Physical aspects

As teachers, we must know about the physical developmental processes our students are experiencing. These are reflected in behaviour, emotions and relationships. And for adolescents, who are trying hard to figure out how the world operates, the physical changes they experience have a potent impact on their world view. While the sequencing of much of our physical development is pretty well according to a grand template and rolls out in much the same way from one person to the next, not everything occurs in a set way (Richter, 2006). Some aspects of our physical development cause other things to occur and are tied together. For example, hormonal changes during puberty are tied to the development of secondary sexual characteristics. However, there is individual variation at multiple levels, and we will discuss these. To complicate things, adolescents’ feelings and ideas about themselves and the ways in which they interact with the world as they grow and change are coloured by our societies’ multifaceted sets of ideals, standards and expectations for physical development. Many other things also impact on our conceptions of self and these will be discussed when we turn our attention to the development of identity through adolescence. In this chapter we will present some basic information about the types of physical changes to expect during adolescence, and consider some challenges that confront adolescents during this time of development.

Transactions with chance in the garden

This paper discusses change and chance in order to develop a language that can then be used to discuss change in the garden. In the process, it puts forward the idea that to garden is to meddle with the teleonomy of the plants, their “will” to grow as they should. Different design conceptions of change are discussed, particularly the relation of style to design, suggesting that there is the possibility for a material language that both the discourses of gardening and landscape architecture shares that could negotiate this breach. A model or “transactions” between gardener and garden is put forward to begin to get to grips with the particular methods of “working at a remove”, that is, curating conditions rather than designing objects. The paper finally proposes that landscape architecture has to move away from a paranoid engagement with specifiable objects, to one where the designer grooms conditions and sensibilities, and gets out of the office.

Reconceptualising the information system as a service

The study will cross-fertilise Information Systems (IS) and Services Marketing ideas through reconceptualising the information system as a service (ISaaS). The study addresses known limitations of arguably the two most significant dependent variables in these disciplines - Information System Success or IS-Impact, and Service Quality. Planned efforts to synthesise analogous conceptions across these disciplines, are expected to force a deeper theoretical understanding of the broad notions of success, quality, value and satisfaction and their interrelations. The aims of this research are to: (1) yield a conceptually superior and more extensively validated IS success measurement model, and (2) develop and operationalise a more rigorously validated Service Quality measurement model, while extending the ‘service’ notion to ‘operational computer-based information systems in organisations’. In the development of the new models the study will address contemporary validation issues.

Are library and information professionals ready for evidence based practice?

Evidence based practice (EBP) is recognised as a way of improving the quality of professional practice in many disciplines however its adoption within library and information sciences (LIS) has been gradual. The term was first introduced into the library and information profession‟s vocabulary a decade ago but an impediment to its uptake is the lack of clear understanding regarding how LIS practitioners understand the concept. Partridge, Thorpe, Edwards and Hallam (2007) identified the need to understand how LIS professionals experience or understand evidence based practice and proposed a model of four categories of experience to describe how LIS professionals experience EBP. This paper extends that framework by refining the different conceptions of evidence based practice and identifying relationships which exist between the categories of experience to provide a rich description of the EBP phenomenon. The paper also argues that the phrase “evidence based librarianship” and its variations be abandoned as practitioners do not see a distinction between EBP as applied to librarianship and information practice and industry specific jargon like “evidence based library and information practice”. This research will help current and future LIS practitioners, leaders and educators engage more actively in the establishment of an evidence based culture to improve library and information practice in Australia and internationally.

