Digital Commons Network^™

The Gendered Body In Virtual Space : Sexuality, Performance And Play In Four Second Life Spaces, Judith Elund

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This work is principally an investigation into visual and screen culture, using four specific regions of the three-dimensional virtual world of ‘Second Life’ as case studies. The analysis follows a thematic application of discourse analysis as a basis for critiquing Western screen culture, most importantly the cultural and social conditions that replicate dominant paradigms of power and agency. Of particular pertinence to this study are the framing, representational and spatial practices of gendered and sexual identities within ‘Second Life’ spaces. As is typical of the internet, sexual freedom is a given, yet representational performance (how one appears through their embodied …

Capturing The Cape : A Photographic Case Study Of The Cape Range Bioregion Of Northwest Australia ; Straight Lines : A Photographic Case Study Of The Cape Range Bioregion Of Northwest Australia, David J. Bradley

Theses : Honours

In Australia, as with much of the world, landscape photography has played a significant role in raising awareness of human impact on the environment. For the most part, this awareness raises questions of conservation and preserving the natural world. Landscape photography commonly depicts environmental issues in one of two ways: the damaging effects of humanity’s mastery over the environment; or the sublime wonder of nature. In effect, the messages sent by landscape photography are singular, describing either nature, or culture. However, with an intention to develop a more sustainable viewpoint concerning humanity’s relationships with the environment, landscape photography could be …

Putting ‘Maori’ In The Mainstream: Student Teachers' Reflections Of A Culturally Relevant Pedogogy, Steven S. Sexton

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on student teachers experiences of an education program that was explicitly designed to be grounded in both Kaupapa Māori and mainstream pedagogy. This program started from the Kaupapa Māori view to be Māori as Māori. This was then supported by mainstream epistemology of New Zealand focused good teaching practice. A Kaupapa Māori approach was taken in this qualitative study that used participant driven spiral discourse. The paper suggests that this combined Kaupapa Māori and mainstream approach allowed these student teachers to find their place in education. Conclusions suggest that a culturally relevant pedagogy modeled as good teaching …

Internal Auditor And Internal Whistleblowing Intentions : A Study Of Organisational, Individual, Situational And Demographic Factors, Syahrul A. Ahmad

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Whistleblowing is a type of ethical decision-making behaviour, and it has been one of
the positive outcome behaviours investigated in the ethical decision-making literature.
The issue has garnered widespread attention since the collapse of global multinational
companies which lead to the passage of the renowned Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Since then a vast amount of research has been conducted in the whistleblowing stream,
though it is still predominantly taking place largely in western countries. Such studies
as have been undertaken in Asian countries neglect to consider how Malaysian
respondents might play their roles in undertaking this type of ethical decision-making …

Developing A Common Understanding Of A Teacher Competency Framework Through Video Analysis : Experiences Of Victorian Regional Independent Middle School Teachers, Christopher J. Brown

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study was deliberately focussed upon the careful examination of a model of professional learning for Middle School teachers, which has at its core, a Teaching and Learning Framework depicting essential elements of effective teaching practice. Set within the context of Middle School classrooms in a Regional Independent school, the intent was to research the impact of the framework on the professional learning of a group of teachers. Research was also undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of feedback and analysis structured around the framework, using video recordings taken from classroom observations.

A group of eight Middle School teachers participated actively …

Paradox, Promise And Public Pedagogy: Implications Of The Federal Government’S Digital Education Revolution, Rachel Buchanan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The use of digital technology in the classroom is a significant issue for teachers as they are under increasing pressure to teach in technologically mediated ways. This ‘digital turn’ in education has culminated in the Australian federal government’s Digital Education Revolution, which represents a multi-billion dollar commitment to putting computers in schools and the implementation of technological pedagogical practice. This paper focuses on the confluence between globalised economic process, the Digital Education Revolution, and the discourse of the digital native; and describes the way in which students’ use of digital technologies is identity forming. I examine the Digital Education Revolution …

Making A Difference: Findings From Better Beginnings A Family Literacy Intervention Programme, Caroline H. Barratt-Pugh, Nola Allen

Research outputs 2011

Since 2005, Better Beginnings, an early intervention, statewide family literacy programme developed by The State Library of Western Australia, has provided thousands of families with strategies and resources to promote and support book-sharing from birth. This paper reports on the key findings of an independent longitudinal evaluation of the programme's impact on parents / carers approximately one year after they were introduced to the Better Beginnings programme. Parents/carers were asked about their book sharing practices, beliefs about the importance of sharing books, and library membership and participation in related library activities. Responses from the participants strongly indicated that the programme …

Cultural Botany: Toward A Model Of Transdisciplinary, Embodied, And Poetic Research Into Plants, John C. Ryan

