Planning, delivery and evaluation of information literacy training for engineering and technology students

Information literacy has become an important skill for undergraduate students due to societal changes that have seen information become a valuable commodity, the need for graduates to become lifelong learners, and the recognition that information literacy is an underpinning generic skill for effective learning in higher education. This paper describes a sequence of activities and technologies designed to help students learn and practice information literacy skills. These activities have been purposefully designed and integrated into a first-year engineering and technology study unit as a core syllabus element. A formal evaluation of aspects of these activities was planned and undertaken in semester one 2003.

How do critical care nurses define the discharge planning process?

Background: Professional, political and organisational factors have focused attention on the discharge planning process in the Victorian health care sector. Discharge planning for patients, as part of continuity of care, is seen as a key concept in the delivery of nursing care. However, there is no question that discharge planning has emerged as a complex area of practice, and is, perhaps, most complex in the critical care area.

Aim: The study reported here is part of a larger thesis exploring critical care nurses’ perceptions and understanding of the discharge planning process in the health care system in the state of Victoria, Australia. As part of the survey participants were asked to define discharge planning as it related to the critical care environment in which they worked.

Methods: Utilising an exploratory descriptive approach, 502 Victorian critical care nurses were approached to take part in the study. The resultant net total of 218 participants completed the survey, which represented a net response rate of 43.4%. The data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Findings: Three common themes emerged. A significant number of participants did not believe that discharge planning occurred in critical care, and therefore, thought that they could not provide a definition. There was uncertainty as to what the discharge planning process actually referred to in terms of discharge from critical care to the general ward or discharge from the hospital. There was an emphasis on movement of the patient to the general ward, which was considered in three main ways by first, getting the patient ready for transfer; second, ensuring a smooth transition to the ward and third, transfer of the patient to the ward often occurred because the critical care bed was needed for another patient.

Conclusion: The findings presented here suggest at a nursing level, the discharge planning process is not well understood and some degree of mutual exclusivity still remains. There is a need for further education of critical care nurses with regard to the underlying principles of the discharge planning process.

The dynamics of adult education : effectiveness of financial education seminars

This study examines the impact of adult education seminars in superannuation investments for retirement has on the investment intentions and decision making of those adults attending the seminars.  The socio-political context of the data is that of an aging population and a future government being unable to afford the current level of age pensions being paid, and attempting to encourage individuals to plan and provide for their own financial well-being in retirement.  Three themes emerged from the data and were seen to be representative of the major issues found in adult education for financial self-sufficiency: education for knowledge, education for decision making, and education for action.  In an attempt to measure the immediate impact of the seminar on the attendees decision making, the investment intentions of seminar attendees were captured at the start and end of the seminar. This was followed up three months later to see whether the intentions expressed at the end of the seminar had been implemented.  The immediate impact of the seminar was to encourage the respondents to express an intention to increase their investment strategy, however when the follow-up was done three months later, the results were mixed. Some respondents who did not express an intention to change their investment strategy actually made changes, and other respondents who did express an intention to make a change, did not do so.

Easier analysis and better reporting : modelling ordinal data in mathematics education research

This article presents an examination of the use of Rasch modelling in a major research project, 'Improving Middle Years Mathematics and Science' (IMYMS). It is unarguable that it is important to take students' perceptions, or views, into account when planning learning and teaching for them. The IMYMS student perceptions survey is an attempt to make visible these student viewpoints, and report them in a way that is accessible to teachers and researchers involved in the project. The project involves four clusters of schools from urban and regions of Victoria to investigate the role of mathematics and science knowledge and subject cultures in mediating change processes in the middle years of schooling. There are five secondary and twenty-eight primary schools. The project has generated both qualitative and quantitative data, with much of the qualitative data being ordinal in nature. Reporting the results of analyses for a range of audiences necessitates careful, well-designed report formats. Some useful new report formats based on Rasch modeling -the Modified Variable Map, the Ordinal Map, the Threshold Map, and the Annotated Ordinal Map - are illustrated using data from the IMYMS project. The Rasch analysis and the derived reporting formats avoid the pitfalls that exist when working with ordinal data and provide insights into the respondents' views about their experiences in schools unavailable by other approaches.

