Learning leaders matter

Learning leaders position themselves first as learners, then as leaders of other learners. The inherent tensions in this duality are explored in this literature review. Drawing on a broad range of research from education, psychology and neuroscience, the review builds a picture of the situation facing school principals, as leaders of learning communities. The review is directed towards illustrating the professional practice of Developing Self and Others in the Australian Professional Standard for Principals, and focuses on how this practice is demonstrated in the experience of learning leaders. The discussion clarifies key terminology and highlights how leaders need to understand the role of emotions, relationships, attachment behaviours, and collaboration in creating effective and sustainable learning communities.  Key issues arising from the literature review include the fact that there is no accepted standard for developing either self or others in the literature. Another is that the idea of developing self or others in a vacuum is becoming increasingly challenged with the realisation that all learning is context specific and interdependent. Finally, an area of considerable dispute in the literature concerns a divide between sociological and psychological standpoints on the role of leader. There is an opportunity for the academy to engage more directly in translating good research into practical orientations that cover the field from a practitioner point of view. The annotated bibliography includes resources from both standpoints

Letter to Diana Osbaldiston regarding SEAALL membership, July 2, 1990

A letter from Philip Riley to Diana Osbaldiston requesting a SEAALL membership renewal form

Synthesis of Natural Product-Based Probes for the Central Nervous System

The number of individuals affected by a central nervous system disorder continues to steadily increase. Unfortunately, in many cases the available therapeutic options leaves these diseases undertreated and additional molecular probes are needed to fully understand these conditions. Historically, natural products have served as a rich source of new molecular scaffolds for developing these probes due to their complex structures and unique ability to perturb biological pathways through diverse mechanisms. With this in mind, the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) agonist salvinorin A, the mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonist herkinorin, and the anti-tau diarylheptanoid myricanol were identified as potential probes for investigating substance abuse, pain, and Alzheimer’s Disease, respectively. To determine how the unique neoclerodane structure of salvinorin A interacts with the KOR, methods to chemical modify the steric and electronic properties of the furan ring were developed. The resulting structure-activity relationships (SAR) identified three compounds that successfully attenuated drug seeking behavior in an animal model of drug relapse. In a separate study, a simple modification to the A-ring of herkinorin was found to drastically increase the potency and selectivity for the MOR, thus increasing the potential in vivo utility of the probe. Additional SAR studies also resulted in the first sub-nanomolar diterpene MOR agonist. Finally, an enantioselective route to both enantiomers of myricanol was developed to provide the necessary material for more extensive biological investigations into the compound’s tau degradation mechanism. The three studies described herein, highlight the importance of using chemical synthesis to modify and build complex natural products scaffolds in order to probe biological systems

Reach modelling for drive-up self-service

People using a self-service terminal such as an automated teller machine (ATM) tend to adjust their physical position throughout a transaction. This is particularly apparent with terminals that are designed to be used from a vehicle (i.e. drive up automated teller machines or ATMs). Existing predictive tools tend to focus on static reach and provide limited predictions for how far people are willing to stretch to complete a task. Drive-up self-service products have 3 main challenges: the variability of vehicles, people and driver behaviour. Such conventional tools are therefore of limited use in understanding how much people are willing to move to use a self-service terminal. Work is described to build in-house predictive models based on 2 large empirical studies of reach in a drive up installation. These 2 studies assessed comfortable and extended reach from 10 vehicle categories. Extended reach was defined as stretching/leaning as far as participants would normally be willing to in order to complete a drive-up transaction. Findings from these studies indicated that participants are prepared to adopt more extreme postures at drive-up than in other situations with extended reach at drive-up being significantly different to what might be seen at a walk-up kiosk

The emotional labour of the aspirant leader: traversing school politics

The emotions of the aspirant leader are underexplored. In this chapter, we detail how aspirants experience the transition from teacher to leader and report on the kinds of emotional labour associated with the transition. This was examined during events of high emotional arousal for 130 school aspirants: when they felt professionally wounded, either by colleagues, leaders, parents or students. During a time of wounding, emotional work and emotional labour hinged on the dissonance between \u27display rules\u27 of the school and what aspirants\u27 actually felt. Exploring the wounding stories revealed common display rules, which were often broken. Breaking these rules always had consequences and emotional correlates. The most prevalent form of emotional labour was surface acting. The.final discovery was the resilience of the aspirants as they recovered. Invariably, aspirants progressed through an emotion cycle of Regrouping, Recovery and Resolution. The quality of collegial relationships was the key to resolving the woundings

Measuring Student Support for Participative Assessment and Related Strategies: Development and Testing of the Beliefs about Participative Assessment Instrument (BAPAI)

Participative assessment is well established in higher education. However, students’ concerns about the appropriateness of participative assessment create resistance to successful implementation. Strategies for addressing student concerns are needed because participative assessment practices appear to improve learning outcomes. The literature lacks validated scales to measure the subjective support for participative assessment. Presented are validated scales measuring support for self- and peer-assessment, group assignments and a proposed correlate, support for a discussion-oriented classroom derived from the responses of 213 pre-service teachers (both first year under-graduates and graduates). Graduates were more supportive of self- and peer-assessment than first year undergraduates and level of support for group assignments and self-assessment were the best predictors of support for peer-assessment. The scales provide: a measure to determine student support prior to participative assessment implementation; and, systematically collected data to initiate dialogue with students about their concerns

Zircon U-Pb dating of Mesozoic volcanic and tectonic events in northwest Palmer Land and southwest Graham Land, Antarctica

New whole rock Rb-Sr and zircon U-Pb geochronological data and Sm-Nd isotopic data are presented from the central magmatic arc domain of the Antarctic Peninsula in the area of northwest Palmer Land and southwest Graham Land, Rb-Sr isochrons indicate an age of 169±6 Ma for basement orthogneisses and 132±9 to 71±9 Ma for plutons. A U-Pb age of 183 ± 2.1 Ma, with no detectable inheritance, on zircons from an orthogneiss from Cape Berteaux provides the first reliable age for the orthogneisses, which are interpreted as metamorphosed silicic volcanic rocks, and Sm-Nd data indicate derivation in a mature volcanic arc. The age indicates they may be correlatives of the Jurassic ‘Chon Aike’ volcanism of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. A U-Pb zircon age of 107 ± 1.7 Ma on a terrestrial volcanic sequence overlying an uncomformity strongly suggests a mid-Cretaceous age for the extensive volcanic cover of northwest Palmer Land that was previously thought to be Jurassic. The unconformity is interpreted to have been a result of compressional uplift related to the Palmer Land event. This is the first date for the event in the western part of the central magmatic arc terrane of the Antarctic Peninsula