1,721,014 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
A Critical Policy Trajectory Study of Local Area Education Planning in Bunbury, Western Australia, 1998-2000
Get PDFThe Local Area Education Planning (LAEP) Framework was released in Western Australia in 1997 and enacted in the regional centre of Bunbury, Western Australia, in the period 1998-2000. In a similar way to many other policies within Australia and overseas, LAEP aims to reform and restructure the public education system through involving community participation in educational decision-making. The enactment of LAEP was a highly contested process over the nature of community participation and a widespread view at the local level, that the Education Department of Western Australia had a pre-determined agenda to close schools and to introduce a senior campus and middle schools. In contrast to the major regional centres and metropolitan areas of Western Australia, where there have been school closures and amalgamations, as well as the introduction of middle schools and senior campuses, the LAEP outcomes for the Bunbury Education District, on this occasion, did not result in major structural changes to the delivery of education services. Located in the broad domain of critical social research, this study applies a critical ethnographic methodology and draws on 25 semi-structured in-depth interviews and secondary data sources to examine how key participants understood, experienced and responded to the enactment of LAEP. A Critical Policy Trajectory Framework informed by critical social theory, provides the theoretical lens through which to describe and explain the LAEP policy formation and enactment process at the macro structural (global, nation-state, state), middle-range agenda-building and micro lived experience levels of the policy process. A major conclusion of the study is that the social activism at the micro level of the policy trajectory interrupted the introduction of the Minister’s and the Education Department of Western Australia’s education reform agenda in Bunbury. However, the macro level discursive constraints associated with global level economising discourses and the centralisation tendencies of the neo-liberal state saw the Education Department of Western Australia’s Central Office policy elites steer at a distance (Kickert, 1995) to produce a policy settlement that retained the option for the State to pursue a neo-liberal education restructuring agenda in the longer term. To move beyond policy analysis frameworks that describe and analyse the factors influencing policy, this study synthesises some of the key ideas, insights and lessons emerging from the research, to develop a critically engaged policy perspective in the areas of policy, research and practice
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
A critical policy analysis of the Crossroads Review: implications for higher education in regional Western Australia
Get PDFThis work is a critical policy analysis of the Crossroads Review, especially those aspects of it that are most likely to have a significant impact on higher education in regional Western Australia. It aims to understand the place of higher education in regional Western Australia historically with a view to critiquing current policy directions and the potential consequences of Crossroads. The thesis argues that the ideologies of marketisation and corporatisation are driving current higher education policy and this may significantly damage the long-term viability of regional campuses and learning centres as well as public and private funding allocations. The implications for the dismantling of the social contract (or social democratic settlement) in the knowledge economy is an important issue for regional populations for their continued growth, health, education and welfare.
The issues examined here are relevant to regional higher education in this State. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the potential policy effects with regard to accessibility of higher education in regional Western Australia. The thesis analyses the advantages and disadvantages of studying in regional WA in the current policy environment where there has been a dramatic shift in ideology from the welfare state to economic rationalism. Factors that impact on higher education in regional Western Australia include the provision of telecommunications services for access to and participation in the knowledge economy.
The thesis considers the evolution of higher education in Australia in general and more particularly in Western Australia, as it has evolved since its foundations in the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this time there have been radical changes in higher education in Australia in line with changes to our society and its place in an increasingly globalised environment.
The thesis concludes by considering some possible options for the future such as the development of learning communities and branch campuses. In discussing such possible alternative forms of delivery of higher education to regional Western Australia, this thesis seeks to raise awareness in relevant government bodies and in rural and remote communities of their particular higher education needs. It is hoped also to encourage regional communities to become more confident and pro-active in their own endeavours to gain greater access and equity in higher education
Engaging science pedagogies: What Year 10 students in a Western Australian independent school have to say about science learning
Get PDFEmerging from a personal and professional interest in student engagement with learning in secondary school science classrooms, this dissertation investigates the question: How do year 10 students understand, experience and respond to science teaching in secondary school?
Through the voices of some year 10 secondary school science students in an Independent Christian Secondary school in Western Australia, supported by some aspects of my professional experience, this thesis identifies, describes and explains the kinds of classroom conditions conducive for enhancing student engagement in science learning. A case study approach was adopted to investigate student perceptions of engaging pedagogies in year 10 science classes. Seeking a diverse range of strengths, abilities and attributes, all year 10 students, 60 in all, were invited to take part in the research program. The participating students consisted of a mixed gender group of 18 year 10 students, all with some interest in science learning. The students were interviewed in pairs and in focus groups, about the kinds of pedagogical, organisational and cultural conditions that enhanced their engagement in science learning. A time frame matrix was adopted to guide open ended questions and discussions. Drawing on year 10 student past, present and future perceptions of when they were learning science, this thesis identifies as essential ingredients a knowledgeable, passionate and committed teacher, hands on learning, relevance and ownership of learning, and relational learning, that connects with, and is relevant to student engagement in science learning.
Methodologically, the thesis acknowledges the value and importance of student voice in research relative to student engagement in science learning. Above all, the thesis reinforces the significance of building a relational learning environment that gives access to meaningful and relevant learning activities in science classrooms based on a culture of trust, respect and care
Post-compulsory curriculum reform and teachers' work: A critical policy ethnography in a Western Australian State Secondary school
Get PDFThis thesis set out to examine how teachers understand, experience and respond to mandated curriculum reforms in English in years 11 and 12 at a Senior High School in Western Australia over the period 2004 – 2005. The time period is significant as it is a halfway point between the commencement of the new policy driving reform of senior secondary education and the partial settlement of the policy and curriculum reform. The research is conceptualised using labour process theory as a means of analysing how teachers are being separated from their intellectual work throughout this curriculum reform process. The methodology chosen to inform this research is a dual approach using critical ethnography of lived individual experiences and critical policy ethnography to analyse the changing landscape of education policy in Australia. This dual approach offers a system level of understanding of mandated curriculum reform with an emphasis on the individual experience of expert teachers implementing the contested curriculum reform.
