Teaching Australian literature : from classroom conversations to national imaginings

This volume brings together teachers, teacher educators, creative writers and literary scholars in a joint inquiry that takes a fresh look at what it means to teach Australian literature

Turning the pages : adolescents, schools and reading

This study focuses on adolescents and reading. My premise is that adolescents develop a reading identity which is influenced by an existent reading culture to which they are exposed. This existent reading culture can be influenced in particular by schooling, family and the opinions of peers. One major influence is the classroom. Within the English curriculum, what criteria do English teachers use for selection of set texts and are there differences in criteria in all-boy/all girl and co-educational schools? I reflected on the prevailing perceptions that relate to gender, masculinity and popular culture which can affect what it means to be a boy, literate, and a reader of fictional texts. My first folio piece examines adolescents’ reading within five secondary schools, including an all-boy school, to ascertain whether boys in single-sex schools read more fictional texts and whether they enjoy reading more than their counterparts in co-educational schools. Authors are frequently invited to visit schools and work with students. My second folio piece investigates author visits in five secondary schools, from the perspectives of English teachers, teacher librarians and cohorts of middle school students. I wanted to find out why schools ask authors to visit and what are the expected outcomes of these visits, particularly in regard to adolescent reading identities. The third folio piece examines authors’ narratives concerning school visits. Authors have certain expectations when working with students and talking about their writing. I wanted to discover how authors think they can provide maximum impact on students through their visits, by asking a cohort of authors to recount their ‘dream school’ visits and ‘nightmare school’ visits. Interpretations of the research about boys and reading, and author visits from the schools’ perspectives are analysed using a form of content analysis. The third research project concerning authors’ narratives is interpreted using lexical networks. Prominent elements of my study explore adolescent reader identities through the influences of schooling and through author visits. In the conclusion of this study, these elements are drawn together and broad recommendations are outlined that pertain to the encouragement of positive adolescent reading identities.

English for a new millennium : leading change

Book overview: This book came about as a result of The Australian Government Summer School for Teachers program that was announced as part of the 2007-08 Budget Package: Realising Our Potential. The Summer School brought together over 200 academics, teachers and education department officials for a smorgasbord of keynote presentations, workshops and social events that is unlikely to be repeated in this country. English for a New Millennium gives every English teacher an opportunity to share in the richness of that experience. It includes contributions from Catherine Beavis, Ray Misson, Elizabeth Webby, Gabriel Matters and Clare Bradford.

Adopting web-based learning and teaching: a case study in higher education

Most universities worldwide are becoming distance education providers through adopting web-based learning and teaching via the introduction of learning management systems that enable them to open their courses to both on- and off-campus students. Whether this is an effective introduction depends on factors that enable and impede the adoption of such systems and their related pedagogical strategies. This study examines such factors related to adopting a learning management system in a large multicampus urban Australian university. The research method used case study approaches and purposively selected the sample consisting of innovative teaching academics from across the university, who used web-based approaches to teach both on- and off-campus learners. The data were analyzed using a combination of Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovations and actor-network theory and revealed a series of enabling and impeding factors faced by pioneering technology-adopter teaching academics, some of which are technology related while others are policy related and common to large multicampus institutions. The study found that safe adoption environments recognizing career priorities of academics are a result of the continuous negotiation between the evolving institution and its innovative and creative staff. The article concludes with a series of conditions that would form a safe, enabling, and encouraging environment for technology-adopter teaching academics in a large multicampus higher education setting.

Sedation and analgesia management for mechanically ventilated adults: literature review, case study and recommentations for practice.

The quality of sedation management in mechanically ventilated patients has been a source of concern in recent years. This paper summarises the literature on the principles of optimal sedation, discusses the consequences of over and undersedation, highlighting the importance of appropriate pain management, and presents a case study using the results of an audit of 48 mechanically ventilated adults. As a result of the review and audit, we are implementing changes to practice.

The most important recommendations from the literature are the use of a sedation scale, setting of a goal sedation score, appropriate pain management and implementation of a nurse initiated sedation algorithm. Other recommendations include use of bolus rather than continuous sedative infusions and recommencing regular medications for anxiety, depression and other phychiatric disorders as soon as possible. A recommendation arising from our audit was the need to identify patients at high risk of oversedation and undersedation and adopt a proactive rather than reactive approach to management. The practice goal is to provide adequate and appropriate analgesia and anxiolysis for patients. This will improve patient comfort while reducing length of mechanical ventilation and minimising risk of complications.