Embedding systemic science with FFSR and DPI, phase 2 : final project report

Systemic Science (systems thinking) provides a structured approach to better conceptualise and operationalise problems and to deal with complexity, uncertainty and risk. Systemic Science is different from traditional forms of scientific investigation because it focuses on 'the whole' rather than the component parts.

Systemic science is a skill that DPI generally lacks, although certain sections of the organisation do employ its principles with success. The objective of this project was to enhance DPI's existing systems thinking capability, with particular emphasis on FFSR, to develop the skills in more staff across the organisation, and to showcase the merits of the approach by applying the concepts on existing/planned projects. This report details ‘Phase 2’ (year 2) of the project and as such, outputs from the separate ‘Phase 1’ are not reported here.

Unfolding projects: Afghan and Australian artist’s books collaborations

In August 2009 an email was circulated to a number of Australian women artists with an offer to participate in a project of dialogue with women in Afghanistan. The project grew as a response to the dire situation of many women in Afghanistan, particularly in relation to education; many women are illiterate because they were and often still are, forbidden, restricted, or discouraged from attending school. By April 2010, 53 artists’ books by 14 women artists from various parts of Australia were delivered to Afghanistan, thereby beginning a process of creative collaboration between women situated in different places, cultures, and languages, attempting a productive connection through image and text. Each artist had created a small series of concertinas of imagery consistent with her current studio practice, which were then delivered to Afghanistan and distributed amongst women participating in literacy education. The women were asked to relate to the images by writing their own words directly within. The general intent was for the concertinas to be sent back to Australia, then bound and exhibited to raise public awareness, and possibly sold to raise funds. The artistic intent, however, was not the fundraising aspect as much as to take part in a process of support and dialogue with women in Afghanistan. It was a manoeuvre that said 'you are not alone'. The aim was to mobilise a conversation of sorts through the visuality and materiality of the artist’s book, despite the limitations of cultural, experiential, and physical distance. Just over six months from their delivery to Afghanistan, 36 of the 53 books returned to Australia, each marked with handwritten stories and poems in Dari and Pashto. This paper discusses the processes and considerations involved in the project, and the partnership formed with SAWA-Australia (Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan).

An evaluation of the impact of using authentic design and build industry projects in project-based learning

BACKGROUNDChisholm’s ‘first year experience’ is a significant feature of the new industry focused Bachelor of Engineering Technology program delivered in association with the South East Melbourne Manufacturers’ Alliance (SEMMA). This conceive-design-implement-operate (CDIO Initiative) program commenced as a full time program in first semester 2012. Whereas it is common for CDIO Initiative programs to have a first year experience program containing a project typical of the type of industry project they would complete as a graduate engineer or engineering technologist, this goes further by using real industry projects provided by SEMMA members.This design-and-build industry project runs across both semesters supporting project-based learning in three first year subjects. A concern is that the industry involvement of the projects adds substantially to an already heavy student workload. This has been further increased by the addition of two additional first year initiatives: writing workshops, and training in, and substantial use of, student oral presentations. It is recognised that an excessive workload could lead students to adopt surface learning approaches in other subjects.PURPOSEThe goal of the project is to evaluate student perceptions of the value and work load impact of the industry project and the other new first year initiatives.DESIGN/METHODCentral to this project is a student survey-based evaluation of the industry project based learning that is the core of the ‘first year experience’. The participants were limited to the small group of students who, in a single year, completed all three subjects that comprise the ‘first year experience’. To avoid compromising the results the survey was administered by Chisholm Institute’s Department of Strategy and Planning with no engineering technology degree program staff present. The survey included questions to enable responses to be linked with specific student demographics without identifying any of the respondents.RESULTSThe study showed the industry project-based learning had worthwhile outcomes but placed considerable time pressures on most respondents. For some, this also impacted on their other subjects. A first year oral presentation program was also shown to have worthwhile outcomes. However no conclusions could be reliably drawn on the third initiative – writing workshops.CONCLUSIONSThe results confirm that the authentic industry project is considered a worthwhile initiative but contributes significantly to student overload. This applies also – to a lesser extent – to the first year oral presentation program. Both also require new approaches to delivery as student numbers increase. Strategies to address these issues are discussed.

