Benchmarking journalism courses with a focus on graduate employability : case Studies from three Australian universities

Benchmarking is commonly perceived as a key part of quality assurance and enhancement, and universities have had limited success to date in benchmarking, nationally or internationally, in matters concerning teaching and learning. This is partly due to the paucity of comparable quantitative indicators. The challenges are even greater when benchmarking is at course (program) level. As part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council fellowship (Benchmarking partnerships for graduate employability), a process was designed to enable course leaders to engage in collaborative and confidential benchmarking at course level, with a particular focus on graduate employability (or, more specifically, the assurance of graduate capability development and achievement). Among the 24 benchmarking partners were three course leaders in undergraduate journalism. This paper describes their collective experiences and some of the outcomes of the benchmarking exercise. It also highlights some of the challenges of benchmarking in a discipline where graduates may follow a range of career paths, and where technology means professional practice is evolving at a very rapid pace. Given these underpinning uncertainties, discussions around employability and appropriate graduate capabilities are best had face to face with adequate time for establishing common understandings. This has also been a focused way of building capacity and scholarly networking.

Career development year in emergency nursing: using specific educational preparation and clinical support to facilitate the transition to specialist practice

This article outlines the development, implementation and evaluation of the Career Development Year (CDY) in the Emergency Department (ED) at Dandenong Hospital in Victoria, Australia. As a consequence of a shortage of emergency nurses, hospitals have recruited inadequately prepared nurses to staff their EDs. The resultant increase in stress of qualified and experienced emergency nurses has had a major impact on the retention of emergency nurses. The CDY aims to provide nurses with little or no experience in emergency nursing with supported entry into this area of specialist practice. The CDY is based on three factors identified as important in the transition to emergency nursing; knowledge, clinical support and professional development. By providing beginning emergency nurses with supported entry to a new and challenging clinical environment, the CDY has been an effective recruitment and retention strategy. In addition it has demonstrated that a committed ED team has the capability to teach and nurture the emergency nurses of the future.

Voices of experience : developing export capability through eCommerce in Australian SMEs

This paper reports an exploratory study of 19 Australian SMEs which had successfully used eCommerce develop to or enhance their export capability. The purpose of the study was to identify both successful adoption processes and impediments to using eCommerce for export. Few companies had  adopted a strategic and planned approach to managing this adoption. The lack of easily accessed and trustworthy information and advice was partly responsible. The study identified a number of other obstacles to  eCommerce export development, including infrastructure and technical deficiencies, lack of awareness and expertise, problems with banking and finance and problems with physical links into export destinations. The developments that would most enable Australian companies to use eCommerce for export are identified as: improvements in the infrastructure on which eCommerce depends; the provision of consolidated, impartial information and advice about the use of eCommerce for export; and training and skills development to facilitate the implementation of eCommerce for export.

Educating for professional capability in the field of information technology: integrating industry-based learning with the academic curriculum

In response to the forces of globalisation, societies and organisations have had to adapt and even proactively transform themselves. Universities, as knowledge-based organisations, have recognised that there are now many other important sites of knowledge construction and use. The apparent monopoly over valued forms of knowledge making and knowledge certification is disappearing. Universities have had to recognise the value of practical working knowledge developed in workplace settings beyond university domains, and promote the value of academic forms of knowledge making to the practical concerns of everyday learning. It is within this broader systems view that professional curriculum development undertaken by universities needs to be examined.

University educational planning responds to these external forces in ways that are drawing together formal academic capability/competence and practice-based capability/competence. Both forms of academic and practice-based knowledge and knowing are being equally valued and related one to the other. University planning in turn gives impetus to the development of new forms of professional education curricula. This paper presents a contemporary case of a designed professional curriculum in the field of information technology that situates workplace learning as a central element in the education of Information Technology (IT)/Information Systems (IS) professionals.

The key dimensions of the learning environment of Deakin University’s BIT (Hons) program are considered with a view to identifying areas of strong integration between the worlds of academic and workplace learning from the perspectives of major stakeholders. The dynamic interplay between forms of theorising and practising is seen as critical in educating students for professional capability in their chosen field. From this analysis, an applied research agenda, relating to desired forms of professional learning in higher education, is outlined, with specific reference to the information and communication technology professions.

