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Reflecting on a tertiary educator’s implementation of a project-based flipped classroom: A repertory grid analysis
Get PDFGrid-based reflection: This report outlines how the authors used repertory grid findings in their collaborative reflective practice in vocational education in a tertiary setting. Second author (SA), Dileep Rajendran, invited first author (FA), Willfred Greyling, to track his implementation of a project-based flipped classroom in an Information Technology module.
Pedagogy: The course design was based on the following principles associated with project-based flipped classrooms:
• Acknowledge learners’ current and potential skill: The teaching had to be pitched at a level where learners’ current competence would be an adequate stepping stone to elaborate their knowledge and skill through inquiry-based learning .
• Specify classroom participants’ responsibilities in inquiry-based learning: The tutor’s role would be to structure inquiry-based learning projects and learning spaces where learners took optimal responsibility for their learning.
• Design and enact learning that develops learner autonomy: The target would be to promote learner autonomy and their ability to reason and act in the IT networking field.
Observer interests: The observer’s interests include classroom observations as third-party accounts of interactively accomplished learning, and repertory grid use as a means to assist educators in exploring their pedagogical thinking and doing.
Eliciting pedagogical constructs, grid design and application: Following two classroom observations and reflective dialogues on both observations, we agreed to elicit SA’s constructs for a repertory grid (see Appendix A). Following the difference method (Fransella, Bell and Bannister, 2004), we used 10 elements to elicit 10 constructs. After crafting the formulations until SA felt they best represented his meaning-making lenses, we used a 7-point rating scale in our grid design, and followed guide-lines for scale conversion, pole reversals, and reverse scoring (Fransella, et al., 2004) to enhance the validity of our process.
Complex interactions among an educator’s pedagogical constructs: Our purpose was to unpack SA’s pedagogical meaning-making at a level beyond discrete lists of bipolar constructs: we intended to show a deeper level of analysis, namely, that educators’ constructs do not function in isolation, rather, they form complex patterns within the individual’s meaning-making. To explore these patterns, we performed principal components analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) on SA’s ratings which yielded two components and a dendrogram. These, together with the correlations among constructs, became prompts for making sense of the varying levels of association among SA’s constructs.
Triangulation: Following Viney and Nagy (2012), we triangulated our collaborative account of the repertory grid findings against two classroom observations and informal input from participating students. The observations highlighted how SA implemented the principles and practices of a project-based flipped classroom, specifically the principles referred to above. We also elicited informal input from the participating learners. A selection of comments is included.
Findings: We found that
• the tutor’s role remained significant as a designer of learning experiences and a guide to learners to develop problem-solving strategies. These strategies avoided transmission-based exchanges; rather, they consistently ensured learner engagement and learner-centred practice.
• In project-based flipped classrooms, the tutor has a significant role, designing tasks, re-defining both his own and learners’ roles, as well as retaining an inquiry-based approach when barriers occur in the learning.
Conclusions: We concluded that our grid use
• allowed both authors to reflect on SA’s implementation of a project-based flipped classroom, capturing an account of SA’s thinking and doing associated with his teaching practices (classroom observations).
• gained in meaningfulness when we triangulated these findings against student perceptions which showed that although they found the learner-centred role and the tutor’s deliberately limited project information (step-by-step outlines) challenging, they understood the purpose and the approach.
• exposed the tip of the iceberg: much more could be extracted from the grid, especially when the grid was transposed and elements analysed.
• identified an agenda for continued reflection, for example, how to manage the ratio of teacher mediation and learner-centred activity; and the deliberateness of tutor strategies to enact learner-centred approaches
Designing and Manufacturing of a hand operated plastic injection moulding machine envisioned for the mesoscale range.
Get PDFThis project entitles the design of a simple hand operated plastic injection moulding machine capable of processing up to 4 cm3 of thermoplastic material. The apparatus is designed so it can be used for processing polymer and powder injection moulding, as well as, to be adapted in the future to be used with a different medium of compression. The machine in question is intended to be used for further research in the mesoscale injection moulding process and to reinforce the knowledge gained in the lessons imparted at Wintec.
