Reading with new tools: An evaluation of Personal Digital Assistants as tools for reading course materials

Lightweight, palmtop devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) can now be used for reading electronic text, opening up their potential as learning tools. This paper reports a study that evaluated the use of PDAs for reading course materials by students on an Open University master's course. The research is grounded in activity theory, which provides a useful framework for examining how the introduction of a new tool changes an existing activity. Student perceptions of the possibilities and constraints of the PDA, as determined by questionnaires and interviews, reveal the impact the new tool had upon reading. The PDA constrained reading with limitations such as the small screen size, new requirements for navigating through the text and awkward methods for taking notes. These conditions made it difficult for students to skim‐read the text, to move back and forth within the document and to interact with the text as easily as they could with paper. Nevertheless, students welcomed the opportunity to have the course materials on a portable, lightweight device that could be used at any time and in any place. This made it easier to fit the reading activity around the various other activities in which students were involved In addition, the PDA was used in conjunction with existing tools, such as the printed version of the course materials and the desktop computer. Therefore, it was not seen to replace paper but rather to extend and complement it. The findings are discussed using concepts from activity theory to interpret how the new tool modified the reading activity

Mobile technologies: prospects for their use in learning in informal science settings

Recent developments in mobile technologies have offered the potential to support learners studying a variety of subjects. In this paper we explore the possibilities related to science learners and in particular focus on science learners in informal settings and reflect on a number of recent projects in order to consider the prospects for such work. The debate on informal learning acknowledges the complexity of the area and the difficulty of defining informal learning. One view is to consider the settings in which learning takes place as a continuum from formal settings, e.g. university, to social structures, e.g. friendship groups (Sefton-Green, 2004). The literature on science learning with mobile devices at this very 'informal' end of the spectrum is currently sparse and so in the paper we reflect on some projects and possibilities across the continuum. Our main focus is how mobile devices can support informal learning in science and research possibilities. Some of the recent research on mobile learning has used an activity theoretical perspective, including one of the case studies we discuss and in the final part of the paper we highlight the influence of activity theory in helping us to consider the complexity of the learning settings

Alien Registration- Waycott, Evelyn (Portland, Cumberland County)

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Active Metaphysics: Acting as Manual Philosophy or Phenomenological Interpretations of Acting Theory

This thesis considers actors as ‘manual philosophers’; it engages the proposition that acting can reveal aspects of existence and Being. In this sense, forms of acting that analyse and engage with lived experience of the world offer a phenomenological approach to the problem of Being. But rather than arrive at abstract, general conclusions about the human subject’s relationship to the world, at least some approaches to acting investigate the structures of experience through those experiences themselves in a lived, physical way. I begin with the troubled relationship between philosophy and theatre and briefly consider the history of attacks on actors. I suggest that at the heart of antitheatricality is what Jonas Barish (1981: 3) calls ‘ontological queasiness’: theatre poses a problem in the distinction between ‘what is’ and ‘what is not’. Turning to phenomenology as a particular way of doing philosophy that challenges any dualistic understanding of subjectivity, I reflect on Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time as a lens for viewing the process of performing and preparing for a role. Heidegger emphasises the intermeshed relationship between the human subject, Dasein (Being-there), and the world to the point that it is impossible to consider one without the other. I have chosen three of the most influential theatre and acting theorists of the twentieth century and examine how each uncovers aspects of existence that are presented in Heidegger’s phenomenology. Firstly, I consider Constantin Stanislavski’s ‘system’ which emphasises action for a purpose within an environment, the individual’s relationship to objects in the world and its involvement with other people who share the same type of Being in the world. Secondly, I examine Antonin Artaud’s conception of theatre that seeks to resist the structures of Being, the way the world is interpreted by others (the ‘They’) and the way that the world gets handed over to consciousness for the most part. In many respects, Artaud’s theatre is the embodiment of Anxiety, a world-revealing state where Being becomes apparent. Thirdly, I discuss Bertolt Brecht’s theatre practice as an attestation to authenticity (a truthful engagement with human existence as possibility) through the medium of performance. Brecht seeks to engage audiences in philosophical debate and change the world. Like Heidegger, Brecht also stresses the historical and temporal constitution of the human subject, whilst emphasising practicality in theatre making. By examining these approaches to performance as case studies, this thesis rethinks the notional intersection of philosophy and theatre, concentrating on process rather than literary analysis. This application of phenomenology is new in that it does not merely consider theatre analysis from an ‘ideal’ audience point of view (i.e. provide a phenomenology of theatre). By focusing on acting, I emphasise the development of artistic creation and becoming, and show how certain types of acting are phenomenological. The bold upshot here is a conception of philosophy that acknowledges various theatre practices as embodied forms of philosophical practice. Furthermore, theatre might well be thought of as phenomenological because it can be an investigation of Being firmly entrenched in practical action and performance. Conversely, philosophy is more than just words on a page; it is a performed activity. Actors can be considered manual philosophers in so far as they engage with the problem of Being not in mere abstraction but in the practical challenges of performance

