Q&A — Heather Fehring

Many thanks to Associate Professor Heather Fehring, Deputy Head Research and Innovation, School of Education for being our latest Q&A respondent.

What are your teaching /research Interests?
My teaching interests are in two specific fields. First, the broad field of literacy: acquisition, development, teaching strategies, assessment and reporting and curriculum design. I teach into the BEd and the Graduate Diploma of Education (Primary).  Secondly, research design theory and practice for research postgraduate students. I teach research methods to the postgraduate students.

My research interests are in the area of literacy assessment and reporting.

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?

Related to literacy information
Assessment For, As, Of… Advice, Professional Learning Modules, Resources
Prep to Year 10 Assessment tools
Prep to year 10 Curriculum and Standards

Australian Association for the Teaching of English

Australian Council for Educational Research

Useful for formal and diagnostic assessment.
Australian Literacy Educators’ Association

Curriculum Corporation

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Victoria (DEECD)
for Assessment, Blueprint for Government Schools, Student Reports etc.

Education Departments across Australia

International Reading Association

Current information on Literacy and Assessment
My Read. Strategies for Teaching Reading in the Middle Years

National Curriculum Board 

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards,  Progression Points and Assessment Maps Links:
Victorian Essential Learning Standards by Level and Domain

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA)

A favourite educationist/author/ theorist and why?
i) Literacy related writers:
Theorists who have been influential in setting the literacy scene in Australia:
Peter Freebody
Allan Luke
Ilana Sydner
Brian Cambourne
These authors combine theory and practice in very accessible publications.

ii) Practitioners in the literacy field who are also influential in the setting the scene in Australia :
Assessment – Toni Glasson
Rubrics – Rod White
Inquiry Learning – Kath Murdoch
Multiliteracies – Michele Anstey & Geoff Bull
These writers can translate theory into practical classroom curriculum in easily accessible styles.

iii) Research methodology related writers;
Michael Crotty
John Creswell
Norman Denzin and Yvonne Lincoln
Michael Quinn Patton
Robert Yin
Robert Stake
Ernest Stringer
Victor Minichiello

These writers have the ability to write about quite difficult theoretical concepts related to research design in language that not only emerging researchers can understand, but also, extend and challenge experienced researchers.

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
I do most of my reading, thinking, writing and research at home. Trying to undertake such activities at work is almost impossible. Student contact, administrative responsibilities and meeting attendance involved in my current role as Deputy Head Research and Innovation prohibit any further commitments during normal working hours.

How do you find out about newly published research?

• Library alerts
• Conferences
• Professional Association publications
• Professional Journals

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
Professional networks are essential for my research and teaching. Not only professional organisations like ALEA, AARE, AATE, and the AEU, but also, the collegiate networks that one builds up over years of participating in conferences, seminars, professional development courses and being an examiner of research theses.

These professional networks are a very important means of keeping up to date with changes in the teaching and learning of literacy and when it comes to choosing examiners for research students’ PhD theses I supervise.

Describe your personal library
My personal library consists of a split between very expensive research methodology books such as Denzin and Lincoln ($250.00) and practical teaching and learning literacy strategies books with an emphasis on literacy assessment and reporting. These two collections cover my major teaching responsibilities within the School of Education.

 Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the library
The RMIT libraries are an indispensable source of information for any student studying in the Higher Education area. The libraries are modern and have great databases for research purposes. The staff at the RMIT libraries, especially Bundoora, are fantastic. Nothing is too much trouble for them when you have a query. They are always helpful and ready to teach you new ways of researching the information you need. The special courses they run, such as the Endnote bibliographic software programme are informative and fun. We are very fortunate at RMIT to have such  dedicated, professional and friendly librarians to work with us.

Favourite journal
I actually think the suite of journals published by the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) is an excellent source for maintaining teachers’ professional currency and a fantastic source of theoretical and practical ideas.  The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy – AJLL [the flagship research journal of ALEA, classified as an A ranking journal under the new Excellence in Research in Australia (ERA)], the Literacy Learning: The Middle Years (a journal which concentrates on the Years 5 – 9 area of literacy development) and Practically Primary (which tends to concentrate on the practical implementation of literacy in the primary classroom area).

