Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond The Academic Precariat: A Collective Biography Of Poetic Subjectivities In The Neoliberal University, Catherine Hartung, Nicoli Barnes, Rosie Kate Welch, Gabrielle H. O'Flynn, Jonnell Uptin, Samantha Mcmahon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The ‘neoliberal turn’ in the higher education sector has received significant intellectual scrutiny in recent times. This scrutiny, led by many established academics working within the sector, has highlighted the negative repercussions for teaching and research staff, often referred to as the ‘academic precariat’ due to their tenuous employment prospects within an increasingly market-driven system. This critique of the modern university can also inadvertently position academics as either resisting or complying with neoliberal governance. This does not adequately account for the nuanced and poetic ways in which professional, personal and gendered subjectivities are formulated, intertwined and negotiated. In this paper …

A Vision Of You-Topia: Personalising Professional Development Of Teaching In A Diverse Academic Workforce, Lisa K. Thomas, Kathryn Harden-Thew, Janine Delahunty, Bonnie Amelia Dean

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The higher education (HE) sector in Australia is in a state of flux due to a range of social, political and economic factors. Increased competition, greater student diversity, tautening of industry exigencies, reduced funding, and rapid technological advances are key drivers of change in this environment. Within this period of transformation, HE institutions remain steadfast in maintaining quality teaching and learning practices. Challenges are therefore presented on the traditional role and function of the teaching academic, creating opportunities to explore how staff can be better prepared to teach into the new era of HE. Professional development for learning and teaching …

The Learning Co-Op: A Showcase Of Cooperative Leadership To Provide A Coherent Model Of Student Academic Support, Rebecca M. Goodway, Fiona B. Macdonald, Alisa J. Percy, Sally G. Rogan, Melissa L. Stephen, Heather Thomas

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This presentation showcases a cooperative model of leadership and governance at one Australian university that emerged out of a shared vision to improve student access to extra-curricular academic support services. The presentation begins by describing the strategic partnership formed by the diverse academic support providers within the DVCA Portfolio (Library, Learning Development, Peer Learning, Digital Literacies and UOW College) to deliver their services in a less fragmented and more visible and accessible space within the University Library, called the Learning Co-op. Drawing on the principles of effective cooperative models (eg. Taylor, 2015), the paper will discuss how some of these …

The First Day Of School Sets The Tone For Academic Achievement, Cathrine Marguerite Neilsen-Hewett

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

There are many transitions in life (starting school, moving house, changing jobs) and how well we cope depends largely on our perceptions of the event as well as the level of support we receive. The transition to school is a particularly significant time, heralding a new stage in a child's life. Whether your child is feeling slightly anxious about starting school or bursting with excitement, all children (and parents!) benefit from a bit of planning and preparation in order to ensure the transition to school goes as smoothly as possible. There is consistent evidence to show early positive school experiences …

Embedding Moocs In Academic Programs As A Part Of Curriculum Transformation: A Pilot Case Study, Sarah R. Lambert, Irit Alony

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The University of Wollongong’s first locally developed and hosted Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “The Reluctant Mathematician” was a highly scaffolded MOOC designed to support stressed and low-efficacy maths learners. It was developed to lift maths skills at our university and also in the community – where maths skills continue to be a challenge and in some cases a source of stress. Internally the MOOC provided an alternative online way to support students who struggle with mathematics at university level, and as a complement to the existing face to face services. This paper describes a successful approach to using MOOCs …

Powerful Parenting And Enabling Contexts: Lessons To Support Academic Success, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Book review of: Social class and educational inequality: the impact of parents and schools, by Iram Siraj and Aziza Mayo, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2014, 330 pp., £65 (hardback), ISBN 9781107018051

Mingadhuga Mingayung: Respecting Country Through Mother Mountain's Stories To Share Her Cultural Voice In Western Academic Structures, Anthony D. Mcknight

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The cultural invasion of Yuin Country in Australia did not only colonise the Yuin peoples and Yuin Country itself, it contributed to non-Aboriginal peoples' continual colonised journey of disconnecting self from Mother Earth. Cultural Awareness is a term and process driven by western theories informed by the colonial dualism that functions on separation and differences. Tripartation is a term to assist in a decolonisation and more importantly a re-culturalisation process to place Yuin Country and aligning Stories back into focus for all peoples attached to Yuin Country. Tripartation challenges western dualities to create a philosophical space, place and reality in …