Revisiting the conceptualization and measurement of service quality

Since the 1980s, industries and researchers have sought to better understand the quality of services due to the rise in their importance (Brogowicz, Delene and Lyth 1990). More recent developments with online services, coupled with growing recognition of service quality (SQ) as a key contributor to national economies and as an increasingly important competitive differentiator, amplify the need to revisit our understanding of SQ and its measurement. Although ‘SQ’ can be broadly defined as “a global overarching judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of a service” (Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml 1988), the term has many interpretations. There has been considerable progress on how to measure SQ perceptions, but little consensus has been achieved on what should be measured. There is agreement that SQ is multi-dimensional, but little agreement as to the nature or content of these dimensions (Brady and Cronin 2001). For example, within the banking sector, there exist multiple SQ models, each consisting of varying dimensions. The existence of multiple conceptions and the lack of a unifying theory bring the credibility of existing conceptions into question, and beg the question of whether it is possible at some higher level to define SQ broadly such that it spans all service types and industries. This research aims to explore the viability of a universal conception of SQ, primarily through a careful re-visitation of the services and SQ literature. The study analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the highly regarded and widely used global SQ model (SERVQUAL) which reflects a single-level approach to SQ measurement. The SERVQUAL model states that customers evaluate SQ (of each service encounter) based on five dimensions namely reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsibility. SERVQUAL, however, failed to address what needs to be reliable, assured, tangible, empathetic and responsible. This research also addresses a more recent global SQ model from Brady and Cronin (2001); the B&C (2001) model, that has potential to be the successor of SERVQUAL in that it encompasses other global SQ models and addresses the ‘what’ questions that SERVQUAL didn’t. The B&C (2001) model conceives SQ as being multidimensional and multi-level; this hierarchical approach to SQ measurement better reflecting human perceptions. In-line with the initial intention of SERVQUAL, which was developed to be generalizable across industries and service types, this research aims to develop a conceptual understanding of SQ, via literature and reflection, that encompasses the content/nature of factors related to SQ; and addresses the benefits and weaknesses of various SQ measurement approaches (i.e. disconfirmation versus perceptions-only). Such understanding of SQ seeks to transcend industries and service types with the intention of extending our knowledge of SQ and assisting practitioners in understanding and evaluating SQ. The candidate’s research has been conducted within, and seeks to contribute to, the ‘IS-Impact’ research track of the IT Professional Services (ITPS) Research Program at QUT. The vision of the track is “to develop the most widely employed model for benchmarking Information Systems in organizations for the joint benefit of research and practice.” The ‘IS-Impact’ research track has developed an Information Systems (IS) success measurement model, the IS-Impact Model (Gable, Sedera and Chan 2008), which seeks to fulfill the track’s vision. Results of this study will help future researchers in the ‘IS-Impact’ research track address questions such as: • Is SQ an antecedent or consequence of the IS-Impact model or both? • Has SQ already been addressed by existing measures of the IS-Impact model? • Is SQ a separate, new dimension of the IS-Impact model? • Is SQ an alternative conception of the IS? Results from the candidate’s research suggest that SQ dimensions can be classified at a higher level which is encompassed by the B&C (2001) model’s 3 primary dimensions (interaction, physical environment and outcome). The candidate also notes that it might be viable to re-word the ‘physical environment quality’ primary dimension to ‘environment quality’ so as to better encompass both physical and virtual scenarios (E.g: web sites). The candidate does not rule out the global feasibility of the B&C (2001) model’s nine sub-dimensions, however, acknowledges that more work has to be done to better define the sub-dimensions. The candidate observes that the ‘expertise’, ‘design’ and ‘valence’ sub-dimensions are supportive representations of the ‘interaction’, physical environment’ and ‘outcome’ primary dimensions respectively. The latter statement suggests that customers evaluate each primary dimension (or each higher level of SQ classification) namely ‘interaction’, physical environment’ and ‘outcome’ based on the ‘expertise’, ‘design’ and ‘valence’ sub-dimensions respectively. The ability to classify SQ dimensions at a higher level coupled with support for the measures that make up this higher level, leads the candidate to propose the B&C (2001) model as a unifying theory that acts as a starting point to measuring SQ and the SQ of IS. The candidate also notes, in parallel with the continuing validation and generalization of the IS-Impact model, that there is value in alternatively conceptualizing the IS as a ‘service’ and ultimately triangulating measures of IS SQ with the IS-Impact model. These further efforts are beyond the scope of the candidate’s study. Results from the candidate’s research also suggest that both the disconfirmation and perceptions-only approaches have their merits and the choice of approach would depend on the objective(s) of the study. Should the objective(s) be an overall evaluation of SQ, the perceptions-only approached is more appropriate as this approach is more straightforward and reduces administrative overheads in the process. However, should the objective(s) be to identify SQ gaps (shortfalls), the (measured) disconfirmation approach is more appropriate as this approach has the ability to identify areas that need improvement.

