What is the on-campus experience? Engineering student study and work

Accreditation for off-campus engineering programmes has proven to be problematic. In Australia, off-campus programmes are compelled to contain mandatory residential sessions so that offcampus students can have an `on-campus experience'. This paper explores the nature of modern oncampus undergraduate engineering study, and finds that it now typically involves at least part-time employment and has more in common with off-campus study than the on-campus experience enjoyed by most of the current institutional (education and professional) administrators when they completed their undergraduate studies. Rather than ignore student term-time work, engineering programmes should use it to enhance the development of desirable graduate attributes.

Professional attitudes towards deliberate self-harm in patients with borderline personality disorder

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the attitudes of mental health and emergency medicine clinicians towards patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The clinician gender, primary occupation and service setting, level of university training and years of experience, frequency of clinical contact, and completion of specific training in borderline personality disorder were expected to influence the attitudes of health professionals towards working with borderline patients that engage in self-harm.

Method: A purpose-designed questionnaire and an assessment tool to quantify attitudinal levels were used to collect demographic information and assess the attitudes of 140 mental health and emergency medicine practitioners across two Australian health services and a New Zealand health service.

Results: Statistically and clinically significant differences were found between emergency medical staff and mental health clinicians in their attitudes towards working with borderline personality disorder. The strongest predictor of attitudes was whether the clinician worked in emergency medicine or mental health. This was followed by years of experience and specific training in personality disorders as significant predictors of attitudes to self-harm.

Conclusions: The implications of these findings for the professional training of clinicians in the management and treatment of borderline personality disorder patients are discussed.

Growth and diversity in doctoral education : assessing the Australian experience

The major growth of doctoral education in recent decades has attracted attention from policy makers and researchers. In this article we explore the growth of doctoral education in Australia, its impact on diversity in respect of the doctoral population, shifts in disciplinary strengths, institutional concentration and award programs. We conclude that there has been both change and continuity in the provision of doctoral education with extensive variation at the level of practice in what is a reasonably stable system featuring continuing hierarchical institutional diversification. The limitations of available data and issues for further research, policy and practice are discussed.

Doctoral graduates in mental health nursing in Victoria, Australia : the doctoral experience and contribution to scholarship

The last decade has seen a substantial increase in the number of psychiatric or mental health nurses in Victoria, Australia who hold doctoral qualifications. The literature refers to the importance of scholarship for the professional development and recognition of nursing as a discipline. However, there is a paucity of literature addressing the contribution of nursing doctoral graduates to scholarship in mental health nursing or indeed the broader nursing profession. This paper presents the findings from a survey of psychiatric nurse doctoral graduates currently residing in the State of Victoria. A questionnaire was developed by the authors and distributed to the known doctoral graduates. The main findings demonstrate considerable variation in the discipline and topic of inquiry and in the extent to which doctoral studies had led to dissemination of research findings and engagement in further scholarly activity. The strengthening of mental health nursing knowledge requires scholarship and doctoral graduates are expected to make a major contribution, through research and the dissemination of findings. This paper presents a descriptive overview of doctoral graduates in one State of Australia with a particular focus on research and scholarship.

Developing a scale to measure season ticket holder attitudes towards the professional sports club offering

Given the importance of season ticket holders (STH) to sporting organisations, we empirically examine a scale for measuring their attitudes to the season ticket product. This involved identifying through qualitative research and past literature, the various elements that are perceived to comprise the season ticket package and developing items to measure STH attitudes to them. The season ticket package was decomposed into six key components, closely mirroring past research. A survey of over 2,500 STH of a professional sporting organisation was then conducted, incorporating items related to these six areas, overall satisfaction and disconfirmation of expectations. The results of Exploratory Factor Analysis on those items is presented here, with results suggesting the items are valid measures of season ticket holder attitudes that capture the breadth of the STH experience.

Teaching IT professional practice with virtual teams

The ability to communicate effectively as part of a virtual team working in the online environment is a valuable skill to have in the modern e-workplace. Such skills can be difficult to develop in undergraduate students. This paper reports on a professional practice unit situated in a web 2.0 environment that aims to develop students' teamwork skills. The paper also reports on research that sought to gain understanding of the student experience of interacting online in virtual teams. The results showed that students value the virtual teamwork experience, finding it useful and relevant for their future careers. The student perceptions of various aspects of virtual teamwork have improved with each subsequent offering of the unit.