Something you’d like to change about the library
If it was within the budget, I would like to see some private study areas or small single private study rooms, introduced into the library somewhere. It would be advantageous for students to be able to book a private study cubicle for a day or two so they could research in quiet areas where they could also leave their material and personal laptops in safety.

Currently reading
Boud, David & Lee, Alison. (2009). Changing practices of doctoral education. Abingdon, Oxon, UL: Routledge.
I am currently doing a book review for the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) regarding this new publication. So naturally I have to read it first.

Q&A — Jo Lang

Thank you to Jo Lang, Program Director for the B.Ed at Brunswick, for being this month’s respondee to the regular Q&A post.

What are your teaching/research interests?
My teaching and research interests complement each other and are in the areas of teaching and learning; teacher professional learning; ICT and learning and teaching; curriculum development; and education for sustainability.

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
When I’m stuck and want to know something quickly I use the web definition sites such as ‘the free dictionary’ and I don’t know what I would do without google and wikipedia. For deeper investigations I can’t go by the capacities of the search tools (eg ‘Search it’ tool at RMIT) within the library online catalogues where I can search for e-journals as well as the printed copies of texts etc. These tools make it so much easier to research! I don’t know how we could live without them!

A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.
Golly! This is a hard one because I’m influenced by so many; but let’s try to nominate a few. John Dewey is amazing. When I read his stuff I can’t believe that it was written about a hundred years ago. His ideas about putting learning and the learner in the centre of education and teaching are just as fresh (and sometimes as radical!) as when he first penned his ideas. I love his work on curriculum development: “The Child and the Curriculum” (1902). The more I learn about learning and teaching I recognise the important role of the ‘social’ in learning and the work by Lev Vygotsky got me started on thinking about social learning with his “Mind in Society” but there are many others that have since influenced my thinking including the seminal works associated with communities of practice such as Lave & Wenger and other related work for example Lea & Nicoll’s “Distributed learning: Social and cultural approaches to practice” (2002). Jerome Bruner’s work has been very important to me as it has connected with what I see as I work with learners across the formal (and informal) educational sectors: that learners need to have the opportunities to make meaning of their learning if they are to engage in deep learning. More particularly, in teacher education I connect with the work of people like Virginia Richardson, Fred Korthagen, Mary Beattie, Tom Russell, Deborah Britzman, Judyth Sachs, John Loughran, Bill Ayers, Parker Palmer, Miriam Ben-Peretz, Anne Freese, Lee Shulman – you get the general idea, there’s heaps! They either inspire you to continue with the challenging work of teaching or they help with alternative ways of thinking about teaching and learning or both. I like Donald Schon’s seminal work on professional learning because he was one of the first to articulate the differences in the knowledge of the professions that relies on tacit knowledge grown from experience, often difficult to develop and manage, and raised the significance of the ‘reflective practitioner’ in developing expert professionals. A couple of key influences in the areas of education for sustainability include Stephen Sterling’s “Sustainable Education: Re-visioning Learning and Change” (2001) because it was the first time that I read someone making the same connection as I had about a ‘gap’ in environmental and sustainability education: we needed to put learning in the middle of education for sustainability. I also like the work of Roger Hart’s “Children’s Participation: The Theory and Practice of Involving Young Citizens in Community Development and Environmental Care” (1997) because it really gets you thinking about how to meaningfully construct a learning environment that is actively enabling for young learners rather than resorting to tokenism or indoctrination when it comes to sustainability issues that are often contested, sensitive and/ or challenging. I could go on and on…but I suppose I might stop here.

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
When the work needs to get done I can work almost anywhere. I know I did some of my PhD data analysis in the waiting room while getting my car serviced! But for real thinking time and creative preparation time I really like my custom built study at home where I have large windows facing my garden and I’m surrounded by my shelves of glorious books, computer, printer, files, readings etc. When I’m in ‘the zone’ it’s pretty hard to get my attention!