Do what we do: a multimodal approach to planning and teaching

Quality teaching and learning in teacher education can be enriched across campuses for both the academics and the student bodies when focus is given to the development of dynamic ICT rich learning experiences. This paper focuses on the learning journey of two academics and their preservice teacher education students located on two regional campuses, 200km apart, and how planning, communicating, implementing, presenting, evaluating, and reflecting took place within a framework of collegiality. The unit, entitled, ‘The Literacy Teacher, the Profession and the Community’ was a final year unit within the undergraduate Bachelor of Education program. Specifically this paper discusses how a multimodal teaching and learning environment using a range of new communication technologies enhanced the both the teaching and the learning experience for our pre-service teacher education students.

An education and training framework for disaster risk management in banks

Banks are the most significant financial institutions operating within nation-state and the global financial system. These institutions are exposed to a wide range of operational risks. Disaster risk management is a critical component of the wider operational risk management. The Bank for International Settlements, in conjunction with nation-state prudential regulators, is introducing measures that will require banks to identify, measure and manage operational risks within the context of new capital adequacy requirements. An essential part of any risk management process is education and training. This paper presents a structured education and training framework that will support the achievement of banks’ disaster risk management objectives. The education and training framework comprises three specific programs: (1) an induction/awareness program targeted to all personnel, (2) a contingency planning program – a specialist program for disaster risk management personnel, and (3) an executive program designed for senior management, directors and strategic decision makers.

Public transport and pedestrian access, the impact of suburban planning on adolescence

The following paper discusses the impact of suburban life for adolescents in relation to public transport and pedestrian access. The research compares the morphology and level of connectivity of two planning models, cul-de-sac and regular grid, with respect to two suburbs which share a similar socio-economic profile, Rowville and Caulfield. These are subsequently evaluated in terms of ABS statistics, in particular year 12 or equivalent levels of education, and transport statistics. The results of the investigation are discussed in reference to the four key tasks of adolescence (Carr-Greg & Shale 2002)', in order to establish the degree to which morphology and access levels of suburbs impact on adolescent development.

Does financial education influence retirement savings? An examination of Australian employees

In order to ensure a financially secure retirement, Australians will need to plan and save for their retirement many decades before they retire.

The age pension, paid for out of Commonwealth government taxes is currently the backbone of the retirement system, but will not replace as much pre-retirement income in the future as it does today. Given the shift from the defined benefit style to the accumulation style, superannuation funds involve considerably more uncertainty, and as such, one might have thought that individuals would be saving more on their own. But personal saving outside of superannuation plans is virtually non-existent. Combine the retirement income crunch with the dramatic increase in life expectancy, and the need for careful retirement planning and sacrificing current consumption for later consumption becomes imperative for ensuring the financial security of older Australians. The hard question is whether individuals will be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices today to ensure a more secure financial future in retirement? This paper explores the willingness of individuals to make these sacrifices, and whether financial education can influence individuals in this difficult decision.

