The Spartan-3E Tutorial 1 : Introduction to FPGA Programming, Version 1.0

This tutorial is designed to help new users become familiar with using the Spartan-3E board. The tutorial steps through the following: writing a small program in VHDL which carries out simple combinational logic; connecting the program inputs and outputs to the switches, buttons and LEDs on the Spartan-3E board; and downloading the program to the Spartan-3E board using the Project Navigator software.

The CAPA Indigenous Project. Indigenous postgraduate education: A project into the barriers which indigenous students must overcome in postgraduate studies: A short history 1993-2000.

This brief paper outlines some of the early work undertaken in Indigenous postgraduate activism in Australia. In particular, the work undertaken in the lead up to the 'Project into the Barriers which Indigenous Students must Overcome in Postgraduate Studies'.

Engaging operations management students by designing the unit with industry focus

Operations management is an area concerned with the production of goods and services ensuring that business operations are efficient in utilizing resource and effective to meet customer requirements. It deals with the design and management of products, processes, services and supply chains and considers the acquisition, development, and effective and efficient utilization of resources. Unlike other engineering subjects, content of these units could be very wide and vast. It is therefore necessary to cover the content that is most related to the contemporary industries. It is also necessary to understand what engineering management skills are critical for engineers working in the contemporary organisations. Most of the operations management books contain traditional Operations Management techniques. For example ‘inventory management’ is an important topic in operations management. All OM books deal with effective method of inventory management. However, new trend in OM is Just in time (JIT) delivery or minimization of inventory. It is therefore important to decide whether to emphasise on keeping inventory (as suggested by most books) or minimization of inventory. Similarly, for OM decisions like forecasting, optimization and linear programming most organisations now a day’s use software. Now it is important for us to determine whether some of these software need to be introduced in tutorial/ lab classes. If so, what software? It is established in the Teaching and Learning literature that there must be a strong alignment between unit objectives, assessment and learning activities to engage students in learning. Literature also established that engaging students is vital for learning. However, engineering units (more specifically Operations management) is quite different from other majors. Only alignment between objectives, assessment and learning activities cannot guarantee student engagement. Unit content must be practical oriented and skills to be developed should be those demanded by the industry. Present active learning research, using a multi-method research approach, redesigned the operations management content based on latest developments in Engineering Management area and the necessity of Australian industries. The redesigned unit has significantly helped better student engagement and better learning. It was found that students are engaged in the learning if they find the contents are helpful in developing skills that are necessary in their practical life.

Enhancing pathways for ACE learners : Building the capacity of Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers to offer non-accredited courses and VET modules with pathways into VET programs.

This report presents findings from a project that considered a) the current capacity of Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers to offer non-accredited courses and single modules of accredited learning that provide pathways into full scale accredited VET programs, and b) the factors that aid and inhibit this from occurring. Based on the findings, suggestions are made as to what needs to be done to extend this capacity and thereby to achieve the goals outlined in the 2008 Ministerial Declaration on Adult Community Education.

The critical meets the cultural : International students’ responses to critical, dialogic postgraduate education in a Western university

What happens when international students encounter critical, dialogic approaches to postgraduate education in a Western university? This chapter works with the narrative accounts of two students from Asian countries about their varied experiences of and responses to critically-oriented, interactive, English-medium study in a Master of Education course in Australia. Beginning from researcher standpoint, it tables the students’ stories of cultural, academic, linguistic and personal border crossings, and their ‘readings’ of course demands prioritising critical analysis, dialogic exchange and problem-solving. Their responses raise ongoing, unresolved epistemological and experiential issues about the cross-cultural and transnational relevance and value of Western/Eurocentric ‘critical’ education.

Education for the creative economy : innovation, transdisciplinarity, and networks

