Evaluation of delivery of the switched on secondary science professional learning (SOSSPL) program (2011-12)

The Switched On Secondary Science Professional Learning (SOSSPL) program consisted of three days professional learning for Victorian DEECD secondary science teachers. Days 1 and 2 were undertaken consecutively, with Day 3 following a break of several weeks. The break allowed sufficient time for teachers to undertake a small classroom-based project within one of the topics they were teaching at the time. The program was designed to build teacher capacity to improve student learning outcomes in secondary science.

The program supported teachers to plan and implement classroom sequences that focused on student construction and interpretation of different representations of the science concepts and processes that are described by the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS): Science and the Science Continuum P-10. The Deakin University team in collaboration with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) produced curriculum resources for the program that encapsulated a representational focus to the teaching and learning of science. The program explored and linked to core DEECD resources such as the e5 Instructional Model and the Science Continuum P-10.
The SOSSPL program was delivered in all Victorian DEECD regions in 2010-11 and was evaluated (Hubber et al, 2011). The program was delivered again in all Victorian DEECD regions in 2011-12. The evaluation of the 2011-12 program is reported here with some comparisons made to the findings from the previously delivered program.
This evaluation of the SOSSPL program involved an online survey, daily workshop evaluations, focus group and presentations data of the participating teachers’ classroom-based projects. The aim of the evaluation was to make a judgement about the effectiveness of the SOSSPL program in terms of building teacher capacity to improve student learning outcomes in secondary science.

Dance hall

A collaborative residency resulting in three performance presentations as part of an Interdisciplinary Artist Hothouse/Festival produced by Vitalstatistix.

Anxiety disorders : assessment and management in general practice

Background: Anxiety is a normal physiological response to a threat. Anxiety disorders occur when this normal physiological response is associated with high levels of autonomic arousal, erroneous cognitions and dysfunctional coping strategies. Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and present commonly to general practice. Anxiety disorders are often comorbid with other psychiatric and medical disorders and may be associated with significant morbidity.

Objective: This article describes the diagnosis, assessment and management of anxiety disorders in the general practice setting.

Discussion: Assessment in patients presenting with anxiety symptoms involves excluding a medical cause, identifying features of specific anxiety disorders as well as other coexisting psychiatric disorders, and assessing the degree of distress. Management options include psychoeducation, psychological treatments (particularly cognitive behaviour therapy) and pharmacological treatments. Patients with a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder can access Medicare funded psychological care under a number of Australian government initiatives. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are the first line pharmacological agents used to treat anxiety disorders. Regular review is vital to monitor for clinical improvement and more complex presentations may require specialist psychological or psychiatric referral.

An evaluation of the effect of an educational intervention for Australian social workers on competence in delivering brief cognitive behavioural strategies : a randomised controlled trial

Background Broad community access to high quality evidence-based primary mental health care is an ongoing challenge around the world. In Australia one approach has been to broaden access to care by funding psychologists and other allied health care professionals to deliver brief psychological treatments to general practitioners' patients. To date, there has been a scarcity of studies assessing the efficacy of social worker delivered psychological strategies. This study aims to build the evidence base by evaluating the impact of a brief educational intervention on social workers' competence in delivering cognitive behavioural strategies (strategies derived from cognitive behavioural therapy). Methods A randomised controlled trial design was undertaken with baseline and one-week follow-up measurement of both objective and self-perceived competence. Simulated consultations with standardised depressed patients were recorded on videotape and objective competence was assessed by blinded reviewers using the Cognitive Therapy Scale. Questionnaires completed by participants were used to measure self-perceived competence. The training intervention was a 15 hour face-to-face course involving presentations, video example consultations, written materials and rehearsal of skills in pairs. Results 40 Melbourne-based (Australia) social workers enrolled and were randomised and 9 of these withdrew from the study before the pre training simulated consultation. 30 of the remaining 31 social workers (97%) completed all phases of the intervention and evaluation protocol (16 from intervention and 14 from control group). The intervention group showed significantly greater improvements than the control group in objective competence (mean improvement of 14.2 (7.38-21.02) on the 66 point Cognitive Therapy Scale) and in subjective confidence (mean improvement of 1.28 (0.84-1.72) on a 5 point Likert scale). On average, the intervention group improved from below to above the base competency threshold on the Cognitive Therapy Scale whilst the control group remained below. Conclusions Social workers can attain significant improvements in competency in delivering cognitive behavioural strategies from undertaking brief face to face training. This is relevant in the context of health reforms that involve social worker delivery of evidence based psychological care. Further research is required to assess how these improvements in competence translate into performance in practice and clinical outcomes for patients.

A parallel-group, randomised controlled trial of a multimedia, self-directed, coping skills training intervention for patients with cancer and their partners: design and rationale

Introduction:

Souvenirs of the senses

The 'country' within : the challenges for landscape architecture to legitimatise its residency on terra nullius

The nexus between the landscape architecture profession and the Australian Indigenous communities about place and 'country' has been floundering despite recent events in history, including recognition of native title by the High Court in Mabo v the State of Queensland [No. 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1 that have heightened recognition of the rights, interests, needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia and internationally.

Structural understanding from note-taking within video lectures

 Note-taking during all kinds of lectures is a standard and easy technique for learners of all ages to self-document their thought during learning. Based on a metacognitive rationale, this study investigates the effect of note-taking within different kinds of video-lectures – text-driven presentations versus graphical presentations. The availability of note-taking is experimentally controlled for 54 undergraduate students, and the quality of the nodes is then projected to the learning outcome as compared to the content of the lectures. Our results indicate little direct impact of the note quality, and contra-intuitively, not taking notes helped learners with their knowledge structure. Our study helps to understand the limits of note-taking during learning and with a broader theoretical understanding of idiosyncratic externalization.

Advancing community engagement practice for strategic urban planning : learning from allied and remote disciplines

Urban planning has the potential to draw on allied and remote disciplines to improve community consultation processes for strategic planning projects. Urban design and landscape architecture have quantitative and qualitative methods which can be utilised to visualise different options of urban intensification which may fit within communities’ expectations of change. Furthermore political science has long used scientifically established psychometric techniques to collect data from broad sections of the population, analysing demographic profiles of communities and understanding their perceptions and attitudes. By appropriating quantitative and qualitative methods from other disciplines, urban planning policies can be developed which may reflect communities’ aspirations of amenity and neighbourhood character. The aim of this paper is to assist local government urban planners with their community engagement practice in order to form policies which are acceptable to the affected communities. The paper draws on Victoria as a case study of community engagement practice, examines research methods from allied and remote disciplines and proposes a community engagement framework which introduces rigour within the community engagement process.

The teacher educator in Ucnit

The role of the teacher educator has changed in the information age. The expectation of learning and teaching has moved beyond the Vygotskian term: uchit (learning/teaching) in a traditional university setting. Although, previous presentations have discussed ICT professional development of experienced teachers (Senjov-Makohon 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 & 2003), the role of the teacher educator in unchi of experienced teachers in a social context. In this research, which is part of a larger study, the role of the teacher educator changed from being the disseminator of information to becoming a participant and facilitator in a community of practitioners