A high altitude observation of the beautiful firetail Stagonopleura bella from East Gippsland, Victoria

There has been little research on the ecological requirements of the Beautiful Firetail Stagonopleura bella, and its habitat preferences are poorly understood. On mainland Australia, the Beautiful Firetail is generally considered to be a bird of coastal regions and the lowlands. This note reports an observation of Beautiful Firetails on the Great Dividing Range at a height of more than 1100 metres above sea level from an atypical habitat for mainland Australia. It appears that the observation may be the highest altitude at which this species has been recorded on the mainland.

Technology adoption : voices of teaching academics, educational designers and students

This folio presents three studies (a dissertation and two electives) which use qualitative case study methodologies to investigate technology adoption from three perspectives. Central to all three studies is the study context of Monash University. The Dissertation explores adoption of web-based learning and teaching approaches from the perspective of teaching academics as they incorporate these to facilitate their students’ learning. The study investigates teaching academics’ reasons for adopting these new technologies, the factors that influenced their adoption decisions, and the challenges they were confronted with, including the contributing factors that impacted on their adoption decisions. The study shows that while contextual factors such as power and politics of the school, department, faculty and the institution impact on adoption, supportive organisational infrastructures and policy frameworks are necessary to encourage adoption, including wider adoption. In turn, on going staff development, adoption of new work practices and being adaptive to changing work environments are key demands made on teaching academics as a result of adopting web-based teaching approaches. Elective 1, a smaller study, leads on from the dissertation and examines the impact of technology adoption on the evolving role of educational designers. The study identifies the educational designers’ role change in assisting teaching academics to move from more conventional forms of teaching to more technology based learner-centred collaborative models. An important aspect of the study is the managers’ perspectives of this role in a university that has adopted a strong flexible learning and technology policy. The findings show that educational designers now work as project managers in larger teams consisting of a wider range of professionals, their expanded role in introducing technology into learning designs, providing staff development in the area, and giving technical help including advice on copyright and intellectual property issues. Elective 2 explores student readiness to adopt these technologies for learning. The study is designed to achieve an understanding of three broad categories of learners from a first year design unit: (1) South East Asian and East Asian students, (2) all other international students, and (3) local Australian students are studied to examine their readiness for modes of learning that are flexible; their approaches to study in a creative discipline area; and their openness to using technology. Findings of the study are discussed under the key themes – dependence on the teacher and classroom environment, flexible learning and working alone, structure, communication and work patterns. The study concludes by discussing the possible cultural attributes that have an impact on the learning. The three studies found that the institution, its people, structures and processes must all adapt, evolve and grow in order to provide effective, engaging, student-centred web-based learning environments. Students in turn must be enabled to manage their study, make use of the technologies and maximise their learning experience. The findings revealed the stage of technology use reached at Monash University at the time of the study through the voices of the teaching academics, educational designers and students.

The scholarship of teaching in Australian higher education : a national imperative

The notion of ‘the scholarship of teaching’ has enjoyed a growing level of attention over the past decade and a half. This keynote will examine the congruence between the scholarship of teaching, and national and institutional values and priorities in relation to teaching in higher education. The presentation will conclude by offering some principles for guiding the development of an individual scholarship of teaching.

In situ observation of the aggregated morphology and interaction of dialkyldimethylammonium bromide with DNA at air/water interface by Brewster angle microscopy

The adsorption of DNA on the Langmuir film of a cationic surfactant, dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODA·Br), and the change of the aggregation morphology of the composite monolayer with respect to surface pressure have been investigated by Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). In contrast with the case of DODA·Br on pure water subphase, when DNA was dispersed into subphase, its adsorption to the interface monolayer through electrostatic interaction decreases the charge density and therefore promotes the formation of domain at low surface pressure. In addition, the electrostatic interaction changed the phase morphology of DODA·Br Langmuir monolayer under different surface pressure, that is, from flower-shaped crystalline domain on the pure water subphase to circular domain on the subphase dispersed with DNA. The result also shows that the monolayer of the composite at air/water interface under the high pressure is not homogeneous, but consists of incompletely fused domains. For the Langmuir film of the surfactant with shorter alkyl-chains, similar morphology can be observed both under the high and low surface pressure. But the tight-stacked circular domain is no longer observed.

