Cultural tools to enhance learning

The cultural tools to connect, communicate, and prepare learners for future academic and workplace activities underpin today’s education. In the 21st century, the use of technologies, and in particular social technologies, provide a paradigm shift in the way teachers become engaged and personalize professional development. The technologies are the cultural tools (Vygotsky, 1975, p. 3) deployed to communicate and analyze learners’ realities; however, some experienced teachers are reluctant to embrace these realities. However, there are other teachers who are adopting the 21st century cultural tools to make their learning and the learning of their students relevant, social and personal. This paper examines how social practices and cultural tools deployed, in a study with experienced teachers, adds value to teacher professional development. It examines the scaffolding with social technologies to enable learners to progress to higher order development in a Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) in Higher Education.

SMEDIA: Designing to create a social and dynamic learning framework

This article discusses the design of social networking sites created through a PhD action research study. Social and participatory media was used as an active, flexible and motivating learning management system. The study investigated ways in which a social learning framework could be designed for students aged 13 to 16 and aimed to encourage student knowledge growth through peer-to-peer interaction while supporting both formal and informal learning. New literacies and multimodality were infused into the design. It was found that the practitioner-researcher’s cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting, action research, provided a mechanism for scaffolding the redesign of curriculum content and instruction. Social media in education can be dynamic, interactive and appreciated (SMEDIA) by the students.

Comparative analysis of caveolins in mouse and tammar wallaby: role in regulating mammary gland function.

Recent studies using the mouse showed an inverse correlation between the Caveolin 1 gene expression and lactation, and this was regulated by prolactin. However, current study using mammary explants from pregnant mice showed that while insulin (I), cortisol (F) and prolactin (P) resulted in maximum induction of the β-casein gene, FP and IFP resulted in the downregulation of Caveolin 1. Additionally, IF, FP and IFP resulted in the downregulation of Caveolin 2. Immunohistochemistry confirmed localisation of Caveolin 1 specific to myoepithelial cells and adipocytes. Comparative studies with the tammar wallaby showed Caveolin 1 and 2 had 70-80% homology with the mouse proteins. However, in contrast to the mouse, Caveolin 1 and 2 genes showed a significantly increased level of expression in the mammary gland during lactation. The regulation of tammar Caveolin 1 and 2 gene expression was examined in mammary explants from pregnant tammars, and no significant difference was observed either in the absence or in the presence of IFP.

Layer-by-layer assembly of silica nanoparticles on 3D fibrous scaffolds : enhancement of osteoblast cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation

Silica nanoparticles were applied onto the fiber surface of an interbonded three-dimensional polycaprolactone fibrous tissue scaffold by an electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. The nanoparticle layer was found to improve the fiber wettability and surface roughness. Osteoblast cells were cultured on the fibrous scaffolds to evaluate the biological compatibility. The silica nanoparticle coated scaffold showed enhanced cell attachment, proliferation, and alkaline phosphatase activities. The overall results suggested that interbonded fibrous scaffold with silica nanoparticulate coating could be a promising scaffolding candidate for various applications in bone repair and regeneration.

Towards a framework for aligning learning outcomes, academic literacies and assessment criteria

Although Australian students spend three or more years studying they can seem quite unaware of any of the expected learning outcomes of their course. They are often single unit focused, paying most attention to individual assessment items thus not developing a holistic view of their course. This paper presents a theoretical framework to support staff and students to recognise, scaffold and achieve learning outcomes and academic skills at unit level and to recognise how these contribute to course and graduate learning outcomes, within the boundaries of Australian university and professional accreditation requirements. A case study is described that demonstrates the manual implementation of the framework. The complex nature of the implementation suggests that a software solution is required to ease the process and ensure the resulting mapping will have some longevity by being maintainable.<br />

Bootstrapping mobile app development

Modern IDEs provide limited support for developers when starting a new data-driven mobile app. App developers are currently required to write copious amounts of boilerplate code, scripts, organise complex directories, and author actual functionality. Although this scenario is ripe for automation, current tools are yet to address it adequately. In this paper we present RAPPT, a tool that generates the scaffolding of a mobile app based on a high level description specified in a Domain Specific Language (DSL). We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by an example case study and feedback from a professional development team. Demo at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffquVgBYpLM.

Building a local design and entrepreneurship ecosystem

Design and creativity are becoming greatly sought out skills in leading industries around the world, big businesses are developing the &ldquo;Chief Design Officer&rdquo; to engage with strategic and company shaping discussions. Design as an economic driver is now abundantly clear with companies such as Nike and Apple leading this way of thinking, but how do we as Australian industry capture this and how do we instil &ldquo;creativity&rdquo; into our secondary school and university level education to drive the next level of innovation and development. The local region where Deakin University is situated has undergone significant changes in the last 10 years, what was once an economy dominated by oil, automotive and metal production industries has been wound down to a local economy dominated by health, services and education. However, manufacturing and design being the front end of manufacturing is still a key economic driver this study is looking at the embryonic initiatives undertaken to build an ecosystem of design and entrepreneurship in a regional area. Several aspects will be looked at, high school and university student engagement in the process, established SME's and start-up culture. With the establishment of an ecosystem it is believed that success will breed success. With student engagement showing that being creative and playing can yield tangible results, it also gets students comfortable with the element of risk. The efforts of Deakin University is about providing the framework and scaffolding for students to pursue a start-up idea and test it validity. The final part of the ecosystem is for SME's and recent start-ups to share their success stories and acting as mentors as future start-ups emerge. By creating an ecosystem that is driven by design, manufacturing and entrepreneurship key economic outcomes will be generated; a regional area will be more resilient to economic uncertainty and ultimately a cohort of innovative thinkers that will generate value for their community.

Transforming roles to support student development of academic literacies: a reflection on one team’s experience

Abstract: Social work is a discipline that attracts students from diverse academic backgrounds. Many are first in family to attend university, and come to university through alternative pathways such as vocational education. As a result, there are higher levels of attrition compared to other disciplines, especially in the first year. To address this, and in keeping with a commitment to provide accessible education, one school of social work undertook a project to embed academic literacies into the curriculum. This paper used Gibb&rsquo;s reflective process to explore how this was experienced by team members. Data were collected via staff focus groups at two different points in time across the project and compared. The reflection unpacked a number of tensions experienced by team members, including concerns about potential loss of resources as a result of academics adopting new roles, and concerns about implementing what was seen as Westernised academic skills which may not fit with students&rsquo; ways of thinking and creating knowledge. Overfull curricula and constant change also appeared to be of concern. The reflection highlighted that to achieve effective and sustainable change, action was required at multiple levels.

Boron nitride nanotube films: preparation, properties, and implications for biology applications

The difference in the chemical and physical properties of boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) films and carbon nanotube (CNT) films can benefit tissue scaffolding and engineering. However, the production of dense films of pure BNNTs is more challenging than that of CNT films. In addition, BNNT films are usually extremely nonwettable to water, so surface modification is required before they can be used in bioapplications. In this chapter, the synthesis routes of high-density BNNT films are introduced, followed by their wettability properties and surface modification by plasma treatments. The cell proliferation on both pristine and wettability-modified BNNT films is discussed.