Residential schools in a first-year undergraduate engineering programme

BACKGROUND OR CONTEXT: For over 20 years, Deakin University has delivered an accredited undergraduate engineering course by means of distance education. Prior to 2004, off-campus students were not required to attend classes in person on campus. The course was designed so that the off campus students were able to undertake all study and assessment tasks remotely from the university campus. Offering accredited domestic undergraduate engineering courses via distance education has been seen as an important strategy for helping to provide graduate domestically educated engineers to meet Australia’s current and future needs. From 2000 the Australian accreditation management system for professional engineers, as managed by Engineers Australia, has increased its scrutiny of accredited domestic undergraduate engineering courses that were provided in distance-education mode. This led to a series of policies and recommendations for Australian universities that offer accredited engineering courses in distance-education mode: one of the recommendations was that off campus
enrolled engineering students should periodically attend some campus-based activities throughout the course. During the 2004 accreditation review of engineering courses at Deakin University, the
accreditation panel requested that mandatory campus-based activities be incorporated into the accredited undergraduate engineering course. Specifically the request was that Deakin mandate that all off-campus students enrolled in an accredited undergraduate engineering course provided by university attend in person a residential school at least once during every year of equivalent full-time study load. The accreditation panel suggested a program model for the residential school component of the course as developed by the University of Southern Queensland.
PURPOSE OR GOAL: This paper describes the development of the mandatory residential school component of accredited distance education undergraduate engineering courses at Deakin University with
a particular focus on how the residential school program is implemented at level 1 (first-year full-time equivalent level) of the courses.
APPROACH: To be compliant with accreditation requirements, since 2005 Deakin has conducted residential schools for off-campus students at its Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus. Initially the schools were conducted annually over two-weeks during the first semester, and have transitioned to the current mode where the residential school is conducted as a one week programme in each of the trimesters. During these schools, activities are organised around the respective engineering-course units undertaken by students during the trimester.
DISCUSSION: The minimum requirements for the on-campus components of distance-education-mode accredited engineering courses were developed by Engineers Australia in consultation with members of the Washington Accord (International Education Alliance) and at the time of development, generated considerable debate (Palmer, 2005, 2008). The intended purpose of residential schools was for off-campus enrolled students to have reasonable exposure to a typical “on-the-campus” student experience periodically throughout the course. Elements considered suitable and worthwhile for inclusion in residential school programs included:
• in person engagement with their academic lecturers,
• presentations and interaction with guest speakers from industry,
• industry-based site visits,
• engagement in sole and group-based learning and assessment activities on campus, and
• social interaction with other students.
RECOMMENDATIONS/IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSION: We have found that advantages to the students who attends a residential school include completing real practical work without the need to assemble their own materials at home, and social engagement with staff and students. Off-campus students leave the residential school with a sense of belonging to a “community”, “one of many doing the same and not the only one”. They have the opportunity to share their often significant professional experience with the generally younger and less experienced on-campus student colleagues. Through this interaction between on-campus and off-campus students, the on-campus students benefit as much as the off-campus students. The disadvantages to the off-campus students is the requirement to travel to Geelong for an extended time, which costs the students both money and time away from work and family. From our experience, we recommend to other institutions starting residential schools of their own that they exploit the mandatory on-campus-presence requirement to enhance learning outcomes, well publicised timetables be available to students before trimester begins (certainly before census date), a standardised academic week during trimester be set for all residential schools, encourage student feedback on the program, and apply a practice of uniformity and consistency in how the programme is managed, especially mandated student attendance. Our residential schools for off-campus-mode students have been running for over 10 years. We have found that the educational and social advantages to the student outweigh the disadvantages.

Controllable drug uptake and nongenomic response through estrogen-anchored cyclodextrin drug complex

