Educational Policy and Open Educational Practice in Australian Higher Education

Open Educational Policy has become increasingly the subject of government attention globally, primarily with a focus on reducing educational costs for tax payers. Parallel to, yet rarely convergent with, these initiatives is an espoused sector-wide commitment to broadening participation in higher education, especially for students of low socio-economic backgrounds. Criticism of both open education and social inclusion policy highlights a deficiency in both the metrics used by policy-makers and the maturity of conceptual understanding applied to both notions. This chapter explores the possibilities afforded to social inclusion in universities by open education, and the case for an integrated approach to educational policy that recognizes the impact of a multi-causal foundation on the broader educational ecosystem

The potential role of Open Educational Practice Policy in transforming Australian Higher Education

Open Educational Practices (OEP) have played an important role in assisting educational institutions and governments worldwide to meet their current and future educational targets in widening participation, lowering costs, improving the quality of learning and teaching and promoting social inclusion and participatory democracy. There have been some important OEP developments in Australia, but unfortunately the potential of OEP to meet some of the national educational targets has not been fully realised and acknowledged yet, in ways that many countries around the world have. This paper will gather, discuss, and analyse some key national and international policies and documentation available as an attempt to provide a solid foundation for a call to action for OEP in Australia, which will hopefully be an instrument to assist and connect practitioners and policy makers in higher education

First sighting of long-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus, in the Balearic Islands

First sighting of Long-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus, in the Balearic Islands. On the 9th October 2002 an immature Longbilled dowitcher was observed at a pool on the Es Ras section of Parc Natural de s'Albufera de Mallorca. It remained until 30 October 2002 and during this period it was seen and photographed by several observers. This is a vagrant species which breeds in the Siberian tundra region, in western and northern Alaska and the extreme north-west of Canada. Its appearance in Mallorca co-incided with 10 other sightings in Europe, scattered through Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, France, Belgium and Spain. This record is the first for the Balearics and is awaiting acceptance by the Spanish Rare Birds Committee, SEO.Primera observació de cegall de bec llarg, Limnodromus scolopaceus, a les Illes Balears. El 9 d'octubre de 2002 un juvenil de cegall de bec llarg va ser observat a una àrea inundada d'Es Ras, al parc natural de s'Albufera de Mallorca. Va permanèixer al mateix lloc fins el 30 d'octubre de 2002, i va poder ser vist i fotografiat per un grapat d'observadors. Aquesta és una espècie que cria a la tundra siberiana, al nord i oest d'Alaska i a l'extrem nord-occidental del Canadà. La seva aparició a Mallorca va coincidir amb altres 10 citacions a Europa, repartides entre Gran Bretanya, Irlanda, Noruega, França, Bèlgica i Espanya. Aquesta citació és la primera per a les Illes Balears i està pendent d'acceptació pel Comitè de Rareses de la SEO

The Graph Curvature Calculator and the curvatures of cubic graphs

We classify all cubic graphs with either non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature or non-negative Bakry-\'Emery curvature everywhere. We show in both curvature notions that the non-negatively curved graphs are the prism graphs and the M\"obius ladders. We also highlight an online tool for calculating the curvature of graphs under several variants of these curvature notions that we use in the classification. As a consequence of the classification result we show, that non-negatively curved cubic expanders do not exist

Transient School Communities: Education of 'The Great Wandering Class'

This paper makes a study of the education of children living at the Lock 7 and 9 construction camps between 1923 and 1935. While completing a Masters Project through the University of New England in 2010, I discovered the unusual situation whereby the children of men employed on a South Australian construction project were enrolled in Victorian schools for a period of time. The archival record of correspondence between the teachers and the Victorian Education Department at Lock 7 and 9 made fascinating reading as they tussled to obtain the necessary supplies and to administer a school with a finite life. School 4156, which began at Lock 9 near Kulnine Station in Victoria closed in 1926 and reopened six years later at a new location near the Rufus River in 1930. It finally closed at the completion of the works in 1934. Who were the teachers and what struggles did they have teaching the children of the great wandering class? This paper tells their story