Individual and organisational factors influencing academics` decisions to pursue the scholarship and teaching of ICT

This paper focuses on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) academics' perceptions of factors that promote and inhibit their pursuit of scholarship in their teaching work. It identifies critical factors that influence academics' attitudes, orientations and behaviours in respect to the scholarship of teaching, and from these builds a framework for understanding the interaction between these factors. We have named this framework the Scholarship of Teaching Support Framework.

During 2001 and 2002 a national project investigated teaching and learning initiatives in the major discipline of lCT in Australia's universities. As part of this project a mini-conference program was devised to elicit academics' perceptions of the factors influencing their teaching work and their participation in scholarly activities around this work. In total 83 ICT teachers from 29 universities participated in the mini-conference program. Attendees included staff members from a range of academic levels.

In discussions of aspects of the scholarship of teaching at the mini-conference participants referred to both attributes and responses of both university teachers and the university institutions. We have categorized these factors into those that relate to the individual academic (Individual domain) and those that relate to the tertiary institutional system (Organisational domain). Many contributions highlighted the interaction between these two domains.

Within the Individual domain, two key factors described by participants as affecting the pursuit of the scholarship of teaching were teachers' motivation towards, and their capabilities in, scholarly activities surrounding their teaching. Within the organizational domain two influential factors also emerged. These were the organizational support provided through allocation of resources and symbolic support reflected in an institution's systems, policies and processes.

Our findings indicate that both the Individual and Organizational domains contribute to university teachers' decisions to pursue (or not to pursue) the scholarship of teaching.

These two domains were seen by participants to interact within university environments to influence whether a particular environment is supportive or unsupportive in terms of the pursuit of the scholarship of teaching. Factors both from and within the individual and the organizational domains were seen to interact with each other forming a web of interrelated factors that appear to influence individuals' decisions to pursue, or not to pursue, the scholarship of teaching. From this complexity four theoretical extremes emerged providing the dimensions and components of the Scholarship of Teaching Support Framework.

We argue that responsive and innovative approaches to university teaching are best supported by academics undertaking scholarly activities around their teaching work, yet this article presents a picture of a university work environment where scholarly activities that focus on teaching and learning are seen as generally unsupported and unrewarded. This perception was identified as commonalities across a university system. Although some exceptions were noted, participants generally agreed that the organisational domain of Australian universities was largely unsupportive of the pursuit of the scholarship of teaching. Similarly, in general, university ICT teachers were not thought to have the backgrounds and capabilities necessary for pursuing the scholarship of teaching, such as familiarity with literature on teaching and learning and skills in educational evaluation. However, despite perceived inhibitors in universities' organisational culture and allocation of resources, and a perceived lack in individuals' skills, participants agreed that scholarly activities and innovation in university teaching and learning do take place, These are largely driven by the intrinsic motivation of individuals. It was recognised that further work is necessary to explore how motivation can be engendered and encouraged.

The Scholarship of Teaching Support Framework is a useful tool for examining how conducive a given university teaching context is to the scholarship of teaching and, therefore, can be used for review purposes within both research and policy contexts. Such tools will become increasingly important as policy changes begin to affect practices in how university teaching work is managed, supported and encouraged.

E-commerce and graduate education: is educational quality taking a nose dive?

Purpose: Online education has been growing rapidly, but has not had the benefit of the extensive teaching pedagogy development of traditional face-to-face teaching. This paper aims to provide a review of the current literature and present the results of a survey, conducted to determine the effectiveness of a graduate online subject. Design/methodology/approach: The literature was reviewed to identify measures of success and quality in online education delivery. These measures were then considered in relation to their application in practice via a case study based around a survey conducted at Deakin University in Australia. Findings: A total of 16 relevant measures of teaching quality were identified in the literature. Most measures had elements of bias and some were more generally applicable to online learning. The case study suggested that the value of computer mediated learning in an online environment was limited and that a combination of print and computer mediated conferencing performed better in more of the identified quality matrices. Practice implications: Online learning does not save teaching resources if standards of quality are maintained. It can be used to provide a remote teaching facility, provided it is backed up by resources such as printed study guides. For the subject evaluated, online mediated learning did not the provide the same quality of education. Originality/value: Whilst some research has been conducted in this area, no substantive grounded theory has been applied to postgraduate or fee-paying online education regimes. As a result, case studies of such applications can be very helpful in the design of future teaching systems.

