September 5-19, 1995 Brisbane has history of lost opportunities · 2016-03-01 · QUT Central...

INSIDE QUT September 5 – 19, 1995 QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778

Queensland University of Technology Newspaper

Issue No 137

September 5-19, 1995

Brisbane hashistory of lostopportunities

By MARY VISCOVICH

Dr Finch said that while Brisbanehad what was termed “squares” (spacessmaller than a city block in size), itdid not have the rolling parklands thatstretched for miles in its city.

“And there has been a constant battleto save those spaces. For example,Governor Gipps wanted to sell theBotanical Gardens for commercial andhousing development. In any case, thegardens were originally used for grow-ing vegetables and not as a recreationalpark,” she said.

“What Brisbane has is these daintylittle squares which are in no way equalto any of the parks in the major citiesthe size of Brisbane in the world.”

She said that while the Victoria andAlbert parks were larger than“squares” they had started out as left-over, unused space and had been usedas a rubbish dump and water reserve.

Their modern plan as a planted park-land did not really start until the early20th century.

Dr Finch said the popularity of theQueen Street Mall was a testament to theway Brisbane people loved open spaces.

The purpose of history was to learnfrom the past which told us that thecity needed open spaces, she said.

Dr Finch said that through the courseshe aimed to form a closer relationshipbetween QUT and the Department ofEnvironment and Heritage, an employerof historians outside of academia.

“I have a good relationship withDEH so I started discussing with thema course that I could run that would beuseful for my students while beinguseful for them and they were veryenthusiastic”.

Discussions with QUT’s Educa-tional Television (ETV) unit then ledto the idea for the production of thedocumentary expected to be completedby the end of the year.

“From the individual essays, we’repulling together a script to make adocumentary which will also be forthe DEH to use in their education proc-esses. It’s all very exciting,” she said.

“It’s about weaving history aroundartefacts that are with us such as build-ings, monuments and open spaces likeparks and cemeteries.”

The focus of the course was on theconcept of open spaces around citiesbecause the DEH wanted some of theirparklands researched, she said.

The undergraduate students, usingarchives of the Brisbane City Council,Environment and Heritage and theQueensland Government had come upwith fascinating links between thespaces, she said.

“We chose to do the old RomaStreet markets because markets weresuch dynamic places,” she said.

“One of my students discovered alink which I didn’t know about. Thestudent is doing Nundah cemeterywhich is where there was predomi-nantly a German population.

“Nundah was an isolated village ofGermans who sold their farm produceat the Roma Street markets, the sub-ject of two other students’ research.

“Jodee has found the headstonesof children killed in the Roma Streetmarkets because these were unregu-lated spaces where children wererunning around. Some got killed.

“Meanwhile one of the other stu-dents is doing Bedford Park whichwas part of an organised playgroundmovement so already we have thiswonderful human link.

“The children who were runningaround in the market, instead of

being in the children’s playground,were buried in somebody else’scemetery.

“So you’ve got a lovely mix andother little bits and pieces turningup and we’re expecting many morelinks between the spaces.”

Dr Finch said some of her studentswere hopeful of being historians orpublic historians while some thoughtthey would enjoy doing historicalresearch for documentaries.

Flamenco dancer Encarna Sancho…more to multiculturalism than food and folk-dancing

THE failure of Australia to adequately incorporateand value the contribution of indigenous andmulticultural communities was the focus of an aware-ness forum presented by Bachelor of Arts (HumanServices) students on August 22.

School of Social Science lecturer Elin Azra said theforum, held on the Carseldine campus, had a two-fold aim of increasing awareness of indigenous andmulticultural issues at a campus level and of

equipping students with valuable professional skills.“What the students were trying to do was to ex-

press what more needs to be done in the areas ofcultural expression, social justice and economic effi-ciency which are the key planks of governmentmulticultural policy,” she said.

Continued page 10

RESEARCH on open spaces bysecond and third-year QUT Bachelorof Arts students has uncovered a“history of lost opportunities” forparklands in Brisbane.

A documentary on open spaces inBrisbane is being produced by thestudents researching the way peoplehave lived, died and played in theircity over the past 150 years.

Lecturer in Australian StudiesLynette Finch came up with the ideaof the documentary in her new publichistory course which looks at the builtenvironment and cultural artefacts.

She said the lack of parklands (greenbelts stretching over vast tracts of land)in Brisbane would place a greater stresson city inhabitants with future increasein medium and high-density living.

Dr Finch said the most surprisingdiscovery she and the students madewas about how open spaces came about.

“I thought we would be finding outthat open spaces were built into mod-ern cities as part of an aesthetic move-ment, but open spaces are built intomodern cities for hygiene and moral-ity,” Dr Finch said.

“There is this whole internationalmovement from the middle of the 19thcentury to recognise that if the workingclasses are crammed together in indus-trial cities with no place to go, that is bothunhealthy, unhygienic and immoral.”

Dr Finch quoted the Poor LawsCommissioners Report from Britain in1842 which said “if we let them out offactories in their dulled state, with theabsence of any uplifting movement intheir lives they’ll head straight to theale house and drink too much”.

“As the eight-hour day was comingin, more public swimming pools,libraries, art galleries and parks wereopening up at the same time to accom-modate the added leisure time.

“It started coming up in all thesereadings that this open spaces move-ment was happening. This movementwas happening in Melbourne, Sydney,Adelaide and Brisbane.

“However, in Brisbane, wheneverit was raised someone quelled the idea.So as other cities were developing theirmarvellous parklands system, peoplein Brisbane were saying ‘no our cityisn’t grand enough’.

“There was a suggestion for a huge cen-tral park, but Governor Gipps said ‘no’.

“Again this occurred at the turn ofthe century. There was a move forgreen belts in the 1940s, but again thecity said ‘no’.

“So we don’t have those hugeparklands. Brisbane is a constant his-tory of lost opportunities or lack ofconfidence.”

Children as culturalambassadors

Page 3

Technology inteaching

Page 5

New undergraduateopportunities in 1996

Page 8

Multicultural issues focus of forum

INSIDE QUT September 5 – 19, 1995

Vice-Chancellor’s comment Homes urgently needed foroverseas English students

Letters to the EditorI am writing to express my extreme dis-appointment in the story: TV Program-mers Ignoring Needs of Hearing Im-paired published in last week’s (IQ Aug22- Sept 4) edition of Inside QUT.

Sadly, the editorial changes which weremistakenly made in the name of politicalcorrectness (the term DEAF became“hearing impaired” in every instance barone) not only muddies the accuracy andmeaning of the story, but has embarrassed[sic] me among my colleagues in the Deafcommunity. As the subject of the story inquestion I would like to ask why I was notconsulted about these changes?

If I had been asked I would have ex-plained that “deaf” is an acceptable de-scribing the physical “lack of hearing”,but it has also been adopted (with a capi-tal D) by Deaf people who identify asmembers of a linguistic and cultural mi-nority group — the Deaf community. Theycommunicate using Australian Sign Lan-guage (Auslan) and view deafness as adifference rather than a disability. It isthis group to which I referred in the inter-view with your journalist.

The terms “hearing impaired” or “hardof hearing” are commonly used to describepeople who have lost their hearing later inlife or who choose not to identify as cul-turally “Deaf”.

Any other publication could be forgivenfor ignorance of these definitions, but it issurely unacceptable for a university news-paper not to take advantage of the wealthof expert knowledge available at the touchof a keyboard.

What I find particularly offensive is thealteration to my own use of the word“deaf” in a direct quote. Surely we are allgrown up enough now to allow each otherto take responsibility for our own choiceof terminology, be it “PC” or not.

Cameron DaveyProducer/Director, ETV

THE Homestay Program, oper-ated through QUT’s InternationalStudent Services section, isrecruiting households willing towelcome an international studentinto their homes.

Homestay Coordinator StephenStuart said participants couldlearn about other cultures andestablish worthwhile friendshipswhile gaining the satisfaction thatcomes from helping someonerecently arrived in Australia.

“Homestay providers are effec-tively contributing towards pro-moting Australia while the studentsgain the benefit of living with Aus-tralians in an English-speakinghousehold where their normal dailyneeds are catered for,” he said.

“It offers students a stable livingenvironment that is both friendly andtolerant of cultural differences.”

Mr Stuart said it was essentialhomestay providers had easy travellingaccess to the Kelvin Grove campus.

Homestay involved more than justfull board, he said.

“Under homestay, the provider wel-comes the international student as amember of the household,” he said.

“The student not only gains thebenefits associated with this but alsotakes on the normal responsibilitiesof a household member.”

On arrival the student paid for twoweeks in advance. The current ratewas $135 per week, Mr Stuart said.

“After the first week the studentinforms the homestay coordinator

if they wish to stay longer thanthe initial two weeks,”

Mr Stuart said there were someguidelines established in advancewhich outlined the responsibilitiesof the provider and of the student.

“The household provides thingssuch as food, a single bedroomwith bed linen, wardrobe anddesk, access to communal livingareas and general cleaning.

“Students are expected to dotheir own washing and ironing,pay for all telephone calls and tonotify the provider if they will beabsent for meals or home late.”

Full details of rules and condi-tions can be obtained from theHomestay Coordinator by tel-ephoning (07) 3864 3846.

Preparation program offersadvice to new step-familiesA PREPARATION program forstep-families is being developedbyQUT’S School of Public Healthwith the help of a grant from theNational Health and Medical Re-search Council.

The NHMRC grant of $128,000over three years will allow QUT andresearch partners the University ofQueensland and Griffith University todevelop, implement and evaluate theStep Prep program.

Step Prep coordinator Ms JanNicholson said the program focusedon four key areas: enhancing coupleand family relationships, learning howparents and step-parents could worktogether in the family, developingskills for dealing with family conflictsand planning for the future.

“The program is designed to buildon previous NHMRC-funded researchI was doing at the University ofQueensland. In that research we looked

at the differences between familieswho were doing well after remarriageand those who were having problems.

“We found that families where thechildren were happy and the parentswere happy, were families who werepositive in the way they interacted,who provided children with stability,worked out their conflicts and main-tained reasonable relationships withex-spouses.

“This study highlighted the impactof the step-parent’s role in dealing withthe children. In families where parentand step-parent agreed about issuessuch as discipline and standards of be-haviour, there were fewer problems.”

Ms Nicholson said family problemswere often reflected in children’sbehaviour.

“Children in troubled step-familiesare often sullen, withdrawn and un-happy. At home they are often unco-operative and frequently defiant or

rude to the step-parent,” she said“We see a lot of antagonism devel-

oping between the step-parent and step-children and that puts a great deal ofstrain on the family and the marriage.

“The good news though is that theprevious research has given us a lot ofclues about what are the importantskills for couples who are getting re-married in order to make the most oftheir relationship.

“Preparation programs for marriagehave been enormously successful. Inthe case of remarriage, we have areally exciting opportunity to helpcouples and their children work to-wards building a happy and successfulfuture together.”

Ms Nicholson said family andmarriage-related stress was a majorpublic health issue in Australia.

“Child-related problems andmarital distress are two extremelycommon mental health problems andthey have a number of public healthconsequences,” she said.

“For children, mental health affectstheir physical and emotional well-be-ing, how well they do at school andtheir relationships with others.

“For parents, child behaviour prob-lems and marital distress are related todepression and they have the potentialto impact on a whole range of physi-cal health and general life functions.”

Step-families brought with them anumber of unique and challengingcharacteristics which could beoverlooked in traditional parentingand child-behaviour managementapproaches, she said.

“The things you need to look at inaddition to how you deal with thechild’s behaviour are the couple’srelationship, how parent and step-parent work together as a parentingteam, dealing with conflicts with ex-spouses, financial problems, forexample ‘should a step-parent pay forhis partner’s child’s schooling?’,‘should he be paying for his ex-wife’schild’s schooling?’.”

Ms Nicholson said the programwould draw on a range of successfulmainstream approaches in the quest forsomething specifically for step-parents.

“We’re looking at established pro-grams which have had a good successat preparing couples for first marriagesand established programs for dealingwith family-related problems andusing those materials to put togetherthe new program,” she said.

“We have completed developmentand piloting of the resources and arelooking for families to participate inour main program.

“We are looking for families will-ing to take part in a six-week programbetween now and Christmas,” MrNicholson said.

Families interested in participatingin the program can contact the Schoolof Public Health on (07) 3864 5667.

community, not the “hearing-impaired”community. Talking about the Australiangovernment’s recognition of “signinghearing-impaired people” is a contradic-tion in terms.

Breda Carty, a staff member of thisCentre, is embarrassed to be identified asa “hearing-impaired activist”.

We enjoy a very productive and crea-tive relationship with the Educational Tel-evision Facility at QUT, and are disap-pointed to see it misrepresented in thisway.This could have been a genuinely use-ful article — as it is, we cannot use it exceptas an example of sloppy journalism.

Professor Des Power, AM, DirectorBreda Carty, Research Fellow

We write with regard to the article TVprogrammers ignoring the needs of hear-ing-impaired, featured on the front pageof your August 22 issue.

As staff members of the Griffith Uni-versity Centre for Deafness Studies andResearch which commissioned some ofthe videos you mention, we are disap-pointed to see that Deaf people have con-sistently been referred to as “hearing-im-paired” throughout the article. “Deaf” and“hearing-impaired” connote quite differ-ent groups of people.

“Deaf” people are members of the sign-ing Deaf community, a linguistic and cul-tural minority who do not consider them-selves “impaired” by their deafness.“Hearing-impaired” people are generallythose deafened later in life or with mild tomoderate hearing losses, who do not iden-tify as “Deaf” in the above sense.

For the record, the videos that QUTproduced for us were about the Deaf

1996 and beyondTHIS is my favourite time in theQUT year.

I meet with managers to discusstheir intentions and aspirations as partof the planning process. I visit schoolsand divisions and hear from staffabout their day-to-day work at QUT.I put to paper my thoughts on QUT’sdevelopment in the VC’s planningguidelines.

