Teaching from a Distance

Over the past six years the Faculty of Health at the University of Western Sydney, Hawkes bury has implemented an innovative way of providing an Australian qualification of Bachelor Health Science (Nursing) for registered nurses from Hong Kong. The program tried to incorporate the use of electronic mail, for both students and lecturers, to keep in contact with each other throughout the course. The course is divided into two Stages. Stage I consisting of twelve months part time undertaken in the students country of origin. Stage II is undertaken one semester full time at UWS Hawkesbury. During Stage I, students undertake six subjects, three being taught by staff from the Hong Kong Baptist University (previously Hong Kong Baptist College) and three by visiting Australian lecturers and a lecturer employed on a part time basis who lives in Hong Kong. Electronic mail has been utilised in the setting up and auditing of student progress as well as support for staff teaching the units supplied to them by the UWS, Hawkesbury. Staff administrating the course have also utilised electronic mail. The benefits and difficulties for students and staff utilising electronic mail for support of students and lecturers in teaching and learning as well as administration of an innovative course provision will be discussed in this paper presentation

First Year Advisors at UNE: An embedded approach to student learning support

First Year Advisors@UNE: • Academics - engage in teaching & scholarly activities, - have discipline backgrounds and qualifications in education, - are located within Faculties/Schools; • Consult, develop, initiate and implement strategies with students, faculty and professional staff to facilitate the transition to tertiary learning; • Community of practice

Student Perceptions about the Influence of a Perioperative Nursing Elective on Career Preferences

It has been suggested that offering perioperative nursing courses will increase the number of nurses and new graduates who enter the perioperative area. There is little research to support that students’ career choices are influenced by immersion in perioperative content. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe student perceptions of perioperative nursing as a career option following completion of an elective in perioperative nursing. Two focus groups were held involving students (N=19) who completed the course. One hour sessions were audio taped as students described their perceptions about perioperative nursing. Tapes were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for themes. Four themes were identified: 1) opening their eyes: career advantages, 2) being captive: career disadvantages, 3) paradox unrecognized, and 4) I’ll be a better nurse. Although students were not persuaded to alter their primary employment intentions, they acknowledged the possibility of a future career in the perioperative area

Long-term change in the sensitivity of tree-ring growth to climate forcing in Larix decidua

\u2022 Tree rings are widely used long-term proxy data which, if combined with longterm instrumental climate records, can provide excellent information on global climate variability. This research aimed to determine whether interannual climate\u2013 growth responses in Alpine treeline forests are stationary over time. \u2022 We used tree-ring width chronologies of Larix decidua (European larch) from 17 sites and monthly temperatures and precipitation data for the period 1800\u20131999. Climate\u2013growth relationships were assessed with correlation and response functions, and their stationarity and consistency over time were measured using moving correlation. \u2022 Tree-ring chronologies showed similar interannual variations over the last two centuries, suggesting that the same climatic factors synchronously limited growth at most sites. The most sensitive variables showed significant transient responses varying within the time period, indicating a possible deviation from the uniformitarian principle applied to dendroclimatology. \u2022 If these findings are confirmed in future studies on other species and in other regions, we suggest that time-dependent variables should be taken into account to avoid overestimation of treeline advance, future forest carbon storage in temperaturelimited environments and inaccurate reconstruction of past climate variability. Key words: climate\u2013growth responses, dendroclimatology, Larix decidua (European larch), moving correlation function, tree ring, uniformitarian principle