The life-cycle of the fashion garment and the role of Australian mass market designers

This paper uses the lens of life-cycle thinking to discuss recent developments in the Australian mass market fashion industry, and to explore the opportunities and barriers to implementing lifecycle thinking within mass market design processes. Life-cycle analysis is a quantitative tool used to assess the environmental impact of a material or product. However the underlying thinking of life-cycle analysis can also be employed more generally, enabling a designer to assess their processes and design decisions for sustainability. A fashion designer employing life cycle thinking would consider every stage in the life of a garment from fibre and textiles through to consumer use, to eventual disposal and beyond disposal to reuse and later disassembly for fibre recycling. Although life-cycle thinking is rarely considered in the design processes of the fast-paced, price-driven mass market, this paper explores its potential and suggests ways in which it could be implemented.

Influences on student learning in engineering : some results from case study fieldwork

This paper closely examines factors affecting students’ progression in their engineering programs through fieldwork conducted at three Australian universities. To extract clues on how specific teaching methods can be used to maximize learning, the investigation considered factors such as understanding how students take in, process and present information. A number of focus groups were conducted with students and the data gathered was combined with survey results of students’ and academics’ learning styles. The paper reports on the process followed, and provides some analysis of the gathered data, as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council, ALTC, Associate Fellowship program.

Stepping Stones A world-Class Mathematics program for the Australian Curriculum Year 1 (Student Journal)

ORIGO Stepping Stones gives mathematics teachers the best of both worlds by delivering lessons and teacher guides on a digital platform blended with the more traditional printed student journals. This uniquely interactive program allows students to participate in exciting learning activites whilst still allowing the teacher to maintain control of learning outcomes. It is the first program in Australia to give teachers activities to differentiate instruction within each lesson and across school years. Written by a team of Australia's leading mathematics educators, this program integrates key research findings in a practical sequence of modules and lessons providing schools with a step-by-step approach to the new curriculum. Click links on the right to explore the program.

Stepping stones : student journal : year 2

"ORIGO Stepping Stones gives mathematics teachers the best of both worlds by delivering lessons and teacher guides on a digital platform blended with the more traditional printed student journals." -- Publisher website

Stepping stones : student guide : year 3

"ORIGO Stepping Stones gives mathematics teachers the best of both worlds by delivering lessons and teacher guides on a digital platform blended with the more traditional printed student journals." -- Publisher website

Stepping stones : student journal : year K

"ORIGO Stepping Stones gives mathematics teachers the best of both worlds by delivering lessons and teacher guides on a digital platform blended with the more traditional printed student journals." -- Publisher website

Labouring for leisure? Achieving work-life balance through compressed working weeks

Flexible work practices spreading work times across the entire week have reduced the time to engage in leisure activities and for some have compounded the problem of a lack of defined break between work weeks. This study examines time spent outside of the workplace through a multiple case study of working time and leisure in the construction industry. A framework of synchronous leisure is used to examine the interplay of work and non-work arrangements. The effects of changing work arrangements to deliver a longer break between working weeks and the consequent impact on leisure activities are analysed. Interviews and focus groups across four construction sites revealed that while leisure is important to relieve fatigue and overwork, a work schedule allowing a long break between working weeks, specifically on a weekend, enables workers to achieve synchronous time, particularly with family, and improves work-life balance satisfaction. It was found that a well-defined break across a weekend also offers the opportunity to synchronize schedules with others to spend time away on short breaks.

Parental responsibility and removal of life sustaining treatment : Re Baby D

The case of Re Baby D (No. 2) has been described as a “landmark decision” as to whether parents themselves can authorise medical staff to withdraw life-sustaining treatment from their child or are required to seek the permission of a court or tribunal. The reasons for the decision that the removal of an endotracheal tube from the airway of Baby D was to treat “a bodily malfunction or disease” and therefore could be authorised by the parents will be explored.

‘It's the end of the university as we know it (and I feel fine)’: the Generation Y student in higher education discourse

This paper examines discussions of Generation Y within higher education discourse, arguing the sector’s use of the term to describe students is misguided for three reasons. First, portraying students as belonging to Generation Y homogenises people undertaking higher education as young, middle-class and technologically literate. Second, speaking of Generation Y students allows constructivism to be reinvented as a ‘new’ learning and teaching philosophy. Third, the Generation Y university student has become a central figure in concerns about technology’s role in learning and teaching. While the notion of the ‘Generation Y student’ creates the illusion that higher education institutions understand their constituents, ultimately, it is of little value in explaining young adults’ educational experiences.

'Homes for Life' : a critical ecological study of an independent living project

In this paper, an ‘ecological’ lens is applied to an independent living project aiming to provide ‘homes for life’ for adult children with disabilities. The qualities of the project as ecological praxis are highlighted along with the implications for an open-ended enquiry into ecologies for and of the interior. In terms of the ecological concern for intimate modes of being, interior design is shown to be well placed through its association with environments in which people spend most of their life and through powerful concepts such as ‘interiority’ and ‘home’ which link to fundamental existential notions of ‘self ’ and ‘identity’. However, despite the interior being a significant generative force, this has not happened to the exclusion of other disciplines. Ignoring territorial urges to claim areas and concepts as one’s own, the paper describes how the project has actively encouraged design disciplines to trespass in each other’s territories. Ecologies for and of the interior, while recognising the need for discipline emphasis, also demand an integrated and collective approach through what is in effect transdisciplinary practice.

Reflecting on the ‘Dream Circle’ : urban Indigenous education processes designed for student and community empowerment

The ‘Dream Circle’ is a space designed by and operated through Indigenous educator footprints as a safe space for the school’s deadly jarjums (Indigenous children). The ‘Dream Circle’ uses a kinnected methodology drawing on the rich vein of Murri cultural knowledges and Torres Strait Islander supports within the local community to provide a safe and supportive circle. The ‘Dream Circle’ operates on a school site in the Logan area as an after school homework and cultural studies class. The ‘Dream Circle’ embodies practices and ritualises processes which ensure cultural safety and integrity. In this way the ‘Dream Circle’ balances the measures that Sarra (2005) purports are the stronger, smarter realities needed for positive change in Indigenous education.