Editorial December 2006

Much research has been undertaken on gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (SETs) in universities, with inconsistent findings. We undertake a qualitative analysis of the comments in four years of SETs in a school of political science and international relations in a highly regarded Australian university. We ask, can the same evaluations produce different results when analysed qualitatively rather than quantitatively? And do students evaluate male-identified and female-identified teachers differently, and if so what are the differences? We show that qualitative analysis can reveal gender bias that is invisible in quantitative analysis. We find that female-identified staff are evaluated more positively than their male counterparts for undertaking time-intensive, stereotypically feminine, emotional labour. Male-identified staff are evaluated more positively for their technical expertise and teaching style. This suggests SETs evaluate gender-stereotypical behaviour rather than only teaching quality, and has significant implications for their use in universities.

Belinda E. Medlyn

Editorial Volume 9(2)

Student evaluation of teaching and subjects in Australian universities [dataset

In 1892 William Lane published his novel, The Workingman's Paradise, dealing with life in Sydney and Queensland in the late nineteenth century. 104 years later this 'workingman's paradise' again fell under scrutiny at the conference on Anti-Labour Legislation organised by the Sydney Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History and the University of Sydney Labour History Group. NSW Attorney-General, Jeff Shaw, delivered the opening address of the conference and outlined the competing economic philosophies that he saw driving the history of Australian labour relations. The first he described as the Protective View. It recognised the unequal power between labour and capital in Australia. Its followers campaigned for workers to have 'freedom to associate' or form unions and for government instrumentalities to set minimum standards to protect workers pay and conditions. Opposing this view, said Shaw, came the disciples of the (free) Market View who believed that the laws should only enter the industrial arena to facilitate individual contacts between employers and their workers. In a survey of Australia, mainly from the 1889s to 1996, Shaw examined what happened when one or other of these views predominated. Michael Quinlan (University of NSW) looked at the one-sided nature of Australia's Master and Servant legislation from 1828 to the 1970s. He pointed out the irony in the title of William Lane's novel in his address which showed that early labour laws were full of penalties to use against workers who didn't work satisfactorily or who absconded from an employer. Rural workers seemed to have worse conditions, usually because the magistrates enforcing the laws on 'recalcitrant7 workers were also local squatters. Ray Markey (University of Wollongong) examined the history of compulsory arbitration in Australia from 1890 to 1914. He argued that the various forms of arbitration adopted in the various colonies/states and by the newly formed Federal Government reflected the views of liberal politicians rather than employers trying to hang on to their gains made in the 1890s (as suggested by Brian Fitzpatrick). He also looked at the difficulty in assessing the impact of arbitration on trade union growth because of the lack of clear sources before 1912, but concluded that recent research suggests that arbitration retarded the growth of trade unions in this period. Andrew Moore (University of Western Sydney)'s address concentrated on legislation between the wars. This was a period in which the ruling class felt under threat of revolution, so it introduced a number of laws to entrench its position, eg. the 1926 Crimes Act and the 'Dog Collar' Acts of 1928 and 1930. These were largely the product of John Latham, Attorney-General in the Bruce-Page Government and ex-World War One Naval Intelligence officer. Prosecutions were conducted against those accused of promoting ill-will between the classes of his Majesty's subjects, such as the publisher of the Workers Weekly as well as against unions like the Waterside Workers' Federation when wharfies refused to load pig-iron for Japan in 1938.

This article provides a description and analysis of the way in which research degree students and their supervisors at one Australian university (the University of South Australia) use a popular online plagiarism-detection system, iThenticate. The study identifies how these two groups use iThenticate by analysing usage data together with data from an anonymous online survey conducted 12 months after the university took out a pilot subscription to the system. One hundred and nineteen students and 26 supervisors responded to the survey, representing 61% and 43% of the active users in each category. The survey found that the two groups of respondents used the system differently but that, while for both groups iThenticate’s regulatory function in preventing plagiarism (whether international or accidental) was important, the system’s potential educational function in improving research writing capability and publication was equally important. The study highlights the value of regarding the use of anti-plagiarism software so as to encourage a move way from a simple focus on its punitive regulatory dimension and towards its educational possibilities and suggests directions for future research on the relationship between this type of software and the ways scholars work with other people’s texts to recreate meanings and develop original contributions. Implications for practice or policy: Online plagiarism detection systems (such as iThenticate) can be used either negatively to police doctoral students’ practice or positively to improve their research writing practice. Academic developers should promote a positive approach, aimed at improving research writing practice, as the preferable pedagogy in using online plagiarism-detection systems.

This paper reports on the development of professional degrees in the field of electronic commerce in Australia. Programs offered by three Australian universities are discussed comparatively, namely those at the Deakin University, the University of Ballarat, and the University of South Australia. Two programs offered by the University of South Australia-master of information technology (electronic commerce) and bachelor of engineering (mobile electronic commerce)-are presented in greater detail.

