Improving the quality use of medicines (QUM) among seniors, particularly those using multiple medicines, is a national priority. The National Prescribing Service??s Seniors QUM Program was developed in collaboration with consumers to address seniors?? medicines information needs. Seniors are trained as peer educators to convey QUM messages to other seniors in a single group session. However, there is a dearth of research assessing peer education for seniors about medicines, and little understanding of what peer educators do in practice. This research investigated how peer educators empower seniors toward the quality use of their medicines. A participatory action research inquiry was undertaken nationally with organisational leaders and locally with peer educators. The design was a nested case study with multiple sites, where the Seniors Program was the overarching case containing eight disparate local sites. The participatory inquiry engaged peer educators from each local site. Qualitative data were collected through participant observation and interviews. Data were analysed using grounded theory methods and findings were triangulated with other data sources. Peer educators demonstrated five main functions in the program ?? one primary function within QUM sessions and four support functions outside of sessions. The primary function of facilitating peer learning comprised 10 elements. A model depicts these elements in the context of varying session conditions and consequences. Educators?? lived experience as seniors and lay persons was an overarching contributor to peer learning, used strategically through storytelling to assist other elements. Sharing QUM outside of sessions occurred frequently, but requires development to reach isolated seniors. Peer educators exceeded expectations in getting QUM messages to seniors, applying unique skills to the information exchange within sessions. Their status as lay persons tackling the complex topic of QUM reflected an understanding of the disempowerment seniors may feel when seeking information about medicines. Peer educators?? ability to model an active partner role by applying their lived experience through storytelling in an interactive, mutually sharing session challenged seniors to rethink their medicines management and interactions with health professionals. As the population ages and medicines use increases, understanding and using seniors effectively as educators has great potential.

This study investigates Japanese primary school students’ and teachers’ responses to educational drama as a pedagogical tool in their English language classes. Along with the participants’ responses, the applicability of educational drama as a teaching method for the Japanese teachers is also discussed. The study was conducted in Japan as ateacher-researcher using participatory action research methods. The participants of the study are three Year Six classes and their teachers in a public primary school in Japan. Educational drama is introduced as an alternative teaching and learning method to these participants who have had no experience of drama in education.

The research question that forms the body of this thesis is: ‘What methods, skills and processes does the participatory development practitioner require for effective practice?’The intention behind this research topic has been to identify how to create socially relevant spaces within todays contemporary conditions of society. This is a reflection of an understanding of myself as someone within the ‘idealist’ stream of endeavour as defined by Charles Jencks in ‘Modern Movements in Architecture.’As I have a design background, I chose a design methodology to undertake the study. The methodology is documented by Donald Schön in the book ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ and is, in a general sense, also the methodology David Kolb documented in ‘Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development’. An element of this learning approach is for a designer to create a useful artefact that can be considered and evaluated, thus the thesis also comprises the DVD: ‘Outside the Gates, Development Processes for the Real World’.In writing the thesis I became aware that this learning process has been, and still is, central to development itself within our culture of generative change. I first arrived at this intuitively while building the DVD, but it became more explicit during the DVD evaluation. The thesis thus commences with a description and rationale for the methodology.After describing the methodology I devote three chapters to providing the background to both the form and content of the DVD. This draws almost exclusively from personal experience, though with references to architectural history, theory and practice. This includes observations on the theme of technological development, generative change and one of the real needs for our physical and psychological well being - shelter. Thus the DVD sits at a mid point in the thesis. Following the creation of the DVD, I have in accordance with the methodology evaluated its content. To do this I used a literature review generally based on Grounded Theory practice. There are four sections in the DVD, with a chapter dedicated to each of these sections.The thesis concludes with a chapter that fits in the final part of Kolb’s learning cycle, abstract conceptualisation, that considers the meaning of the findings. Ultimately there is an epilogue that outlines the next ‘concrete output’, a recently completed project based on the learnings from the thesis. This is a community engagement training course for project managers.[To view the content of the DVD: Outside the gates go to http://www.martinbutcher.com/Site/OtG.html]