This year, faculties and divisionsare preparing their five-year plans inthe context of the QUT strategic planto the year 2000.

This is the start of the university’ssecond quinquennium under its cur-rent structure and our first real op-portunity to map progress in the me-dium term in a settled, consolidated

organisational framework.Although QUT is more settled, the

outside world has changed. Potentialundergraduate, postgraduate and in-ternational students have muchgreater choice and opportunity andhave higher expectations than fiveyears ago.

This means we have to be muchclearer about what benefits derivefrom study at QUT. From my discus-sions with staff, it is clear that theseissues are understood at school level.

My 1996 planning guidelines high-light three key questions for QUTthat address these issues.• How will we improve market share

of quality undergraduates?• How can we be more attractive to

people who want mid or newcareer postgraduate education?

• How are we becoming more inter-national?These are simple questions about

areas where QUT has unique poten-tial to develop strength. Thinkingabout them means thinking strategi-cally about what we do and how wecan better meet the needs of our cli-ents. They involve faculties, divisionsand staff at all levels of the university.

They are challenging questions thatcan lead us to new and excitingresponses.

Professor Dennis Gibson

Booklet directs students to make best choice - page 6

From the Inside by David Hawke


GIFTED children from non-English-speaking backgrounds are beingoverlooked in Queenslandpreschools, according to mastersgraduate in early childhood educa-tion, Kenyan-born, Agnes Ogonda.

Ms Ogonda spent two years re-searching the subject of her mastersIdentifying Giftedness in Childrenfrom Ethnic Minority Groups.

The results warn against compla-cency towards gifted children,particularly from non-English-speakingbackgrounds.

Ms Ogonda said this was of con-cern because the net result of not ad-dressing the needs of gifted childrenwas the same as for learning-impairedstudents — underachievement andeven school failure.

She said the early years were im-portant to the child’s social, emotionaland cognitive development. Thismeant that early identification of gift-edness would make it possible forteachers to plan for appropriate teach-ing strategies and curriculum.

Her research, based on students frompreschools around the Brisbane metro-politan area, concluded that the needsof gifted children were not being met.

“It’s very hard for teachers to know ifa child of preschool age is gifted. Whena child is from a minority culture, toooften there is the temptation on the partof the dominant culture to view differ-ences as deficiencies,” she said.

“On occasion, certain behaviourmay even be seen as anti-social.”

This could be seen, for example, inchildren from some Asian cultures whoconsidered it a sign of respect to lookdown when being spoken to by anelder. Most Australians would see thisas rude or displaying a lack of confi-dence, she said.

Ms Ogonda described one particu-larly startling case she came acrosswhere a well-intended preschoolteacher went to see the parents of astudent because she thought the childmight have learning difficulties.

“In actual fact, the child was veryadvanced for his class and was notbeing challenged enough. The childdid not participate in his class activi-ties as he was bored with the normalpreschool curriculum,” she said.

This created great frustration for thechildren because most gifted childrenwere very forward, wanting to be on acontinuous voyage of discovery, butencountered instead a very structuredlearning environment in preschoolswith structured activities and resources.

“If the child is identified as gifted,the teacher, being aware of this, canplan for appropriate adaptation andmodification.”

As part of her masters, Ms Ogonda

Young artists from the West End State School (Back) Yahya Tartoussi, Lin Chau and Linda Nguyen(Front) Kieu Lam, QUT Early Childhood student Dianne Burkett, Tristan Furniss and Daniel Tran

By MARY VISCOVICH

compiled a list of characteristics thatcould help teachers observe and iden-tify gifted children from ethnic minoritygroups. She recommended this be usedas a guide for teachers in preschools.

“One of the main observable char-acteristics, while varying in differentcultures, is their observation whichmay be seen as passive staring behav-iour. You will find the child is veryobservant and is so keen it will noticeevery single detail,” she said.

“This borders on perception, they canperceive things beyond the ordinary.”

Ms Ogonda said she found in her re-search that there was a lack of generalknowledge among teachers on issues ofgiftedness, particularly how to identifya gifted child. This pointed to the wayteachers were trained.

Ms Ogonda said more informationshould be supplied in teacher educationcourses on dealing with gifted children.

She said there was no doubt somegifted children were demanding onteachers because they constantly askedquestions and demanded attention.

Language was one of the greatestbarriers with teachers being unable tocommunicate with both the child andhis/her parents to overcome problems.

This was exacerbated when bothparents worked and could not attendschool functions.

“There is this seeming lack ofattention on the part of parents whichleads the teachers to sometimes thinkthat the parents deliberately avoid par-ticipating in the school and they inturn cease to attend to this child whichmay result in feelings of rejection bythe child and subsequent withdrawal,”Ms Ogonda said.

Teachers often thought a child couldnot be gifted if they did not speak Eng-lish. She related the comment of oneteacher who said of a preschool child:“It’s a pity that English was not hisfirst language. He would be muchbrighter if he was thinking in English”Ms Ogonda said.

“There is a noticeable gap betweenpolicy and implementation in Queens-land schools.”

The state education policy recom-mends that all children be given everyopportunity to develop their potentialfrom the impaired to the gifted.

“The school curriculum needs toreflect the diversity of needs and in-terests of all social groups and indi-viduals, including the gifted.”

Ms Ogonda, who has a Bachelor ofEducation from Kenya, works as aresearch assistant in the Centre forApplied Studies in Early Childhood andhas enrolled to do her PhD which willbe based on similar research.

Ethnic children’sneeds ignored

Agnes Ogonda

QUT’s Faculty of Business is nego-tiating its involvement in a nationalconsortium to deliver greater flex-ibility and mobility for graduatebusiness students.

The cooperative network will al-low for ease of transfer betweenMaster of Business Adminstrationprograms and the opportunity forresources and opportunities to beshared among participatinguniversities.

The universities involved in thescheme are QUT, the Royal Mel-bourne Institute of Technology, theUniversity of Technology — Sydney,the University of South Australiaand the Curtin University of Tech-nology in Western Australia.

QUT Business Dean ProfessorTrevor Grigg said the consortium

would offer a range of opportuni-ties to both students and business.

“There will be much greatermobility for MBA students. Forexample, if someone who is enrolled ina program with one of the interstatepartners is transferred to Brisbane,they would be accepted into the QUTprogram, avoiding duplication anddisruption to their studies,” he said.

Professor Grigg said the consor-tium model would also allowparticipants to share expertise andcompete for opportunities.

“For instance, one university mayhave a lecturer who is a specialist ina particular area who could travelinterstate to deliver a summerschool, sharing that expertise acrossthe country.

“Large corporations may want

in-house training delivered at sitesaround Australia. Universities ineach capital city may providelocally-based staff to teach anapproved program in their city,thereby eliminating the need forcostly travel and lowering the costfor the client.

“The network will enable indi-vidual institutions to significantlyenhance their international reachthrough collaboration.”

Professor Grigg said there wasalready a great deal of cooperationbetween the participating businessfaculties.

“This is an opportunity to formal-ise and refine the cooperation whichalready exists to maximise the ben-efits for students, our business clientsand the faculties involved,” he said.

Business Faculty to join anAustralia-wide MBA network

Cultural ambassadorspaint child-like picture

Dr Piscitelli said paintings and drawings would beconsidered for the exchange from children up to the ageof eight years.

Kindergarten, preschool and primary school childrenhad already contributed work for selection.

She said seven students from the university werecollaborating with teachers of young children in theirartwork at the West End State School.

The West End school is one of a number of state andprivate schools participating in the project.

“The students have been working with children frompreschool to grade 3,” Dr Piscitelli said.

She said the project had received financial supportfrom a QUT Community Service Grant, Creche and Kin-dergarten Association of Queensland, the Queensland De-partment of Education and the Australia-China Council(Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).

Dr Piscitelli said people and children overseas mightnot necessarily understand what life was like in Australiaand simple images created by a child could often paint atrue picture.

“The children become cultural ambassadors throughtheir drawings and paintings. The project has given chil-dren an opportunity to extend ideas of what life may belike in their country.”

Dr Piscitelli, Professor Ashby and the school’s Asso-ciate Professor Susan Wright will bring back 100 Chi-nese children’s drawings and paintings to Australia laterthis year.

The first general exhibition of the Chinese children’sart will go on display next February at the ToowoombaRegional Art Gallery.

THE mating habits of KelvinGrove bird life are proving a dis-tinct health hazard for the humaninhabitants of the campus.

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, buta few low-flying Mickey birds havetaken to dive-bombing unfortunatestudents and staff who happen to

traverse their ‘O’ block territory.And you thought those expressive

people waving their arms around asthey dashed about were the studentsfrom the dance studio in B-wing east!

Just wish someone would tell thebird life to practise some safe-sex —elsewhere.

Campus quickies

DRAWINGS and paintings from what a child sees andinterprets and conveys to the adult world form the basisof a QUT project aimed at enhancing internationalcultural understanding and appreciation.

The finishing touches are now being made to anAustralia-China Children’s Art Exchange project beingundertaken by QUT’s School of Early Childhood.

It is the second time QUT has been involved in such aproject.

In 1993 the university hosted the successful Australia-Vietnam Children’s Art Exchange project titled OurWorld which received wide media coverage and attention.

Joint managers of this year’s project titled TogetherUnder One Sun, Professor Gerald Ashby and Dr BarbaraPiscitelli of the School of Early Childhood said planswere well advanced following local financial backingand approval from the Ministry of Culture in Beijing.

Professor Ashby said, based on previous experiencewith projects of this type, it was expected that largenumbers of visitors would attend the art exhibitions.

He said the 1993 children’s art exhibition touredAustralia and attracted 13,000 visitors when it was inBrisbane.

Dr Piscitelli said artwork by children was beingcreated in Brisbane and there were plans for an exhibi-tion to be held in China early in October at the Hubei ArtGallery Exhibition Centre.

About 100 drawings and paintings would be selectedby Bachelor of Education and graduate diplomastudents specialising in early childhood for the exchangeexhibitions.


‘’

FROM 1996 international studentsstudying science will have the oppor-tunity to add units in English to theirdegree program following changesannounced by Science Dean Profes-sor Tony Webber.

Professor Webber said visits to Asialast year prompted a rethink of waysto make the Bachelor of Applied Sci-ence program attractive to interna-tional students.

“Everyone in Asia is desperate toimprove their English communicationskills,” he said.

“If parents are thinking of sending achild overseas to study, with all of theassociated costs, then improving spo-ken and written English is a big thingon their mind.

Professor Webber said negotiationswith the School of Communication hadled to their offering two units in Eng-lish that could be taken as part of ascience degree.

“One will concentrate on oral com-

munication while the second is directedto report writing and so on,” he said.

Professor Webber said English-speaking science students would alsohave the opportunity to take units inlanguages other than English.

“I stopped and looked and said ‘wellthat’s all very well for overseasstudents coming this way in terms ofinternationalisation, but what aboutstudents going the other way’,” he said.

“Given the moves that are takingplace for language studies from theFaculty of Arts to be taught here onGardens Point, which is where all thescience students are, you can nowoffer exactly the same program toAustralian students.”

Professor Webber said languagesavailable included Indonesian,Japanese, French and German.

He said he believed skills in asecond language opened up careeropportunities for science graduatesparticularly in Asia.

English units on offer

A DOCTORAL student in theSchool of Learning and Develop-ment is creating a questionnaireto screen children with learningdifficulties at school entry.

The important research being con-ducted by clinical psychologist JohnReddington may detect and treatproblems two years before they arecurrently being picked up.

But unlike any existing screeningprocess being carried out in Aus-tralia, Mr Reddington’s question-naire is directed to parents and doesnot directly involve the child.

It works on the theory that learn-ing difficulties are mainly the resultof fine neurological dysfunctioncaused by genetic, pregnancy, birthand illness factors.

“Environmental problems are alsoone factor, but while these factorscan certainly exacerbate learning dif-ficulties, they are not frequently thebasic cause. The instrument alsoscreens for problems in the speech/language, behavioural, movementand pre-school areas,” MrReddington said.

“I have looked at genetic factorsand pregnancy; pregnancy is a par-ticularly powerful indicator. If youhave had toxaemia in early preg-nancy, for example, you have a highchance of producing a learning-disa-bled child. If the foetus has moved alot in the pregnancy that is also apossible indicator of future behav-iour problems.

“If the mother has smoked morethan 10 cigarettes a day or drunkmore than a glass of alcohol a day,or both, that again is a good indica-tor of future behaviour problems.”

Mr Reddington said birth prob-lems, such as lack of oxygen, alsotended to lead to learning difficul-ties. Other research on prematurechildren had found about 40 percentwould tend to have some learningproblems, as would children who hadsuffered early infantile illnesses,particularly ear infections.

Genetics was also very important.Mr Reddington cited research whichconcluded that if the father was a poorreader there was about a 60 percentchance the child would be too.

He said fine neurological dysfunc-tion, as a cause of learning disabil-ity, had been evidenced in Harvard

Medical School research based on 10autopsies carried out on dyslexic chil-dren who had died inadolescence.

“They found in every case there areneurological wiring problems in thebrain which can’t be picked up by CATscans or EEGs. You can only deter-mine it on autopsy. Current neurologi-cal tests are unable to do this.

“People should be more aware thatearly biographical details are highly pre-dictive of learning problems,” he said.

Mr Reddington, who holds a mas-ters degree in applied psychology fromthe University of Queensland, said ifparents were asked to fill out the in-ventory prior to school entry, it wouldgive the teacher on day one of gradeone an immediate appraisal of thechild.

This would allow the opportunityof referral to the support teacher forfollow-up tests and other more in-depth testing by speech pathologists,physiotherapists, behavioural special-ists and paediatricians.

“This process could be married tothe grade 2.5 Net recently introducedby the Education Department. Thegrade 2.5 Net is in my opinion wast-ing two very precious years of thechild’s life by not identifying learningproblems at school entry.”

He said the current Queensland prac-tice also ran counter to the findings ofthe House of Representatives 1993Crawford report which said that ide-ally all children should be tested by atleast school entry or at pre-school.

