Enhancing Student Learning in Large Undergraduate Clasees by Using Audio-visual Case Studies

Critical skills such as identifying and appreciating issues that confront firms engaging in international business, and the ability to undertake creative decision-making, are considered fundamental to the study of International Business. It has been argued that using audio-visual case studies can help develop such skills. However, this is difficult due to a lack of Australian case studies. This paper reviews the literature outlining the advantages believed to result from the use of audio-visual case studies, describes a project implemented in a large cohort of students studying International Business, reports on a pilot evaluation of the project, and outlines the findings and conclusions of the survey.

Sampling perceptions; testing reality : an evidence-based approach to measurably improve information literacy and student research skills

Do commencing students possess the level of information literacy (IL) knowledge and skills they need to succeed at university? What impact does embedding IL within the engineering and design curriculum have? This paper reports on the self-perception versus the reality of IL knowledge and skills, across a large cohort of first year built environment and engineering students. Acting on the findings of this evaluation, the authors (a team of academic librarians) developed an intensive IL skills program which was integrated into a faculty wide unit. Perceptions, knowledge and skills were re-evaluated at the end of the semester to determine if embedded IL education made a difference. Findings reveal that both the perception and reality of IL skills were significantly and measurably improved.

Unionization : a necessary strategy to arrest professional decline?

This article examines contemporary social work and why it is under serious threat, ideologically and economically, in a rapidly changing world that no longer highly values its social mandate, methods, and outcomes. Within this hostile environment we investigate the low salaries and high student debt that beginning social workers experience, which might otherwise drive them into unions. Instead, the profession resists unionization, preferring to remain focused on its ideals rather than the disquieting marketplace realities. We then examine the general elements of a hybrid union model that can assist social workers to organize and thus arrest their long-standing professional and fiscal decline.

Creating and enabling opportunities for increased student participation in experience based learning in professional practice

This paper explores models for enabling increased participation in experience based learning in legal professional practice. Legal placements as part of “for-credit” units offer students the opportunity to develop their professional skills in practice, reflect on their learning and job performance and take responsibility for their career development and planning. In short, work integrated learning (WIL) in law supports students in making the transition from university to practice. Despite its importance, WIL has traditionally taken place in practical legal training courses (after graduation) rather than during undergraduate law courses. Undergraduate WIL in Australian law schools has generally been limited to legal clinics which require intensive academic supervision, partnerships with community legal organisations and government funding. This paper will propose two models of WIL for undergraduate law which may overcome many of the challenges to engaging in WIL in law (which are consistent with those identified generally by the WIL Report). The first is a virtual law placement in which students use technology to complete a real world project in a virtual workplace under the guidance of a workplace supervisor. The second enables students to complete placements in private legal firms, government legal offices, or community legal centres under the supervision of a legal practitioner. The units complement each other by a) creating and enabling placement opportunities for students who may not otherwise have been able to participate in work placement by reason of family responsibilities, financial constraints, visa restrictions, distance etc; and b) enabling students to capitalise on existing work experience. This paper will report on the pilot offering of the units in 2008, the evaluation of the models and changes implemented in 2009. It will conclude that this multi-pronged approach can be successful in creating opportunities for, and overcoming barriers to participation in experiential learning in legal professional practice.

Redefining the student-teacher relationship through online sharing activities

The student-teacher relationship should be a critical factor for successful teaching and learning in design education. In tradition, the relationship is defined as a master-apprentice, so design teachers’ visual assessment capability and technical standards significantly affect students’ quality of learning and achievements. However, there are some negative aspects of the master-apprentice relationship in design education that it may restrict student experiences to cultural diversity and interdisciplinary learning through various interactions with other students. A visual design subject was designed to adapt a new learning method that is to share students’ work and assessment through an asynchronous communication tool. This method was expected to reduce the negative aspects of the master-apprentice relationship and enhance peer-to-peer interactions and individualistic collaboration. A survey with two types of student groups in terms of their levels of participation was conducted to evaluate student experiences to this method. The outcomes implicate that online peer assessment is helpful to reduce the negative aspects of master-apprentice relation and can be useful for achieving the ultimate purpose of design education.

Cities and the Night-time Economy

Reports on the reemergence of a concern with planning city centers as focal points in the 1980s. De-industrialization of older industrial areas; Revalorization of city center sites; Emergence of city-to-city competitiveness at a national and supranational level.