A literature review identifying present technologies and to identify design parameters was done. Based in this information three different concepts were considered and after receiving input from the client and collaborators the preferred concept was subject to further study. Three iterations brought changes to the preferred concept until a final design was obtained.
The final design parts were designed observing factors of safety and its assemblies were analysed with the use a three-dimensional software and the use of FEA (Finite Element Analysis). The final design conforms to the design parameters identified in the literature review. Prototyping of the unit was initiated but due to constraints could not be finished. Further work to complete the prototyping is advised. The project can be taken from this stage onward to test physically the machine and validate the predicted values obtained in the calculations
Indelible: Recent works by Xi’An Artists and Media Arts Researchers 27 October - 9 December 2018 Waikato Museum
No full textWintec School of Media Arts lecturers and their counterparts, artists from Xi’an Art Museum in Xi’an, mainland China, have built close artistic relationships. This exhibition is a result of their long-distance communications. Here their works converse with the audience and with each other. Throughout the course of the exhibition, it is hoped that they will build a new international community within their show and with you.
2 items Proxy. Geoffrey Clarke. Ink on synthetic canvas,1400 mm x1600 mm 2018 Solid State. Geoffrey Paul Clarke Acrylic paint on 8 panels. Various Dimensions 201
Duplex exhibition: Tree spores 1 (2016): Tree spores 2 (2016)
Get PDFExhibition: DUPLEX. This exhibition explores notions of science and cosmology.
These two sculptural works explore ideas of environment and agriculture
The social lives of grass
No full text"The Social Lives of Grass" (2018) by Dr. Jeremy Mayall and Sebastian J. Lowe
The Social Lives of Grass was filmed on the 28 March, 2018, in and around the city of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We filmed over 20 different types of grass in both urban and non-urban environments, in an attempt to capture the importance of grass as a focal point (nexus) to all life, human or otherwise. We have focused not only on what grasses sound like, but what goes on audibly around the grasses, that is to say, their ‘social lives’. The human ear has the ability to focus in on individual sounds within an acoustic context, for example, we can sit beside a river and shift our focus between the sounds of the river to the birds in the trees, or we can walk into a crowded room and differentiate individuals from within the collective body of human voices. As we move through the world, our perceptions change and sounds as we know them are fleeting. This is especially relevant in our quickly changing world, where we are becoming more and more inundated with human-induced sound signatures that affect, for better or for worse, the relationships between ourselves and our environment(s). Our film offers listeners an audible ‘snapshot’ into sound fabrics that comprise our city of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. If we take the time to consciously listen to what is going on around us, we are able to acknowledge and strengthen our understanding of what it means to be part of our shared world.
This piece was made for the exhibition "The Greener Side of Grass" (2018) at Dome of Visions, Aarhus (May 2018) and the Botanical Gardens (Aarhus) (2018)
(See ceh.au.dk/currently/news/nyhed/artikel/exhibition-the-greener-side-of-grass/
Comprehensive learning incorporating Ako: A tertiary education approach at Wintec
Get PDFThis article outlines the design and implementation of a scenario-based approach to teaching and learning in tertiary education, inspired from Ako, adopted at the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec). This learning approach, titled ‘Comprehensive Learning (CL)’, aligns with the holistic objective of enabling students with an active, flexible, personalised, authentic and practical approach to learning that builds upon students’ interests and experiences. The article explains the motivation and the process used in creating and applying this approach to teach some of the IT and Business modules. The main reason to implement this approach is to encourage/enable critical thinking while learning in a continuous and personalised manner. CL allows students to specialize in a context of their choice, which in turn induces learning. In addition, students are less motivated to plagiarize due to the unique nature of their scenarios, and inherent safeguards present within the approach
Expanding the education role to narrow the audit expectation gap: exploring the expectation gap’s existence among accounting students
Get PDFSociety perceives and expects more from auditor’s than what auditors can actually achieve. Society has been found to
misperceive the role of an auditor, in particular, in regards to fraud, internal controls and going concern issues. Society’s differing perceptions and expectations of the auditing profession is known as the audit expectation gap. This study aims to explore the audit expectation gap’s existence among Wintec accounting students and the effect that education has on the audit expectation gap. This research intends to answer two research questions. First, does an audit expectation gap exist among Wintec accounting students? Second, what is the effect of education on the audit expectation gap? To answer these research questions, 20 Wintec accounting students have been interviewed. Ten students who have received an audit education, and ten students who have not received audit education. Qualitative data was collected from these interviews and analysed using a mixed methods approach. This study found that an audit education exists among Wintec accounting students. This study also found that education reduced the audit expectation gap, in particular, the deficient performance gap and the communication gap. However, while education did reduce the audit expectations gap, it was not eliminated.