Does a continence educational brochure promote health-seeking behavior?

OBJECTIVE: This study reviewed whether participants who were given a continence education package, which included a Continence Educational Brochure (CEB), and who indicated that they were bothered by incontinence symptoms changed health-seeking behaviors about their incontinence problem because of being given the brochure.
METHOD: This study used a descriptive and exploratory design. Participants were given the CEB and asked to read the information. They were also asked to complete a continence questionnaire and mail this back to the research team. Participants who indicated that they were bothered by a continence problem and consented to being interviewed were telephoned 2 to 3 months later. They were asked questions to determine their actions and progress in relation to managing their continence problem and whether the CEB had influenced their behavior.
SETTING AND SUBJECT: A total of 631 participants (352 females, 55.8%; 279 males, 44.2%) from 4 rural and regional settings in Victoria, Australia, participated. Of this sample, 111 participants (78 females, 70.3%; 33 males, 29.7%) who reported that they were bothered by a continence problem were interviewed 3 months after being given the CEB.
RESULTS: Two thirds of the total sample of participants (n = 111) sought help for their continence problem. Approximately 70.3% (n = 78) continued to have a continence problem. Of this group, 84.6% were still bothered by the continence problem and 65.4% had taken action to treat their incontinence. Forty-nine participants (44.1%) indicated that they had discussed the issue of bladder or bowel problems with someone directly because of this study or the information contained in the brochure. More than 94% of participants who remembered the CEB indicated that they believed the brochure would be helpful if given to other people.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the CEB prompted individuals to discuss their continence problem and in fewer cases to seek professional help. Given these findings, distribution of a continence education package is advocated as a continence health promotion strategy.

The effects of specific educational preparation on emergency nurses` clinical decisions regarding supplemental oxygen administration

Abstract The use of supplemental oxygen by emergency nurses has important implications for patient outcomes, yet there is significant variability in oxygen administration practises. Specific education related to oxygen administration increases factual knowledge in this domain; however, the impact of knowledge acquisition on nurses' clinical decisions is poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the effect of educational preparation on 20 emergency nurses' decisions regarding the assessment of oxygenation and the use of supplemental oxygen. A pre-test/post-test, quasi-experimental design was used. The intervention was a written, self-directed learning package. The major effects of the completion of the learning package included no change in the number or types of parameters used by nurses to assess oxygenation, a significant decrease in the selection of simple masks, a significant increase in the selection of air entrainment masks, fewer hypothetical outcomes of unresolved respiratory distress and more hypothetical outcomes of decreased respiratory distress. As many nursing education programs are aimed at increasing factual knowledge, while experience remains relatively constant, a greater understanding of the relationship between factual knowledge and clinical decisions is needed if educational interventions are to improve patient outcomes.

Educational administration and social justice

After observing that texts in educational administration have largely failed to address the problem of the justice and fairness of social and educational arrangements, this article goes on to examine the necessary relationships between ethical leadership, community and the notion of social justice. Such relationships are argued to be necessarily political, although the field of leadership has historically seen administration as a substitute for politics. The relationship between social justice and disadvantage is examined, as are current approaches to community, choice and diversity. The importance of both redistributive and recognitional approaches to social justice is emphasized as a basis for a model of educational administration centred on the problem of the justice and fairness of social and educational arrangements.

Culture and leadership in educational administration: a historical study of what was and what might have been

This paper examines the consequences for school leadership of the abandonment of Waller's insights into the school as a social organism and the embracing of the cult of efficiency as the foundation for the analysis of school culture. Tracing the separation of conception from execution, leadership from teaching, administration from education through the cult of professionalism and functionalist sociology, the paper argues that a more appropriate basis for understanding both leadership and the culture of the school can be derived from ethnographies of schooling which show the complex interactions of internal and external cultures in the construction of leadership and the culture of the school.

