Using MediaWiki as an efficient data repository and ubiquitous learning tool : an Australian example

The functionality of MediaWiki ensures it is a valuable learning repository for sharing and storing information. Constructivist learning can be promoted alongside a wiki repository and various wireless u-learning tools such as mobile phones and digital cameras, to encourage students to gather and share a range of primary and secondary information in a variety of subject areas. This paper outlines one initiative adopted at an Australian University specialising in distance education, which uses a MediaWiki as the primary method for content delivery. Over a period of three-years, the Drugs, Crime and Society wiki has evolved into an organic information repository for storing and accessing current research, press and drug agency material that supplements core themes examined in each topic of the curriculum. A constructivist approach has been employed to encourage students to engage in a range of assessable and non-assessable information sharing activities. The paper also demonstrates how the Drugs, Crime and Society wiki can be accessed through various wireless u-learning technologies, which enables students undertaking field placements to add and share primary information with other students and practitioners working in the drugs field.

Does accounting choice influence US investment in non-US companies? Evidence from US institutional investment in Australian companies

Previous research asserts that companies that choose accounting methods more familiar to investors reduce information asymmetry and increase credibility of their financial statements to those investors, thereby attracting higher levels of foreign investment. This study examines the variation in accounting policies associated with institutional investment in Australian equity. The results suggest that large US institutional holdings in Australian companies are associated with American Depositary Receipt listing and, incrementally, choice of accounting methods that conform to US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Although making accounting choices in compliance with US GAAP is significantly associated with higher levels of institutional ownership in a statistical sense, examination of the specific differences in accounting choices suggests that the differences in informational content are relatively minor.

Rethinking ethics review as institutional discourse

In this article, the authors trace the emergence of an institutional discourse of ethical research and interrogate its effects in constituting what ethical research is taken to be and how ethical researchers are configured. They illuminate the dissonance between this regime of truth and research practice and the implications for the injunction to respect others, illustrating their case with instances from their interview study with anorexic teenage girls. The authors propose that conceptualising the regulation of research ethics as an institutional discourse opens up the possibility for asserting counterdiscourses that place relational ethics at the center of moral decision making in research.

Institutional pedagogical waypoints : reflections on doctoral journeys between Taiwan and Australia

Spatial, social and academic journeys undertaken between Taiwan and Australia for doctoral education are the focus of reflection here. The discussion centres on the authors’ experiences of, on the one hand, the development of a Faculty of Education’s doctoral pedagogies in the early 2000s to reflect its international PhD candidature profile – especially from Taiwan – and, on the other, of Taiwanese doctoral candidates’ journeys through their PhDs in the Faculty. The authors write from their particular perspectives: Evans as an Australian academic and a manager of doctoral studies, and Liou as a Taiwanese academic pursuing her doctorate in an Australian university. The article considers the Australian and Taiwanese doctoral contexts between which the students transited. The institutional pedagogical strategies, from pre-enrolment to completion, are examined as waypoints on the doctoral journey for both staff and candidates.

Intellectual property law in Southeast Asia : Recent legislative and institutional developments

Over the last few decades, countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) all had to revise their intellectual property systems. These revisions resulted at first from bilateral pressure of major trading partners such as the US and EU, then from the WTO-TRIPS Agreement and more recently from bilateral Free Trade Agreements. To observe the IP developments in ASEAN over this period is interesting, because this group of countries covers developed (Singapore), developing as well as least developed countries. All countries had to reform their outdated laws from the colonial era in very short time. However, in comparison to the early 1980s, important differences with regards to intellectual property policies have emerged in recent years.

This article will briefly sketch the developments in individual ASEAN countries and after that examine some broader trends in law making, IP administration, enforcement and the court system. It concludes that the ASEAN enlargement process has created a very diverse picture with regards to IP. With the fast pace of the legislative development, countries have been struggling to keep up with the creation of the institutional and administrative framework. Progress in the ASEAN harmonisation process has been limited. Statistics indicate that some of the new laws have been reasonably well received at the domestic level, while the patent sector remains foreign dominated.

Linking student evaluations to institutional goals : a change story

For the past 30 years, beginning with the seminal work of Herbert Marsh in Australia and New Zealand, institutions of higher education have developed internal practices and procedures to collect and analyse student evaluations of teaching and learning. However, the question remains: has this development resulted in the achievement of institutional goals that maximise learning across all teaching contexts? As is the case in many other countries, a recent review of Australian national student evaluation data failed to conclude that student evaluations have improved overall teaching. However, these data have made student perceptions of teaching and learning more salient in the minds of tertiary educators. Certainly, teaching staff are aware of the impacts of student evaluations on informed decision-making, such as the continuation or discontinuation of courses, and on their promotion processes. This paper will review student evaluation practices according to criteria used in change theories, such as the transtheoretical change model (TTM). TTM construes organisational change as a process involving progress through a series of five stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. This paper will focus on organisational and behavioural outcomes that can be linked to the use of student data. It will recommend strategies for better aligning evaluation results to the stages of change.

