Creating and enabling opportunities for increased student participation in experience based learning in professional practice

This paper explores models for enabling increased participation in experience based learning in legal professional practice. Legal placements as part of “for-credit” units offer students the opportunity to develop their professional skills in practice, reflect on their learning and job performance and take responsibility for their career development and planning. In short, work integrated learning (WIL) in law supports students in making the transition from university to practice. Despite its importance, WIL has traditionally taken place in practical legal training courses (after graduation) rather than during undergraduate law courses. Undergraduate WIL in Australian law schools has generally been limited to legal clinics which require intensive academic supervision, partnerships with community legal organisations and government funding. This paper will propose two models of WIL for undergraduate law which may overcome many of the challenges to engaging in WIL in law (which are consistent with those identified generally by the WIL Report). The first is a virtual law placement in which students use technology to complete a real world project in a virtual workplace under the guidance of a workplace supervisor. The second enables students to complete placements in private legal firms, government legal offices, or community legal centres under the supervision of a legal practitioner. The units complement each other by a) creating and enabling placement opportunities for students who may not otherwise have been able to participate in work placement by reason of family responsibilities, financial constraints, visa restrictions, distance etc; and b) enabling students to capitalise on existing work experience. This paper will report on the pilot offering of the units in 2008, the evaluation of the models and changes implemented in 2009. It will conclude that this multi-pronged approach can be successful in creating opportunities for, and overcoming barriers to participation in experiential learning in legal professional practice.

Internships : effective work integrated learning for law students

Work experience which is integrated into an undergraduate law degree has a vital role to play in assisting law students to develop the skills and attributes they need in order to be effective legal practitioners. Work integrated learning provides a context for students to develop their skills, to see the link between theory and practice and supports students in making the transition from university to practice. The literature in Australian legal education has given little consideration to the design of legal internship subjects (as distinct from legal clinic programs). Accordingly the design of internship subjects needs to be carefully considered to ensure alignment of learning objectives, learning tasks and assessment. This paper will examine the literature relating to internships, particularly in a legal context, and will propose some principles for the design of legal internships. These principles will be considered in light of an evaluation of a newly designed undergraduate legal internship subject.

Effect of orthokeratology on peripheral aberrations of the eye

Purpose: To investigate the effect of orthokeratology on peripheral aberrations in two myopic volunteers. Methods: The subjects wore reverse geometry orthokeratology lenses overnight and were monitored for 2 weeks of wear. They underwent corneal topography, peripheral refraction (out to ±34° along the horizontal visual field) and peripheral aberration measurements across the 42° × 32° central visual field using a modified Hartmann-Shack aberrometer. Results: Spherical equivalent refraction was corrected for the central 25° of the visual fields beyond which it gradually returned to its preorthokeratology values. There were increases in axial coma, spherical aberration, higher order root mean square aberrations, and total root-mean-squared aberrations (excluding defocus). The rates of change of vertical and horizontal coma across the field changed in sign. Total root mean square aberrations showed a quadratic rate of change across the visual field which was greater subsequent to orthokeratology. Conclusion: Although orthokeratology can correct peripheral relative hypermetropia it induces dramatic increases in higher-order aberrations across the field

Influences of accommodation and myopia on the foveal Stiles-Crawford effect

We determined the foveal Stiles-Crawford effect (SCE) as a function of up to 8D accommodation stimulus in six young emmetropes and six young myopes using a psychophysical two-channel Maxwellian system in which the threshold luminance increment of a 1 mm spot entering through variable positions in the pupil was determined against a background formed by a 4 mm spot entering the pupil centrally. The SCE became steeper in both groups with increasing accommodation stimulus, but with no systematic shift of the peak. Combining the data of both groups gave significant increases in directionality of 15-20% in horizontal and vertical pupil meridians with 6D of accommodation. However, additional experiments indicated that much of this was an artefact of higher order aberrations and accommodative lag. Thus, there appears to be little changes in orientation or directionality in the SCE with accommodation stimulus levels up to 6 D, but it is possible that changes may occur at very high accommodation levels

Internationalisation and international students : creating an internationalised learning context for international students’ study preparation via CMC