Using social software to support the teaching of IT professional practice

Social software has been used to support problem-based learning activities in a wholly online information technology (IT) professional practice course at Deakin University since 2006. When the course was first delivered, the authentic learning environment was a website, with an intranet and team forums created in Drupal, the open source content management system (CMS). Although this environment was suitable, feedback from students and teaching staff highlighted areas where improvements could be made. In the second year of the course, Joomla!, the open source CMS, in combination with Simple Machines Forum (SMF), the open source online discussion community software, was used to provide the website, as well as the intranet and team forums respectively. Feedback in 2007 was more positive, suggesting that the Joomla!-SMF social software combination and the features implemented, improved the learning and teaching experience in comparison to the 2006 version of the course.

Music teacher education partnerships as professional development

This paper reports my reflections of a school and university partnership carried out in Semester One 2008 by the Bachelor of Teaching (Primary/Secondary) music education specialist at a University in Melbourne. As students have a specific 'situated learning' experience at a primary school, their five-week visit during the ten-week semester acts as onsite professional development by both the music teacher and myself. Here students are able to reflect and discuss both content and pedagogical knowledge. They are also given the opportunity to teach small groups whilst being mentored by the music teacher and myself. I contend that by universities providing such opportunities as good exemplars of best practice in music education as a form of professional development students can only improve teaching and learning and be better prepared when entering the teaching profession.

In this paper I report on my pre-service music education students' experience as school based music teaching and learning as an effective form of professional development. My reflections are supported by my observational notes are informed by self study methodology I consider the link between tertiary and school partnership as a way forward to improve both the teaching and learning of music education. Universities in Australia are increasingly encouraged to forge pathways with schools where students and teacher educators have the opportunity to observe best practice, engage in teaching and learning onsite and reflect on both content and pedagogical knowledge. Such practice promotes educational praxis for a sustainable future.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : the trading room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called “The Trading Room” in an undergraduate Finance unit for an assessment task generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this pilot demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualized feedback and benchmark their work against others. Whilst assessment is generally seen as both the carrot and the stick of learning, and certification; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the “Trading Room” blog even if there was no assessment requirement! Additionally they did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space. Context, structure and activity design, perhaps are the most important facets of online interaction for learning.

Investigating the factors of professional development programs that effect change in the classroom

This paper reports on the implementation of two professional development programs designed to support ICT based pedagogies in Victorian (Australia) schools. In both programs the teachers participated in an intensive program of professional development designed to assist them in embedding ICT into their classroom practice. There was a large diversity of circumstances experienced by the schools, not only in terms of ICT availability and use, and teacher experience, but also in issues of cultures of curriculum planning and integration, size, communication, and pedagogical presumptions. Both projects were successful in implementing change; however there were teachers in both projects who failed to take advantage of the PD. Some of the limitations with both studies include the high expectations of time comittment by the teachers – who are already fully committed with full teaching loads, and the high expectations of the change that will occur in the teaching and
learning as a result of the PD, wthout consideration of the time needed to learn and adopt new pedagogical practice. In some cases, teachers and the school did not appreciate the necessary commitment to take full advantage of the opportunity being provided. This was compounded by the lack of support and recognition by school management.

Innovative model for clinical education in dietetics

Aim: Professional practice placement programs in dietetics face a number of challenges in respect of quantity, quality and sustainability. The aim of the present study is to report on the development of an innovative placement model based on a variety of training and supervision approaches to address these aforementioned challenges.

Methods: The model was developed following an investigation of existing practice and the literature with approaches that were identified as important to the requirements and constraints of dietetics clinical training incorporated into the model.

Results: Although one-on-one supervision is the predominant approach in Australian dietetic education, the educational literature and the authors' experience showed that a variety of approaches are represented in some form. The model developed involves the pairing of two students with one supervisor with students changing peer partners and supervisors every three weeks during the nine-week placement to diversify exposure to working and learning styles. The model integrates four customised approaches: incremental exposure to tasks; use of a clinical reasoning framework to help structure student understanding of the methods and judgements involved in patient care; structured enquiry in group discussions; and peer observation and feedback.

Conclusions: The model has potential to achieve efficiencies in supervisors' involvement by coordinating the skill development activities of students as a group and promoting peer-assisted learning.

