On purely gravito-magnetic vacuum space-times

It is shown that there are no purely magnetic, vacuum, spacetime metrics where any one of the following conditions holds: (a) the ratio of any two eigenvalues of the Weyl tensor is constant, (b) both of the Riemann principal null directions, defining the time-like blade, are nonrotating, (c) the shear tensor possesses an eigenvector v^a which is defined by one of the space-like Riemann principal directions, (d) the vorticity is parallel to v^a, where v^a is defined by one of the space-like Riemann principal directions.

Learning how to engage students online in hard times

In a context of financial restraint and enterprising university managers, teacher-researchers have reason to be sceptical about the trend towards online teaching and away from learning for its own sake. This article departs from both economic and technological determinism and turns instead to ideas about technology embedded in social and political institutions. Activity theory offers a useful means of analysing such embeddedness. Its Marxian assumptions about human nature specify a non-deterministic approach to technology. Its dynamic model of the subjects, tools, and objects of activity within a context of rules, a community, and a division of labour helps to specify aspects of the authors process of learning how to use electronic conferencing effectively. A full deployment of activity theory would also analyse the activity of students. Here the evidence comes mainly from the activity of researcher-teachers engaging greater activity among students. The numbers of students involved precludes reliable quantitative analysis but qualitative evidence from students does support conclusions about researcher-teachers learning how to make best use of electronic conferencing.

A house in history, heritage and tourism : shifting times at Blundell's Cottage, Canberra

The history of history's institutions can offer a gritty context in which to understand historical production. A wide spectrum of influences, from the personal to the intellectual to the political, can be seen at work in shaping the history made and communicated at Blundell's Cottage over the years. Even though it has always been a humble participant in the project of history, its products probably reach some of history's larger audiences. Hence it is worthwhile to review fifty years of historio-museography.

Public relations and ontology: rhetorical approaches in post-modern times

Rhetorical theory's contemporary involvement with semiotics is overlooked in much current public relations scholarship. This paper aims to 'make a difference' in this respect. There is a need for this change of perspective in view of a call for a new direction in public relations theory. This call came in the final Public Relations Division session at the July, 2003 International Communication Association Convention in San Diego. That panel discussion was titled: 'What Should be the Focus of Public Relations?' The session concluded that a turn towards 'rhetorical theory' was needed. This paper argues that such a turn would pose interesting theoretical and political challenges for a field which has not fully caught up with post-modern ideas. It points out how involvement with the contemporary 'rhetorical turn' paradigm and this paradigm's link to semiotics, would take public relations studies into interesting conceptual and political regions.

Changing times in research? A speculative analysis of refereed contributions to distance education journal from 1980 to 2003

The paper observes a number of possible changes impacting on the field of distance education research and suggests that these are likely to have lead to an increasing interest in research on computer-based instructional design and delivery, and a concomitant decrease in interest in other areas of distance education research. A fairly simple analysis of contributions to Distance Education since 1980 bears out the suggestion. Some opportunities and some threats to distance education as a field are discussed as a consequence of the analysis.

Doing multiliteracies: re-envisioning adolescent literacy in new times

In New Times (Hall, 1996), there has been much rhetoric about school’s role in equipping students for the future. Multiliteracies pedagogy allows individual teachers to reconceptualise pedagogy and curriculum thereby addressing adolescents’ complex and demanding literacy needs (New London Group, 1996). As a result of the advent of widespread computer use and Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs), this paper presents new and emerging virtual contexts and environments for adolescent literacy instruction. The paper highlights one teacher’s curricular initiatives/interruptions where Multiliteracies pedagogies and the incorporation of multimodal digital and multimedia design, replaced the progressive monomodal reading and writing workshop. In conclusion, new perspectives on research related to the education of teachers in the 21st century are presented to contribute to the public knowledge base of teacher education in post-typographic societies.

Real footballers don`t eat quiche: old narratives in new times

In this article, the authors examine the way that sport acts as a contradictory and complex medium for masculinity making. The analysis illustrates the way that many discourses now unite in a cybernetic mix that offers both new opportunities and presents complex challenges for educators, coaches, and administrators. The method used combines a number of strategies and narratives pitched at the local, national, and international levels. The analysis is grounded in the game of football, although it is argued that the issues raised translate to other settings. At the same time, the authors demonstrate that large-scale, macro level analyses miss an important force working within the dynamics of masculinity making and sport, namely, peer group power. The analysis concludes with insights from a junior coach who has consciously "worked" the peer group dynamics to foster a strong sense of personal and group responsibility.

Embodied women at work in neoliberal times and places

In this article five women explore (female) embodiment in academic work in current workplaces. In a week-long collective biography workshop they produced written memories of themselves in their various workplaces and memories of themselves as children and as students. These memories then became the texts out of which the analysis was generated. The authors examine the constitutive and seductive effects of neoliberal discourses and practices, and in particular, the assembling of academic bodies as particular kinds of working bodies. They use the concept of chiasma, or crossing over, to trouble some aspects of binary thinking about bodies and about the relations between bodies and discourses. They examine the way that we simultaneously resist and appropriate, and are seduced by and appropriated within, neoliberal discourses and practices.

Handbook of teacher education : globalization, standards and professionalism in times of change

This book provides an international review of the current state of teacher education, with chapters from an international group of teacher educators. It focuses on major issues that are confronting teacher educators now and in the next decade. These include the impact of globalization on the profession of teaching, and how teacher education must deal with changing accountability requirements from governments and establish a set of minimum standards acceptable to enable a person to teach. The work also considers aspects of the three major phases of teacher education: the period prior to commencing in the profession, successful induction into the profession, and the ongoing professional development of teachers. Finally, it identifies ways in which new technologies can be used to improve the training and ongoing development of teachers. Cases from different countries are used to provide a rich base of data to help us understand how the profession is moving onwards.