Review and evaluation of the Inquiry to Implementation Project final report 2014

The inquiry based professional learning project, Inquiry to Implementation was developed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) as a key professional learning resource to support implementation of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) For all Children Birth to Eight Years. The VCAA and the Department of Education and Training (DET) work together to support VEYLDF implementation. This review and evaluation report provides an account of early childhood professionals\u27 experience of inquiry based professional learning in multidisciplinary networks across Victoria. Drawing on project data and focus group interviews, in the Report, Monash University deliver research findings on key trends in assessment practice and network relationships and engagement: changes in practice are described for individual practitioners, service types and the nine networks involved in the Inquiry to Implementation Project four dominant themes are identified across all networks and a further seven which are evident for particular networks case studies profile the contribution each of the nine networks and highlight the unique nature, trends in practice over time, evidence of participants learning, promising practices, key successes and barriers along with overarching themes a relational agency framework provides a model that can be used to describe practitioner experiences and professional relationships in networks. Monash University researchers developed the framework as a tool to support growth in inquiry based professional learning at the level of a multidisciplinary network. This report draws out learning from the networks that all early childhood professionals, policy makers and researchers will find useful in building assessment practice and research to support learning and development outcomes for children. &nbsp

An investigation of heat stress epidemiology, prevention guidelines, and sporting environment

As temperatures rise, the frequency of heatwaves, extreme summer heat and less night-time cooling increases. An uncontrolled increase in heat production affects performance and subsequently affects the health of the athlete resulting in exertional heat illness (EHI). EHI is a result of an uncontrollable rise in core body temperature arising from a thermoregulatory response. With rising temperatures, the risk of EHI when exercising or participating in sport increases. However, assessing the risk of EHI is contingent on accurate epidemiological data and addressing the risk of EHI is reliant on effective evidence-based interventions. This thesis assessed the risk of EHI through four interlinked studies: (ⅰ) an analysis of heat-related sports and leisure hospitalisations and emergency department presentations to determine trends in incidence rates and compare them with meteorological trends; (ⅱ) a document analysis of all sports and leisure activity heat-related injury prevention resources in Australia to develop an understanding of the content within those resources; (ⅲ) an investigation of surface temperatures of commonly used artificial sports surfaces to assess the risk posed by such surfaces and measure the differences in microclimates; and, (ⅳ) an assessment of the concordance of meteorological data of multiple artificial sports surfaces with meteorological data from the nearest Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather station and a local City of Ballarat (COB) environmental monitoring system (EMS). A total of 1055 heat injury hospitalisations and emergency department (ED) presentations were recorded between July 2008 and June 2018, which included 171 sport-related hospitalisations,139 ED presentations, 83 leisure-related hospitalisations and 662 ED presentations. There were significant correlations between ED presentations for heat-related sports injuries and mean, minimum and maximum temperature, mean and maximum temperature anomaly, summer maximum temperature, and summer maximum temperature anomaly. Three overarching categories emerged through the document analysis process: preventive strategies (n=299, 63.9%), risk factors (n=94, 20.1%), and treatment (n=75, 16.0%). Activity modification, which included information on rescheduling games and extra breaks, was the most common intervention. Cricket, soccer, swimming, and triathlon had the most complete set of heat resources. During the 2020–2021 summer period a total of 1245 measurements were recorded across five artificial sports surfaces: athletics, hockey, lawn bowls, soccer, tennis. The lawn bowls turf was the hottest surface with a mean surface temperature of 54.43 (± 13.46) °C. An increase in surface temperature corresponded to an increase in air temperature, wet bulb temperature and a decrease in relative humidity but the effect varied across the five surfaces. An increase in solar radiation and air temperature also corresponded to an increase in surface temperature. On all five surfaces measured, the BOM air temperatures were the lowest, followed by the on-site air temperatures and then the COB air temperatures on all surfaces. The highest Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) measurements of 24.38 (± 2.39) °C were recorded by the COB sensor, while the lowest WBGT measurements 20.76 (± 1.99) °C were recorded by the BOM. There was a statistically significant difference in the WBGT categorisation between on-site estimate measurements and BOM measurements, p <0.001. The incidence of heat-related hospitalisations and ED presentations provides a baseline from which heat-related guidelines and interventions can be developed, evaluated, and modified. Heat resources considered in the document analysis suggest EHI is preventable if appropriate precautions are implemented. With a focus on preventing EHI, heat resources mainly provided recommendations on modifying activities and reducing exposure to extreme conditions. These results imply the EHI risk posed by artificial sport surfaces are not uniform and safety polices should be updated to reflect the link between air temperature and surface temperature. Understanding how surface temperature is influenced by air temperature, solar radiation and cloud cover allows for more accurate predictions of playing conditions on these artificial sport surfaces. Differences were observed between the individual meteorological measurements, the WBGT measurements and the heat stress categorisation. Overall, a significant discord existed for both individual meteorological variables and WBGT modelled from multiple sources of available data. The findings from this thesis have implications for athlete welfare and strengthening future interventions. Overall, this doctoral research project quantifies the scale of heat-related injuries, reviews the policies to address these heat-related injuries and provides new knowledge on the risk posed by artificial sports surfaces.Doctor of Philosoph