Internships in marketing: Goals, structures and assessment - student, company and academic perspectives

Work-integrated learning in the form of internships is increasingly important for universities as they seek to compete for students, and seek links with industries. Yet, there is surprisingly little empirical research on the details of internships: (1) What they should accomplish? How they should be structure? (3) How students performance should be assess? There is also surprisingly little conceptual analysis of these key issues, either for business internships in general. or for marketing internships in particular. Furthermore, the "answers" on these issues may differ depending upon the perspective if the three stakeholders: students, business managers and university academics. There is not study in the marketing literature which surveys all three groups on these important aspects of internships. To fill these gaps, this paper discusses and analyses internships goals, internship structure, and internship assessment or undergraduate marketing internships, and then reports on a survey of the views of all three stakeholder groups on these issues. There are a considerable variety of approaches for internships, but generally there is consensus among the stake holder groups, with some notable differences. Managerial implication include recognition of the importance of having and academic aspects in internships; mutual understanding concerning needs and constraints; and the requirement that companies, students, and academics take a long-term view of internship programs to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

The nature and extent of policing alcohol related crime and reducing violence in and around late night entertainment areas

The misuse of alcohol is well documented in Australia and has been associated with disorders and harms that often require police attention. The extent of alcohol-related incidents requiring police attention has been recorded as substantial in some Australian cities (Arro, Crook, & Fenton, 1992; Davey & French, 1995; Ireland & Thommeny, 1993). A significant proportion of harmful drinking occurs in and around licensed premises (Jochelson, 1997; Stockwell, Masters, Phillips, Daly, Gahegan, Midford, & Philp, 1998; Borges, Cherpitel, & Rosovsky, 1998) and most of these incidents are not reported to police (Bryant & Williams, 2000; Lister, Hobbs, Hall, & Winlow, 2000). Alcohol-related incidents have also been found to be concentrated in certain places at certain times (Jochelson, 1997) and therefore manipulating the context in which these incidents occur may provide a means to prevent and reduce the harm associated with alcohol misuse. One of the major objectives of the present program of research was to investigate the occurrence and resource impact of alcohol-related incidents on operational (general duties) policing across a large geographical area. A second objective of the thesis was to examine the characteristics and temporal/spatial dynamics of police attended alcohol incidents in the context of Place Based theories of crime. It was envisaged that this approach would reveal the patterns of the most prevalent offences and demonstrate the relevance of Place Based theories of crime to understanding these patterns. In addition, the role of alcohol, time and place were also explored in order to examine the association between non criminal traffic offences and other types of criminal offences. A final objective of the thesis was to examine the impact of a situational crime prevention strategy that had been initiated to reduce the violence and disorder associated with late-night liquor trading premises. The program of research in this doctorate thesis has been undertaken through the presentation of published papers. The research was conducted in three stages which produced six manuscripts, five of which were submitted to peer reviewed journals and one that was published in a peer reviewed conference proceedings. Stage One included two studies (Studies 1 & 2) both of which involved a cross sectional approach to examine the prevalence and characteristics of alcohol-related incidents requiring police attendance across three large geographical areas that included metropolitan cities, provincial regions and rural areas. Stage Two of the program of research also comprised two cross sectional quantitative studies (Studies 3 & 4) that investigated the temporal and spatial dynamics of the major offence categories attended by operational police in a specific Police District (Gold Coast). Stage Three of the program of research involved two studies (Studies 5 & 6) that assessed the effectiveness of a situational crime prevention strategy. The studies employed a pre-post design to assess the impact on crime, disorder and violence by preventing patrons from entering late-night liquor trading premises between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. (lockout policy). Although Study Five was solely quantitative in nature, Study Six included both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The approach adopted in Study Six, therefore facilitated not only a quantative comparison of the impact of the lockout policy on different policing areas, but also enabled the processes related to the implementation of the lockout policy to be examined. The thesis reports a program of research involving a common data collection method which then involved a series of studies being conducted to explore different aspects of the data. The data was collected from three sources. Firstly a pilot phase was undertaken to provide participants with training. Secondly a main study period was undertaken immediately following the pilot phase. The first and second sources of data were collected between 29th March 2004 and 2nd May 2004. Thirdly, additional data was collected between the 1st April 2005 and 31st May 2005. Participants in the current program of research were first response operational police officers who completed a modified activity log over a 9 week period (4 week pilot phase & 5 week survey study phase), identifying the type, prevalence and characteristics of alcohol-related incidents that were attended. During the study period police officers attended 31,090 alcohol-related incidents. Studies One and Two revealed that a substantial proportion of current police work involves attendance at alcohol-related incidents (i.e., 25% largely involving young males aged between 17 and 24 years). The most common incidents police attended were vehicle and/or traffic matters, disturbances and offences against property. The major category of offences most likely to involve alcohol included vehicle/traffic matters, disturbances and offences against the person (e.g., common & serious assaults). These events were most likely to occur in the late evenings and early hours of the morning on the weekends, and importantly, usually took longer for police to complete than non alcohol-related incidents. The findings in Studies Three and Four suggest that serious traffic offences, disturbances and offences against the person share similar characteristics and occur in concentrated places at similar times. In addition, it was found that time, place and incident type all have an influence on whether an incident attended by a police officer is alcohol-related. Alcohol-related incidents are more likely to occur in particular locations in the late evenings and early mornings on the weekends. In particular, there was a strong association between the occurrence of alcohol-related disturbances and alcohol-related serious traffic offences in regards to place and time. In general, stealing and property offences were not alcohol-related and occurred in daylight hours during weekdays. The results of Studies Five and Six were mixed. A number of alcohol-related offences requiring police attention were significantly reduced for some policing areas and for some types of offences following the implementation of the lockout policy. However, in some locations the lockout policy appeared to have a negative or minimal impact. Interviews with licensees revealed that although all were initially opposed to the lockout policy as they believed it would have a negative impact on business, most perceived some benefits from its introduction. Some of the benefits included, improved patron safety and the development of better business strategies to increase patron numbers. In conclusion, the overall findings of the six studies highlight the pervasive nature of alcohol across a range of criminal incidents, demonstrating the tremendous impact alcohol-related incidents have on police. The findings also demonstrate the importance of time and place in predicting the occurrence of alcohol-related offences. Although this program of research did not set out to test Place Based theories of crime, these theories were used to inform the interpretation of findings. The findings in the current research program provide evidence for the relevance of Place Based theories of crime to understanding the factors contributing to violence and disorder, and designing relevant crime prevention strategies. For instance, the results in Studies Five and Six provide supportive evidence that this novel lockout initiative can be beneficial for public safety by reducing some types of offences in particular areas in and around late-night liquor trading premises. Finally, intelligent-led policing initiatives based on problem oriented policing, such as the lockout policy examined in this thesis, have potential as a major crime prevention technique to reduce specific types of alcohol-related offences.

