Queensland University of Technology Newspaper October 15-28, 1996
INSIDE…
Issue No 155
Recent awards for Energy Efficient House Design saw a strong performance by QUT, with the university’s staff, students and graduates outpacing industry entrants in most categories.
Co-sponsored by the Queensland Department of Minerals and Energy and the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industries and Energy, the awards were designed to draw practical and innovative ideas for Queensland’s diverse climate regions.
The main award was presented to QUT senior lecturer Jim Woolley, who received a cheque for $10,000 for submitting the most effective and adaptable design.
Mr Woolley also took out one of four major prizes of $5,000 for his house design for temperate climate regions of Queensland and his designs for the other three climate regions of the State were praised by judges for their very high quality.
Current 4th-year QUT architecture students Matthew Cooper and Robert Takken, the only students to win a prize, picked up a merit award worth $2,000.
Graduates of the university also featured prominently in the prize list, with 1980 graduate Denis Waring’s firm Parups and Waring also taking out a $5,000 prize for its inland climate house design and 1974 graduate John Neylan and 1988 graduate Paul Trotter each winning a merit award.
Overall, QUT staff, students and graduates managed to snare $26,000 of the total $46,000 in prizes awarded.
Along with six other universities around the nation, QUT recently became a partner in a new $22 million Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy and, for its part, will concentrate on optimising the efficiency of energy use in building, especially the energy efficiency of building materials.
QUT scores well at Queensland energy awards
by Tony Wilson
An Internet browser developed by a QUT researcher could be a lifebuoy for ’Net surfers at risk of drowning in the sea of available information.
Dr Peter Bruza from the School of Information Systems has created a hyperindex browser which mediates between Internet users and traditional search engines to help users frame their queries more precisely.
He said it was his passion for conventional board surfing in the ocean that had inspired him to develop the browser.
“A couple of years ago I did an Internet search on the word ‘surfing’
with the intent of finding out about different surfing conditions around the world,” he said.
“What I got back was literally hundreds of hits, only a few of which were of any use and these were buried way down in the list.”
Dr Bruza said the capacity of the Internet to swamp users with useless information had expanded considerably since then.
“What research has shown time and time again is that people find it very difficult to express their information need in the form of a query, because they are not really sure what they are looking for,” he said.
“The hyperindex browser lets a user enter a very general description from which it creates an index structure that allows the user to discover what their information need actually is.
“Say they want to know something about the Internet: what the system will do is go away and produce contextual descriptions about the Internet – for example Internet security, Internet software, etc.
“When the users see this index they can say ‘Oh yeah, I’m interested in Internet security’ and then the same thing happens again – you will see an index of different contexts where that expression occurs.
“The difference between this browser and traditional search engines
New ’Net browser makes waves in cyberspace
is, in a traditional search engine, the user enters a request and the search engine goes away and gives back a result – which these days is typically very large – and the user has to go through that result piece by piece to find what they are looking for.
“This browser wades through that information on behalf of the user and builds a structure on top of it so they can get an overview of what is in the result set.”
Dr Bruza said the hyperindex browser, which he is refining with Information Technology Faculty colleague Dr Erik Proper, was based on a system he developed while completing his PhD in the Netherlands.
“In the Netherlands I used the browser with the art history department
which had a slide library of 90,000 images. What lecturers wanted was to be able to search through the slides based on content,” he said.
“So we built the hyperindex browser using the titles of the slides so they could browse and get an idea for the types of slides they wanted to include.”
Dr Bruza is developing the browser with the Resource Discovery Unit of the Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC), a Co-operative Research Centre of which QUT is a member institution.
He said DSTC released a prototype of the hyperindex browser at a product fair at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast earlier this month.
Dr Bruza said the prototype required refining before it could be widely applied by ’Net users.
“We need to refine the software of the browser to make it work better on the (World Wide) Web. Language on the Web is a lot less structured than what I was using it for in the Netherlands, and there is a lot of garbage out there which the browser will have to be able to filter out,” he said.
He said the next version of the browser would be sensitive to a user’s preferences for information and respond to these.
“The system uses principles from artificial intelligence to make inferences about what the user’s interest is, based on the path they are taking through the hyperindex.”
Dr Peter Bruza … surfing the wave to success with an innovative Internet browser
Architecture lecturer Jim Woolley with coveted energy efficiency awards
Koala research turns up heart
disease link
• Page 3
Law grad on cue for success
• Page 9
Scholarship lets Emily sample
agency life
• Page 7
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From the Inside… by David Hawke
Vice-Chancellor’s comment
Recent reports of a fall-off in demand for university courses in 1997 were grossly exaggerated, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said last week.
Professor Gibson was commenting on widely publicised reports from Victoria that demand for undergraduate places from school leavers had fallen dramatically in response to increased HECS charges for 1997 and other measures announced in the Federal Budget.
“Of course, the jury’s still out on demand for 1997, but I would hazard a guess that the changes will actually increase demand, overall, and force up entrance scores for most courses,”
Professor Gibson said.
“At QUT, our student intake for 1997 will be down about 400 places
Jury still out on uni demand - VC
from 1996 as a result of both adjustment to previous over-enrolment and the Government’s cutbacks.
“And the early indicators – enquiries to the university, alternative entry applications and applications for transfer from TAFE – suggest that demand is at least at 1996 levels.”
This would mean entrance scores required for most courses would be likely to rise, Professor Gibson said.
He suggested the increased HECS charges might actually boost demand for bachelor degree courses.
“When HECS was first introduced, back in 1990, we had all manner of wild predictions about students not being prepared to pay for courses. In fact, the period since then has seen a massive expansion in student demand,” he said.
by Tony Wilson
In an environment of shrinking budgets, QUT has maintained its commitment to community service by funding projects with a combined value of nearly $350,000.
QUT Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research & Advancement) Professor John Corderoy said community service was a central platform of the university’s mission which was reflected in the diversity of the 17 projects funded in the 1996 Community Service Grants Scheme.
“We have matched last year’s commitment of $200,000 allocated through the grants scheme, and have allocated an additional $50,000 from money received as a result of our performance in the the third Commonwealth quality round dealing with research and community service,”
Professor Corderoy said.
“A further $100,000 of the quality money has been set aside to fund a one-off large grant.
“Our mission is to return to the community the benefits of research, teaching and community service and this is reflected in projects that include the establishment of a psychiatric day respite service, school holiday programs in areas of special need and living skills training to young people in detention centres.”
Community Service Grants Scheme going strong into ’97
Professor Corderoy said support had also been made available to the Academy of the Arts to defray costs involved in touring three of Academy’s productions in South-East Asia this year.
“The Academy received $30,000 to offer scholarships to 100 of the students who performed Shakespeare’s As You Like It in Singapore, the Wind Symphony in Hong Kong and Dance Collections in Taiwan,” he said.