Research outputs 2011

Since the eighteenth century, the study of plants has reflected an increasingly mechanized and technological view of the natural world that divides the humanities and the natual sciences. In broad terms, this article proposes a context for research into flora through an interrogation of existing literature addressing a rapprochement between ways to knowledge. The natureculture dichotomy, and more specifically the plant-to-human sensory disjunction, follows a parallel course of resolution to the schism between objective (technical, scientific, reductionistic, visual) and subjective (emotive, artistic, relational, multi-sensory) forms of knowledge. The foundations of taxonomic botany, as well as the allied fields of environmental …

Journalism As Research Within The Framework Of Academic Ethics, Kayt Davies

Research outputs 2011

This paper makes a case for a review of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, 2007a) and/or its accompanying documentation to more clearly acknowledge the beneficent role of journalism as an academic methodology and to resolve issues that currently force journalism academics to work around, rather than through, their universities’ Human Research Ethics Committees. In recent years the case has been made that, in addition to being a profession governed by an explicit, internationally-recognised ethical code, journalism is also a valuable academic research methodology (Lamble, 2004; Pearson & Patching, 2010). There are problems with this though, …

The Possibilities Of Novel Formal Structures Through Computer Controlled Live Performance, Lindsay Vickery

Research outputs 2011

Computer controlled performance opens a range of novel structural possibilities. This paper explores the mechanisms and ramifications of this approach, and its potential to expand the repertoire of formal structures available to the composer. Traditional and computer coordinated performance models are compared. Modes of computer control, permutation, transformation and generation are discussed and their implications are evaluated. The range of implications of this approach to the performance environment are given together with illustrations from the author’s own work.

Learning Through Standard English: Cognitive Implications For Post-Pidgin/-Creole Speakers, Ian Malcolm

Research outputs 2011

Despite their (albeit limited) access to Standard Australian English through education, Australian Indigenous communities have maintained their own dialect (Aboriginal English) for intragroup communication and are increasingly using it as a medium of cultural expression in the wider community. Most linguists agree that the most significant early ancestor of Aboriginal English is New South Wales Pidgin, which developed in the first decades after the European occupation of Australia in 1788. Influence of present or past Aboriginal languages can be traced in Aboriginal English both directly and by way of NSW Pidgin and other contact varieties. Recent work in Western Australia …

Journalism And Hrecs: From Square Pegs To Squeaky Wheels, Kayt Davies

Research outputs 2011

This article follows on from a discussion by Richards (2010) about ethics committees and journalism researchers being ‘uneasy bedfellows’. It argues that there is scope for research using journalism as a methodology to be approved by Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs), while acknowledging that work needs to be done in familiarising journalism academics with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) and HRECs with journalism as a research methodology. The issues that arise as journalism academics and HRECs meet tend to focus on the requirement of informed consent and timing problems, but these are not insurmountable and …

Rethinking Social Support In Women's Midlife Years: Women's Experiences Of Social Support In Online Environments, Julie Dare, Lelia Green

Research outputs 2011

The midlife years (45–55) often coincide with fundamental changes in women’s lives, as women experience transitions such as menopause, changes to family structure due to departure of children or divorce, and parents’ ageing and death. These circumstances tend to increase women’s reliance upon their social support networks. Evidence suggests that social support is critical in helping women manage transitions during the midlife period and develop a sense of self-efficacy; this article highlights that this support is being increasingly exchanged through mediated communication channels. The article presents a comparative investigation of mediated communication channels, primarily email and online chat, through which …

Plants, Processes, Places: Sensory Intimacy And Poetic Enquiry, John Ryan

Research outputs 2011

As an arts-based research approach, poetic enquiry has been theorised and applied recently in the social sciences and in education. In this article, I extend its usage to eco-critical studies of Australian flora and fauna. The Southwest corner of Western Australia affords opportunities to deploy arts-based methodologies, including field poetry, for celebrating the natural heritage of a region of distinguished biodiversity. I suggest that lyric practices in places such as Lesueur National Park and Anstey-Keane Damplands in southern Perth can catalyse embodied engagements with flora. The outcome of these practices is the invocation of the multiple senses— including the proximities …

Encroaching On Freedoms? Values Related To Freedom And Readiness To Accept Social Marketing Activities In Australia And Japanese Students, Kaoru Nosaka

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Do Australian and Japanese university students feel that social marketing is encroaching on their freedoms or empowering them? For example, how do they react to social marketing messages such as ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ and ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’? Social marketing activities include advocating for environmental change, laws, and regulations as well as making recommendations to individuals to change behaviours to promote the good of society; however, some people believe that such activities are attempts to control people, infringing upon their individual freedom. While behavioural models and theories have recognised the influence of an individual’s predisposition towards a recommended behaviour (such …

