{"title":"Governance and Land Management Fires Understanding Objects of Governance as Expressing an Ethics of Dissensus","authors":"Helen Verran","doi":"10.18793/LCJ2015.15.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2015.15.09","url":null,"abstract":"Having worked in science studies for many years, objects of knowledge are my usual focus of analysis. In particular in the past I have puzzled about how the objects that scientists know, and objects that practitioners of Aboriginal Australian knowledge traditions know, might be connected and separated. One example of that analytic work involved analysing the objects of knowledge involved as scientists and Aboriginal landowners engaged with each other around land management firing (Verran, 2002a). In 2014 I find that the character of the entity that is my focus of analysis must change. Epistemic practices as such, are no longer of much interest to those who fund research in Australia. Nowadays it is objects of governance that are of interest. Of course objects of governance come to life as knowable in knowledge practices, but it is not their capacity to constitute enough certainty about the world known that matters nowadays. It is their role in allowing transparent organisational accountability that now matters. And that shift is accompanied by changed institutional arrangements. Research associated with services provision is now largely the order of the day in Australian universities. Thus it is that, near the end of my career, I find myself working in ‘GroundUP,’ a research group and a services provider located in a policy research unit in Charles Darwin University (see Charles Darwin University’s webpage www. cdu.edu.au/centres/groundup/). No longer a field worker, I am a story-teller who worries at coming up with some useful naming’s of what we are doing in our ground-up policy research and services delivery projects.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84213580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A cyber safety poster/pamphlet comes to life as an object of governance","authors":"Trevor van Weeren","doi":"10.18793/lcj2015.15.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/lcj2015.15.03","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81338664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reflective narration: Impact of Observing Young children's use of iPad on Lecturers' Teaching Approaches in Higher education","authors":"Gretchen Geng, Leigh Disney","doi":"10.18793/LCJ2015.18.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2015.18.08","url":null,"abstract":"People conduct learning for our knowledge, and learning can be undertaken outside learning institutions, between different people among social communities. Learning can be done not only publicly but also through private and reflection time. Education cannot be conducted within certain hours or certain places. It can happen anytime, with anyone and by any culture. This paper was based upon the perception and experience of the two high education lecturers in teacher education, made observations of pedagogical practices and philosophies of two young children playing iPad. Based upon the importance of reflective practice, this paper uses reflective narration to illustrate the influence from observing two young children’s use of iPad on two lecturers’ own teaching approaches in higher education settings. This paper uses the method of narrative inquiries and examples of observations of two children’s playing were demonstrated. This paper provides several future research interests into use of gestural interface technology in teaching strategies, and lecturers in higher education, particularly educators in information technologies and early childhood education will find this paper interesting in their own reflection and therefore improve their own teaching outcomes.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79243399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Weaving this and that way: Ghost net connections in an Aboriginal community in northern Australia","authors":"Emily Munro-Harrison","doi":"10.18793/lcj2015.15.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/lcj2015.15.02","url":null,"abstract":"Walking along the shore of North Goulburn Island we look for rope and fishing nets discarded or cut loose by commercial fishing boats. These nets are given the name ‘ghost nets’ as they drift ownerless through the sea. I am here with the manager of the art centre on Goulburn Island and the manager of the Community Development and Employment Projects (CDEP)1 who invited me to go out on the sea with them on my first weekend in Warruwi. I am volunteering at the Mardbalk Arts and Craft Centre, as an assistant in the art centre and to conduct research for my Master of Environment thesis. We collect the bits of rope as we find them, tugging and pulling them out of the sand where they are deeply buried. As we walk along the shoreline I can see the beach as a kind of treasure trove, where all the bits and pieces of things end up after they are thrown ‘away’, into the unknown. My feet are scorching on the hot white and black sand, marked by goat tracks in every direction. In between buoys, seaweed, single shoes, glass and goat poo, we come across our desired objects. The rope known as ‘ghost net’ is considered by environmentalists to pose serious environmental risks as it can tangle and trap sea creatures, killing or seriously injuring the wildlife and end up as pollution on beaches in the region. However, rubbish collection is not our primary purpose. We are scavenging these ropes for the art centre where they are used to produce sculptural artwork.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77301452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Participation in higher education in Australia among under-represented groups: What can we learn from the Higher Education Participation Program to better support Indigenous learners?","authors":"James A. Smith, S. Trinidad, S. Larkin","doi":"10.18793/LCJ2015.17.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2015.17.02","url":null,"abstract":"In 1988 the release of the Higher Education: A Policy Statement White Paper focused Australia’s national higher education equity policy on “changing the balance of the student population to reflect more closely the composition of society as a whole” (Dawkins 1990, 2-3). While improvement in access and participation has been noted for women, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, and people with disabilities, the interventions has remained less effective for people from Lower Socio-Economic Status (LSES backgrounds), Indigenous peoples; rural, regional and remote residents; (Gale & Tranter, 2011; Koshy & Seymour 2014). In 2009, in response to the Bradley Review (2008), the Australian government set a new agenda again focused on equitable participation in higher education, along with associated equity targets (which have since been abandoned), and funding to enable this reform as well as increased participation. Funding was delivered through the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP), renamed the Higher Education Participation Program (HEPP) in 2015 (Australian Government Department of Education and Training, 2015). A range of national partnerships, policy initiatives and programs has been used to facilitate improved achievement in schools as well as enable access, participation and achievement in higher education. These actions have included targeted programs through the use of intervention strategies aimed at widening participation in, and improving access to higher education.