Space and Cyberspace: on the enclosure of consciousness

In this chapter I argue that the global privatisation of elctromagnetic spectrum marks this period as historically unique. I also put forward conceptual categories for understanding the nature of an emergent cybereconomy. They correspond to classical conceptions of property, value and labour, but in no way treat these categories as singular, simple or unproblematic. From a perspective informed largely by Marx’s critique of classical political economy, I frame the creation of a global cyberspace as the enclosure, or “privatisation”, of conscious activity. I argue that a full and formally defined cyberspace, at least as it is currenty conceived of, must prefigure the eventual alienation of human social existence at its most fundamental and definitive level: consciousness.

Effect of amblyopia on the developmental eye movement test in children

Purpose. To investigate the functional impact of amblyopia in children, the performance of amblyopic and age-matched control children on a clinical test of eye movements was compared. The influence of visual factors on test outcome measures was explored. Methods. Eye movements were assessed with the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test, in a group of children with amblyopia (n = 39; age, 9.1 ± 0.9 years) of different causes (infantile esotropia, n = 7; acquired strabismus, n = 10; anisometropia, n = 8; mixed, n = 8; deprivation, n = 6) and in an age-matched control group (n = 42; age, 9.3 ± 0.4 years). LogMAR visual acuity (VA), stereoacuity, and refractive error were also recorded in both groups. Results. No significant difference was found between the amblyopic and age-matched control group for any of the outcome measures of the DEM (vertical time, horizontal time, number of errors and ratio(horizontal time/vertical time)). The DEM measures were not significantly related to VA in either eye, level of binocular function (stereoacuity), history of strabismus, or refractive error. Conclusions. The performance of amblyopic children on the DEM, a commonly used clinical measure of eye movements, has not previously been reported. Under habitual binocular viewing conditions, amblyopia has no effect on DEM outcome scores despite significant impairment of binocular vision and decreased VA in both the better and worse eye.

Accounts of the visual art classroom : catering for artistically talented students

Inclusive education practices call for the diverse and individual needs of all students to be met satisfactorily. The needs and experiences of artistically talented students in Australian visual art classrooms are currently unknown. This study addresses this gap in research through an inquiry into the experiences of artistically talented students and their teachers in visual art classrooms, by examining the accounts of a group of students and teachers at one high school in South East Queensland. This study is significant as it provides teachers, parents and others involved in the education of artistically talented students with additional means to plan and cater for the educational needs of artistically talented students. Teacher and student accounts of the visual art classroom in this study indicated that identification processes for artistically talented students are unclear and contradictory. Furthermore, teacher and student accounts of their experiences presented a wide variety of conceptions of the visual art classroom and point towards an individualised approach to learning for artistically talented students. This study also discovered a mismatch between assessment practices in the subject visual art and assessment of art in the ‘real world’. Specifically, this study proposes a renewal of programs for artistically talented students, and recommends a revision of current procedures for the identification of artistically talented students in visual art classrooms.

A phenomenological study of contemplative experiences : implications for interior design

