Design and Implementation of the Australian National Data Service

This paper will describe the genesis and realisation of the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). It will commence by outlining the context within which ANDS was conceived, both in the international research and Australian research support domains. It will then describe the process that brought about the ANDS vision and the principles that informed the realisation of that vision. The paper will then outline each of the four ANDS programs (Developing Frameworks, Providing Utilities, Seeding the Commons, and Building Capabilities) while also discussing particular items of note about the approach ANDS is taking. The paper concludes by briefly examining related work in the UK and US

Shared benefits from exposing research data

The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) has taken a national leadership role in implementing a national collaborative research information infrastructure strategy. The strategy is designed to build the eResearch capability of Australia's researchers through national initiatives and strengthened engagement in international initiatives. ANDS has been established with an understanding that (1) data has become an increasingly important re-usable product of research, and (2) research collaboration is fundamental to the resolution of the major challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. With the objective of increasing the discoverability of Australian research data collections, ANDS has built the Research Data Australia (RDA) service. With the benefit of an ANDS grant to help populate the RDA, Griffith University has developed a framework for collecting and exposing research data. Critical to its success has been the key role played by library professionals in both its design and implementation. The system collects appropriate metadata from research collections within the University through customised feeds from the various University content management and corporate systems. This system then acts as a central University repository to feed information in a standard format to Research Data Australia. It can also expose this data to University library discovery tools and other research information federations where appropriate. The end result is that this service not only integrates and aggregates data within the institution but also provides a key link into national and international open systems. This paper describes this project, including the role played by the University's library professionals, the underlying infrastructure and processes and integration with national repositories, identifier services, and with the overarching national scholarly communication fabric. It concludes with an analysis of the benefits of such an initiative to individual researchers, to the University and to the national research agenda.Information Services, Information ServicesFull Tex

Curriculum renewal for interprofessional education in health

In this preface we comment on four matters that we think bode well for the future of interprofessional education in Australia. First, there is a growing articulation, nationally and globally, as to the importance of interprofessional education and its contribution to the development of interprofessional and collaborative health practices. These practices are increasingly recognised as central to delivering effective, efficient, safe and sustainable health services. Second, there is a rapidly growing interest and institutional engagement with interprofessional education as part of pre-registration health professional education. This has changed substantially in recent years. Whilst beyond the scope of our current studies, the need for similar developments in continuing professional development (CPD) for health professionals was a consistent topic in our stakeholder consultations. Third, we observe what might be termed a threshold effect occurring in the area of interprofessional education. Projects that address matters relating to IPE are now far more numerous, visible and discussed in terms of their aggregate outcomes. The impact of this momentum is visible across the higher education sector. Finally, we believe that effective collaboration is a critical mediating process through which the rich resources of disciplinary knowledge and capability are joined to add value to existing health service provision. We trust the conceptual and practical contributions and resources presented and discussed in this report contribute to these developments.Office of Learning and Teaching Australi

Transforming pre-service teacher curriculum: observation through a TPACK lens

This paper will discuss an international online collaborative learning experience through the lens of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The teacher knowledge required to effectively provide transformative learning experiences for 21st century learners in a digital world is complex, situated and changing. The discussion looks beyond the opportunity for knowledge development of content, pedagogy and technology as components of TPACK towards the interaction between those three components. Implications for practice are also discussed. In today’s technology infused classrooms it is within the realms of teacher educators, practising teaching and pre-service teachers explore and address effective practices using technology to enhance learning

Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?

Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isn’t without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the question: is it worth the effort

Improving the early life outcomes of Indigenous children: implementing early childhood development at the local level

One of Australia’s greatest challenges is the elimination of the gap between the developmental outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in the early years of life. This paper reviews existing research and presents strategies to improve early childhood development among Indigenous Australians. Aims of this paper The aims of this paper are to: outline what we know about the size of the gap in early childhood development (ECD) between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and the social determinants of ECD establish why localised ECD is an effective means to close the gap in the early childhood years describe the conditions under which localised ECD is more likely to be successful and how to put them into practice describe 3 broad strategies to promote physical, social-emotional and language-cognitive domains of development and reduce developmental risk. To review and synthesise the broad and diverse knowledge relevant to localised ECD, several sources were consulted including peer-reviewed scientific literature, policy documents and reports from governments, international agencies and civil society groups

The wicked and complex in education: developing a transdisciplinary perspective for policy formulation, implementation and professional practice

The concept of 'wicked issues', originally developed in the field of urban planning, has been taken up by design educators, architects and public health academics where the means for handling 'wicked issues' has been developed through 'reflective practice'. In the education of teachers, whilst reflective practice has been a significant feature of professional education, the problems to which this has been applied are principally 'tame' ones. In this paper, the authors argue that there has been a lack of crossover between two parallel literatures. The literature on 'wicked issues' does not fully recognise the difficulties with reflective practice and that in education which extols reflective practice, is not aware of the 'wicked' nature of the problems which confront teachers and schools. The paper argues for a fresh understanding of the underlying nature of problems in education so that more appropriate approaches can be devised for their resolution. This is particularly important at a time when the government in England is planning to make teaching a masters level profession, briefly defined by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) benchmark statement as 'Decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations'. The paper begins by locating the argument and analysis of 'wicked problems' within the nature of social complexity and chaos. The second part of the paper explores implications for those involved in policy formation, implementation and service provision. Given the range of stakeholders in education, the paper argues for a trans-disciplinary approach recognising the multiple perspectives and methodologies leading to the acquisition of reticulist skills and knowledge necessary to boundary cross. © 2009 Taylor & Francis