruited using convenience sampling from a large metropolitan Australian university. METHODS Participants wore a GENEActiv accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist and an activPAL device attached to their right thigh for 24-h (00:00 to 23:59:59). Pearson's Correlation Coefficient was used to examine the convergent validity of the GENEActiv and the activPAL for estimating total sedentary time during waking hours. Agreement was illustrated using Bland and Altman plots, and intra-individual agreement for posture was assessed with the Kappa statistic. RESULTS Estimates of average total sedentary time over 24-h were 623 (SD 103) min/day from the GENEActiv, and 626 (SD 123) min/day from the activPAL, with an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.80 (95% confidence intervals 0.68-0.88). Bland and Altman plots showed slight underestimation of mean total sedentary time for GENEActiv relative to activPAL (mean difference: -3.44min/day), with moderate limits of agreement (-144 to 137min/day). Mean Kappa for posture was 0.53 (SD 0.12), indicating moderate agreement for this sample at the individual level. CONCLUSIONS The estimation of sedentary time by posture classification of the wrist-worn GENEActiv accelerometer was comparable to the activPAL. The GENEActiv may provide an alternative, easy to wear device based measure for descriptive estimates of sedentary time in population samples

From workplace to profession: New focus for the information literacy discourse

The present paper suggests articulating the general context of workplace in information literacy research. The paper considers distinguishing between information literacy research in workplaces and professions. Referring to the results of a phenomenographic enquiry into web professionals’ information literacy as an example, it is indicated that work-related information literacy in particular contexts and depending on the nature of the context, is experienced beyond physical workspaces and at professional level. This involves people interacting with each other and with information at a broader level in comparison to a physically bounded workspace. Regarding the example case discussed in the paper, virtuality is identified as the dominant feature of the profession that causes information literacy to be experienced at a professional level. It is anticipated that pursuing the direction proposed in the paper will result in a more segmented image of work-related information literacy.

Surveying the field: Primary school teachers’ conceptions of the literacy capabilities of recently graduated primary school teachers

In 2015, ALEA National Council provided funds to support the implementation of a research project which was undertaken by a group of teacher educators and researchers from a range of universities across three Australian states. Stage one of the project, which is reported on here, examined primary school teachers’ perceptions of the personal and professional literacy capabilities of recently graduated primary school teachers. This stage of the project also examined primary school teachers’ perceptions of the impact of initial teacher education on the personal and professional literacy capabilities of recently graduated primary school teachers. The project team, led by Associate Professor Beryl Exley (Queensland University of Technology), included Chief Investigators Dr Eileen Honan (The University of Queensland), Associate Professor Lisa Kervin (University of Wollongong), Associate Professor Alyson Simpson (University of Sydney) and Dr Muriel Wells (Deakin University), with Dr Sandy Muspratt as the Statistical Analyst and Lesley Friend as the Research Assistant with primary responsibility for the publication of the online survey.

Validating adult and paediatric nutrition screening and assessment tools in Vietnamese language in two acute hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Despite being commonly prevalent in acute care hospitals worldwide, malnutrition often goes unidentified and untreated due to a lack in the implementation of a nutrition care pathway. The aim of this study was to validate nutrition screening and assessment tools in Vietnamese language. After converting into Vietnamese, Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) were used to identify malnutrition in the adult setting; and the Paediatric Nutrition Screening Tool (PNST) and paediatric Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) were used in the paediatric setting in two acute care hospitals in Vietnam. This cross-sectional observational study sampled 123 adults (median age 78 years [39–96 years], 63% males) and 105 children (median age 20 months [2–100 months], 66% males). In adults, nutrition risk and malnutrition were identified in 29% and 45% of the cohort respectively. Nutrition risk and malnutrition were identified in 71% and 43% of the paediatric cohort respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the screening tools were: 62% and 99% for the MST compared to the SGA; 89% and 42% for the PNST compared to the SGNA. This study provides a stepping stone to the potential use of evidence-based nutrition screening and assessment tools in Vietnamese language within the adult and paediatric Vietnamese acute care setting. Further work is required into integrating a complete nutrition care pathway within the acute care setting in Vietnamese hospitals.

Literacy, security, governmentality: Defining spaces, managing populations – How has education become part of whole of government security strategy?

In this paper I conduct a Foucauldian discourse analysis of a political speech given by Brendon Nelson in 2006 when the Australian Minister for Defence in the Howard Coalition Government. The speech connects conceptualisations of terror, globalization, education and literacy as part of a whole of government security strategy. The analysis examines this speech as an example of a liberal way of governing the conduct of diverse and unpredictable populations. My analysis suggests that the apparatus of government has been strategically used in order to biopolitically contain the rise of complex social forces and protect a set of homogenous cultural values. The purposes of education and uses of literacy are seen as instruments for the inscription of a coded set of values understood to be synonymous with civil society.

Literacy, Place and Pedagogies of Possibility

How can teachers ensure a pedagogy of possibility underpinned by social justice, and what has literacy got to do with this? This book explores the positive synergies between critical literacy and place-conscious pedagogy. Through rich classroom research it introduces and demonstrates how a synthesis of insights from theories of space and place and literacy studies can underpin the design and enactment of culturally inclusive curriculum for diverse student communities, and illustrates how making place and space the objects of study provide productive resources for teachers to design enabling pedagogical practices that extend students' literate repertoires. The argument is that systematic study of and engagement with specific elements of place can enable students' academic learning and literacy.