Adolescence : a useful concept for this millennium

This paper proposes adolescence as a useful concept rather than definitive. It explores the notion of adolescence and its relevance to contemporary society and schooling. We reflect on the purposes for the emergence of research into adolescence during the early 20th century, particularly the particular scientific and societal pressures that served to bring this field to prominence. Recent debate has started to problematise many of the early parameters used to define and provide bounds for understanding adolescents and adolescent experience and for the rationale for some notionally tailored educational contexts. This paper provides an overview of this debate and argues for a reconsideration of some of the basic tenets for definition. In particular we discuss the cultural construction of adolescence in the light of our new globalised society. A possibility for thinking about contemporary adolescents is by considering them in terms of generational characteristics. What makes a new generation? Typically, members of a generation share age, a set of experiences during formative years, and a set of social and economic conditions. The adolescents of today fall into the group known collectively as the ‘Y Generation’, the ‘D (digital) Generation’, Generation C (consumer) and the ‘Millennial’s’. Born after mid-1980, they are characterised as computer and internet competent, multi-taskers, with a global perspective. They respond best to visual language, and are heavily influenced by the media. We consider the generational traits and how this impacts on the teaching and learning.

'Getting a job' : Aborignal Women's issues and experiences in the health sector

Indigenous participation in employment has long been seen as an indicator of Indigenous economic participation in Australia. Researchers have linked participation in employment to improved health outcomes, increased education levels and greater self-esteem. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Indigenous workforce policies and employment strategies as employers and industries attempt to employ more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Coupled with this has been a push to employ more Indigenous people in specific sectors to address the multiple layers of disadvantage experienced by Indigenous people, for example, the health sector. This paper draws on interview discussions with Aboriginal women in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, along with findings from the research of others to offer a greater understanding of the mixed benefits of increased Indigenous employment. What is demonstrated is that the nature of Indigenous employment is complex and not as simple as ‘just getting a job’.

Formative and summative assessment and the notion of constructive alignment

This paper discusses the different perceptions of first year accounting students about their tutorial activities and their engagements in assessment. As the literature suggests, unless participation in learning activities forms part of graded assessment, it is often difficult to engage students in these activities. Using an action research model, this paper reports the study of first year accounting students' responses to action-oriented learning tasks in tutorials. The paper focuses on the importance of aligning curriculum objectives, learning and teaching activities and assessment, i.e. the notion of constructive alignment. However, as the research findings indicate, without support at institutional level, applying constructive alignment to facilitate quality student learning outcomes is a difficult task. Thus, the impacts of policy constraints on curriculum issues are also discussed, focusing on the limitations faced by tutors and their lack of involvement in curriculum development.

Driving and licensing experiences of learner drivers in two Australian states prior to major changes in the licensing laws

The learner licence is an important component of the graduated driver licensing system. This research describes the driving and licensing experiences of learner drivers in Queensland and New South Wales licensed prior to the changes made to the system in mid-2007. The sample consisted of 392 participants who completed a telephone interview just after they obtained their provisional licence. The results suggest that learner drivers in the two states had many similar experiences when they were obtaining a learner licence. However, once a learner licence was obtained, there were differences in the amount of practice, the supervisor learners practised with, the type of vehicle they used and the amount of unlicensed driving. This paper provides important baseline descriptive data that can be used to measure the impact of the changes that were introduced to the learner licence phase in mid-2007 in both of these states.

Teaching business process modelling : experiences and recommendations

A curriculum for a university-level course called Business Process Modeling is presented in order to provide guidance for the increasing number of institutions who are currently developing such contents. The course caters to undergraduate and post graduate students. Its content is drawn from recent research, industry practice, and established teaching material, and teaches ways of specifying business processes for the analysis and design of process-aware information systems. The teaching approach is a blend of lectures and classroom exercises with innovative case studies, as well as reviews of research material. Students are asked to conceptualize, analyze, and articulate real life process scenarios. Tutorials and cheat sheets assist with the learning experience. Course evaluations from 40 students suggest the adequacy of the teaching approach. Specifically, evaluations show a high degree of satisfaction with course relevance, content presentation, and teaching approach.

Reading Squadron: Crossing borders in literacy experiences for preservice teachers.

