Digital Commons Network^™

Actively Promoting Student Engagement Within An Online Environment: Developing And Implementing A Signature Subject On ‘Contemporary Issues In Sex And Sexuality’, Gillian Fletcher, Gary W. Dowsett, Lilian Austin

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

La Trobe University is committed to improving the first year experience, and to developing its online teaching portfolio in response to increasing student demand. This article will acknowledge that these two objectives will remain contradictory if online learning systems are used predominantly as repositories of information with little thought given to their specific pedagogic possibilities. The article will then present a case study of an ‘Signature Subject’ that was developed to actively promote learner-material, learner-learner and learner-lecturer engagement in an entirely online environment, through use of synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Background to subject development will be provided, followed by discussion …

Privacy Issues And Solutions In Social Network Sites, Xi Chen, Katina Michael

Associate Professor Katina Michael

The boom of the internet and the explosion of new technologies have brought with them new challenges and thus new connotations of privacy. Clearly, when people deal with e-government and e-business, they do not only need the right to be let alone, but also to be let in secret. Not only do they need freedom of movement, but also to be assured of the secrecy of their information. Solove [6] has critiqued traditional definitions of privacy and argued that they do not address privacy issues created by new online technologies. Austin [7] also asserts: “[w]e do need to sharpen and …

Influences On Sustainability Reporting Practices In Selected South Australian Local Councils: An Explanatory Case Study, Kuntal Goswami, Sumit Lodhia

11th Australasian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (A-CSEAR) Conference

Purpose: - This research aims to understand the factors driving sustainability reporting practices in selected South Australian local councils and to investigate what these councils are reporting as sustainability issues, in the absence of any mandatory reporting guidelines. Research Design: - The study is orientated towards a qualitative research approach aligning with the case study method and uses new institutional theory as the theoretical framework. The research focuses on four selected South Australian local councils (i.e. metropolitan, metropolitan fringe, regional and rural council) and uses interviews and content analysis of 2010-11 annual reports to explore the sustainability reporting practice in …

Socially Responsible Investment In Malaysia: Behavioural Framework In Evaluating Investors’ Decision Making Process, Ainul Azreen Adam, Elvia Shauki

11th Australasian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (A-CSEAR) Conference

Socially responsible investment (SRI) represents the method of investment that consider the impact (good or bad) of investment decisions on social, ethics, and/or environment within the context of rigorous financial analysis. Despite the evidence of an increasing interest among academics and industry players on SRI, the understanding of the psychological aspect of decision-making behaviour of SRI investors is still incomplete. Currently, no published evidence has been found in the context of Malaysian investors‘ decision – making behaviour regarding SRI. Thus, this study aims to examine the role of intention, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and moral norm in explaining …

The Current Trends Of Corporate Social And Environmental Reporting (Cser) In Bangladesh, Moazzem Hossain, Anna Lee Rowe, Mohammad Quaddus

11th Australasian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (A-CSEAR) Conference

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current trends of corporate social and environmental reporting of the top 20 companies on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Bangladesh. Design/methodology and approach- A qualitative research approach has chosen in this study and the authors utilized the content analysis of annual reports (2010-2011) and other publicly available documentary evidence according to six major criteria with 66 indicators. The top companies have been selected based on market capitalisation. Findings- The finding of this research shows that organizations in Bangladesh disclose more on community and development which is 69% followed by …

Sustainable Development: 1987 To 2012 - Don’T Be Naive, It’S Not About The Environment, Nick Barter, Sally Russell

11th Australasian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (A-CSEAR) Conference

Purpose:In this paper we explore the concept of sustainable development through the lens of two United Nations publications. The documents, published 25 years apart, highlight how the understanding and enactment of sustainable development has changed over the course of that time. We highlight how sustainable development has been portrayed as an: epic adventure, the right and only choice, a challenge to categorical thinking, and a story of economic growth for human survival. While the tone of both documents differs, what is clear is from the publications is that sustainable development will not be achieved unless it is part of mainstream …

Visualization Techniques To Disclose The Link Between Managers’ Remuneration And Organisation’S Performance, Alessia D'Andrea, Martina Vallesi, Marco Montemari

11th Australasian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (A-CSEAR) Conference

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the managers’ remunerations and the company’s performance and to propose a visualization technique so that this link can be better understood by stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents an analysis of the compulsory and voluntary disclosure in a sample of Italian listed companies. Content analysis method is used to identify the state of the environmental and social disclosure in the reports. Findings – It is argued that information on managers’ remunerations and company’s performance is actually provided in the available disclosure, but it is spread over several …

Succession Planning In Australian Farming, John Hicks, Richard Sappey, Parikshit Basu, Deirdre Keogh, Rakesh Gupta