Overcoming the Metaphysics of Consciousness: Being/Artaud

Some recent theories of the mind have invoked the theatre as a metaphor to explain consciousness. This paper suggests that there is something irreducible to consciousness and that theatre can be an invaluable tool for exploring such subject matter. Rather than explain the mind through theory, performance practices can use immediate experience to investigate consciousness. Of course, Antonin Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ articulates the hope of apprehending consciousness through immediate experience, overcoming ‘literature’ and the alienating ossification of language. For Artaud, the ‘self’ has always been stolen at birth yet he suggests it can be returned through the theatre. The Theatre of Cruelty is an overcoming of the metaphysical obstructions of ‘being’. Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time also seeks to reveal the concept of 'Being' by destroying the historical misunderstanding of the term. Heidegger' claims that 'Dasein' (Being-there), the human subject, is maintained by a radical continuity with the world in which it exists. Because human subjects are 'absorbed' in the world of practical activity, projects and tasks, they tend to misrecognise themselves as a ‘thing’. But consciousness is not a ‘thing’ like other entities in the world. Such misrecognition is the fundamental error in what Heidegger calls metaphysics. My contention is that the Theatre of Cruelty is Artaud’s attempt at articulating a practical investigation of consciousness, resisting the metaphysical structures of language and logic and calling for the priority of ‘experience’. Cruelty is a return of the pre-theoretical, unspeakable words needed to explore the Being of consciousness. Such is an attempt to overcome the metaphysics of consciousness onstage.The conference was sponsored by A.D.S.A., the Department of Performance Studies, the School of Letters, Arts and Media, and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Sydney

Alien Registration- Waycott, Evelyn (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/24116/thumbnail.jp

Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program: Inshore seagrass, annual report for the sampling period 1st June 2012 - 31st May 2013

A key component of Reef Rescue is the implementation of a long-term water quality and ecosystem monitoring program in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. James Cook University were contracted to conduct the intertidal seagrass monitoring component and produce this report, which examines the status and trend of Reef intertidal seagrass (detect long-term trends in seagrass abundance, community structure, distribution, reproductive health, and nutrient status from representative inshore seagrass meadows) and identifies response of seagrass to environmental drivers of change

Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program: Inshore seagrass, annual report for the sampling period 1st July 2010 – 31st May 2011

A key component of Reef Rescue is the implementation of a long-term water quality and ecosystem monitoring program in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Fisheries Queensland and James Cook University were contracted to conduct the intertidal seagrass monitoring component and produce this report, which examines the status and trend of Reef intertidal seagrass (detect long-term trends in seagrass abundance, community structure, distribution, reproductive health, and nutrient status from representative inshore seagrass meadows) and identifies response of seagrass to environmental drivers of change

Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program: Inshore seagrass, annual report for the sampling period 1st July 2011 – 31st May 2012

Seagrass monitoring results for 2011-12 from the Marine Monitoring Program, undertaken in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon to assess the long-term effectiveness of the Australian and Queensland Government’s Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (Reef Plan) and the Australian Government’s Reef Rescue initiative

Review of coast and marine ecosystems in temperate Australia demonstrates a wealth of ecosystem services

© Copyright © 2020 Gaylard, Waycott and Lavery. Temperate Australia has extensive and diverse coast and marine habitats throughout its inshore and offshore waters. The region includes the southernmost extent of mangroves, over 500 estuaries and coastal embayments, home to extensive meadows of seagrasses and tidal saltmarsh. In areas of hard substrate, rocky reefs are abundant and productive with large forests of macroalgae. Coastal regions can be densely populated by humans and often habitats can be degraded, polluted or lost, while some remain relatively isolated and pristine. These habitats provide services to society including provision of food, regulate our climate through sequestration of carbon, treating our waste and protecting our shorelines from damage from storms. Coastal areas are culturally importantly hubs for recreation and tourism. Habitat mapping demonstrates diverse habitats throughout temperate Australia, but a formal investigation of services provided by these habitats has been lacking. This review of ecosystem services provided by coast and marine environments throughout temperate Australia reveals vast and productive ecosystems that provide multiple ecosystem services, substantial value to the Australian economy and contribute to the health and well-being of people who live in, visit of benefit from services or products from these regions. Some of these are considered within traditional economic metrics such as provision of wild catch fisheries, but this review demonstrates that regulation and maintenance services including waste treatment and protecting shorelines from extreme events are under recognized, and their value is substantial. However, consistent with many locations globally, coast and marine habitats are under threat from increasing development, sewage, agricultural, industrial discharges, urban runoff and climate change. Resultantly, temperate Australian coast and marine habitat extent and condition is generally declining in many regions, putting the provision of services and benefits to the community at risk. Continued degraded or lost habitats indicate current management frameworks are not capturing the full risk from development and there are winners and losers in trade off decision making. Incorporating ecosystem services in decision making may allow an integrated approach to management, and acknowledgment of services provided could prevent habitats from being undervalued against economic and social interests, a practice that often results in environmental degradation