Studies Consistently Find No Academic Gains From Private Schooling, But Don't Explain Why, Ian M. Brown

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

I have a vivid primary school memory of playing with another child of similar age who cautioned, "Sister told us not to play with the publics." The public-private divide still exists today with ongoing debates about funding struggles, comparisons of the quality of infrastructure, values, standards and discipline being discussed and compared. There is a perception among parents that they will help their children do better academically if they send them to a non-government school. Lately, a new debate has surged with the comparison of educational outcomes questioning which system produces the better student. When weighing up such serious financial …

Transforming Resource Sharing Services At An Australian Academic Library: The Case Of The University Of Wollongong, Rebecca Daly, Liz Baker, Lisa M. Mcintosh

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

In 2011 the University of Wollongong Library undertook a significant review of its Resource Sharing services. This was prompted by constraints in the systems supporting this service, changes to the Library's key suppliers, Infotrieve Australia and the British Library Document Supply Service, and the need to deliver effective library services within a defined physical and budgetary environment. As a result of the review, the existing Millennium Interlibrary Loan and Ariel software hosting the service were replaced by the Relais ILL system. The most cost-effective and relevant methods for supporting the research needs of the university were achieved through subscriptions with …

Early Integration Of The Individual Student In Academic Activities: A Novel Classroom Concept For Graduate Education In Molecular Biophysics And Structural Biology, Sanford H. Leuba, Sean M. Carney, Elizabeth M. Dahlburg, Rebecca J. Eells, Harshad Ghodke, Naveena Yanamala, Grant Schauer, Judith Klein-Seetharaman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: A key challenge in interdisciplinary research is choosing the best approach from a large number of techniques derived from different disciplines and their interfaces.

Results: To address this challenge in the area of Biophysics and Structural Biology, we have designed a graduate level course to teach students insightful use of experimental biophysical approaches in relationship to addressing biological questions related to biomolecular interactions and dynamics. A weekly seminar and data and literature club are used to compliment the training in class. The course contains wet-laboratory experimental demonstration and real-data analysis as well as lectures, grant proposal preparation and assessment, …

The Engagement Of Social Media Technologies By Undergraduate Informatics Students For Academic Purpose In Malaysia, Jane Lim See Yin, Shirley Agostinho, Barry Harper, Joe F. Chicharo

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The increase usage and employment of Social Media Technologies (SMTs) in personal, business and education activities is credited to the advancement of Internet broadband services, mobile devices, smart phones and web-based technologies. Informatics programs are technological-oriented in nature, hence students and academics themselves would arguably be quite adept at using SMTs. Students undertaking Informatics programs are trained to thrive in challenging, advanced technical environments as manifestations of the fast-paced world of Information Technology. Students must be able to think logically and learn “how to learn” as “knowledge upon demand” is one of the expected capabilities of Informatics graduates. This rapid …

Emerging Of Academic Information Search System With Ontology-Based Approach, Norasykin Mohd Zaid, Sim Kim Lau

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper describes the comparison of ontology development tools for development of academic information search system that assists inexperienced research students at a local university in Malaysia to search for academic resources in the local language context (Bahasa Malaysia). The cohort of inexperienced research students faces two main problems when using current system comprises of keyword search. Firstly the language barrier-limiting students' capabilities to conduct keyword search in foreign language (such as English). Secondly limited research experience in querying often results in obtaining irrelevant search results. The proposed semantic search system aims to apply ontology-based search to overcome the above …

Building A Strong Academic Workforce: Challenges For The Profession, Anne Cusick, Elspeth Froude, Rosalind Bye, Lee Zakrzewski

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Over the last 20 years Australia has seen a huge growth in new occupational therapy programs. Each new program is an historic event that changes occupational therapy’s national profile. Each new course raises expectations. Governments fund universities expecting a civic and economic return on public investment through teaching, community engagement and research. Universities expect occupational therapy academic staff to fulfil this institutional obligation and bring a return on staffing and infrastructure costs. Students expect their employability, life and career opportunities will be enhanced. The profession expects the program will be high quality and will add to occupational therapy’s esteem. Clients …

A Critical Turn In Higher Education Research: Turning The Critical Lens On The Academic Language And Learning Educator, Alisa Percy

