Organisational structure and new project development in the Australian grocery market

The paper examines the role that organisational structure plays in the new product development process. Various new product development organisational structures are examined and their influence on new product development activities is explained. A review of the literature on organisational structure alternatives for new product development is presented. The research found that the most common organisational structure used for new product development was the product manager and marketing manager.

Windows into practice: constructing effective science teaching and learning in a school change initiative

This paper outlines the development of a framework - the Science in Schools (SiS) Components - that describes effective science teaching and learning and that has become a central focus for the Science in Schools Research project that is being implemented in 225 Australian schools. The description is in a form that provides a basis for monitoring change, and which can be validated against project outcomes. The SiS Components were partially based on interviews with a small number of primary and secondary teachers identified as effective practitioners, and have been subject to a variety of validation processes. The focus of this paper is on a particular form of validation involving interviews with an expanded set of effective primary teachers, from three Australian states. Case descriptions of core elements of these teachers' beliefs and practice were constructed, and a review and mapping process used to examine the extent to which the SiS Components, as a distinct 'window into practice', align with and capture these core elements, and differentiate the practice of these effective teachers from other primary teachers in the project.

An investigation of the development of navigation design guidelines for online educational applications delivery to a primary school audience

Despite growing interest in educational websites for children, there has been surprisingly little research conducted into the design of websites intended for a younger audience. This research aims to determine how the design principles identified in the extant body of literature, might be fused with the development practices currently employed within a focus organisation (case study organisation), to synthesise and partially validate a set of website navigation design guidelines for use when developing website navigation for primary school students, between the ages of nine and twelve years.

Development of a multimedia data acquisition toolkit and its application for exchanging demolished materials

In the development of a web-based information system such as a demolition material management system, a great amount of diversified information on projects should be acquired from particular users located with various computer platforms. This issue is difficult to handle using the limited HTTP form submission, which could lead to inaccuracy of the information and inefficiency of the whole system. This paper describes a web-based graphical user interfaced, dynamic and distributed multimedia data acquisition mechanism, which accepts users' drawings and retrieval information from the canvas and stores the multimedia data on a server for further usages. Furthermore, techniques and principles needed to construct such a multimedia data acquisition tool are addressed in detail. The application of this distributed multimedia tool in developing a web-based demolition material management system is also described.

Development of an internet supportive platform for online teaching and learning of construction planning and scheduling

Construction Planning and Scheduling is taught for the fIrst time ill Semester 2, 2004 in the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University. During the unit development process and the implementation of teaching activities, several issues arose in relation to implementing computer-aided construction scheduling and unit delivery in a unitary environment. Although various types of construction planning and scheduling software have been developed and applied, none of them can be run inside an online teaching software package, which provides powerful functions in administration. This research aims to explore the strategies to connect a project planning and scheduling software package and an online ~aching and learning software package by a Web-based support platform so that both the lecturer and students can draw up and communicate a construction plan or schedule with tables and fIgures. The key techniques of this supportive platfonn are idt;nlifies and they include a web-based graphically user-interfaced, dynamic and distributed multimedia data acquisition mechanism, which accepts users' drawings and retrieval information from canvas and stores the multimedia data ona server for further usage. This paper demonstrates the techniques and principals needed to construct such a multimedia data acquisition tool. This. research will fill the gap.in the literature in respect to an online pedagogical solution to an existing problem.

Developing an inclusive model for 'teacher' professional development

This paper reports on the findings of a recent teaching grant awarded in  2004, from the Australian Teacher Educator's Association (ATEA). The grant enabled a professional development teaching (PDT) team to be established at Norlane West primary School, Geelong. The team comprised of twelve 'teachers' who included two teacher educators, six Year 5 and 6 teachers  and four student teachers. The aim of the project was to examine how a  team of new and experienced teachers developed and changed their  teaching repertoire and their professional identity through a process of teaching, learning and reflection. What made this particular project unique was the inclusion of student teachers in the PDT team and the action  reflection cycle adopted by all members of the team. The reflective cycle consisted of a teacher educator, teacher and the team of student teachers all participating in a filmed teaching experience, editing and reflecting on their own teaching and then sharing the video with the other members of the PDT team. This individual and team reflection process proved to be very  successful and an effective model for influencing 'teacher' professional development.

Preparing construction project managers to document professional growth

Deakin University’s School of Architecture and Building is renowned for producing graduates who possess relevant attributes that make them job ready for the building and construction industry. Graduate destination surveys indicate that in the last eight (8) years, 100% of all Infrastructure Logistics (Construction and Facility Management) course graduates found relevant employment. This success is a direct result of a curriculum that is responsive to industry needs alongside educational methodology that focuses on excellent teaching and research while seeking new ways of developing and delivering courses.