The professional practice of educational design normally involves collaborating with a subject matter expert on a one-to-one basis and is only occasionally undertaken in teams. This thesis argues that a team-based approach to educational design is powerful and particularly so when transdisciplinary collaborations are facilitated. Transdisciplinary educational design is the process of standing outside one’s discipline to collaborate with colleagues from the technical sphere, the library and other disciplines. The common ground shared by the transdisciplinary teams in this research was student assessment.The core data collection for this research was completed between July 2002 and June 2005. Using an overarching action research methodology, three cycles of data collection were completed by action learning sets. Suitable members of the sets were identified through a series of online staff development workshops that were designed and facilitated by the researcher. Two supplementary data collection activities were also undertaken. The first of these was a Web survey that broadly mapped design practices for online assessment in four Australian regional universities. Three rounds of telephone interviews then followed up on survey responses. The second supplementary data collection was undertaken between the second and third action learning cycles to contextualise the online assessment design activities at Southern Cross University within the broader framework provided by the other three regional universities in the original sample. It included focus groups with educational designers and face-to-face interviews with three academics at each of these universities. The entire series of data collection activities was reflectively managed to heighten its effectiveness. This management included screening of suitable participants, negotiation of manageable session times and duration, and establishment of ground rules for attendance and interactions, as well as drawing out a commitment to observe silences as creative spaces in the design process.In keeping with the action research paradigm, an extensive examination of the literature not only provides a background for the research questions but also continues to be threaded throughout the thesis as data collection cycles directed further literature review. The thesis narrative is given an original form through the use of a gardening metaphor that serves to highlight the rewarding, delicate and transitional nature of this kind of educational design. Such transitional aspects of educational design allow for innovation and creativity not evident in the systems-based approaches to designing instruction. This research also supports current initiatives in Australian higher education concerning the first year experience, embedding graduate attributes in the curriculum, and blending on-campus and off-campus learners into one class. The transdisciplinary approach to educational design explored through this research responds effectively to the varied issues in designing online assessment and developing innovative approaches by academic staff

This project's purpose is to relocate traditional paper-based library content about typographic history to a website, curated as a digital museum. The project process is defined as three distinct parts: 1. Scholarship and research. 2. Model-building and website creation. 3. Deployment, testing and evaluation. To support this, the project included the following sub stages: An informal needs analysis generated by reflection on practice. A survey of contemporary typeface classification systems, type education literature and online resources for typographic study. The building of animated and three-dimensional prototype models. The creation of a database of 100 historically significant typeface designs. The sourcing of samples, references, images and the gathering of reproduction permissions from designers, institutions and foundries whose work features in the database. The writing, editing, design and launch of the website at http://www.100types.com Peer feedback and review. An evaluation study of the website with students at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand. A series of revisions to the website structure and presentation. The writing up of the research process and findings. I chose this topic as the direct result of my experiences teaching typography at AUT University and other tertiary institutions. The need for graphic design students to demonstrate competencies in typography (as a sub-discipline of graphic design) has always been present, but has been fore grounded over the last two decades; however, a recent PhD thesis on the subject has argued that traditional delivery of print-based typographic knowledge no longer serves undergraduate requirements for today's divergent screen-based media (Yee, 2006, p.11). This has been accompanied by a significant rise in the number of available typefaces (Cahalan, 2004, p.62). Unfortunately the means with which to study them has not kept pace with these developments (Dixon, 2002, p.4).Changes occurring within the type manufacturing industry and the wider field of creative industries during the last two decades have made the historical, background context of typography harder to comprehend from an undergraduate point of view. Students complain that they are under-resourced for information (in their preferred research medium) about the typefaces they must demonstrate care and deliberation in choosing. From experience gained in observing an online-learning pilot scheme in 2005, I elected to develop an online reference resource designed for self-directed research of typographic history as a complement to the existing tuition of typographic applications face-to-face in the classroom. While the project offers a useful example of how practice-led research can augment a teaching situation, and is concerned with the promotion of student-centred and self-directed learning at AUT University, this is not its only objective as a public-access location on the internet. In keeping with the rising philosophy of open content for web-based education resources, a conscious decision was made at the project's inception to host and present the website independently of AUT University and its online learning environment.

