Towards general capabilities through technology : assessment for learning as a field of exchange

The introduction of the Australian curriculum, the use of standardised testing (e.g. NAPLAN) and the My School website have stimulated and in some cases renewed a range of boundaries for young people in Australian Education. Standardised testing has accentuated social reproduction in education with an increase in the numbers of students disengaging from mainstream education and applying for enrolment at the Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centre Network (EREAFLCN). Many young people are denied access to credentials and certification as they become excluded from standardised education and testing. The creativity and skills of marginalised youth are often evidence of general capabilities and yet do not appear to be recognised in mainstream educational institutions when standardised approaches are adopted. Young people who participate at the EREAFLCN arrive with a variety of forms of cultural capital, frequently utilising general capabilities, which are not able to be valued in current education and employment fields. This is not to say that these young people‟s different forms of cultural capital have no value, but rather that such funds of knowledge, repertoires and cultural capital are not valued by the majority of powerful agents in educational and employment fields. How then can the inherent value of traditionally unorthodox - yet often intricate, ingenious, and astute-versions of cultural capital evident in the habitus of many young people be made to count, be recognised, be valuated?Can a process of educational assessment be a field of capital exchange and a space which crosses boundaries through a valuating process? This paper reports on the development of an innovative approach to assessment in an alternative education institution designed for the re engagement of „at risk‟ youth who have left formal schooling. A case study approach has been used to document the engagement of six young people, with an educational approach described as assessment for learning as a field of exchange across two sites in the EREAFLCN. In order to capture the broad range of students‟ cultural and social capital, an electronic portfolio system (EPS) is under trial. The model draws on categories from sociological models of capital and reconceptualises the eportfolio as a sociocultural zone of learning and development. Results from the trial show a general tendency towards engagement with the EPS and potential for the attainment of socially valued cultural capital in the form of school credentials. In this way restrictive boundaries can be breached and a more equitable outcome achieved for many young Australians

Breaching the standardised assessment boundary: Assessment for learning as a field of exchange

The introduction of the Australian curriculum, the use of standardised testing (e.g. NAPLAN) and the My School website are couched in a context of accountability. This circumstance has stimulated and in some cases renewed a range of boundaries in Australian Education. The consequences that arise from standardised testing have accentuated the boundaries produced by social reproduction in education which has led to an increase in the numbers of students disengaging from mainstream education and applying for enrolment at the Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centre Network (EREAFLCN). Boundaries are created for many young people who are denied access to credentials and certification as a result of being excluded from or in some way disengaging from standardised education and testing. Young people who participate at the EREAFLCN arrive with a variety of forms of cultural capital that are not valued in current education and employment fields. This is not to say that these young people’s different forms of cultural capital have no value, but rather that such funds of knowledge, repertoires and cultural capital are not valued by the majority of powerful agents in educational and employment fields. How then can the qualitative value of traditionally unorthodox - yet often intricate, ingenious, and astute - versions of cultural capital evident in the habitus of many young people be made to count, be recognised, be valuated? Can a process of educational assessment be a field of capital exchange and a space which breaches boundaries through a valuating process? This paper reports on the development of an innovative approach to assessment in an alternative education institution designed for the re-engagement of ‘at risk’ youth who have left formal schooling. A case study approach has been used to document the engagement of six young people, with an educational approach described as assessment for learning as a field of exchange across two sites in the EREAFLCN. In order to capture the broad range of students’ cultural and social capital, an electronic portfolio system (EPS) is under trial. The model draws on categories from sociological models of capital and reconceptualises the eportfolio as a sociocultural zone of learning and development. Results from the trial show a general tendency towards engagement with the EPS and potential for the attainment of socially valued cultural capital in the form of school credentials. In this way restrictive boundaries can be breached and a more equitable outcome achieved for many young Australians