This research reports on a project concerned with the relationship between the person and the environment in the context of achieving a contemplative or existential state – a state which can be experienced either consciously or subconsciously. The need for such a study originated with the desire to contribute to the design of multicultural spaces which could be used for a range of activities within the public and the personal arena, activities including contemplation, meditation and prayer. The concept of ‘sacred’ is explored in the literature review and in primary interviews with the participants of this study. Given that the word ‘sacred’ is highly value-laden and potentially alienating for some people, it was decided to use the more accessible term ‘contemplative’. The outcomes of the study inform the practice of interior design and architecture which tends currently to neglect the potential for all spaces to be existentially meaningful. Informed by phenomenological methodology, data were collected from a diverse group of people, using photo-elicitation and interviews. The technique of photo-elicitation proved to be highly effective in helping people reveal their everyday lived experience of contemplative spaces. Reflective analysis (Van Manen 2000) was used to explore the data collected. The initial stage of analysis produced three categories of data: varying conceptions of contemplation, aspects of the person involved in the contemplation, and aspects of environment involved in contemplation. From this, it was found that achieving a state of contemplation involves both the person and the environment in a dialectic process of unfolding. The unfolding has various physical, psycho-social, and existential dimensions or qualities which operate sequentially and simultaneously. Two concepts emerged as being central to unfolding: ‘Cleansing’ and ‘Nothingness’. Unfolding is found to comprise the Core; Distinction; Manifestation; Cleansing; Creation; and Sharing. This has a parallel with Mircea Eliade’s (1959) definition of sacred as something that manifests itself as different from the profane. The power of design, re-contextualization through utility and purpose, and the existential engagements between the person and environment are used as a basis for establishing the potential contribution of the study to interior design. In this way, the study makes a contribution to our understanding of how space and its elements inspire, support and sustain person environment interaction – particularly at the existential level – as well as to our understanding of the multi-dimensional and holistic nature of this interaction. In addition, it points to the need for a phenomenological re-conceptualisation of the design/client relationship. In summary, the contributions of this research are: the exploration of contemplative experience as sacred experience; an understanding of the design of space as creating engagement between person and environment; a rationale for the introduction of a phenomenological approach to the relationship between designer and clients; and raising awareness of the spiritual in a holistic approach to design.

The effect of Amblyopia on motor and psychosocial skills in children

Background/Aims: In an investigation of the functional impact of amblyopia on children, the fine motor skills, perceived self-esteem and eye movements of amblyopic children were compared with that of age-matched controls. The influence of amblyogenic condition or treatment factors that might predict any decrement in outcome measures was investigated. The relationship between indirect measures of eye movements that are used clinically and eye movement characteristics recorded during reading was examined and the relevance of proficiency in fine motor skills to performance on standardised educational tests was explored in a sub-group of the control children. Methods: Children with amblyopia (n=82; age 8.2 ± 1.3 years) from differing causes (infantile esotropia n=17, acquired strabismus n=28, anisometropia n=15, mixed n=13 and deprivation n=9), and a control group of children (n=106; age 9.5 ± 1.2 years) participated in this study. Measures of visual function included monocular logMAR visual acuity (VA) and stereopsis assessed with the Randot Preschool Stereoacuity test, while fine motor skills were measured using the Visual-Motor Control (VMC) and Upper Limb Speed and Dexterity (ULSD) subtests of the Brunicks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Perceived self esteem was assessed for those children from grade 3 school level with the Harter Self Perception Profile for Children and for those in younger grades (preschool to grade 2) with the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance for Young Children. A clinical measure of eye movements was made with the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test for those children aged eight years and above. For appropriate case-control comparison of data, the results from amblyopic children were compared with age-matched sub-samples drawn from the group of children with normal vision who completed the tests. Eye movements during reading for comprehension were recorded by the Visagraph infra-red recording system and results of standardised tests of educational performance were also obtained for a sub-set of the control group. Results Amblyopic children (n=82; age 8.2 ± 1.7 years) performed significantly poorer than age-matched control children (n=37; age 8.3 ± 1.3 years) on 9 of 16 fine motor skills sub-items and for the overall age-standardised scores for both VMC and ULSD items (p<0.05); differences were most evident on timed manual dexterity tasks. The underlying aetiology of amblyopia and level of stereoacuity significantly affected fine motor skill performance on both items. However, when examined in a multiple regression model that took into account the inter-correlation between visual characteristics, poorer fine motor skills performance was only associated with strabismus (F1,75 = 5.428; p =0. 022), and not with the level of stereoacuity, refractive error or visual acuity in either eye. Amblyopic children from grade 3 school level and above (n=47; age 9.2 ± 1.3 years), particularly those with acquired strabismus, had significantly lower social acceptance scores than age-matched control children (n=52; age 9.4 ± 0.5 years) (F(5,93) = 3.14; p = 0.012). However, the scores of the amblyopic children were not significantly different to controls for other areas related to self-esteem, including scholastic competence, physical appearance, athletic competence, behavioural conduct and global self worth. A lower social acceptance score was independently associated with a history of treatment with patching but not with a history of strabismus or wearing glasses. Amblyopic children from pre-school to grade 2 school level (n=29; age = 6.6 ± 0.6 years) had similar self-perception scores to their age-matched peers (n=20; age = 6.4 ± 0.5 years). There were no significant differences between the amblyopic (n=39; age 9.1 ± 0.9 years) and age-matched control (n = 42; age = 9.3 ± 0.38 years) groups for any of the DEM outcome measures (Vertical Time, Horizontal Time, Number of Errors and Ratio (Horizontal time/Vertical time)). Performance on the DEM did not significantly relate to measures of VA in either eye, level of binocular function, history of strabismus or refractive error. Developmental Eye Movement test outcome measures Horizontal Time and Vertical Time were significantly correlated with reading rates measured by the Visagraph for both reading for comprehension and naming numbers (r>0.5). Some moderate correlations were also seen between the DEM Ratio and word reading rates as recorded by Visagraph (r=0.37). In children with normal vision, academic scores in mathematics, spelling and reading were associated with measures of fine motor skills. Strongest effect sizes were seen with the timed manual dexterity domain, Upper Limb Speed and Dexterity. Conclusions Amblyopia may have a negative impact on a child’s fine motor skills and an older child’s sense of acceptance by their peers may be influenced by treatment that includes eye patching. Clinical measures of eye movements were not affected in amblyopic children. A number of the outcome measures of the DEM are associated with objective recordings of reading rates, supporting its clinical use for identification of children with slower reading rates. In children with normal vision, proficiency on clinical measures of fine motor skill are associated with outcomes on standardised measures of educational performance. Scores on timed manual dexterity tasks had the strongest association with educational performance. Collectively, the results of this study indicate that, in addition to the reduction in visual acuity and binocular function that define the condition, amblyopes have functional impairment in childhood development skills that underlie proficiency in everyday activities. The study provides support for strategies aimed at early identification and remediation of amblyopia and the co-morbidities that arise from abnormal visual neurodevelopment.