The question posed in this chapter is: To what extent does current education theory and practice prepare graduates for the creative economy? We first define what we mean by the term creative economy, explain why we think it is a significant point of focus, derive its key features, describe the human capital requirements of these features, and then discuss whether current education theory and practice are producing these human capital requirements. The term creative economy can be critiqued as a shibboleth, but as a high level metaphor, it nevertheless has value in directing us away from certain sorts of economic activity and toward other kinds. Much economic activity is in no way creative. If I have a monopoly on some valued resource, I do not need to be creative. Other forms of economic activity are intensely creative. If I have no valued resources, I must create something that is valued. At its simplest and yet most profound, the idea of a creative economy suggests a capacity to compete based on engaging in a gainful activity that is different from everyone else’s, rather than pursuing the same endeavor more competitively than everyone else. The ability to differentiate on novelty is key to the concept of creative economy and key to our analysis of education for this economy. Therefore, we follow Potts and Cunningham (2008, p. 18) and Potts, Cunningham, Hartley, and Ormerod (2008) in their discussion of the economic significance of the creative industries and see the creative economy not as a sector but as a set of economic processes that act on the economy as a whole to invigorate innovation based growth. We see the creative economy as suffused with all industry rather than as a sector in its own right. These economic processes are essentially concerned with the production of new ideas that ultimately become new products, service, industry sectors, or, in some cases, process or product innovations in older sectors. Therefore, our starting point is that modern economies depend on innovation, and we see the core of innovation as new knowledge of some kind. We commence with some observations about innovation.

Pedagogy and participation : literacy education for low-literate refugee students of African origin in a western school system

For ESL teachers working with low-literate adolescents the challenge is to provide instruction in basic literacy capabilities while also realising the benefits of interactive and dialogic pedagogies advocated for the students. In this article we look at literacy pedagogy for refugees of African origin in Australian classrooms. We report on an interview study conducted in an intensive English language school for new arrival adolescents and in three regular secondary schools. Brian Street’s ideological model is used. From this perspective, literacy entails not only technical skills, but also social and cultural ways of making meaning that are embedded within relations of power. The findings showed that teachers were strengthening control of instruction to enable mastery of technical capabilities in basic literacy and genre analysis. We suggest that this approach should be supplemented by a critical approach transforming relations of linguistic power that exclude, marginalise and humiliate the study students in the classroom.

The big picture : an integrated approach to fashion design education

This paper examines current teaching practice within the context of the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) programme at AUT University and compares it to the approach adopted in previous years. In recent years, staff on the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) adopted a holistic approach to the assessment of design projects similar to the successful ideas and methods put forward by Stella Lange at the FINZ conference, 2005. Prior to adopting this holistic approach, the teaching culture at AUT University was modular and divorced the development of conceptual design ideas from the technical processes of patternmaking and garment construction, thus limiting the creative potential of integrated project work. Fashion Design is not just about drawing pretty pictures but is rather an entire process that encapsulates conceptual design ideas and technical processes within the context of a target market. Fashion design at AUT being under the umbrella of a wider Bachelor of Design must encourage a more serious view of Fashion and Fashion Design as a whole. In the development of the Bachelor of Design degree at AUT, the university recognised that design education would be best serviced by an inclusive approach. At inception, Core Studio and Core Theory papers formed the first semester of the programme across the discipline areas of Fashion, Spatial Design, Graphic Design and Digital Design. These core papers reinforce the reality that there is a common skill set that transcends all design disciplines with the differentiation between disciplines being determined by the techniques and processes they adopt. Studio based teaching within the scope of a major design project was recognised and introduced some time ago for students in their graduating year, however it was also expected that by year 3 the student had amassed the basic skills required to be able to work in this way. The opinion concerning teaching these basic skills was that they were best serviced by a modular approach. Prior attempts to manage design project delivery leant towards deconstructing the newly formed integrated papers in order to ensure key technical skills were covered in enough depth. So, whilst design projects have played an integral part in the delivery of fashion design over the year levels, the earlier projects were timetabled by discipline and unconvincingly connected. This paper discusses how the holistic approach to assessment must be coupled with an integrated approach to delivery. The methods and processes used are demonstrated and some recently trialled developments are shown to have resulted in achieving the integrated approach in both delivery and assessment.

Student engagement with an ePortfolio : a case study of pre-service education students

