Science into policy? Discourse, coastal management and knowledge

The world's coastal resources are under pressure, even more so under climate change with 90% of the world's population living near or along our coastal zone. Ecologically, this zone is also the most productive, and the mainstay of economic livelihoods on a global scale. Managing the coast effectively is crucial, but as an area it remains contested. Despite multiple efforts to manage the coast, it remains a contested space. This paper offers a reflection into the ways in which different discourses influence and impact on one specific dimension of coastal zone management-the transmission of science into the policy domain. Using historical and discourse analysis, we find that the science-policy interface is largely constructed within two knowledge discourses: (i) scientific knowledge and (ii) local knowledge. This arbitrary separation into a binary discursive landscape mitigates against science-policy integration in practice especially given each discourse in itself, encompasses multiple forms of knowledge. We argue that in order to better understand how to build scientific research outputs into policy, decision makers and researchers need to understand how knowledge works in practice, overcome this dichotomous construction of knowledge and specifically, re-construct or transition the notion of 'science as knowledge' into 'all knowledge types' into policy.

Blended learning and the flipped classroom: The affordances of cloud based, located, and virtual world environments to support student learning

In this paper the author reports on the introduction of the flipped classroom integrating located, online and virtual world learning environments to support the collaborative lived experiences of a group of students and the educator participating in a higher education undergraduate art unit, Navigating the Visual World. A qualitative narrative methodology, A/r/tography, incorporating both image making and textual recording is used to explore and identify interwoven aspects of the artist/ researcher/ educator relationship in the creative artistic process of exploring concepts of identity within inquiry based art practice. Selected student examples, including a collaborative group assessment project demonstrate effective student engagement with experiential blended learning within the flipped classroom.

Validation of the 12-item partners in health scale to measure patient self-management behaviour and knowledge in Dutch patients with COPD

The 12-item Partner in Health (PIH) scale was developed in Australia to measure self-management behaviour and knowledge in patients with chronic diseases. The scale has undergone several changes since first published. Our study aim was to validate the latest PIH in Dutch COPD patients.The 12 items of the PIH are scored on a self-rated 9-point Likert scale (range: 0-8; higher scores indicate better self-management), providing total and subscale scores (knowledge, coping, recognition and management of functions, adherence to treatment).We used forward-backward translation of the latest version of the Australian PIH. Dimensionality and reliability analyses were performed to investigate the psychometric properties, and to determine whether the Dutch PIH replicated the same four subscales of self-management as the original PIH.Reanalysis of the original PIH validation study (186 Australian patients with chronic diseases) showed a single scale. Two scales (1. knowledge and coping; 2. recognition and management of symptoms, adherence to treatment) were found for the Dutch PIH (118 Dutch COPD patients). The correlation between the two Dutch scales was 0.43. The lower-bound of the reliability of the total scale was 0.81 (Australian PIH) and 0.84 (Dutch PIH).Different scale structures were found for the original Australian and the Dutch PIH. Our results did not support the 4-scale structure reported previously. To increase comparability and generalisability of our findings, the scale structure of the revised Australian PIH needs to be investigated further. Meanwhile, we advise using the PIH total score or two subscale scores when assessing COPD patients.

Active video games - An opportunity for enhanced learning and positive health effects?

Active video games are an emerging genre of electronic games that provide engaging exercise experiences by combining physical exertion with interactive game play. As such they have attracted increased interest from health promotion professionals to reduce sedentary behavior, increase physical activity, and improve health outcomes such as body composition. However their potential for enhancing the educational experience has not been extensively explored. This paper provides a brief overview of active video game research to date and outlines opportunities for future research. Specifically, we highlight the need to develop a conceptual framework to better understand the determinants, mediators, moderators, and consequences of active video gaming and integrate learning and health outcomes. Wepropose that active video games can be a key part of a wider “digital” supportive environment where education and health researchers and professionals work with, rather than against, video game technologies to promote learning and health.

Managerialist vis-à-vis learning and development goals for EAL teachers: A case study of an in-service professional development provider

Under current Western neoliberal philosophy, promotion of efficiency and resolution of issues are typically expected to result from effective management. The education sector, too, has responded well to these expectations. Amongst such expectations, engagement in professional development activities (PDAs) by teachers of English as an additional language (EAL) is widely encouraged, considered to be essential, and usually conducted with a view to facilitate effective and effortless administration. As such, institutional offerings of PDAs driven by managerialist agendas generally tend to be ad hoc attempts to facilitate administrative decisions rather than opportunities for teachers’ lifelong learning and development. Under such circumstances, providers of in-service PDAs are faced with a conflicting dilemma – that of facilitating an effortless flow of administration and, at the same time, promoting teacher learning and development. We foreground one case of such dilemma surrounding the offering of PDAs derived as interview data from an experienced provider of in-service PDAs for EAL teachers.

