Media Culture 2020: collaborative teaching and blended learning using social media and cloud-based technologies

The Media Culture 2020 project was considered to be a great success by all the partners, academics and especially the students who took part. It is a true example of an intercultural, multidisciplinary, blended learning experience in higher education that achieved it goals of breaking down classroom walls and bridging geographical distance and cultural barriers. The students with different skills, coming from different countries and cultures, interacting with other enlarges the possibilities of creativity, collaboration and quality work. The blend of both synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods fostered an open, blended learning environment, one that extended the traditional boundaries of the classroom in time and space. The interactive and decentralized nature of digital tools enabled staff and students to communicate and strengthen social ties, alongside participation in the production of new knowledge and media content. For students and lecturers, the implementation of social media and cloud platforms offered an innovative solution to both teaching and learning in a collaborative manner. By leveraging the interactive and decentralised capabilities of a range of technologies in an educational context, this model of digital scholarship facilitates an open and dynamic working environment. Blended teaching methods allow for expansive collaboration, whereby information and knowledge can be accessed and disseminated across a number of networked devices

The “I belong in the LLB” program: Animation and promoting law student well-being

This article argues that the growing body of empirical evidence on law students’ high levels of psychological distress creates an imperative for curricular and extra-curricular strategies to address this issue. We highlight recent initiatives at QUT Law School designed to support law student well-being that are informed by insights from positive psychology. In particular, we explain our use of animation, which is an engaging medium to promote students’ appreciation of the importance of psychological well-being in law school and beyond

On the zero set of G-equivariant maps

Let $G$ be a finite group acting on vector spaces $V$ and $W$ and consider a smooth $G$-equivariant mapping $f:V\to W$. This paper addresses the question of the zero set near a zero $x$ of $f$ with isotropy subgroup $G$. It is known from results of Bierstone and Field on $G$-transversality theory that the zero set in a neighborhood of $x$ is a stratified set. The purpose of this paper is to partially determine the structure of the stratified set near $x$ using only information from the representations $V$ and $W$. We define an index $s(\Sigma)$ for isotropy subgroups $\Sigma$ of $G$ which is the difference of the dimension of the fixed point subspace of $\Sigma$ in $V$ and $W$. Our main result states that if $V$ contains a subspace $G$-isomorphic to $W$, then for every maximal isotropy subgroup $\Sigma$ satisfying $s(\Sigma)>s(G)$, the zero set of $f$ near $x$ contains a smooth manifold of zeros with isotropy subgroup $\Sigma$ of dimension $s(\Sigma)$. We also present a systematic method to study the zero sets for group representations $V$ and $W$ which do not satisfy the conditions of our main theorem. The paper contains many examples and raises several questions concerning the computation of zero sets of equivariant maps. These results have application to the bifurcation theory of $G$-reversible equivariant vector fields

Perceptions of the learning environment in higher specialist training of doctors: implications for recruitment and retention.

INTRODUCTION: Career choice, sense of professional identity and career behaviour are influenced, subject to change and capable of development through interaction with the learning environment. In this paper workplace learning discourses are used to frame ongoing concerns associated with higher specialist training. Data from the first stage of a multimethods investigation into recruitment into and retention in specialties in the West Midlands is used to consider some possible effects of the specialist learning environment on recruitment and retention. METHODS: The aim of the study was to identify issues, through interviews with 6 consultants and questionnaires completed by specialist registrars from specialties representing a range of recruitment levels. These would inform subsequent study of attributes and dispositions relevant to specialist practice and recruitment. The data were analysed using NVivo software for qualitative data management. RESULTS: Participants' perceptions are presented as bipolar dimensions, associated with: curriculum structure, learning relationships, assessment of learning, and learning climate. They demonstrate ongoing struggle between different models of workplace learning. CONCLUSION: Changes in the postgraduate education of doctors seem set to continue well into the future. How these are reflected in the balance between workplace learning models, and how they influence doctors' sense of identity as specialists suggests a useful basis for examination of career satisfaction and recruitment to specialties