Learning approaches and student perceptions of teaching quality

This research investigated the links between students' personal characteristics, their approaches to learning and their perceptions of teaching quality in a first-year accounting unit. Significant learning differences were found between Australian and Chinese students, and strong inter-relationships between contextual factors, such as teaching quality, and learning approaches were identified.

Direct observation of defect levels in hexagonal BN by soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Formation of defects in hexagonal boron nitride under low-energy argon bombardment has been studied by near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) around B and N K-edges. Breaking of B-N bonds and creation of nitrogen vacancies has been identified from the B K-edge, followed by the formation of molecular nitrogen, N2, at interstitial positions. The presence of N2 produces a sharp resonance in the low-resolution NEXAFS spectra around N K-edge, showing the characteristic vibrational fine structure in high-resolution measurements. Several new peaks in NEXAFS spectra have been assigned to boron or nitrogen interstitials, in good agreement with theoretical predictions. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of the introduction of teaching interventions and assessment strategies in first year management units

This Scholarship of Teaching research aimed to ultimately become a report and a series of recommendations on the teaching of first year Management units in universities. Many of the Australian universities benchmark themselves against the leaders in the Course Experience Questionnaires (CEQ) (Ramsden 1991) of graduating students in Australia. Most Australian universities have their own student satisfaction evaluation method. In this study the subject university uses the Student Evaluation of Teachers and Units (SETU) as their internal method of measuring the effectiveness of teaching on units on a cohort by cohort basis. This project, using one of the largest units in a Business and Law Faculty had specific measurable objectives; the results of the unit teams' interventions demonstrate that it is possible to increase student satisfaction during their transition year by as much as 11.5%. The ten recommendations ranging from changes to unit objectives, assessment methods and updated methods of marking, communication and student support, if acted upon, should have ongoing benefits for teaching and learning of first year management units.

The development of teaching skills to support active learning in university science (ALIUS)

This paper describes an Australian Learning and Teaching Council funded project for which Learning Design is encompassed in the broadest sense. ALIUS (Active Learning In University Science) takes the design of learning back to the learning experiences created for students. ALIUS is not about designing a particular activity, or subject, or course, but rather the development of a method, or process, by which we have re-designed the way in which learning occurs in large university classrooms world wide.

Australian higher education institutions transforming the future of teaching and learning through 3D virtual worlds

What are educators‟ motivations for using virtual worlds with their students? Are they using them to support the teaching of professions and if this is the case, do they introduce virtual worlds into the curriculum to develop and/or expand students' professional learning networks? Are they using virtual worlds to transform their teaching and learning? In  recognition of the exciting opportunities that virtual worlds present for higher education, the DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group was formed. It is made up of Australian university academics who are investigating the role that virtual worlds will play in the future of education and actively implementing the technology within their own teaching practice and  curricula. This paper presents a typology for teaching and learning in 3D virtual worlds and applies the typology to a series of case studies based on the ways in which academics and their institutions are exploiting the power of virtual worlds for diverse purposes ranging from business scenarios and virtual excursions to role-play, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insight into the ways in which institutions are transforming their teaching for an unknown future through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds. The paper demonstrates how virtual worlds enable low cost alternatives to existing pedagogies as well as creating opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would otherwise not be feasible or maybe not even be possible. Through the use of virtual worlds, teaching and learning can be transformed to cater for an unknown future.

Using action research to improve the quality of teaching in basic education in remote schools in PNG.

This paper discusses the use of action research with teachers in remote primary schools in PNG to provide sustainable professional learning to help improve the quality of schooling. It arises from an ADRA research project being undertaken by the authors. The paper describes the project’s research design and its implementation to investigate the introduction, implementation and feasibility of teachers using action research to solve their own problems related to providing basic education in remote communities. If successful, action research may prove to be an effective approach to sustaining professional learning communities in locations where traditional approaches and means of professional development are difficult or impossible to sustain.

The paper describes the research team’s approach to identifying and engaging schools in remote districts of Western and East Sepik provinces, surveying teachers in those districts about their professional learning needs and circumstances, identifying schools to trial action research, and to undertake the fieldwork to implement action research and to study its implementation. The teachers’ experiences with using action research are presented in the context of their particular research topics chosen for their school. To date, the findings suggest that teachers can use action research to help them improve the quality of the education they provide for children. However, the initiation and sustainability of such an action research approach is influenced by the capacities and commitment of head teachers and standards officers, in particular, valuing and understanding reflective practice and action research for professional learning in school communities.