Construct validity of the Dutch version of the 12-item Partners in Health scale : measuring self-management behaviour and knowledge in COPD patients

The 12-item Partner in Health (PIH) scale was developed in Australia to measure self-management behaviour and knowledge in patients with chronic diseases. The scale has undergone several changes since first published. Our study aim was to validate the latest PIH in Dutch COPD patients.The 12 items of the PIH are scored on a self-rated 9-point Likert scale (range: 0-8; higher scores indicate better self-management), providing total and subscale scores (knowledge, coping, recognition and management of functions, adherence to treatment).We used forward-backward translation of the latest version of the Australian PIH. Dimensionality and reliability analyses were performed to investigate the psychometric properties, and to determine whether the Dutch PIH replicated the same four subscales of self-management as the original PIH.Reanalysis of the original PIH validation study (186 Australian patients with chronic diseases) showed a single scale. Two scales (1. knowledge and coping; 2. recognition and management of symptoms, adherence to treatment) were found for the Dutch PIH (118 Dutch COPD patients). The correlation between the two Dutch scales was 0.43. The lower-bound of the reliability of the total scale was 0.81 (Australian PIH) and 0.84 (Dutch PIH).Different scale structures were found for the original Australian and the Dutch PIH. Our results did not support the 4-scale structure reported previously. To increase comparability and generalisability of our findings, the scale structure of the revised Australian PIH needs to be investigated further. Meanwhile, we advise using the PIH total score or two subscale scores when assessing COPD patients.

Fostering cultural diversity in Australia: a case study of teaching, learning and assessing African musical arts

Australia is forged by ongoing migration welcoming a range of cultures, languages and ethnicities thus celebrating a diverse range of musical arts. In this multicultural society, music and dance may serve as a positive medium to transmit and promote social cohesion. I argue that the inclusion of innovative and immersive practice of African music in particular where authentic teaching and learning is facilitated may help foster understandings of culture in educational settings and the wider society. As a migrant forming part of the African Diaspora in Melbourne, I am strongly connected to my ancestral homeland (South Africa) when teaching African music to Australian tertiary students. Having gained ethical clearance to undertake the two research projects at Deakin University in Melbourne (Attitudes and perceptions of Arts Education Students: preparing culturally responsive teachers and Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings of Music Education), I discuss tertiary students experience in relation to the teaching and learning of African music within higher education courses. Drawing on interview, questionnaire, observation notes, anecdotal feedback and narrative reflection, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and code the data into themes. By offering a discussion of assessment and evaluation, I explore and invite international dialogue in regards to how best we can prepare, assess and evaluate our students to improve the quality of musical arts education.

Construct validity of the Dutch version of the 12-item Partners in Health scale: measuring patient self-management behaviour and knowledge in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective The 12-item Partners in Health scale (PIH) was developed in Australia to measure self-management behaviour and knowledge in patients with chronic diseases, and has undergone several changes. Our aim was to assess the construct validity and reliability of the latest PIH version in Dutch COPD patients.

Methods The 12 items of the PIH, scored on a self-rated 9-point Likert scale, are used to calculate total and subscale scores (knowledge; coping; recognition and management of symptoms; and adherence to treatment). We used forward-backward translation of the latest version of the Australian PIH to define a Dutch PIH (PIH(Du)). Mokken Scale Analysis and common Factor Analysis were performed on data from a Dutch COPD sample to investigate the psychometric properties of the Dutch PIH; and to determine whether the four-subscale solution previously found for the original Australian PIH could be replicated for the Dutch PIH.

Results Two subscales were found for the Dutch PIH data (n = 118); 1) knowledge and coping; 2) recognition and management of symptoms, adherence to treatment. The correlation between the two Dutch subscales was 0.43. The lower-bound of the reliability of the total scale equalled 0.84. Factor analysis indicated that the first two factors explained a larger percentage of common variance (39.4% and 19.9%) than could be expected when using random data (17.5% and 15.1%).

Conclusion We recommend using two PIH subscale scores when assessing self-management in Dutch COPD patients. Our results did not support the four-subscale structure as previously reported for the original Australian PIH.

‘“Glossary Islands” as sites of the “Abroad” in post-colonial literature: towards a new methodology for language and knowledge relations in Keri Hulme’s The Bone People and Melissa Lucashenko’s Mullumbimby.’