“This reflects QUT’s commitment to developing two-way cultural communication with countries in South-East Asia which is a key to the internationalisation of our university.”
Other projects funded include:
• developing and touring an exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art;
• establishing a venue to be called the Cherry Herring to house community- based teaching, practice and performance in performing arts;
• covering costs to allow the University of the Third Age to offer access to QUT courses;
• continuation of a news service produced by School of Media &
Journalism students which airs on a local community television station, Briz 31;
• disseminating to the community information on the likelihood of bicycle accidents;
• supporting parents in their role as a child’s first teacher of literacy skills by offering practical skills to help children at home;
• working with community theatre to explore attitudes of young people toward eating issues;
• using photography to improve the state of primary eye health in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community;
• producing a resource manual for general practitioners on the role of physical activity in weight management;
• providing a program to address issues of violence and aggression in children which involve parents, teachers and the wider community;
• collaborating with local artists, craftspeople and residents to design a walkway – to be called the Serpent’s Link – which will link the new library square with the harbour in the bayside suburb of Cleveland;
• furthering development of the successful skill-sharing project between QUT’s International Student Services and the Brisbane Migrant Resource Centre; and
• offering 40 workshops in the Brisbane, Wide Bay, Darling Downs and Sunshine Coast regions to primary and high school children as well as the community to give them experience in making art.
by Andrea Hammond
The amount of time psychiatric n u r s e s s p e n d d e v e l o p i n g a t h e r a p e u t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e i r m e n t a l l y i l l p a t i e n t s i s b e i n g e x a m i n e d b y Q U T ’ s C e n t r e f o r M e n t a l H e a l t h Nursing Research.
Research Centre senior lecturer Thomas Meehan said changing p a t i e n t - c a r e p r a c t i c e s – a n d increased amounts of paperwork – meant staff in mental health facilities often had little time for direct patient contact.
“ B u i l d i n g u p a t h e r a p e u t i c relationship with patients is far more important in psychiatric
Quality patient time comes under scrutiny
n u r s i n g t h a n i t i s i n g e n e r a l nursing,” he said.
“In general nursing, people are satisfied if physical interventions are carried out in a professional manner and nurses appear to know the technical procedures associated with patient care.
“But, in a psychiatric facility, you don’t have technical equipment per se – what you’ve got is nurses and the nurses are, if you like, the instruments for delivering patient care.”
The study will be conducted through questionnaires, interviews and focus groups with nurses and patients at Wolston Park Hospital, where Mr Meehan also works as Director of Nursing Research.
Mr Meehan said research he had p r e v i o u s l y c o n d u c t e d i n psychiatric wards in New South W a l e s h a d i n d i c a t e d t h a t t h e q u a l i t y a n d q u a n t i t y o f s t a f f i n t e r a c t i o n g e n e r a l l y n e e d e d improvement.
“I want to look at factors within the ward environment that hinder and/or facilitate that nurse-patient interaction and at ways interaction may be improved,” he said.
“Among a host of factors, we will be looking at the ward structure, models of nursing care and the qualifications of the nurses – how to ensure nurses have the skills to interact with patients experiencing acute episodes of mental illness.
“Due to the shift in the focus o f c a r e t o w a r d s c o m m u n i t y t r e a t m e n t , o n l y t h e m o s t difficult to manage patients are n o w a d m i t t e d , f o r s h o r t e r periods of time, to hospital.
“That big turnover of patients then creates a lot of paperwork – and turmoil – in the wards and, I suspect, it will emerge as one of the reasons why it is difficult to b u i l d u p t h a t n u r s e - p a t i e n t relationship that is so important.”
The study has received a $9,000 n u r s i n g g r a n t f r o m t h e Queensland Nursing Council, as part of a $100,000 1996 initiative t o p r o m o t e r e s e a r c h w i t h i n
nursing. Thomas Meehan
The idea that increased HECS will have little effect on student demand but a huge effect on student expectations was put to me by a colleague last week.
Amid all the speculation about the new HECS charges (which will apply from 1997), it struck me as a particularly astute observation.
Of course it’s too early to say what impact the increased charges (and the introduction of differential charges for different courses) will have on overall and individual course demand, but early indications are that demand for university entrance in Queensland for 1997 is up overall over 1996.
One thing we can be sure of is that students who will be paying up to $5,500 a year for their courses will demand a quality service for their money.
The corollary of the Government’s position that students should pay a substantial part of the cost of their
courses is that universities must provide value for money.
This means not only academic programs which are relevant, well taught and intellectually stimulating but also quality support services in areas like the library, computing and careers advice.
QUT’s student focus project was a systematic attempt to identify areas for improvement in our support services. Officers of the university have begun to work on three major projects – simplifying the enrolment system, timetabling and orientation – and we will see the benefits of this work over the next year or two.
The long-term future of individual courses will depend on performance as indicated by things like employment outcomes for graduates and student satisfaction with teaching.
While some courses will perform better than others, I am confident that the HECS changes will not cause an across-the-board collapse in demand.
When HECS was first introduced back in 1990, we had all manner of wild predictions about students not being prepared to pay for courses. In fact, the period since then has seen a massive expansion in student demand.
Most students, like most people, will not resent paying for high quality services which significantly enhance their life chances.
.
Professor Dennis Gibson
Students demand more
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The final edition of Inside QUT (issue 156) for 1996 will be published on October 29. The deadline for material is October 18.
Inside QUT will recommence publishing on February 18, 1997. The deadline for the first edition is February 7, 1997.
Final issue for ’96 coming up
by Andrea Hammond
0The vivacious 19-year-old’s heavenly hobby has seen her achieve what countless backyard amateur astronomers only dream about – twice spotting the bright stellar explosions caused by the death of a star.
Both supernovae were pinpointed on all-night “observing runs”, using the Australian National University’s 40- inch telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran, New South Wales.
Ms Beaman as a member of an amateur team led by Uniting Church Reverend Robert Evans, helped discover a supernova in March 1995 and then to locate a second one this year, on July 22 at 3am.
“On these observation runs we are viewing from dusk to dawn and looking at lots of different galaxies, hoping to find a supernova,” Ms Beaman said.
“It was wonderful (to spot a second supernova) because I’m the youngest person and the only female known to have assisted in the discovery of two.”
She said the team quickly telephoned observers using the nearby Anglo- Australian Telescope, where operators pin-pointed the galaxy using a spectrograph. A message was emailed to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams in Boston announcing the discovery.
The next morning the find was recorded as SN1996al in the southern galaxy NGC 7689 by the Bureau and news of the discovery was sent out to astronomers throughout the world.
“That was a very quick one, as less than two hours had lapsed from the verification to reporting it,” she said.
“The thing with supernova searching is that you have to know what you are looking for and you have to know what the galaxies look like, because if you see something unusual it could be a supernova.”