Ontogeny of oxygen stores and physiological diving capability in Australian sea lions

1.For air-breathing animals in aquatic environments, foraging behaviours are often constrained by physiological capability. The development of oxygen stores and the rate at which these stores are used determine juvenile diving and foraging potential.
2. We examined the ontogeny of dive physiology in the threatened Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea. Australian sea lions exploit benthic habitats; adult females demonstrate high field metabolic rates (FMR), maximize time spent near the benthos, and regularly exceed their calculated aerobic dive limit (cADL). Given larger animals have disproportionately greater diving capabilities; we wanted to determine the extent physiological development constrained diving and foraging in young sea lions.
3. Ten different mother/pup pairs were measured at three developmental stages (6, 15 and 23 months) at Seal Bay Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Hematocrit (Hct), haemoglobin (Hb) and plasma volume were analyzed to calculate blood O2 stores and myoglobin was measured to determine muscle O₂. Additionally, FMR's for nine of the juveniles were derived from doubly-labelled water measurements.
4. Australian sea lions have the slowest documented O₂ store development among diving mammals. Although weaning typically occurs by 17·6 months, 23-month juveniles had only developed 68% of adult blood O₂. Muscle O₂ was the slowest to develop and was 60% of adult values at 23 months.
5. We divided available O₂ stores (37·11 ± 1·49 mL O₂ kg−1) by at-sea FMR (15·78 ± 1·29 mL O₂ min−1 kg−1) to determine a cADL of 2·33 ± 0·24 min for juvenile Australian sea lions. Like adults, young sea lions regularly exceeded cADL's with 67·8 ± 2·8% of dives over theoretical limits and a mean dive duration to cADL ratio of 1·23 ± 0·10.
6. Both dive depth and duration appear impacted by the slow development of oxygen stores. For species that operate close to, or indeed above their estimated physiological maximum, the capacity to increase dive depth, duration or foraging effort would be limited. Due to reduced access to benthic habitat and restricted behavioural options, young benthic foragers, such as Australian sea lions, would be particularly vulnerable to resource limitation.

Competency and capability: imperative for nurse practitioner education

Objective:
The objective of this study was to conduct research to inform the development of standards for nurse practitioner education in Australia and New Zealand and to contribute to the international debate on nurse practitioner practice.
Setting:
The research was conducted in all states of Australia where the nurse practitioner is authorised and in New Zealand.
Subjects:
The research was informed by multiple data sources including nurse practitioner program curricula documents from all relevant universities in Australia and New Zealand, interviews with academic convenors of these programs and interviews with nurse practitioners.
Primary argument:
Findings from this research include support for master's level of education as preparation for the nurse practitioner. These programs need to have a strong clinical learning component and in-depth education for the sciences of specialty practice. Additionally an important aspect of education for the nurse practitioner is the centrality of student directed and flexible learning models. This approach is well supported by the literature on capability.
Conclusions:
There is agreement in the literature about the lack of consistent standards in nurse practitioner practice, education and nomenclature. The findings from this research contribute to the international debate in this area and bring research informed standards to nurse practitioner education in Australia and New Zealand.

Adopting reflexive capability in international briefing

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to investigate the architectural firm's role in the briefing process on international projects and to identify the strategies of successful firms to overcome barriers.

Design/methodology/approach – A model is developed based on a critique of briefing models and international design management theory. The development of a reflexive capability model borrows cultural theory concepts of capital and reflexivity. The model is based on maximizing reflexive capability through the management of social, cultural and intellectual capital. Two case studies of architectural firms identify barriers during the briefing process and strategies to overcome these barriers. Data collection involved 16 interviews with senior management and design team staff.

Findings – There are various barriers and strategies used to achieve success in the briefing process. However, the management of a firm's capital is key to successful briefing on international projects and is a characteristic of reflexive practice. Reflexivity is based in a positive interpretation of change, and a continual responsiveness to change by participants in a system. The study provides useful information on management of the design and briefing stages of international projects.

Research limitations/implications – The study is limited by the number of case studies used and the difficulty of generalisability of findings.