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper suggests that historical ontology, as one form of reflexive critique, is an instructive research design for making sense of the political and historical constitution of the Academic Language and Learning (ALL) educator in Australian higher education. The ALL educator in this paper refers to those practitioners in the field of ALL, whose ethical agency has largely been taken for granted since their slow and uneven emergence in the latter half of the twentieth century. Using the lens of governmentality, genealogical design and archaeological method, the historical ontology proposed in this paper demonstrates how the ethical remit of the …

Improving Academic Outcomes: Does Participating In Online Discussion Forums Payoff?, Charles Carceller, Shane Dawson, Lori Lockyer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports on a study investigating the potential relationship between a student's discussion forum activity and their academic performance. The study also examined the influence of the delivery method (i.e. blended or fully online) on the impact that forum participation may have on a student's final mark. To address these aims, student forum participation data and teaching delivery method were extracted from the universities Learning Management System (LMS). The analysis identified that students who actively participate in their teaching unit's discussion forum are more likely to achieve a higher final mark than those that do not participate. It was …

Teaching Academic Writing At The University Of Wollongong, Emily Rose Purser

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Initiatives for the development of literacy at the University of Wollongong are growing within an Australian national commitment to increase overall tertiary enrollment, provide access to students from less-advantaged groups, and enroll more international students. While this essay describes successful programs within the Academic Services Division at Wollongong built to support student literacy, especially academic writing, it primarily emphasizes the work of a problemsolving task force on English language proficiency aimed at building consensus for a collaborative, cross-disciplinary paradigm of literacy growth that moves away from the traditional idea of separable services. The essay profiles a new initiative in the …

Influences On Students' Attainment And Progress In Key Stage 3: Academic Outcomes In English, Maths And Science In Year 9, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Katalin Toth, Diana Draghici, Rebecca Smees

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education Project (EPPSE) has investigated the academic and social-behavioural development of approximately 3,000 children from the age of 3+ years since 1997. This Research Brief focuses on the relationships between a range of individual student, family, home, pre-, primary and secondary school characteristics and students' academic attainment in English, maths and science in Year 9 at secondary school (age 14). It compares the latest findings with those found for students' attainment at younger ages. It also highlights the influences of secondary school on students' attainment in the core curriculum areas and studies their academic …

Influences On Students' Dispositions In Key Stage 3: Exploring Enjoyment Of School, Popularity, Anxiety, Citizenship Values And Academic Self-Concepts In Year 9, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Rebecca Smees, Diana Draghici, Katalin Toth

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education Project (EPPSE) has investigated the academic and social-behavioural development of approximately 3,000 children from the age of 3+ years since 1997. This Research Brief reports on students' dispositions when they were age 14 (Year 9) in six main areas: 'enjoyment of school', 'academic self concept' (English and maths), 'popularity', 'citizenship values' and 'anxiety'. It examines how these dispositions have changed during Key Stage 3 (KS3) and the relationships between dispositions and a range of individual student, family, home, pre-, primary and secondary school measures. It shows how school experiences help to shape dispositions, …

Academic Snobbery: Local Historians Need More Support [4 April], Ian C. Willis

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Local history is one of the most popular forms of history in Australia. Yet there is a yawning gap between the enthusiastic amateur and the academic historian.

While some academic historians engage with local history, sadly there is an entrenched snobbery from the academy. From the other side, the enthusiastic amateur is too wound up with a parochial approach to local history and often doesn’t see the bigger picture.

If both sides can engage with each other, the result would be a better type of history practise and a greater contribution to the story of Australia.

Core Elements Of Exemplary Academic Integrity Policy In Australian Higher Education, Tracey Bretag, Saadia Mahmud, Margaret C. Wallace, Ruth Walker, Colin James, Margaret Green, Julianne East, Ursula Mcgowan, Lee Partridge

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper reports on one important aspect of the preliminary findings from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project, Academic integrity standards: Aligning policy and practice in Australian universities. Our project aims to identify approaches to the complex issues of academic integrity, and then to build on these approaches to develop exemplars for adaptation across the higher education sector. Based on analysis of publicly available online academic integrity policies at each of the 39 Australian universities, we have identified five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy. These have been grouped under the headings, Access, Approach, Responsibility, Detail and …

Rethinking Scholarship: Implications For The Nursing Academic Workforce, Kylie M. Smith, Patrick A. Crookes

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

On Being A Happy Academic, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Happiness research provides guidance on what academics can do to increase their satisfaction at work. Changes in external circumstances, such as salary rises, seldom have a lasting effect. More likely to improve long-term happiness levels are exercising well-developed skills, building strong relationships, helping others and cultivating mindfulness. These methods for improving well-being have some specific implications for academic life, suggesting strategies for individuals and policy-making.

