Regular classes at different library sites

In addition to the classes that I give to students by arrangement with lecturers there is also an ongong schedule of classes that anyone can attend at the different local sites. You can review these and book online by selecting the Book Library tours or classes link from the homepage. Bundoora Library has just posted some quick 15 min sessions in using the catalogue and finding journal articles.

Q&A — Ian Robertson

Thanks to Ian Robertson, senior lecturer in the School of Education, for his response to the blog’s Q&A.

What are your teaching/research interests?

I come to the University with 20 years experience in the vocational sector. During that time I was fortunate enough to work in a range of roles related to teaching, program coordination, management, curriculum development and evaluation, and project management. As a result I have a broad range of teaching interests.

In the academic world I have researched in the fields of policy, competency based training, flexible learning, apprenticeships and assessment. At the core of my interest is teachers work and in particular the way in which teachers practice is influenced and formed. My research approach is largely consistent with naturalistic or constructivist methodology. Two theories are particularly important in informing my work, the ideas of Basil Bernstein and Activity Theory

Website/online resources that you regard as indispensable?

This is a difficult question to answer. It’s like a moving feast. If I look back over the years there are two or three websites that had remained constant.

The National Center for Vocational Education and Research provides easy access to a number of publications that are published by this group. Whilst one must remember that these are government commission resources they are very useful. This website also hosts the VOCED database which is very useful in searching for publications associated with vocational education.

The Australian Flexible Learning framework site provides regular updates, numerous resources and access to professional development in the field of flexible learning and vocational education.

In a general sense I’m a strong user of Google for general searching and closer to home a regular user of the library website in searching for a wide range of resources.

I also maintain a number of personal websites My personal website (http://robboian.googlepages.com) is a really useful in having a central location from which it is possible to access my publications and presentations. My personal blog has been a useful device in maintaining a log of useful information.

More recently I had been placing audiovisual presentations on Youtube. These provide students with an opportunity to review presentations that they may have missed or wish to revisit. I have been pleasantly surprised with the positive feedback that I have received from other people around the world including the USA, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Philippines and Africa.

Favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why?

It is very difficult to choose a favorite educationalist. My teaching practice is very influenced by the social constructivist movement but I also believe in the providing learners with then opportunity to explore power dynamics. My academic interests are informed by the work of the British sociologist Basil Bernstein and increasingly by Activity Theory. Together these two approaches seem to be highly complementary.

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?

I could try to be funny here and say in my head. However, more seriously my preference is to do this work in my office when collaboration with colleagues is not required.

How do you find out about newly published research?

I’d like to say that I find out about newly published research through general exploration of the libraries and databases. But, I must confess that accessing new publications tends to be a much more pragmatic affair. I really appreciate the GOBI Notification that comes from the RMIT Library. I try to do regular searches (every 3 months) of the Library catalog and online database using search terms that are relevant to my need. Course preparation time is also a good opportunity to catch up on what is available, I generally search the library catalog and then go along and browse the shelves in the ‘old fashioned way’.

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?

Certainly professional networks are really important in informing teaching as well as discipline based currency. I am a member of the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) which represents a broad range of people who are interested in post-compulsory vocational and adult education. AVETRA runs an annual conference which is a great opportunity to catch up with current debates as well as personal networks.

Describe your personal library

In an academic sense I have a number of publications that are related to the work of Basil Bernstein and Activity Theory. General publications on adult and vocational learning are also a focus. Because of my interest in the use of technology and teacher’s work I have a number of books on flexible learning, workplace based learning, e-learning and blended learning.

My wife and I are also keen on travel so we have quite a library of old and not so old Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. A favourite Ben Elton book is Post Mortem. The remaining recreational reading is mostly in the form of crime fiction. Recently I’ve read Jeff Abbott’s Fear and Panic great page turners.

Teacher Reference Center (EBSCO)

EBSCO provide a couple of databases gratis and a new one they have just introduced is Teacher Reference Center.  I have organised for this to be added to our profile, which basically means the “Find it” links are active. And it works! A quick try doing a search on “inclusive education” brings lots of articles with links to the full text via the Find it button. Very exciting.

As they say on the website:

This index of over 260 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books is now also offered free via the EBSCOhost platform. This database provides coverage on key education topics such as Assessment, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards, Science & Mathematics, and more for K-12 Teachers & Librarians.

EBSCO is one of our standard providers and provide quite of our few databases, although these haven’t tended to be in the education area. If you would like a demo on how to use I am as usual very happy to come to your office or organise a group session.

To search the database with full-text find it links you will need to access it via our Search it list or  the link above.

Wish you had an Australian spellchecker?

Macquarie Dictionary is attempting to get the attention of Micrsoft and Apple, asking them to insert the Macquarie wordlist into their systems and applications. They have an online form that allows you to lend your voice to the campaign.

Remember also that we have access to Macquarie Dictionary Online.

Adult Education and Training

Yep, its another libguide.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Goes — Gasp! — Wiki

One of the questions I ask in the Q&A to staff on this blog is: Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica? Apparently Britannica has itself decided that the answer to this question is … From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Long a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user community” (in the words of the encyclopedia’s blog) to contribute their own articles, which will be clearly marked and run alongside the edited reference pieces.

Children’s literature libguide

Another day, another libguide: this time for children’s literature. And see the page for the Children’s Book Council of Australia 2008 Book of the Year shortlist.

 

Expert Endnote sessions for Education

This is a reminder that I am giving some Expert Endnote sessions at Swanston and Bundoora. It is essential that you be reasonably familiar with Endnote, and have, for example, come to one of the normal Endnote sessions and/or have experience using Endnote.

At the end of this sessions attendees will be able to

• Create and modify reference types, create and update term lists and activate dictionaries
• Add common terms to groups of records simultaneously
• Manage PDFs, images, and tables in your endnote library
• Edit and export references contained in word documents
• Save copies of formatted documents with Endnote field codes removed
• Merge documents and create subject bibliographies
• Create and modify styles

Date	Place	Time
Wed 11th Jun	Swanston Library Seminar Rm Two	10.00-11.30am
Thu 12th Jun	Bundoora Library Seminar Rm Three	4.00-5.30pm

Places are limited so please email me if you would like to attend.

Teacher education libguides

We have now added two more libguides to make up a group of teacher education guides:

• Early childhood education
• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Curriculum resources for education

I have written enough about these previously but I will mention that I gave a class this morning to the course TCHE2189/2230 Researching learning and was able to incorporate a page to material for this course into the Early childhood guide.