Science in the New Zealand Curriculum e-in-science

This milestone report explores some innovative possibilities for e-in-science practice to enhance teacher capability and increase student engagement and achievement. In particular, this report gives insights into how e-learning might be harnessed to help create a future-oriented science education programme. “Innovative” practices are considered to be those that integrate (or could integrate) digital technologies in science education in ways that are not yet commonplace. “Future-oriented education” refers to the type of education that students in the “knowledge age” are going to need. While it is not yet clear exactly what this type of education might look like, it is clear that it will be different from the current system. One framework used to differentiate between these kinds of education is the evolution of education from Education 1.0 to Education 2.0 and 3.0 (Keats & Schmidt, 2007). Education 1.0, like Web 1.0, is considered to be largely a one-way process. Students “get” knowledge from their teachers or other information sources. Education 2.0, as defined by Keats and Schmidt, happens when Web 2.0 technologies are used to enhance traditional approaches to education. New interactive media, such as blogs, social bookmarking, etc. are used, but the process of education itself does not differ significantly from Education 1.0. Education 3.0, by contrast, is characterised by rich, cross-institutional, cross-cultural educational opportunities. The learners themselves play a key role as creators of knowledge artefacts, and distinctions between artefacts, people and processes become blurred, as do distinctions of space and time. Across these three “generations”, the teacher’s role changes from one of knowledge source (Education 1.0) to guide and knowledge source (Education 2.0) to orchestrator of collaborative knowledge creation (Education 3.0). The nature of the learner’s participation in the learning also changes from being largely passive to becoming increasingly active: the learner co-creates resources and opportunities and has a strong sense of ownership of his or her own education. In addition, the participation by communities outside the traditional education system increases. Building from this framework, we offer our own “framework for future-oriented science education” (see Figure 1). In this framework, we present two continua: one reflects the nature of student participation (from minimal to transformative) and the other reflects the nature of community participation (also from minimal to transformative). Both continua stretch from minimal to transformative participation. Minimal participation reflects little or no input by the student/community into the direction of the learning—what is learned, how it is learned and how what is learned will be assessed. Transformative participation, in contrast, represents education where the student or community drives the direction of the learning, including making decisions about content, learning approaches and assessment

Designing virtual spaces: redefining radio art through digital control

Radio Art is a composition practice that is constantly evolving. Artists share a commonality to redefine, reinvent, and repurpose analogue radio. It is an art that often bends to the will of antiqued technology, celebrating a wide pallet of found sounds. This research extends the boundaries of the art form by exploring Radio Art through sonic-centric lens and establishing a consistent and reproducible compositional framework. By shifting radio from a found object to an instrument, I have deconstructed its sonic aesthetics into two parallel materials for composition, gestural noise and broadcast signal. When tuning an analogue radio to a signal, relationships between these materials unfold. Contrast is a term found throughout my research. Contrast is embodied throughout radio and its history; radio is used as both a scientific communication device and for artistic expression. it is a symbol of democracy and oppression. Radio produces broadcast noise and signal, creating poetic reception, such as control and chaos, anxiety and ecstasy, distance and closeness. This research explores the characteristics of these forces and materials as a symbiotic relationship of unfolding radiophonic behaviours. A major focus of this research is the control of analogue radio through deconstruction and composition. I embarked on a twenty-four-month development period to build a Digital Audio Workstation called Radiophonic Environmental Designer, (RED). RED enables composers to create virtual radiophonic environments that are navigated by rotating the dial. Material is positioned along a horizon, and tuning behaviours sculpted. There is also a physical interface embedded into an analogue radio shell to control the virtual tuning, namely, Broadcast Link-up Environment, (BLUE). BLUE is an ad-on program offering an online digital platform for the diffusion of Radio Art. Using an internet connection and gyroscope technology that is built into most smart phones, a radiophonic environment is interacted through a purpose-built website. In my creative practice, analogue radio has been redesigned by adopting digital technological practices to control, edit and model it’s unique sound. In doing so, I reflect upon relationships between analogue and digital design principles through an extensive study on virtual analogue software and interfaces

BIG DATA IN MARKETING & RETAILING

Data is increasingly being created, stored, analyzed, and applied. Big Data is becoming an everyday phrase that appears in popular media and people’s daily conversations. This paper provides a framework to define Big Data from technical and business perspectives, to present its enormous value in different fields, to share its applications in marketing and retailing, market segmentation, targeting and positioning as well in developing marketing mix. We also provide some real life industry examples, to shed light on the challenges in harnessing the potential of Big Data, and to discuss its future. Big Data will separate the winners from the losers in the business field in the future. The leading companies in the Big Data field, such as Google, Amazon, and Wal-Mart, will continue to build their competitive advantage, both in marketing and other areas, by acting on the insights developed from Big Data analysis