Timor leste collaborative project: a short report

This report discusses findings from a small-scale scoping study, which is part of a larger curriculum project—a collaborative venture between staff from the Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e (UNTL) and a New Zealand university. The aim of the wider project is to develop a context-sensitive English language curriculum for students at UNTL who are undergoing pre-service training to be teachers of English as a foreign language in local secondary schools. (Details of the institutional and linguistic context are provided in the appendix.) According to Norton (2000), investment by learners is a key factor in the successful implementation of a new curriculum: "if learners invest in a second language, they do so with the understanding that they will acquire a wider range of symbolic and material resources, which will increase their value in the social world" (Norton, 2000, pp. 165-166). Thus, when designing the curriculum, it is important to ensure that the students will not only understand how to use the specific learning tasks but that it also expands their repertoire of skills and knowledge for application in their subsequent professional and social lives. The report begins by outlining the history and objectives of the project before explaining the specific research questions posed for the scoping study. The means of collecting data will be outlined and examples of the participants' attitudes will be presented based on open-ended questionnaire responses. These findings will be discussed in terms of how they might lead to the design of a curriculum which is internationally-framed and context-sensitive in terms both of its content and implementation. The report will conclude with the further steps that are being taken to move the project to its next phase

Invited Editorial: The Gifts of a Talk with TED

In this invited editorial, Dr. Jim Field reflects on the recent meeting of the 12th annual Canadian Hermeneutic Institute, which hosted Professor Ted George as our visiting scholar. Three days of lecture and scholarly conversation left all of us in thoughtful and interpretive spaces

Invited Guest Editorial: Quaint Memories of Puzzling Through Mysteries

The incompleteness of meaning and the finitude of understanding suggest that the subject matters (die Sache) of understanding are mysteries rather than problems. Mysteries are not subject to the methodological solutions problems are. A problem denotes a difficulty demanding a solution. Mysteries however can only be understood more deeply. They are not to be explained away but are to be discerned as an ever-present limit to our understanding. They invoke an apprehension of a radical limitlessness (Davey, 2006, p. 29).I had the good fortune of supervising John’s thesis—a mysterious venture to be sure, because when we started, neither the path nor the destination were clear. In this editiorial I preface John's latest installment of his serialization of The Case of the Disappearing/Appearing Slow Learner: An Interpretive Mystery. Part Four: Quaint Notions of Justice

A Study of Paul\u27s Interpretation of the Old Testament with Particular Reference to His Use of Isaiah in the Letter to the Romans

One of the most obvious characteristics of the New Testament which greets the eyes of even the casual reader is its great dependence upon the Old Testament. Words, phrases, topics, personalities, and events from the Old Testament are carried forward into the New on almost every one of its pages. It has often been stated that neither of the Testaments can be understood apart from the other. Centuries ago Augustine declared that, The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is made plain in the New. The dependence of the New Testament upon the Old is especially seen in the many times it quotes from the Old. Estimates run around two-hundred direct and recognizable quotations with hundreds more indirect quotations and allusions. The book of Isaiah is directly quoted about sixty times and indirectly referred to about 150 times in the New Testament. The first problem is that of listing all of the places where the New Testament uses the Old and of classifying them according to their degree of directness. As one reads more closely and attempts to compare the quotations with their sources, other problems become apparent. On the word level the first group of problems are seen. Why didn\u27t the New Testament writers quote the O~d Testament with a greater degree of verbal accuracy? Then as the comparison is pressed, questions are raised as to whether the authors of the New Testament really understood the Old or not. Some times they seem to completely ignore the context of the original passage and interpret it to suit their own purposes

Losing the So-Called Paradigm War: Does our Confusion, Disarray, and Retreat Contribute to the Advance?

In this article, I argue that what is commonly lamented as the decline of qualitative research might be because of our own inability to reveal something true about being-in-the-world. Four problems with qualitative work are identified: making what is obvious inescapable, confusion around what constitutes qualitative research and phenomenology, uniformed and disrespectful mixing of methods, and devolution into “little t” truth. I finish by calling for bold, evocative interpretation, and posing the question: What is the nature of the revolution that hermeneutics can foment?