The publication of Melissa Lucashenko’s Mullumbimby in 2013 drew attention once more to the issue of how post-colonial scholars might best engage with English-language literary texts also containing a glossary of Indigenous words. This issue emerged first with the publication of Keri Hulme’s The Bone People in 1984. This article argues that, to date, scholars like Simon During and Eve Vincent have perpetuated a binary either/or approach to the interpretation of these glossaries. The result of this approach has been that either the pre-colonial Indigenous language or the colonial/post-colonizing English language has been privileged as the locus of linguistic power in the text. One problem with this approach is that it does not adequately represent the complex historical, cultural and political circumstances of post-colonial and multi-cultural nations like Australia (setting of Mullumbimby) and New Zealand (setting of The Bone People) as these link to matters of language. Another problem is that this binary approach restrains a close reading of the differences between different types of such glossaries, and of the nuanced relationship of a glossary to the text it accompanies. In place of this approach, this article proposes a new methodology that works with Elizabeth M. DeLoughrey’s notion of “tidalectics” as a way of reading island literatures. The neologism “glossary islands” allows another way into considering the function of glossaries in islandic literary texts like Lucashenko’s and Hulme’s. The post-colonial connection between islands and glossaries lies in the fact that they are each an intensified site of knowledge.

Spreading the word: using film to share research findings and knowledge about children with disabilities in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea

While there is increasing international interest in disability inclusive development, people with disability largely remain ‘unseen, unheard and uncounted’ (UN ESCAP 2012:1). Children with disability, particularly, remain excluded from research informing development, and there is a paucity of information that is drawn directly from the self-report of children with disability living in developing countries. This exclusion occurs across all stages of research, including access to research findings. When child research is conducted in such countries, to gain further evidence to support disability inclusive development and advance human rights, researchers must question how findings will be reported back to participants and their communities, and seek a method that is both accessible and culturally relevant. This paper reports on the Voices of Pacific children with disability research project about the human rights of children with disability in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea (PNG), and focuses on film as a dissemination method. Project researchers developed methods to enhance the participation of children with diverse disabilities as informants, and drew upon community development principles to disseminate research findings via film; a method that resonated with the aural and visual story telling traditions of participants.This medium also included accessibility features that have been utilised by local and international audiences.

Every day you learn something : learning for life? Neighbourhood houses, adult learning and transitions to higher education

This book comes from a research project titled ‘Lifelong Learning? Neighbourhood Houses, Adult Learning and Transitions to Higher Education’ (T Ollis, Starr, Ryan, Angwin, & Harrison, 2016). This research has examined adult learning in the context of Neighbourhood Houses in the regions of Geelong and South Western Victoria.The research was conducted in 2015 and 2016 and sought to examine the learning experiences of adult learners who participate in the education programs of Neighbourhood Houses. The focus was on second chance learners and their transition pathways to higher education such as TAFE and University. A second group of learners were identified during the research process – later life learners. These learners were engaging with Neighbourhood Houses for personal interest learning and social and community connection. This small book provides a snapshot of the stories of learners who were involved in this research. It tells the lived stories of the participants, which is important as learning and education are connected with the ongoing development of ourselves as human beings. Learning is essential to our personhood and impacts on adults in terms of their welfare, health and prosperity over a lifetime. Many of the learners’ stories outlined in this book reveal checkered histories of education. Some have experienced learning difficulties, others have experienced family trauma that prevented them from finishing secondary schooling. Some of the stories describe issues related to reskilling or retraining in later life, responding to industry changes and work in the Greater Geelong and South West regions. Others were pursuing recreation and social connection and came to the Neighbourhood Houses to learn crafts, writing, photography and computer literacy skills. In almost all accounts of learning in this book, individuals had experienced less social isolation by being connected to others in the unique social environment of Neighbourhood houses.

Intensive mode learning and threshold concepts

Intensive mode teaching and learning refers to educational activities that occur on fewer days, and longer each day, than a “traditional” unit or module in the discipline. In traditional education, a full-time student would study between four and eight subjects or units per term or per semester at school, TAFE or university. Hence each subject or unit is effectively part-time study, taking up between 10% and 25% of the study hours available in each week. By way of contrast, an intensive mode subject might take between 30% and 100% of the available study hours. Examples include field trips and study tours, during which students devote 100% of the available hours to a single subject. In chemistry, the University of New England and Central Queensland University offer course by distance education, but students are expected to attend compulsory residential schools. During these residential schools, the students participate in chemistry laboratories and tutorials, all day, every day for up to one week.

Shifting practices and frames: literacy, learning and computer games

Digital culture and the online world have profound implications for contemporary notions of literacy, learning and curriculum. The increasing integration of digital culture and technologies into young people’s lives reflects the energy and excitement offered by online worlds. Online forms of text and communication are shaping students’ experience of the world, including expectations and experiences about learning and literacy. While print literacies remain important, for schools to prepare students to participate in critical and agential ways in the contemporary and future world, they need also to teach them to be fully literate in digital and multimodal literacies, and at ease and in control in the online world. Computer games, and other forms of digital games, teach and exemplify multimodal forms of literacy. Schools can capitalize on their potential and work with them productively. Doing so however, entails recognizing the messy complexity of schooling, and the practicalities of classroom lives. This chapter reports on a three year project in five schools concerned with literacy and computer games, and discusses the important role of teachers as on-the- ground leaders in pioneering new conceptions of literacy, and of curriculum change, and the importance of school structures and support to enable such change to happen.