International well-being index : the Austrian version

The International Well-being Index (IWI) measures both personal and national well-being. It comprises two subscales: the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) and the National Well-being Index (NWI). The aim of this paper is to test the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of the translated scale in Austria. Convergent validity is assessed using the Scales of Psychological Well-Being, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. In addition, a Visual–Analog Scales capturing “satisfaction with life as a whole” was applied. The participants were 581 students of the Medical University Innsbruck (female: 47.7%; age: 23.2 ± 3.7). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) of the IWI was for both scales > .70 (PWI: .85; NWI: .83). The exploratory factor analysis of the IWI identified a 2-factor-structure identical with the two scales of the IWI explaining 54.2% of the variance. The convergent validity hypotheses were confirmed, construct validity was partly confirmed for the PWI being a deconstruction of a first factor called “satisfaction with life” (38.1% explained variance). Happy participants scored higher on the PWI (84.3 ± 7.9 vs. 68.7 ± 13.7; p < .001) and NWI (64.3 ± 15.8 vs. 57.9 ± 15.1; p < .001) scores than unhappy participants. It is concluded that the Austrian version of the IWI is a reliable and valid instrument to assess personal and national well-being. Further studies including a representative sample should be carried out on a recurring basis to use the IWI as an indicator for social science research in Austria.

A blog says I am here! : Encouraging reflection on performance-making and drama practice through blogs

This chapter considers the use of social software, in particular the blog, emerging from youth web-culture as a space for groups and individuals to reflect upon performance-making processes. lt focuses on the Drama Australia VINE project, launched at the beginning of 2006 through to its conclusion at the end of2007. The VINE project brought together groups of drama students within schools, universities and the broader community to make group performances based on a common theme. Using a multi-user blogging environment, vineblogs net, groups or individuals maintained blogs of their performance-making processes. This allowed the work to l¡e shared within the VINE project community and potentially with a worldwide audience. A case study was set up involving one class of students and their teachers who were involved in the VINE project and participants were asked to reflect and comment upon the performance-making and blogging experience. The chapter considers the challenge that we face as educators to find appropriate avenues to engage young people in reflection. It considers the ways in which students engage with technology that are ofter different from their teachers. The chapter goes on to discuss how blogs can contribute to the creation of a sense of individual or group identity and recognition. It asks, 'how do blogs encourage reflection upon performance-making processes and facilitate the creating of connections and the building of community between drama students and teachers across a range of settings?' Finally the chapter describes what we've learned about blogs in drama and considers where we go from here'

Introducing creative language learning in Japan through educational drama

Educational Drama as a teaching and learning methodology is already widely in use and well accepted by Australian teachers and students. This paper reports on a study in which the author investigated Japanese primary school students' and teachers' responses to educational drama as a pedagogical tool in their English language classes. The participants had no prior experience of drama in education. Along with the participants' responses, the applicability of educational drama as a teaching method for the Japanese teachers is also discussed. The author, as a teacher-researcher, used action research methods for this study. It became evident that educational drama tended to motivate the Japanese students' foreign language learning of English, by providing them with an opportunity for a higher level of engagement and participation in learning. In the study, the students showed enhancement of the skills necessary for learning, including social, communication, linguistic, non-linguistic and problem-solving skills.

The waterhole : using educational drama as a pedagogical tool in a foreign language class at a public primary school in Japan

This study investigates Japanese primary school students’ and teachers’ responses to educational drama as a pedagogical tool in their English language classes. Along with the participants’ responses, the applicability of educational drama as a teaching method for the Japanese teachers is also discussed. The study was conducted in Japan as ateacher-researcher using participatory action research methods. The participants of the study are three Year Six classes and their teachers in a public primary school in Japan. Educational drama is introduced as an alternative teaching and learning method to these participants who have had no experience of drama in education.

Process drama and digital games as text and action in virtual worlds : developing new literacies in school

This article explores the intersections between drama and digital gaming and the educational possibilities for literacy of both. The article draws on a model for the educational uses of digital gaming and three case studies from the Australian Research Council funded three and a half year project, Literacy in the digital world of the twenty first century: Learning from computer games. This model theorises the scope of the possibilities for literacy outcomes from the usage of computer games. The article describes how the model works, and then applies the model to drama education, specifying some new ways of thinking about the literacy outcomes from drama education. Process drama is theorised as the creation of text-in-action.

Viewpoints, creativity and embodied learning : developing perceptual and kinaesthetic skills in non-dancers studying undergraduate university drama

Viewpoints are a structural approach to training and directing for theatre. Originating from the innovative, inventive and exploratory approach of Mary Overlie and the self- confessed scavenger approach of Anne Bogart, Viewpoints offers a practical philosophy of working. As a training approach it begins with a disciplined engagement  of the body in space and time. The tangible elements of the Viewpoints provide a set of tasks on which the student can focus, thus freeing the imagination and spirit to  create. Yet at the same time the systematic logic of Viewpoints supports novice practitioners to begin to question their perception, invest in creative practice that demands action and exploration, and to deconstruct, re-organise and rebuild scores and sequences in the pursuit of theatre that is visceral and visual. This essay reports on undergraduate student experiences of learning Viewpoints. It interrogates the demands of embodied learning of the movement/structural system on non- ancers and examines student-actor experiences of embodied learning from multiple of subject positions – observer/participant/creator/reflector/actor.