True to nature? Fidelity and transformation in Eugene von Guérard’s antipodean landscape paintings

When the leading mid-nineteenth-century landscape artist in Victoria, Eugene von Guérard, was criticised for failing to illustrate nature sublimely, he replied that his “greatest desire” was to “imitate nature” as far as it was “compatible with the effect of the picture.” Later, he asserted that his aim was “to be true to nature as far as possible” in his art. This empirical, science-informed thesis explores what being “true to nature” meant in Guérard’s practice by examining natural features typically illustrated with fidelity, scrutinising features freely transformed for artistic effect, and assessing whether such transformations compromise his aesthetic ideal. The fieldwork-based study addresses a knowledge gap in Australian art history and environmental history by adopting a multi-disciplinary approach. The findings make a significant contribution to understanding what being “true to nature” meant for Guérard, and to determining whether his landscapes are reliable environmental history records. The investigation uses a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative techniques. Early in-depth case studies identified faithfully rendered and freely modified features, which informed the development of an innovative survey instrument used to evaluate the fidelity of over a hundred of Guérard’s Antipodean landscapes. The extent to which natural features are faithful or transformed is subjectively assessed by comparing them with his accurate field drawings and modern site photographs taken from his vantage points. The novel reverse use of digital elevation models enabled many of his vantage points at sites to be precisely determined. Statistical analysis of survey data and further case studies leads to the conclusion that Guérard practised selective fidelity to nature. Although no natural feature was totally immune to being modified for artistic effect, many features are typically reproduced with great fidelity to the natural scenery visible at the site. Features significantly altered to create visually engaging or dramatic landscapes are usually found to be true to the natural history of the location, if not necessarily to the view. Exceptions are largely restricted to the composite landscapes that field research uncovered. Finally, the thesis examines whether Guérard’s fidelity practice resonates with particular purported influences, or parallels the practices of international contemporaries who were also renowned for their wilderness paintings.Doctor of Philosoph

Virtual worlds in Australian and New Zealand higher education: remembering the past, understanding the present and imagining the future

3D virtual reality, including the current generation of multi-user virtual worlds, has had a long history of use in education and training, and it experienced a surge of renewed interest with the advent of Second Life in 2003. What followed shortly after were several years marked by considerable hype around the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning and research in higher education. For the moment, uptake of the technology seems to have plateaued, with academics either maintaining the status quo and continuing to use virtual worlds as they have previously done or choosing to opt out altogether. This paper presents a brief review of the use of virtual worlds in the Australian and New Zealand higher education sector in the past and reports on its use in the sector at the present time, based on input from members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. It then adopts a forward-looking perspective amid the current climate of uncertainty, musing on future directions and offering suggestions for potential new applications in light of recent technological developments and innovations in the area

A Web GIS-based Integration of 3D Digital Models with Linked Open Data for Cultural Heritage Exploration

This PhD project explores how geospatial semantic web concepts, 3D web-based visualisation, digital interactive map, and cloud computing concepts could be integrated to enhance digital cultural heritage exploration; to offer long-term archiving and dissemination of 3D digital cultural heritage models; to better interlink heterogeneous and sparse cultural heritage data. The research findings were disseminated via four peer-reviewed journal articles and a conference article presented at GISTAM 2020 conference (which received the ‘Best Student Paper Award’)

As simple as pressing a button? A review of the literature on BigBlueButton

BigBlueButton is an open source virtual classroom software. Since this software was released in 2009, many studies have explored how to use it, especially for e-learning. However, to date, there is no published systematic synthesis of the relevant literature on the subject. This literature review appraises the effectiveness of BigBlueButton in educational settings and pulls relevant pieces of information together into a readable format. The main conclusion is that BigBlueButton is intuitive, interoperable with other software and has the potential to positively affect the learning performance of students. Despite the features and functionalities of BigBlueButton, several limitations are apparent: web conference educators have less control over online teaching compared with their face-to-face counterparts, practical subjects are difficult to teach through web conferencing, technical challenges may affect web-conferencing sessions, web conferencing requires skills additional to those of conventional teaching, cultural differences may affect students' attitudes towards web conference-based learning and educators that teach through web conferencing may feel isolated in their role, both geographically and collegially. By reviewing the features, potential impacts and limitations of BigBlueButton, this study contributes to the growing literature on web conferencing systems and provides insights into the role of BigBlueButton in e-learning. © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Green IT: Sustainability by aligning business requirements with IT resource utilization

The term “green IT” is defined as “Optimal use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for managing the environment sustainability of enterprise operations throughout their life cycles.” Its objective is to create a positive impact on environment through net lowered emissions. The heart of green IT (Information Technology) is the concept of “Environmental Sustainability,” its initiatives are multifaceted to support enterprises “business as usual model,” in low-carbon economy. Many green IT initiatives have provided short–term financial benefits, based on which organizations are now focusing on increased energy efficiency. Since many of these approaches provide less financials benefits’ which are harder to implement but provides improved environmental performance. So the financial benefits and environmental performance should be the multiple objectives in the green IT study.Master of Computing (by Research