A qualitative analysis of an LMS usage by staff

The Learning Management System (LMS) has emerged as one of the preferred information and communication technology solutions by which the higher education sector seeks to manage and support the learning experience that it provides to its students. It has also become an increasingly valuable tool which has the ability to record and capture data about users, unlocking the unprecedented potential of data captured for informed decision making and evidence- based strategies. Present literature illustrates a growing interest and increased use of analytics within the LMS to support and enhance the quality of learning and teaching; however, much of the focus has been on student learning and engagement. While educators can greatly benefit from data on learners, there is also a potential value in exploring and understanding the usage and engagement from the teaching staff perspective, as they are the key technological interfaces in the education institutions (Noeth & Volkov, 2004) who provide access to virtual learning content and support to students as part of the enhanced overall student learning experience. In 2008, the Learning Management System (LMS) Usage Framework was conceived by Griffith University and the University of Western Sydney as a joint initiative to undertake a benchmarking exercise to measure the level of uptake of the LMS and the associated tools at both universities This project and its outcomes were reported at ASCILITE 2009; Benchmarking across universities: A framework for LMS analysis (Rankine, Stevenson, Malfroy, Ashford-Rowe). This framework was a dynamic process model designed to define, describe and measure elements common to the online courses at given points in time, which enabled the selection of data according to specified criteria. Its principal elements were Content, Communication, Collaboration, Assessment, and Explicit Learner Support. Each element was then further broken into subcategories with respect to the use of particular online tools and educational content. Since 2008, and in collaboration with Educational Designers embedded within the academic community known at Griffith as Blended Learning Advisors, the framework that was developed in 2008 has undergone an evolutionary transformation to better fit and reflect the current Griffith learning and teaching context. However, its principal pedagogical delivery elements remain as Content, Communication, Collaboration, Assessment, and Explicit Learner Support, noting that each element is further broken into subcategories, which contain data on the use of particular online tools and educational content. In 2011/12 Griffith University initiated a further project, based upon this work, the purpose of which was to measure the level of academic uptake of the LMS. The revised LMS Usage Framework was adopted to develop algorithms capturing the relevant LMS data. This quantitative data was then analysed to measure the level of academic uptake and usage of the tools within the LMS. The data was structured to enable analysis at a range of academic grouping levels (Faculty/Department/School etc.) as well as to illustrate the overall performance of the respective academic element in terms of uptake and usage of technology tools in education delivery. This data extracted provided new and useful insights on the LMS tools usage patterns. This particularly activity was conducted as an exploratory study aimed at building on the previous work in this area, as noted above. However, it also unearthed new possibilities in the gathering and analysis of the LMS data to assist academic teachers, their managers and those administrators tasked with supporting academic professional development, in particular where it relates to evaluating the effectiveness of technological applications and strategies implemented to support an enhanced student learning experience and achievement

Negotiation as a means of developing and implementing health and safety policy

In the health, safety, and environmental area, negotiated rulemaking, implementation, and compliance are proposed by their advocates as delivering two primary benefits: reduced rulemaking time and decreased litigation over a final agency rule. The experience to date, however, indicates that negotiated rulemaking cannot be relied upon to deliver either of these benefits. Nonetheless, experience indicates that negotiation can, in appropriate circumstances, facilitate a better understanding of issues, concerns, facts, and positions among adversaries, promote the sharing of relevant information, and provide an opportunity for creative problem-solving. This paper discusses the use of these three types of negotiation by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Four negotiated rulemakings under the Occupational Safety and Health Act -- each of which involved an attempt to establish an OSHA standard for worker exposure to a particular toxic substance -- are evaluated according to whether negotiation was instrumental either in securing a more protective standard, or in securing an innovative technological response. The cases do not support the proposition that negotiation is more likely to protect worker health and stimulate more innovative protective technology than is traditional rulemaking. Rather, the record indicates that equal or better results could have been obtained through the traditional rulemaking process. In contrast to its willingness to use negotiation in standard-setting, OSHA has thus far shown little interest in making creative use of negotiation to promote technological change during the implementation or enforcement of standards

Negotiated Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Agreements in the United States: Lessons for Policy

