A systemic framework for managing e-learning adoption in campus universities: individual strategies in context

There are hopes that new learning technologies will help to transform university learning and teaching into a more engaging experience for twenty-first-century students. But since 2000 the changes in campus university teaching have been more limited than expected. I have drawn on ideas from organisational change management research to investigate why this is happening in one particular campus university context. My study examines the strategies of individual lecturers for adopting e-learning within their disciplinary, departmental and university work environments to develop a conceptual framework for analysing university learning and teaching as a complex adaptive system. This conceptual framework links the processes through which university teaching changes, the resulting forms of learning activity and the learning technologies used – all within the organisational context of the university. The framework suggests that systemic transformation of a university’s learning and teaching requires coordinated change across activities that have traditionally been managed separately in campus universities. Without such coordination, established ways of organising learning and teaching will reassert themselves, as support staff and lecturers seek to optimise their own work locally. The conceptual framework could inform strategies for realising the full benefits of new learning technologies in other campus universities

An investigation of the role of background music in IVWs for learning

Empirical evidence is needed to corroborate the intuitions of gamers and game developers in understanding the benefits of Immersive Virtual Worlds (IVWs) as a learning environment and the role that music plays within these environments. We report an investigation to determine if background music of the genre typically found in computer‐based role‐playing games has an effect on learning in a computer‐animated history lesson about the Macquarie Lighthouse within an IVW. In Experiment 1, music stimuli were created from four different computer game soundtracks. Seventy‐two undergraduate students watched the presentation and completed a survey including biographical details, questions on the historical material presented and questions relating to their perceived level of immersion. While the tempo and pitch of the music was unrelated to learning, music conditions resulted in a higher number of accurately remembered facts than the no music condition. One soundtrack showed a statistically significant improvement in memorisation of facts over other music conditions. Also an interaction between the levels of perceived immersion and ability to accurately remember facts was observed. Experiment 2, involving 48 undergraduate students, further investigated the effect of music, sense of immersion and how different display systems affect memory for facts

Broadband delivered entertainment services: forecasting Australian subscription intentions

This study estimates a nested multinomial logit (NMNL) model of broadband delivered entertainment service subscription that allows for the impact of an installation fee and rental price, service attributes and household demographic variables on subscription. The model is estimated on stated-preference data obtained from an Australia-wide survey of capital cities and provincial centres. Nested multinomial logit model estimates are used to provide forecasts that suggest 65 per cent of separate residences passed are likely to subscribe at 2000. This percentage translates into 1237 744 subscriber.Broadband entertainment services; forecasting Australian subscription demand

How and Why has Teacher Quality Changed in Australia?

International research suggests that differences in teacher performance can explain a large portion of student achievement. Yet little is known about how the quality of the Australian teaching profession has changed over time. Using consistent data on the academic aptitude of new teachers, we compare those who have entered the teaching profession in Australia over the past two decades. We find that the aptitude of new teachers has fallen considerably. Between 1983 and 2003, the average percentile rank of those entering teacher education fell from 74 to 61, while the average rank of new teachers fell from 70 to 62. One factor that seems to have changed substantially over this period is average teacher pay. Compared to non-teachers with a degree, average teacher pay fell substantially over the period 1983-2003. Another factor is pay dispersion in alternative occupations. During the 1980s and 1990s, non-teacher earnings at the top of the distribution rose faster than earnings at the middle and bottom of the distribution. For an individual with the potential to earn a wage at the 90th percentile of the distribution, a non-teaching occupation looked much more attractive in the 2000s than it did in the 1980s. We believe that both the fall in average teacher pay, and the rise in pay differentials in non-teaching occupations are responsible for the decline in the academic aptitude of new teachers over the past two decades.test scores, teacher salary, occupational choice

Smartphones give you wings: pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0

Built on the foundation of four years of research and implementation of mobile learning projects (mlearning), this paper provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education. Pedagogical affordances of mobile web 2.0 tools are evaluated, and student usage and feedback is outlined via an interactive multimedia timeline (using YouTube videos) illustrating how these mobile web 2.0 pedagogical affordances have transformed pedagogy and facilitated student engagement in a variety of course contexts. A rubric for evaluating appropriate smartphone choices is provided, and a model for implementing mobile web 2.0 pedagogical integration is presented. Keywords: mlearning, mobile web 2.0

Evaluating changes in women's attitudes towards cervical screening following a screening promotion campaign and a free vaccination program. CHERE Working Paper 2009/3

This study examines behavioural changes brought about by two interventions introduced to lower the incidence of cervical cancer in Australia. The first intervention is a media campaign promoting regular screening behaviour to women. The second intervention is a vaccination program providing a free HPV vaccine, Gardasil, to young women launched in the same period. The results using data from discrete choice experiments find that in general, given individual characteristics, the interventions have minor impact on how women value screening attributes. The interventions however alter women?s inherent taste for screening. Unexpectedly, willingness to screen is generally lower post-interventions. The reason for this trend appears to be related to HPV events. For instance, the reduction in screening participation is particularly marked among young women who are eligible for the vaccination program. There is also a larger aversion towards testing among women who gained information on HPV facts and HPV-related measures. Thus, in the face of HPV innovations, screening promotions need to account for these factors. A simulation exercise is then performed to assess the plausibility of several strategies to increase the screening rate. The results nominate supply-side policies, in particular those targeted to health providers, as the most effective strategy.cervical screening, HPV Vaccine, preferences, discrete choice experiment, Australia

Secure tenure for home ownership and economic development on land subject to native title

The public policy debate on land rights, the struggle of Indigenous peoples to have their pre-colonial possession of land recognised and interests in how land rights might be exercised to fulfil Indigenous peoples’ hopes for economic development and home ownership.Those people who have had their native title rights and interests in land legally recognised are contemplating the implications for their future prosperity. They are pondering the types of investments they can make to develop their land for social and economic purposes, the use and development rights they might temporarily exchange for income, or, as a last resort, the rights and interests they are prepared to relinquish in return for compensation. Western Australia (WA) presents a unique case in the Australian context because, unlike other states and the Northern Territory, WA does not have a statutory Aboriginal land rights system despite its large and remote Aboriginal population. What is termed ‘Aboriginal land’ in Western Australia covers approximately 12 per cent of the state but has generally been granted at the discretion of the Minister for Lands, or else is held in trust as a reserve for the ‘use and benefit of Aboriginal inhabitants’.1 This estate has not been transferred to Aboriginal ownership under state legislation on the basis of statutory rights conferred on Aboriginal people as the result of a formal claim based on their cultural connections to the land or waters. According to the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma (AHRC 2005), this reflects ‘protection’ style legislation from the 19th century, which has been the basis of calls for reform of the system since the early 1980s (Seaman 1984; Bonner 1996; Casey 2007)