Shelley Hannigan

This was an exhibition in café. Having exhibited in galleries and then moved into community arts I was keen to try out exhibiting in spaces that are more accessible to the public. These were artworks created both in Geelong and during a residency at Bundanon, NSW.

Workplace learning coordinators program : formative evaluation : final report

The workplace learning coordinators program was established to increase the number of young people undertaking workplace learning placements, especially in industries that provide strong vocational outcomes. Additional attention has been paid to the potential benefits of the program for Koorie young people and other students who experience disadvantage. The program also seeks to improve the alignment between VCAL and VET provision and local industry needs, with a focus on indentifying new workplace learning opportunities with each service area’s employers. This formative evaluation sought to monitor the initial implementation of the WLC program during its first twelve months. Over this period the evaluators recorded the early teething challenges faced by WLCs during their first few months, and the eventual consolidation of their practices during the second half of the program’s first year. In reviewing all of the data collected for this evaluation, and the progressive responses of WLCs and stakeholders over the program’s first year, the evaluators consider that the model of service delivery is appropriate for what the program aims to achieve and recommend its continuance to 2013.

Fusion of GRNN and FA for online noisy data regression

A new online neural-network-based regression model for noisy data is proposed in this paper. It is a hybrid system combining the Fuzzy ART (FA) and General Regression Neural Network (GRNN) models. Both the FA and GRNN models are fast incremental learning systems. The proposed hybrid model, denoted as GRNNFA-online, retains the online learning properties of both models. The kernel centers of the GRNN are obtained by compressing the training samples using the FA model. The width of each kernel is then estimated by the K-nearest-neighbors (kNN) method. A heuristic is proposed to tune the value of Kof the kNN dynamically based on the concept of gradient-descent. The performance of the GRNNFA-online model was evaluated using two benchmark datasets, i.e., OZONE and Friedman#1. The experimental results demonstrated the convergence of the prediction errors. Bootstrapping was employed to assess the performance statistically. The final prediction errors are analyzed and compared with those from other systems.Bootstrapping was employed to assess the performance statistically. The final prediction errors are analyzed and compared with those from other systems.

Games and movement

Videogames give us new bodies able to move through the world with grace and precision. In this conversation session, we explore how the form of dance can follow on from the function of the game's rules.

Ethical decision-making of accounting students : evidence from an Australian setting

This study investigates accounting students’ ethical decision-making judgments and behavioral intentions. The Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES) was used to measure the extent to which a hypothetical behavior was consistent with three moral criteria (Moral Equity, Relativism and Contractualism). The study specifically tests the differences in ethical decision-making between students who have been exposed to a dedicated ethics unit of study compared with students who have not studied ethics. The influences of culture and gender on students’ ethical decision-making are also addressed in the study. Ethical decision-making was assessed via three case studies describing moral dilemmas that an individual, business or professional person might face. The results provide support for the MES and the value added from incorporating a dedicated ethical decision-making unit in the accounting curriculum. The results also support prior evidence of gender bias and the impact of cultural differences on ethical decision-making.

The online identity : towards a hermeneutic phenomenological approach

In order to better understand how artists working in countercultural or ‘fringe’ creative practice use social media to create online persona I am using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to investigate the lived experience of both online and offline persona creation by tattoo artists, street artists, craftivists, and slam poets. The use of phenomenology to investigate artists’ lived experience is particularly appropriate, as ‘artists are involved in giving shape to their lived experience, the products of art are, in a sense, lived experienced transformed into transcended configurations’ (Van Manen 2006: 74). This paper will outline the methodological underpinnings of this project, using these underpinnings to explore the benefits offered by phenomenology to internet studies.

Understanding how people use online social media sites to construct personas can benefit greatly from understanding the lived experience of those who use these technologies, the decisions they make in persona construction, and the online/offline, public/private continuums. A phenomenological approach ‘seeks to revel and richly portray the nature of human phenomena and the experiences of those who live through them’ (Grace & Ajjawi 2010: 197) and offers both the researchers and the participants a way to interrogate and interpret the experience of constructing online personas. A phenomenological approach allows for ‘an intimate awareness and deep understanding’ (Saldana, Leavy & Bertvas 2011: 8) of the experience of persona construction in online and offline spaces, and could equally be used to interrogate other aspects of internet use. 