Breast cancer is a leading killer of women worldwide. Cyclodextrin-based estrogen receptor-targeting drug-delivery systems represent a promising direction in cancer therapy but have rarely been investigated. To seek new targeting therapies for membrane estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, an estrogen-anchored cyclodextrin encapsulating a doxorubicin derivative Ada-DOX (CDE1-Ada-DOX) has been synthesized and evaluated in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. First, we synthesized estrone-conjugated cyclodextrin (CDE1), which formed the complex CDE1-Ada-DOX via molecular recognition with the derivative adamantane-doxorubicin (Ada-DOX) (Kd =1,617 M(-1)). The structure of the targeting vector CDE1 was fully characterized using (1)H- and (13)C-nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and electron microscopy. CDE1-Ada-DOX showed two-phase drug-release kinetics with much slower release than Ada-DOX. The fluorescence polarization analysis reveals that CDE1-Ada-DOX binds to recombinant human estrogen receptor α fragments with a Kd of 0.027 µM. Competition assay of the drug complex with estrogen ligands demonstrated that estrone and tamoxifen competed with CDE1-Ada-DOX for membrane estrogen receptor binding in MCF-7 cells. Intermolecular self-assembly of CDE1 molecules were observed, showing tail-in-bucket and wire-like structures confirmed by transmission electronic microscopy. CDE1-Ada-DOX had an unexpected lower drug uptake (when the host-guest ratio was >1) than non-targeting drugs in MCF-7 cells due to ensconced ligands in cyclodextrins cavities resulting from the intermolecular self-assembly. The uptake of CDE1-Ada-DOX was significantly increased when the host-guest ratio was adjusted to be less than half at the concentration of CDE1 over 5 µM due to the release of the estrone residues. CDE1 elicited rapid activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (p44/42 MAPK, Erk1/2) in minutes through phosphorylation of Thr202/Tyr204 in MCF-7 cells. These results demonstrate a targeted therapeutics delivery of CDE1-Ada-DOX to breast cancer cells in a controlled manner and that the drug vector CDE1 can potentially be employed as a molecular tool to differentiate nongenomic from genomic mechanism.

Practitioner perspectives on extended clinical placement programs in optometry

.Background: Some universities are looking to provide a more diverse range of clinical learning experiences through extended clinical placement programs. This approach will potentially have a significant impact on practitioners. The aim of this study was to conduct a national survey of optometrists to ascertain their perspectives on participating in extended clinical placement programs. Methods: Members of Optometry Australia were invited to participate in a survey conducted during June and July 2014. Results: A total of 268 practitioners participated (six per cent of registered Australian optometrists): 159 were predominantly employees or locums and 109 were owners or managers who identified as the key representative of a practice or organisation for the purpose of this survey. Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of participants, who were employees or locums were supportive of extended clinical placement programs. Among this group, females were more likely to be supportive than males (p=0.033). In comparison, just over one-third (34 per cent) of participants who were key decision-makers were supportive, with 30 per cent possibly supportive and 36 per cent not supportive. Among key decision-makers, males were more likely to be supportive (p=0.009). The top three perceived advantages of supervising a student were: opportunity to mentor early career development, opportunity to give back to the profession and future recruitment. The top three perceived disadvantages were: burden on time, decrease in number of patients examined and burden on support staff. Suggested incentives for supervising students were credit for continuing professional development and financial remuneration. Conclusion: There appears to be moderate support for extended clinical placement programs; however, there are incentives that might engage a larger proportion of the profession in the future. These findings can inform the development of effective and sustainable clinical training programs for optometry students. Additionally, the findings might be used as evidence to seek Government support for clinical placement training in optometry.

The development of cultural intelligence through the Indonesia immersion program

This paper identifies which immersion program activities are most important in developing cross-cultural skills, and identifies the cultural intelligence (CQ) factors that Master of Business Administration (MBA) students gain by their participation in a cultural immersion program. Twenty students were surveyed, and it was found that the most important immersion program activities to develop cross-cultural skills were “visits to Indonesian companies” and “cultural activities”, as opposed to lectures by academics/industry guest speakers or working in cross-cultural teams. Motivational CQ was found to be the highest scoring CQ factor, followed by behavioural, then metacognitive and finally cognitive CQ. Students may have developed less cognitive CQ competencies because they had less opportunity to learn about knowledge aspects of CQ and had more opportunity to put into practice their motivational and behavioural CQ through immersion program activities.