Resilience: The Role Of Optimism, Perceived Parental Autonomy Support And Perceived Social Support, Michelle Dawson

Theses : Honours

Resilience is an individual’s ability to positively adapt when challenging, adverse or stressful circumstances arise. Transitions are a change from what is familiar to what is unfamiliar and undergoing transitions may provide challenges that may cause anxiety and stress. Three mechanisms suggested to be beneficial in coping with transitions as well as developing and maintaining and potentially predicting resilience are optimism, perceived parental autonomy support (PAS) and perceived social support (PSS). This review will begin by providing definitions of resilience, risk and protective factors, buffering effects, a brief historical overview of the development of resilience research with mention of the …

Anthoethnography: Emerging Research Into The Culture Of Flora, Aesthetic Experience Of Plants, And The Wildflower Tourism Of The Future, John C. Ryan

Research outputs 2011

How does anthoethnography contribute to the development of understandings of aesthetic experiences of wild plants and wildflower tourism? As exemplified by the quintessentially aesthetic industry of wildflower tourism, the culture of flora represents diverse engagements between people and plants. Such complex engagements offer further avenues for research. The critical methodology of anthoethnography has been one such approach to circumscribing the values, practices and rhetoric of wildflower tourism. Interviews have revealed perceptual phenomena such as the orchid and everlasting effects as two counterpoised examples of the differences between visual aesthetic values occurring in the region. For appreciators such as Tinker, botanical …

Tailoring Mentoring For New Mathematics And Science Teachers: An Exploratory Study, Christine Ormond

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores some aspects of effective professional mentoring practice for early career mathematics and science teachers, and discusses the Early Support Program (ESP), a research project conducted in 2009 and 2010 at a large Australian metropolitan university. It is argued that better outcomes may result from a more strategic “tailoring” of mentoring “type” for different aspects of new teacher induction, especially as school-based mentors often have insufficient time or training to support them. The ESP has been trialling its more “distanced” mentoring model, tracking the issues that a group of new teachers chose to discuss with their mentors, and …

Pre-Service Teachers' Epistemological Beleifs And Conceptions Of Teaching, Harun Yilmaz, Sami Sahin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aimed to investigate pre-service teachers’ views about teaching and the relation of those views to epistemological beliefs, gender, and subject areas. The data collection tool was adapted from “The Traditional Teaching (TT) and Constructivist Teaching (CT) Scale,” developed by Chan and Elliot (2004). Participants consisted of 490 pre-service teachers from different teacher education programs in Turkey. Principal component analysis was carried out, and nine items were removed from the adapted questionnaire because of low loadings. The data analysis showed that pre-service teachers preferred constructivist teaching views more than traditional teaching views, and this correlated with their epistemological beliefs. …

Direct Instruction In Mathematics: Issues For Schools With High Indigenous Enrolments: A Literature Review, Bronwyn Ewing

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Direct instruction, an approach that is becoming familiar to Queensland schools that have high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, has been gaining substantial political and popular support in the United States of America [USA], England and Australia. Recent examples include the No Child Left Behind policy in the USA, the British National Numeracy Strategy and in Australia, Effective Third Wave Intervention Strategies. Direct instruction, stems directly from the model created in the 1960s under a Project Follow Through grant. It has been defined as a comprehensive system of education involving all aspects of instruction. Now in its third decade …

Speaking In Thai, Dreaming In Isan: Popular Thai Television And Emerging Identities Of Lao Isan Youth Living In Northeast Thailand, Catherine Hesse-Swain

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This is an ethnographic study of how Lao Isan youth living in the northeastern provincial capital Khon Kaen and nearby town Mahasarakham experience Thainess or khwampenthai in its most popular form – television. People who inhabit the northeast of Thailand interchangeably label themselves and are labelled by others as Isan, Thai Isan, Lao Isan, Thai or Lao, depending on the ethnic, political, social or familial nuances of any given situation. I use the term Lao Isan to refer specifically to Isan people of Lao origin or ethnicity. Lao Isan are subject to complex and often competing notions of Isanness, Laoness …

From Essay To Resumé : A Study Of Writing Genre And Discursive Positioning In Senior School English, Jennifer Shand

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2004, the Western Australian government signalled its intention to increase the school leaving age from 15 to 17 by 2008 (Carpenter, 2004). During the period from 2004 to 2006, increasing numbers of young Western Australians completed twelve years of secondary school. For English faculties in Western Australian schools, this resulted in a notably diverse cohort of students undertaking compulsory English studies in their final two years of school. The central aim of this thesis was to examine what it means to be a writer in senior school English. In doing so, the thesis investigated the construction of student writing …