Scientists study supernovae – which are billions of light years away – to gain insights into the age and size of the universe, and in their quest for answers to questions about the universe’s origin and destiny.
Each year about 40 supernovae are discovered by professional and amateur astronomers around the world.
Reverend Robert Evans, known affectionately as Reverend Bob, is something of a legend in amateur star- gazing circles in Australia – he has spotted 35 supernovae, 28 of those using a 16-inch telescope in his backyard.
He is also one of the only amateur astronomers presently having access to the 40-inch Sidings Spring telescope.
For many teenagers, spending all night huddled under a telescope in winter, wearing a freezer suit, seven pairs of socks and sipping coffee to keep warm and awake might not be their idea of a good time.
Samantha has more than stars in her eyes
But, for Samantha, it’s as close as she gets to heaven.
“I just love it. It fascinates me. I can’t understand why more young people don’t do it – the stars are there and they are for free.”
Ms Beaman is a keen member of the Gold Coast-based Southern Astronomical Society and this year became editor of the society’s Quasar magazine.
She has been nominated for the 1997 Young Australian of the Year Award, and hopes to study to become an astrophysicist when she has completed her QUT Visual Arts (sculpture) degree.
Artist and astronomer Samantha Beaman has discovered two supernovae
by Andrea Hammond Scientists at QUT have found that a species of chlamydia linked to heart disease in humans is also present in the Australian koala population.
The research has its roots in the landmark discovery by the university’s Centre for Molecular Biotechnology that koalas suffer from two different species of the devastating disease.
Associate Professor Peter Timms said the less-common chlamydia pneumoniae in koalas was a major infection in humans, where it caused respiratory infections and pneumonia.
He said it had also been been linked to asthma and heart disease in humans.
Researchers at QUT were poised to begin assessing whether it caused similar diseases in koalas.
“In humans, chlamydia pneumoniae causes respiratory disease, but it has also been linked to asthma and heart disease in a very big way,” Professor Timms said.
“There is a lot of interest world-wide in whether chlamydia pneumoniae truly is a cause of heart disease in humans, and how similar the koala chlamydia pneumoniae is to the human chlamydia pneumoniae.”
Professor Timms estimated that 10 to 20 per cent of the Australian koala population was infected with chlamydia pneumoniae.
Last month he attended the four-day International Chlamydia Conference in Vienna which attracted more than 500 delegates concerned about the spread of the disease in human and animal populations.
Meanwhile, he said, QUT’s Centre for Molecular Biotechnology continued to lead the world in koala research, with fresh discoveries about the more common chlamydia pecorum, found in levels of 50 to 70 per cent of koala populations.
Professor Timms said studies using advanced molecular biological methods – such as gene sequencing and computer analysis – suggested koalas contracted chlamydia pecorum from ruminants, such as sheep and cattle.
“We have found there were at least five different strains of chlyamydia pecorum – in one case it appeared to be exactly the same strain that appears in some Australian sheep and cattle,” he said.
“It’s possible that koalas get their chlamydia pecorum from domestic sheep and cattle introduced since white settlers came to Australia – we can’t say that with any certainty, though, because we can’t measure the time. It is a facet (of the research) we are continuing to explore.”
Koala populations in many sections of Australia have declined alarmingly due to infertility brought on by chlamydia infections.
Professor Timms said koalas blinded by chlamydia also became easy prey for domestic dogs and were at risk of being hit by cars.
Each year more than 500 sick and injured koalas were collected from South-East Queensland’s “Koala Coast”
and cared for at the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife koala hospital at Moggill, he said.
Koala research at QUT is co- ordinated by Professor Timms and microbiology lecturer Dr Philip Giffard with the assistance of postgraduate students Michael Jackson and Anthony Fowler.
Koala researcher links
chlamydia to heart disease
Koala researcher Professor Peter Timms
by Noel Gentner
QUT is acquiring an international reputation in providing counselling training following recent successful overseas projects.
In one of these, counselling staff from the School of Social Science in August conducted a training session for counsellors who work with families of U n i t e d S t a t e s ’ a r m y a n d airforce personnel in Europe.
Social science staff members Glen Guy and Dr Roger Lowe held a three-day workshop on N a r r a t i v e T h e r a p y f o r Adolescent Substance Abuse Counselling Service employees in Sonthofen, Bavaria.
Around 35 US counsellors came to the workshop from Germany, Italy, and Holland.
It was the first time QUT’s School of Social Science had been sought out by such a p r e s t i g i o u s i n t e r n a t i o n a l service provider, Dr Lowe said.
He said the US counsellors were employees of the US- based Science Applications I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o r p o r a t i o n (SAIC) which, in turn, was c o n t r a c t e d b y t h e U S D e p a r t m e n t o f D e f e n c e t o employ and train counsellors for European service personnel.
Mr Guy said he believed the QUT team’s experience and e x p e r t i s e , p a r t i c u l a r l y i n
N a r r a t i v e T h e r a p y , h a d s e c u r e d t h e c o n t r a c t w i t h SAIC.
“I think also that we have a name as trainers rather than workshop presenters and we do a lot of structured exercises providing practical training and experience rather than an academic presentation,” Dr Lowe said.
Mr Guy said SAIC was one o f t h e b i g g e s t c o m p a n i e s i n v o l v e d i n p r i v a t e consultancy work for the US Government.
“The counselling project i n v o l v i n g a d o l e s c e n t substance abuse is only one project they are involved in and, with us being successful i n t h i s p r o j e c t , ( i t ) m a y encourage the company to seek our assistance in future projects,” Mr Guy said.
He said Narrative Therapy was one of the specialised areas presented in the Master o f S o c i a l S c i e n c e (Counselling) degree offered at QUT and represented one o f t h e m o s t i n f l u e n t i a l c o n t e m p o r a r y c o u n s e l l i n g approaches.
“ O u r m a s t e r s c o u r s e graduates are beginning to develop high skill levels and t h e r e i s a p o s s i b i l i t y o f i n v o l v i n g t h e m i n s i m i l a r f u t u r e p r o j e c t s , ” M r G u y said.
“We are already involving some of our graduates in terms o f s u p e r v i s i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l people around Brisbane.”
Earlier, in July, the School of Social Science took the role of major university participant at the inaugural
World Psychotherapy Congress in Vienna before 1,000 delegates.
I n d i v i d u a l p a p e r s w e r e presented in innovative areas of counselling and supervision by Mr Guy, Dr Lowe, David Axten and Professor Gary Embelton.
German brief for QUT counselling team
(l-r standing) Glen Guy and Dr Roger Lowe addressing a three-day workshop on Narrative Therapy for Adolescent Substance Abuse Counselling Service employees in Germany
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PhD student Troy Farrell, pictured above, is off on a battery-charged trip to London for workshops with Duracell Europe Technical Centre scientists interested in his research.