Gender, age, and educational-attainment differences in Australian adults' participation in vigorous sporting and fitness activities

Background: Participation in regular vigorous physical activity could confer health benefits additional to those derived from moderate-intensity physical activities that are currently the focus of public health strategies.
Methods: Sociodemographic differences in reported participation in vigorous sporting and fitness activities over the past 2 weeks were examined using cross-sectional data from an Australian urban population sample.
Results: Participation at least once in any form of vigorous physical activity and regular participation (six or more sessions) both decreased across successive age groups and from high to low levels of education. The most frequently reported types of vigorous physical activity were cycling (13.3%), jogging (10.1%), swimming (8.4%) for men; and, swimming (8.9%), cycling (8.8%) and aerobics (8.6%) for women.
Conclusion: Rates of regular participation in vigorous activities were low. Interventions might focus on ways to encourage younger adults to engage more regularly in these activities and to maintain participation through the lifespan.

Career development year in emergency nursing: using specific educational preparation and clinical support to facilitate the transition to specialist practice

This article outlines the development, implementation and evaluation of the Career Development Year (CDY) in the Emergency Department (ED) at Dandenong Hospital in Victoria, Australia. As a consequence of a shortage of emergency nurses, hospitals have recruited inadequately prepared nurses to staff their EDs. The resultant increase in stress of qualified and experienced emergency nurses has had a major impact on the retention of emergency nurses. The CDY aims to provide nurses with little or no experience in emergency nursing with supported entry into this area of specialist practice. The CDY is based on three factors identified as important in the transition to emergency nursing; knowledge, clinical support and professional development. By providing beginning emergency nurses with supported entry to a new and challenging clinical environment, the CDY has been an effective recruitment and retention strategy. In addition it has demonstrated that a committed ED team has the capability to teach and nurture the emergency nurses of the future.

Educational partnerships on-line: global collaborative learning through an on-line student exchange programme

Deakin University and the University of Calgary have used the internet to provide workplace-based learners with the possibility of a student exchange programme which does not disrupt their careers, lives or families.  The programmes involved in this on-line exchange were both developed in response to the needs of workplace learners and are representative of the role of universities in the field of life-long learning.  This paper describes the first phase of the exchange and discusses the shared pedagogical philosophies and shared implementation of on-line groupware which provided a rationale for the exchange.  The paper will explore the cross-cultural implications of the educational experience and the possibilities such an exchange opens up for life-long learners.

A focus on teaching in online pedagogy

As the Internet continues to grow in popularity and educational institutions feel the need to have a presence online, 'learning and teaching online' has become somewhat of an IT cliché. In many cases course material is made available online and it is left up to the learner to learn. The claims made for online courses promise considerable cost savings after the initial establishment period, and opportunities to provide education to a larger, globalised marketplace. For students, online learning is thought to allow more flexible study options, and the opportunity to work and study at the same time (Bell, et al 2002, p. 27).

In this paper we question the assumption that online teaching is merely making course material available on the World Wide Web. We report on our study of what is involved in the act of teaching online and on the research that led to the development of the 'mobile teaching facility' to enable a focus on teaching in the online environment. We reflect on how a group of academic staff are responding to online teaching. Details of professional development workshops, hardware and software solutions and working with the complexities of pedagogy will also be discussed. This paper is about our findings, recommendations and plans for future explorations.

Is it only 'what works' that 'counts' in new knowledge economies? Evidence-based practice, educational research and teacher education in Australia

Recent texts on globalisation and education policy refer to the rapid ¯ow of education policy texts producing or responding to common trends across nation states with the emergence of new knowledge economies. These educational policies are shaping what counts as research and the dynamics between research, policy, and practice in schools, creating new types of relationships between universities, the public, the professions, government, and industry. The trend to evidence-based policy and practice in Australian schools is used to identify key issues within wider debates about the `usefulness' of educational research and the role of universities and university-based research in education in new knowledge economies.