Category: Refereed article

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Water, weeds and autumn leaves: learning to be drier in the Alpine region

Author/s: Annette Foley & Lauri Grace

Edition: Volume 49, Number 3, November 2009

Summary: Our paper explores how and what adults living and working in the Alpine region of Victoria understand and are learning about the changes to water availability, in a time when the response to water availability is subject to extensive debate and policy attention. Interviews for this study were conducted in the towns of Bright and Mount Beauty, with participants drawn from across the Alpine region. The interviews focused on what local stakeholders from the Alpine region understood about water availability in the region and how and what they had learned about living and working with climatic changes in their local area. The findings of our study see that there was evidence of a strong understanding of the direct and indirect impact of climate change on participants’ local community area. The study also sees evidence of learning through a community ‘frames of reference’ as outlined by Berkhout, Hertin and Dann et al.

Keywords: water availability, policy, climate change, community

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Learning to be drier in the southern Murray-Darling Basin: Setting the scene for this research volume

Author/s: Barry Golding & Coral Campbell

Edition: Volume 49, Number 3, November 2009

Summary: In this paper we undertake a brief review of the literature related to the background of water in the southern Basin, and of the literature related to adult and community learning about water. We also describe the overall method of the project, in order to set up the context for the four, site-specific case studies that follow. These ‘site’ papers are presented in terms of their perceived positions in the broad Basin or water catchment. The first site paper, Water, weeds and autumn leaves: learning to be drier in the Alpine region  (Foley & Grace 2009) examines water-related learning issues in the Victorian Alpine region, particularly from the perspective of diverse community frames of reference (Bekhout, Hertin & Gann 2006). In this alpine ‘water harvesting’ area, the learning has to do with the many impacts of drying, aside from less snow and water runoff, particularly to do with wildfires, weeds, conservation and tourism.

Keywords: Murray-Darling Basin, water-related learning issues, Victorian Alpine, water harvesting, environmental impacts

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Community education and youth mentoring: how to build good practice?

Author/s: Robyn Broadbent and Theo Papadopoulos

Edition: Volume 49, Number 2, July 2009

Summary: In 2008, the Helen Macpherson Smith (HMS) Trust commissioned Victoria University to conduct an evaluation of the Mentoring and Capacity Building Initiative’s Regional Coordination Projects (RCPs). The RCPs are founded on a model of community education and collaboration that aims to enhance cross-sectoral and whole of community approaches to mentoring and community building. Their specific objectives are to:

  • coordinate effective regional delivery of new and existing mentoring programs and related activities
  • identify, document and share best practice mentoring models
  • strengthen community partnerships and collaboration, and the capacity and skills delivery of mentoring programs
  • develop cross-sectoral and whole-of-community approaches to mentoring.

The aim of the evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the RCPs in achieving these objectives, including the monitoring of program outcomes and strategic partnerships supporting these  projects. This paper reports on some of the key findings of that evaluation.

Keywords: mentoring, capacity building, whole of community approach, partnerships, collaboration

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

 

 

 

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Developing a more research-oriented and participant-directed learning culture in the Australian environmental movement

Author/s: Rick Flowers and Andrew Chodkiewicz

Edition: Volume 49, Number 2, July 2009

Summary: Environmental groups seek to educate and change people, yet there is little discussion and debate about the various theories and practices they use. One has only to think about the big, national environment groups like Australian Conservation Foundation, Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and World Wildlife Foundation to note that they go about their educational and change practices in distinct ways. And then there are new groups like Climate Action, GetUp and Climate Camp who are seeking to educate and change people in more contemporary ways. We think that adult educators could play a helpful role in fostering more critical and participant-directed interrogation among environmental groups about aspects of their practices that focus on change and education. In this paper, we report on focus groups, case studies and a literature review we conducted for a coalition of three environmental non-government organisations and a state government agency to do just that.

Keywords: environmental groups, climate change, change practices, education

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

 

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North, south, least, best: geographical location and the thinking styles of Italian university students

Author/s: Francesco Sofo, Michelle Berzins, Cinzia Colapinto and Salvatore Ammirato

Edition: Volume 49, Number 2, July 2009

Summary: There are economic and socio-cultural differences that characterise the north and south of Italy. A stereotype is that university students from rural southern Italy are more disadvantaged and isolated than those from the urban north. Past research has hypothesised that differences in socio-economic status impact on student learning, which is a factor of thinking style. This study set out to explore if university students from a northern and a southern Italian university report markedly different thinking style preferences. Samples of 170 students from the University of Calabria and 263 students from the University of Milan were surveyed using Sofo’s (2005) Thinking Style Inventory. If economic and socio‑cultural differences impact on preferred ways of thinking of university students, the impacts may very well be mediated through various pedagogical or informational methods and communication technology. The results of the study did not produce all the expected differences.