“Make A Bomb In Your Mums Kitchen”: Cyber Recruiting And Socialisation Of ‘White Moors’ And Home Grown Jihadists, Robyn Torok

Australian Counter Terrorism Conference

As a consequence of the war on terror, al-Qaeda and associated jihad groups have evolved and made increasing use of internet technologies for cyber recruitment. Recently, there has been an increasing focus on recruiting home grown terrorists who can more easily escape the scrutiny of cross border entries. Case study analysis indicates that links do exist between cyber tools, radicalisation and terrorism, however, the strength and nature of these relationships is generally unclear. Evidence does seem to support that cyber tools are most significant in the initial phases of recruitment and radicalisation. Coupled with this is the strong evolution of …

Towards A Corporeal Aesthetics Of Plants: Ethnographies Of Embodied Appreciation Along The Wildflower Trail, John Charles Ryan

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper argues for the application of ethnographic practice, specifically participant observation and semi-structured interviewing, in the development of a corporeal aesthetics of flora. The study is characterized as an ethnography of botanists and, building upon emerging work in cultural ecology and human–plant geographies, is situated within the proposed context of cultural botany. During the Southwest Australian spring wildflower season between August and October of 2009 I conducted interviews with professional and amateur botanists, as well wildflower enthusiasts and tourists, at two places of remarkable floristic diversity: the Lesueur-Eneabba region and the Fitzgerald River National Park. Interview transcripts suggest the …

Using Nicknames, Pseudonyms And Avatars On Heartnet: A Snapshot Of An Online Health Support Community, Debbie Rodan, Lynsey Kay Uridge, Lelia Green

Research outputs pre 2011

Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death and long-term disability for the ageing Australian population. During recovery from a heart event, many people seek an alternative to traditional support groups and look to the Internet and World Wide Web to establish a connection with others who have had a similar experience. HeartNET provides just such an alternative support structure for anyone affected by heart disease. One issue faced by members of any online support community is whether to remain anonymous by using pseudonyms, nicknames or avatars or whether to accept a certain level of risk, usually in …

Philosophical And Pedagogical Patterns Of Beliefs Among Vietnamese And Australian Mathematics Preservice Teachers: A Comparative Study, Bao Hiep Ly, Christine Brew

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Swayed by global pressures and poor international academic standing, Vietnam in 2002 initiated further school-wide curriculum change reflecting a student-centred reform agenda. Initial research on implementation is producing mixed results. One explanation is a mismatch with a Confucian Heritage Culture as a social-constructivist philosophy may counter the traditional widespread teacher-centred classrooms in Vietnam. School mathematics is often regarded as culture-independent as similar topics are taught across nations. We take as a premise that the adoption of the reform agenda is a worthwhile goal. Presented are the findings of a small scale study that set out to explore antecedent philosophical predispositions …

A Partnership In Induction And Mentoring: Noticing How We Improve Our Practice, Juilianne Moss

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article focuses on the induction and mentoring of early career teachers. The context is a suburban primary school in Victoria, Australia, as the school develops mentoring networks for graduate and beginning teachers. Instigated from a school–university partnership, the research draws from the traditions of practitioner research. In the research design and likewise in successful mentoring the importance of a genuine commitment to the discipline of reflective practice or what we have come to describe as “ noticing ” (Mason, 2002; Moss et al., 2004) is illustrated. The approach offers a new method for small scale–close up research in teacher …

Historical Novels: Engaging Student Teachers In K-10 History Pre-Service Units, Grant Rodwell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Male Involvement In Reproductive Health During Pregnancy, Childbirth And The Postnatal Period In Rural Districts Of Malawi, Jane Dzumbila-Namasasu

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis focuses on socio cultural factors influencing male involvement in reproductive health during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period in rural districts of Malawi. This research stems from my fourteen years of experience in designing and overseeing the implementation of reproductive health services in Malawi, which led me to question why men as partners/husbands are not considered in the design and implementation of such services. Men as partners/husbands bear witness to most of the reproductive health problems that women go through and they are in a position of power, making decisions for their families‟ welfare. In addition to men‟s …

Resilience In Families With Same-Sex Parents, Natasha Griffiths

Theses : Honours

Research suggests resilience can be viewed as a dynamic process facilitating positive functioning within the context of significant adversity. A nuclear family type that remains a controversial and stigmatized group is families with same-sex parents. Same-sex families face a great number of challenges, due to the presence of heterosexism in society and they are often heavily criticised within the broad public domain. The current study adopted a phenomenological methodology to identify the family resilience processes utilised by same-sex families. Five lesbian couples (n = 10) raising children in Perth, Western Australia were interviewed. A thematic analysis technique outlined by Glesne …