Several central themes emerged over the course of the research: growing deprofessionalisation of teachers’ work; intensification of workload and curriculum creation; technocratisation of teacher roles; diminishing autonomy, increased accountability and responsibility; and heightened external surveillance and control. Significantly, the data also captured and analysed in this research demonstrates how teachers are continually experiencing the processes of reprofessionalisation as a consequence of sustained critical reflective practice and the imposition of mandated curriculum reform. The data also relates the need for an authentic consultation between teachers and policy makers/government authorities in order for curriculum reform to be successfully established and taken up in secondary State schools. The processes of reprofessionalisation are a source of continued professional renewal and reinvigoration for the teachers involved
Teaching for social justice: Challenging stereotypes and prejudice
Get PDFIn this action research study, I worked with a class of twenty-five students as a teacher-researcher to describe and document how the students’ thoughts and learning changed over the course of an eleven-week Society and Environment program I developed entitled “Australian Immigration”. Specifically, this study draws on student work samples and my own reflective journal writings to document if and how changes took place in their understanding of prejudice and stereotypes. This study was situated in a mono-cultural community and took place at a small independent College in Australia. The program was specifically designed to challenge the current held stereotypes and prejudices’ that many students carry with them towards minority groups in Australian society.
The results of this study demonstrate that when students are challenged to question their own values and beliefs in context to the community in which they live, that changes can take place in their learning. It was a challenge as a teacher-researcher to engage students in a meaningful curriculum that asks them to use their lived experiences as the basis for learning. As such, this study also documents the ‘struggles’ I faced as a practitioner in the twenty first century engaging students in a democratic curriculum that asked them to pose problems, collaborate and use critical thinking to connect with ‘big picture’ ideas related to social justice.
The data that was collected suggests, that as both teacher and researcher trying to implement and engage students in a democratic curriculum is hard. The students carried with them misconceptions about Australia’s past and as a result had formed prejudice and stereotypes towards minority groups. The data also revealed that the community in which the students lived contributed towards the historical understanding they had. This understanding was one sided and biased. Although I struggled to connect with some students, who opted to take a more independent route to completing their work, I did have six students who successfully followed through with their group work and documentary tasks. Of the six that finished the assessment, they all made ‘big picture’ connections. Of the nineteen that opted to ‘go it alone’ there were only a few who were able to ‘connect’ with the ideas. The six students who worked in groups and the three independent students were my ‘glimmers of hope’. The work they produced demonstrated how students’ thoughts and learning changed over the duration of the eleven-week Society and Environment Program.
This study concludes that teacher designed curriculum based on the values of social justice, critical inquiry and social action is far more desirable and effective than teaching to the test to bring about social change
Boys in and out of school: narratives of early school leaving
Get PDFResearch and public attention into boys's education has increased in recent times among an emerging concern about the performance and retention of boys in schools. This concern, in many ways, constitutes a 'moral panic' (Foster, Kimmel and Skelton, 2001, p.1) sometimes producing generalised and alarming statements such as 'all boys are underachieving in school' and are therefore becoming the new disadvantaged (Foster, et, al., 2001, p.7). Alongside these populist concerns about boys in schools generally, is an emerging body of contemporary academic studies into early school leaving, (Trent and Slade, 2001; Smyth, Hattam, Cannon, Edwards, Wilson and Wurst,2000; Smyth and Hattam, 2004) boys' experiences of schooling, (Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli, 2003), as well as some broader statistical evidence indicating a general decline in school retention rates in Australia since the early 1990s (Lamb, 1998). Performance in schools generally, and declining retention rates specifically, has been described as an unacknowledged national crisis (Smyth and Hattam, 2002, p.375).
This study investigates boys' education generally and early school leaving specifically, by focusing on boys who leave school before completing year 10. The study explores the stories, meanings and constructed experiences of a small sample (5) of young boys aged 14 - 16 years, who have left secondary school just prior to being interviewed. This is a qualitative critical ethnographic (L. Harvey, 1990) study located within a constructivist epistemology (Crotty, 1998). It aims to investigate early school leaving through narrative (Cortazzi, 1993; Way, 1997) and ethnographic inspired analysis (Robson, 2002) of transcribed interview data. Such analyses are referenced against a macro socio-political, economic, and cultural context characterised by changing global socio-economic and political circumstances, especially in regard to how these impact on schools and future possibilities for young people (Spierings, 2002). It seeks further understanding by drawing from a framework of concepts that invoke discussion of school culture, identity practices and how these are inferred (Smyth and Hattam, 2004),produced,understood and enacted within schools and social contexts.
This study reveals that schools (as cultural and institutional practices) co-construct the often painful, lengthy and contradictory processes and experiences of early school leaving. Early school leaving therefore needs to be seen as an institutional and not merely personal or individual phenomenon. Appreciating the way schools assist in the process of early school leaving is important to understand, as it is within this domain that alternative educational practices can be located, constructed and enacted. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the current public policy debates on boys in schools, and as such be seen as an important contribution to public discourses and policy processes that help shape responses to boys in schools in general, and early school leaving in particular
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