“In my opinion it is unethical to al-low children with learning difficultiesto remain undetected in the classroomfor two years before screening them.All the teachers I have spoken to saidit was too late by grade three.”

Other benefits Mr Reddington citedof his screening procedure were thesavings in teacher and administrationtime. Also it was only filled out by theparents, with children being unawareof the procedure.

“Only the teacher would know what

the results were and they would beable to work with that informationfrom day one of grade one,” he said.

Mr Reddington’s inventory isbased on five years of clinical re-search and weights the scores to pro-duce a scale from one to nine withone being no risk and nine indicat-ing a severe prediction of learningdisability.

Mr Reddington has conducted apilot study of 140 mothers from lowsocio-economic areas who filled outthe questionnaire.

Still in the second semester of thefirst year of his research, MrReddington said he expected to com-plete his research in another two tothree years time.

He said that one of the biggest mis-takes made by parents and teacherswas in assuming that an outgoing andbright child was going to be a goodstudent who would “catch up” if therewere any difficulties early on.

“If outwardly a child appearsbright, that’s not necessarily an in-dicator at all of academic abilitybecause one of the definitions oflearning disability is that there is adiscrepancy between intelligenceand school attainment.”

He said that while some doubtedmothers knew their children suffi-ciently well to be able to answer thequestions accurately, his researchwith a self-help group for learning-disabled children found mothers hada detailed and accurate knowledgeand were in an excellent position tomake an appraisal of their children.

Mr Reddington said he was dis-mayed that even though the FederalGovernment states that all childrenshould be screened at preschool orschool entry, he had received nofunding from them for this work.Equally the Queensland Govern-ment had refused to fund the project.

“Even though the AustralianCouncil of Educational Researchhave been very encouraging, theyhave also been unable to providefinancial support,” he said.

Mr Reddington said however, hewas appreciative of the EducationDepartment’s support and that oftwo Christian private schools in pro-viding children. This amounted toabout 600 children who werescreened this year.

Screening process to detectlearning difficulties in children SCIENTISTS, engineers and develop-

ers could no longer be isolated fromthe social and environmental impactsof development, according to the newlyformed QUT special interest grouplooking at the social and environmen-tal impacts of technology.

About 20 people attended the inau-gural meeting of the group recently atQUT following a memo calling forexpressions of interest, circulated todeans, heads of schools and centredirectors from the Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Advance-ment) Professor John Corderoy.

Coordinator of the group DrAbdullah Shanableh of the School ofCivil Engineering said the first meet-ing was a success and generatedinteresting discussion.

He said speakers outlined the historyof social impact assessment and dis-cussed community concerns associatedwith projects and developments.

He said the discussion emphasised theneed for a multi-disciplinary approachand effective community involvementto ensure sustainable development.

Speakers also stressed that commu-nity concerns regarding the environ-ment reflected, in part, anxieties aboutthe social impacts of developments.

These concerns were often expressedin the form of community protests that

generated significant momentum atappropriate venues.

“We would also like to attract morepostgraduate students to the meetingsparticularly if they are conductingresearch in the relevant areas,” DrShanableh said.

Opening the first meeting of thegroup, Professor Corderoy emphasisedthe importance of the group and thebenefits it could generate.

Professor Keith Wallace from theSchool of Civil Engineering told themeeting that the group was set up topromote communication between staffand graduate students with specialinterests in the social and environmen-tal impacts of technology.

Presentations at the first meetingalso were given by the Acting Dean ofBuilt Environment and EngineeringProfessor Tong Wu and a sociologistfrom the University of Queensland DrDavid Ip.

The next meeting, to be held thismonth, will be addressed by Dr NevilleBofinger from QUT’s School of Chem-istry and Dr Lidia Morawska from theSchool of Physics.

If you are interested in joining thegroup, or for more information on thenext meeting please contact Dr Shanableh(email: [email protected], orphone 3864 2510, fax 3864 1515) .

Group to examinetechnology impact

pregnancy isa particularly

powerfulindicator

A ROSTERING system to moreefficiently schedule shipping pilots inthree Queensland ports has beendeveloped by Dr Erhan Kozan fromQUT’s School of Mathematics.

Dr Kozan said the project wasundertaken at the behest of the Queens-land Department of Transport’sMarine and Ports Division.

He said the department wanted todetermine, by a roster, the number ofcaptains required for the safe andefficient operation of the Gladstone,Bundaberg and Port Alma ports.

“Queensland Transport wanted touniformly distribute job schedulesamong pilots,” Dr Kozan said.

“The current number of pilots isseven who work to a three-weekroster, working continuously for 15days followed by seven days off.

“At any time they are on 24-hourcall and have to give service withoutdelay.

“However, each pilot has two weekssick leave, two weeks training and fiveweeks recreational leave each year.”

Dr Kozan said the harbour masters

responsible for scheduling pilotingjobs had been relying on a manualproject/staff planner to ensure staffwere available at all times.

In his report to Queensland Trans-port, Dr Kozan recommended this sys-tem be replaced with a computer-basedproject management package.

This package would include a newdata entering system and wouldmanipulate information from twomathematical rostering models tomaximise efficiency.

“The first model, the Cycle Model, isused to assign pilots to jobs. The secondmodel, called the Main Model, is usedto allocate pilots to cycles,” he said.

Dr Kozan developed the modelsusing shipping movement data gath-ered from the ports over a seven-monthperiod.

He also recommended the appoint-ment of an eighth pilot to service thethree ports.

“Eight pilots can cover the reason-able fluctuations on ships’ arrivals andstaff variations related to replacementand training periods,” he said.

Computer-basedsystem to manageshipping rosters

Operations at a number of Queensland ports will be streamlined through a computerised rostering systemfor pilots developed by QUT’s School of Mathematics


TECHNOLOGY in TEACHING

A $31,000 grant from QUT’s Teaching TechnologyInfrastructure Grants Scheme has enabled the de-velopment of a support system for students usingcomputer-based education (CBE) off-campus.

Computer-based education involves any inter-active computer-based experience designed to helpstudents learn and help lecturers achieve their edu-cational goals with respect to students’ learning.

CBE Lab Supervisor Nicky McCallister saidthere had been significant growth in the usage ofCBE at QUT over the past few years.

“We started off in 1986 with 20 PCs in the labin the library and we now have 100 in our mainlab. Students can get CBE on all campuses througha total of about 700 PCs.

“CBE is available to all students on a projectbasis and is linked to specific subjects.

“From the early days we realised that just fill-ing a lab with PCs and allowing students to useCBE off the network wasn’t enough because theyhave problems.

“As usage got higher and higher we started upa lab advisory system in the late ’80s.

“Then when we started with take-home soft-ware that students could do at home or in the

office we knew there would be a need for more sup-port and that’s what the grant has gone to.

“The project was started at the end of last year andhad to be up and running for the first day of semesterin ’95.”

The CBE support system operates from 7am-10.30pm on weekdays and 8am-5.30pm on week-ends and public holidays during semester.

Twelve students act as lab advisors for other stu-dents using the CBE facilities. The lab advisors workon a roster basis designed to fit in with their lectures.

An average 350 students used the support servicea day, including phone-in enquiries which weresporadic depending on the time of day and time ofsemester, Ms McCallister said.

“It was basically a pilot scheme whereby we puttogether some kind of first pass at a support systemfor off-campus CBE and got experience from that tobuild into a fully operational version which is up andrunning now.

“The lab advisors are mainly IT, business and lawstudents. They are just magic. They’re terrific.

“They go beyond the call of duty. They put inextra hours. They won’t give up. They make everyeffort to solve problems.

“We try to get them in their second year as mostof them are doing five-year degrees and it meanswe have the experience going over four years.

“We advertise towards the end of year, theninterview, and run training sessions at the begin-ning of the following year.

“The students are paid by QUT through anoperating grant.”

Students have to be computer-literate to be-come an advisor. Training consists of an initialcouple of days and then they learn on the job.

The students had also received some telephonetraining and client service training through thestaff development unit, Ms McCallister said.

The lab advisors wear red kimonos so they aremore easily recognised by students in the compu-ter laboratory. This initiative was instigated afterCBE Director, Dr Dan Ellis, visited a universityin Michigan and saw their lab advisors wearingkimonos making them more distinguishable fromthe rest of the students.

“It simply helps them to stand out so they canbe recognised,” Ms McCallister said.

Any student needing help with CBE can phone theCBE Help Desk on 3864 2898 which has four lines.

Support system for students asCBE demand continues to grow

UNIVERSITIES seek to maintainand, if possible, improve the qual-ity of teaching and research in theface of greatly increased studentnumbers, tightened resources andincreasing competition.

This can only be done by adopt-ing innovative approaches toteaching and making the most ofthe opportunities offered by tech-nology. However this is notstraightforward.

On the one hand, technology isincreasingly capable of enhancinguniversity teaching and bringingto reality long-standing rhetoricabout lifelong and flexible learn-ing, while on the other there isgreatly inflated hype about thepotential of communications tech-nology to render campus-basedhigher education obsolete.

QUT has made substantialprogress in the use of technologyin teaching, notably through its useof computer-based education,“smart lecture theatres” and useof communications technology inteaching external students.

But we have yet to deal with theuse of technology in teaching in asystematic and informed way as anacademic issue and as part of ourplanning and strategic development.

This topic was discussed at thisyear’s Retreat of the Vice-Chan-cellor’s Advisory Committee. Anumber of issues were identifiedas needing consideration by QUT.

These included:• what will students expect of QUT

over the next five-10 years?• coordination of university strat-

egies to promote technology use;• clarity in academic policy

University urged to makebest use of innovationsin teaching technologies

do staff need? How can the interfacebetween academic and technical con-siderations be best managed? Whatapproach should QUT take to the de-velopment of off-campus learningopportunities for students, both forexternal students and those studyingmainly on campus?

If QUT is to make the best use oftechnology in teaching it will requirecommitment both from top down andfrom bottom up. Academics must beable to recognise the opportunitiestechnology offers both to them and

Deputy Vice-Chancellor,Professor Peter Coaldrake

concerning distance education;• the interface between central

services and the faculties;• changes in the nature of

academic work;• costs and obligations of using

information technology;• how do we specify and measure

student learning, whether teach-ing uses technology or otherwise?Discussion of these issues will

occur at University and FacultyAcademic Boards.

The use of technology has wide-spread implications for academicand general staff, for the reputa-tion and competitiveness of the uni-versity, and for students, and so itis appropriate that the debate beuniversity-wide and focused ondealing with specific issues.

The outcomes of this debate willalso be relevant to the university’sreview of the Division of Informa-tion Services early next year.

their students, and they must be sup-ported, technically and in other ways,by the university. A shared vision ofwhere QUT is going, and the contextin which it is using technology, willgreatly assist this goal.

■ Dr Stedman is Principal PolicyAdvisor to the Deputy Vice-Chancel-lor. The above is an edited version ofa paper on the use of technology inteaching. For a copy of the full pa-per, phone Dr Stedman on (07) 38642655 or e-mail [email protected]

AS far back as the 1960s, advocatesfor using computers in educationwere predicting revolutionarychanges in teaching.

By the early 1970s it was apparentthat these predictions were unfounded,and many of the same prophets hadentirely reversed their views - assert-ing that computers would never changethe way education was delivered.

Now with the advent of powerfulpersonal computers - linked into net-works and capable of being easily pro-grammed and supporting diverse me-dia - we are hearing more and morethat the information revolution is againabout to transform higher education.Is the situation any different this time?

The new technology has certainly madeinroads into many aspects of our life.

We already take for granted the in-creasing automation of manufacturingand service industries such as bank-ing, and the maintenance of largedatabases in government departmentsand the private sector.

Higher education has also under-gone some fundamental changes overthe past few decades. Governmentsaround the world have embraced theidea of universities as providers ofmass education, necessary to driveeconomic growth and the developmentof a modern society.

Many institutions, such as QUT, haveamalgamated with former teaching col-leges and operate as multicampus uni-versities. Businesses are demandingmore qualifications - and familiaritywith technology - from the workforceand, with the ageing of the workforceand the shortening “half-life” of knowl-edge, are looking to upgrade the quali-fications of older workers.

The student population is becomingmore diverse, with increasing numbersof part-time and mature-age students.With the active efforts of Common-wealth and state governments to linkschools and TAFE to electronic net-works, we can expect more secondaryschool students to be familiar with com-puters and information technology.

Yet information technology has nottransformed higher education.

The vast majority of teaching is de-livered by lectures and tutorials on

By LAWRENCE STEDMAN shift towards more flexible and openteaching methods, involving both onand off-campus learning opportunities.

In the next 10 to 20 years we havebeen promised the infrastructure tosupport broadband communications.Nearly all universities are activelyworking on development of interac-tive multimedia applications for edu-cation, spurred on by government in-terest and incentives.

Many of these efforts may be uneco-nomic, and the future of multimediaapplications may in large part be thetailoring to local conditions of com-mercial packages developed elsewhere.

However the technology to make sig-nificant changes is already with us.Many universities are extending accessto electronic mail and campus networksto undergraduate students, both on andoff-campus. For the first time studentscan have regular easy access to theirteachers and to each other at their ownpace and allowing time for reflection.

Some teachers have set up mailgroups to enable students to share ideasand information and to post relevantupdated course information. Such de-velopments change the role of theteacher and raise new issues aboutwhat constitutes teaching time and howstudent learning is managed.

As Diana Laurillard from the OpenUniversity in the UK has pointed outin a recent seminar at QUT, movestowards more flexible teaching andlearning will, at least in the short-term,require an increased commitment ofacademics’ time.

Similarly, while using technologyis often promoted as leading to greaterproductivity and efficiency, it will costmore rather than less in the short-term.

Nevertheless, QUT cannot afford tolet the opportunities offered by tech-nology go by if it is to remain com-petitive and if its academics are to keeppace with innovations in teaching.

There are many questions to be re-solved if QUT is to make best use ofteaching technology.