The emergence of ePortfolios is relatively recent in the university sector as a way to engage students in their learning and assessment, and to produce records of their accomplishments. An ePortfolio is an online tool that students can utilise to record, catalogue, retrieve and present reflections and artefacts that support and demonstrate the development of graduate students’ capabilities and professional standards across university courses. The ePortfolio is therefore considered as both process and product. Although ePortfolios show promise as a useful tool and their uptake has grown, they are not yet a mainstream higher education technology. To date, the emphasis has been on investigating their potential to support the multiple purposes of learning, assessment and employability, but less is known about whether and how students engage with ePortfolios in the university setting. This thesis investigates student engagement with an ePortfolio in one university. As the educational designer for the ePortfolio project at the University, I was uniquely positioned as a researching professional to undertake an inquiry into whether students were engaging with the ePortfolio. The participants in this study were a cohort (defined by enrolment in a unit of study) of second and third year education students (n=105) enrolled in a four year Bachelor of Education degree. The students were introduced to the ePortfolio in an introductory lecture and a hands-on workshop in a computer laboratory. They were subsequently required to complete a compulsory assessment task – a critical reflection - using the ePortfolio. Following that, engagement with the ePortfolio was voluntary. A single case study approach arising from an interpretivist paradigm directed the methodological approach and research design for this study. The study investigated the participants’ own accounts of their experiences with the ePortfolio, including how and when they engaged with the ePortfolio and the factors that impacted on their engagement. Data collection methods consisted of an attitude survey, student interviews, document collection, a researcher reflective journal and researcher observations. The findings of the study show that, while the students were encouraged to use the ePortfolio as a learning and employability tool, most students ultimately chose to disengage after completing the assessment task. Only six of the forty-five students (13%) who completed the research survey had used the ePortfolio in a sustained manner. The data obtained from the students during this research has provided insight into reasons why they disengaged from the ePortfolio. The findings add to the understandings and descriptions of student engagement with technology, and more broadly, advance the understanding of ePortfolios. These findings also contribute to the interdisciplinary field of technology implementation. There are three key outcomes from this study, a model of student engagement with technology, a set of criteria for the design of an ePortfolio, and a set of recommendations for effective practice for those implementing ePortfolios. The first, the Model of Student Engagement with Technology (MSET) (Version 2) explored student engagement with technology by highlighting key engagement decision points for students The model was initially conceptualised by building on work of previous research (Version 1), however, following data analysis a new model emerged, MSET (Version 2). The engagement decision points were identified as: • Prior Knowledge and Experience, leading to imagined usefulness and imagined ease of use; • Initial Supported Engagement, leading to supported experience of usefulness and supported ease of use; • Initial Independent Engagement, leading to actual experience of independent usefulness and actual ease of use; and • Ongoing Independent Engagement, leading to ongoing experience of usefulness and ongoing ease of use. The Model of Student Engagement with Technology (MSET) goes beyond numerical figures of usage to demonstrate student engagement with an ePortfolio. The explanatory power of the model is based on the identification of the types of decisions that students make and when they make them during the engagement process. This model presents a greater depth of understanding student engagement than was previously available and has implications for the direction and timing of future implementation, and academic and student development activities. The second key outcome from this study is a set of criteria for the re-conceptualisation of the University ePortfolio. The knowledge gained from this research has resulted in a new set of design criteria that focus on the student actions of writing reflections and adding artefacts. The process of using the ePortfolio is reconceptualised in terms of privileging student learning over administrative compliance. The focus of the ePortfolio is that the writing of critical reflections is the key function, not the selection of capabilities. The third key outcome from this research consists of five recommendations for university practice that have arisen from this study. They are that, sustainable implementation is more often achieved through small steps building on one another; that a clear definition of the purpose of an ePortfolio is crucial for students and staff; that ePortfolio pedagogy should be the driving force not the technology; that the merit of the ePortfolio is fostered in students and staff; and finally, that supporting delayed task performance is crucial. Students do not adopt an ePortfolio just because it is provided. While students must accept responsibility for their own engagement with the ePortfolio, the institution has to accept responsibility for providing the environment, and technical and pedagogical support to foster engagement. Ultimately, an ePortfolio should be considered as a joint venture between student and institution where strong returns on investment can be realised by both. It is acknowledged that the current implementation strategies for the ePortfolio are just the beginning of a much longer process. The real rewards for students, academics and the university lie in the future.

Teaching sustainability : vehicle or endpoint?

In 2006, the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering introduced the first faculty wide unit dedicated to sustainability at any Australian University. BEB200 Introducing Sustainability has semester enrolments of up to 1500 students. Instruments such as lectures, readings, field visits, group projects and structured tutorial activities are used and have evolved over the last five years in response to student and staff feedback and attempts to better engage students. More than seventy staff have taught in the unit, which is in its final offering in this form in 2010. This paper reflects on the experiences of five academics who have played key roles in the development and teaching of this unit over the last five years. They argue that sustainability is a paradigm that allows students to explore other ways of knowing as they engage with issues in a complex world, not an end in itself. From the students’ perspective, grappling with such issues enables them to move towards a context in which they can understand their own discipline and its role in the contradictory and rapidly changing professional world. Insights are offered into how sustainability units may be developed in the future.

