Understanding novice programmers: their perceptions and motivations
- Authors: Turville, Kylie , Meredith, Grant , Smith, Philip
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Ascilite 2012 Future Challenges: Sustainable futures p. 652-656
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- Description: This paper presents the initial findings of an ongoing research program eliciting a basic understanding of students undertaking a first year programming course at the University of Ballarat, with a particular focus on their motivations and aspirations. This paper also provides a brief history of the course within its institutional setting including the different strategies that have been implemented over the last decade, an overview of the overarching study that is currently being undertaken, a discussion of some of the initial results, as well as a short discussion further research that is currently being undertaken. Results from the initial study indicate that students are positive coming into our courses but can become disillusioned as the course progresses. The research path forward will also be presented along with the discussion of these initial findings.
How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?
- Authors: Gregory, Brent , Gregory, Sue , Wood, Denise , Masters, Yvonne , Hillier, Mathew , Stokes-Thompson, Frederick , Bogdanovych, Anton , Butler, Des , Hay, Lyn , Jegathesan, Jay Jay , Flintoff, Kim , Schutt, Stefan , Linegar, Dale , Alderton, Robyn , Cram, Andrew , Stupans, Ieva , Orwin, Lindy McKeown , Meredith, Grant , McCormick, Debbie , Collins, Francesca , Grenfell, Jenny , Zagami, Jason , Ellis, Allan , Jacka, Lisa , Campbell, John , Larson, Ian , Fluck, Andrew , Thomas, Angela , Farley, Helen , Muldoon, Nona , Abbas, Ali , Sinnappan, Suku , Neville, Katrina , Burnett, Ian , Aitken, Ashley , Simoff, Simeon , Scutter, Sheila , Wang, Xiangyu , Souter, Kay , Ellis, David , Salomon, Mandy , Wadley, Greg , Jacobson, Michael , Newstead, Anne , Hayes, Gary , Grant, Scott , Yusupova, Alyona
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Australian society for Computers in learning in Tertiary Education, : Changing Demands, Changing Directions: 28th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
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- Description: Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches.
Stuttering, disability and the higher education sector in Australia
- Authors: Meredith, Grant , Packman, Ann , Marks, Genee
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology Vol. 14, no. 4 (2012), p. 370-376
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- Description: The aim of this study was to ascertain the extent to which Australian public universities and their associated disability liaison services offer web-based information for current or prospective students who stutter. The disability pages of the websites of all 39 public universities in Australia were visited and the information about disability services assessed according to 12 criteria developed by the authors. Results indicate that there is a dearth of information on Australian university websites available for students or prospective students who stutter. Only 13% of the sites reported any form of alternative teaching and assessment procedures for speech-impaired students and only 51% of 39 disability liaison officers responded when contacted by email. Such a student could not make an informed choice to enrol in a university based upon the information on disability services available on public Australian university websites. © 2012 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited.
Managed identities : How do Australian university students who stutter negotiate their studies?
- Authors: Meredith, Grant
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: Previous social research focused on people who stutter has problematised and largely ignored the experiences of university students who stutter, relying heavily upon surveys of teachers and peers while almost ignoring the authentic voices of students who stutter. Using a novel bricolage approach incorporating autoethnography, this project posed the question: “How do students who stutter negotiate their university experiences in Australia?” In 2008, a unique, web-based audit of 39 Australian public universities concluded that little publicly accessible information about stuttering support services was available for prospective university students. In many ways, stuttering is absent from disability classifications and service systems in higher education. An online survey of 102 Australian university students who stutter, and follow-up individual interviews with 15 students, revealed how these students manage their social identities from enrolment through to graduation. Only a minority of students reported ever formally disclosing their functional impairment to university support services or academic staff. This meant they rejected and/or avoided the disability label and associated stigma. The students were found to exercise a high degree of individual agency and creativity throughout their university journey. Many employed ‘concessional bargaining’ techniques to effectively navigate the oral assessment requirements during their degrees. Analysis of the interview and survey data is interspersed with critical self-reflection by the author – as a university lecturer who himself stutters. This thesis makes a significant contribution to shaping our understanding of the social identities and trajectories of university students who stutter. These students have been recast as positive, purposeful, resourceful and creative agents whose actions can be largely understood from a social model of disability. A series of recommendations for supporting and teaching these students are made to key stakeholders in higher education.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Use of Scenari-Aid to aid maintenance of stuttering therapy outcomes
- Authors: Swift, Michelle , Meredith, Grant , McCuloch, Julia , Turville, Christopher
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 10th Oxford Dysfluency Conference, ODC 2014, , Oxford, United kingdom, 17 - 20 July, 2014 In Procedia -Social and Behavioural Sciences Vol. 193, p. 253-260
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- Description: Scenari-Aid is a free online tool providing real-world simulation activities. This study investigated if using Scenari-Aid improves maintenance of stuttering therapy outcomes. An ABAB single subject design (A: pre-access and withdrawal; B: Scenari-Aid access) was used. Post-treatment gains in communication attitude and social participation were maintained 6-months post-treatment. Some improvements in weekly measures were present from A1 to B1 but there were no changesfrom B1 to A2 or A2 to B2. The participant reported using Scenari-Aid to aid initial desensitisation and then only occasionally. Further research is necessary to clarify the role of Scenari-Aid in the maintenance of treatment gains.
