Dynamic digital posters : making the most of collaborative learning spaces

Academic and professional staff at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have been faced with the challenge of how to create engaging student experiences in collaborative learning spaces. In 2013 a new Bachelor of Science course was implemented focusing on inquiry-based, collaborative and active learning. Student groups in two of the first year units carried out a poster assessment task. This paper provides a preliminary evaluation of the assessment approach used, whereby students created dynamic digital posters to capitalise on the affordances of the learning space.

CoWs, Google and online possibilities : creating digital posters to enhance student engagement

A new Bachelor of Science (BSc) course was introduced at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2013 and focused on inquiry-based, collaborative and active learning. Two of the first year units required that students carry out a group poster assessment task. This poster provides a preliminary evaluation from an academic staff perspective of the assessment approach used, whereby students created digital posters to utilise the affordances of new learning spaces. The digital posters approach was first introduced to a group of academic staff from the Science and Engineering Faculty (SEF) in 2012 during a professional development program to explicitly develop skills and shared understandings of teaching in collaborative learning spaces (Steel & Andrews, 2012). Considerations were given to the pedagogical requirements of a poster assessment task, the affordances of the learning space and an identification of possible benefits of using Google Sites to create digital posters. Positive feedback from this group (as highlighted in the quotes shown) and subsequent approval from unit coordinators for two of the new first year BSc units meant that the approach was adopted for Semester 1, 2013 with approximately 360 students in each unit.

Digital strategy in airports

As airports continue to become more ‘customer-centric’ their digital customer-facing technologies are increasingly embedded within the passenger journey. This study takes a customer-centric view of airport digital technology by exploring the ways that digital technologies are being applied within airports to improve passenger perspectives of service quality during their journey. The literature review develops a framework encompassing the themes of airport service quality (function, interaction and diversion) and digital strategy. This framework has been applied to six airports exhibiting high service quality. Currently, the findings suggest that the improvement of customer function involves the use of automated and self-service technologies providing passengers greater efficiency and effectiveness during processing points. Additionally, technology to improve experience during wait times may entail either aesthetic qualities, or provide some form of productivity to passengers. Alternatively, customer interaction is influenced by digital technology through constant passenger engagement during their journey. As the research nears completion, the influence of these themes on the framework will become more apparent.

Integrated marketing communications

Organisations continually use integrated marketing communications to achieve a competitive advantage and meet their marketing objectives. This 4th edition of Integrated Marketing Communications emphasises digital and interactive marketing, the most dynamic and crucial components to a successful IMC campaign today. Incorporating the most up to date theories and practice, the text clearly explains and demonstrates how to best select and co-ordinate all of a brand’s marketing communications elements to effectively engage the target market. Chapters adopt an integrative approach to examine marketing communications from both a consumer’s and marketer’s perspective. A wide range of local and global examples include: Spotify, Pandora, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Woolworths, Nike, KFC, Victoria Bitter, Tigerair and Air New Zealand. Each new copy of the text also offers 12 month access to wealth of student on-line revision and learning tools: CourseMate Express + Search me! marketing. Unique to the text is a series of end of chapter local videos showing students how key objectives in IMC theory are applied by real businesses.

Enabling a positive first year experience in higher education through social media and mobile technologies

The first year experience for students within Higher Education institutions has become increasingly important as these institutions strive to improve student retention rates. With many universities also focusing on transforming teaching and learning in an effort to attract and retain students, there is a growing demand to understand and respond to individual student requirements, such as the need to feel a sense of belonging. The literature identifies a sense of belonging as being paramount to a students satisfaction with the institution and it is within this context that this paper reports on a three year study of how first year pre-service education students use social media and mobile technologies in their personal lives and their formal education. More specifically, the study identifies trends in the use of these technologies and the growing need for students to use digital media sharing tools to connect and engage with their peers. The paper contrasts the differences in use between these groups as it seeks to identify the role these technologies can play in their teaching and learning, as well as in promoting an overall positive first year experience.

