'Vigilant Hospitality': The Online Imperative and Teaching Cultural Studies

Information technology (IT) sees information as a fluid, to be stored, regulated and exchanged. This is a profoundly economic model, whose dreams are those of the marketplace – and now, university managers. But no teacher, of course, holds that teaching can be reduced to the movement of information from one point to another. Teaching is never quite absorbed into the models of IT. Where they meet, we do not have the utopia of the virtual classroom, at last freed from the strictures of timetables and the face-to-face; we have, rather, the grinding of two radically irreducible models. This has nothing to do with Luddism; on the contrary, it is the value and necessity of IT for us at present, as teachers. At a time when the tertiary sector’s massive investment in IT is motivated in part by its own dream of the teacherless classroom, one of the pressing tasks for us may be simply to argue as rigorously as we can the structural necessity of our own position as teachers, without nostalgia or humanist sentimentality.

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.

EOPAS, the EthnoER online representation of interlinear text

One of the goals of the ARC funded Eresearch project called Sharing access and analytical tools for ethnographic digital media using high speed networks, or simply EthnoER is to take outputs of normal linguistic analytical processes and present them online in a system we have called the EthnoER online presentation and annotation system, or EOPAS.

The interaction between technologies and society: Lessons learnt from 160 evolutionary years of online news services

In mapping the evolutionary process of online news and the socio-cultural factors determining this development, this paper has a dual purpose. First, in reworking the definition of “online communication”, it argues that despite its seemingly sudden emergence in the 1990s, the history of online news started right in the early days of the telegraphs and spread throughout the development of the telephone and the fax machine before becoming computer-based in the 1980s and Web-based in the 1990s. Second, merging macro-perspectives on the dynamic of media evolution by DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach (1989) and Winston (1998), the paper consolidates a critical point for thinking about new media development: that something technically feasible does not always mean that it will be socially accepted and/or demanded. From a producer-centric perspective, the birth and development of pre-Web online news forms have been more or less generated by the traditional media’s sometimes excessive hype about the power of new technologies. However, placing such an emphasis on technological potentials at the expense of their social conditions not only can be misleading but also can be detrimental to the development of new media, including the potential of today’s online news.

Emotional awareness and emotional intelligence in leadership teaching

Recent research has highlighted the importance of emotional awareness and emotional intelligence in organizations, and these topics are attracting increasing attention. In this article, the authors present the results of a preliminary classroom study in which emotion concepts were incorporated into an undergraduate leadership course. In the study, students completed self report and ability tests of emotional intelligence. The test results were compared with students' interest in emotions and their performance in the course assessment. Results showed that interest in and knowledge of emotional intelligence predicted team performance, whereas individual performance was related to emotional intelligence.

Impact of Commercial Search Engines and International Databases on Engineering Teaching and Research

For the last three decades, the engineering higher education and professional environments have been completely transformed by the "electronic/digital information revolution" that has included the introduction of personal computer, the development of email and world wide web, and broadband Internet connections at home. Herein the writer compares the performances of several digital tools with traditional library resources. While new specialised search engines and open access digital repositories may fill a gap between conventional search engines and traditional references, these should be not be confused with real libraries and international scientific databases that encompass textbooks and peer-reviewed scholarly works. An absence of listing in some Internet search listings, databases and repositories is not an indication of standing. Researchers, engineers and academics should remember these key differences in assessing the quality of bibliographic "research" based solely upon Internet searches.

Extending teaching and learning initiatives in the cross-disciplinary field of biotechnology

Our AUTC Biotechnology study (Phases 1 and 2) identified a range of areas that could benefit from a common approach by universities nationally. A national network of biotechnology educators needs to be solidified through more regular communication, biennial meetings, and development of methods for sharing effective teaching practices and industry placement strategies, for example. Our aims in this proposed study are to: a. Revisit the state of undergraduate biotechnology degree programs nationally to determine their rate of change in content, growth or shrinkage in student numbers (as the biotech industry has had its ups and downs in recent years), and sustainability within their institutions in light of career movements of key personnel, tightening budgets, and governmental funding priorities. b. Explore the feasibility of a range of initiatives to benefit university biotechnology education to determine factors such as how practical each one is, how much buy-in could be gained from potentially participating universities and industry counterparts, and how sustainable such efforts are. One of many such initiatives arising in our AUTC Biotech study was a national register of industry placements for final-year students. c. During scoping and feasibility study, to involve our colleagues who are teaching in biotechnology – and contributing disciplines. Their involvement is meant to yield not only meaningful insight into how to strengthen biotechnology teaching and learning but also to generate ‘buy-in’ on any initiatives that result from this effort.

Undergraduate teaching of ideal and real fluid flows: The value of real-world experimental projects

This study describes the pedagogical impact of real-world experimental projects undertaken as part of an advanced undergraduate Fluid Mechanics subject at an Australian university. The projects have been organised to complement traditional lectures and introduce students to the challenges of professional design, physical modelling, data collection and analysis. The physical model studies combine experimental, analytical and numerical work in order to develop students’ abilities to tackle real-world problems. A first study illustrates the differences between ideal and real fluid flow force predictions based upon model tests of buildings in a large size wind tunnel used for research and professional testing. A second study introduces the complexity arising from unsteady non-uniform wave loading on a sheltered pile. The teaching initiative is supported by feedback from undergraduate students. The pedagogy of the course and projects is discussed with reference to experiential, project-based and collaborative learning. The practical work complements traditional lectures and tutorials, and provides opportunities which cannot be learnt in the classroom, real or virtual. Student feedback demonstrates a strong interest for the project phases of the course. This was associated with greater motivation for the course, leading in turn to lower failure rates. In terms of learning outcomes, the primary aim is to enable students to deliver a professional report as the final product, where physical model data are compared to ideal-fluid flow calculations and real-fluid flow analyses. Thus the students are exposed to a professional design approach involving a high level of expertise in fluid mechanics, with sufficient academic guidance to achieve carefully defined learning goals, while retaining sufficient flexibility for students to construct there own learning goals. The overall pedagogy is a blend of problem-based and project-based learning, which reflects academic research and professional practice. The assessment is a mix of peer-assessed oral presentations and written reports that aims to maximise student reflection and development. Student feedback indicated a strong motivation for courses that include a well-designed project component.

A shift from passive teaching at medical conferences to more interactive methods improves physician learning

Conferences that deliver interactive sessions designed to enhance physician participation, such as role play, small discussion groups, workshops, hands-on training, problem- or case-based learning and individualised training sessions, are effective for physician education.