Increasing numbers of older patients with cognitive impairment and disturbed behaviour are likely to present to acute care hospitals in the future. Nurses are not well disposed towards care due to safety and morale issues caused by knowledge deficits, job stress, oppressed group behaviours and ageist attitudes. Patient outcomes are often poor with multiple adverse events, long lengths of stay and levels of mortality. Disturbed behaviour may be caused by delirium, depression or other mental disorders and dementia or all. The research question addressed was “Can the instigation of a person-centred approach to care of patients with cognitive impairment and disturbed behaviour result in decreased nursing stress, improved patient care practices, outcomes and relatives’ satisfaction?” A conceptual framework incorporating the constructs of Person-Centred Care, the Integrated Structural Model of Human Behaviour and Practice Development informed the action research methods utilised. The processes of facilitation were used to undertake four action research cycles incorporating plans, actions, observations and reflections in one 25-bed acute aged care ward in a large tertiary referral hospital The first cycle involved setting up the study, recruitment of nurses and patients, gathering of baseline data and application of nonparticipant observational studies of the quality of nurse-patient interactions which served to inform the plan for interventions. The following three cycles demonstrated efforts to undertake those interventions through strategies to increase nursing empowerment and knowledge in the context of constant staff turnover and diversions that compromised support and participation. During the study there were few apparent adverse patient outcomes with significant improvements in patient analgesic administration, relatives’ satisfaction with care, nursing care practices involving the completion of a Communication and Care Cues form and nurses’ interactions with the patients. New care planning tools were developed that will enable ongoing activities for practice improvement. Conversely, there was a significant increase in the nurses’ stress levels when caring for hypoactive delirious patients, a trend towards more emotional exhaustion, high nursing turnover and increased sick leave rates. Nursing care practices were unchanged and the new care planning tools were not well utilised. Reflection on the implications and limitations of action research methods supported by practice development strategies in the dynamic, often chaotic environment experienced during the study, suggested that if there is an absence of hierarchical managerial sponsorship for such activities, then sustainable change is difficult. Therefore, it was shown that a person-centred approach to care of patients with cognitive impairment and disturbed behaviour using action research methods in this environment, can result in some enhanced nurse-patient interactions, patient care practices, outcomes and relatives’ satisfaction. However, progress is likely to be slow and time consuming. Further improvements require attention to the well-being status of the nurses through actions that generate feelings of empowerment through individual recognition, knowledge enhancement, adequate access to patient information and sufficient time to undertake their duties as equal members of the multidisciplinary team.

The dissertation contends that an instrument developed through using a model of complex adaptive systems as a generative metaphor will assist members of an organisation to better understand their organisation. Using an action research methodology, six Air Force Management Services Teams were exposed to six overlapping attributes of complex adaptive systems through focus group workshops with an aim to determine whether they, as experienced management consulting practitioners, saw value to themselves and their Air Force clients of using aspects of complex adaptive systems for organisational understanding. The overlapping attributes of complex adaptive systems were distilled from the literature reviewed. Whereas the focus group workshop participants found the attributes valuable in understanding the dynamics of organisational behaviour, they found the new way of thinking challenging on a number of different perspectives. Some aspects of the Air Force organisation, like its high levels of organisational experience, will make the introduction to and use of complex adaptive systems thinking simpler, while other aspects of the Air Force organisation, like its sensitivity to complex adaptive systems terminology, will make the introduction and use of complex adaptive systems more challenging. Notwithstanding the challenges, both the complex adaptive systems model, and the use of action research were found to be useful ways of introducing organisations to complex adaptive systems thinking.

The research question that forms the body of this thesis is: ‘What methods, skills and processes does the participatory development practitioner require for effective practice?’The intention behind this research topic has been to identify how to create socially relevant spaces within todays contemporary conditions of society. This is a reflection of an understanding of myself as someone within the ‘idealist’ stream of endeavour as defined by Charles Jencks in ‘Modern Movements in Architecture.’As I have a design background, I chose a design methodology to undertake the study. The methodology is documented by Donald Schön in the book ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ and is, in a general sense, also the methodology David Kolb documented in ‘Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development’. An element of this learning approach is for a designer to create a useful artefact that can be considered and evaluated, thus the thesis also comprises the DVD: ‘Outside the Gates, Development Processes for the Real World’.In writing the thesis I became aware that this learning process has been, and still is, central to development itself within our culture of generative change. I first arrived at this intuitively while building the DVD, but it became more explicit during the DVD evaluation. The thesis thus commences with a description and rationale for the methodology.After describing the methodology I devote three chapters to providing the background to both the form and content of the DVD. This draws almost exclusively from personal experience, though with references to architectural history, theory and practice. This includes observations on the theme of technological development, generative change and one of the real needs for our physical and psychological well being - shelter. Thus the DVD sits at a mid point in the thesis. Following the creation of the DVD, I have in accordance with the methodology evaluated its content. To do this I used a literature review generally based on Grounded Theory practice. There are four sections in the DVD, with a chapter dedicated to each of these sections.The thesis concludes with a chapter that fits in the final part of Kolb’s learning cycle, abstract conceptualisation, that considers the meaning of the findings. Ultimately there is an epilogue that outlines the next ‘concrete output’, a recently completed project based on the learnings from the thesis. This is a community engagement training course for project managers.[To view the content of the DVD: Outside the gates go to http://www.martinbutcher.com/Site/OtG.html]

