Australian transnational higher education quality assurance in Singapore and Malaysia

This thesis investigates the nature of the mutual understanding of quality assurance between two importing countries and Australia, as an exporter, of transnational higher education. The findings highlight the risks for policy makers and the need for better communication and collaboration between importing and exporting institutions and their transnational higher education counterparts.

The idea of creative reuse urbanism — the roles of local creativities in culturally sustainable place-making : Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore

Gentrification is a part of the process of urban renewal which generates significant, and often negative, social impact on existing neighborhood structures, as it tends to be driven predominantly by simple rules of an economy and imperatives of a globalized, "free" market, insensitive to the subtleties of local culture and values. This idea of creative reuse urbanism questions the necessity of extreme, damaging impacts of gentrification. It argues for an urbanism which is culturally rooted, locally related and deeply contextualized. This chapter shows that such urbanism is not just another utopian concept, but a living reality. Examples from Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore demonstrate a rich spectrum of possibilities, a kind of pre-gentrification which has the capacity to get involved in creative reuse and recycling of existing stocks and inheritances, thus becoming a positive contributor to sustainable urban regeneration. Presented reused buildings and introduced activities are active ingredients in larger process of place-making in the three cities. Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore were observed through the lenses of sustainability and cultural difference, with main focus on intersections between the practices of reuse and local creativity.

The digital contamination of dramatic theatre : subject technology in exception

Drawing on Derrida’s analysis of the metaphysics of presence, this paper examines the centrality of presence in much theatre commentary, arguing that such a privileging demonises projected media as a form of contamination. Through a close look at a hybrid work that integrates live performers with avatars from Second Life, I seek a way to move forward between conditions of possibility and impossibility.

Mathematical modelling for Singapore primary classrooms : from a teacher’s lens

Limited Singapore research indicated a lack of exposure of modelling tasks at primary levels. Teacher reflection is used as a tool in design research cycles exploring the potentials of modelling tasks in a Singapore primary five classroom. Findings reveal that the teacher identified three potentials of a modelling task on children’s mathematisation process: the task provided a platform for children to (a) identify variables and form relationships between them, (b) relate school-based math learning to real-world experiences, and (c) justify their mathematical models. Implications on the promotion of modelling tasks at primary schools as well as teacher education are drawn.