Australian universities have been phenomenally internationalised because of significant numbers of international students in their student cohorts. The international students make up 17.3 percent (OECD 2007) of all the university enrolment, and some universities have much more international student enrolments than the average. From a truly internationalisation perspective, however, there is far more demand of integration with Australian students and international students, the internationalising learning content and context. There have not been much discussion and effort of understanding and practicing of internationalising the learning context from international students’ cultural background and internationalised learning environment. There are many factors which interfere with internationalisation in the learning context such as English proficiency, culture difference and academic staff unawareness. This paper argues the concepts of cultural dimensions and the characteristics of CMC (Computer-Mediated Communication) in a multicultural learning context of Australian higher education. This paper aims to develop a framework of international students’ preparation program for their Western university study based on technology-driven learning models, especially targeting those students who have an Asian cultural background. The program is expected to help international students bridge the gap of cultural differences and better preparation for their active participation and engagement in a new learning environment in order to realise truly internationalisation in Australian higher education

Reflective learning through social network sites in design education

Reflective learning is vital for successful practice-led education such as animation, multimedia design and graphic design, and social network sites can accommodate various learning styles for effective reflective learning. In this paper, the researcher studies reflective learning through social network sites with two animation units. These units aim to provide students with an understanding of the tasks and workflows involved in the production of style sheets, character sheets and motion graphics for use in 3D productions for film and television and game design. In particular, an assessment in these units requires students to complete their online reflective journals throughout the semester. The reflective learning has been integrated within the unit design and students are encouraged to reflect weekly learning processes and outcomes. A survey evaluating for students’ learning experience was conducted, and its outcomes indicate that social network site based reflective learning will not be effective without considering students’ learning circumstances and designing peer-to-peer interactions.

Blog and design education : facilitating reflective learning

This paper discusses about effectiveness of blogs for reflective learning in design education. Students in two animation units were asked to complete their online journal via blog in terms of reflective learning. Students were encouraged to respond their weekly outcomes and project development process to their blog and share it with other students. A survey was undertaken to evaluate their learning experience and one of the key outcomes indicates that interaction design for social network is significantly important to blog based learning design.

The effect of language models on phonetic decoding for spoken term detection

Spoken term detection (STD) popularly involves performing word or sub-word level speech recognition and indexing the result. This work challenges the assumption that improved speech recognition accuracy implies better indexing for STD. Using an index derived from phone lattices, this paper examines the effect of language model selection on the relationship between phone recognition accuracy and STD accuracy. Results suggest that language models usually improve phone recognition accuracy but their inclusion does not always translate to improved STD accuracy. The findings suggest that using phone recognition accuracy to measure the quality of an STD index can be problematic, and highlight the need for an alternative that is more closely aligned with the goals of the specific detection task.

The relative age effect in Australian Football League players

Youth sports teams are usually grouped into yearly age groups based on fixed cut-off date (September 1st in the UK and January 1st in Australia). Children born just after this cut-off will be the oldest and most mature in their age group. This gives them an advantage in competitive sport, an advantage which has persisted into adulthood as shown by seasonal patterns in the dates of birth of professional ice hockey, football and basketball players. We were interested in whether a similar seasonal pattern exists in professional Australian Football League (AFL) players. We examined all AFL players in the 2009 season excluding foreign-born players. We compared the observed number of players’ born in each month with the expected number based on national statistics. There was a marked and statistically significant seasonality in players’ dates of birth. There were 33% more players than expected with dates of birth in January, and 25% fewer in December. Players who are relatively older in youth AFL teams have a better chance of turning professional.

More than experiential learning or volunteering : a case study of community service learning within the Australian context

Community service learning is the integration of experiential learning and community service into coursework such that community needs are met and students gain both professional skills and a sense of civic responsibility. A critical component is student reflection. This paper provides an example of the application of community service learning within an undergraduate health unit at the Queensland University of Technology. Based on survey data from 36 program participants, it demonstrates the impact of CSL on student outcomes. Results show that students benefited by developing autonomy through real world experiences, through increased self-assurance and achievement of personal growth, through gaining new insights into the operations of community service organisations and through moving towards becoming responsible citizens. Students expect their CSL experience to have long-lasting impact on their lives, with two-thirds of participants noting that they would like to continue volunteering as part of their future development.