How do you find out about newly published research?
I’m afraid it’s much more adhoc than it should be. I should be more disciplined and set aside time each fortnight to browse the latest journals etc for relevant research and add the details into my EndNote. However, this doesn’t happen. I sometimes gleam relevant research from some email alerts from publishing houses; other times it’s through reviews from the professional associations I belong; yet other times it’s from colleagues and their recommendations; sometimes it’s from looking at the reference lists from the submitted assessment tasks of students in my classes; and of course when I’m researching an area I come across new work.

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
Absolutely! I’m a member of a variety of professional associations that include my discipline areas (eg environmental education/ sustainability) and teaching and teacher education across schools and university sectors. These are important to keep abreast of the issues that are emerging and a place for activism for positive change when needed.

Describe your personal library.
I LOVE my books and my library! Its shelves are crammed (or should that be overflowing?!) with wonderful books and you can follow my passions and career growth and development through the books on those shelves. It seems I never have enough books – and I’ve often got an order coming from amazon.com!

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
Both! Each has their place in the sun. It’s a case of matching purpose/need with the right type of tool/information.

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
To grow and nurture a habit of professional reading and enjoy the beauty of this habit! To help students understand how the library is a critical key to open the rich and wonderful worlds of knowledge that can support their (deeper) learning.

Favourite journal?
Another hard question! I have a few teaching journal favourites that include, for example: Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, Curriculum Perspectives, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Innovative Higher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education.

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
Goodness! Not sure about this one because all the remodelling has been fantastic. It’s just so great to see how the re-visioning of RMIT’s libraries are encouraging different ways of learning. Students are working and researching both individually and in small groups. Maybe a corner of ‘bean bags’ may provide another way to nurture the habit of reading for pleasure?

What are you reading right now?
I usually have a bundle of books by the bedside that I dip into and out of. At present I’ve gone back to some fiction as it’s Summer time. I’ve just finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel and now I’ve started on A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. And I’m continuing to read Alexis Wright’s novel Carpentaria. On the Teacher Education side of things I’m reading a couple of things: Our Underachieving Colleges: A candid look at how much students learn and why they should be learning more (2006) by Derek Bok (published by Princeton University Press) and dipping into The Cambridge Handbook of The Learning Sciences (2006) edited by R. Keith Sawyer (published by Cambridge University Press).

Q&A — Peter Murphy

Thank you to Peter Murphy, program manager for English and Further study within the School, for being the next Q&A subject.

Some questions about your teaching and research
 
What are your teaching/research interests?
I’ve just changed jobs into program management so I’m pretty focussed on what makes for good management and leadership in an educational environment.
 
Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
Google
 
A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.
John Dewey for his many insights on education.
 
Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
Don’t do much of this now that I’m a manager. But it used to be mostly on campus.
 
How do you find out about newly published research?
I use the fantastic alert service that many journals provide nowadays + what ever I glean from colleagues.
 
Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
 They are because I always find other people’s interests and passions fascinating.

Describe your personal library.
 Very small as I’m a great believer in public libraries. What I do have tend to be xmas and birthday gifts.

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
 Wikipedia

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
That it’s a fantastic resource which I fear is often under-utilised by students
 
Favourite journal?
New Internationalist

 What Are you reading right now?
I’m not a one-book-at-a-time person, nor big on fiction so
In defence of food by Michael Pollan, Retooling by Rosalind Williams and  Leadership as service by Kent Farnsworth

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
That it was open more often.

Q&A — Rachel Patrick

Thanks go to Rachel Patrick, new lecturer in teacher education, for agreeing to be this month’s Q&A subject.

What are your teaching/research interests?

Teaching interests:

• Anything to do with teacher education – the core subjects
• Social justice, difference and equity in education
• Indigenous education
• Socio-cultural contexts in education, and how education works (or doesn’t)
• Professional responsibilities and teaching ethics

Research interests

• Anything to do with teacher education – pre-service and early career teachers
• Teacher knowledge and identity formation (how teachers learn, how they make sense of their professional encounters and how professional identity forms)
• The roles and responsibilities of teacher educators in relation to (student) teacher knowledge and identity formation
• Equity, difference and social justice, how teachers negotiate the minefields, and how to challenge (student) teachers’ assumptions without alienating them
• Educational policy, in particular how (student) teachers negotiate educational reform in practice
• Post-structural and feminist approaches to research.

