The May 2002 edition of ultiBASE is now available on-line at http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Journal/journal.htm

Readers are reminded that ultiBASE welcomes unsolicited papers for peer-review on any topics of interest to those committed to enhancing university and post-secondary teaching and learning. UltiBASE is always interested in special editions based on suitable conferences and seminars and welcomes proposals.

Abstracts:

Regional campus and global interchange: taking off the monoculturalblinkers - Bronwyn Ellis and Philip Heffernan , Whyalla Campus, University of South Australia. , Australia.

http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/may02/ellis1.htm

Abstract: One of the seven qualities that identify a graduate of the University of South Australia is the demonstration of 'international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen'. The programs studied have this as one of their outcomes. Exposure to the diversity brought to the institution by its international students also contributes to developing this quality in local students, as does the Australian experience for the international students themselves. Opportunities for student and staff exchanges are likewise a valuable means of widening the international perspectives both of those directly involved and those with whom they are in contact. This paper outlines the variety of such international initiatives and experiences of a regional university campus, and describes the learning experiences of staff involved in staff and student exchanges. It highlights the wider cross-cultural learning and potential opportunities, and considers implications for future intercultural learning programs.

Whoever wants to know a thing has no way of doing so except by coming into contact with it, that is, by living (practising) in its environment. ... All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience. (From 'On Practice' (1937), Selected Works, vol. 1, pp. 299-300, in Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung 1966, p. 209)

Graduate Qualities in Social Work - Cate Hudson & Peter Munn, Whyalla Campus, University of South Australia, Australia.

http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/may02/hudson1.htm

Abstract: A review of the most current literature relating to quality assurance and best practice in teaching and learning strategies leaves little doubt that Universities can ill afford to be complacent about the urgent need to develop and implement systems that indicate a commitment to all stakeholders. This requires commitment from the top and should be owned by all staff. The objectives used to measure achievements need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time related. Through the identification and recording of achievement in their graduate qualities, universities can show their commitment to producing a certain quality of graduate. This commitment is evident to key stakeholders both within and outside of the University setting. This article discusses the graduate qualities adopted by the University of South Australia and their application at both a program and field education practicum level for the purpose of strengthening the position of social work graduates in the workplace.

Identit(y)ies and anxiet(y)ies in on-line communities - Dr. Carol Reid, University of Western Sydney, Australia.

http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/may02/reid2.htm

Abstract: This paper presents some remarks on identity formation and the relationship this bears to transformative possibilities in on-line communities. The inability to 'read off' identity - as in embodied university classrooms - offers the promise of non-racialised/gendered/sexualised constructions of the 'Other' and therefore the presuppositions that such constructions carry with them. This presumed comp/utopia (idea of perfection) is attractive to many who work in culturally diverse environments where tensions often surface around changing local demographics (Reid, 2000). However, this paper argues - citing student focus group discussions and threads from on-line discussions - that a lack of knowledge about the ‘Other’ produces anxiet(y)ies. But rather than being unproductive, the anxiet(y)ies produced by ‘facelessness’ may have transformative potential

Regards
Mark Laidler