A critical success factors model for enterprise resource planning implementation

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are integrated enterprise-wide standard information systems that automate all aspects of an organisations’ business processes. The ERP philosophy is that business systems incorporating sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution, personnel and finance modules can be supported by a single integrated system with all of the company’s data captured in a central database. The ERP packages of vendors such as SAP, Baan, J.D. Edwards and Intentia represent more than a common systems platform for a business. They prescribe information blueprints of how organisation’s business processes should operate. In this paper, the scale and strategic importance of ERP systems is identified and the problem of ERP implementation is defined. Five company examples are analysed using a Critical Success Factors (CSFs) theoretical framework. The paper offers a framework for managers which provides the basis for developing an ERP implementation strategy. The case analysis identifies different approaches to ERP implementation, highlights the critical role of legacy systems in influencing the implementation process, and identifies the importance of business process change and software configuration in addition to factors already cited in the literature such as top management support and communication. The implications of the results and future research opportunities are outlined.

Examining the critical interplay of knowledge acquisition and integration capabilities in service innovation-based competitive advantage in project oriented service firms

While past knowledge-based approaches to service innovation have emphasized the role of knowledge integration in the delivery of customer-focused solutions, these approaches do not adequately address the complexities inherent in knowledge acquisition and integration in project-oriented firms. Adopting a dynamic capability framework and building on knowledge-based approaches to innovation, the current study examines how the interplay of learning capabilities and knowledge integration capability impacts service innovation and sustained competitive advantage. This two-stage multi-sample study finds that entrepreneurial project-oriented service firms in their quest for competitive advantage through greater innovation invest in knowledge acquisition and integration capabilities. Implications for theory and practice are discussed and directions for future research provided.

Reflexive writers : re-thinking writing development and assessment in schools

Writing is a complex and highly individual activity, which is approached in different ways by different writers. Writers reflexively mediate subjective and objective conditions in specific and nuanced ways to produce a product in time and place. This paper uses a critical realist theory of reflexivity to argue that the teaching and assessment of writing must account for the different ways that students manage and make decisions in their writing. Data from linguistically and culturally diverse primary students in Australia are used to illustrate how four distinct reflexive modalities constitute the ways in which students approach writing. The paper offers a new approach to assessing writing for and of learning that considers writers as reflexive and agentic in different ways. It posits the importance of making visible and explicit the context and reflexive decision-making as writers shape a product for a purpose and audience.

Building a community of learners within the STEM higher education classroom

Building rich and authentic learning experiences in the STEM classroom, is a challenge for many educators within Higher Education. While many Higher Education Institutions have embraced the need to transform current teaching and learning practices and include a range of online tools, this has often been met with some resistance and approaches that do not always recognise the academic who are a critical component to the success of the transformational process. Over the last decade the Internet has evolved from being a tool used by a few dedicated educators to one that is being used by the majority of educators. However, what is important is how this great resource is used in teaching and learning to allow students to build knowledge. The ability for students to construct knowledge and engage in higher order thinking skills is at the heart of educational practices, and building a community of learners has the potential to support these practices, especially within STEM education. This paper explores the relationship between students and an academic teaching in a technology rich STEM learning environment and their adoption of social community and shared tools. In particular the paper reports on the critical components that make a successful community of learners and the educational tools and approaches that were successfully used to enhance the student learning experience in a STEM classroom.

Transition Pedagogy Handbook : A Good Practice Guide for Policy and Practice in the First Year Experience at QUT

This Handbook has been specifically designed for academic and professional staff responsible for managing first year students and curriculum and co-curricular programs at QUT. As well as presenting examples of good practice, the handbook provides a brief overview of QUT’s First Year Experience Program, a summary of QUT’s First Year Experience and Retention Policy and the Transition Pedagogy that frames both curricular and co-curricular activities. We hope you find this resource both useful and informative.