T h e 2 7 - y e a r - o l d a p p l i e d mathematics student has received a
$21,000, three-year scholarship – funded jointly by Duracell Europe and the Australian Manganese Company – for his work.
He is mathematically modelling standard alkaline EMD batteries using equations that may one day prove useful
Troy charges forward with battery research
for computerised testing to create longer- lasting household batteries.
“When you discharge certain batteries, you only use about 60 per cent of the active materials inside it – the rest basically gets wasted,” Mr Farrell said.
“The idea would be to try to use as much of the material as possible and to use it as evenly as possible.”
Mr Farrell will attend the International Battery Association Conference in Southern Arizona and the Electrochemical Society Conference in San Antonio in America, before flying to Britain.
The Faculty of Arts has begun a peer mentoring scheme designed to shatter the glass ceiling and help promote more female lecturers to senior positions.
Faculty of Arts mentoring sub- committee spokesperson Dr Laurie Buys said the program, based on approaches used elsewhere in Australia and overseas, would be trialled at QUT for six months.
“As most academic staff are aware, although female lecturers Australia-wide are well represented at lecturer A and B levels, relatively few are successful in achieving the rank of senior lecturer or above,” Dr Buys said.
“This situation is also reflected in the staff mix found in the Faculty of Arts at QUT, but here an attempt is being made to address the problem.”
Dr Buys said now was the time for A and B level lecturers to consider whether they hoped to achieve things such as promotion, tenure or a higher publishing rate in the 1997 academic year.
She said the program would link each participating lecturer to a mentor, who was a senior staff member, but not necessarily from the same school.
“The pair will arrange their own schedule and meet periodically to allow
the junior staff member to obtain information and support appropriate to her particular needs,” Dr Buys said.
“Once matched, the participants will be invited to a training workshop, at which they will receive training in the mentoring relationship, and which will provide an opportunity for each pair to meet and timetable their future contacts.
“The timing of the scheme is such that it will allow participants to establish the relationship and perhaps have one or two individual meetings before the end of this academic year.
“Participating lecturers will then start the 1997 academic year with a well- established mentoring relationship which will help them stay ‘on track’ to achieve career goals.”
Dr Buys said eligible staff should have already received notification of t h e s c h e m e a n d s h o u l d r e s p o n d promptly if they wished to join the program.
For information contact mentoring program co-ordinator Margaret Bodsworth via email at [email protected] or telephone (07) 3864 4526.
– Andrea Hammond
Female lecturers targeted for promotion in Arts Faculty
by Noel Gentner
South-East Asians may be able to better identify an old Queenslander – and not confuse it with an elderly Australian – following a QUT- sponsored exhibition in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
The co-ordinator of international activities for the School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design, Peter Hedley, took the Design for the Community Exhibition to South-East Asia late last month.
The exhibition – which also includes work from the School of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Surveying – is at the Australian High Commission building in Kuala Lumpur following the first public display in Singapore which opened on September 27.
Mr Hedley said the exhibition covered a wide spectrum of work by staff and students from the two schools.
The decision to take the exhibition to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was made after Mr Hedley and architecture lecturer Graham Meltzer visited Indonesia and Malaysia earlier this year.
Mr Hedley said that, following the Singapore opening, he would be giving talks at the National University of Singapore and other institutions on topics including the emerging style of Queensland housing.
“There are some similarities that we can learn from each other and they are very interested in what is happening in Queensland housing design,” Mr Hedley said.
He said he would show about five or six examples of the best design work from architects which showed a connection between present concepts and the old Queenslander style.
He said there were principles the architects had taken from the old Queenslander era, but it was done in a very different way.
“There is a lightness to their work in that it is not brick veneer or brick construction and instead of using timber they may be using different building materials, such as steel,”
Mr Hedley said.
“However, the similarity is there and crosses over between the old colonial and the modern design.”
“It has got elements of the old Queenslander, but it doesn’t look like colonial housing.”
Mr Hedley said it was interesting to note that there had been a rash of brick and brick-veneer housing in Queensland over past 15 to 20 years.
However, he said, the latest figures showed that there was now a decrease and people were going back to the more traditional Queensland house with lightweight construction.
Mr Hedley said he believed the images that went with brick veneer housing did not belong in Queensland with its subtropical environment.
He said house design was only one of the many presentations incorporated in the exhibition.
“The exhibition will allow people in these countries to see what we are doing and providing at QUT and, at the same time, allow us to see their involvement and interests and seek a common ground,” Mr Hedley said.
“The main emphasis is to promote a QUT profile in Asia, specifically for the two schools.”
Mr Hedley said it was hoped a flow-on from the exhibition would include collaboration on research, exchange of ideas, staff and students and an awareness of QUT’s postgraduate study opportunities.
Architecture exhibition builds profile in Asia
Peter Hedley puts the finishing touches on the Design for the Community exhibition which is touring South-East Asia
Forster to play in early music festival
QUT music lecturer and harpsichordist Sue Forster will perform as a member of the highly acclaimed Badinerie Players on October 30 as part of the Brisbane Early Music Festival.
Ms Forster will perform J.S Bach’s Triple Harpsichord Concerto in C Major and other lively 17th Century pieces w i t h f e l l o w m e m b e r s Huguette Brassine and Peter Roennfeldt.
The Badinerie Players are one of the few professional ensembles in Australia to specialise in performance of early music on original instruments.
The Brisbane Early Music Festival brings together some of the city’s best musical talent for three concerts, from October 26 to November 2, under the artistic direction of American-born conductor Edward Bolkovac.
The Badinerie Players will perform on Wednesday, October 30, at Customs House from 7.30pm. Tickets are $20.
For information and bookings telephone (07) 3365 3503.
– Andrea Hammond
Three months of hard work by 14 QUT middle managers was showcased at the Quay West Hotel on October 4.
T h r e e g r o u p s f r o m Q U T ’ s inaugural Middle Management D e v e l o p m e n t P r o g r a m presented their projects to an audience which included QUT D e p u t y V i c e - C h a n c e l l o r Professor Peter Coaldrake, who w a s o n h a n d t o c r i t i q u e t h e projects and present certificates.
The program, which was aimed at general staff (HEW Levels 9- 11) and course co-ordinators, was a joint initiative of the Human Resources Department’s Staff Development Section and the Academic Staff Development Unit (ASDU).
S e n i o r s t a f f d e v e l o p m e n t officer Susan Maxwell-Mahon co-ordinated the program with ASDU senior lecturer Dr Jill Borthwick.
Ms Maxwell-Mahon said the middle--management program w a s a n a c t i o n l e a r n i n g , c o m p e t e n c y - b a s e d e x e r c i s e
which focused on developing effective leadership, behaviour a n d m a n a g e m e n t s k i l l s , a n d competencies.