A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.

Multiple favourites – here are some:

• Brian Davis and Dennis Sumara on complexity in teacher education (as opposed to trying to simplify it)
• Ian Stronach and Deborah Britzman’s discussions of teacher identity formation as a negotiation of contradictory discourses, policies and practice
• Maggie MacLure for her deconstructions of “identity” and of “discourse”
• Laurel Richardson’s “writing as nomadic inquiry” as a process of data analysis
• Russell Bishop’s deconstruction and challenging of deficit theorizing of Indigenous students
• Paulo Freire for shaking up the status quo and challenging teachers to think beyond the “banking” method of teaching/learning.

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

At home

How do you find out about newly published research?

Journal and book alerts and colleagues.

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

Extremely important. I like to sort out my thoughts by talking, so I find professional conversations invaluable for exchanging ideas about teaching and research, and for getting creative inspiration (as well as having a good laugh at times). I find that all kinds of networks trigger off research and teaching ideas, and expand my knowledge of what other research/teaching is going on. I find it’s the best way to find out about similar (and different) interests and opens up avenues for getting my ideas out there and building collaborative relationships. One of the wonderful things about living in a big city like Melbourne is that there are so many opportunities to attend all sorts of lectures and workshops on current educational issues and thought.

Describe your personal library.
Very depleted at the moment, having just moved country, but … lots of fiction (my escape) and feminist SF. I’m exploring Australian authors at the moment and filling up my shelves again. I also have some biography and some favourite educational publications, as well as a great collection of books about music.

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?

Wikipedia

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?

Librarians are great at tracking down hard-to-find stuff, so ASK if you get stuck.

Favourite journal?

Don’t have one – I draw on lots of different ones, mostly to do with teacher education.

Something you’d like to change about the Library?

I’ve only been here a short time, so I’ll get back to you on that one.

Q&A — Robyn Colls

Many thanks to Robyn Colls for being latest Q&A subject.  Robyn is the English coordinator for Foundation studies.

What are your teaching/research interests?
As an English and ESL teacher in Foundation Studies (FS) I have a broad interest in teaching and research. The FS program is for international students preparing for academic study in a range of disciplines -media & communication, art, design & architecture, business and science. Students therefore need development in English language, general knowledge and knowledge specific to their academic field.

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
 - ABC, The Age, Guardian Weekly,  Factiva, onestop english, google scholar….

How do you find out about newly published research?
Through colleagues, journals, and professional organisations

Describe your personal library.
I live in a house full of books.  My personal library includes fiction, history, travel, children’s literature and others such as poetry, classics, short stories.  There are quite a few piles of books around the shelves either waiting to be read or to be put back on the shelves or returned to a friend.  

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
Both.  Wikipedia is useful for a quick overview but as I say to my students it is not acceptable as an academic source.

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
I would like my students to value the library, to use it more.  Even sitting around reading the newspapers.  I’d like them to borrow more books and dvd’s. I know the students who use the research tutorial on the Foundation Studies library guide extremely helpful.  I’d like them all to use it

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
I would like more recent books and dvd’s and more copies of books and dvd’s in high demand.  But I’m more than happy with the friendly and helpful library staff. The library is an extremely valuable adjunct to the FS English course.

Q&A — Julie Faulkner

Many thanks to Julie Faulkner, senior lecturer in the School of Education, for being this month’s Q&A subject. See the complete series here.

What are your teaching/research interests?
Learning and identity, which incoporates popular culture, Web 2.0 and anything else young people use to make sense of their worlds.

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.
James Paul Gee – he makes complex theory accessible and elegant.

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
At home, usually late at night.

How do you find out about newly published research?
Usually via the ‘live’ network, subject associations, and conferences.

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
Yes, for the above reason and the necessity to remain on top of research in popular culture and ICT – it changes every hour!
 
Describe your personal library.
Hhhmm, it burnt in the Ash Wedensday fires and I had to begin again. It comprises a complete wall of a large room at home and two bookshelves at RMIT, and contains a mixture of adult and adolescent fiction, picture books, old and new textbooks, professional books and journals and books on words and language use. One of my most used is my two volume Shorter Oxford Dictionary – if I could afford the 20 volume Oxford, I would. Then again, perhaps I’ll wait for the CD… *

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
Both!