Studies on the synthesis and reactivity of bridgehead-fused 1,2,3-triazoles

The subject matter of this thesis is concerned with investigations of the synthesis and reactivity of bridgehead - fused 1,2,3 -triazole derivatives. In particular the synthetic usefulness of the products derived by acid -promoted triazole ring cleavage in such heterocyclic systems was investigated. The description of the results obtained in these studies is preceded by a survey of methods commonly employed for the con- struction of bridgehead -fused 1,2,3 -triazoles and an outline of the types of reactivity which these compounds can exhibit. The reactivity of a series of 3- phenyl- 1,2,3 -triazolo- [1,5-a]pyrimidines towards protic acids has been studied and it has been shown that in the case of hydrochloric and hydrobromic acid triazole ring scission proceeds smoothly to afford the respective 2- halobenzylpyrimidine derivatives. Attempts to effect this reaction with a variety of other protic acids was largely unsuccessful. The ability of Lewis acids to catalyse triazole ring scission of 3- phenyl -1,2,3- triazolo[1,5- a]pyrimidines was also investigated and it was found that the latter reacted with boron trifluoride -etherate to give triazole cleaved products. The intermediate boron trifluoride -1,2,3- triazolo[1,5- a]pyrimidine adduct in such reactions was successfully isolated but attempts to induce triazole ring cleavage of the complex by heating with a variety of alkali metal salts met with mixed success. Attempts to synthesise 2- aminobenzylpyrimidines by the reaction of 2- chlorobenzylpyrimidines with aminating reagents were not successful. In contrast it was found that the synthetically useful 2- aminobenzylpyrimidines could be prepared by the reduction of the corresponding 2- azidobenzylpyrimidines. Acid -catalysed decomposition of the latter compounds also provided a general route to 2- benzoylpyrimidines and the chemistry of these little studied ketones was investigated. However, attempts to use 2- benzoylpyrimidines to prepare novel bicyclic heterocycles failed. 2- Aminobenzylpyrimidines were readily acylated by a variety of acid chlorides and the resulting amides reacted with phosphoryl chloride in 1,2- dichloroethane to give imidazo[1,5 -a]- pyrimidine derivatives. The scope of this two -step acylationcyclisation procedure was investigated in detail and provides a general route to the little studied imidazo[1,5- a]pyrimidine nucleus. 1,2,3- Triazolo[1,5 -a]- 1,3,5 -triazine derivatives were prepared and the reactivity of this virtually unknown ring system towards acid -promoted triazole cleavage was investigated. In many cases such scission proceeded smoothly and provided a new route to 1,3,5 -triazine derivatives. Attempts to synthesise imidazo[1,5- a]- 1,3,5 -triazines failed due to the instability of the 2- azidobenzyl- 1,3,5 -triazines required as precursors of the key intermediate 2- aminobenzyl- 1,3,5 -triazines

Machine Space

Informed by frequent visits to the city of Detroit, Machine Space is a 24 minute film and cinematic translation of a landscape as an artifact of past and present socio-spatial relations; or, in this case, a built environment as a sedimentation of racial inequality. The film-as-research needed to be sensitive and give voice to the extreme past and present social inequalities of the site. It presents innovative methods of depicting the landscape of a city and space as a relational property in an urban context. Distributed by LUX, Artists Moving Image, London

A comparative study of simulated and experimental results for an extruding elastomeric component

With ever advancing simulation techniques and algorithms being introduced to commercial software, the importance of validation remains a priority. An experimental rig was designed to study the effects of rubber extrusion consisting of a compression testing system and a transparent extrusion barrel, of similar geometry to that used in a forming process. Through visual and numerical comparison, the experimental results would be compared to those obtained through Finite Element Analysis (FEA). To remedy the convergence difficulties of the complexity of the simulation, due to large deformations, a recent Nonlinear Adaptive Remeshing boundary condition was applied to the model

Theorising political legitimisation: from stasis to processes.

Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasian perspective, we argue for a more processual concept of legitimisation to encompass the dynamic social networks (figurations) that constitute the more unintentional context for deliberate legitimation claims. As networks expand and intensify, processes of legitimisation incorporate changing and more diverse bases for legitimacy claims, as well as a greater variety of such claims and counterclaims. As the power relations between contending groups change, legitimation practices become part of the integrating functions of the state, shaping figurations and the social habitus

Rational and emotional tension balances in the organization of political hunger strikes.

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the organization of political hunger strikes, rational calculations and actions and emotions. Drawing from the theoretical formulations of Norbert Elias, we examine how rational–emotional balances generated by different and intertwined tiers of social integration partly shaped the organization of political hunger strikes. Political hunger strikes are interesting because they tend to involve actions based on rational considerations and emotional charges. The empirical context includes a comparative analysis across space and time involving the organization of political hunger strikes in Ireland and (West) Germany during the 20th century. Our analysis suggests a difference between the rational–emotional tension balance exhibited by hunger strikers of the 1920s and that of hunger strikers of the 1970s and 1980s. We explain how these differences are connected to the broader social structures pertaining at the time. The main contention of the paper is that all forms of political organizing involve rational–emotional balances, and these balances are structured and shaped by social dynamics at different tiers of social integration

Spatial Cinema

This Blu-ray/DVD collects many years of artists film practice (2002 –18) and consolidates it as a Spatial Cinema. The potential on this disc media platform for paratexts was explored by commissioning contributions from other researchers responding to the work as commentaries and an included 4000 word essay

Machine Space: videos to accompany the thesis 'The spatial cinema: an encounter between Lefebvre and the moving image'

Machine Space is an essay film that explores the city of Detroit as a space of movement and circulation. This city is negotiated in the moving image as a palimpsest of maps, spatial metrics and automotive infrastructure; illustrating the material and discursive layers that have constructed this now post-industrial metropolis. This is a city where, in the words of the urban thinker Henri Lefebvre, 'the production of space itself replaces - or, rather, is superimposed upon - the production of things in space.' (Lefebvre 1991, p.62) This practice-as-research doctoral project explores an interface of Lefebvre's 'production of space' with the cinema; as visual artefact, a phenomenological document; and as media exhibited in a screening space. The result is a productive discourse of 'Spatial Cinema.