Students’ conceptual knowledge about workplace pedagogies and applications to learning in the workplace

The development of effective workplace pedagogies is integral to work-integrated and work-based learning. The workplace pedagogies that facilitate and support learning include: activities in which individuals engage such as daily work practices, questioning; observing, and listening; interactions with more experienced workers through coaching and modelling; and referencing documented procedures. Each of these dimensions is significant in enhancing processes of workplace learning. Learning can be optimised when these pedagogies are appropriately embedded in the context of and process of participating in normal work activities. Yet learners need to understand the nature of these pedagogies, and how and for what purposes to use these to achieve a range of learning outcomes. This is because it is the worker-learners who play the key roles in the process and outcomes of learning through work. A pilot study was conducted on students’ conceptions of how each of these dimensions of workplace pedagogy help their learning, by providing examples of learning from these sources; and stating their preferences for learning in the workplace. A sample of seventeen students, enrolled in the second year of a Diploma in Nursing course at a Technical and Further Education institution, participated in a survey intended to capture these conceptions and the importance attached to each of them. The findings indicate that these students have basic understanding of how each of seven workplace pedagogic practices can contribute to their learning. They reported relying mostly on daily practices, observing and listening to others, modelling, coaching, and other workers. Their selection of these contributions emphasise significant opportunities for guided learning by others, yet suggest fewer student-initiated interactions, less intensity in interactions, and likelihood that learning is more passive. The data also suggests that these students rely mostly on using academic learning skill, and limited workplace learning skills. It is proposed, therefore, that the knowledge and understandings about workplace learning and pedagogies might be best embedded in the full curriculum and not become add-on shortly before students go on work placement. This approach will allow students to appreciate the significance and use of workplace pedagogies for learning.