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
It’s a place where you never need to feel lonely.

Favourite journal?
English in Australia

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
I appreciate the care taken by librarians to order in valued books – I’d love to know when they come in! **

* If anyone would like to bookmark the 20 volume OED online just use this link.
**  The Library is currently testing a new books tab for the catalogue where you should be able to generate lists of new items in different subject areas. In the meantime some of the new titles coming in can be seen from this LibraryThing account. There is a feed from this into this blog (scroll down and see on the right hand side) as well as in the home page of some of our libguides eg see primary education guide.

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.

Q&A — Linda Darby

Many thanks to Linda Darby, lecturer in science education in the School, for being my next Q&A subject. These Q&A posts will assist me greatly when focussing some attention (and budget money) on specific research and teaching interests of those in the School.

What are your teaching/research interests?
Science education is both my research and teaching interest. I try to find connections between my research and teaching, otherwise there is not much time to do both. I am currently completing my PhD, which is on how the culture of the subject (science and mathematics) shapes teachers’ pedagogy, as well as their sense of themselves as doers, learners and teachers of the subject.

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
For my teaching, it is a Deakin University online resource for their students, which gives student teachers a compendium of science ideas and groovy activities you can use to teach them. It is research based, which means that research about children’s ideas and how they approach the learning of these ideas is well represented. It provides a good base for teachers during the course and when they are trying to teach science.

For my research, I actually find Google Scholar great because it includes so many types of sources, both academic and not so academic. It also indicates where the article has been cited (not exhaustive, but enough), so it provides a pathway to how the ideas in the article has contributed to academic discussions. Although I can’t access journal articles from this space, I can then go into the library website and use the “Find it” tool – this is such a time saver!

A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.
This changes regularly and is not really specific to a particular individual, but are more likely to be multiple authors that inform my thinking at the time. I can’t say I necessarily subscribe to anything, particularly in my teaching, except maybe Vygotskian notions of social constructivism – not very inventive.

In my PhD research I read various writings on the relationship between the individual and culture, such as Schein, Lave (and Wenger), Ball & Lacey. Looking more on the individual side, I like Deweyan notions of aesthetic experience, that is, when applied to the teacher, not necessarily as part of the student learning experience. Various authors are emerging here, which I find interesting, particularly coming out of Scandinavia (Wickman, Bostrom, Jakobson). These ideas can tend to creep into my teaching as well.

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
As a part-time lecturer who is usually teaching while I am on campus, some of my initial or final stages of preparation are done in my office, in close proximity to the printer and photocopier.

As a science ed lecturer with no lab technician this means hours of preparation of science equipment, which can take place in the prep room and lab, in the supermarket, or Mitre 10, or Dick Smiths Electronics. The bulk of my headwork is in the car. Most of my written work is at home in some space that is warm and cosy.

My research is done wherever I can – self imposed writing retreats either at home or by the beach have been good. Access to the internet is an imperative when conceptualising, looking for ideas and fleshing out. When I am writing, no internet is an imperative – email is such a distraction…

How do you find out about newly published research?
I receive some key journals in my area. Also conferences are pivotal, but expensive.

What are you reading right now?
My thesis.

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
Professional networks are crucial, which is why I attend conferences. It is important to not just look in my backyard, but to look further afield and become familiar with the progress of research internationally, so international conferences have been useful in making links with other academics. Australian based subject association conferences are both informing of my research and teaching. I usually quite enjoy local or university based conferences, particularly those sessions that are outside of my interests – the newness can provide interesting insights. You also get to know what is inside your next door neighbours’ heads, shelves and computers.

Describe your personal library.
On the shelf it is pretty thin. More impressive is my Virtual library – journal articles etc. My Endnote library is impressive.

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
Not a fan of Wikipedia, much to my students’ disgust! Except to get a general idea of what an area might be, then I feel compelled to find a more reputable source. I do prefer a book version for some things – eg. geographic information. Plus I like the clear plastic sheets that show different systems in the human body.