What access should students haveto electronic networks. How shouldthey be supported and who should payfor it? How can teaching technologybe allied more closely to teaching andlearning and academic development atthe faculty and university level? Whatincentives, training or other support

campus, or by using printed materialsfor external students.

This is not to say that there has beenno activity in developing uses for tech-nology. In fact, almost every discus-sion of developments in higher educa-tion in recent years makes much of theuse of teaching technology.

However these developments areusually driven by enthusiastic indi-viduals within faculties - supported tovarying degrees by central areas withinuniversities.

In this respect, QUT is little differ-ent to most universities in Australia oroverseas, though it is undoubtedly aleader in the use of computer-basededucation.

Technology is still widely thought ofas an “add on” that is useful mainly forthose who are computer enthusiasts.

The use of particular technologiesin university education will depend onthe learning objectives and the strate-gies used to achieve these objectives.

Despite the prevalent hype in themedia about interactive multimediaand the Internet, and the emergence of“virtual” or “on-line” campuses, thereis unlikely to be a revolutionary changein the way universities do their busi-ness over the next 10 to 20 years.

Nevertheless it is likely that expec-tations of what universities can andshould provide for their students, withthe aid of technology, will involve notonly an improvement in traditionalmethods, for example through the useof “smart lecture theatres”, but also a

Debate neededon implications

By PETER COALDRAKE

Dr Lawrence Stedman

Australia/Asiamediarelationad


TEACHING and LEARNING

A BOOKLET being launched thismonth, So you want to study account-ing?, will help school leaversthroughout Australia decide whichuniversity will suit them best.

Academic Staff Development Unitlecturer in higher education Dr YoniRyan said university accountancycourses in the past had been criticisedquite strongly by ex-students for be-ing rigid and not meeting their needs.

A QUT project, conducted by DrRyan and which forms the basis forthe booklet, shows that accountancycourses vary considerably, depend-ing on the size of the university, staffqualifications, the proportions of lec-tures to tutorials, the use of compu-ter-based learning and the gender ra-tio of staff.

A total of 20,000 copies of thebooklet, published by the Departmentof Employment, Education and Train-ing will be distributed to all second-ary schools and TAFEs in Australia.

Dr Ryan has completed a survey,begun in May, of all Australian under-graduate accountancy programs as partof a pilot project to encourage studentsto consider a university other than theclosest or the most prestigious.

Dr Ryan said in the past some ac-countancy students “were taught verytechnically and came out technicallygood accountants but without a feelfor the changes required in the pro-fession as a whole”.

“Communication, management andbusiness skills had not been emphasisedstrongly, generic skills associated withcomputers were not taught particularlywell and students felt they lacked

tion about choosing the universitymost suitable to their own individuallearning styles and requirements.

She said most students tended tochoose the university closest to themor the university in which they couldenrol on their OP scores.

A review conducted by the gov-ernment three years ago recom-mended more emphasis be placed onaccounting teaching quality andcloser liaison with the accountancyprofessional bodies.

Dr Ryan said, however, there wasoften some conflict between whatacademics believed students neededand what the professional bodiesbelieved they needed.

She said she believed that situa-tion appeared not to have been re-solved particularly well.

“Some universities have staff whoare moderately well qualified interms of academic qualifications andstrong in business consultancy whichbrings considerable relevance andinterest into their teaching programs.

“Others, however, are very in-volved in accountancy codes and aca-demic areas of accountancy and theirinterests tend to be more academic.

“Most students become practisingaccountants in city suburban officesand some courses won’t suit studentswho want to be high-flyers with thebig accounting firms.”

Dr Ryan said students using thebooklet should have a better under-standing of the various courses beforenominating their choice of university.

The QTAC closing date isSeptember 29.

individual attention from teachers.“Accountancy used to be a male-

dominated profession and in manycases it still is,” Dr Ryan said.

“Survey figures now show there isa better balance between male and fe-male student numbers, but the staffwho teach the course are still heavilyweighted towards males.

“In one institution surveyed in thebooklet, there is one female staff mem-ber to 16 males involved in the teach-ing of accountancy.

“From the point of view of teachersmodelling a profession, obviouslyfemale students going to that univer-sity are not being presented with manyfemale models to show accountancycan be a female profession.

“Therefore, at that university atleast, the cycle of male dominance ofthe profession is being perpetuated.”

Dr Ryan said there was a move awayfrom this in a number of universities.

“Some universities are quite proud ofthe fact that they have been able to enlista number of women on their account-ancy teaching staff,” Dr Ryan said.

“However, the women tend to beclustered at the bottom end of theteaching scale. In other words, theyare assistant lecturers or tutors, ratherthan senior lecturers and lecturers.

“Of all the 40 universities surveyed,there were only two female professorsof accountancy,” Dr Ryan said.

She said out of a five-star teachingrating of university courses, the Gradu-ate Careers Council rating for account-ancy was a poor two stars.

Dr Ryan hoped the booklet wouldassist students to give more considera-

A NEW short course, the first of itskind in Queensland and among thefirst in Australia, will help preventAustralia from becoming the dump-ing ground of the world’s faulty for-eign goods, according to senior lec-turer in the School of Electrical andElectronic Systems Engineering DrTee Tang.

Dr Tang said the course, devel-oped by QUT in conjunction withthe Australian Electronic Develop-ment Centre, was at the front-lineof implementing Australia’s new

Electromagnetic Compatibility(EMC) framework.

The framework would help pre-vent the production and importa-tion of goods which created inter-ference in other electronic goods, hesaid.

This was often seen in instancessuch as where a kitchen appliancein operation caused static linesacross a television screen.

Dr Tang said Australia had fallenbehind the rest of the world in im-plementing standards and was atrisk of becoming the dumpingground of non-compliant foreigngoods and being unable to sell ourown electronic equipment abroad.

“EMC is something that is of con-cern to all people. Governments allover the world have recognised thisand some put procedures in placemany years ago to restrict the saleof these types of equipment,” DrTang said.

“It means the equipment which isput on the market must comply tocertain standards. The US imposedthis type of regulation many yearsago under the Federal Communica-tion Commission and Europe hascaught up.

“From 1996, any equipment sold inEurope must carry a sticker which saysthat it complies to a certain standard.

“If Australian companies are notprepared and have not got theirequipment tested they won’t be ableto sell their products overseas andthe overseas manufacturers will beable to dump their non-compliantequipment into Australia.

“If we open our doors and say wedon’t care all the rubbish will comeinto Australia.”

But Dr Tang said the FederalGovernment, through the SpectrumManagement Agency, had realisedthe potential dangers and had beenworking to catch up with the rest ofthe world, launching the EMCframework in July, which will bephased in from January 1996.

From January 1997, all new prod-ucts offered for sale in Australianresidential, commercial or light in-dustrial environment will be requiredto comply with the framework.

The agency was also about tolaunch a saturation advertising cam-paign to raise awareness among in-dustry and consumers, he said.

Dr Tang said that, under Austral-ian EMC guidelines, all household ap-pliances were covered, including TVand audio equipment, as well as infor-mation technology, medical equipment

and engine ignition systems.Part of the EMC framework

aimed to raise public awareness andtrain Australian designers to makeproducts which complied with thesestandards, he said.

Dr Tang said the Department ofIndustry Science and Technology(DIST) approached QUT to helpdevelop the two-day Queenslandcourse and Dr Tang presented thefirst course earlier this year togetherwith a Victorian colleague.

He expects the second course tobegin running shortly.

“The type of people taking thecourses include managers who haveto know what implications theframeworks will have on their com-panies in terms of future develop-ment of their products and also thepenalties for non-compliance.

“Technical people from designers,assembling people, installation peo-ple, importers and exporters shouldalso take the course,” he said.

“Importers have to know if goodsthey are bringing into the country arecompliant as they are liable for heftyfines if the goods are not compliant.”

The course covered the nationaland international implications,standards, testing methods, designprinciples and good practice in EMCdesigns such as grounding, shield-ing and cabling, he said.

Dr Tang said QUT first becameinvolved with EMC about five yearsago when he and retired former lec-turer Pat Boddington set up a testfacility for EMC.

Subsequently they received agrant from the DIST which helpedthem put together pre-test evalua-tion equipment for EMC. Thisequipment currently sits on the roofof QUT’s ITE building carrying outpre-test evaluation for manufactur-ers around Brisbane.

“In Australia there are very fewaccredited test houses. In Queens-land there are none. Because Queens-land has no testing centre we arethinking about making the QUT fa-cilities National Association of Test-ing Authorities (NATA) registered.

“But this involves cost and a busi-ness plan and the location on QUT’sroof is also a problem so we arethinking of leasing a site to accom-modate the equipment and may asklocal companies to support us.”

Dr Tang said he also hoped to de-velop a more in-depth technical coursewhich would be fully QUT owned andrun more frequently as knowledge ofthe EMC guidelines spreads.

Booklet directs studentsto make the best choice

Lecturers still cling to traditional ways

D ESPITE the availability ofnew technology to aid teach-ing strategies, most lecturers

continue to use traditional “chalkand talk” methods, according to arecent QUT survey.

The survey was undertaken by spe-cial interest group, Teaching andLearning in Large Classes (TALLC),part of the Teaching Reflection andCollaboration (TRAC) network underthe Academic Staff Development Unit.

TRAC is a collaborative, cross-dis-ciplinary network of special interestgroups, each devoted to a particularaspect of teaching and learning. Itboasts about 150 participants from 25different schools across QUT’s threecampuses.

The TALLC group consisted of GayClark (Law), Peter Flynn (Economicsand Finance), Keith Travers (Mechani-cal and Manufacturing Engineering),Pam van Homrigh (Language and Lit-eracy Education), Kay Hallt (Commu-nication and Organisational Studies),Denise Scott (ASDU), Jane O’Leary(ASDU), Geoff Roberts (AV Services)and Karen Theobald (Nursing).

School of Language and LiteracyEducation lecturer and project leaderPamela van Homrigh said the groupused the survey to look at two aspectsof teaching in large classes at QUT.

The first project, funded by a QUTTeaching and Learning DevelopmentLarge Grant of $24,575, looked at theuse of technology for more effectivelearning in large classes.

The second project, funded by aQUT Teaching and Learning Devel-opment Small Grant of $4891, lookedat excellence in teaching and learningin large classes.

“Traditionally teachers used ‘chalkand talk’ when lecturing with overheadprojectors. But now there is a largeselection of technologies available such

By TRISH PENNICOTT as laser disc players, electronic visual-isers, slide projectors, data projectors,videotape recorders and personal com-puters,” Ms van Homrigh said.

The survey looked at the frequencyof use of these new technologies inlarge classes and student perceptionof how useful the technologies wereand how frequently they were used.

All academic staff of QUT and 10percent of undergraduate students weresurveyed.

“We analysed data and sent the fi-nal report in March to the Teachingand Learning Committee who admin-ister the grant,” Ms van Homrigh said.

“We also did a series of awarenessworkshops and presented papers to theHigher Education Research and De-velopment Association (HERDSA)and other professional associations.”

Despite the availability of a widerange of teaching technologies, accord-ing to the project’s findings, the mostused piece of technology is still theOHP.

“Lecturers have all this technologyavailable to them but, apart from a fewlecturers, they are mainly using onlyOHPs.

“People have their comfort zonesand they stick within that. You canmake yourself a bit vulnerable in largeclasses if you try something differentand it doesn’t work and students com-plain and start talking.

“It involves risk-taking.”However the situation was made

difficult by the fact that much of thenew technology was only available inthe ‘smart lecture theatres’, she said.

The infrequency of use of innova-tive technology by lecturers in largeclasses could be because of a numberof contributing factors including a lackof staff awareness, timetabling inrooms without equipment, or the factthat the lecturers didn’t want to takesomething on that they had not had achance to train on, Ms van Homrighsaid.

The group had made a number ofrecommendations based on the surveyincluding that staff awareness of teach-ing technology facilities be improvedand that opportunities be made avail-able for staff to learn how to use thesetechnologies more effectively. Oneway to achieve this would be throughthe establishment of a training room.

A simulated lecture theatre, contain-ing new technologies was planned tobe set up in the library building at Gar-dens Point by first semester next yearwhere Audio Visual Services staffwould be able to train lecturers in newtechnologies and broaden their use ofavailable resources, Ms van Homrighsaid.

The other project undertaken by thegroup looked at excellence in teach-

ing and learning in large classes ofundergraduate students.

“We focused on the strategies andcharacteristics of excellent lecturers oflarge classes.

“Students were asked to nominatean ‘outstanding’ lecturer of a largeclass and why they nominated thatperson. We came up with a list of 125lecturers from all different schools andfaculties.

“We selected two or three from eachfaculty who were nominated most fre-quently and came up with a profile ofan outstanding lecturer.

“We video-taped 18 lecturers (twoto three from each faculty) and lookedat what they were doing and comparedthat with what students said they weredoing.

“Comments from students whonominated ‘outstanding’ lecturers in-dicated that students really enjoyedlecturers who had a personal approach,a good sense of humour, were enthu-siastic, encouraged student/lecturerinteraction, provided a clear lecturestructure, had good ‘crowd control’and who spoke clearly and loudly.”

The group was putting together aresource video on presentation skills,innovative teaching strategies and useof technology for lecturers, Ms vanHomrigh said.

Any academic staff member whowanted to discuss the survey furtheror wanted to join the group was verywelcome, she said.

Ms van Homrigh can be contactedon (07) 3864 3449.

Australia in danger ofbecoming a dump forfaulty foreign goods


RESEARCH

dren in Brisbane to estimate UV exposure ofvarious school activities, he said.

Preliminary results from the study were likelyto be presented to the Australian Radiation Pro-tection Society conference in Brisbane this month.

“In order to complete the whole program, wewill need to obtain data on a whole year’s expo-sure which will result in the work continuinguntil about the middle of next year.”

QUT’s research into ultra-violet radiation, how-ever, is not confined to the human angle as a majorstudy is being conducted into the impact on plants.