Seeing pedestrians at night : visual clutter does not mask biological motion

Although placing reflective markers on pedestrians’ major joints can make pedestrians more conspicuous to drivers at night, it has been suggested that this “biological motion” effect may be reduced when visual clutter is present. We tested whether extraneous points of light affected the ability of 12 younger and 12 older drivers to see pedestrians as they drove on a closed road at night. Pedestrians wore black clothing alone or with retroreflective markings in four different configurations. One pedestrian walked in place and was surrounded by clutter on half of the trials. Another was always surrounded by visual clutter but either walked in place or stood still. Clothing configuration, pedestrian motion, and driver age influenced conspicuity but clutter did not. The results confirm that even in the presence of visual clutter pedestrians wearing biological motion configurations are recognized more often and at greater distances than when they wear a reflective vest.

Intentional first year curriculum design as a means of facilitating student engagement: some exemplars

The importance of student engagement to higher education quality, making deep learning outcomes possible for students, and achieving student retention, is increasingly being understood. The issue of student engagement in the first year of tertiary study is of particular significance. This paper takes the position that the first year curriculum, and the pedagogical principles that inform its design, are critical influencers of student engagement in the first year learning environment. We use an analysis of case studies prepared for Kift’s ALTC Senior Fellowship to demonstrate ways in which student engagement in the first year of tertiary study can be successfully supported through intentional curriculum design that motivates students to learn, provides a positive learning climate, and encourages students to be active in their learning.

Australian student reactions to U.S. tourism advertising : a test of advertising as public diplomacy

A study among Australian college students gauged their reactions to a television commercial produced for the U.S. Commerce Department to bolster sagging tourism numbers among international visitors. In addition to using traditional measures applied to tourism advertisements, the student also concluded items to measure attitudes toward the U.S. government and its people Pre- and post-viewing results indicated that while the Hollywood-movie-themed commercial was not well received by the Australian students as a tourism message, it did result in more favorable attitudes toward the U.S. government, though not the U.S. people. The findings lend partial support for the potential of tourism advertising efforts to exert a "bleed-over effect" in terms of their contributions to overall attitudes toward a country, regardless of whether viewers plan to visit the country whose travel advertisements they see.

Australian student reactions to US tourism advertising : a test of advertising as public diplomacy

A study among Australian college students gauged their reactions to a television commercial produced for the US Commerce Department to bolster sagging tourism numbers among international visitors. In additional to using traditional measures applied to tourism advertisements, the study also included items to measure attitudes toward the US government and its people. Pre- and post-viewing results indicated that although the Hollywood-movie-themes commercial was not well received by the Australian students as a tourism message, it did result in more favourable attitudes toward the US government, although not the US people. The findings lend partial support for the potential of tourism advertising efforts to exert a 'bleed-over effect' in terms of their contribution to overall attitudes toward a country, regardless of whether viewers plan to visit the country whose travel advertisements of which they see.