Action learning of online marketing via a global contest

Introduction: The Google Online Marketing Challenge is a global competition in which student teams run advertising campaigns for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) using AdWords, Google’s text-based advertisements. In 2008, its inaugural year, over 8,000 students and 300 instructors from 47 countries representing over 200 schools participated. The Challenge ran in undergraduate and graduate classes in disciplines such as marketing, tourism, advertising, communication and information systems. Combining advertising and education, the Challenge gives student hands-on experience in the increasingly important field of online marketing, engages them with local businesses and motivates them through the thrill of a global competition. Student teams receive US$200 in AdWords credits, Google’s premier advertising product that offers cost-per-click advertisements. The teams then recruit and work with a local business to devise an effective online marketing campaign. Students first outline a strategy, run a series of campaigns, and provide their business with recommendations to improve their online marketing. Teams submit two written reports for judging by 14 academics in eight countries. In addition, Google AdWords experts judge teams on their campaign statistics such as success metrics and account management. Rather than a marketing simulation against a computer or hypothetical marketing plans for hypothetical businesses, the Challenges has student teams develop and manage real online advertising campaigns for their clients and compete against peers globally.

The effect of brand extensions on parent-brand relationship quality

A recognized brand name that provides a competitive advantage is considered one of a firm’s most valuable assets. Many firms have benefitted from their well-established brand name by adopting the strategy of brand extension (Aaker and Keller, 1990). Many academic studies have examined the methods used to introduce successful brand extensions, and analysed how consumers evaluate the brand extensions (Aaker and Keller, 1990; Barone, 2005; Bath, 1997; Bottomley and Holden, 2001; Edelman, 2003; Fedorikhin, Park and Thomson, 2008; Kwun, 2004; Lockhart and Ford, 2005). Some researchers have suggested that brand extension strategies may carry the risk of diluting important consumer trust in the parent brand (Martinez and Pina, 2003; C. W. Park, Milberg and Lawson, 1991). Furthermore, some studies have focused on the role of the parent brand in brand extensions (Apostolopoulou, 2002; Bath, 1997; Bhat and Reddy, 2001; Yeung and Wyer Jr, 2005). Brand extensions may have a positive or a negative influence on the parent brand, so it is important to understand the specific impact on dimensions such as brand image, brand awareness, and customer-brand relationships. This study will carry investigate the effects of brand extensions on the relationships customers have with the parent brand.

End-winding effect on shalft voltage in AC generators

This paper presents effects of end-winding on shaft voltage in AC generators. A variety of design parameters have been considered to calculate the parasitic capacitive couplings in the machine structure with Finite Elements simulations and mathematical calculations. End-winding capacitances have also been calculated to have a precise estimation of shaft voltage and its relationship with design parameters in AC generators.

Learning to be literate : issues of pedagogy for recently arrived refugee youth in Australia

This paper focuses on issues of access to productive literacy learning as part of socially just schooling for recently arrived refugee youth within Australia. It argues that a sole reliance on traditional ESL pedagogy is failing this vulnerable group of students, who differ significantly from past refugees who have settled in Australia. Many have been ‘placeless’ for some time, are likely to have received at best an interrupted education before arriving in Australia, and may have experienced signification trauma (Christie & Sidhu, 2006; Cottone, 2004; Miller, Mitchell, & Brown, 2005). Australian Government policy has resulted in spacialized settlement, leaving particular schools dealing with a large influx of refugee students who may be attending school for the first time (Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, 2004; Sidhu & Christie, 2002). While this has implications generally, it has particular consequences for secondary school students attempting to learn English literacy in short periods of time, without basic foundations in either English or print-based literacy in any first language (Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, 2006). Many of these students leave schools without the most basic early literacy practices, having endured several years of pedagogy pitched well beyond their needs. This paper suggests that schools must take up three key roles: to educate, to provide a site for the development of civic responsibility, and to act as a site for welfare with responsibility. As a system, our department needs to work out what can we do for 17-18 year olds that are coming into our school system in year 10 without more than 1-2 years of education. I don't think there is a policy about what to do. – (T2-ESL teacher)