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
How to search a journal for appropriate activities, theory and latest thinking in science eudcation. For example, a professional journal that is a valuable research for teachers of science is “Teaching Science” – I would love for them to be able to search for articles within the journal.

Endnote – get them using this from the beginning.

Favourite journal?
Research in Science Education – it has featured many Australian authors in the past, but it is becoming more international lately, not such a bad thing but it does change the flavour of it. It also features a variety of research methodologies, which some of the other international journals are less likely to represent, such as qualitative, ethnographic type research.

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
My knowledge of it. Having only started this year I am still working out how to access journals through the library interface. Also, it is poorly resourced in science education publications and resources – we are working on this!

Q&A — Geoff Shacklock

Here is the third of the occasional Q&A posts where a member of staff answers some questions about their teaching and research habits and interests. Associate Professor Geoff Shacklock is Director of Learning and Teaching within the School of Education.

What are your teaching/research interests?
I am not one to separate teaching and research interests. My interests include teachers’ work, applied learning, early school leaving, youth transitions, post-compulsory education, education policy, popular culture/s and student identities, and life history research. With colleagues, I have recently completed a case study of teaching and learning for pregnant and parenting secondary school students. A future direction for me concerns the reappearance of the notion of applied learning in post-compulsory education – e.g. the VCAL – and what this means for teaching and learning more widely. Is this back to the future or something else?

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
I don’t have any that I find indispensable as I am eclectic in how I approach online resources. Two that I enjoy are the Theory.org site and the Informal Education [INFED] site.

A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.
How long is a piece of string? Which hat am I wearing today? I come from a critical theory (Frankfurt School) background. As a result, in education I have long been, and continue to be, influenced by Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux… and the like. The sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman amazes me with his metaphorical logics about social life now and into the future. In education, it is in the writings and influences of John Dewey, Bill Ayers, Maxine Greene, Tom Barone, Ivor Goodson where I feel amongst like minds with the richness of educational lives and the histories of learners and teachers. For sheer beauty, where the words sing from the page, and where I am left in awe, the works of anthropologist Ruth Behar and sociologist Laurel Richardson, never fail to inspire. And, this only scratches the surface…..

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
I do this mostly at the office and also at home – sometimes elsewhere. A laptop and wireless connection are wonderful, wonderful things in our line of work.

How do you find out about newly published research?
I receive email alerts for many, many journals. So many, that I often cannot keep up. I also cruise bookshops and publishers websites from time to time. Over the top of this, I share and receive news with/from my collegiate networks.

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
Yes, up to a point. I am a member of a range of networks and associations, but personal networks that criss-cross the professional boundaries are very important to me in sustaining research and teaching. Also, I like to attend and present at a ‘different’ conference – in a professional space – that is not a part of my usual network each year or two. Last year, I did two of these. I find them challenging and invigorating. To me, this is about shifting my professional and theoretical centres of gravity and avoiding the intellectual quicksands of the comfortable and the familiar. You meet new people and who knows where this leads to in your work.

Describe your personal library.
It is my treasure chest. I know what is there and I love finding and adding another gem to to what I have. And, this does not always mean something new and just published. My library lives on shelves at the office and at home… and on the floor in each case too. I have long operated on a personal library mantra of… when you see it (what you want), buy it!

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
Gary, this is your trick question – isn’t it? You see, I find wikipedia great for pop culture research and often use it as a starting point for information about TV shows and movies and so on that I might need for my pop culture teaching/research. I don’t rely on it for academic/scholarly research but that doesn’t mean I won’t check it from time to time to find a shortcut or a lead for a different line of investigation. I cannot say that Encyclopedia Britannica is my first port of call very often.

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
It is cliched, but it is the door to the world of knowledge and ideas. The wealth of access to online journals and other sources is just amazing. Take the time to learn how to use it well. It may seem like a chore, but that investment will return it self to you many, many times over in ways you cannot even imagine right now.

Favourite journal?
Once more, how long is a piece of string and which hat am I wearing today? A few…. Qualitative Inquiry; Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies*; Journal of Contemporary Ethnography; Discourse; Theory, Culture & Society (TCS)….