C6 : A holistic model for decision making in web services
- Authors: Sun, Zhaohao , Meredith, Grant , Jia, Long
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 20th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria : 2nd-4th Dec 2009 p. 904-914
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- Description: Web services are playing a pivotal role in e-business, service intelligence, service science and information systems. This article will examine how the main players make decisions for activities in web service lifecycle (WSLC) and propose a holistic model for decision making in web services. More specifically, this article first examines main players in web services. It also reviews the existing web service lifecycles and proposes a demand-driven web service lifecycle for web service requesters. It will then examine six driving factors for web services, look at their interrelationships and propose a holistic model for decision making in web services, C6, which consists of six Cs: communication, competition, coordination, collaboration, cooperation and control, taking into account the main players in web services and web service lifecycle (WSLC). The proposed approach will facilitate research and development of web services, e-services, service intelligence, service science and service computing.
- Description: 2003007874
Motivational factors of Australian mobile gamers
- Authors: Greenwood, Jordan , Achterbosch, Leigh , Meredith, Grant , Vamplew, Peter
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference (ACSW 2020); Melbourne, Australia; 4th-6th February 2020 p. 6
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- Description: Mobile games are a fast growing industry, overtaking all other video game platforms with year on year increases in revenue. Many studies have been conducted to explore the motivations of why video games players play their selected games. However very little research has focused on mobile gamers. In addition, Australian studies on the topic are sparse. This paper aimed to discover what motivates a mobile gamer from the perspective of the initial motivational factors attracting them to a mobile game, and the motivational factors that provide interest to continue playing and thereby increase game longevity. A survey was conducted online for Australian participants, which attracted 123 respondents. The survey was formulated by focusing on the 12 key subcomponents as motivational factors of the Gamer Motivational Profile v2 model devised by Quantic Foundry. It was discovered that mobile gamers are a completely different breed of gamer in contrast to the general video gamer. Strategy and challenge which are subcomponents of mastery proved popular among all mobile gamers, while destruction and excitement, subcomponents of action, were often the least motivating factors of all. With the newly discovered data, perhaps mobile game developers can pursue the correct avenues of game design when catering to their target audience.
Sustaining the future through virtual worlds
- Authors: Gregory, Sue , Gregory, Brent , Hillier, Mathew , Miller, Charlynn , Meredith, Grant
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Future Challenges, Sustainable Futures p. 361-368
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- Description: Virtual worlds (VWs) continue to be used extensively in Australia and New Zealand higher education institutions although the tendency towards making unrealistic claims of efficacy and popularity appears to be over. Some educators at higher education institutions continue to use VWs in the same way as they have done in the past; others are exploring a range of different VWs or using them in new ways; whilst some are opting out altogether. This paper presents an overview of how 46 educators from some 26 institutions see VWs as an opportunity to sustain higher education. The positives and negatives of using VWs are discussed.
The use of an interactive social simulation tool for adults who stutter : a pilot study
- Authors: Meredith, Grant , Achterbosch, Leigh , Peck, Blake , Terry, Daniel , Dekker, Evan , Packman, Ann
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education Vol. 13, no. 1 (2023), p. 187-198
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- Description: This study reports a user evaluation of a DVD-based social simulator, developed for people who stutter to potentially gain confidence in using a learned fluency technique. The aim was to examine and evaluate the pilot of the DVD-based social simulator, Scenari-Aid, to inform the development of an online version of the program. Thirty-seven adults who were stuttering were recruited to the study from non-professional groups in Australia. The DVD comprised scenarios with actors in real-life settings that were designed to elicit verbal responses. Participants worked through the scenarios at their own rate and then completed an online survey. The survey comprised 29 statements requiring responses on a 5-point Likert scale and provided information about users’ perceptions of participating in the social simulations. There was high positive agreement among the participants on all statements, the most important being that they perceived the scenarios represented in everyday speaking situations and that they felt immersed in them. Participants also agreed that both their fluency and confidence increased in everyday speaking situations as a result of working through the DVD scenarios. The developers were satisfied that, despite the subjective nature of the findings, the study provided sufficient support for constructing the online version, which is now available to the public free of charge. Further research is needed to provide empirical evidence of the contribution it can make to the efficacy of speech programs for adults who stutter. © 2023 by the authors.