Teaching literacy requires accurate and current knowledge in the field (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005). There have been persistent inquiries into what constitutes specialist knowledge and skills for teaching students to be literate. Preservice teacher education is fundamental to literacy development, which includes the approaches universities employ to prepare graduates for teaching literacy. Indeed, preservice teacher programs and literacy education also elicit insatiable media coverage. There is a continued push to improve literacy outcomes for school students across the nation and prepare the literacy knowledge and skills of Australian teachers. This study mainly focuses on 10 final-year preservice teachers attending a regional university campus who volunteered for further experiences to teach students to read traditional texts. These preservice teachers completed three university literacy units before commencing with practical applications. A literacy program, titled Reading Squadron, was developed in partnership between a local primary school and the university. Primary students were identified by the school as requiring literacy support. Preservice teachers attended a whole day training session run by school staff at the university and then visited the school for two one-hour sessions each week over a six-week period. Each preservice teacher was assigned two students and worked with each student for half an hour twice a week. The aim of this small-scale qualitative study was to investigate the perceptions of the preservice teachers and school staff as a result of their involvement in the Reading Squadron program. The preservice teachers completed a questionnaire to determine their views of the program and ascertain how it assisted their development. Further data were gathered from the preservice teachers through individual face-to-face interviews. Three school staff involved in the program also completed a questionnaire to determine the value of the program. Results indicated that the preservice teachers made links between theory and practice, and felt they gained knowledge about teaching reading. Three preservice teachers noted it was difficult to work around timetable commitments but gained from the experience and suggested embedding such experiences into university literacy units. Data gathered from school staff indicated that six-weeks was not sufficient time to measure improvements in the school students, however, they were supportive of such a program, particularly for its continuation. Collaborations between schools and universities can provide opportunities for preservice teachers to use theoretical knowledge gained from core university subjects with application to assist primary students’ literacy development in schools. Teachers in this study were supportive of the Reading Squadron program, however, more data needed to be collected to understand the literacy improvement of students. Longitudinal studies are required to ascertain specific knowledge and skills gained by preservice teachers to teach reading and how these programs enhance students’ literacy levels.

Teacher leadership : interns crossing to the domain of higher professional learning with mentors?

Over the last two decades, the notion of teacher leadership has emerged as a key concept in both the teaching and leadership literature. While researchers have not reached consensus regarding a definition, there has been some agreement that teacher leadership can operate at both a formal and informal level in schools and that it includes leadership of an instructional, organisational and professional development nature (York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Teacher leadership is a construct that tends not to be applied to pre-service teachers as interns, but is more often connected with the professional role of mentors who collaborate with them as they make the transition to being a beginning teacher. We argue that teacher leadership should be recognised as a professional and career goal during this formative learning phase and that interns should be expected to overtly demonstrate signs, albeit early ones, of leadership in instruction and other professional areas of development. The aim of this paper is to explore the extent to which teacher education interns at one university in Queensland reported on activities that may be deemed to be ‘teacher leadership.’ The research approach used in this study was an examination of 145 reflective reports written in 2008 by final Bachelor of Education (primary) pre-service teachers. These reports recorded the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their professional learning with a school-based mentor in response to four outcomes of internship that were scaffolded by their mentor or initiated by them. These outcomes formed the bases of our research questions into the professional learning of the interns and included, ‘increased knowledge and capacity to teach within the total world of work as a teacher;’ ‘to work autonomously and interdependently’; to make ‘growth in critical reflectivity’, and the ‘ability to initiate professional development with the mentoring process’. Using the approaches of the constant comparative method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) key categories of experiences emerged. These categories were then identified as belonging to main meta-category labelled as ‘teacher leadership.’ Our research findings revealed that five dimensions of teacher leadership – effective practice in schools; school curriculum work; professional development of colleagues; parent and community involvement; and contributions to the profession – were evident in the written reports by interns. Not surprisingly, the mentor/intern relationship was the main vehicle for enabling the intern to learn about teaching and leadership. The paper concludes with some key implications for developers of preservice education programmes regarding the need for teacher leadership to be part of the discourse of these programmes.

"Over The Hill" is not so far away : crossing teaching contexts to create benefits for all through rural teaching experiences.

Attracting and retaining quality teachers to rural and remote areas has been a challenge over the last decade. Many preservice teachers are reluctant to experience a rural and remote practicum and may not consider applying to teach in such areas when they graduate. Education departments and universities need to explore innovative ways that will encourage graduates to consider undertaking a teaching position in the bush. As a way forward, preservice teachers from a regional campus of a Queensland University were invited to participate in a six-day rural experience entitled ‘Over the Hill’ that included being billeted with local families, participating in community activities and observing and teaching in classrooms. Fifteen preservice teachers were accompanied by two university academics who returned to work in a classroom as teacher for their own rural and remote professional experience. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the perceptions of a rural and remote teaching experience from the perspectives of the preservice teachers, the accompanying academics and the school staff hosting the program. Data were collected from the preservice teachers and accompanying academics in the form of written reflections while fourteen school staff completed a related questionnaire. The results indicated that a six-day rural and remote teaching program can provide professional benefits for all involved, preservice teachers, accompanying academics and the school staff hosting the program. Indeed, this study indicates that short experiences such as “Over the Hill” not only assist preservice teachers to make informed decisions about teaching in rural and remote areas but can provide professional benefits for accompanying academics and the schools.

Formative and reflective measurement and validation mismatch in survey research : an archival analysis of information systems success constructs 1985-2007

The generic IS-success constructs first identified by DeLone and McLean (1992) continue to be widely employed in research. Yet, recent work by Petter et al (2007) has cast doubt on the validity of many mainstream constructs employed in IS research over the past 3 decades; critiquing the almost universal conceptualization and validation of these constructs as reflective when in many studies the measures appear to have been implicitly operationalized as formative. Cited examples of proper specification of the Delone and McLean constructs are few, particularly in light of their extensive employment in IS research. This paper introduces a four-stage formative construct development framework: Conceive > Operationalize > Respond > Validate (CORV). Employing the CORV framework in an archival analysis of research published in top outlets 1985-2007, the paper explores the extent of possible problems with past IS research due to potential misspecification of the four application-related success dimensions: Individual-Impact, Organizational-Impact, System-Quality and Information-Quality. Results suggest major concerns where there is a mismatch of the Respond and Validate stages. A general dearth of attention to the Operationalize and Respond stages in methodological writings is also observed.