Dr Wong said a PhD student project, begunabout three years ago, to develop a new methodof assessing UV exposure on plant life, shouldbe completed in the near future.

“We have come a long way and developed a

new method of estimating the UV exposure tothe canopy of the plant,” Dr Wong said.

“We are now developing a method of usingdosimeters to estimate the solar spectrum so asto use the spectrum to calculate the UV that isaffecting the plant.

“If everything is successful, we should be ableto obtain information which will be useful forhumans to adapt to environmental change.

“It will also provide data on the effect UV-rays have on plant life such as crop productionand other related plant life sources.

“With this method we should be able to find outvarieties of plants which are more resistant to UVexposure and from this maybe develop plant spe-cies which are more productive and less suscepti-ble to the UV harmful effects,” Dr Wong said.

THE Slip, Slop, Slap campaign should soonreceive more ammunition in battle tacticsagainst ultra-violet (UV) radiation fromprojects being carried out at QUT.

A research group within the Centre for Medi-cal and Health Physics is studying UV-ray ex-posure that some outdoor workers would receiveover a period of one year in Queensland.

Queensland has one of the highest rates ofskin cancers in the world and outdoor workersare particularly at risk.

“What we are obtaining is additional informationwhich could help develop habits or methods forfurther reduction to UV exposure,” a senior lecturerin the School of Physics, Dr Joe Wong said.

“We are not aiming to disprove the Slip, Slop,Slap campaign, but provide additional informa-tion for people to adopt, so as to reduce theirexposure and utilise proper protective devices.”

Dr Wong said a report on the findings of theresearch would be made to the Queensland HealthDepartment, the Queensland Cancer Fund andto various organisations that fought against skincancer.

He said it would provide data as to whathuman work activity resulted in higher UVexposure so that strategies could be developedto minimise the problem.

“It could also probably develop a new idea inassessing and classifying protective devices,” DrWong said.

A number of people on the Darling Downs,Toowoomba and Laidley areas have cooperated inthe study of outdoor workers along with workers atthe University of Queensland’s Gatton College’sexperimental farm.

A computer model has been developed at QUTwhich calculates the degree of UV exposure onthe human face over a 12-month period.

The face was selected as the skin cancers ofinterest, called Basal Cell carcinomas, occurmostly on the face.

Dr Wong said several innovative techniqueshad been developed in the study, including ex-periments using a model head on a rotating base.

The outdoor workers’ study contributed to theestimate of an activity index which took intoconsideration a person’s outside probabilityactivity subject to radiation.

The techniques were also adapted to determinethe protection afforded by a broad-brimmed hat.

Dr Wong said results showed that total expo-sure to the unprotected face (cheek) during sum-mer could be as high as 429 MED, where 1 MEDwas the energy required to just begin sunburning.

He said the protected face, by the use of a hat,would receive 338 MED over the same period areduction of 21 percent.

“There are a number of public misconcep-tions, such as the wearing of a hat will give youprotection against skin cancer,” Dr Wong said.

“Another misconception is that if you go intoshade you have protection, but this is not so, asmore shade does not necessarily mean more pro-tection as UV rays come from all directions.”

He said the nose was found to have the greatestannual UV exposure reading of 625 MED and evenwith the wearing of a hat this fell by more than 30percent but still had a reading of 432 MED.

The study developed better methods of mod-elling long-term human exposure to UV whichcould be applied to other occupational groups.

Dr Wong said the outdoor workers’ study showedUV dose measurements were extremely high, 1.5to 2 times greater than that received by outdoorworkers in northern hemisphere countries.

UV data was also being collected from someparticipating primary and secondary schoolchil-

Dr Joe Wong ... “Basal Cell carcinomas occur mostly on the face”

New tactics in the battleagainst UV-ray exposure

Research comes to police rescueBy NOEL GENTNER

background in a cafe or bar.“We are working on develop-

ing techniques to enhance theseparation and identification ofthe persons making the state-ments,” Dr Deriche said.

The other area of sound re-search is in the recorded musicfield, where a technique based onthe Wavelet Transform is beingdeveloped to code and decodesound to increase playing time.

“What we want to do is, ratherthan say having one hour of mu-sic on a CD, we want to increasethis and store 10 to 12 hours.”

Dr Deriche is supervising PhDstudent Simon Boland from theSignal Processing ResearchCentre in the project.

Dr Deriche said the project was

PhD student Simon Boland from the Signal Processing Research Centre

Postgradscholarshipad

ELECTRONIC research at QUTis coming to the aid of theQueensland Police Department.

The same research is also be-ing applied to the commercialsound industry of recorded mu-sic and voice that could lead tothe replacement of the present CDdisk.

Research leader for coding anddecoding of speech and sound inthe School of Electrical and Elec-tronic Systems Engineering, DrMohamed Deriche said a numberof projects were being undertakenwithin the Signal Processing Re-search Centre for the police.

Dr Deriche said the police de-partment approached the univer-sity last year during a workshopon forensic applications to find asolution to what they termed amajor problem in the storage ofpolice interview tapes.

Work on the project to com-press the data of speech inter-views to acceptable intelligibil-ity has been carried out by a groupof students including PhD stu-dent Shahrokh Ghaemmaghami.

Dr Deriche said results alreadyhad been very promising and itwas hoped the system being de-veloped could be presented to thepolice by the middle of next year.

“There is absolutely no doubtwe can provide them with a muchmore efficient and smallersystem,” Dr Deriche said.

He said the technique beingemployed was known as TD(temporal decomposition) wherea minimum number of speech pa-rameters were used.

“Rather than looking at speechin frames, we look at it in seg-ments which reduce considerablythe amount of parameters neededto regenerate the speech,” DrDeriche said.

He said the ultimate goal wasto reduce by 100 times the tapetime or storage space of thepresent system.

“That meant the coded speech

different from the recorded policeinterview work where the aim wasto reconstruct the sound with noperceivable difference whichmeant no distinction between theoriginal tape sound and the recon-structed decoded sound.

“Because of the quality required,we cannot aim at the 100 to oneratio as in the recording of policeinterview,” Dr Deriche said.

“The coding techniques and thecriteria are different from thespeech coding because of the needfor high-quality transfer.”

Dr Deriche said he believed theproject when completed wouldhave high commercial applica-tions and there could be possibili-ties of joint participation with CDmanufacturers.

data would use one percent of thespace or time it was using in thepresent tape storage system,” DrDeriche said.

He said the ultimate aim wouldbe to have a computer in thepolice interview room wherevoice was directly recorded andcoded on diskettes or hard-driveand stored for decoding at a laterdate.

Dr Deriche said another policeproject, being supervised by Pro-fessor Miles Moody and DrSridha Sridharan, involved sepa-rating and identifying speechfrom recorded conversations inhigh-noise areas.

He said an example of this couldbe the picking-up of conversationsof two people with noise in the


NEW UNDERGRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES in 1996

Students reap benefitswith double degreesGRADUATES will reap the benefitsof combined education degrees to beoffered in 1996.

Double degrees will combine theBachelor of Education (Secondary)with Arts, Science, Business, HumanMovement Studies, Home Econom-ics or Information Technology infour years.

Dean of Education Professor AlanCumming said the major advantageof the double-degree program wouldbe that it would attract good disci-pline-based students who could havean exciting future as leaders in theirfield.

“It will improve the disciplinebackground of those who are goingto be teachers,” he said.

“It will also increase the capacityof students to have more freedom ofchoice, as they progress through thedouble degree, about where theywant to head in their career.

“I think certainly it makes QUTmore competitive in the marketplacefor teacher-education students.”

The double-degree program willrequire a 48 credit-point overload,spread over the four years, for stu-dents

“Each year they will have a 12-point overload. That’s one extra uniteach year.”

Students who want to enter thedouble-degree program will have todo so on the OP of the other faculty.

For example, students wishing toundertake a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Education will gain en-try to the program with the OP ofthe Bachelor of Science.

It was important to stress thatQUT was not deleting any routesinto the teaching profession by thismove, Professor Cumming said.

There were no plans to get rid of theBachelor of Education (Secondary).

“It is important to stress that thisis purely a conversion of the Bach-elor of Education (Secondary).

“The Ed (Primary) and the Ed(Early Childhood) remain in placeas they are. They are not at this stagemoving into double degrees.

“All three, the Bachelor of Ed(Primary), (Early Childhood) and(Secondary) will remain in place.”

Admission to the double-degreeprogram will be through thenormal QTAC route.

Enquiries should be directed tothe Faculty of Education on(07) 3864 3947.

QUT’s Bachelor of Business degreehas been revised so that all Businessstudents study the same core of eightsubjects, mainly in first year, beforepursuing their major.

The major is confirmed for the second year of the three-year full-time(six years part-time) degree.

Dean of Business Professor TrevorGrigg said all business students, irre-spective of their major, required anunderstanding of generic business sub-jects before they specialised.

Core subjects were Government,

Business and Society; Management,People and Organisations; BusinessTechnology and Information; Ac-counting; Business Ethics; Econom-ics; Marketing and International Busi-ness; and Professional Communica-tion and Negotiation.

Majors included Accountancy;Banking and Finance; Communica-tion; Economics; Human ResourceManagement; International Business;Management; and Marketing. Thedegree required either a doublemajor, an extended major, or a major

plus a specialisation, and included fourelectives or a minor.

Professor Grigg said the commonfirst year would be offered at GardensPoint and Carseldine campuses in 1996,full-time or part-time.

Students who began first year atCarseldine could choose a major atGardens Point or at Carseldine if themajor was offered there.

Majors offered in second year atCarseldine in 1996, and available atGardens Point also, are managementand human resource management.

Professor Grigg said other majorswere envisaged for Carseldine whichwould take advantage of the physicalassociation with the Arts Faculty.

“We might see an international stud-ies major with a language component,double degrees in Arts/Business, andBusiness electives drawn from Arts.”

Students should apply throughQTAC for the campus and entry fieldof their choice but the major could beconfirmed for second year.

In 1996, the Carseldine campus willtake 300 first-year Business studentsincluding 90 part-time, and a further80 students are expected to begin sec-ond year. The first Business studentsbegan at Carseldine campus in 1995.

Courses in journalism, film and tel-evision production and media studiesbased at Gardens Point campus are nowoffered through the Arts Faculty.

Common first year for Business degree

AN innovative degree course in com-munication design will be offered forthe first time next year by QUT’sAcademy of the Arts.

The course aims to produce design-ers capable of working in fields us-ing new technologies including inter-active multi-media design, graphicand communication design, film andtelevision and telecommunications.

Academy Head Professor PeterLavery said the new course filled anemerging gap in the arts industry.

“With the development of a widevariety of new technologies at thedisposal of all artists, the academyfelt there was a void in formal train-ing for future designers in these ar-eas,” Professor Lavery said.

“The course will consist of fac-ulty core units to be introduced nextyear for academy courses.

“These core units aim to give stu-dents a wider range of knowledge inthe general community.

“Students will then continue to

specialise in communication design.”The structure of the course is di-

vided into four broad areas: foun-dation skills and concepts, theoreti-cal studies, studio work and electivesfrom across QUT in areas such asbusiness, information technology,media and digital music.

“In their final year, students alsoundertake an industry secondmentproviding a vital link between stud-ies within the university and theworkplace,” Professor Lavery said.

“The secondment builds on the ex-tensive use of working professionalsused as part-time teaching staffduring the course.

“The multimedia design industryis rapidly evolving and it is consid-ered essential that graduating stu-dents be in touch with current de-velopments and emerging employ-ment opportunities.”

The course is limited to 30 placesand applications are to be madethrough QTAC.

Communicationdesign ad

Night andday businessdegree ad

ADMISSIONS procedures for twoBachelor of Education degrees havebeen revised to better meet the needsof adult applicants.

Applicants for the Bachelor ofEducation (In-service) and the Bach-elor of Education (Adult andWorkplace Education) in 1996 willapply through QUT’s Admissionssection, not through the Queensland

Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC)as in previous years.

In addition, the closing date forapplications for both degrees hasbeen extended to January 19.

Offers are already being made forthe Adult and Workplace degreewhile rolling offers for places in theIn-service degree will begin at theend of October.

Revised admission suitsneeds of adult learners

Communication courseequips designers withskills in modern media

MOST of the 500 new Common-wealth-funded places allocated toQUT over the next two years will beat Carseldine campus.

QUT will take 340 extra students in1996 and 200 in 1997.

Vice-Chancellor Professor DennisGibson said the extra places repre-sented better opportunities for studentsin the northern suburbs to enter uni-versity, whether they were schoolleavers or people seeking alternativeentry.

One of Australia’s largest universi-ties, QUT has 27,000 students on threecampuses. Gardens Point has 16,400,Kelvin Grove 7100 and Carseldine 1600.There are also 2000 external students.

Professor Gibson said Gardens Pointhad been fully developed and KelvinGrove had been the focus of majorgrowth and building activity over thepast four years.

“Our strategy now is to developCarseldine to help cater for strongpopulation growth in the northern cor-ridor,” he said.

At present, the Carseldine campusteaches courses in Arts (social scienceand humanities) and Business whichwas offered at the campus for the firsttime this year.

Professor Gibson said that as asmaller campus, Carseldine could pro-vide a more personal introduction touniversity life.

QUT will offer evening lectures forpart-time students in Business and Artsdegrees at Carseldine campus for thefirst time in 1996.

Professor Gibson said evening lec-tures would be more convenient formany students who worked or wereotherwise committed in the day time.

Evening lectures would begin at 6pm.Students could park on campus, and busand rail stops were across the road, Pro-fessor Gibson said.

New placesmean stronggrowth atCarseldine

■ QUT will offer double degreescombining mathematics with infor-mation technology or engineeringfor the first time in 1996.

Graduates of the combined degreeprogram will hold a Bachelor of Ap-plied Science (Mathematics) andeither a Bachelor of Engineering(Civil), a Bachelor of Engineering(Electrical and Computer) or a Bach-elor of Information Technology.

