Enacting a place-responsive research methodology: walking interviews with educators

Place-based and place-responsive approaches to outdoor learning and education are developing in many countries but there is dearth of theoretically-supported methodologies to take a more explicit account of place in research in these areas. In response, this article outlines one theoretical framing for place-responsive methodologies for researching outdoor learning and education. We exemplify how this might work in practice with data and analysis from one suggested place-responsive research method: the walking interview. Implications and consequences are explored for how outdoor learning might be researched more widely.     

Shifting Perspectives on Comparative Research: A view from the USA

The evolution of scholarship in comparative education in the USA has reached a point where several observations are possible. While there is variation in methodology and theory, three principal perspectives tend to be represented in most contemporary articles published in the top journals in the field. These might be referred to as being area studies based, social science disciplinary based, or development/planning studies based. In this article we briefly trace the evolution of these perspectives, identify some stress points in the field, and look ahead to whether or not the field is facing competition among these perspectives or convergence. We suggest that the field of comparative education, not being bound by one or another of these perspectives, can play a significant role in the reconstruction of learning.     

Maori word-processing for indigenous New Zealand young children

We argue that there is an important and as yet unmet need for software that allows each cultural group to express the written word in an indigenous character set. As an example, we present a word-processing system, Ta Kupu, designed for use in teaching the Maori language to children. The program simplifies the input task by taking advantage of the structural features of the Maori language. The system also includes a data logging, evaluation, and analysis tool, Tirohia, that permits teachers to evaluate a child's familiarity with the word-processor. The main features of the evaluation software include: the ability to replay a record of a child's interaction in real time; facilities for summarising a child's consistency of use and level of performance; and the capability of examining interaction log files at a fine-grained level. We also address the application of these data logging and evaluation techniques to the areas of human factors research, interface design and interface evaluation.     

Research Issues in Australian Approaches to Policy Development

Drawing on his experience at the Australian Archives in policy development on electronic records and recordkeeping for the Australian Federal Government sector the author argues for greater emphasis on the implementation side of electronic records management. The author questions whether more research is a priority over implementation. The author also argues that if archival institutions wish to be taken seriously by their clients they need to pay greater attention to getting their own organisations in order. He suggests the way to do this is by improving internal recordkeeping practices and systems and developing a resource and skills base suitable for the delivery of electronic recordkeeping policies and services to clients.     

A Preferred Approach to Management Education has a Learner‐Centred and Problem‐based Emphasis

It will be argued that the education of Australian managers needs to emphasise a Learner‐centred/Problem‐based (LC/PB) approach rather than a Teacher‐centred/Discipline‐based one. In the current study management students reported that they preferred such an emphasis. The results indicated that the courses had insufficient Leamer‐centred and Problem‐based elements and that the students would prefer to see more of these features in the curriculum.