Formative and Summative Assessment and the Notion of Constructive Allignment

This paper discusses perceptions of first year accounting students about their tutorial activities and their engagements in assessment. As the literature suggests, unless participation in learning activities forms part of graded assessment it is often difficult to engage students in these activities. Using an action research model, this paper reports the study of first year accounting students' responses to action-orientated learning tasks in tutorials. The paper focuses on the importance of aligning curriculum objectives, learning and teaching activities and assessment,i.e. the notion of constructive alignment. However, as the research findings indicate, without support at institutional level, applying constructive alignment to facilitate quality student learning outcomes is a difficult task. Thus, the impacts of policy constraints on curriculum issues are also discussed, focusing on the limitations faced by tutors and their lack of involvement in curriculum development.

Integrating Engineering Experiences within the Elementary Mathematics Curriculum

Engineering education for elementary school students is a new and increasingly important domain of research by mathematics, science, technology, and engineering educators. Recent research has raised questions about the context of engineering problems that are meaningful, engaging, and inspiring for young students. In the present study an environmental engineering activity was implemented in two classes of 11-year-old students in Cyprus. The problem required students to use the data to develop a procedure for selecting among alternative countries from which to buy water. Students created a range of models that adequately solved the problem although not all models took into account all of the data provided. The models varied in the number of problem factors taken into consideration and also in the different approaches adopted in dealing with the problem factors. At least two groups of students integrated into their models the environmental aspect of the problem (energy consumption, water pollution) and further refined their models. Results provide evidence that engineering model-eliciting activities can be successfully integrated in the elementary mathematics curriculum. These activities provide rich opportunities for students to deal with engineering contexts and to apply their learning in mathematics and science to solving real-world engineering problems.

Recent Italian cinema : spaces, contexts, experiences

The book is an in-depth view of recent Italian cinema - bringing an interdisciplinary knowledge to the study of a complex cinema industry. The book aims to address a number of questions about Italian cinema of the last twenty years, bringing interdisciplinary knowledge to a cinema that eschews traditional definitions and categories, and challenges critical assumption about a film industry that is struggling to find a new direction. In doing so, Recent Italian Cinema offers a transverse analysis of the Italian cinema industry in its dealings with national and international production, and of the themes and issues that have emerged in films produced during the period 1980-2006.

Breastfeeding experiences of Japanese women living in Perth, Australia

The aim of this study was to document the breastfeeding practices of Japanese-Australian mothers living in Perth. A cross-sectional survey of mothers who had delivered babies in Japan or Australia or both was carried out on a sample of 163 mothers recruited through Japanese social and cultural groups in Perth and by a 'snowball' technique. Factors involved in the decision to breastfeed were analysed using multivariate regression analysis. The main outcome measures were the initiation and duration of breastfeeding and cultural beliefs about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding initiation rates of the Japanese- Australian mothers in Japan and in Australia were higher than for other Australians and are consistent with breastfeeding rates in Japan. In Australia, 65% of Japanese-Australian mothers were still breastfeeding at six months. The most common reason for the decision to cease breastfeeding was 'insufficient breastmilk'. The significant factors in breastfeeding duration were 'the time the infant was introduced to infant formula', 'the time when the feeding decision was made', 'doctors support breastfeeding' and 'the mother received enough help from hospital staff'; these were positively associated with the duration of breastfeeding. Japanese mothers take a lot of notice of advice given by health professionals about infant feeding practices.

Postpartum fatigue and driving : relating experiences, thoughts and opinions 12 weeks post-birth

Fatigue in the postnatal period is such a common experience for most mothers that the term ‘postpartum fatigue’ (PPF) has been coined to describe it. When new mothers experience extreme fatigue, it follows that their physical health, mental health, and social-wellbeing is negatively affected. It is interesting to note that there is a distinct lack of empirical investigations focusing on the link between PPF and increased risk of injury; particularly when the links between fatigue and increased risk of road crashes are well documented. The purpose of this investigation was to undertake pilot research to develop an understanding of the duration of PPF and the performance impairments experienced by new mothers when involved in safety-sensitive activities, such as driving a motor vehicle. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with women (N = 24) at 12 weeks postpartum living in South-east Queensland, Australia. Key themes were identified; with a particular emphasis towards understanding the link between the participant’s experience of postpartum fatigue and the impact this has on their overall cognitive and physiological functioning, as well as their experience of the driving task. Further, sleep/wake data was collected and using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) the potential crash risk for this group of mothers is discussed. It is proposed that the findings of this investigation could be used to improve current knowledge among new mothers and practitioners regarding the mechanisms and consequences of fatigue and to inform interventions that lead to a decreased risk of injury associated with postpartum fatigue.