The professional practice of educational design normally involves collaborating with a subject matter expert on a one-to-one basis and is only occasionally undertaken in teams. This thesis argues that a team-based approach to educational design is powerful and particularly so when transdisciplinary collaborations are facilitated. Transdisciplinary educational design is the process of standing outside one’s discipline to collaborate with colleagues from the technical sphere, the library and other disciplines. The common ground shared by the transdisciplinary teams in this research was student assessment.The core data collection for this research was completed between July 2002 and June 2005. Using an overarching action research methodology, three cycles of data collection were completed by action learning sets. Suitable members of the sets were identified through a series of online staff development workshops that were designed and facilitated by the researcher. Two supplementary data collection activities were also undertaken. The first of these was a Web survey that broadly mapped design practices for online assessment in four Australian regional universities. Three rounds of telephone interviews then followed up on survey responses. The second supplementary data collection was undertaken between the second and third action learning cycles to contextualise the online assessment design activities at Southern Cross University within the broader framework provided by the other three regional universities in the original sample. It included focus groups with educational designers and face-to-face interviews with three academics at each of these universities. The entire series of data collection activities was reflectively managed to heighten its effectiveness. This management included screening of suitable participants, negotiation of manageable session times and duration, and establishment of ground rules for attendance and interactions, as well as drawing out a commitment to observe silences as creative spaces in the design process.In keeping with the action research paradigm, an extensive examination of the literature not only provides a background for the research questions but also continues to be threaded throughout the thesis as data collection cycles directed further literature review. The thesis narrative is given an original form through the use of a gardening metaphor that serves to highlight the rewarding, delicate and transitional nature of this kind of educational design. Such transitional aspects of educational design allow for innovation and creativity not evident in the systems-based approaches to designing instruction. This research also supports current initiatives in Australian higher education concerning the first year experience, embedding graduate attributes in the curriculum, and blending on-campus and off-campus learners into one class. The transdisciplinary approach to educational design explored through this research responds effectively to the varied issues in designing online assessment and developing innovative approaches by academic staff

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis investigates the situated knowing-in-practice of locally-based community organisations, and studies how this practice knowledge is translated and contested in inter-organisational relations in the community services field of practices. Despite participation in government-led consultation processes, community organisations express frustration that the resulting policies and plans inadequately take account of the contributions from their practice knowledge. The funding of locally-based community organisations is gradually diminishing in real terms and in the competitive tendering environment, large nationally-based organisations often attract the new funding sources. The concern of locally-based community organisations is that the apparent lack of understanding of their distinctive practice knowing is threatening their capacity to improve the well-being of local people and their communities. In this study, I work with practitioners, service participants and management committee members to present an account of their knowing-in-practice, its character and conditions of efficacy; and then investigate what happens when this local practice knowledge is translated into results-based accountability (RBA) planning with diverse organisations and institutions. This thesis analyses three points of observation: knowing in a community of practitioners; knowing in a community organisation and knowing in the community services field of practices. In choosing these points of observation, the inquiry explores some of the relations and intra-actions from the single organisation to the institutional at a time when state government bureaucracy has mandated that community organisations implement RBA to articulate outcomes that can be measured by performance indicators. A feminist, performative, relational practice-based approach employs participatory action research to achieve an enabling research experience for the participants. It aims to intervene strategically to enhance recognition of the distinctive contributions of community organisations’ practice knowledge. This thesis reconfigures understandings of the roles, contributions and accountabilities of locally-based community organisations. Observations of situated practices together with the accounts of workers and service participants demonstrate how community organisations facilitate service participants’ struggles over social justice. A new topology for rethinking social justice as processual and practice-based is developed. It demonstrates how these struggles are a dynamic complex of iteratively-enfolded practices of respect and recognition, redistribution and distributive justice, representation and participation, belonging and inclusion. The focus on the practising of social justice in this thesis offers an alternative to the neo-liberal discourse that positions community organisations as sub-contractors accountable to government for delivering measurable outputs, outcomes and efficiencies in specified service provision contracts. The study shows how knowing-in-practice in locally-based community organisations contests the representational conception of knowledge inextricably entangled with accountability and performance measurement apparatus such as RBA. Further, it suggests that practitioner and service participant contributions are marginalised and diminished in RBA through the privileging of knowledge that takes an ‘expert’, quantifiable and calculative form. Thus crucially, harnessing local practice knowing requires re-imagining and enacting knowledge spaces that assemble and take seriously all relevant stakeholder perspectives, diverse knowledges and methods.