The Infrastructure Logistics course prepares graduates to successfully compete in today’s global job market, and allows them to showcase relevant knowledge and skills that are critical in seeking and sustaining employment. Traditionally, tailored resumes served this purpose; however, in many professional fields, professional portfolios are now becoming a more desirable way of providing a summary of relevant attributes alongside evidence of professional abilities.

Sustaining employment, appraisals, and applying for a promotion are often subject to adequate evidence of professional standards and growth. Professional bodies require records of contribution to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) schemes; and accrediting organisations require professionals applying for professional registration to provide documented evidence of their relevant experience and abilities. The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM 2007) requires candidates wanting to become Registered Project Managers (RegPM) to demonstrate their current work-based experience and competencies.

This paper reports on a teaching strategy adopted in the Project Management (PM) stream, offered as part of Infrastructure Logistic courses. The teaching strategy is based on a combination of constructivism theory of learning, problem and project based learning, and active learning. The strategy requires systematic reflection and conscious creation of documented evidence of PM attributes and competences in the form of a portfolio.

Preliminary results of action research monitoring the effectiveness of systematic reflection indicate that students respond very positively to the idea of professional journals and professional portfolios. Preliminary results also indicate that students accept reflection and conscious documentation of their achievements as an integral part of their study and future practice.

Sharing and speaking about African music : professional development with Swaziland primary school teachers

The teaching and learning of Indigenous African music is characterised as a holistic integrated experience where music, dance and theatre are inseparable, seen as an integral part of culture. The transmission of this experience is absorbed through participation in cultural activities from childhood in the community. In African societies, both traditional and contemporary, musical arts education and the understanding of culture are fundamental to life, community and society. It is through musical arts, that Africans embrace spiritual, emotional, material and intellectual aspects and knowledge of both the individual and the community. This paper reports on an in-service program (August 2006) offered at the Centre for Indigenous African Instrumental Music and Dance Practices (CIIMDA), Pretoria, South Africa. For the purpose of this paper, the one week professional development course undertaken by generalist primary school teachers from Swaziland is highlighted and proves worthy for these teachers to implement what they learnt in the classroom. As a position paper, I contend that the understanding and participation in indigenous cultural musical arts practices, enlightens learners about their cultural heritage and further enriches their understanding of African music and dance that can be adopted, adapted and applied to primary schools in Swaziland. This paper summaries some key findings of interview data from ten participants in relation to the intensive program. By offering such in-service professional development programs, teachers are able to reach their wider communities where they will continue to share and speak about African music, dance and culture.

Multiple criteria sustainability modelling: case study on school buildings

This paper describes development of a computer-based tool for sustainability modelling using multiple criteria, and preliminary conclusions from doctoral research being undertaken into the relationship between key sustainability indicators. The model used in both cases produces a sustainability index with an accept/reject threshold of one that has the potential to completely replace traditional net present value methods. Minimum performance benchmarks are prescribed and must be observed - often by trading off performance across the full criteria set. Sustainability is shown to be capable of objective (numeric)· analysis for new projects, existing facilities, or indeed any product or asset. A combination of investor-centred and community-centred motivations can also be explored in the model. Known as SINDEX, the tool has industry-wide application, both locally and abroad, and represents a paradigm shift in project evaluation techniques. Furthermore, its multi-discipline considerations underscore the importance of a team approach to sustainability modelling and the need for people to work more closely together when dealing with complex problems. The results of twenty case studies of actual high schools constructed and operated in New South Wales (Australia) are also presented and the relationships between the key sustainability indicators are explored and interpreted.

Thirty years into teaching: professional development, exhaustion and rejuvenation

Female primary school teachers are usually absent from debates about literacy theory and practice, teachers’ professional development, significant policy changes and school reform. Typically they are positioned as the silent workers who passively translate the latest and of course best theory into practice, whatever that might be and despite what years of experience might tell them. Their accumulated knowledges and critical analysis, developed across careers, remain an untapped resource for the profession. In this paper five literacy educators, three primary school teachers and two university educators, all of whom have been teaching around thirty years, reflect on what constitutes professional development. The teachers examine their experiences of professional development in their particular school contexts – the problems with top-down, mandated professional development which has a managerial rather than educative function, the frustrations of trying to implement the experts’ ideas without the resources, and the effects of devolved school management on teachers’ work and learning. In contrast, they also explore their positive experiences of professional learning through being positioned as teacher researchers in a network of early and later career teachers engaged in a three-year research project investigating unequal literacy outcomes.