Cultural and linguistic localization of games to bridge the digital and cultural divide in indigenous populations

Localization of technology is now widely applied to the preservation and revival of the culture of indigenous peoples around the world, most commonly through the translation into indigenous languages, which has been proven to increase the adoption of technology. However, this current form of localization excludes two demographic groups, which are key to the effectiveness of localization efforts in the African context: the younger generation (under the age of thirty) with an Anglo- American cultural view who have no need or interest in their indigenous culture; and the older generation (over the age of fifty) who are very knowledgeable about their indigenous culture, but have little or no knowledge on the use of a computer. This paper presents the design of a computer game engine that can be used to provide an interface for both technology and indigenous culture learning for both generations. Four indigenous Ugandan games are analyzed and identified for their attractiveness to both generations, to both rural and urban populations, and for their propensity to develop IT skills in older generations.

Standardising and assessing digital images for use in clinical trials : a practical, reproducible method that blinds the assessor to treatment allocation

With the increasing availability of high quality digital cameras that are easily operated by the non-professional photographer, the utility of using digital images to assess endpoints in clinical research of skin lesions has growing acceptance. However, rigorous protocols and description of experiences for digital image collection and assessment are not readily available, particularly for research conducted in remote settings. We describe the development and evaluation of a protocol for digital image collection by the non-professional photographer in a remote setting research trial, together with a novel methodology for assessment of clinical outcomes by an expert panel blinded to treatment allocation.

Grateful fateful sunshine rain

Grateful Fateful Sunshine Rain is a permanent public artwork commissioned by Aria Property Group through a competitive process for the Austin apartment building in South Brisbane. Artist Statement: Residents of Brisbane have a complex relationship with weather. As the capital of the Sunshine State, weather is an integral part of the city’s cultural identity. Weather deeply affects the mood of the city – from the excitement of scantily clad partygoers on balmy December evenings and late February’s lethargy, to the deepening anxiety that emerges after 100 days of rain (or more commonly, 100 days without rain). With a brief nod to the city’s – now decommissioned – iconic MCL weather beacon, Grateful Fateful Sunshine Rain taps into this aspect of Brisbane’s psyche with poetic, illuminated visualisations of real-time weather forecasts issued by the Bureau of Meteorology. Each evening, the artwork downloads tomorrow’s forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology website. Data including, current local temperature, humidity, wind speed & direction, precipitation (rain, hail etc), are used to generate a lighting display that conveys how tomorrow will feel. The artwork’s background colour indicates the expected temperature – from cold blues through mild pastel pinks and blues to bright hot oranges and reds. White fluffy clouds roll across the artwork if cloud is predicted. The density of these clouds indicates the level of cover whilst movement indicates expected wind speed and direction. If rain is predicted, sparkles of white light will appear on top of whichever background colour is chosen for the next day’s temperature. Sparkles appear constantly before wet, drizzly days, and intermittently if scattered showers are predicted. Intermittent, but more intense sparkles appear before rain storms or thunderstorms. Research Contribution: The work has made contributions to the field in the way it rethinks approaches to the conceptualization, design and realization of illuminated urban media. This has led to new theorizations of urban media, which consider light and illumination can be used to convey meaningful data. The research has produced new methods for controlling illumination systems using tools and techniques typically employed in computation arts. It has also develop methods and processes for the design and production of illuminated urban media architectures that are connected to real time data sources, and do which not follow the assumed logics of screen based media and displays.

Landform characterization using geophysics—Recent advances, applications, and emerging tools

