Expedited digital appraisal for regular archivists: an MPLP-type approach

Working with a German state archives, the author developed a MPLP approach to digital appraisal/processing. Testing 10 deduplication software (80% failed), she selected a user friendly and inexpensive software. She appraised 670?GB in four days and developed a simple workflow of broad and in-depth qualitative appraisal. The author highlights the importance of appraisal factors, presents a list of desirable software features, and calls for the establishment of peer-reviewed online testing sites administered by archival organizations.     

Kairos and the time of gender equity policy in Australian schooling

ABSTRACT

Almost 20 years ago the Australian government released Gender Equity: A Framework for Australian Schools (1997). It was adopted by all states but almost immediately disappeared from sight after a conservative change of government. This was followed by the dismantling of gender equity units in each state, and a turn to boys’ education that eclipsed the more complex strategies and theoretical underpinnings of the Framework. This paper takes up the Gender Equity Framework (1997) as a case of policy emergence, mutation and dissipation. In particular, it attends to feminist temporality, and its affective force, to begin to trouble conventional accounts of these policy shifts. Close readings of sections of the policy document and of interviews with policy actors working at that time are analysed through the notion of kairos – timeliness, or political actions that open opportunities, breaks and ruptures – in order to provide new insights into the policy moment of gender equity in Australian schooling.     

Re-considering the ontoepistemology of student engagement in higher education

The aim of this article is to reconsider and explore the ontoepistemology of student engagement in higher education as part of a democratic education, going beyond neo-liberal groundings. This is urgent as the concept of student engagement seems to be taken for granted and used uncritically in higher education. In addition, higher education is affected by, and under pressure from, different global and societal forces, which raises questions about the purpose of education. In our exploration, we mainly draw on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and his co-writers Felix Guattari and Claire Parnet, but also Karen Barad and writers who are inspired by these theories. We present four arguments on which we elaborate: (1) Rethinking power relations, (2) Questioning linearity and how to use goals, (3) Appreciating pedagogical relationships as multiple voices and becoming-multiple-others, and (4) Considering assemblages, rhizomes and lines in student engagement. These arguments open up, as we argue, the possibility of rhizomatic thinking about learning in higher education where multiplicities, otherness and the unpredictable are appreciated. In addition, we regard the exploration of assemblages that are intercorporeal, affective and entangled as something powerful when reconsidering student engagement as part of democratic education.     

Sex differences in achievement goals: do school subjects matter?

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Many studies have already found differences between male and female students in various motivational variables. With regard to the stereotypes...     

Visualizing Academic Librarians: An Arts-informed Inquiry

This research was undertaken by five librarians from Deakin University Library Australia as part of a professional development project. The objective was to collect qualitative data on the perceptions of librarians by academics and library colleagues from Deakin University. The ways in which academics perceive librarians, as well as how other library staff perceive librarians, are relatively under-explored areas. This study investigates the topic through an analysis of drawing and other visual representations, based on a study design that applied a visual, arts-based methodological approach. Participants were invited to focus groups where they were provided with a variety of craft materials, asked to create a visual representation of liaison librarians, then discuss their artifact. The data consists of twenty-eight artifacts, which were content analyzed, and semi-structured interview recordings, which were transcribed and analyzed for themes. Participants expressed liaison librarians positively, as helpers and connectors, as a gateway to knowledge, with complex and varied roles, as trusted sources, and as relationship builders. By drawing attention to these themes, the participants highlighted that liaison librarians are invaluable to Deakin University.     

Constructing knowledge in the context of BioWorld

BioWorld is a computer learning environmentdesigned for high school biology students. BioWorldcomplements the biology curriculum by providing ahospital simulation where students can apply what theyhave learned about body systems to problems where theycan reason about diseases. Students workcollaboratively at collecting evidence to confirm orrefute their hypotheses as they attempt to solveBioWorld cases. The present study examined students'use of BioWorld to solve problems related to thedigestive system. Analyses of student actions andverbal dialogue were conducted to pinpoint the typesof features within BioWorld that were most conduciveto learning and scientific reasoning. An exploratoryanalysis of the types of assistance provided tostudents by a teacher, researcher, and BioWorld alonewas conducted to examine how scaffolding influencedstudent actions.