QUT careers and employmentcounsellor Alan Richardson saidgraduate survey results indicatedcombined degree programs greatlyincreased graduate employmentopportunities.

“Graduates from these courseshave employment opportunities inthree areas, the two areas they stud-ied and the specialised overlap be-tween the two disciplines,” MrRichardson said.

“For example, in the maths/infor-mation technology combination agraduate could specialise in complexmathematical computing or statisti-cal modelling.”

QUT’s new Teaching and Learning Plan maps an exciting path ahead for the university’sstaff and students over the next five years. The plan not only draws together the vast rangeof teaching and learning activities across the institution, but also addresses our challengesfor the future. It highlights the need to design and deliver courses that meet the needs andaspirations of future graduates — the new combined degrees in education and thecommunication design degrees mentioned on this page are only two of many new initiatives.

Professor Janice Reid, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic)


QUT Student Guild fees in 1996 will in-crease by $10 following a decision of anExtraordinary Meeting of the guild coun-cil on August 15, though the measuremust still be approved by the UniversityCouncil on the recommendation of thePlanning and Resource Committee.

Guild President Emma Griffiths saidthe fee rise would fund a 50 percentincrease in the guild’s contribution tothe joint University/Guild CommunityFacilities Trust Fund.

She said the trust fund was used topay for major construction work for stu-dent facilities on QUT’s three campuses.

“These will include refurbishmentof the Kelvin Grove CommunityBuilding to include a club, bar, shopsand student services at Kelvin Grovetowards the end of 1996,” she said.

“It will also pay for an indoor sportsfacility at Kelvin Grove including a heatedpool, squash courts and a gym in ’97-98.

“There will also be a refurbishmentof the Gardens Point CommunityBuilding with shops being establishedand existing services upgraded.

“For Carseldine students, the fundwill offer playing fields and studentsocial facilities.”

Ms Griffiths said the fund had con-tributed to a number of projects in 1995.

“It has contributed $100,000 to thenew child care centre for Kelvin Grove,$8000 for a minor refurbishment of theGardens Point campus club and $28,000to repair the roofing on the indoor poolat Gardens Point,” she said.

The university’s Capital Manage-ment Plan containing the fee rise as adependent factor was presented to theQUT Council meeting on August 17.

The student guild fee for full-timestudents in 1995 was $150, which in-cluded $20 for the trust.

Student Guild fees to rise

Students with disabilities tobe offered a taste of uni lifeQUT UNITASTE, the program thatoffers high-school students with dis-abilities an opportunity to acquire ataste for university life, will be offeredagain this year.

This follows the success of theinaugural QUT UNITASTE last year.

UNITASTE, funded by a QUTQuality Assurance Grant for Commu-nity Service, was developed by a work-ing party of the Equity Section totarget high-school students withdisabilities.

Project Coordinator Ms Glenda Pagesaid the project was an initiative of theEquity Section and the Access for Peo-ple with Disabilities Committee in re-sponse to the underrepresentation ofstudents with disabilities enrolled intertiary study.

In December 1994, 22 secondary-school students with disabilities inyears 10 and 11 attended a three-dayworkshop at Gardens Point campus totaste university life at QUT.

“Year 10 is a critical stage in high-

school education when students arerequired to make subject choices whichwill affect their future options, ” MsPage said.

The three-day program was de-signed to familiarise students with thecampus, its facilities and some keypersonnel, she said.

“The aim of UNITASTE is to en-courage students with disabilities toconsider university study as a futureoption by providing them with expo-sure to the tertiary environment, expe-rience in basic research skills and ex-perience in a variety of subject/careerchoices through faculty workshops.

“The program also aims to demys-tify university and remove perceivedbarriers by providing students with in-formation on QUT courses as well asinformation about services that wouldassist them to access university study.

“As well, current QUT students withdisabilities act as mentors.”

Ms Page said the program allowedstudents to explore an area of interest.

Students selected a topic of interestto them and formed groups of com-mon interest to research the chosentopics.

A team of friendly librarians famil-iarised the students with the libraryand gave advice on how to break downa research topic, Ms Page said.

“QUT staff members give advice onhow to present research projects andothers run a variety of workshops.”

This year’s UNITASTE will be heldin the September vacation period fromSeptember 26-28 at the Gardens Pointcampus.

It is being offered to 24 year-10students with disabilities who live inthe Brisbane metropolitan area. Stu-dents must have at least a soundachievement in English to participate.

A video was made of UNITASTE1994 and this may be borrowed fromthe library or the Equity Section.

Ms Page can be contacted in theEquity Section on (07) 3864 5601 forfurther information.

A RESEARCH team from the Schoolof Curriculum and Professional Stud-ies has been engaged by the NationalSchools Network to complete a longi-tudinal study of the restructuring proc-ess in schools.

Team spokesperson Dr MervWilkinson said the two-year studywould centre on four primary schoolsfrom around Australia in an attempt tobetter understand the relationship be-tween changing school structures andcultures and outcomes for students.

“It’s a longitudinal study of how therestructuring process in these schoolsis changing structures, changing val-ues and affecting teachers and theirwork,” Dr Wilkinson said.

“It’s looking at the impact of restruc-turing of organisations and teachers’work practices on students’ learning.

“We’re not just looking at thesuperficialities, we’re trying to lookbelow to the values and the underly-ing assumptions that teachers will beaddressing in trying to restructure theirworkplaces for better learning envi-ronments for their children.”

The National Schools Network hasso far provided $30,000 to QUT andresearch partner the Victorian Univer-sity of Technology.

Dr Wilkinson said QUT and VUThad initially applied separately forfunding for the project, but the grant-ing body had suggested they team upas their proposed methodologies weresimilar and they both had experiencein action research in schools.

“Action research looks at schoolsbeing able to decide on the particular

issues they want to look at and thenpicking up those issues in a system-atic, academically rigorous way, hav-ing the teachers with the universitycolleagues as research partners work-ing with, rather than on, them.

“Action research is a way of lookingat educational issues, ideas and prob-lems that is increasing in popularity.

“It’s used by teachers more andmore around Australia and around theworld and it is a very useful approachfor helping people to develop thecapacity to help themselves and tounderstand their own social situations,their own school structures and to im-prove the learning for their kids andalso themselves.”

As the research focus for eachschool would be determined by theteachers involved, the research out-comes would vary between schools,Dr Wilkinson said.

“The outcomes that the project willyield will be a set of individual casestudies or school profiles of change,of people dealing with change anddealing with the restructuring mecha-nisms that have happened around them.

“However, one of the primary focusesof the study is to compare cross-site datafrom the four schools to see if there issome generalisable findings about schoolteachers’ workplace cultures.

“We think this research will be suc-cessful if the teachers’ voices are para-mount, if schools own their researchissues and if the university colleagues,that’s QUT and VUT, are able to pro-vide accurate insights for sharing withother teachers in Australian schools.”

New study examinesschool restructuring

INVENTIVE ways of raising moneyare weighing heavily on the mind ofQUT courseware developer DamonMitchell.

A QUT graduate in informationtechnology last year, Damon will leaveAustralia on December 10 for CostaRica to take part in establishingwater treatment plants, wildliferesearch, building schools and provid-ing education and health programs.

Damon will undertake the projectwith Youth Challenge Australia, acommunity-aid volunteer group basedat the University of TechnologySydney.

“It’s going to be a great way of ex-changing cultures and information, aswell as being a great opportunity forpersonal development and having fun,”Damon said.

It also means that Damon must raise$4200 for the trip, but he has already

begun the task with a few good ideasincluding a ‘silent auction’.

“I have asked friends, family andcolleagues to donate goods they don’twant anymore such as old books orCDs and I’m compiling a list of thesegoods and distributing the list askingfor bids,” Damon said.

“I’ll then go through the list andselect the highest bid for the goods.”

While the coffers are empty it’searly days yet and Damon says he alsointends to give some talks to Rotaryon the project and hopes they will sup-port his endeavours.

Costa Rica may be a far cry frominformation technology, but Damonhopes he’ll be able to produce somelearning materials from informationgained during his trip.

Anyone who would like to help bycontributing goods can contact Damonon extension 1178.

Damon takes on challengeGraduate Damon Mitchell raising funds for South American sojourn

ST MARGARET’S Girls’ School students recentlyhad a tour of QUT’s space program from ProgramDirector Professor Farhan Faruqi.

The students, who are all involved in their school’sspace club run by their head of science MichaelBremner, gained a rare insight into a working spaceprogram.

Professor Faruqi also offered the students an op-portunity to put forward experiments which wouldbe loaded on to a rocket expected to be launched nextApril as part of QUT’s ongoing rocket launchprogram.

“We said they could put forward ideas for an ex-periment which we could send up into the middle andlower atmosphere perhaps to gain information on air

pollution, temperature or radiation,” Professor Faruqiexplained.

“We will assist them in drafting the experiment andhelp them with things like the configuration andspecifications.”

The girls were also addressed by the lead academicof the program, Professor Paul Wilson, who togetherwith Professor Faruqi explained how rockets werelaunched, how they were kept on path and broughtback with parachute system.

Mr Bremner said his students, including year-11student Kylie Hunter who had already been to Russia tosee their space program, were all fascinated by the tour.

“I’m sure they found it very interesting and we willbe coming back soon to see more of the space centre.”

Spaced out on uni program

Associate Professor Farhan Faruqi acted as guide to students from St Margaret’s School Helen Fifoot(yr 8), Lisa Byrom (yr 8) and Kylie Hunter (yr 11) when they toured QUT’s Space Centre


September 4-9 — HOT TIPS on body building and therisks of steroid use will be given out during Alcohol andDrug Awareness Week at QUT.

The campaign to raise awareness of the potential dan-gers of steroids also aims to associate the use of the body-enhancing drugs with Hepatitis C.

An initiative of the QUT Alcohol and Drug AdvisorySub Committee, Hot Tips will provide information aboutsteroid use as well as harm-minimisation information forthose using steroids. For information contact Paul Neumannon (07) 3864 4835.

* * *September 5 — Dean of Arts Professor Roger Scott

will present the seminar Unresolved Issues in the Edu-cation of Aboriginal and Islander Peoples in room B204,Kelvin Grove campus commencing at 3pm.

If attending please call Sue Whatman on (07) 3864 4599.* * *

September 6-9 — Second-year drama students presentthe Jewish classic God of Vengeance at Metro Arts Thea-tre. Tickets $12 adults, $7 concession. For bookings tel-ephone (07) 3864 3961.

* * *September 7 — An information session on

WORKLINK, a program to help women on maternity/parental leave keep in touch, will be held from 1pm-4pm in room E122, Carseldine campus.

To RSVP or for more information telephone JaneBarker (07) 3864 5582 by September 6.

* * *September 8 — Women in QUT (WIQUT) will present

How and Where to Apply for Research Grants in the Hu-manities and Social Sciences between 12pm and 2pm inroom C301, Carseldine campus. RSVP to Sue Whatmanon (07) 3864 4599 by September 7.

* * *September 15 - WIQUT will present Is inner peace

too stressful? The great debate in celebration of Interna-tional Day of Peace. Lunch available for $3 for WIQUTmembers/$6 non-members or BYO lunch. BYO picnicblanket. Grassy hill by Kelvin Grove State Preschool(V Block) 12.30pm-2pm (if wet, B306). To order lunchcontact Lenore Foster on (07) 3864 5972.

* * *September 25-30 — The QUT Academy of the Arts will

conduct acting workshops for high-school students duringthe September school holidays.

There will be two separate workshops, one for studentsin years eight, nine and 10 and another for students in years11 and 12.

For information on course content telephone MarkRadavan on (07) 38643230. For information on enrolmentand payment telephone (07) 3864 3684.

* * *September 26-28 — QUT UNITASTE 1995, a vaca-

tion program offering a taste of university life to 24Year-10 students with disabilities, will be held on theGardens Point campus.

* * *September 28-30 — The Australian Association for

Professional and Applied Ethics second annual conferencewill be staged at St John’s College, the University ofQueensland. The theme of the conference is Ethics in Prac-tice — applying ethics in workplace and society. For moreinformation contact the conference office on (07) 38718312 or Dr Noel Preston on (07) 3864 4747.

* * *29 September — All international students complet-

ing their studies are invited to the Developing GlobalNetworks dinner at the Brisbane Travelodge. The key-note speaker will be Kevin Rudd, Principal Policy Ad-viser to the Queensland Premier’s Department and aformer diplomat at the Australian Embassy in Beijing.Tickets are $30 students and $50 non-students and areavailable from International Student Services.

* * *September 29 — The Faculty of Built Environment and

Engineering in conjunction with the Academic StaffDevelopment Unit (ASDU) are presenting a Focus onTeaching forum in the Owen J Wordsworth Room, level12, ITE Building Gardens Point campus.

The forum is an opportunity for colleagues to discussinnovations in teaching in the faculty and to revisit projectsfrom the 1994 BEE Focus on Teaching week.

* * *October 4, 15, 18 — People interested in bird life in

Moreton Bay can enrol for a three-day course offeredby QUT entitled Introduction to Waders (shorebirds) inAustralia and Moreton Bay to be presented in October.

The course includes a field trip to the BoondallWetlands Environment Centre at Nudgee Beach.

Enquiries about course content should be directed toDiana O’Connor on (07) 3369 8154. Information on en-rolment can be obtained by telephoning (07) 3864 3222.

* * *October 7 — A one-day seminar on Asia-Australia Media

Relations will be held at QUT’s Gardens Point Campus.The seminar which is being hosted by the Key Centre for

Cultural and Media Policy will bring together media re-searchers and practitioners with a particular interest andinvolvement in media organisations in the Asian region.

The keynote speaker, Goenawan Mohamad, is the founderof TEMPO, which was Indonesia’s leading news magazineuntil its banning by the Indonesian Government in 1994.

For further information on the seminar contact TerryFlew on (07) 3864 1569.

* * *November 19-24 and November 26-December 1 —

QUT’s School of Public Health will conduct a summerschool program in Advanced Mosquito Control. Placesare limited and enquiries should be directed to Con-tinuing Professional Education on (07) 3864 3222.