Communicating Environmental Research: Harnessing the Power of Curation

Never before has public communication of critical research, science, and knowledge on climate change and biodiversity loss been more important. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report, Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, stated that we only have 12 years to limit the catastrophic effects of climate change, including extreme weather, flood, drought, and poverty. The 2019 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services revealed that roughly 1 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction. Given these dire warnings, the threat of climate change and biodiversity loss have never been more relevant, considering the impact these unprecedented issues will have on human survival, health, and well-being. This paper describes the results of our study, which explores findings used to develop the practice of research curation, which found that adapting and applying museum engagement strategies, using art to communicate science, and applying social media content curation and marketing strategies in combination with social learning practices are key to successful knowledge mobilization. This article focuses primarily on the methodologies and results of three projects: an art and literary exhibit, a biodiversity conversation series, and a sustainability-themed Instagram account. Based on our experience and findings, we share the lessons learned that we believe are actional for other researchers with similar goals, in particular those who are communicating research on climate change and biodiversity loss

Architecture of Experience

We currently inhabit a visually dominant world where the impact of technology is evident in every sphere of life. Such technologies have provided architects with highly sophisticated computer tools that are utilised in the design, process and communication of their work. Has this resulted in a move away from principles that we once deeply valued; regionality, craft, and longevity and been replaced with speed, homogeny, expediency and globalisation? Could this reliance on technology be desensitising us, resulting in visual dominance at the expense of a multi-sensory outcome, where architecture is viewed as a visual art and not one that is body-centred? This paper explores this phenomenon and reports on a teaching methodology that attempts to address this through a series of multi-sensory design projects and workshops, where the physical nature of space is explored through hands on experiments. Students are challenged to move out of their comfort zone and seek different modes of research and methods of exploration. The pedagogic aims are to embed a physical way of working that will create embodied experiences, enriching the student’s process into one that combines the poetics and pragmatics as the physical and digital complement each other

Training to enhance psychiatrist communication with patients with psychosis (TEMPO): cluster randomised controlled trial

Background A better therapeutic relationship predicts better outcomes. However, there is no trial-based evidence on how to improve therapeutic relationships in psychosis. Aims To test the effectiveness of communication training for psychiatrists on improving shared understanding and the therapeutic relationship (trial registration: ISRCTN94846422). Method In a cluster randomised controlled trial in the UK, 21 psychiatrists were randomised. Ninety-seven (51% of those approached) out-patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder were recruited, and 64 (66% of the sample recruited at baseline) were followed up after 5 months. The intervention group received four group and one individualised session. The primary outcome, rated blind, was psychiatrist effort in establishing shared understanding (self-repair). Secondary outcome was the therapeutic relationship. Results Psychiatrists receiving the intervention used 44% more self-repair than the control group (adjusted difference in means 6.4, 95% CI 1.46–11.33, P<0.011, a large effect) adjusting for baseline self-repair. Psychiatrists rated the therapeutic relationship more positively (adjusted difference in means 0.20, 95% CI 0.03–0.37, P = 0.022, a medium effect), as did patients (adjusted difference in means 0.21, 95% CI 0.01–0.41, P = 0.043, a medium effect). Conclusions Shared understanding can be successfully targeted in training and improves relationships in treating psychosis

Global Technological Trend in Academic Libraries

The advent of Social Media Technologies (SMTs) has remodelled contemporary academic libraries in unprecedented ways as developed countries are metamorphosing from providing library services from the conventional labour-intensive systems to embrace some easy dynamic technologically SMT driven systems which is the global trend in service delivery. But the reverse is the case in Africa and likewise in Nigeria where there is a dearth of research on SMT culture, cognizance of these technologies, acceptance, and implementation in academic libraries. It is on this premise that this study examined the use of SMTs for a globalised library services in the University of Ibadan and Babcock University in South West Nigeria. The study adopted a post-positivist research paradigm and a mixed-method research approach with a survey research design. The population for the study comprised all academic librarians coupled with 4th-year level Computer Science students in the selected two universities. While a multistage sampling technique was used in the selection of the target samples which involved the selection of the oldest public and private Universities in the region which are the University of Ibadan (UI), a Federal University, and Babcock University (BU) which is a Private University. Findings from the current study show that SNS (70.7%), chatting tools such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, (65.9%), and image and video sharing (26.8%) were the first set of three most SMT used by Academic Librarians within the sampled universities in providing globalised library services to the library clientele. Also, personal knowledge and skills; staff willingness to change, and Management support were the three (3) most important factors ranked by academic librarians as elements influencing the adoption and use of SMTs. Both University libraries are at different stages of coming up with the requisite SMT policies in providing globalised library services in academic librarie