“ R e s p o n s e C o n s u l t i n g w o n the tender to develop and deliver t h e t h r e e - m o d u l e p r o g r a m , which included sections on the higher education environment, b u s i n e s s p l a n n i n g a n d c o m m e r c i a l m a n a g e m e n t , f i n a n c i a l m a n a g e m e n t a n d i n t e r p e r s o n a l s k i l l s , ” M s Maxwell-Mahon said.
“The major component of the p r o g r a m w a s a w o r k - b a s e d l e a r n i n g p r o j e c t . T h e 1 4 participants broke into three groups of general and academic staff to work on the projects. Each group received advice and feedback from senior university managers who acted in a mentor role.”
Ms Maxwell-Mahon said the three projects were: the Role of Course Co-ordinators; Reward Recognition and Promotion; and F a c i l i t i e s U t i l i s a t i o n i n a Commercially-Focused Higher Education Business.
Middle managers showcase action learning projects
96155SP5
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by Noel Gentner
A new computer-based technique to assist learning, which recognises that individuals perceive and process information differently, has been developed at QUT.
The development follows a joint study conducted by lecturer in the School of Learning and Development Dr Hitendra Pillay, Dr Wageeh Boles from the School of Electrical and Electronics Systems Engineering and senior research assistant Len Raj.
Dr Pillay said they had developed a computer-based instruction system to cater for individual’s preferred cognitive styles.
He said he believed the development would have implications for the design of future computer-based material.
He said the study was part of a search for an optimum design for a
Computer-based system personalises learning
technology-based learning environment.
“The study uses software developed by Professor Richard Riding of the Assessment Research Centre in Birmingham to measure a student’s preferred cognitive style,” Dr Pillay said.
“Students are defaulted to matched cognitive styles on the basis of their preferred cognitive styles.
“The instructional material was tested under experimental conditions involving 150 second- year engineering students at QUT earlier this year.”
Dr Pillay said results from current trials suggested that learning was significantly enhanced when the instruction was matched to students’ preferred cognitive styles.
“Often expensive instructional materials are developed with little research about what it is that we
are trying to get across to the learner,” Dr Pillay said.
“There is a need to appreciate things like our memory limitation, and how we can circumvent this limitation by designing innovative instructional systems.
“We need to have some understanding of the primitive data itself and how people make sense/interpretation of such given information.”
Dr Pillay and Dr Boles have now teamed up to understand how people construct interpretation from data displayed on electronic diagnostic equipment.
H e s a i d h e b e l i e v e d a considerable amount of current t r a i n i n g e m p h a s i s e d t h e e f f e c t i v e a s p e c t s o f h u m a n learning at the expense of the cognitive aspects.
“Cognitive aspects help us to understand how people acquire
and use knowledge to develop expertise,” Dr Pillay said.
“I am not saying one is better than the other, but there should be a more balanced approach.”
To further his research in innovative, technology-based learning environments, Dr Pillay earlier this year spent 11 weeks of professional development program leave in Canada and the United States.
During the visit he participated in projects involving cognitive modelling to develop intelligent learning and decision support systems.
He also spent time studying the potential of virtual reality as a training medium.
Dr Pillay said virtual reality was the most innovative and intriguing application but that other multimedia-based developments were also exciting.
by Tony Wilson
A clever mix of initiative and technology allowed Education Faculty lecturer John Barletta to overcome the tyranny of distance when he was examined by his American-based PhD committee late last month.
Dr Barletta used video- conferencing technology in Brisbane to link up with his examiners at Ohio University to complete the final part of the assessment for his doctorate, which he began in the United States in 1994.
“I started a PhD in counsellor education at Ohio University in 1994 under the supervision of a committee comprising four professors from that university, as well as one from the University of Toledo,” he said.
“I did the coursework part there, as well as a clinical internship and teaching, throughout 1994 and into 1995. Before I left, my committee approved the first three chapters of my PhD.
“I came back to Australia in 1996 and got this job (at QUT) almost straight away, as I wanted to do my research here.”
A visit to Brisbane by one of his supervisors, Professor Tom
Dr Barletta rounds off PhD
with a dose of high technology
Davis, prompted Dr Barletta to arrange to undertake the two-hour defence of his PhD thesis, a process known in Australian academia as the oral examination, by videoconference.
“So there we were at Integrated Vision at Milton at 10pm, as it was 8am in Ohio, sitting in front of a TV and video system and I had three professors in Ohio doing the same thing so we could see each other and interact while the other professor from Toledo telephoned in,” he said.
“The system allowed me to project transparencies and pieces of paper so they could see my work and not just take my word for it if I said I had addressed something.
“The technology hadn’t been used there before for this type of application and I have never heard of it being used here.”
Dr Barletta said he did not feel disadvantaged by not being able to deliver his defence in person.
“It’s a wonderfully interactive technology – they could see me, so the interrelationship you get from face-to-face communication is still strong,” he said.
“I would have felt disadvantaged if it was only a teleconference – over the phone
you lose a lot of that important, non-verbal communication.”
He said being able to deliver his defence by videoconference meant he was able to return to Australia earlier than if he had waited until his PhD studies in Ohio were complete.
“Like QUT, Ohio University is trying to internationalise its curriculum and has a great many i n t e r n a t i o n a l students but, for many, three or four years away from home is a long time.
With technology like this you can go there for a couple of
years and then go back to your country but continue to communicate.”
Dr Barletta said his PhD examined the issues of professionalism and identity in school counsellors.
“I did research and surveys of almost 300 educators and it was unanimous that people
consider school counsellors to be professional and, in terms of criteria that are indicative of a profession, school counsellors measure up to all of them,” he said.
“It also became obvious that the role of the school counsellor is complex, sensitive and highly valued.”
Dr John Barletta (right) with one of his PhD supervisors, Professor Tom Davis
The Golden Key Honour Society which formed a chapter at QUT earlier this year has held its first annual reception to induct new members.
QUT’s society president Sandra Pingelly said Golden Key originated in the United States, had been introduced in Australia about three years ago and had started at QUT in March of this year.
“We draw our membership from the top 15 per cent GPA students across the university,”
Ms Pingelly said.
Golden Key membership comes by invitation only to undergraduate students who have completed at least one year of tertiary study, Ms Pingelly explained.
According to the society’s World Wide Web h o m e p a g e , G o l d e n K e y ’ s i n t e r n a t i o n a l headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia.
It describes the society as “a non-profit academic honours organisation founded for the purpose of recognising and encouraging scholastic achievement among students from all academic fields”.
At QUT, the Golden Key Honour Society has grown to around 1,030 members in less than six months, Ms Pingelly said.
“The university identifies candidates from its records once a year,” Ms Pingelly explained.
“QUT advises those students that they are eligible and then it’s up to students to contact us and join.”