Practical implications – The research is that it provides useful information about how to approach constant change during briefing for the architects and clients who work on international projects.

Originality/value – The model is original and has value as it assists in explaining why some firms are more successful than others. The case studies provide new knowledge on international projects and the briefing process. The value of the paper is for the academic community, professionals in the built environment and clients involved in international projects.

NGOs, enterprise and rural development

Non-Government Welfare Organisations (NGOs) in rural areas have traditionally relied upon the state for a large part of their revenue which in turn provides the state with the capacity to impose strict monitoring and evaluation. However the tightening of state funding has either forced NGOs to stretch their own resource to the limit or to become more enterprising and innovative in their desire to provide people with access to an ever increasing range of community-based services and opportunities for connection with their local communities. The term that is often used for these new approaches is ‘social enterprise’ that has been defined as a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners’ . It is most often seen as an interface between public and private sector, being part of neither but engaging closely with both through partnerships, stakeholding and joint ventures as well as through complex trading and contracting relationships.

Such broad definitions however do not give much guidance to how particular NGOs can shift to a social enterprise model and still remain within their chosen missions. It is the very processes of re-imagining and reforming their enterprise that is a vital element in moving to a successful social enterprise practice. Accordingly this project focuses on two NGOs in different parts of the world (Brophy Family and Youth Services in Warrnambool. Australia and Aberdeen Foyer in Aberdeen, Scotland) that have developed (and are developing) new ways of approaching their roles as service providers and early intervention agents for youth in their local areas. Since both organisations have faced (and are facing) issues associated with depleting state allocated resources they are attempting to break new ground in the ways in which they redevelop their work with youth. Both agencies are leading the way in developing a broader approach that draws together disparate element of a social enterprise model. The project analyses the processes used by these two agencies to develop as social enterprises and how likeminded agencies can use the model for capability enhancement.

The role of cultural capital towards the development of a sustainable business model for design firm internationalization

This paper reports the results of three case studies of firms involved with design for the built environment who have been working in international markets for more than two decades. The first two firms are architectural practices and the third is a construction firm which designs and constructs. Their markets are diverse and their strategies have evolved over the two decades. There are numerous differences between countries including cultural, social, project governance structures, regulatory, procurement strategies, terminology, codes, etc. What is it that makes these firms able to develop sustainable business models in internationalisation? A grounded theory approach was used to examine the three case studies and develop a reflexive capability model drawing from the sociological theory of reflexivity to interpret the characteristics of the firms' ability to be able to adapt different international conditions. Twenty-two interviews were conducted across the three firms. Results indicated that sustainable business models rely upon the management of social, cultural and intellectual capital. The strategic management of capital leads to the development of increasing reflexive capability within the processes related to internationalisation. Reflexive capability is a characteristic of the three successful case study firms internationalising and working within global models of practice. This paper focuses on the role of cultural capital in a reflexive capability model for sustainable internationalisation.

Hierarchical development of training database for artificial neural network-based damage identification

Though serving as an effective means for damage identification, the capability of an artificial neural network (ANN) for quantitative prediction is substantially dependent on the amount of training data. In virtue of a concept of “Digital Damage Fingerprints” (DDF), a hierarchical approach for the development of training databases was proposed for ANN-based damage identification. With the object of exploiting the capability of ANN to address the key questions: “Is there damage?” and “Where is the damage?”, the amount of training data (damage cases) was increased progressively. Mutuality was established between the quantity of training data and the accuracy of answers to the two questions of interest, and was experimentally validated by identifying the position of actual damage in carbon fibre-reinforced composite laminates. The results demonstrate that such a hierarchical approach is capable of offering prediction as to the presence and location of damage individually, with substantially reduced computational cost and effort in the development of the ANN training database.

Increasing national capability for quality higher education the case of the Sultanate of Oman

This paper explores a number of quality enhancement initiatives being implemented in a developing country, the Sultanate of Oman, to increase the national capability for quality higher education. Oman is a young country with a youthful and rapidly growing population. A brief description of the relatively short history of Oman’s national systems for secondary and postsecondary education is provided. This highlights the challenges for quality education resulting from a strategy of importing postsecondary education from a variety of countries, and delivering the programs through a largely privatized sector.