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
The Bundoora libary has a nice feel to it. Though, personally, I am not a fan of the steep stairs to the book collection. Digressing, I am old enough to remember what it meant, and how it felt, to go to the library to find a back issue or to see the latest issue of a favourite journal. Believe it, or not, this was a buzz. We don’t do that anymore because of our online access and the demise of print copies. Sadly, I do not physically visit the library as often as I once did. This seems a loss, but nostalgia is a tricky companion. Can/do we recreate that kind of experience? Maybe it is not so much about the information anymore, but about the context and the aesthetics of the information and our experience of it. How………..?

*We have recently gained online access to the online journal Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies via Sage Journals Online; a catalogue record will be created soon — Gary.

Q&A — Judy Maxwell

Here is the second of an occasional Q&A to an RMIT staff member on their research/teaching interests and habits. Judy is from RMIT’s Study and Learning Centre and is undertaking her PhD within the School of Education.

What are your teaching/research interests?
Currently both teaching and research interests relate to postgraduate study. My PhD research looks at how candidates perceive the respective cultures of professional, practice-based and traditional doctoral education in the School of Education. With other staff from the Study and Learning Centre, I’m also beginning to work on an interactive website for RMIT postgraduate students covering learning and writing issues common to postgrads, such as thesis writing, supervisory relationships, maintaining momentum, etc.

Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
Google Scholar is wonderful.

A favourite educationalist/author/theorist and why.
There are many, but currently Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice interests me because his constructs of field and habitus as well as cultural, social and symbolic capital allow the individual learner and the rules and rituals of education structures to be viewed through one critical lens. It helps to explain how some students seem always to feel like fish out of water at university, while others seemingly come to university with an implicit feel for the game.

Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
I do some teaching preparation at my office desk, but all of my PhD study and most teaching preparation are done in my home study. I find when I’m at work my time is taken up with coordination duties.

How do you find out about newly published research?
I subscribe to academic journal publishers’ email alerts which let me know when new journals are published. I can quickly scroll down the articles in each journal, dipping into those that are interesting and relevant. I also check other specific journals through the library databases every couple of months for relevant research and attend conferences when possible.

Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
They are incredibly important because there are relatively few academic language and learning advisers in each university/TAFE compared to those in, for instance, pre-service teaching. The Association of Academic Language and Learning (AALL) is our national organisation and provides an important network. The Association website has a discussion forum which is very important, but perhaps of even greater importance is the email discussion forum called Unilearn. There are biennial AALL conferences and each state has its own AALL organisation – in Victoria we have two informal seminars with academic language and learning advisers from other universities in Victoria. Learning and language advisers in Victorian TAFEs have also set up a very useful network which meets twice a year. All of these networks are vitally important in terms of benchmarking of our practices, sharing pedagogical approaches, research, etc between universities and TAFEs.

Describe your personal library.
It’s an eclectic mix. Apart from novels, I have sections on linguistics, TESOL, general education, sociology of education, philosophy, gardening and cooking. However, the section I find more interesting right now is where I’ve put my sons’ favourite children’s books (which I could never throw out!). I’m now getting them out to read to my grandchildren and it’s exciting to see the same delight in their faces as I remember on my sons’.

Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica?
I know that articles in Wikipedia haven’t been monitored for accuracy, but it’s a very quick and easy way of getting the main ideas about things and this makes it easier to further construct knowledge through more reputable sources. It’s also more up-to-date than Encyclopedia Britannica because articles are being posted constantly.

Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the Library?
I’d like some students to know what a joy it is to sit in one of the quiet sections of the library and read a book!

Favourite journal?
Because academic language and learning is informed by a range of disciplines such as linguistics, TESOL, sociology of education, discourse analysis, educational psychology, etc, there are many relevant journals. Some favourites are Higher Ed. Research & Development, Prospect (Aust. Journal of TESOL), Aust. Ed. Researcher and our professional organisation’s new journal, the Journal of Academic Language and Learning.

Something you’d like to change about the Library?
Nothing! I think it’s a much more user-friendly and welcoming place than it used to be (both Bundoora and Swanston) and I just LOVE the number of full-text journals and books. Being a full-time teacher and part-time PhD student with no time at work to check out either work or study resources, this has been absolutely essential.