A longitudinal study of children's disordered eating and muscle preoccupation

Recent research has demonstrated high levels of dieting, food preoccupation and muscle preoccupation in preadolescent children. In children, these attitudes and behaviours can constitute health risks. The design of appropriate intervention programs relies on empirical identification of the relevant risk factors. The current study was designed to investigate low self-esteem, perceived parental relations, perceived peer relations, negative affect, perfectionism and BMI as predictors of dieting, food preoccupation and muscle preoccupation in 8 to 10 year old children, over a 10 month period. The results demonstrate the importance of perfectionism as a predictor of dieting and muscle preoccupation in preadolescent boys.

Real time, perceived time and time online : a review of student experiences of time over thirty years of distance and online education

This paper examines how students use and perceive time when studying in distance education modes and what affects this perception of time and the reality of time. We examine 30 years of student involvement on distance and online education, their comments on both their learning experiences, and the technology requirements of distance education/online learning. Our University has been involved in distance education since its formation in 1974. The online technologies offer increasingly sophisticated and immersive experiences for our students, both on campus and off campus, but many of our students continue to complain of time squeeze, and fail to predict the time it will take them to complete our subjects. We research how the technologies we use for online learning are contributing to this time squeeze perception and the student's "real" time to learn.
Research is drawn from both the Australian Bureau of Statistics and surveys of our students' experiences (we have 32,000 students online, with single online classes of over 1300 students), to examine student use and perceptions of their available time to study and how the technologies used in online learning affect this.

Festivals, art and mentoring : disseminating knowledge, enhancing skills and developing networks in regional Victoria

Many regional festivals use art as a vehicle to engage with a broader cross-section of the community; highlight the artistic talent of their region; introduce art to their region; and to distinguish theirs from others. Regional Arts Victoria and Arts Victoria recently piloted a mentoring program, Directions, for regional festivals that indicated an interest in developing their artistic direction. Three experienced artistic directors were selected to participate in the program as mentors, and each of these mentored two festival directors whose festivals are located in Regional Victoria. The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential of mentoring within the context of festival management by exploring the outcomes of Directions. A case study approach is used, and although this limits the generalisability of the results to other festivals, the information gained provides insights into managing festivals within the context of artistic direction. A number of themes emerged from the study that appear to have broadened the perspective of 'art' in those festivals participating in the program. Furthermore, the program has highlighted that while festivals and artistic directors in regional locations experience varying degrees of isolation, they have a great deal of creativity and skill. Directions provided organisers of the festivals with the confidence to make decisions that enable them to capitalise on their extant creativity and skills. Festivals are then able to be marketed against their competitors with unique selling positions, which is important for sustainability. The results obtained through the evaluation of this pilot program provide Regional Arts Victoria and Arts Victoria opportunities to effectively assess the need for such programs for festivals in regional Victoria in the future.

Who speaks on footballers and sexual assault? A gender analysis of sports reporting

The recent spate of sexual assault allegations made against Australian Football League (AFL) players has generated intense media scrutiny and public concern. Following from similar highly publicised allegations directed at the National Rugby League, these incidents have engendered significant debates around sexism and football culture in the popular press. It is the media’s response to allegations of sexual assault made against AFL footballers that will be analysed here. This study offers a content analysis of articles from the sport sections of two major Australian newspapers, The Age and the Herald-Sun, with the aim of assessing the prevalence of women’s perspectives on the issue of player misconduct and whether the gender of the reporter has any bearing on gender stereotyping in sport reporting. By assessing how the phenomenon of player misconduct has been covered in sport news, this paper evaluates the media’s role in changing dominant attitudes and perceptions of gender relations in Australian society.

The power of rhythm and words : from little things big things grow

Primary literacy teacher educators need to re-conceptualise the ways in which they work together to model effective interdisciplinary practice. This paper reports on such practice in a team teaching unit for postgraduate students undertaking the Bachelor of Teaching (Primary/Secondary) at Deakin University, Melbourne. The interdisciplinary (Social Education, Language and Music) unit, a first in the Faculty of Education was conceptualised to challenge both lecturer and student (local and international) to 'rethink' their understandings of pedagogy, multi-literacies and teacher preparedness. For the purpose of this paper, the authors reflect on a particular team teaching experience whereby a text (song) was used to teach both the elements of music and literacy pedagogy. It opened up new possibilities for students to engage and participate with each discipline as well as how one area can inform and further deepen the understanding for learners of the other. For example, musical notation and score was used to explain and use the 4 resource model (Luke and Freebody, 1990). The authors contend that crossdisciplinary work cannot be reduced to simple cooperation among disciplines but that primary literacy teacher educators need to develop new conceptual frameworks for learning that will enhance their understandings of pedagogy and assist in preparing teachers in a challenging world.

Studio - learning and teaching environment for multimedia

This paper is a case study of the introduction of a studio environment for the teaching of multimedia practice. This change is in the context of multimedia being placed within an information technology degree program, where the conventions and traditions of computer science prevail. The studio based teaching was accepted and now new studios are being built at the university and a research project is proposed with the Queensland University of Technology to explore further teaching and learning issues using studio
teaching methods.

Development of deliberative democracy : a collection of the essays presented at the international conference on deliberative democracy and Chinese practice of participatory and deliberative institutions

Collection of the essays presented at the international conference on deliberative democray and Chinese practice of participatory and deliberative institutions