Fostering connectedness to nature in higher education

Environmental thinkers and educators have argued for the importance of celebrating our connectedness to nature, or the perception of being part of, rather than separate from, the natural world. Using pre-and post-test measurements of Nature Relatedness and supplemental interviews, this study addresses the question of whether a particular introductory college-level ecology course can increase learners’ connectedness to nature, both independently and in comparison to a similar course. The results show that the course significantly increased participants’ connectedness, particularly their identification with nature and nature-focused worldview. Other environmental courses studied demonstrated no such changes, suggesting that environmental education does not automatically lead to connectedness. However, if woven into the goals and approach of teaching, connectedness to nature can indeed be fostered in higher education. This is a promising result for educators and others working towards a sustainable future.     

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.     

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.