Keywords: Italy, north, south, isolated, socio-economic status, learning, impact, thinking style

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

 

 

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‘A reservoir of learning’: the beginnings of continuing education at the University of Sydney

Author/s: Darryl Dymock

Edition: Volume 49, Number 2, July 2009

Summary: Adult education has often been on the margin of university offerings in Australia and elsewhere, sometimes regarded as ‘non-core’ business or at least as a financial drain on the institution. At the University of Sydney, however, adult education has managed to survive in one form or other for over 140 years, currently through the Centre for Continuing Education. Partly this has been due to the support of influential academics who have believed in the principle of ‘extra-mural’ studies’, if not always agreeing with the way it has been delivered or funded. Research in the university’s archives and through contemporary accounts shows that the pattern of provision was established in the 1890s and first 20 years of the twentieth century, particularly through the development of tutorial classes in a relationship with the Workers’ Educational Association, following a model established in Britain at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. However, the research also reveals that the relationship between the first Director of Tutorial Classes and senior members of  Sydney University was not always harmonious, especially against the background of the conscription debates of World War I.

Keywords: adult education, relevance, funding, Centre for Continuing Education, Workers’ Educational Association

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

 

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Regional academics’ perceptions of the love of learning and its importance for their students

Author/s: Joy Penman and Bronwyn Ellis

Edition: Volume 49, Number 1, April 2009

Summary: Whatever the course, mode of delivery or type of institution, most characteristics of good teaching remain the same. The teacher’s ability to convey personal enthusiasm for learning is crucial in arousing and sustaining students’ interest and curiosity in their discipline and beyond. This love of learning can be liberating and empowering as the students discover and construct their own knowledge. However, there is limited research addressing the development of a love of learning in the Australian context. This article draws on a small study – a survey of regional campus academics’ perceptions of the love of learning and its importance, and how they sought to foster its development in their students. The interviewed academics affirmed the importance of a love of learning, but had varied ideas concerning what this meant and how to inspire it in students. A range of approaches to developing this quality is suggested.

Keywords: love of learning, case study, inspiring learners

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.]

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Leadership developmental needs – a system for identifying them

Author/s: Marjatta Takala, David Winegar and Jorma Kuusela

Edition: Volume 49, Number 1, April 2009

Summary: This study is an evaluation of the developmental needs of business leaders. Altogether, 190 leaders, representing 22 nationalities, participated in 12 four-day training sessions. The first aim of this study was to identify the key developmental concerns of leaders; the second was to determine what kinds of training methods the leaders preferred; and the third was to design a form that could be used for further training. Fourteen developmental areas were identified.  The key areas that needed development were related to Interaction, Coaching, Giving and Receiving Feedback, and Everyday Work Skills. Artificial experience building and tailor-made training were preferred over lecturing. In further training, activating methods need to be used and demographics taken into consideration.

Keywords: developmental needs, leaders, training methods, coaching, feedback

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Education at the centre? Australia’s national union education program

Author/s: Tony Brown and Keiko Yasukawa

Edition: Volume 49, Number 1, April 2009

Summary: Australian trade unions are at a pivotal moment. In 2007–2008, a review of the training and education programs of the Education and Campaign Centre (ECC), the education arm of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), was conducted through a series of interviews with leaders of twenty-five unions. The review found that Australian unions do not generally view education as a core strategic activity, and many see the ECC simply as a training provider that they could access if they did not have their own trainers. We argue that there are greater possibilities for a national education centre than are currently being contemplated by the union leaders. A key to realising these possibilities lies in unions articulating a shared purpose for union education, and its role in supporting leaders, officials, delegates and activists in the continuing challenges they face in their work.

Keywords: ACTU, unions, strategy, education

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Building capacity through sustainable engagement: lessons for the learning community from the GraniteNet Project

Author/s: Catherine Arden, Kathryn McLachlan and Trevor Cooper

Edition: Volume 49, Number 1, April 2009

Summary: This paper reports an exploration into critical success factors for the sustainability of the partnership between the University of Southern Queensland and the Stanthorpe community during the GraniteNet Phoenix Project – the first phase of a three-phase participatory action research project conducted during 2007–2008. The concepts of learning community, social capital, university-community engagement and partnerships, and co-generative learning through participatory action research and evaluation are brought together to provide a framework for evaluating the sustainability and efficacy of the university-community relationship in the context of the GraniteNet project. Implications of the findings for the ongoing sustainability of the partnership are discussed, as well as for the relevance and utility of identified critical success factors. The paper also discusses implications of the findings for university-community  engagement partnerships that utilise participatory action research and evaluation processes to build capacity through co-generative learning.

Keywords: GraniteNet Phoenix Project, learning community, social capital, community engagement, partnerships, participatory action

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 49_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.