Experience and experiential learning : perceptions of the diabetes educator role

A great deal of learning associated with specially nursing roles occurs informally and experientially. Here, the authors explore experience and experiential learning in the professional development of nurse diabetes educators. The role of experiential learning in the acquisition of diabetes education and management skills and the ways in which experiential learning can be quantified for the purposes of demonstrating professional competency, are discussed in the light of data collected from two questionnaires distributed to diabetes educators, and endocrinologists, and a series of focus groups.

Exploring the pedagogies used in work integrated learning

This paper focuses on the pedagogical approaches used in New Zealand WIL programs in terms of integration of student knowledge, and what impact these have on student learning. A collective case study methodology was used involving three areas of tertiary education science and engineering; business and management; and sport studies. The study involved researchers working collaboratively conducting focus group interviews with a selection of WIL students, academic supervisors, and employers from the relevant discipline about their teaching and learning experiences at both the academic institution and in the workplace. Relevant documentation (e.g., course/paper outlines, graduate profiles, etc.) was analyzed to afford data triangulation. The findings indicated that the WIL experience is a point of difference that students and employers value. Student learning (soft and hard skills, personal and professional development) occurs from a variety of sources (self-directed, supervisors, and peers) and a variety of modes (on campus, on placement). The findings reinforce what can be achieved through WIL programs, and through dissemination of the findings raise awareness amongst tertiary education institutions (TEIs) of the future possibilities available
via this pedagogy.

Bridging the gap : competencies students should focus on during their cooperative experience to enhance employability

Cooperative education programmes aim to prepare students for the workplace by developing both generic and specific competencies that will enhance  employability. Researchers have investigated the competencies relevant to business, science and technology graduates (Coll & Zegward, 2006; Hodges & Burchell, 2003). However, there is little published research on the perceptions of the skills or graduate competencies that employers desire of sport and recreation graduates entering the workforce.

The aims of the study were to identify key competencies needed by third year sport and recreation degree students entering their cooperative placement as well as to identify the difference between student and graduate competencies. An online survey of sport and recreation industry supervisors was conducted. For comparison the survey was also completed by academic supervisors from AUT University. Supervisors were asked to rate the importance of specific competencies (adapted from Coll & Zegward, 2006) for the cooperative student and for the graduate.

To enhance employability in the sport and recreation industry, academic programmes within a university need to ensure that students are provided with opportunities to facilitate the development of competencies including the ability and willingness to learn, the use of initiative and personal organisational skills. Cooperative education experiences should be designed to provide opportunities for students to develop in the areas of relationship building as well as teamwork and cooperation in order to increase their likelihood of employment as graduates. It is important to identify and communicate to the tertiary education providers the needs of the industry in order to create successful cooperative education partnerships.

Professional standards for physical education teachers' professional development : technology for performance?

Background: The widespread and diverse models of professional standards for teaching raise questions with respect to the need to provide teachers with a pathway for continuing professional development balanced with the public nature of surveillance and accountability that may accompany standards. Ways of understanding technologies of power in relation to standards for
teaching gives us a new language and, in turn, new questions about the standards agenda in the physical education profession.
Purpose: To analyse how one health and physical education (HPE) teacher worked with Education Queensland’s (EQ) professional standards for teaching within the broader context of teacher professional development and renewal.
Participants and setting: An experienced HPE teacher working in an urban secondary school was the ‘case’ for this article. Tim was the only experienced HPE teacher within the larger pilot study of 220 selected teachers from the volunteer pool across the state.
Data collection: The case-study data comprised two in-depth interviews conducted by the first author, field notes from workshops (first author), teacher diaries and work samples, notes from focus groups of which Tim was a member, and electronic communications with peers by Tim
during the course of the evaluation.
Findings: Tim was supportive of the teaching standards while they did not have a strong evaluative dimension associated with technologies of power. He found the self-regulation associated with his reflective practices professionally rewarding rather than being formalised within a prescribed
professional development framework.
Conclusion: Tim’s positive response to the professional standards for teaching was typical of the broader pilot cohort. The concept of governmentality provided a useful framework to help map how the standards for teaching were received, regardless of teacher specialisation or experience.
We suggest that it is not until the standards regimes are talked about within the discourses of
power (e.g. codification for career progression, certification for professional development imperatives) that we can understand patterns of acceptance and resistance by teachers to policies
that seek to shape their performance.