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The theme of this paper is that succession planning in Australian farming is under-developed. It may be linked to economic and social change which suggests that farmers need to adapt to generational change but this is being resisted or ignored. The implications of this are the slow decline of family farming, a poor transfer of skills and knowledge to subsequent generations of farmers in some parts of the agricultural sector and the potential for an extension of the financial services industry to develop a more effective raft of succession planning measures to mitigate the effects of a traditional approach to …

Incorporating Financial Literacy Into The Secondary School Accounting Curriculum: A New Zealand Perspective, Grant Samkin, Mary Low, Jordan Taylor

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

This paper examines whether selected stakeholder groups believe accounting should continue to be taught as an elective subject in its current form at New Zealand secondary schools or whether incorporating a financial literacy component would increase the subject’s relevance to students. A mixed method approach combining qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. An electronically administered survey was used to obtain the responses of secondary school accounting teachers, while additional insight in the form of semi-structured interviews was obtained from other stakeholders.

Although respondents generally agreed that students benefited from accounting as an elective subject at secondary school, all agreed …

When Chinese Learners Meet Constructivist Pedagogy Online, Rainbow Chen, S. Bennett

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

International students have become an important part of many universities, both through the income they provide and the diversity they bring to student populations. Studying in a foreign country can be challenging, requiring students to adapt to unfamiliar educational cultures. With the integration of online technologies into higher education, this can raise an additional set of challenges. This paper presents research that explored Chinese international students’ experiences of studying online at an Australian university, drawing on qualitative data collected from focus groups and interviews with Chinese students, interviews with their Australian teachers and course documentation. The findings indicate a strong …

Impact Of A College Freshman Social And Emotional Learning Curriculum On Student Learning Outcomes: An Exploratory Study, Ning Wang, Stephen C. Wilhite, Jeannette Wyatt, Thomas Young, Geraldine Bloemker, Emily Wilhite

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This study investigates the impact of implementing a social and emotional learning curriculum for college freshmen on student learning outcomes, including social and emotional competence and academic performance. Through the use of a quasi-experimental design, the growth in social and emotional competence of students who participated in the social and emotional learning seminars is compared with that of students who were enrolled in other freshman seminars. This comparison is complemented by a qualitative analysis of students’ self-reflections in relation to specific dimensions of social and emotional competence. The results of this study suggest that exposure to a social and emotional …

What Constitutes Effective Feedback To Postgraduate Research Students? The Students’ Perspective, Martin East, John Bitchener, Helen Basturkmen

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Many Western universities are experiencing considerable growth in the numbers of postgraduate research students, both local and international. This increase and diversification bring with them challenges for how to make these students’ research studies successful. In particular, what students may wish to receive by way of supervisor-student relationships, and feedback within those relationships, may differ from what supervisors give, thereby creating potential tensions in the relationship and hindering effective learning. This article looks at what research students report they receive by way of feedback from supervisors, and what they say they find most effective. Evidence from questionnaires (n = 53) …

The Effectiveness Of Oral Presentation Assessment In A Finance Subject: An Empirical Examination, Shyam S. Bhati

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of oral presentation as an assessment tool in a Finance subject. Assessment data collected from a postgraduate Finance subject in an Australian university over a period of five years from 2005 to 2009 was analysed statistically to determine the relation between students’ performance in oral presentation and other forms of assessments. The sample consists of assessment records of 412 students and 98 group presentations. From the study of correlations between oral presentations and other assessments, it is concluded that students perform better in written assessments compared to oral assessment. The …

Developing Animated Cartoons For Economic Teaching, Yu Aimee Zhang

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Purpose – A picture is worth a thousand words. Multimedia teaching materials have been widely adopted by teachers in Physics, Biotechnology, Psychology, Religion, Analytical Science, and Economics nowadays. To assist with engaging students in their economic study, increase learning efficiency and understanding, solve misconception problems, encourage in class discussion, and increase final performance for students (especially for international students and RA students), some animations and cartoons are developed to explain basic economic concepts for both macroeconomic and microeconomic concepts, issues and events. Methodology – Two surveys were first conducted to collect first year and international students’ requirement and suggestions. Cartoons …

Editorial 9.2, Geraldine E. Lefoe

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

With this second issue of Volume 9 of the Journal of Teaching and Learning Practice we bring a warm welcome to new members of the Editorial board. The board will be strengthened by their contributions. The Senior Editors are Associate Professor Geraldine Lefoe, University of Wollongong, Australia and Dr Meg O'Reilly, Southern Cross University, Australia. Our editorial board includes members of the host institution (University of Wollongong), Dr Lynne Keevers, Ms Lucia Tome, Associate Professor Greg Hampton, Dr. Michael Jones, Associate Professor Anne Porter, and Dr. Dominique Parrish. Our external board members include Ms Jude Carroll, Associate Professor …

Family Friendly Occupations And The Us Gender Wage Gap, Michael Coelli

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

Abstract: A consistent finding in US labor market research is that the wages of men and women are lower in predominantly female occupations. The roles of a number of specific occupational characteristics that may be of benefit to individuals juggling labor market and child-rearing responsibilities in explaining this relationship are investigated. These occupation average characteristics include the proportion of employees working part-time, the average hours of work among full-time workers and the average commuting time to work. The relationship between average occupation commuting time and wages is examined in detail.