Lifetime membership of the society costs
$70, Ms Pingelly said, which entitled members to receive a local newsletter every two months, two national newsletters a year and a copy of Concepts, an international magazine which featured fiction and non-fiction articles written by members around the world.
Ms Pingelly said the QUT chapter of the society planned to have its own home page on the Internet within a few weeks.
She said the chapter’s executive was elected b y i t s m e m b e r s a n d a n u m b e r o f s u b - committees had already been formed.
“This year we have already awarded five,
$600 scholarships and we plan to extend our activites to include worthwhile community projects from next year,” she said.
The society’s annual reception was held at the City Hall on July 24, attracting 500 members and a further 700 guests.
For further information about the Golden Key Honour Society, contact Ms Pingelly on (07) 3349 6322.
– Trina McLellan
New society targets top 15 per cent
Could there be a connection between an 18th Century slave being thrown overboard and a Sydney woman who a decade ago wanted to keep her womb after her hysterectomy?
QUT legal practice director Associate Professor John de Groot believes so – as both could have been construed as “property” at the time of the incidents – and he explained his thoughts to the Third International Conference of Public Trustees and Public Guardians in Brisbane earlier this month.
Professor de Groot also explained how international law was quickly changing the way society viewed rights to a person’s image and their body parts.
At the conference Professor de Groot discussed these two recently emerged (or ‘discovered’) assets which may form part of a deceased person’s estate.
“As the electronic/information/
entertainment age has overtaken us, a rich diversity of intellectual property has been created and the rights associated with it are assets of the creator to be disposed of on his or her death,” Professor de Groot said.
Succession law takes a new spin on body parts, popularity and good looks
“However, this same age has brought with it significant callenges to traditional legal concepts and exposed gaps and ambiguities in the law generally.”
One such area of inadequacy, Professor de Groot said, related to the protection of image or personality when characters were merchandised, a relatively new form of asset first legally defined by an Australian court some 36 years ago {Henderson v Radio Corporation [1960] SR(NSW) 5760}.
Recently, he said, Australian courts were regarded in some quarters as having “stretched
‘traditional’ . . . principles to breaking point . . .” and had firmly closed the door on another popular option – a general tort of unfair competition – which has been utilised in some civil law countries.
Professor de Groot also spoke about other forms of legal protection that are available internationally for personalities, sportspeople and other celebrities.
“It is clear succession lawyers may need to deal with image rights in the estates of some high-profile
people, although it will, perhaps, be rare that such rights will have significant value after the death of such people,” he noted.
“The value of image rights will vary, depending on the basis on which they may be enforced in the jurisdiction concerned.”
Professor de Groot also told the conference that, ever since the first successful long-term transplantation of a human kidney in 1954, the demand for body parts and tissue had increased enormously.
“Medical science has expanded the success and range of organ transplants and biotechnology has opened up a host of potential research uses of human tissue,” Professor de Groot explained.
“Demand for organs is now clearly outstripping supply while, on the human tissue front, the potential market for cells and other by-products is valued in the billions of dollars.
“It is not surprising that considerable attention is being given to the issue of who owns
excised body parts or, more generally stated, do property rights exist in the human body and its constituent parts.
“Although it is predominantly commercial considerations which have most recently driven debate on this issue – such as the sale of felons’ kidneys for $11,000 after they had been executed in the People’s Republic of China – these considerations are not always the motivating factor.
“Conceptually, and historically, there is no reason why the human body cannot be regarded as property.
“In fact, in a handful of English legal decisions, human tissue has already been treated as property,”
Professor de Groot explained.
On the other hand, he said, the
“no property” rule which has been invoked for human corpses in other cases, had been thought to rest on
“remarkably frail foundations”.
“Whether or not to accord property rights in a body or human tissue rests upon what the judiciary considers to be in the public interest and also what is acceptable to the community,” Professor de Groot noted.
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by Andrea Hammond
Shooting open the door of a seaplane a n d k i d n a p p i n g t h e P h a n t o m ’ s girlfriend were all part of a day’s work for QUT drama student Joanne Wilkinson recently.
Ms Wilkinson, a third-year drama student, was cast as a scowling and sexy “sky maiden” in the multi- million dollar Phantom movie which was filmed in California, Thailand and on the Gold Coast.
T h e P h a n t o m p r e m i e r e d i n Australia on September 26, and includes the Skull Cave, an indelible signature ring, a steaming jungle and even Devil the wolf and Hero the horse, familiar icons to fans of the legendary comic-strip character.
The movie stars the muscle-bound Billy Zane as the heroic Phantom, or
“The Ghost Who Walks”, who has committed his life to fighting evil in a skin-tight purple jungle suit.
American actor Kristy Swanson plays his feisty girlfriend Diana Palmer.
F o r M s W i l k i n s o n i t w a s a n experience that put her in contact with big stars as well as the support crews who routinely work on movies such as The Terminator, or those directed by Kenneth Brannagh.
“It was an amazing experience.
Billy Zane was witty and extremely g o r g e o u s . W h a t w a s r e a l l y interesting was meeting the crew who had all worked on a lot of the big movies,” Ms Wilkinson said.
“I was in three scenes, two of which feature in the movie. In the most exciting one, they floated a plane out on the water and brought me and a big machine gun out by jet boat.
“I was positioned on the wing w a i t i n g f o r m y c u e , a n d t h e n machine-gunned down the door in a burst of fire power that caused a big explosion.
“That was exciting and you had to do it right first time because it was expensive.”
In a second scene, the Phantom searches the cargo ship of Sala (Catherine Zeta Jones) to rescue D i a n a , a n d s t u m b l e s u p o n M s Wilkinson and her “sky maiden”
friends having a shower.
Sala is a partner-in-crime with the charmingly villianous Xander Drax (Treat Williams), who is searching for three mystical skulls of Touganda that will allow him to rule the world.
As the showering “sky maidens”
scream and grab their towels, the handsome hero intones: “Sorry ladies gotta go,” and runs out and jumps down a laundry chute.
Ms Wilkinson has also featured as the Sizzler lunchtime menu waitress and played a “bit-part” in Flipper the TV series, which will be shown in Australia next year.
She said she was going to commit 1997 to work in film and television.
“I’m not sure if I see it as a long- term career, but I’m willing to give it a really good shot,” Ms Wilkinson said.
“I’m also interested in pursuing p u b l i c r e l a t i o n s w o r k i n t h e entertainment industry. I think it’s important to be multi-skilled and then you have lots of options.”
Ms Wilkinson, 20, is one of four members of the Wilkinson family who are studying or working at QUT.
Her father Dr Merv Wilkinson is a lecturer in the School of Professional Studies, her brother Matthew, 23. is s t u d y i n g l a w a n d h e r s i s t e r Jacqueline, 18, is studying marketing at the university.
