A Systems Approach to Identifying and Managing Opportunities and Constraints to Delivering Innovation Policy for Agriculture: An Analysis of the Australian Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program

Abstract

In this paper we outline an analytical approach to identifying points in the policy process where management intervention to adjust organizational design could enhance delivery of innovation policy over time. We illustrate this approach using an example from native vegetation policy in the state of Victoria, Australia. We then use this approach to interpret recent reviews of the Australian Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, a policy instrument aimed at enhancing national economic growth by fostering innovation in research and development.

The approach described in this paper is grounded in the idea of policy as a complex and adaptive organizational system.

From the findings it was apparent that reviews of the Australian CRC Program have recognized some of its complex and dynamic properties. However, they have been limited in their capacity to translate this recognition into practical recommendations for organizational design to improve delivery on innovation, particularly in relation to the uptake of research outputs by industries such as agriculture. We propose that this is likely to reflect the bureaucratic foundations of innovation policy and the difficulties associated with changing processes and ways of managing them that have become locked in to the organizational system.

The design of policy instruments to deliver innovation, such as the CRC Program, should be informed by a detailed understanding of the dynamics that are mediating between policy objectives and outcomes over time. Dynamics such as the impact of bureaucratic constraints on the flexibility of policy processes and the participants engaged in them. In the absence of this sort of understanding, dynamics that critically affect the capacity of policy instruments to deliver innovation are likely to go unidentified and left to run their own course to an unpredictable and potentially counterproductive end.

While the idea of policy as a complex organizational system is well known, there remains a substantive gap in knowledge as to how thinking about policy in this way might be applied to generate practical options for improving organizational design. The analytical approach described in this paper addresses this gap in knowledge. In the absence of such approaches, the effectiveness of policy instruments such as the CRC Program, which are intended to foster innovation, will continue to be limited by deficiencies in organizational design.     

Fifth Graders’ Learning About Simple Machines Through Engineering Design-Based Instruction Using LEGO™ Materials

This study is part of a 5-year National Science Foundation-funded project, Transforming Elementary Science Learning Through LEGO? Engineering Design. In this study, we report on the successes and challenges of implementing an engineering design-based and LEGO?-oriented unit in an urban classroom setting and we focus on the impact of the unit on students’ content understanding of simple machines. The LEGO? engineering-based simple machines module, which was developed for fifth graders by our research team, was implemented in an urban school in a large city in the Northeastern region of the USA. Thirty-three fifth grade students participated in the study, and they showed significant growth in content understanding. We measured students’ content knowledge by using identical paper tests and semistructured interviews before and after instruction. Our paired t test analysis results showed that students significantly improved their test and interview scores (t?=??3.62, p?<?0.001 for multiple-choice items and t?=??9.06, p?<?0.000 for the open-ended items in the test and t?=??12.11, p?<?0.000 for the items in interviews). We also identified several alternative conceptions that are held by students on simple machines.     

Effects of Goal Setting on Achievement in Archery

This study investigated the effects of goal setting in teacher-led group conferences on achievement in archery. University undergraduates enrolled in three beginning archery classes (N = 30) were randomly assigned to two treatment groups—group conference with goal setting and group conferences only. For 10 weeks, subjects met twice a week for archery instruction and once a week with the instructor for a 10-minute conference. Subjects in the goal-setting conference group were directed to set numerical and verbal goals using a printed goal-setting form. Three achievement tests were administered while subjects were shooting from a distance of 20 yards: an initial test during week 1, a progress test during week 6, and a final test during week 10. Analysis of the data indicated that when groups were adjusted for initial differences, the goal-setting group achieved significantly higher scores in archery than the non-goal-setting group (F = 5.31, p < .05). Motivational implications of goal setting procedures are discussed.     

Recruiting Science Majors into Secondary Science Teaching: Paid Internships in Informal Science Settings

Despite the importance of recruiting highly qualified individuals into the science teaching profession, little is known about the effectiveness of particular recruitment strategies. Over 3 years, 34 college science majors and undecided students were recruited into paid internships in informal science settings to consider secondary science teaching as a career. Analysis of interns’ subsequent career plans revealed the internships were not effective in recruiting the interns into the secondary science teacher education program, although many interns thought they might consider becoming teachers later in their lives. Reasons for not pursuing teaching included continued indecisiveness, inflexibility of required plans of study, and concerns about teachers’ pay and classroom management.     

The impact of three‐dimensional computational modeling on student understanding of astronomical concepts: a quantitative analysis

The increased availability of computational modeling software has created opportunities for students to engage in scientific inquiry through constructing computer‐based models of scientific phenomena. However, despite the growing trend of integrating technology into science curricula, educators need to understand what aspects of these technologies promote student learning. This study used a multi‐method research approach involving both quantitative (Paper 1) and qualitative data (Paper 2) to examine student conceptual understanding of astronomical phenomena, relative to two different instructional experiences. Specifically, based on students' understandings of both spatial and declarative knowledge, we compared students who had constructed three‐dimensional computational models with students who had experienced traditional lecture‐based instruction. Quantitative analysis of pre‐interview and post‐interview data revealed that construction of three‐dimensional models best facilitated student understandings of spatially related astronomical concepts — whereas traditional instruction techniques best facilitated student understandings of fact‐oriented astronomical knowledge. This paper is the first in a two‐paper set that continues our line of research into whether problem‐based courses such as the Virtual Solar System course can be used as a viable alternative to traditional lecture‐based astronomy courses.     

The Open Geoportal Federation

In this article, we provide an overview of both the social and technical composition of the Open Geoportal (OGP) Federation: an open source, collaborative framework designed to support the various components of spatial data infrastructure and geospatial data repositories. The social components include best-practices, governance models, and working groups, as wells as the OGP wiki, blogs, elists, summits, and virtual meetings. The technical components include the Open Geoportal, Open Geoportal Harvester, and Open Geoportal Metadata Toolkit. We also include benefits and business drivers to adopting this new interoperable, collaborative model.     

A Network-Centric Approach to Computer Science Education and Research Based on Robotics

A network-centric university teaching and research environment based around mobile robots is described. It supports teaching a wide spectrum of computer science and engineering subjects (e.g., digital electronics, computer architecture, operating systems, communications, distributed processing, software engineering, machine vision, artificial intelligence, embedded computer design, real-time computing, HCI, computer graphics, virtual reality, etc.) within a single unified experimental environment. This enables students to combine their coursework so as to build more complex, interesting and industrially relevant systems, thereby significantly increasing their motivation and knowledge. The laboratory infrastructure makes extensive use of networks to produce a versatile and cost effective teaching and research environment. This paper will focus on the teaching aspects of the laboratory, describing the technical infrastructure and showing how it is used to support the Essex Un! iver sity information technology curriculum and report on the effectiveness of the approach. Finally, to demonstrate the more general academic synergy provided by this laboratory a short overview of some of the research applications is presented.