Leading an evidence-based, multi-stakeholder approach to evaluating the implementation of a new online learning environment : an Australian institutional case study

An Australian institutional case study is presented on the evaluation approach being adopted for the implementation of a new online learning environment. Well conceived and inclusive evaluation is seen as essential for the quality management of online learning environments. The focus is on identifying and reconciling the informational needs of various stakeholder groups in the institution, and developing a plan of action covering the key period of implementation. The significant judgements required to carry out evaluation in a multi-campus environment cannot be under-estimated. This is particularly the case given the more recent move to devolving resources and responsibility for the successful implementation of the environment to faculties in the institution concerned. It calls for a more sophisticated conception and set of practices around distributed leadership, as aided by institutions‘ teaching and learning centres. A set of strategic recommendations are offered to help with the evaluation task.

An institutional study of the influence of ‘onlineness’ on student evaluation of teaching in a dual mode Australian university

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) is now commonplace in many universities internationally. The most common criticism of SET practices is that they are influenced by a number of non-teaching-related factors. More recently, there has been dramatic growth in online education internationally, but only limited research on the use of SET to evaluate online teaching. This paper presents a large-scale and detailed investigation, using the institutional SET data from an Australian university with a significant offering of wholly online units, and whose institutional SET instrument contains items relating to student perceptions of online technologies in teaching and learning. The relationship between educational technology and SET is not neutral. The mean ratings for the ‗online‘ aspects of SET are influenced by factors in the wider teaching and learning environment, and the overall perception of teaching quality is influenced by whether a unit is offered in wholly online mode or not.

The manifestation of varieties of blended learning pedagogy (BLP) : interplay between academic, institutional and global pedagogy

Despite the increased recognition of the potential use of online technologies to deliver flexible and student-centered learning environments in higher education, there are numerous critiques that its usage does not transform the daily practices of teaching and learning. This paper draws on some of the findings from three case studies that explored the manifestation of blended learning pedagogies (BLP). Six academics teaching at three different higher education contexts at two different countries, namely Australia and Malaysia were interviewed. The study aimed to interrogate the different manifestation of BLP at the different contexts of higher education, highlighting the complex interplay between the users (academics), technology and the specific socio-cultural contexts. Focusing on the academic identities that are shaped and reshaped within its socio-cultural context, this study demonstrated the complexity and fluidity of the manifestation of the different varieties of BLP. It contributes to further understanding the ways in which online technologies are used in teaching and learning within context of global knowledge economy that emphasizes flexibility and active co-production of knowledge.

Incremental institutional change and Australian universities

Much has been written and researched about transformational change and the exogenous events that result in radical institutional transformation. This paper examines institutions as building blocks of social order comprising power and politics and shared understanding to bring about change. Thelen and Mahoney (2010) go beyond a general model of change that describes the collapse of one set of institutional norms to be replaced by another. The model of change proposed takes into account both exogenous as well as endogenous factors as being the source of institutional change. They go on to state that a view of transformation change as being a result of abrupt, wholesale breakdown needs to be rethought to include incremental, endogenous shifts in thinking that can often result in fundamental transformations. This paper gives consideration to these issues to propose the Australian Higher Education sector as a unique sample in which to investigate this type of change.

Institutional environment, managerial attitudes and environmental sustainability orientation of small firms

This study examines the direct impact of three dimensions of the institutional environment on managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the direct influence of the latter on the environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) of small firms. We contend that when the institutional environment is perceived by owner–managers as supportive of sound natural environment management practices, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward natural environment issues and concerns. Such owner–manager attitudes are likely to lead to a positive and proactive orientation of their firms toward environmental sustainability. The study uses survey data from 166 small manufacturing firms located in three Philippine cities. First, the study develops and tests the measurement models to examine the validity of the constructs representing the firm’s institutional environment, managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the ESO of firms. Second, the study develops and tests the structural models examining the institutional environment–managerial attitudes–ESO linkages. Multi-sample invariance structural model analysis shows the mediating role of managerial attitudes in the institutional environment–ESO nexus. The findings show that ESO is a construct comprising three dimensions: knowledge of environmental issues, sustainable practices and commitment toward environmental sustainability. The cognitive, regulatory and normative elements of the institutional environment are strongly linked to positive managerial attitudes toward environmental sustainability, which in turn, positively influences the firm’s overall ESO. Managerial attitudes play a mediating role in the institutional environment–ESO linkages. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the research findings are discussed.