Reciprocal mentoring across generations: sustaining professional development for english teachers

This article draws on a collaborative research project entitled Teachers Investigate Unequal Literacy Outcomes: Cross-generational Perspectives, funded by the Australian Research Council 2002-2004 and awarded to Barbara Comber, University of South Australia and Barbara Kamler, Deakin University. The university researchers invited early career teachers in their first five years of teaching, and late career teachers with at least twenty-five years experience, to collaboratively explore the problem of unequal outcomes in literacy. Over a period of three years, the teacher researchers conducted audits of their classroom literacy programs and the effects on different children; case studies of students they were most concerned about; and redesigns of their literacy curriculum and pedagogy.  Bev Maney and Ivan Boyer collaborated as research partners in the context of their work together as English teachers at Portland Secondary College, Victoria. This paper is based on transcripts of their many conversations with one other and the research team and is represented as an interrupted conversation with the university researchers. Here they critique current models of professional development and the effects of standardised testing and argue for the importance of serious teacher conversations and ongoing school-based research.

Development of a collaborative model to improve school health promotion in the Netherlands

In recent decades, school health promotion programs have been developing into whole-school health approaches. This has been accompanied by a greater understanding among health promoters of the core-business of schools, namely education, and how health promotion objectives can be integrated into this task. Evidence of the positive impact of school health promotion on health risk behavior of students is increasing. This article focuses on the processes and initial results of developing a collaborative model tailored for whole-school health in the Netherlands, named schoolBeat. The Dutch situation is characterized by fragmentation, a variety of health and welfare groups supporting schools, and a lack of sound integrated youth policies. A literature review, observations, and stakeholder consultation provided a clear picture of the current situation in school health promotion, and factors limiting a comprehensive and needs-based approach to school health. This revealed that a health promotion team within a school is fundamental to an effective approach to tailored school health promotion. A respected member of school staff should chair this team. To strengthen the link with the school care team, the school care coordinator should be a member of both teams. To provide coordinated support to all schools in a region, participating organizations decided to share advisory tasks. These tasks are included in the regular health promotion work of their staff. This means working with one advisor representing all school-health organizations per school, and using a comprehensive overview of possible support and projects promoting health. Empowering schools in needs assessments and comprehensive school health promotion is an important element of the developed approach. This article concludes with an examination of emerging issues in evaluating collaborative school health support during the first 18 months of development, and implementation and future perspectives regarding sustainable collaboration and quality improvement.

A comparison of self-reported puberty using the pubertal development scale and the sexual maturation scale in a school-based epidemiologic survey

Purpose: To examine concordance between two self-reported measures of puberty: Sexual Maturatiom Scale (SMS) and Pubertal Developl1!ent Scale (PDS) and their acceptability to adolescents. Methods: Participants of a school-based study in grades 5, 7 and 9 were classified into one of 5 pubertal stages using each method. Results: 2864 students (age 9-16 years) participated. Agreement was moderate for males (K 0.42, 95% CI 0.39,0.45) and females (K 0.57, 95% CI 0.53, 0.61). Concordance within one stage was excellent (females 97%, males 89%), with discrepancies due to females being classified one stage later on the PDS (26%) and males one stage earlier (32%). There were more missing data for the SMS (13%) than the PDS (4%).

A review of school drug policies and their impact on youth substance use

Youth substance use is an important social and health problem in the United States, Australia and other Western nations. Schools are recognized as important sites for prevention efforts and school substance use policies are a key component of health promotion in schools. The first part of this paper reviews the known status of school policies on tobacco, alcohol and other illicit drugs in a number of Western countries and the existing evidence for the effectiveness of school drug policy in preventing drug use. The review shows that most schools in developed countries have substance use policies but that there is substantial variation in the comprehensiveness of these policies (i.e. the breadth of people, places and times of day that are explicitly subject to policy prohibitions), and the orientation of their enforcement (e.g. punitive versus remedial), both across and within schools. The few studies of policy impact focus solely on tobacco policy and provide preliminary evidence that more comprehensive and strictly enforced school policies are associated with less smoking. The second part of the paper introduces the International Youth Development Study, a new longitudinal research project aimed at comparing school policies and the developmental course of youth drug use in the United States, where drug policies are abstinence-based, with Australia, which has adopted a harm minimization approach to drug policy