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77425931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Including children’s perceptions from meditation in a discussion about reflective practices in education","authors":"S. Smith","doi":"10.18793/LCJ2015.18.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2015.18.09","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is a co-constructed narrative comprising of inputs from children and their teachers and contextualisation from the embedded position of the chief investigator in this study to gain insights into how a group of class of Year 5-6 primary school students experienced meditation. The study is situated in a Buddhist Religious Instruction class, where learning was conducted inside a designated weekly half hour session. In accordance with the cultivation of individual responsibility and executive function that is the ethos of Buddhist pedagogy participating students and their volunteer teacher were invited into the research as research inquirers. Again the tradition exhorts the role of an experienced teacher to guide what can become an intrapersonal learning journey through meditation. At a time where mindfulness exercises and permutations have captured the public imaginary, and where educators are showing increasing interest, the discussion is timely. While the study is directed towards secular and plural educational applications, reference to the tradition that has borne mindfulness alerts the field to some considerations as to how the uptake of mindfulness in schools might be applied with further rigour and integrity. Further, the utilisation of children’s drawings of happiness scales and their added narratives offers a way in which research into the interior experiences of children might be conducted. Their insights from experience in meditation supports findings from clinical studies with children, and poses a viable addition to current reflective, wellbeing and resilience strategies in education.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74214470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Governing Climate: Griffith Taylor’s Climographs and Contemporary Blind Spots","authors":"Chris O'brien","doi":"10.18793/lcj2015.15.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/lcj2015.15.05","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90710826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Digital Amnesia and the Demise of a Learning Community","authors":"J. Mason","doi":"10.18793/LCJ2015.18.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2015.18.04","url":null,"abstract":"Through presentation of a personal account of the emergence of Education Network Australia (EdNA) in 1995 through to its eventual demise some 15 years later this article uses narrative inquiry to reflect upon a number of critical issues regarding the sustainability of learning communities and of the digital infrastructure that is developed to support them. ‘Digital amnesia’ is introduced as a construct to describe practices that ultimately led to the disappearance of digital content and services associated with Internet domains associated with EdNA – and hence the learning community associated with it. EdNA’s demise is described as in terms of squandering social and community capital. The formation of a new entity and services intended to fill the service vacuum has shown little evidence of a sustainable approach or an understanding of the affordances of digital technology, particularly with regards to information stewardship. A number of lingering questions are teased out from the narrative and together represent a challenge for further inquiry.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75432316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Origins of Alternate Sign Languages in Australia: could they include hearing Impairment?","authors":"A. Butcher","doi":"10.18793/lcj2015.16.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/lcj2015.16.03","url":null,"abstract":"* $ % Z # # # ` Z } = ~ `! ; Z ` number of communities scattered around the world where the sign language of the deaf is also routinely used by hearing individuals. Such communities are, without exception, culturally or geographically isolated (often practising endogamy) and have a high proportion of profoundly deaf members. The deaf group develops its own sign language and the hearing members acquire mastery of it to varying degrees, using it in particular to communicate with deaf friends and relatives.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86174805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Finding the 'tipping point': A Framework for building an institutional learning community to improve learning and teaching","authors":"Deborah West","doi":"10.18793/LCJ2015.18.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2015.18.05","url":null,"abstract":"Universities are inherently learning communities in the broadest sense. Central to this and generally explicit in university mission statements are their goals in providing quality experiences for students. The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is a core element in the ongoing improvement of the student experience which embodies a valued scholarly research process. The idea of building an institution wide learning community with a focus on SoTL should therefore be at the heart of the university’s agenda and a relatively easy undertaking. Yet for a range of reasons it proves elusive in many institutions. This paper explores the underlying issues surrounding this challenge and identifies a range of factors which lay the foundation for building a SoTL learning community. It begins with an examination of the key concepts of SoTL, learning communities and structuralism to set the scene. The paper then examines key literature and existing data on SoTL and concludes with the presentation of a framework for building an institution wide learning community which supports the improvement of learning and teaching for students using a SoTL approach.","PeriodicalId":43860,"journal":{"name":"Learning Communities-International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82638390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}