Mapping postgraduate nurse education in Australia 2001-2002

Workforce planning at a national level within nursing and midwifery has been largely fragmented and uncoordinated with health-care organisations, state health authorities, peak nursing organisations and the tertiary sector often engaging in independent decision making and planning. In order to gain an increased understanding of the complexity of contemporary nurse education and to quantify the number of graduates of nursing education courses into categories that are meaningful for workforce planning, the federal Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned a national study in 2002. The aim of this study was to map and quantify current and projected numbers of Australian domestic nursing postgraduate students within their respective specialisation according to each State/Territory. All Australian universities offering postgraduate courses in nursing were electronically surveyed (n=30). Two non-university providers of postgraduate nursing education were also asked to participate, but only one responded. Data were gathered on the number of domestic postgraduate nursing students enrolled in 2002, the number of course completions in 2001 and projected completions for 2002. Of the 13 broad band specialty categories developed for the study, the specialties of Midwifery and High Dependency were dominant in both student enrolments and course completions, including projected completions. The range of specialties that were offered varied by State/Territory, as did the number and percentage of students enrolled, completing and projected to complete each specialty program. Generic courses (without listed specialisations) continue to complicate the process of attempting to tease out and quantify accurately the number of enrolled and completing postgraduate students according to area of specialty practice.

Continuous professional learning through school based strategic planning

There is ample evidence that in many countries school science is in difficulty, with declining student attitudes and uptake of science. This presentation argues that a key to addressing the problem lies in transforming teachers’ classroom practice, and that pedagogical innovation is best supported within a school context. Evidence for effective change will draw on the School Innovation in Science (SIS) initiative in Victoria, which has developed and evaluated a model to improve science teaching and learning across a school system. The model involves a framework for describing effective teaching and learning, and a strategy that allows schools flexibility to develop their practice to suit local conditions and to maintain ownership of the change process. SIS has proved successful in improving science teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools. Experience from SIS and related projects, from a national Australian science and literacy project, and from system wide science initiatives in Europe, will be used to explore the factors that affect the success and the path of innovation in schools.

Reviewing research in education in Australia and the UK: evaluating the evaluations

In many countries concerns have been expressed about the merits of educational research. This paper reports on the outcomes of a review of reviews of such research in Australia and the UK. Taken at face value, the latest round of reviews are largely critical in the UK (where they have generated much debate) and mainly favourable in Australia (where they have not). In accounting for this difference the paper suggests that it might be explained in part as a function of how the reviews were conducted. In the UK reviews have tended to begin with the research and work forward to practice whereas in Australia they have been inclined to begin with practice and work back to the research. It is suggested that policy makers, practitioners and researchers in Australia and the UK have much to learn from each other's experience, as have those in other countries planning similar reviews.

Changing places : testing the relevance of educational research and teacher education

Frequent reviews of teacher education in recent times seem to indicate that those charged with the responsibility for teacher education have little understanding of the contemporary needs of teachers. Just how does educational research inform teachers in their day-to-day practice and how is its relevance tested? As an educational researcher Professor Shirley Grundy challenges her own notions of 'relevance' by returning from academia to the school system in Western Australia. This experience expanded her understanding of how conceptual frameworks and the realities of schools complemented each other. She reflects on the agenda for change faced by education systems and the ensuing transformation of curriculum planning, pedagogy, assessment and reporting procedures in some schools while not in others.

Her reference to Habermas' work relating to 'system' and 'lifeworld' provided her with an explanation for the social conditions of schooling, while her exploration of discourse theory provides some understanding of the practices related to the exercise of power in school settings. Interchanges such as that experienced by Grundy are to the mutual benefit of both parties.

Traffic safety education and health promoting school : a metropolitan and rural pilot study

Traffic Safety Education (TSE) is an important part of a school's program; however, it competes with many other components of schooling such as literacy, numeracy and a number of health areas. Hence TSE provision in Victorian schools has been somewhat fragmented and haphazard in its delivery. This small pilot study involved two metropolitan and two rural schools which attempted to link TSE into mainstream school activities through the new Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) utilising the internationally accepted Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework.
The findings of the pilot study showed that though schools face many demands, understanding and ownership of TSE is possible when administrative support, professional development and adequate planning time are made available. The report outlines several key recommendations to improve the delivery of Traffic Safety Education in Victorian schools.

Beyond crisis: re-imagining science education

Science education is in crisis, which is evidenced by the increasing negative attitudes to Science by secondary school students and decreasing participation in post compulsory Science subjects. There is a need for re-imagining science by adopting contextual learning.