The paper then describes the outcomes of an initial needs analysis that led to the development of a National Quality Plan. Some of the strategies in this plan for improving and increasing capability are considered, most particularly the establishment of a practitioner‐oriented Oman Quality Network, and the design and implementation of a National Quality Training Program. These two strategies attempt to address common obstacles to capability, namely a paradigm that entrenches compliance and helplessness, and only early awareness of effective quality enhancement and quality assurance principles and methods.

Evaluation results are presented that comment on progress thus far, and suggest critical success factors. These include building legitimacy and trust to overcome barriers to sharing information in a competitive privatized environment. They also include the establishment of peer to peer mechanisms that build confidence and create sustainability over time, as imported or external expertise gives way to local capability and expertise.

The development of a theoretical model for firm design management to support internationalisation processes

The aim of this research was to investigate strategies deployed by successful construction design related firms towards achieving high levels of firm competitiveness in international markets. A reflexive capability model, developed through a critical analysis of related internationalisation literature, is composed of three key areas; internationalisation process, market knowledge and design management. Firm reflexive capability is explored through the management of social, cultural and intellectual capital. The concept of reflexivity is borrowed from sociology the philosophers, Bourdieu and Giddens. Reflexivity is reinterpreted as the ‘firm’s’ ability to be aware, responsive and adaptable to self, market and project needs assessment. This research is part of an ongoing program of research on international collaborative practice. A Reflexive Capability Matrix is proposed. The reflexive capability approach is appropriate to all firms but what is speculated upon is that the reflexive capability is particularly applicable to small to medium sized construction design firms who work globally. A reflexive capability is a characteristic of successful and innovative firms internationalising and working within global models of practice. This paper is the theoretical development to support the paper in this congress “Design Management Methodology to Strengthen Firm and Industry Competitiveness in the Construction Design Services Export sector” where the methodology and results of a cross case analysis of three construction design firms are presented.

The effect of the work environment on accounting students' moral reasoning and development

Puxty et al. (1994) claim that professional accountants are induced to act ethically through two aspects of their socialisation, the education process, and the influence of work experience and role models who show what it means to be ethical. The education of accountants is not simply a matter of becoming technically competent, it is also a process of internalising accepted norms of professional conduct. Student accountants learn acceptable behaviour by learning the principles of good conduct in their education, and receiving advice and observing what significant others do in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the work environment on accounting students moral reasoning and development by comparing the DIT P-scores of accounting students pre and post cooperative education. Cooperative eduction is an industry placement program where students are required to work in commerce and industry for one year. Findings indicate that DIT P-scores decrease during cooperative education suggesting that accounting students, whilst in the work environment, do not reason according to their capability as measured by their pre-test scores.

Exploring the development and assessment of work-readiness using reflective practice in construction education.

It is well known that the construction industry is characterized by the need for practical knowledge and skill. However, this creates special challenges for universities in the development of work readiness in graduates. This research investigates the attitudes of students towards a course which was designed to develop work-readiness skills in construction management. The paper focuses on the distinctive issues associated with Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) using a formally assessed industry-mentored course of study. Past research shows that university degrees should promote reflective thinking since, in construction, it is necessary to make reflective judgements which deal with ill-defined problems. This is a generic capability that is needed by all graduates in knowledge-based occupations. The study utilized reflective practice to examine the perceptions of construction management students towards the development of attributes which were known to improve work skills. The students were asked to capture their reflections on their experiences in the form of reflective diaries, which were prepared weekly throughout the course. The results showed that the students expressed very positive views about their learning experiences. This occurred in spite of the challenges caused by the formal assessment processes that were undertaken as part of the course. This paper compares the student perceptions with the teachers’ reflections on the ability of traditional assessment methods to measure graduate attributes and work-readiness. The research explores the issues associated with assessing work-readiness skills in higher education. The findings suggest that student reflection is a necessary precondition to the development of effective work-readiness. In addition, the research concludes that more nontraditional assessment approaches are needed in construction programmes in order to develop the type of graduate required by the industry.