Wanderer beyond game worlds

We discuss issues and opportunities for designing experiences with 3D simulations of nature where the landscape and the interactant engage in an equitable dialogue. We consider the way digital representations of the world and design habits tend to detach from corporeal dimensions in experiencing the natural world and perpetuate motifs in games that reflect taming, territorializing or defending ourselves from nature. We reflect on the Digital Songlines project, which translates the schema of indigenous people to construct a natural environment, and the inherent difficulty in cross-culturally representing inter-connectedness. This leads us to discuss insights into the use of natural features by western people in cultural transmission and in their experiences in natural places. We propose McCarthy and Wright's dialogical approach may reconcile conceptions of place and self in design and conclude by considering experiments in which designers digitally reconstruct their own corporeal experience in natural physical landscape.

Violence, Spatiality and other Rurals

Occidentalism, which treats the other as the same, can be detected in both the criminological and rural sociological treatment of violence in the sociospatial sites of rural countrysides. Criminology tends to mistakenly assume that violence in the modern world is primarily an urban phenomenon (Baldwin & Bottoms, 1976, p. 1; Braithwaite, 1989, p. 47). If violence in rural settings is encountered it tends to be treated as a smaller scale version of the urban problem, or the importation of an otherwise urban problem - as the corrupting influence of the gesellschaft within the gemeinschaft. Within much rural sociology violence is rendered invisible by the assumption that rural communities conform to the idealised conception of the typical gemeinschaft society, small-scale traditional societies based on strong cohesiveness, intimacy and organic forms of solidarity. What these bonds conceal, rather than reveal - violence within the family - remains invisible to the public gaze. The visibility of violence within Aboriginal families and communities presents a major exception to the spatially ordered social relations which render so much white family violence hidden. The need to take into account the complexity and diversity of these sociospatial relations is concretely highlighted in our research which has taken us out of the urban context and confronted us not only with the phenomenon of the violence of other rurals, but also with fundamentally competing claims on, and conceptions of, space and place in the context of a racially divided Australian interior. This article represents the second installment of conceptual reflections on this research, with the first having been published in this journal in 1998.

The Remnant

An Interactive Installation with holographic 3D projections, satellite imagery, surround sound and intuitive body driven interactivity. Remnant (v.1) was commissioned by the 2010 TreeLine ecoArt event - an initiative of the Sunshine Coast Council and presented at a remnant block of subtropical rainforest called ‘Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve’ - located 100kms north of Brisbane near the township of Maleny. V2 was later commissioned for KickArts Gallery, Cairns, re-presenting the work in a new open format which allowed audiences to both experience the original power of the work and to also understand the construction of the work's powerful illusory, visual spaces. This art-science project focused upon the idea of remnant landscapes - isolated blocks of forest (or other vegetation types) typically set within a patchwork quilt of surrounding farmed land. Participants peer into a mysterious, long tunnel of imagery whilst navigating entirely through gentle head movements - allowing them to both 'steer' in three dimensions and also 'alight', as a butterfly might, upon a sector of landscape - which in turn reveals an underlying 'landscape of mind'. The work challenges audiences to re-imagine our conceptions of country in ways that will lead us to better reconnect and sustain today’s heavily divided landscapes. The research field involved developing new digital image projection methods, alternate embodied interaction and engagement strategies for eco-political media arts practice. The context was the creation of improved embodied and improvisational experiences for participants, further informed by ‘eco-philosophical’ and sustainment theories. By engaging with deep conceptions of connectivity between apparently disparate elements, the work considered novel strategies for fostering new desires, for understanding and re-thinking the requisite physical and ecological links between ‘things’ that have been historically shattered. The methodology was primarily practice-led and in concert with underlying theories. The work’s knowledge contribution was to question how new media interactive experience and embodied interaction might prompt participants to reflect upon appropriate resources and knowledges required to generate this substantive desire for new approaches to sustainment. This accentuated through the power of learning implied by the works' strongly visual and kinaesthetic interface (i.e. the tunnel of imagery and the head and torso operated navigation). The work was commissioned by the 2010 TreeLine ecoArt event - an initiative of the Sunshine Coast Council and the second version was commissioned by Kickarts Gallery, Cairns, specifically funded by a national optometrist chain. It was also funded in development by Arts Queensland and reviewed in Realtime.