This paper presents an overview of the strengths and limitations of existing and emerging geophysical tools for landform studies. The objectives are to discuss recent technical developments and to provide a review of relevant recent literature, with a focus on propagating field methods with terrestrial applications. For various methods in this category, including ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity (ER), seismics, and electromagnetic (EM) induction, the technical backgrounds are introduced, followed by section on novel developments relevant to landform characterization. For several decades, GPR has been popular for characterization of the shallow subsurface and in particular sedimentary systems. Novel developments in GPR include the use of multi-offset systems to improve signal-to-noise ratios and data collection efficiency, amongst others, and the increased use of 3D data. Multi-electrode ER systems have become popular in recent years as they allow for relatively fast and detailed mapping. Novel developments include time-lapse monitoring of dynamic processes as well as the use of capacitively-coupled systems for fast, non-invasive surveys. EM induction methods are especially popular for fast mapping of spatial variation, but can also be used to obtain information on the vertical variation in subsurface electrical conductivity. In recent years several examples of the use of plane wave EM for characterization of landforms have been published. Seismic methods for landform characterization include seismic reflection and refraction techniques and the use of surface waves. A recent development is the use of passive sensing approaches. The use of multiple geophysical methods, which can benefit from the sensitivity to different subsurface parameters, is becoming more common. Strategies for coupled and joint inversion of complementary datasets will, once more widely available, benefit the geophysical study of landforms.Three cases studies are presented on the use of electrical and GPR methods for characterization of landforms in the range of meters to 100. s of meters in dimension. In a study of polygonal patterned ground in the Saginaw Lowlands, Michigan, USA, electrical resistivity tomography was used to characterize differences in subsurface texture and water content associated with polygon-swale topography. Also, a sand-filled thermokarst feature was identified using electrical resistivity data. The second example is on the use of constant spread traversing (CST) for characterization of large-scale glaciotectonic deformation in the Ludington Ridge, Michigan. Multiple CST surveys parallel to an ~. 60. m high cliff, where broad (~. 100. m) synclines and narrow clay-rich anticlines are visible, illustrated that at least one of the narrow structures extended inland. A third case study discusses internal structures of an eolian dune on a coastal spit in New Zealand. Both 35 and 200. MHz GPR data, which clearly identified a paleosol and internal sedimentary structures of the dune, were used to improve understanding of the development of the dune, which may shed light on paleo-wind directions.

From ideation to sculpture : digital sculpting as the primary 'ideation' tool for creature design

This research project examined the potential for circumventing drawing in the ideation process by adopting digital sculpture as the primary conceptual development and design tool for the digital sculpting of creature designs. Through a series of experimental research cycles, multiple frameworks were explored with the aim of identifying a methodology for creating '3D sculpted sketches' for the initial phases of the ideation process. This research project acknowledges that drawing still remains the predominant method of visualising design ideas for characters and creatures for many artists. However, alongside other ideation techniques digital sculpting can function as a rapid and responsive tool to visualize and explore forms in a digital sculpting environment for the conceptualisation of multiple creature design variations. The results of this study are significant for emerging digital sculptors who may not necessarily have a well-defined creative brief or initial concept.

Digital Spring? New media and new politics on the campus

Whilst the dynamics informing processes have taken time to become clear, civic resistance initiated by young people using new media began in Egypt in 2010 against the Mubarak regime, soon widened to Tunisia, Yemen and Libya. Known as the 'Arab Spring', this phenomenon re-ignited discussion about the political role of digital space and its democratic potential. While parallels between authoritarian regimes and universities and educational institutions might seem overdrawn to some readers, I suggest there is value in considering the 'Digital Spring' (apropos the 'Arab Spring') as a metaphor to suggest the possibility that similar processes are taking place in schools and universities. This invites discussion about the political significance of digital space and its democratic potential in those institutions. To assess how some young people engage in digitally mediated politics within schools and universities, I identify five propositions which amalgamate descriptive and normative elements derived from Habermas and Dahlgren. These propositions offer an ideal taxonomy of normative and descriptive elements to establish whether digital technology promotes participation and debate in ways that sustain democratic practice.

The political in the age of the digital: propositions for empirical investigation

This article establishes whether there is a case for revising traditional accounts of politics and the public sphere given the ways in which digital technology is now being used in Western and non-Western settings to engage people politically. The article presents a case for framing this inquiry in terms of imaginaries. It then argues for a new political imaginary which helps to specify what is required for deliberative democratic practice in a way that shifts us away from the dominant liberal-utilitarian political imaginary that currently informs the political value systems of most Western nations. Drawing on the work of key political theorists such as Habermas and Dahlgren, five propositions or conditions for deliberative practice are identified that can be used in empirical investigation to help determine the democratic capacity and potential of new political communication and civic spaces being opened by means of digital media.