Do Private High Schools Make A Difference? Learning The Causal Effects Of Private Schooling From A Natural Experiment In South Korea, Youjin Hahn, Liang Choon Wang

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

Abstract: Educational policy makers have had keen interest in understanding how to improve the efficiency of educational inputs. One of the central debates in education policies is whether initiatives involving the provision of private school vouchers and the establishment of Charter and independent schools would yield better student outcomes. In particular, a large body of literature in economics, education, and sociology has examined whether students attending private schools or charter schools outperform students attending traditional public schools in a wide range of outcomes. However, identifying the causal effects has proven to be difficult as most studies have relied on observational …

Learning And Earning: Evidence From A Randomized Evaluation In India, Pushkar Maitra, Subha Mani

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

Abstract:

This paper examines the economic returns from participating in a subsidized vocational education program in stitching and tailoring offered to women residing in certain disadvantaged areas of New Delhi, India. The availability of pre and post-training data in an experimental framework allows us to measure the effects of participating in this program on employment, hours worked, job search, earnings, female empowerment, entrepreneurship and measures of life satisfaction. The program, in less than a year, has generated substantial improvement in labor market outcomes for these women. In particular, we find that women who were randomly offered the training program are …

The White/Black Educational Gap, Stalled Progress, And The Long Term Consequences Of The Crack Epidemic, William N. Evans, Craig Garthwaite, Timothy J. Moore

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

We propose the rise of crack cocaine as an explanation for the end to the convergence in black-white educational outcomes beginning in the mid-1980s. After constructing a measure of the arrival of crack arrival in cities and states, we first show there are large increases in incarceration and murder rates after the arrival of the drug. We show that the emergence of crack accounts for between 39 and 71 percent of the fall in black male high school graduation rates. The results suggest that, in line with human capital theory, educational investments declined in response to decreased returns to schooling.

No Pass No Drive: Education And Allocation Of Time, Rashmi Barua, Marian Vidal-Fernandez

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

Abstract: More than one-third of all public high school students, majority being boys and blacks, dropout of school each year. This has put the question of how to spend educational resources in a cost-effective way prominent on the research agenda. In this paper, we study the effect of a large scale and low cost negative incentive policy, the No Pass No Drive (NPND) law, on education outcomes. Since the late 1980s, several U.S. states have introduced these laws that set minimum academic requirements for teenagers to obtain driving licenses. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and Monitoring the …

The Immigrant Wage Gap And Assimilation In Australia: The Impact Of Unobserved Heterogeneity, Mosfeque Salehin, Robert Breunig

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

Abstract: Immigrants to Australia are selected on observable characteristics. They may also differ from natives on unobservable characteristics such as ambition or motivation. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find a wage gap for immigrant men from English-speaking backgrounds, in contrast with previous research. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity also seems important for finding cohort effects. Immigrants that arrived before 1976 faced a larger wage gap compared to native-born Australians than subsequent cohorts. Confirming other research, we find wage gaps for immigrant men and women from non-English speaking backgrounds. All immigrants experience wage assimilation as time spent in Australia increases.

Unemployment Benefits And Immigration: Evidence From The Eu, Corrado Giulietti, Martin Guzi, Martin Kahanec, Klaus F. Zimmermann

15th Annual Labour Econometrics Workshop

Abstract: The paper studies the impact of unemployment benefits on immigration. A sample of 19 European countries observed over the period 1993-2008 is used to test the hypothesis that unemployment benefit spending (UBS) is correlated with immigration flows from EU and non- EU origins. While OLS estimates reveal the existence of a moderate correlation for non-EU immigrants only, IV and GMM techniques used to address endogeneity issues yield, respectively, a much smaller and an essentially zero causal impact of UBS on immigration. All estimates for immigrants from EU origins indicate that flows within the EU are not related to unemployment …