Dance hall

A collaborative residency resulting in three performance presentations as part of an Interdisciplinary Artist Hothouse/Festival produced by Vitalstatistix.

Learning context in Australian universities - perceptions of Chinese accounting students

The study concentrates on how Mainland Chinese students perceive and respond to the learning in Australian universities. Students' satisfaction with their educational experiences and the Australian learning context such as teaching, teacher/student relationship, assessment, workload and English language is explored in this study. Using focus groups, the results show that teaching, teacher/student relationships and English language are areas of concern.

Assessing risk post intervention for an acute coronary syndrome: a review of the risk assessment tools and their development

Considerable variability in survival rate after an acute myocardial infarction exists and accurate risk stratification is of significant importance. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association has recommended early risk stratification using several clinical risk scoring instruments to identify high risk patients. The aim of this paper is to identify secondary cardiovascular risk scoring instruments that could be utilized at the time of intervention for acute coronary syndromes and compare their psychometric properties as they were developed. A search using Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection data-bases identified studies published between January 1990 and January 2010 used to measure risk after intervention for acute coronary syndrome. Four validated secondary risk prediction scoring instruments were identified for comparison.Secondary risk prediction scoring instruments for the acute coronary syndrome patient population are evidence based, valid and reliable. Use of the instruments by cardiac focused clinicians will aid in the determination of treatment strategies, and estimation of short and long term events and mortality.

Communication for business

Communication for Business introduces students to the core topics necessary for their undergraduate studies in business communication and is designed with the future professional in mind. It bridges academic theory and real-world business knowledge and provides lots of practical examples in the companion digital obook. It offers a fresh approach to the subject in the form of the three business communication principles: logic, clarity and courtesy in the way they frame the contents of the book. Written by a combination of management, communication, ethics and journalism academics it presents information that is practical and interesting in a style that is theoretical and accessible.

Reframing conceptions of contemporary literacy capabilities in pre-service primary teacher education

This chapter describes the challenges of integrating new technologies with literacy education in pre-service primary teacher education in Australia. The authors describe the policy context and regulatory mechanisms controlling pre-service education, including a national set of professional standards for graduate teachers, a new national curriculum for school students, the introduction of high stakes national assessment for school students, and the looming threat of decontextualized back-to-the-basics professional entry tests for aspiring teachers. The chapter includes three case studies of the authors’ pedagogical practices that attempt to reframe conceptions of the literacy capabilities of pre-service teachers to reflect the complex and sophisticated requirements of teachers in contemporary schooling. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of the implications of these case studies as they illustrate the ways that pre-service teachers can be scaffolded and supported to develop creative capacity and critical awareness of the kinds of literacies required in the digital age despite restrictive regimes.

A hazardous substance exposure prevention rating method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation: the small business exposure index

Aims This paper describes the refinement and adaptation to small business of a previously developed method for systematically prioritizing needs for intervention on hazardous substance exposures in manufacturing worksites, and evaluating intervention effectiveness. Methods We developed a checklist containing six unique sets of yes/no variables organized in a 2 × 3 matrix of exposure potential versus exposure protection at three levels corresponding to a simplified hierarchy of controls: materials, processes, and human interface. Each of the six sets of indicator variables was reduced to a high/moderate/low rating. Ratings from the matrix were then combined to generate an exposure prevention 'Small Business Exposure Index' (SBEI) Summary score for each area. Reflecting the hierarchy of controls, material factors were weighted highest, followed by process, and then human interface. The checklist administered by an industrial hygienist during walk-through inspection (N = 149 manufacturing processes/areas in 25 small to medium-sized manufacturing worksites). One area or process per manufacturing department was assessed and rated. A second hygienist independently assessed 36 areas to evaluate inter-rater reliability. Results The SBEI Summary scores indicated that exposures were well controlled in the majority of areas assessed (58% with rating of 1 or 2 on a 6-point scale), that there was some room for improvement in roughly one-third of areas (31% of areas rated 3 or 4), and that roughly 10% of the areas assessed were urgently in need of intervention (rated as 5 or 6). Inter-rater reliability of EP ratings was good to excellent (e.g., for SBEI Summary scores, weighted kappa = 0.73, 95% CI 0.52–0.93). Conclusion The SBEI exposure prevention rating method is suitable for use in small/medium enterprises, has good discriminatory power and reliability, offers an inexpensive method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation, and complements quantitative exposure assessment with an upstream prevention focus.