Role play in blended learning : a case study exploring the impact of story and other elements

Role play is an increasingly popular technique in tertiary education, being student centred, constructivist and suitable for a range of subject areas. The choice of formats is wide open, with options ranging from the traditional face to face performance through to multi-user online computer games. Some teachers prefer to take advantage of features of both online and face to face formats and offer a blended form. This case study describes an innovative blended role play in which the online component plays a small but important part. The findings show that decisions on not only how to make the best use of technology but also how to design and facilitate a role play can have a profound effect on the creation of an engaging first-person story from which powerful learning can be drawn—in this case, learning outcomes including deep insights into strengths and weaknesses of participants' personal change management styles.

Knowledge management in a major construction firm in Tawian: a case study-examining the impacts of KM initiatives within the firm.

This paper addresses knowledge management (KM) in a project management organisation through a case study. The case study organisation is a small- edium sized Taiwanese-owned construction company (staff size of approximately 50) with an annual turnover of approximately TWD50 (AUD$1.85) billion. Approximately one half of the company comprised project-related staff (e.g. construction project management, project documentation, estimation, procurement, and design), while the other comprised administrative and business-related staff (e.g. office administration and management, business development, and finance and accounting). The researcher undertook a series of surveys and one-on-one interviews whilst ‘embedded’ for several months with the organisation. As part of a larger research project, this case study was one of four case studies conducted in major construction organisations in Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia. The study revealed the recognition, importance and commitment of organisational culture to KM, and the effects the knowledge management initiatives have on the organisation’s ability to manage knowledge across its projects and deliver the projects at various ‘levels’ of the organisation (individual, project, departmental, and corporate). It concludes that a technologically and functionally sound KM infrastructure does not necessarily assure an organisation with a capability to manage knowledge. Organisations need to ensure that the KM repository is made up of quality and relevant contents (not just quantity), and that corporate culture (especially the willingness of individuals to share what they know) is a critical determining factor to the organisation’s ability to share, apply and create knowledge (i.e. low sharing capability leads to low application and creation capabilities).

The development of biological objectives for streams in a single catchment: a case study on the catchment of western port bay, Victoria, Australia

Government environment protection policies for waterways have traditionally relied on water quality indicators and their objectives. In this paper we describe the development of biological objectives based on invertebrate indicators for inclusion in a government policy for the catchment of Western Port Bay, Victoria. The first step of defining segments (areas with streams in which the same objectives are applied) was problematic, requiring two different approaches, as follows. Site groups initially based on invertebrate community composition derived using multivariate techniques (ordination and classification) proved to be unsuitable for policy segments. Segment boundaries were subsequently defined using topographical (e.g. boundary of foothills and lowland plains), climate (e.g. rainfall) and land-use (e.g. urban) features. We used information and data from reference sites inside as well outside the catchment to derive specific biological objectives based on aquatic invertebrates for these segments. Objectives were specified for the following four indicators – number of invertebrate families, the SIGNAL index, the AUSRIVAS predictive model and the number of key families.

Contentless thought : case study in the meaninglessness of all views

To defeat the heirs of the enlightenment with their own weapon i.e. reason itself. To reduce all philosophy all science all views to irrational meaningless babble using their own epistemic conditions of truth. To confound the products of reason by reason itself. To show that the rational in fact collapses into the irrational. By reason itself all products of human reason reduce to intellectual chaos. To shatter the categories of thought, to rob all views and ideas of any epistemic worth by using reason to show that they end in stultification foolishness, or absurdity. Reason confounds reason and convicts reason by it's own standard to unintelligibility, babble, stultification, incoherence foolishness and absurdity, or meaninglessness. Reasons critique of reason shows that there is no consistency in ally product of reason, no order , no coherence only chaos and absurdity, or meaninglessness. The life-jacket, or anchor reason gives in the void of meaninglessness is broken by reason itself. Into the void of nothing reason drops us. Cut adrift in meaninglessness we are free to acquire other insights other realizations by transcending reason. Meaning can be reduced to absurdity. Meaninglessness can be reduced to absurdity but for those who hold meaninglessness as a view, or meaning there is no hope.

Public reporting of nursing home quality of care : Lessons from the United States experience for Canadian policy discussion

While the demand for continuing care services in Canada grows, the quality of such services has come under increasing scrutiny. Consideration has been given to the use of public reporting of quality data as a mechanism to stimulate quality improvement and promote public accountability for and transparency in service quality. The recent adoption of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) throughout a number of Canadian jurisdictions means that standardized quality data are available for comparisons among facilities across regions, provinces and nationally. In this paper, we explore current knowledge on public reporting in nursing homes in the United States to identify what lessons may inform policy discussion regarding potential use of public reporting in Canada. Based on these findings, we make recommendations regarding how public reporting should be progressed and managed if Canadian jurisdictions were to implement this strategy.

Students' intercultural development through language learning in Vietnamese tertiary education: a case study on the use of film as an innovative approach

Vietnam's open-door policy, its socialist-oriented market economy, recent growth in cross-border education and skills mobility, regionalisation and globalisation have created an increasing demand for Vietnamese graduates to develop not only their English language but also their intercultural competence. This paper discusses the issue of student intercultural learning and development in the Vietnamese English as a foreign language (EFL) class. Especially, it addresses the use of film as an innovative approach to engage Vietnamese students in intercultural learning and development in the EFL classroom. The study reported in this paper draws on rich sources of data which include in-depth interviews with students, student reflective journals and video-recorded class observations at a university in central Vietnam. Overall, five key themes relating to student intercultural learning through film have been identified in this study. These include enhancing knowledge about cultural differences, engaging in cross-cultural comparison, breaking cultural stereotypes, immersing students in authentic learning and living in the world of ‘other’ culture and the integrated mode of intercultural language learning. The study is a significant contribution to scholarly research on the use of media objects to enhance student intercultural learning in language classrooms in developing countries.

The heritage 'NGO': a case study on the role of grass roots heritage societies in Iran and their perception of cultural heritage

This paper examines the activities of a group of heritage enthusiasts in Iran. Grass roots heritage activism is a relatively recent phenomenon that appeared in Iran since the late 1990s. They are increasingly operating collectively as cultural or heritage NGOs. They have diverse socio-economic origins and political views. However, as this paper argues, they share a common ground in their activities; one that maintains an ambivalent and critical relationship with the state and official definitions of heritage and identity. Referring to interview and other data collected during fieldwork in Iran, this paper traces and analyses the contours of that common ground and argues that there is a nascent heritage movement in the country. The impact and contribution of these emerging and self-reflective heritage movements to Iranian identity, which is reflected in their embracing of diversity and the notion of historical continuity, reveal the dynamism and complexity of the cultural and political landscape of contemporary Iranian society. They also reveal the importance of generating further scholarship in the field of Iranian cultural heritage. In conceptualising the characteristics of a nascent heritage movement in Iran, the paper makes a new contribution to the approach of existing scholarship in the broader field of heritage studies.