* * *November 19-December 1 — QUT’s School of Public

Health is offering three international summer schools: Com-municable Disease Prevention and Control, contact PeterDavey (07) 3864 5792; Promoting Population Health, con-tact Elizabeth Parker (07) 3864 5873; and Introduction toHealth Information Management Practice, contact SueWalker (07) 3864 5873.

QUT D IARY

Multicultural forumContinued from page 1

Ms Azra said cultural expressionneeded to mean more than just foodand folk dancing.

“One thing that came out reallyclearly at the forum was that ‘yes we’vehad the food and dancing and we’vehad the indigenous arts and the polkadot Polish dancers, now we’ve got tomove beyond that’ and moving beyondthat means making multiculturalism apart of everyone’s lives,” she said.

“It’s not just about adding on a littlebit and making them a target group. It’sabout incorporating them into the whole.

“We don’t at the moment acknowl-edge or make full recognition of in-digenous or ethnic communities andwhen we do it’s either sensationalisedinto the areas we feel comfortable with,like food and dancing, or added on atthe margins, often as a victim, typifiedby examples of a refugee or a poorethnic woman, and it is always in this‘victim’ mode.

“We’re saying that these people arecitizens of Australia now. They havethe same rights as everybody else andthey ought to be treated as equals.”

Ms Azra said the forum included aplay which highlighted the issues ofsocial justice, structural disadvantageand economic efficiency.

“In the play they showed that whenpeople come into this country theirqualifications are not recognised so theeconomic efficiency part of the gov-ernment’s policy is not being utilised.

“They were trying to address socialjustice issues as well - for example,the health services that are deliveredto our indigenous people in remoteareas. They still don’t have access topure water; disease rates among someindigenous people are third-world

standard. So while we’re congratulat-ing ourselves and patting ourselves onthe back, in fact we haven’t progresseda whole lot.”

Ms Azra said the forum was anexcellent opportunity for students todevelop and apply skills they wouldneed in the workplace.

“The students in the Bachelor ofHuman Services, when they go out towork, they actually have to create anawareness of multicultural issues orcross-cultural issues whatever settingthey’re working in,” she said.

“This was an exercise in creatingawareness on campus to start off withand it had a number of educationalbenefits.

“Firstly they had to work in groupsand learn the dynamics of group workand group work is another subject thatgets taught in the degree.

“Secondly they had to present to anaudience and there were additionaleducational gains to be made throughthis public presentation.

“And thirdly, to determine the con-tent of what was being presented, theyactually had to go away and do re-search and learn about theories, prac-tices and government policies.”

The students used a range of mediato evoke these issues to an audienceincluding student peers, universitystaff and senior bureaucrats, Ms Azrasaid.

“We had people from different sectorsof human services including communityworkers and government officials suchas John Mahoney, the State Director ofthe Commonwealth Department of Im-migration and Ethnic Affairs,”

“He was so impressed that he wantsthe students to perform the play for theInterdepartmental Migrant SettlementCommittee.”

Equity grants

Classifieds

SHARE ACCOMMODATION:Seeking a mature non-smoker to share comfortable cottage at Windsor, close totransports and shops, $55 per week and share expenses, ph. (07) 357 8283.

FOR SALE:Fisher and Paykel upside down fridge, Model No. N395B, 400 litre, four monthsold with five year warranty, $1000, and Admiral 510 washing machine, two yearsold $400, ph. Vicki on (07) 3864 2981 (w) or (07) 3848 3635 (h).

SABBATICAL ACCOMMODATION:From July 1996 - January 1997, Sabbatical to QUT, two adults and three childrenlooking for suitable accommodation within commuting distance to Gardens Pointcampus. Contact: Boris Kabanoff, email: [email protected] fax: 0011 199319267 or ph. Dr Sandra Harding (07) 3864 2526.

APPLICATIONS close on Octo-ber 6 for Equity Initiatives Grants1996 for individuals or groups ofacademic and general staff to de-velop equity programs to be im-plemented next year.

Information sessions will beheld for staff interested in apply-ing for a grant under this schemeat Kelvin Grove on September 7from 10am to 11am in room D301and at Garden’s Point on Septem-ber 8 from 10 am to 11am in theCommittee Room in Old Govern-ment House.

Applications forms, guidelinesand copies of QUT’s currentEquity Plan are available fromKylie Evans on (07) 3864 2699.

cidental allowance for books andequipment.

Miss Venamore, who hails from acattle station in central Queensland,said the requirement to live in ruralQueensland was not a problem for her.

“I want to see different areas ofQueensland. I don’t necessarily wantto go straight back to Blackwater.It’s also attractive to me because thenumber of established jobs in ruralareas are limited,” she said.

“I won’t be notified of the exactlocation until the end of this year,but I have been told it will be eitherLongreach, or I will be based inCairns and working up the Cape tothe Torres Strait Islands.

“I will be sent to an area wherethere is an established podiatrist.”

Miss Venamore said it was reas-suring for her to know she had anestablished position at the end of hercourse.

“At this time of year it is reallyhectic when you’re handing in as-signments and on top of that youhave to think about applying forjobs. It’s just added stress.”

Senior lecturer and course coor-dinator in the Bachelor of AppliedScience-Podiatry Alan Crawfordsaid the scholarships had been of-fered in podiatry, occupationaltherapy, physiotherapy, social workand speech pathology for the firsttime this year.

“I think it’s excellent now that theHealth Department has recognisedthe work of these professions incountry areas,” he said.

THE Queensland Health Depart-ment has awarded a scholarship toQUT podiatry student TanyaVenamore.

The scholarship, the first of itskind in the State, was awarded toMiss Venamore following a reviewof course results, a questionnaire re-garding reasons for applying and acomprehensive interview.

Miss Venamore will be requiredto serve a minimum of two yearswith the Health Department inrural Queensland.

In return she receives a monitoryallowance while studying, which in-cludes a living allowance and an in-

Tanya wins scholarship andopportunity for country living

Mr Crawford said rural Queens-land was facing problems in certainhealth areas such as with the indig-enous population and diabetes.

“Now the Health Department hasestablished these scholarships itmeans that students like Tanya willbe able to go into government-funded positions without the cost ofsetting up a practice.”

But not all students suited suchpositions, he said. Even when theyadjusted to country life there wereother challenges to tackle.

“Someone like Tanya has to be ma-ture enough to look at the profes-sional side of things and see that shecould well end up in a situation whereshe is working on her own withoutthe support of her peers,” he said.

Tanya Venamore

The right to know how to generate. The right to know howto evaluate. The right to know how to synthesise. The rightto know how to structure. The right to know how to revise.The right to know how to edit. The right to know how to write.The right to know how to be read: These are your writes.

FREE student writing workshops • Friday 15 September • Z701 Gardens Point• Undergraduates 10–11.30 AM & 1.30–3 PM • Postgraduates 5–7 PM •

Register now. Phone Caroline Thurlow or Krista Berga. 3864 5310 or 3864 5309. Numbers are limited.

WRITING ACROSSTHE CURRICULUMTHE RIGHT TO KNOW HOW


entitlements such as time off in lieu orformally approved overtime, or begranted as leave without pay;

iv) that a skeleton staff be maintained ondays other than gazetted public holi-days to maintain essential services;

v) that staff who are required to maintainessential services be granted one day’sleave on full pay at some mutually con-venient time.The conditions will cover all permanent

staff, as well as other staff (excluding casu-als) employed over the proposed closurewhose total employment during the 1995calendar year amounted to at least threemonths.Inclusive language and presentationpolicy

Following endorsement by Vice-Chan-cellor’s Advisory Committee, the Vice-Chancellor approved amendments to theuniversity’s inclusive language and pres-entation policy.Divisional review

Planning and Resources Committee rec-ommended membership of the panel to con-duct the quinquennial review of the Divi-sion in 1996. The review will be chaired byCouncil member Robin Sullivan.QUT Outstanding Alumni Award

Council endorsed revised policy and pro-cedures for the QUT Outstanding AlumniAward. The major changes to the existingpolicy ‘QUT Outstanding Graduate Award’are as follows:* the number of awards was increased

from one to four, including three spe-cial category awards which may be of-fered at the discretion of the Chancel-lor’s Judging Panel, as follows:- Outstanding Alumni Award- Professional Excellence Award- Academic/Research Excellence

Award- Excellence in Contribution to the

Community Award* the name of the awards was changed to

The Outstanding Alumni Award in or-der to more accurately reflect the inten-tion of the awards and the expandedsuite of awards.

FINANCE, FABRIC AND PLANNINGEducational Profile 1996 - 98

Council endorsed QUT’s educationalprofile document for the coming triennium.Officers from the Commonwealth Depart-ment of Employment, Education and Train-ing will visit QUT on 12 October to dis-cuss the profile.Strategic plan

The document QUT Strategic Plan 1995-2000 has been circulated to all full-timestaff and a number of relevant individualsand groups outside the university.University support function plans

Council approved support function plansfor information technology,library acqui-sitions, equity, and human resources. Theseplans support the QUT Strategic Plan.Capital Management Plan

Council approved a revised Capital Man-agement Plan. The plan constitutes one ofthe University support function plans andCouncil stressed the importance of ensuringthat the strategic nature of the plan is com-

municated to the university community.Vice-Chancellor’s planning guidelines

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeeand Planning and Resources Committeeendorsed the Vice-Chancellor’s planningguidelines which are part of the planningpackage for 1996. The guidelines focus onthree issues: marketshare of quality under-graduates, postgraduate coursework pro-grams, and internationalisation.Performance indicators for commu-nity service

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeeconsidered a submission reporting theprogress of faculties and divisions in de-veloping quality management systems andkey performance indicators for communityservice.Carseldine campus strategy

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeeconsidered a strategy paper for theCarseldine campus prepared by the DeputyVice-Chancellor. The paper will be dis-cussed within faculties.Audit report

Planning and Resources Committee, act-ing as the University Audit Committee,endorsed the internal audit report for thequarter ending 30 June 1995.Physical facilities

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderCommittee endorsed the Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Unit’s plans for thedevelopment of a courtyard at Kelvin Grove.

TRACT Consultants have revised theGardens Point master plan and will give apresentation to the Planning and ResourcesCommittee meeting on 13 September.

The Faculty of Business began operat-ing from its new building at Gardens Point,Z Block, on 10 July. Z Block will be offi-cially opened in September or October.

Tenders have closed for the followingprojects at Gardens Point: renovations ofA and J Blocks; building of O Block po-dium; renovation of the Chancellery wingon Level 2 of U Block.

Tenders for stage 3 of the Kelvin Grovelandscaping have closed. The plans for theproject will be revised to bring it back tobudget.

The university has received a report froma specialist library consultant on use of theGardens Point library.

Work is underway on the constructionof a research laboratory on Level 6 of QBlock at Gardens Point.

The university is considering the futurelocation of the campus workshopand themailroom at Gardens Point.

The early stages of planning have begunfor the conversion of the old gymnasium inC Block at Carseldine into a lecture theatreand the refurbishment of A Block atKelvin Grove.STAFFSenior staff recruitment

Interviews were held for the Head ofSchool position in Economics and Financeon 9 August. The panel decided toreadvertise the position.

The Head of School position in Com-munication has been readvertised with aclosing date of 18 August. Shortlisting isscheduled for 29 August.

The Head of School position in Market-ing and International Business has beenreadvertised with a closing date of 1September.

The Head of School position in Man-agement was readvertised on 19 Augustwith a closing date of 29 September.

Shortlisting for the Head of School po-sition in Accountancy took place on 26 July.Interviews will be held in August orSeptember.

The Head of School position in Mediaand Journalism was advertised on 19August with a closing date of 29 September.

Interviews for the Pro-Vice-Chancellor(Research and Advancement) will be heldon 3 October.

Shortlisting for the Registrar is sched-uled for 4 September. Interviews are sched-uled for 6 October.Adjunct professors

The Vice-Chancellor took executive ac-tion to appoint:* Dr C Poli as an adjunct professor in the

School of Law from 14 August to 8September and from 2 October to 4 No-vember 1995;

* Mr J Byrne as an adjunct professor inthe School of Architecture, Interior andIndustrial Design from first semester1996 to first semester 1998;

* Professor K Sellick as an adjunct pro-fessor in the School of Nursing fromNovember 1995 to May 1996;

* Dr A T Richardson in the School ofMathematics from February to May1996.

New positionsThe Vice-Chancellor took executive ac-

tion to establish the following positions:* Professor and Head, Graduate School

of Business;* Associate Professor in Communication

Design;* one administration officer (HEWA5)

position and two administrative assist-ant (HEWA3) positions in the Schoolof Media and Journalism.

Temporary to permanent positionsCouncil approved a recommendation

from Staff Committee to amend the policyon limited term and temporary appoint-ments, so that those positions which areconverted from temporary to permanentstatus are filled in accordance with QUT’snormal recruitment and selection processesincluding external advertisement.Equity issues

At the request of the Equity Board, theStaff Committee considered the followingissues* introduction of exit interviews/surveys

as a way of identifying reasons for theresignation of female staff;

* introduction of guidelines for searchprocedures to be used in the recruit-ment of academic staff.

Induction for academic staffStaff Committee considered the out-

comes of a survey of induction proceduresfor new academic staff, and asked the Hu-man Resources Director to consult with thedeans about the possibility of wider use ofan induction package prepared by the Fac-ulty of Business.

TEACHING AND RESEARCHAcademic awards

University Academic Board awardedPhDs to Antony Ward, Sharyn Anne Mar-tin, Andrew Edmund Flowers and Mark HLooi.