Measuring underreporting and under-ascertainment in infectious disease datasets: a comparison of methods

 Background: Efficient and reliable surveillance and notification systems are vital for monitoring public health and disease outbreaks. However, most surveillance and notification systems are affected by a degree of underestimation (UE) and therefore uncertainty surrounds the 'true' incidence of disease affecting morbidity and mortality rates. Surveillance systems fail to capture cases at two distinct levels of the surveillance pyramid: from the community since not all cases seek healthcare (under-ascertainment), and at the healthcare-level, representing a failure to adequately report symptomatic cases that have sought medical advice (underreporting). There are several methods to estimate the extent of under-ascertainment and underreporting. Methods. Within the context of the ECDC-funded Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE)-project, an extensive literature review was conducted to identify studies that estimate ascertainment or reporting rates for salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis in European Union Member States (MS) plus European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and four other OECD countries (USA, Canada, Australia and Japan). Multiplication factors (MFs), a measure of the magnitude of underestimation, were taken directly from the literature or derived (where the proportion of underestimated, under-ascertained, or underreported cases was known) and compared for the two pathogens. Results: MFs varied between and within diseases and countries, representing a need to carefully select the most appropriate MFs and methods for calculating them. The most appropriate MFs are often disease-, country-, age-, and sex-specific. Conclusions: When routine data are used to make decisions on resource allocation or to estimate epidemiological parameters in populations, it becomes important to understand when, where and to what extent these data represent the true picture of disease, and in some instances (such as priority setting) it is necessary to adjust for underestimation. MFs can be used to adjust notification and surveillance data to provide more realistic estimates of incidence. © 2014 Gibbons et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Ritual power : illuminating the blind spot of births, deaths and marriages in news media research

This article conceptualises the role and place of the newspaper births, deaths and marriages column in Western societies and its relationship to news media. It identifies the births, deaths and marriages notices as a ‘blind spot’ within journalism and media research generated by powerful cultural norms and conventions shaping the field. This is exemplified by the ‘mythical’ divide between political economy and culturalist approaches to media studies that has created a gap where people’s everyday practices or the social value of ‘commercial’ content tends to be overlooked in discussions about news media. Drawing more deeply from cultural studies and scholarship around media power and rituals, the births, deaths and marriages column provides a compelling unique illustration of the ways newspapers – especially at the local level – continue to be perceived as central to the social in this changing media world. A qualitative research project into the future of small commercial newspapers in Australia provides rich data for exploring these key ideas.

Performance of project alliancing in Australasia: a digest of infrastructure development from 2008 to 2013

Project and program alliances have been an accepted form of project procurement for public infrastructure engineering projects in Australia and New Zealand (Australasia). Alliancing often provides best value and superior value for money when compared to traditional approaches such as Design and Construct, however considerable debate continues about its success and applicability. This paper reports on three studies of completed construction project alliance performance in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Consolidated findings are presented on 61 project alliances, data is analysed and emerging trends discussed. Recent government policy changes in Australia at Federal and State level have led to a decline in the number of project alliances, however, while the volume of alliance activity is declining it still represents billions of dollars of infrastructure construction work being undertaken. Results also revealed that communication and trust between the executive leadership and operational management teams was a major factor contributing to the functioning of the alliance. Furthermore, the research identifies several key factors that were necessary preconditions for successful alliances.

Project-oriented design-based learning in engineering education

The School of Engineering at Deakin University (SOE-DU) is committed to provide authentic and unique learning experiences to students. Over the last five years, SOE-DU has undertaken a study to develop a unique teaching and learning model. The proposed model was based on the Project- Oriented Design Based Learning (PODBL) philosophy which is unique within Australia and in the world. Fundamentally, the framework balances project-driven pedagogy with a design-focused practice in response to industry needs. This paper focuses on the development of PODBL and articulating how it helps nurture creative and industry-ready professional engineers.