This study recommends that Wintec provides a more basic auditing education during introductory accounting papers,
educating students on the role of an auditor. This study also recommends that education focuses on the practical use of an audit report, to increase student’s understandings of the information in the audit report, and how this information is communicated. Thus, the researcher believes that these recommendations will help to further reduce the audit expectation
Implementing measures of cost control (food & labour) for small restaurant businesses
Get PDFIn 2012, Auckland Region Restaurant Record estimated that there were 2000 restaurants in the Auckland area. Therefore, with fierce competition in the market, it is important for small restaurants to think how they can save costs and be more competitive.
This research aims to identify feasible measurements for small restaurant businesses to control food and labour costs in order to possess advantages in the competitive environment. This research contains both quantitative and qualitative research by convenience-based sampling methods. The researched restaurants are located in Hamilton. To analyse the answers from the participants, the responses will be compared with results shown in the literature review and displayed as graphs. Due to limited time and resources, the sample selecting, size and location will be limited.
The tentative results from the research illustrate that few of the researched restaurants take measures to deal with food waste and leftovers. They usually dispose of waste into the rubbish bin. Apart from participants who are unaware of inventory storage systems, they adopt FIFO as their storage inventory method. Moreover, employees are not happy if their wages/working hours are cut down, and some of them will decrease their working quality or efficiency. Consequently, restaurants need to balance between employee wages and work efficiency
How are client expectations changing the way the accounting profession operates in an increasingly technology-rich environment?
Get PDFTechnology is evolving and we are seeing changes in the way that goods and services are being produced in many industries. Accounting is no exception. As the nature of technology change is exponential, it is imperative as an accounting student to consider the future direction of the profession. This will help to ensure that the skills developed in training align closely with the skills required in future for the workplace.
There is considerable existing research. However, two key areas of difference in the current research are the method, and the location of the research (Hamilton, NZ). A questionnaire using T-Paired sampling is the basis for the quantitative analysis, whilst an interview with a partner of a Big-4 accounting firm provides further depth for the research.
The interim results support the hypothesis that there has been a shift in what clients expect from their accountants. The research has also found evidence to suggest that the nature of the work undertaken for clients has changed along with expectations
Identify the HR factors that affect employee turnover in MasterHouse restaurant.
Get PDFFor organisations that seek reduction in employee turnover, it is crucial to identify which specific factors have the greatest impact on the staff turnover rate of the organisation. Similarly, after identifying influencing factors, it is also very important to formulate HR processes and policies based on the actual situation of the organisation. The aim of this research is to identify the HR factors that affect employee turnover rate in MasterHouse restaurant. High employee turnover rate will affect the performance of the organisation’s employees and the decline of daily functions, it will also increase the cost of organisation recruitment on-boarding and training. The purpose of this research is to identify the specific factors that affect employee turnover in MasterHouse and develop a practical plan for MasterHouse restaurant to improve employee loyalty and reduce employee turnover through the organisation’s human resources processes and policies.
This research will lead to an understanding of the factors affecting the turnover rate of MasterHouse through secondary research, then researchers will collect data through quantitative research, and develop a strategic plan for MasterHouse to reduce employee turnover. The researcher will use questionnaires to investigate the HR strategies of MasterHouse and employees’ views on MasterHouse current HR process and policies.
This research will involve five factors that affect employee turnover rate: Long-term relationships, benchmark, work-life balance, talent management, rewards and motivation. The researcher then connected and compared survey results with information in the literature and developed a practical plan for MasterHouse to reduce employee turnover rate