Background: The Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) is a workplace-based assessment tool widely used in medicine to assess a learner’s ability to execute a technical skill. The aim of this paper is to report on the development phase of the adaptation of the DOPS for the assessment of podiatry learners’ procedural skills. Podiatry learners are required to practise and demonstrate a variety of procedural skills in the management of foot complaints. Such skills include the use of scalpel blades, needles and local anaesthetic applied to a variety of disorders. The DOPS provides an avenue by which a learner’s procedural skills can be assessed and timely feedback provided in the workplace or in simulated environments. Methods: The DOPS was initially adapted for podiatry by a faculty team consisting of a podiatry educator, a clinical education specialist and a clinical educator from another allied health discipline. The first iteration was circulated among podiatry faculty at three other Australian universities. The second iteration was reviewed by clinical supervisors from Southern Cross University (SCU). The third iteration was administered by two clinical supervisors at SCU working with 12 learners during real-time clinical events. Eleven learners used DOPS to assess their peers during five real-time and six simulated learning events. Results: A new tool, the Direct Observation of Procedural Skills in Podiatry (DOPS-P) has emerged from this process. Face and construct validity have been confirmed, and faculty and students consider DOPS-P contributes to learning. Conclusions: Further research is necessary to confirm the validity and reliability of the DOPS-P to support assessment decisions about students’ achievement of podiatry competencies.

Editorial Volume 4(2)

This article reports the initial findings of a study carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of an academic skills training programme that prepares new university college teachers for teaching. Videotaped recordings of training, classroom observation of teaching and student evaluation of teaching were carried out and the results were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of the delivery and the activities for one of the module in achieving the stated objectives of the module. New teachers found the two activities in the Module 1 useful and were able to apply what they learned through these activities in their classroom teaching. The activities carried out supported the achievements of the in-tended outcomes of the module. However the new teachers demonstrated different levels of competence.

This paper explores how a group of undergraduate Human Movement Studies (HMS) students learnt to know about the body during their four-year academic programme at an Australian university. When students begin an undergraduate programme in HMS they bring with them particular constructions, ideas and beliefs about their own bodies and about the body in general. Those ideas and beliefs are often challenged, disrupted or reinforced according to discourses and practices to which students are exposed and which they experience throughout their programme of study. The courses that these students take in their in HMS degree programme present to them different perspectives about health and the body. Some perspectives take the status of taken-for-granted truths and others are dismissed or ignored. Taking a Foucauldian perspective, this paper explores the dominant discourses and practices to which this group of students was exposed during their four years of academic formation, and the influences that this exposure might have upon their construction of the body and their formation as pre-service Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers. The participants in this study were 14 students, 11 females and 3 males, aged between 18 and 26 at the time of the first interview. The data used for this paper were taken from a larger study and were analysed using a content analysis approach. Results suggest that some students may be heavily influenced by certain practices and discourses during their programme of studies, and that they embody dominant discourses of health. Furthermore, a possible change of thinking may occur across their academic programme, as a consequence of their engagement with a few alternative discourses presented during their academic programme, disrupting some of their previous beliefs and knowledge.

BackgroundGender bias within medical education is gaining increasing attention. However, valid and reliable measures are needed to adequately address and monitor this issue. This research conducts a psychometric evaluation of a short multidimensional scale that assesses medical students’ awareness of gender bias, beliefs that gender bias should be addressed, and experience of gender bias during medical education.MethodsUsing students from the University of Wollongong, one pilot study and two empirical studies were conducted. The pilot study was used to scope the domain space (n = 28). This initial measure was extended to develop the Gender Bias in Medical Education Scale (GBMES). For Study 1 (n = 172), confirmatory factor analysis assessed the construct validity of the three-factor structure (awareness, beliefs, experience) and enabled deletion of redundant items. Study 2 (n = 457) tested the generalizability of the refined scale to a new sample. Combining Study 1 and 2, invariance testing for program of study and gender was explored. The relationship of the GBMES to demographic and gender politics variables was tested. The results were analyzed in R using confirmatory factor analysis and Multiple-Indicator-Multiple-Indicator-Cause models.ResultsAfter analysis of the responses from the original 16-item GBMES (Study 1), a shortened measure of ten items fitted the data well (RMSEA = .063; CFI = .965; TLI = .951; Mean R-square of items = 58.6 %; reliability: .720–.910) and was found to generalize to a new sample in Study 2 (RMSEA = .068; CFI = .952; TLI = .933; Mean R-square of items = 55.9 %; reliability: .711–.892). The GBMES was found to be invariant across studies, gender, and program of study. Female students and those who supported gender equality had greater agreement for each of the factors. Likewise, postgraduate students reported higher scores on experience of gender bias than undergraduate students.ConclusionThe GBMES provides a validated short multidimensional measure for use in research and policy. Given its good reliability across different target populations and its concise length, the GBMES has much potential for application in research and education to assess students’ attitudes towards gender bias.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0774-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Making an Impact: Cultural Studies, Media and Contemporary Work

Editorial 8(1)

Belonging has been identified as important to student retention, engagement, achievement and wellbeing in higher education. It has been challenging for universities to foster, particularly in non-traditional student cohorts and in regional areas. This article aims to identify how belonging has been experienced and supported on four regional campuses of one Australian university (University of Wollongong) enrolling a high proportion of non-traditional students. It focuses on belonging’s role in the students’ successful progress beyond the first year of their university studies. The study examines the experiences of students through focus groups discussing what aspects of their campuses had contributed to students’ success. This study extends previous work on belonging by describing how belonging is successfully cultivated in regional campuses through specific staff and student interactions that had built a culture of community and support, and how the belonging that resulted contributed to student retention. The study’s findings demonstrate how principles from theory and research about practices that support student belonging can be successfully enacted in a university setting with students from regional and equity backgrounds.