The interest in so-called voluntary approaches to supplement or replace formal environmental, or occupational health and safety regulation has taken on new importance in both Europe and the United States. These approaches fall into two sharp divisions: (1) industry-initiated codes of good practice focusing on environmental management systems or performance goals, and (2) negotiated agreements between government and individual firms or industry sector trade associations focusing on regulation or compliance. This paper addresses the latter. In the United States, the motivations behind negotiated agreements are manifold and sometimes contradictory including desires (1) to facilitate the achievement of legislated or mandatory environmental goals by introducing flexibility and cost-effective compliance measures, (2) to negotiate levels of compliance (standards) fulfilling legislative mandates, (3) to negotiate legal definitions of Best Available Technology and other technology-based requirements, and (4) to weaken environmental initiatives. Efforts in furtherance of negotiated agreements have thus been greeted with mixed results by the various stakeholders. In the context of an anti-regulatory climate in the United States, the Administrative Procedures Act has been amended to allow “negotiated rulemaking” in achieving regulatory agency mandates. However, even before this legal innovation, regulatory agencies have been negotiating regulations. Independent of this legal avenue, negotiated compliance with industry associations is being fostered through the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) “Commonsense Initiative” and with individual firms through “EPA's Project XL”, again with mixed reception. The proposed paper describes and analyses negotiated agreements in the United States in the context of (1) EPA efforts to ensure environmental protection and (2) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration efforts to ensure worker health and safety. These agreements can be described according to the following taxonomy: (a) Negotiated regulation (either preceding formal regulation or as a substitute for formal regulation); (b) Negotiated compliance (implementing regulation or informal agreements) (i) the means and timetable for coming into compliance with emission, effluent, or concentration requirements (ii) negotiation in the context of an enforcement action in which the firm is out of legal compliance (for example, encouraging cleaner production through the leveraging of penalty reductions). The criteria for evaluation include: environmental or health and safety outcomes, effects on stimulating technological change, time for development (time to completion)/implementation (likelihood of court challenge), stakeholder influence (ability of large firms to dominate outcome, environmentalists–industry, or labour–management balance of power),and administrative features

The Control of Reproductive Hazards in the Workplace: A Prescription for Prevention

As workers become more aware that occupational exposure to toxic substances can impair their ability to bring healthy children into the world. they will begin to focus on legal mechanisms for reducing reproductive hazards in the workplace. The authors explore the use of compensatory remedies and anti-discrimination laws to provide an impetusfor employers to provide safe workplaces. hey investigate using workerprotection laws to reach psychological injuries and harm to offspring. They also survey existing preventive tools such as injunctive relief and the right to refuse hazardous wor

Otolith chemistry reflects frontal systems in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Pronounced environmental trends across fronts suggest that the otolith chemistry of oceanic fish can resolve zones on either side, promoting application to population questions at similar spatial scales. Trace and minor elements laid down immediately prior to capture - along the edges of otoliths from Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides - discriminated frontal zones in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Mean values differentiated sampling areas by up to 2.6 standard deviations, suggesting: (1) otolith Mg/Ca enrichment related to fish activity around the Burdwood Bank; (2) Mn/Ca enrichment associated with South America; (3) Sr/Ca linked to the presence of Circumpolar Deep Water; and (4) Ba/Ca to nutrient production and mixing. In the Polar Frontal Zone, meanders or eddies may account for affinities with neighbouring sampling areas, bringing water from the Subantarctic and Antarctic Zones onto the North Scotia Ridge. Moreover, fish age showed a significant relationship with depth and improved cross-validation by 14%, giving 85% classification rates to South American and Antarctic regions, and 57 to 83% to areas along the Patagonian Shelf. These results indicate that otolith chemistry reflects hydrography, detecting oceanic gradients across the slope of continental shelves and between zones separated by strong trends like fronts

Otolith Chemistry Reflects Frontal Systems in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Pronounced environmental trends across fronts suggest that the otolith chemistry of oceanic fish can resolve zones on either side, promoting application to population questions at similar spatial scales. Trace and minor elements laid down immediately prior to capture - along the edges of otoliths from Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides - discriminated frontal zones in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Mean values differentiated sampling areas by up to 2.6 standard deviations, suggesting: (1) otolith Mg/Ca enrichment related to fish activity around the Burdwood Bank; (2) Mn/Ca enrichment associated with South America; (3) Sr/Ca linked to the presence of Circumpolar Deep Water; and (4) Ba/Ca to nutrient production and mixing. In the Polar Frontal Zone, meanders or eddies may account for affinities with neighbouring sampling areas, bringing water from the Subantarctic and Antarctic Zones onto the North Scotia Ridge. Moreover, fish age showed a significant relationship with depth and improved cross-validation by 14%, giving 85% classification rates to South American and Antarctic regions, and 57 to 83% to areas along the Patagonian Shelf. These results indicate that otolith chemistry reflects hydrography, detecting oceanic gradients across the slope of continental shelves and between zones separated by strong trends like fronts