The Dancer as Reflective Practitioner

The inextricably intimate relationships connecting the dancer, the dance and the self indicate that the practice of dance is inherently a reflective practice of feedback looping. Professional dancers are aware of this in continuing self-critical analyses and reflections for self-improvement, striving for the ever-elusive perfection in performance. The reflective nature of learning dance is, however, less apparent to the student of dance due to the traditional master/apprentice approach to dance training. By making explicit the essentially reflective sequence of processes through which the self becomes the dancer of the dance, the locus of control is shifted towards the dance student, thereby increasing the sense of autonomy and intrinsic motivation for exploration, discovery and improvement of her or his own practice. This study documents the implementation of the 4Rs approach to reflective practice in a university dance training context. Data include reflective observations of dance lessons, and teacher and student reflections on the reflective approach taken in these lessons. Insider and outsider perspectives from students, the dance teacher and external researchers are taken to provide a nuanced understanding of the value of corporeal, visual and verbal reflection in dance for improved performance.

Multiliteracies pedagogy : creating claymations with adolescent, post-beginner English language learners

In addressing literacy in high school education, it is important to foreground the particular issues faced by growing numbers of English Language Learners (ELLs). In our increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, this is a matter for all literacy teachers, as well as ELL specialists. In Australia, teachers of ELLs are experimenting with Multiliteracies pedagogy which provides rich opportunities to explore language learning experiences and outcomes that stretch beyond exercises in reproduction in written and oral modes only. This paper documents the practice of a high school teacher who uses a claymation project, producing a movie by stop-motion filming of clay figures, with a class of low-level English literacy learners. Drawing on observations of three particular students, the paper outlines a number of possibilities of this approach for English language learners. These include increased individual agency; enhanced engagement through collaboration; and the opportunity to explore various elements of multimodal text design.

Marx as a Critical Discourse Analyst : The Genesis of a Critical Method and its Relevance to the Critique of Global Capital (with Phil Graham)

In this paper we identify elements in Marx’s economic and political writings that are relevant to contemporary critical discourse analysis (CDA). We argue that Marx can be seen to be engaging in a form of discourse analysis. We identify the elements in Marx’s historical materialist method that support such a perspective, and exemplify these in longitudinal comparison of Marx’s texts.

Evaluation of assessment in the context of work-based learning: Qualitative perspectives of new graduates

Aim Evaluation or assessment of competence is an important step to ensure the safety and efficacy of health professionals, including dietitians. Most competency-based assessment studies are focussed on valid and reliable methods of assessment for the preparation of entry-level dietitians, few papers have explored student dietitians’ perceptions of these evaluations. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of recent graduates from accredited nutrition and dietetics training programs in Australia. It also aimed to establish the relevance of competency-based assessment to adequately prepare them for entry-level work roles. Methods A purposive sample of newly-graduated dietitians with a range of assessment experiences and varied employment areas was recruited. A qualitative approach, using in-depth interviews with 13 graduates, with differing assessment experiences was undertaken. Graduates were asked to reflect upon their competency-based assessment experiences whilst a student. Data was thematically analysed by multiple authors. Results Four themes emerged from the data analysis: (i) Transparency and consistency are critical elements of work-based competency assessment. (ii) Students are willing to take greater responsibility in their assessment process. (iii) Work-based competency assessment prepares students for employment. (iv) The relationship between students and their assessors can impact on the student experience and their assessment performance. Conclusions Understanding this unique perspective of students can improve evaluation of future health professionals and assist in designing valid competency-based assessment approaches.

How can partnerships between the universities and schools exploit new opportunities for pedagogies at the intersection of the arts/design and the sciences?