Case Study In Academic And Industry Collaboration: The Development Of An Adolescent Targeted Sun Protection Intervention In Nsw, Melinda Williams, Sandra Jones, Donald Iverson, Peter Caputi, Sofia Potente

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Academic and industry collaboration is increasingly identified as a critical element in the future health of Australians through linking theory and practice, with the major priority for academic institutions being the identification of new knowledge and the transfer of this knowledge into changes in policy and health services. Collaborations between academia and industry are increasingly encouraged in Australia by research funding schemes such as ARCLinkage and, more recently, NHMRC Partnerships. While a recent US study suggests that such schemes have a moderate effect on academics’ propensity to work with industry (Bozeman and Gaughan, 2007), industry groups have recognised the value …

Learning How To Be An Academic - The Story Of A New Academic In The Sciences, Danielle Skropeta

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Considering The Work Of Martin Nakata's "Cultural Interface": A Reflection On Theory And Practice By A Non-Indigenous Academic, Colleen Mcgloin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This is a reflective paper that explores Martin Nakata's work as a basis for understanding the possibilities and restrictions of non-Indigenous academics working in Indigenous studies. The paper engages with Nakata's work at the level of praxis. It contends that Nakata's work provides non-Indigenous teachers of Indigenous studies a framework for understanding their role, their potential, and limitations within the power relations that comprise the "cultural interface". The paper also engages with Nakata's approach to Indigenous research through his "Indigenous standpoint theory". This work emerges from the experiential and conceptual, and from a commitment to teaching and learning in Indigenous …

Academic Patronage, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Patronage, expansively conceived as covering all forms of bias and discrimination, is pervasive in organisations and professions, including academia. Four key types of academic patronage operate through decisions made, processes used, assistance given to individuals and personal interactions. Some forms of patronage, especially discrimination on the basis of sex and ethnicity, have come under sustained criticism and are officially stigmatised. However, policies for equal opportunity and against conflicts of interest have only begun to address more personal forms of patronage. Some forms of patronage, such as supporting one's research students, are common and treated as normal; systems without such patronage …

Developing Academic Literacy In Context, Emily Rose Purser, Jan Skillen, Mary Deane, James Donohue, Kelly Peake

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Where, when and how (indeed whether) academic writing should be taught to university students, who are not necessarily aiming to study ‹language› per se, has long been a concern in higher education. While students need to develop high level communication skills, in genres often quite specific to higher education, in order that their learning can be assessed, teaching them academic writing during the course of their disciplinary studies raises a number of pedagogical, organisational and research issues. This paper reports on a collaboration between a group of academics in different geographic and institutional locations, who share a dream of improving …

Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Many believe that social capital fosters the accumulation of human capital. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst …

Educational Acculturation And Academic Integrity: Outcomes Of An Intervention Subject For International Post-Graduate Students In Public Health, Julie M. Shaw, Paul J. Moore, Senthilkumar Gandhidasan

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper discusses a case study of a subject developed and implemented in a post-graduate public health program at the University of Wollongong that aims to foster the development of student academic integrity and related skills as students are introduced to a new educational culture. The subject adopts a formative, task-based approach where written and oral pedagogic tasks focus on various components of a final written assessment task. The subject was collaboratively developed by faculty and learning development staff and, in addition to the subject co-ordinator, its implementation is supported by library and learning development staff, as well as a …

Providing Language And Academic Skills Support In A Multi-Media And Distributed Learning Environment, Jeannette Stirling, L. Celeste Rossetto

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

[extract] This paper examines the role of the language and academic skills (LAS) lecturer in a multi-media and geographically distributed learning environment at the University of Wollongong. By this we mean providing language and academic skills support where subjects comprising various degree programs are taught simultaneously across a range of networked satellite campuses including, at times, the central campus: hence the idea of a ‘distributed learning environment’. Subject delivery to this network of campuses is variously achieved through the use of multi-media teaching and learning technologies such as videoconferencing, web-based resources, online discussion spaces, pod-cast lectures, and face-to-face tutorials. We …