Coaching For Targeted Intentional Personality Change, Lesley Sue Martin

Business HDR Student Conference 2010-13

Intentional targeted personality change is a relatively unexplored research area. Related literature, however, suggests that personality change is likely to be both feasible and desirable in a coaching context, in clients without major psychopathology. This study examines the effects of a 10 week personality change coaching program. Participants were randomly assigned to a personality change coaching group (n=26) or a waitlist control group (n=26). One to one weekly coaching was conducted by psychologists, trained in personality change coaching processes, using resources developed in a previous phase of this research. Participation in the personality coaching program was associated with significant change …

Methodologies Of Soliciting Customer Feedback In Clinical Hospital Staff: Understanding What Information To Obtain In Order To Improve Customer Service, Louise Wienholt

Business HDR Student Conference 2010-13

Health services are undergoing a period of dynamic change in the Australian health market, especially relating to creating and maintaining strong relationships between healthcare facilities such as hospitals and the clinicians who utalise and refer patients to their services. This paper outlines a number of key considerations of behavioural determinants of customer relationship management (CRM) including attitude to serve, understanding expectations, quality perceptions, reliability, communication, customisation, recognition, ensuring agreements are met, satisfaction audit and retention. Understanding these factors and how to implement them into healthcare practice will not only identify areas of improvement but also enable organisations to set achievable …

A Technical Note On Australian Default Superannuation Investment Strategies, Loretta Iskra

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

Superannuation has become more complex over time. Individual investors are inclined to seek the ‘path of least resistance’ and invest in default investment funds which are typically concentrated in high risk assets. Understanding how these funds will meet the individual needs of members relative to their changing circumstances can provide peace of mind and confidence in the market. Given the value of superannuation as an investment in terms of the economy, it is paramount than an appropriate mechanism be in place for default fund investors. This paper will clarify the existing position relative to default fund investment options and outline …

Neither Good Nor Useful: Looking Ad Vivum In Children's Assessments Of Fat And Healthy Bodies, Valerie Harwood

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Fat bodies are not, fait accompli, bad. Yet in our international research we found overwhelmingly that fat functioned as a marker to indicate health or lack of health. A body with fat was simply and conclusively unhealthy. This paper reports on how this unbalanced view of fat was tied to assessments of healthy bodies that were achieved by the act of looking. Despite the efforts of health education in each of the three countries in our study, children and young people cited the act of looking at bodies to assess health and when they did they arrived at the conclusion …

Translocation Of The Eastern Bristlebird 1: Radio-Tracking Of Post-Release Movements, David Bain, Kris French, Jack Baker, Jean Clarke

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Translocating birds to a new area of habitat to restore or supplement depleted populations may pose a significant threat to the translocated individuals. While for many species, translocated individuals appear to move larger distances than resident animals, species with poor dispersal capacity may be restricted in movements and translocation methods may need to accommodate differences in movements to ensure success. In this study, designed to provide insights to inform our broader programme of translocations in New South Wales, Australia, we investigated post-release movements in the endangered, semi-flightless Eastern Bristlebird (Dasyornis brachypterus). We predicted that movements would be minimal, with few …

Seeing Is Believing: The Benefits Of Peer Observation, Graham D. Hendry, Gary R. Oliver

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

Peer observation of teaching is seen as a supportive and developmental process for improving the quality of teaching in universities. Evidence is emerging that the process of observing is just as if not more valuable than being observed and given feedback. In this study lecturers completing a Foundations program in university learning and teaching were interviewed about their experience of participating in a reciprocal peer observation exercise. The benefits for observers include learning about a new strategy and enhancing their confidence to try this strategy in their own teaching. Receiving feedback was also perceived to be useful but not more …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Online Resources In Developing Student Critical Thinking: Review Of Literature And Case Study Of A Critical Thinking Online Site, Erst Carmichael, Helen Farrell

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

A graduate's ability to be a critical thinker is expected by many employers; therefore development of students’ critical-thinking skills in higher education is important. There is also a perception that today’s students are technologically "savvy", and appreciate the inclusion of a technological approach to learning. However, the complexity of the concept of critical thinking and the assumptions about students’ technological skills are debatable issues that require clarification and evidence-based research in terms of teaching and learning. This paper reports on a case study of an online Blackboard site at the University of Western Sydney, where analysis of patterns of usage …

Grappling With Grammar On A Virtual Learning Platform: The Case Of First Year French Students At The University Of Wollongong, A. Bissoonauth-Bedford, Ray Stace

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This paper reports on an online discussion forum that was created on the University of Wollongong’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to aid and support the learning of French grammar at beginner/false beginner level. The aim was to provide a blended learning situation which combines face to face teaching with online learning using multimedia resources. The key objective of the online forum is to encourage undergraduate students take an active role in their language learning through interaction with peers. Methodology draws on educational practice influenced by a constructivist approach, particularly on the importance of building one’s knowledge and linguistic skills through …