University Academic Board awarded aresearch masters degree to James Lwin.Aboriginal education strategy

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderCommittee endorsed, subject to minoramendments, the draft Aboriginal Educa-tion Strategy to be submitted to DEET aspart of the university’s Educational Profile1996-98.QUT international travel bursaries

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeenoted arrangements for QUT internationaltravel bursaries and requested some amend-ments. The University will provide match-ing funds to those raised by the QUT Foun-dation for the bursaries.Course development, accreditation

University Academic Board considereda recommendation from the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) to approve modi-fied course development and accreditationprocedures. University Academic Boarddeclined to approve the new procedures andagreed that the Deputy Vice-Chancellor andthe Dean, Faculty of Law draft a paper onthe issue for consideration by the next meet-ing of University Academic Board.Moderation of honours degrees

Academic Procedures and Rules Com-mittee circulated to faculties and divisionsa working party paper on the adequacy ofuniversity-level moderation of honours de-grees. A submission to University Aca-demic Board on this matter is expected bythe end of 1995.University medals

Following a request from the chairper-son of University Academic Board, Aca-demic Procedures and Rules Committee isreviewing the process of assessing facultynominations for University medals. A dis-cussion paper has been circulated to facul-ties and divisions.Masters degrees

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeeconsidered a paper prepared by the DeputyVice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor(Academic) on principles for the establish-ment and development of postgraduatemasters degrees.Undergraduate entry requirements

University Academic Board adopted arecommendation from the Registrar toapprove revised entry requirements for un-dergraduate courses.Review of centres policy

Research Management Committee re-solved to proceed under the existing policywith the calling for applications and an-nual reports, and with reviews of centres,with the proviso that applicants be on no-tice that they will be subject to the newguidelines once adopted.QUT postdoctoral fellowships

Research Management Committee rec-ommended that the following be awardedQUT postdoctoral fellowships commencingas early as possible after 1 July 1995: Ms FHelms, Dr J Gao, Dr J Lamont, Dr H Stacy.

COUNCIL and COMMITTEE NEWS

Rockefeller Fellowshipawarded to lecturer

Rockefeller Residency Fellowshiprecipient Anne Hickling-Hudson

QUT lecturer in the field of interna-tional and cross-cultural educationMrs Anne Hickling-Hudson hasbeen awarded a Rockefeller Resi-dency Fellowship tenable at HunterCollege, City University of NewYork (CUNY).

Mrs Hickling-Hudson will spendthe September 1995-June 1996 aca-demic year attached to Hunter Col-lege, researching aspects of highereducation in the Caribbean.

Her submission addressed the1995 theme The Cultural Politics ofHigher Education of the RockefellerFellowship competition. Her re-search proposal focuses on variousaspects of university programs in theCaribbean Region, including Cuba,the Dominican Republic and theEnglish-speaking countries.

Because of work commitments,Mrs Hickling-Hudson’s husband,Mr Brian Hudson, senior lecturerin QUT’s School of Planning, Land-scape Architecture and Surveying,will not be able to accompany her toNew York. But he hopes to spend afew weeks with her during theChristmas break.

Mrs Hicking-Hudson, who lec-tures in the Faculty of Education’sSchool of Cultural and Policy Stud-ies, holds a masters degree in his-tory from the University of HongKong and in education from the

University of the West Indies.She also has a Graduate Diploma

in Media from the Australian Film,Television and Radio School and hasrecently submitted her PhD in theUniversity of Queensland’s Facultyof Education.

She said she hoped her researchat CUNY would contribute to a bet-ter understanding of the role andpotential of university education inthe Caribbean and other develop-ing countries.

speaking on international women’s per-spectives, Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander cultures, views from an Aus-tralian student and discrimination andother cross-cultural issues,” she said.

Ms Rossi said she believed therewere a range of issues unique to inter-national students which were oftenoverlooked by the wider community.

These included homesickness,language and cultural barriers, socialisolation, different learning back-grounds and pressure to perform.

However she believed finding suit-able accommodation soon after arrivalwas probably the most importantissue facing international students, shesaid.

“The most important thing in thosefirst few weeks is finding people tolive with who they can get on with andfinding a place that’s not too far awayas most international students find thatcatching public transport here can bea bit of a hassle,” she said.

“We (International Student Serv-ices) offer an airport reception andaccommodation service to make theirarrival and transition as smooth aspossible.”

Ms Rossi said there were many

misconceptions held by Australiansabout international students.

“I’ve heard Australian studentsremarking that ‘oh, they (interna-tional students) must be verywealthy and come from wealthybackgrounds’, but that’s not neces-sarily true,” she said.

“One family may put all theirfunds together to send one individualoverseas and that individual feels alot of pressure to succeed.

“We see many students who havethis fear of failure or have failedand do not know what to do and wehave counsellors who work withthem on their learning and academicskills.”

Ms Rossi said internationalstudents, particularly those fromAsian countries, tended to be lumpedtogether in people’s minds.

“Asian students get particularlyupset about being lumped togetheras a group,” she said.

“Singaporean students for exampleare often quite outspoken and assertiveand may resent being stereotyped as‘quiet, submissive Asians’ while peo-ple from other Asian countries displaydifferent characteristics altogether.”

A RANGE of issues affecting inter-national and migrant students willbe explored in two cultural diversityforums to be staged by QUT’s Inter-national Student Services sectionlater this month.

International Student AdviserDonata Rossi said the forums, one onthe Carseldine campus and one on Gar-dens Point, were an opportunity forinternational and migrant students tobring their issues and experiences tothe attention of the wider community.

“The Carseldine forum (Septem-ber 12, 12.30pm, Rats Bar) willfeature migrant students of non-English-speaking backgroundhaving their say on their culturalorigin, discrimination, Englishlanguage problems and cross-cul-tural communication,” she said.

“There will also be the opportu-nity to exchange ideas, listen to somemusic and have some fun.

“Issues raised at the forum will beincorporated into a report for the uni-versity to consider and act on.”

Ms Rossi said the Gardens Pointforum would explore similar issues.

“The second forum (September 14,Room Z309, 12pm) will see students

Students grapple withcross-cultural issues

This is a summary of action taken by theVice-Chancellor, Council and committeessince the 5 July 1995 Council meeting andincluding the 17 August 1995 Councilmeeting.* University Academic Board on 21 July* Research Management Committee on 30

June* Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committee

on 7 July, 20 July and 3 August* Staff Committee on 31 July* Planning and Resources Committee on 2

August* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Committee on 3 August* Academic Procedures and Rules Com-

mittee on 5 JulyMANAGEMENTUrban design award submission

QUT, the Brisbane City Council and theSpeaker of the Queensland Parliament aresubmitting an application for the inauguralAustralia award for urban design. The ap-plication will focus on the development ofthe Gardens Point peninsula (including thegardens and adjoining city precincts as wellas the QUT campus) since the formulationof a detailed plan in 1985. Emeritus Pro-fessor Tom Dixon and the former QUT ar-chitect Ross Meakin have been engaged todraft the submission.1995 quality review

A team from the Committee for QualityAssurance in Higher Education (CQAHE)visited QUT on 25 July. The team met withpanels representing a wide range of peopleinvolved in research and community serv-ice at QUT: senior management, academicstaff at all levels, relevant general staff,postgraduate students, and members of theprofessional and business communities.The Vice-Chancellor held feedback ses-sions with all participants after each ses-sion, and the general feeling was that theteam was impressed by QUT’s policies andachievements in research and communityservice. The CQAHE’s report will betabled in federal parliament before the endof the year.1996 academic calendar

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeeendorsed the 1996 academic calendar whichwill have two semesters of 14 weeks each.1995 semester 2 enrolments

Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committeenoted that the mid-year admission statis-tics were particularly pleasing for post-graduate students and that offers to inter-national students were well above the 1994level.Closure over Christmas/New Year

Council approved the closure of the uni-versity over the Christmas/New Yearperiod 1995/96 under the followingconditions:i) that Wednesday 27 December 1995 be

granted as a day’s special leave on fullpay;

ii) that staff whose recreation leave wouldotherwise have included Wednesday 27December be granted this day as a day’sspecial leave on full pay;

iii) that Thursday 28 December and Friday29 December 1995 be debitedagainstaccrued recreation leave, other leave


Letters to the Editor are alsowelcome (maximum of 250 words).

Media may reproduce stories fromInside QUT. Each story has beenchecked with the source prior topublication.

Published by the Public Affairs De-partment, QUT (M Block, GardensPoint), GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001.

Photography: Suzanne PrestwidgeAdvertising: The Media Workshop,

ph (07) 3391 6633.The opinions expressed in Inside

QUT do not necessarily represent thoseof the university.

Deadline for next issue (Sept 19)will be September 8.

Inside QUT has a circulation of 15,000and is delivered to the Gardens Point,Kelvin Grove and Carseldine cam-puses, and the Sunshine Coast Centrein Nambour.

The newspaper is also circulatedthrough business, industry, govern-ment and the media.

If you know of a story which shouldbe told in Inside QUT contact thePublic Affairs journalists:

Trish Pennicott (ed) 3864 2361Mary Viscovich 3864 1150Tony Wilson 3864 2130Noel Gentner (p/t) 3864 1841

Facsimile 3210 0474

Publication details

Queensland University of Technology Newspaper

Students to meetsolar car challengeSIX QUT electrical engineering stu-dents will compete in the 1995Queensland Model Solar Car Chal-lenge, the first time university stu-dents have been entered in the event.

The six students form two groups.Each has an entry in the challenge, anannual event designed to encouragestudents to think aboutalternative energy, engineering and theenvironment.

Lecturer in the School of Electricaland Electronic Systems EngineeringDr Kame Khouzam said the two cars,powered by photovoltaic (PV) mod-ules driving electric motors, werebeing paid for by SEQEB.

As well as the QUT entries, thereare competitors from 25 schoolsthroughout Queensland, some comingfrom as far afield as Cairns and Isis.

“Students from all over Queenslandhave a chance to compete in the chal-lenge and the winning car will enterthe national competition to be held inCanberra in November which is fol-lowed by an international competitionin the United States,” Dr Khouzamsaid.

“The race increases public aware-ness of solar energy and other renew-able energy sources.

“It also gives students a chance toapply their knowledge and skills inmatching solar cells to electromechani-cal loads.

“This is challenging because theoutput characteristic of a solar

module is different from other powersupply sources or batteries.

“It does not produce a constantcurrent or constant voltage and thecharacteristic is dependent on tempera-ture and radiation.

“A good design has to match thecharacteristic of the maximum powerof the PV module to the characteristicof the motor.”

Dr Khouzam said there was a grow-ing market for photovoltaics.

“PV modules are used mainly inremote power supply systems, tel-ecommunications systems, grid-con-nected systems, in small consumerproducts and to power electrical equip-ment aboard satellites,” he said.

“We use PV modules in the recrea-tional industry to power navigationalaids and charge batteries. There is alsoa niche market for PV modules in thetoy industry using solar cells to powermotors in children’s toys.

“Photovoltaics is more than anotherenergy option, it is an energy resourcethat creates high-technology jobs thatcan revitalise sluggish economies.

“It offers nations a clean, safe andinexhaustible energy alternative, onethat can help alleviate environmentalproblems such as acid rain and thechanging global atmosphere.”

The Model Solar Car Challengeforms part of National EngineeringWeek. It will be held in King GeorgeSquare at 10am on Wednesday,September 6.

Entrants in the 1995 Model Solar Car Challenge Gavin Veenstra andJon Gooding

Lauren Carr, aged 11, from Wilston State School with children’s book illustrator David Cox

CHILDREN from a number of Bris-bane schools were given the opportu-nity to explore the world of children’sbook illustration through a workshopfunded by a QUT Community Service(small) Grant.

Workshop coordinators KerryMallan from the School of Languageand Literacy Education and BeverlyBroughton from Early Childhood saidthe workshop explored the ideaCelebrate with Stories, the theme ofthe 50th anniversary of the Children’sBook Council of Australia.

Ms Mallan said the workshop, heldon the weekend of July 8-9, was away of exploring the idea of childrenas artists by working with recognisedchildren’s book illustrators.

“A lot of children don’t have theopportunity to work with recognisedartists, some children go to art classesbut it is a very select number,” shesaid.

“There are a lot of children who areinterested in art who may not see them-selves as artists, but who may have agenuine interest in art.

“This workshop was an opportunityto give them a chance to work withothers in the field who are consideredexperts.”

Ms Mallan said the children valuedthe experience of working with theartists David Cox, Narelle Oliver andAnnmarie Scott.

“David Cox for many years was acartoonist with The Courier-Mail andhe is a writer and illustrator of chil-dren’s books,” she said.

“He does illustrations for other au-thors as well as writing and illustrat-ing his own.

“He has been shortlitsed andcommended in his own right. This yearhe was shortlisted again by the Chil-dren’s Book Council for doing the

illustrations for Our Excursion byKate Walker.

“In America one of the books thathe wrote and illustrated, Bossy Boots,won the Parents’ Choice Magazineaward so he has an international, aswell as national, reputation.

“Narelle Oliver works in linocut andshe is a Brisbane author and illustratorand her picture book, Best Beak inBoonaroo, last year was shortlisted forthe Children’s Book Council Award

“Annmarie Scott is a newly emerg-ing illustrator who works mainly incoloured pencil.”

Ms Mallan said the children

responded well to the range of mediaavailable to them at the workshop.

“They liked using the different artmaterials. The grant enabled me to buya range of media for them to workwith,” she said.

“At school, because of limited fund-ing and various other reasons, theydon’t always have access to a widerange of resources.

“The participants could choosewhether they wanted to work inlinocuts, coloured pencils, oil-basedpastels, collage or watercolours.”

The children were asked to explorethe Celebrate with Stories theme bycreating postcards or bookmarks.

A selection of the children’s workswere printed and distributed as part ofa Children’s Book Week promotionbetween August 21 -27.

In addition, an exhibition of the chil-dren’s art, opened by the Minister forthe Arts Matt Foley, was held onAugust 21.

(Below left) Collage bookmark byNicole McGrath, 14 years, KelvinGrove State High School

(Below right) Bookmark incoloured pencil by Amber Lee-Bernstein, 16 years, Kelvin GroveState High School

‘Children as artists’focus of workshop

September 5-19, 1995 Brisbane has history of lost opportunities · 2016-03-01 · QUT Central...

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