Freshman residential schools for undergraduate on-campus and on-line engineering students

By means of evidence-based practice, this paper describes the residential-school component of an accredited online (distance education) undergraduate engineering program in Australia, with a particular focus on how the residential school program is implemented at freshman year. During these residential schools, activities were organised around the respective engineering courses undertaken by students during the semester. Elements considered suitable and worthwhile for inclusion in residential-school programs included: • In-person engagement with academic lecturers, • Practical and laboratory learning activities, • Presentations and interaction with guest speakers from industry, • Industry-based site visits, • Engagement in sole and group-based learning and assessment activities on campus, and • Social interaction with other students. After running pilot residential schools for two years, it was found that a workable format consisted in a two-week residential experience in the first semester, linked to two key freshman courses, Fundamentals of Technology Management, and Engineering Physics. On-campus and online students’ academic grades were compared for both courses over the years 2005 to 2012. We found that for physics lab, on-campus students’ grades tended to be higher than those for online students, and vice versa for technology management. We also conclude that when carefully designed, residential schools for online students do enhance learning for both online students and their on-campus counterparts.

Using steric bulk for selective recognition; blocking the binding site to differentiate guests

Selectivity is demonstrated in a supramolecular host:guest system using a receptor with a non-linear binding site. For the "open" receptor 1 strong binding for both flexible and rigid guests was observed. Receptor 2, with a "blocked" binding site, also bound flexible guests effectively but its affinity for rigid guests was 50 fold lower.

Introduction: "Contemporary women's writing and environments"

The interview and seven articles in this special issue of Contemporary Women’s Writing have been gathered here by the guest editors as a result of the fifth biennial Contemporary Women’s Writing Association conference held in Melbourne, Australia, 3–5 July 2014. 1 The event, themed “Environments,” showcased scholarly papers, creative presentations, discussion panels, and poetic performances by scholars and writers from across the globe. As the first CWWA conference to be held in Australia – indeed, in the Southern Hemisphere – many participants embarked on a significant quest across oceans to visit the country for the first time, in many cases exchanging summer for Melbourne’s chilly winter backdrop. This was a fitting introduction, perhaps, to a conference set on an exchange of ideas on women’s writing and diverse “environments.”

Other people's country : law, water, entitlement

This issue of Settler Colonial Studies comes out of a long-term collaboration between the guest editors which began, in earnest, with a panel on the theme of ‘Other People’s Country: Law, Water, Entitlement’ at the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia conference held at the University of Sydney in December 2012. The panel’s topic was drawn from our own work on encounters between settler and indigenous ‘laws’ over specific waters, including Lake Omapere in the Hokianga district of Aotearoa/New Zealand, Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada, Lake Cayuga in upper New York State, and the Wenlock, Archer, Stewart and Lockhart rivers in far north Queensland, Australia.1 Further, the conference’s provocative title (Materialities: Economies, Empiricism, & Things) corresponded to our own interest in thinking through the entangled objects of law – legislation, policies, institutions, treaties and so on – that ‘govern’ waters and that make bodies of water ‘lawful’ within these settler colonial sites today. Informed by the theoretical interventions of cosmopolitics and political ecology, each opening up new approaches to questions of politics and ‘the political’, we were interested in attempting to locate these insights within material settler colonial ‘places’ rather than abstract structures of domination. A claim to water is not simply a claim to a resource. It is a claim to knowledge and to the constitution of place and therefore, in the terms of Isabelle Stengers, to the continued constitution of the past, present and future of a ‘real world’.

Desymmetrization of an octahedral coordination complex Inside a self-assembled exoskeleton

The synthesis of a centrally functionalized, ribbon-shaped [6]polynorbornane ligand L that self-assembles with PdII cations into a (Pd2L4) coordination cage is reported. The shape-persistent (Pd2L4) cage contains two axial cationic centers and an array of four equatorial H-bond donors pointing directly towards the center of the cavity. This precisely defined supramolecular environment is complementary to the geometry of classic octahedral complexes [M(XY)6] with six diatomic ligands. Very strong binding of [Pt(CN)6]2- to the cage was observed, with the structure of the host-guest complex ([Pt(CN)6]@Pd2L4) supported by NMR spectroscopy, MS, and X-ray data. The self-assembled shell imprints its geometry on the encapsulated guest, and desymmetrization of the octahedral platinum species by the influence of the D4h-symmetric second coordination sphere was evidenced by IR spectroscopy. [Fe(CN)6]3- and square-planar [Pt(CN)4]2- were strongly bound. Smaller octahedral anions such as [SiF6]2-, neutral carbonyl complexes ([M(CO)6]; M=Cr, Mo, W) and the linear [Ag(CN)2]- anion were only weakly bound, showing that both size and charge match are key factors for high-affinity binding.