Virtual teachers: Negotiating new spaces for teaching bodies

In 2002, the authors reviewed the educational performance of a state education department virtual schooling service during its first 2 years of operation, 2000-2001 (Pendergast, Kapitzke, Land, Luke, & Bahr, 2002). Established by Education Queensland, the Virtual Schooling Service (VSS) utilises synchronous and asynchronous online delivery strategies and a range of learning technologies to support students at a distance (see http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/vss/). The service commenced with a focus on senior secondary subjects. At present, there are over 700 students in 89 schools across the state enrolled in 9 subjects. In response to the recommendations of the study, a series of professional development activities were conducted with the VSS teachers by the authors. Opportunity for critical reflection was provided, including consideration of the ways in which the teachers were developing as a learning community. Some data, including visual representations, were collected from participants with the purpose of understanding how VSS teachers are constructed as professionals. This study compares and contrasts that data with self-constructions of teacher professionals in other fields.

The impact of organizational culture and reshaping capabilities on change implementation success: The mediating role of readiness for change

It was hypothesized that employees' perceptions of an organizational culture strong in human relations values and open systems values would be associated with heightened levels of readiness for change which, in turn, would be predictive of change implementation success. Similarly, it was predicted that reshaping capabilities would lead to change implementation success, via its effects on employees' perceptions of readiness for change. Using a temporal research design, these propositions were tested for 67 employees working in a state government department who were about to undergo the implementation of a new end-user computing system in their workplace. Change implementation success was operationalized as user satisfaction and system usage. There was evidence to suggest that employees who perceived strong human relations values in their division at Time 1 reported higher levels of readiness for change at pre-implementation which, in turn, predicted system usage at Time 2. In addition, readiness for change mediated the relationship between reshaping capabilities and system usage. Analyses also revealed that pre-implementation levels of readiness for change exerted a positive main effect on employees' satisfaction with the system's accuracy, user friendliness, and formatting functions at post-implementation. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical contribution to the readiness for change literature, and in relation to the practical importance of developing positive change attitudes among employees if change initiatives are to be successful.

Evaluation of the Western Australian Department of Health telehealth project

In 1999, the Department of Health in Western Australia began a telehealth project, which finished in 2004. The 75 videoconferencing sites funded by the project were part of a total state-wide videoconference network of 104 sites. During the period from January 2002 to December 2003, a total of 3266 consultations, case reviews and patient education sessions took place. Clinical use grew to 30% of all telehealth activity. Educational use was approximately 40% (1416 sessions) and management use was about 30% (1031 sessions). The average overhead cost per telehealth session across all regions and usage types was $A192. Meaningful comparisons of the results of the present study with other public health providers were difficult, because many of the available Websites on telehealth were out of date. Despite the successful use of telehealth to deliver clinical services in Western Australia, sustaining the effort in the post-project phase will present significant challenges.