Cluster analysis of movement patterns in multiarticular actions: A tutorial

The present paper proposes a technical analysis method for extracting information about movement patterning in studies of motor control, based on a cluster analysis of movement kinematics. In a tutorial fashion, data from three different experiments are presented to exemplify and validate the technical method. When applied to three different basketball-shooting techniques, the method clearly distinguished between the different patterns. When applied to a cyclical wrist supination-pronation task, the cluster analysis provided the same results as an analysis using the conventional discrete relative phase measure. Finally, when analyzing throwing performance constrained by distance to target, the method grouped movement patterns together according to throwing distance. In conclusion, the proposed technical method provides a valuable tool to improve understanding of coordination and control in different movement models, including multiarticular actions.

Embedding gifted education in preservice teacher education : a collaborative school-university approach

A country’s prosperity relies on the creative potential of its people. Educating gifted students must be a priority for educators and education systems if society is to capitalise on their potential to contribute to an economical and sustainable future. Given the importance of teachers in supporting academic achievement, educating preservice teachers on how to cater for gifted students commences the process as they can foster the implementation of current teaching practices that draw on substantial research into the education of gifted children. This study investigated preservice teachers’ perceptions for teaching gifted students after participating in a school-based intervention with gifted students. The teachers implemented differentiated curriculum activities that catered for the diverse needs of learners. Participants (n=22) were surveyed at the end of the program on their perceptions of how to differentiate the curriculum for meeting the needs of the student. Analysis of the survey indicated these preservice teachers agreed or strongly agreed they had developed skills in curriculum planning (91%) with well-designed activities (96%), and lesson preparation skills (96%). They also claimed they were enthusiastic for teaching (91%) and had understanding of school practices and policies (96%). However, only 46% agreed they had knowledge of syllabus documents with 50% claiming an ability to provide written feedback on the student’s learning. Furthermore, only 64% suggested they had educational language from the syllabus and effective student management strategies. Preservice teachers require direction on how to cater for diversity by building knowledge from direct gifted education experiences. The survey may be used as a diagnostic tool to determine areas for developing education experiences related to the education of the gifted for preservice teachers.

Wellness in higher education : a transformative framework for health related disciplines

The perceived benefits of Wellness Education in University environments are substantiated by a number of studies in relation to the place, impact and purpose of Wellness curricula. Many authors recommend that Wellness curriculum design must include personal experiences, reflective practice and active self-managed learning approaches in order to legitimise the adoption of Wellness as a personal lifestyle approach. Wellness Education provides opportunities to engage in learning self-regulation skills both within and beyond the context of the Wellness construct. Learner success is optimised by creating authentic opportunities to develop and practice self regulation strategies that facilitate making meaning of life's experiences. Such opportunities include provision of options for self determined outcomes and are scaffolded according to learner needs; thus, configuring a learner-centred curriculum in Wellness Education would potentially benefit by overlaying principles from the domains of Self Determination Theory, Self Regulated Learning and Transformative Education Theory to highlight authentic, transformative learning as a lifelong approach to Wellness.

An introduction to the constraints-led approach to learning in outdoor education

Participation in outdoor education is underpinned by a learner's ability to acquire skills in activities such as canoeing, bushwalking and skiing and consequently the outdoor leader is often required to facilitate skill acquisition and motor learning. As such, outdoor leaders might benefit from an appropriate and tested model on how the learner acquires skills in order to design appropriate learning contexts. This paper introduces an approach to skill acquisition based on ecological psychology and dynamical systems theory called the constraints-led approach to skills acquisition. We propose that this student-centred approach is an ideal perspective for the outdoor leader to design effective learning settings. Furthermore, this open style of facilitation is also congruent with learning models that focus on other concepts such as teamwork and leadership.

Design education online : learning delivery and evaluation

Online learning has been recognised as an effective pedagogical method and tool, and is broadly integrated into various types of teaching and learning strategies in higher education. In practice, the use of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in higher education has become an integral strategy for quality education. The field of design education however has not been researched extensively in regard to online learning, delivery and evaluation. This paper discusses design education from an online learning perspective. It proposes an integrated framework with three key components for online learning via VLE including an interactive delivery structure, communication channels, and learning evaluation. Additionally, the paper describes and evaluates how VLE sites for two design units were built based on an integrated framework and student learning experiences. The results indicate that online design education should be integrated with various educational values and functional features in a systematic manner, and requires designing learning evaluation protocols as part of learning activities and communicative forms within online-based learning sites.