Phantom film fantastic fun for drama student
Drama student Joanne Wilkinson lurks outside the Phantom’s Skull Cave … she enjoyed her film role as a scowling ‘sky maiden’
by Andrea Hammond
Students studying human rights subjects will have direct access to dissident groups, non-Government organisations and even American prisoners on death row, via a QUT Human Rights home page.
School of Social Science lecturer Ross Daniels said students were already enthusiastically using the Internet to access major religious and human rights groups in Asia and beyond.
One student had last year made contact with a social worker working with American prisoners on death row – via email.
“I think the Internet is just the most fantastic thing that students and lecturers have ever had in their entire lives,” Mr Daniels said.
“In subjects like these, where up- to-date and current information is what makes them really interesting – and, if you read the local papers or watch news on commercial TV, you simply have no idea what is actually going on – this (access to the Internet) is just electrifying.
“QUT’s Human Rights home page will be run out of this school with the idea is that students accessing that page will be able to go very quickly to a whole range of other quality human rights sites.
“There is a phenomenal amount of information available on countries such as Burma, Indonesia and China, on thematic things – such as female genital mutilation, child orphanage systems in China, bonded labour, dowry systems in India, the death penalty, torture, the rights of women and the rights of children.
“The other dimension, which we are only beginning to explore, is that we can put students in contact with discussion groups on various issues and students can directly email people who are working on these issues.
“One of the aims of this course is to try to expand the world view that people have – through the Internet that becomes a real and exciting possibility for every student the moment they enter a computing laboratory.”
Mr Daniels is chairman of the Amnesty International executive committee and was recently named
“International Man of the Year for 1995” by the magazine International Forum for his work in Nepal over the past four years.
On a recent visit to Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand Mr Daniels met with a long list of Government officials, including His Majesty King Birendra of Nepal, to discuss police brutality and the establishment of a human rights commission in that country.
Mr Daniels said he also renewed contact with a number of non- Government organisations dealing with domestic human rights matters a n d T i b e t a n a n d B h u t a n e s e refugees.
“I have built up contact with a large number of human rights groups and non-Government organisations as chair of the international executive committee for the past four years,” Mr Daniels said.
“Another part of our Internet Home Page will be a directory of who these significant non-Government organisations are, what they are doing and what papers they are producing, which will also be very useful for research by our students.”
Students tap into
human rights milieu
Amnesty International executive committee chairman Ross Daniels
by Andrea Hammond
An innovative teaching-research project that will see senior nursing u n d e r g r a d u a t e s l e a r n i n g communication skills alongside people with schizophrenia is to be started next year.
Q U T ’ s C e n t r e f o r M e n t a l H e a l t h N u r s i n g R e s e a r c h i s looking for 48 people who have b e e n d i a g n o s e d w i t h schizophrenia to enrol in the h u m a n r e l a t i o n s h i p / communication skills course.
C e n t r e d i r e c t o r P r o f e s s o r Michael Clinton said expected o u t c o m e s i n c l u d e d b e t t e r community adaption as well as less frequent – and shorter – periods of hospitalisation for participants with schizophrenia.
H e s a i d t h e p r o j e c t a l s o a i m e d t o g i v e Q U T u n d e r g r a d u a t e s a g r e a t e r appreciation of the challenges f a c e d b y p e o p l e w i t h psychiatric disabilities and to encourage career options that included mental health nursing.
“ T h e c e n t r e h a s b e e n conducting a longitudinal study of c o m m u n i t y a d a p t i o n i n 1 5 0 people with schizophrenia and 150 carers since 1993,” Professor Clinton said.
“Preliminary analysis indicates the size of social networks – and the quality of support they provide for people with schizophrenia and their carers – are predictive of successful community adaption.
“These findings indicate mental health nurses could assist people with schizophrenia to remain in the community by helping them to build social networks and access support. However, less than 1 per cent of 300 graduates from the Bachelor of Nursing p r o g r a m a t Q U T c h o o s e t h i s path.”
T h e t h r e e - y e a r , $ 8 9 , 4 6 0 research project is a collaborative effort between Professor Clinton, lecturer Ms Sioban Nelson, senior l e c t u r e r M s H e l e n E d w a r d s , Professor Gail Hart and associate lecturer Ms Jennie Barr.
Professor Clinton said another innovative facet of the project was that people with schizophrenia who completed the course would receive credit points recognised in other award courses.
This semester the centre ran a short pilot course which was described as a “resounding success”
by people with schizophrenia, known as “community students”, and undergraduates, Professor Clinton said.
“Health care professionals and family members caring for the people who went through the pilot course have told us there has been a tremendous improvement in the confidence of these people and in t h e i r a b i l i t y t o e x p r e s s themselves,” he said.
“We covered things like being self-assertive, listening skills, coping with shyness, the joys and stresses of holidays – everyday s i t u a t i o n s t h a t o f t e n t e s t t h e communication skills of all of us.
“ W e c o l l e c t e d e x a m p l e s v o l u n t e e r e d b y s t u d e n t s a n d looked closely at situations such a s h o w t o b e p l e a s a n t a n d a s s e r t i v e w i t h o u t b e i n g a g g r e s s i v e w h e n y o u t h i n k you’ve been given the wrong change, through role play.
“I think our nursing students will also get a more in-depth u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e i r o w n communication styles and I think they will come to understand the similarities between themselves and people with mental illness rather than the differences.”
Anyone with schizophrenia who is interested in enrolling in the 1997 communication course s h o u l d t e l e p h o n e P r o f e s s o r Clinton on (07) 3864 3819 or Sioban Nelson on (07) 3864 5958.
Nurses to study alongside schizophrenics
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96155SR4
C ONVOCATION AGM
A TTENTION M EMBERS
OF QUT C ONVOCATION
A university for the real world
Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434 Brisbane Q 4001 Members of QUT Convocation are
invited to attend the Annual General Meeting of QUT Convocation on Wednesday 30 October 1996 at 5pm in the Owen J Wordsworth Room, level 12, ITE Building, Gardens Point campus.
Members of QUT Convocation include past and present members of Council, graduates and academic staff of QUT (and its predecessor institutions) who have nominated to become members, and other qualified people.
The occasion will provide an opportunity for fellow graduates and staff to meet and see how members are participating in QUT’s academic processes.
Nominations are now being called for the positions of Warden of Convocation and five elected members of the Convocation Standing Committee.
Nomination forms and further details about the Annual General Meeting are available from QUT Secretariat on (07) 3864 2380.
by Tony Wilson
Emily Stokes, the winner of the 1996 Advertising Federation of Australia scholarship, is a “quiet achiever who gets the job done”
according to QUT’s advertising senior lecturer Alan Hales.
The prestigious award will allow Ms Stokes to “get the job d o n e ” i n s i x o f B r i s b a n e ’ s leading advertising agencies over a 12-month period.