Driven by information accessibility-on-demand provided by the internet, education modes are changing from a teacher-led approach focused on content delivery and assessible outcomes, to a learner-based approach encouraging self-directed, peer-tutored, and cooperative learning. New pedagogies are required to extend learning beyond the classroom and traditional subject areas such as contemporary arts, in alignment with the cross disciplinary priorities of the Australian Curriculum and values of the International Baccalaureate Organisation. This research explores how partnerships with universities and cultural organisations are implicated in the generation of these new forms of pedagogy and contribute to the field of educational research within the context of Education Queensland’s Framework For Gifted Education. In particular, this paper explores a new pedagogical framework for highly capable year five to nine Queensland state school students at the intersection of arts, design and the sciences, which has arisen from an explicit secondary/ tertiary partnership between the Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries Faculty and Precincts and the Queensland Academies Young Scholars Program. The Young Scholars Program offers experiences in the International Baccalaureate and Australian Curriculum contexts to enhance outcomes via global understanding, unique industry partnerships and 21st century pedagogical innovation based not on 'content' but tacit/experiential learning concepts including immersive, creative, intellectual and social strategies. These strategies for highly capable students are centred around authentic opportunities, primary resources, transdisciplinary learning and relationships with likeminded peers including tertiary arts, design and STEM educators and students, professionals and researchers. The presentation details case studies which are hands-on real time workshops involving inquiry based challenges in the arts, design and sciences, mathematics, history, creative writing and other disciplines, with content drawn from collections from public institutions, academic research and tertiary pedagogy. Both programs implicate student collaboration and creative production as methodology/data capture for ongoing action research, in alignment with the Framework For Gifted Education’s emphasis on evidence-based practices. They also challenge gifted students “to continue their development through curricular activities that require depth of study, complexity of thinking, fast pace of learning, high-level skills development and/or creative and critical thinking (e.g. through independent investigations, tiered tasks, diverse real-world applications, mentors)”(Education Queensland, 2011:3). This presentation highlights the strengths of the ongoing collaboration between QUT Creative industries Faculty and Queensland Academies, which not only provides successful extra curricular activities for gifted students towards a place in the International Baccalaureate Program, but also provides mentoring opportunities for tertiary students in their field of endeavor to assist with their own learning, and unique research opportunities for the Faculty as it focuses on excellence in arts, design and creative education and research. Education Queensland.(2011). Framework For Gifted Education Revised Edition 2011 (accessed Nov 19 2011)

Examining the rhetoric : a comparison of how sustainability and young children's participation and agency are framed in Australian and Swedish early childhood education curricula

This article scrutinizes the ways that young children are described and supported as active participants for change within the Australian and Swedish national steering documents for early childhood education. A critical theory lens was applied in combination with document analysis that looked for concepts related to environment and sustainability i.e. environmental, social, economic and political dimension of development, humans place in nature, and environmental stewardship. Concepts concerned with critical thinking, and children as active participants for change were used as specific dimensions of curriculum interpretation. Analyses show that, while both the Australian and Swedish curricula deal with content connected to environmental, social and cognitive dimensions, there is limited or no discussion of the political dimensions of human development, such as children as active citizens with political agency. In other words, children are not recognised as competent beings or agents of change for sustainability within these early childhood curriculum frameworks. Hence, these supposedly contemporary early childhood education documents lack curricular leadership to support children to contribute their voices and actions to civic and public spheres of participation as equal citizens.

Intersectionality, rural criminology, and re-imaging the boundaries of critical criminology

One of the significant shortcomings of the criminological canon, including its critical strands – feminist, cultural and green – has been its urbancentric bias. In this theoretical model, rural communities are idealised as conforming to the typical small-scale traditional societies based on cohesive organic forms of solidarity and close density acquaintance networks. This article challenges the myth that rural communities are relatively crime free places of ‘moral virtue’ with no need for a closer scrutiny of rural context, rural places, and rural peoples about crime and other social problems. This challenge is likewise woven into the conceptual and empirical narratives of the other articles in this Special Edition, which we argue constitute an important body of innovative work, not just for reinvigorating debates in rural criminology, but also critical criminology. For without a critical perspective of place, the realities of context are too easily overlooked. A new criminology of crime and place will help keep both critical criminology and rural criminology firmly anchored in the sociological and the criminological imagination. We argue that intersectionality, a framework that resists privileging any particular social structural category of analysis, but is cognisant of the power effects of colonialism, class, race and gender, can provide the theoretical scaffolding to further develop such a project.