S i n c e t a k i n g u p t h e scholarship in May, Ms Stokes h a s s p e n t t i m e w i t h M o j o , M c C a n n - E r i k s o n a n d i s currently at George Patterson Bates.
By mid way through next year she will also have spent time w i t h L e o B u r n e t t , D D B Needham and Clemenger.
Ms Stokes, who graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Communication) last year, said she was using the opportunity to try her hand at a range of core advertising functions.
“At Mojo I worked on account s e r v i c e , a t M c C a n n ’ s I d i d creative and I am doing media here at George Patt’s,” she said.
In addition to the invaluable experience and chance to build p r o f e s s i o n a l c o n t a c t s , M s Stokes is paid award rates for her age.
She said the award was open to all final year advertising s t u d e n t s w i t h a p p l i c a n t s required to submit a resume and an essay starting with “I deserve the AFA scholarship because…”
“In my essay I said I had the quality of empathy which allows
Emily enjoys top agency stints
me to step into other people’s s h o e s a n d u n d e r s t a n d t h e i r needs.”
Mr Hales said Ms Stokes was a far cry from the traditional s t e r e o t y p e o f a d v e r t i s i n g professionals as brash folks in flashy suits.
“Emily, as well as being an outstanding student, is a quiet achiever. She is focused and gets the job done in a professional manner which is more important than glitz and glamour,” Mr Hales said.
He said the AFA scholarship, available only to QUT students, was evidence of the high regard i n w h i c h t h e a d v e r t i s i n g industry held the university’s advertising course.
“We are the market leader in a d v e r t i s i n g e d u c a t i o n i n Australia and, I believe, the first u n i v e r s i t y i n t h e S o u t h e r n hemisphere to offer students p o s t g r a d u a t e l e v e l s t u d y i n advertising,” he said.
“The AFA is the industry body r e p r e s e n t i n g a d v e r t i s i n g a g e n c i e s i n A u s t r a l i a , w i t h a b o u t 2 0 B r i s b a n e a g e n c i e s represented.
“It acts as the industry face f o r a d v e r t i s i n g a n d e n s u r e s p r o f e s s i o n a l s t a n d a r d s o f conduct are maintained.
“To have them recognise QUT with this scholarship is quite a coup.”
Mr Hales said the winner of the inaugural AFA scholarship in 1994, Simon Bloomfield, had gone on to a lucrative career with a direct marketing firm in Sydney.
Advertising scholarship winner Emily Stokes … “I have the quality of empathy which allows me to step into other peoples’ shoes”
E x p l o d i n g h y d r o g e n , v i s c o u s slime, invisible ink and liquid nitrogen were the reagents in M a g i c C h e m i s t r y S h o w experiments designed to show Year 10 students how exciting studying at QUT could be.
The show was part of the Spring Science Expo on October 1 and 2, which aimed to help students become aware of the importance of science in the community, and consider science as a career.
It gave 37 students from Sunnybank, Woodridge, Bremer, Bundamba and Glenala State high schools a chance to participate in some hands-on physiology, biology, chemistry, physics, maths and geology.
F o r s t u d e n t s e n j o y i n g t h e C h e m i s t r y M a g i c S h o w , t h e highlight was a fluorescent finale w h e r e t h e y e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y donned protective eyewear and m e a s u r e d a n d m i x e d s c i e n c e magic from their seats.
Budding boffins savour science spectacular
by Tony Wilson
Youths in detention at the John Oxley Centre at Wacol are cooking up a storm with the help of QUT Education student Kara Treasure.
Since April, Ms Treasure has spent her Saturday mornings with two groups of four boys at the centre, 20km west of Brisbane, teaching them basic cookery, with an emphasis on meal preparation.
Project co-ordinator Melinda Service from QUT’s School of Public Health said Andrew Horn, a resource officer at John Oxley, approached QUT looking for an instructor to provide a cooking program.
“Our role is just to support Kara and we have spent a lot of time talking through issues with her, but Kara has actually done a lot of problem-solving on-site herself,” said Ms Service, who oversees the project with Ross Brooker from the School of Professional studies.
“For security reasons, equipment in the classes (at Wacol) is limited, which has meant Kara has had to rethink ways of teaching things within those limitations.
“It also shows the boys that you do not need a lot of specialised equipment to prepare nutritious foods.”
Ms Treasure said working with the boys, many of whom were from Aboriginal or Pacific Islander backgrounds, had helped her hone her cross-cultural communication skills.
“I already had an awareness of many cultural issues because I lived for a time as a teenager in the Solomon Islands,” she said.
“In dealing with the boys you have to be aware of cultural issues as well as things like literacy levels.
“Often it is better to show the boys how to do something so that they learn the necessary skills.
“I have always tried to be respectful of the boys, their cultures and backgrounds and I think this has helped them accept me. All of the boys have always treated me with courtesy and respect.”
She said the skills she gained could be carried into her teaching career and were already proving useful at the nearby Glenala Sate High School where she is on practicuum.
Ms Treasure said she would miss her weekly visit to the centre when she graduated and started work next year.
“Some of the boys come and go, but some are there for extensive periods of time and you do get to know them,”
she said.
“Some are released at the completion of the custodial part of the detention order, which is great, but you wonder how they are getting along.
Hopefully, they will be able to use
some of the skills they have learned from me.”
John Oxley’s Mr Horn said the program was indeed equipping the boys with practical skills they could use upon their release.
“A lot of these boys need to learn how to prepare a good meal for themselves,” he said.
“Some come from backgrounds which do not necessarily equip them with the skills needed to prepare nutritious meals.”
Mr Horn said participation in the program was keenly sought.
“We have five sections at John Oxley and participation in the program is restricted to two sections which are the lower-security sections,” he said
“Within each section, we have a level system for behaviour management, with level three being the highest and most privileged. Level threes get priority for participation in the program.”
He said security – both for Kara and the overall centre – played a role in the design of the program.
“In developing the program with Kara we addressed security issues and this meant keeping utensils to a bare minimum,” he said.
He said the centre was keen to continue with the program if they could find a student to take over when Ms Treasure graduates.
Ms Service said the centre covered the costs of ingredients and paid Ms Treasure for the time she spent with the boys, but not for planning or preparation.
She said funding had recently been made available through QUT’s Community Service Grants Scheme to extend the program to the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre at Windsor.
Ms Service said the expanded program, to be taught by Ms Treasure and fellow fourth-year student Jennifer Allison, would include other basic living skills in addition to cooking.
“Both centres want us to extend the program to a wider variety of life skills, including budgeting, basic clothes maintenance – teaching the boys how to iron a shirt if they have a job interview or to sew on a button,” she said.
“Some of the grant money is being used to purchase equipment for use in the program and some is being used to do up a recipe book that the boys can keep.”
Kara teaches life skills to young offenders
Education student Kara Treasure spends each Saturday
teaching cookery to boys at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre
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