FORUM MAGAZINE
Issue 2 – November 2013
Researching
Climate Change
An interview with Sam Goundar
Clean Design
THE PEARLY QUEEN OF AOTEAROA
Special Features
COLLABORATION WITH CHINA
In
In this
this month’s
month’sissue
issue
2Researching
showcases with
Climate
Change
stunning photography
On
On page
page5 6
Editor
Robert Forest
Our Journey
To
Ako
Atea
about MM
On
1214
On
2216
Onpage
page
Onpage
page
An
interview
around
Battle
of thewith
fittest Travelling
Improving
Student
Recruitment
Dave Johnson
the world
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IT PAYS TO VERIFY YOUR RESEARCH
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cover;
Photography
Cairngorms, Scotland
Tabrez Ahmad
www.tabrez.cc
In this issue
forum magazine
FORUM
Editor
Heather Hamerton
Designer
Anne Shirley
Contact
Heather.Hamerton@boppoly.ac.nz
“The views expressed in this publication
are those of the author/s and do not reflect
the views of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.”
A Word From The Editor
Paddling The Waters:
5
LIANZA Conference
6
Using Google to access Full Text Articles and Books
8
Research Symposium
9
Hints To Improve Your Google
Experience:
Inquire, Inspire:
Researching Climate Change
A visit to Macau
10
2013 Crossfit Athletes
14
Scott Presents at an Auckland Conference
16
Designing for Cult Couture
18
SINO-NZ Vocational Education Forum 2013
22
Open Online Course
26
Ruth goes back to Scotland
27
Five Tutors Present at Conference
29
We Host the Conference
30
Student/Tutor Action
32
Fitness and Nutrition
34
Battle Of The Fittest
Improving Student Recruitment
Pearly Queen
Collaboration With China
MOOCs
Homeward Bound
ATLAANZ Conference
ICT Conference
Tauranga Arts Festival
Six Week Challenge
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A word from the editor
6-week fitness challenge. Other successful staff
events included Lee Rowe’s presentation at the
LIANZA conference, Nicol Sanders-O’Shea’s
overview of staff and student participation in
the Tauranga Arts Festival, Debbie Shepherd’s
success at the Cult Couture Fashion Show,
Scott Henderson’s presentation to the Student
Recruitment, Engagement and Retention
Conference, and BoPP staff contributions to
the Inquire Inspire Symposium. Sam Honey
describes the contribution that she and Kelly
Pender made to a vocational education conference in China. An interview with Sam Goundar
showcases his time as a visiting research fellow
at the UN University in Macau.
On the more technical side of things,
Rabindra Das writes about the Get Connected
ICT conference held recently at Windermere
and Ruth Boal reports on what she learned
Welcome to the second issue of Forum for
2013. We hope you enjoy hearing more news
about what our staff have been up to this year.
about technology in tertiary education through
her visits to universities and colleges in
Scotland. Shirley Porter describes her experi-
The team at forum look forward to hearing more about
people’s interesting lives and work in 2014.
In addition to the usual busyness of teaching
and attending to students, there have been a
lot of changes to structures and programmes
during the year, so thanks to all of those staff
who in spite of all these busy activities have
managed to contribute to this issue.
I am very excited that Anne Shirley has volunteered to join the Forum team, and has taken
responsibility for design of this issue. We hope
you enjoy the new improved format, and think
you will be interested in the topics included in
this issue.
We celebrate a number of sports and fitness
activities and achievements, including a wellattended sports research symposium earlier in
the year, Megan Read’s success in the Crossfit
Championships and staff completing the
ence in enrolling in a MOOC (Massive Open
Online Course). When it comes to maximising Google Scholar, Elsie Langdon provides
tips for which will be useful for both staff and
students, and I remind Endnote users how to
export Google Scholar citations directly into an
Endnote library.
These articles, and a number of wonderful
photographs, including graphic design tutor
Tabrez Ahmad’s stunning cover, make this issue
of Forum a high note on which to end 2013.
The Forum team wishes everyone all the best
for the holiday season, and we look forward to
hearing more about people’s interesting lives
and work in 2014.
Heather Hamerton
Editor
Mixed media Nicole Sanders-O’Shea
This work was part of the Proof Makers Exhibition
at Waikato University. It celebrates the diverse,
complex and ever evolving nature of Printmaking.
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Paddling the
Waters:
Lee Rowe, MLIS, RLIANZA, ALIANZA
Our Journey to Ako ĀteaGallery
This year’s LIANZA (Library &
Information Association of New
Zealand Aotearoa) conference was
held in Hamilton in October, and the
theme was river based: ‘Wai-ora, Wai
Maori, Waikato’. Rivers are enduring
natural features, giving and sustaining
life. River tributaries support a diverse
and connected system that is greater
than the sum of its parts. Libraries are also powerful forces, and like rivers,
they must be understood and well-managed in order to continue to nourish and support their communities.
Picking up on the river theme, I gave a presentation called Paddling
the Waters: Our Journey to Ako Atea, which focused on Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic’s new model of integrated learning and library support service.
Based on a paper written by Justin Heke and myself, I explained the drivers
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for the development of Ako Awe, and described how its two tributaries,
Ako Awhina and Ako Atea operate. I pointed out that Ako Atea reflects
a global trend in the transformation of libraries from book repositories to
community hubs, and like a river acts as a ‘connector’ where people’s identity is enhanced, there is a culture of sharing, and relationships come first.
I concluded the session with some of my own thoughts about the skills
and type of leadership suited to this model of service. If you are interested, our paper can be found on the LIANZA website here: http://bit.
ly/1caf0QM and the visual presentation here on SlideShare: http://slidesha.
re/1dJQaYE
Themes that emerged from the conference overall were that libraries
are as essential to our communities as ever, there is a shift in focus from
organising collections to supporting knowledge creation, that we should
pay attention to the ‘the heart’ or the human aspect of our services rather
than let technology drive our decisions.
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The LIANZA President, Laurinda Thomas gave an inspirational
opening address which you can view on Youtube: http://bit.ly/181NJTc
Other inspiring speakers were Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Nat
Torkington, Dr. Michael Stevens, Eli Neiburger, Dr Penny Hagen, and
Lorcan Dempsey. Keynote presentation videos are available on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lianzaNZ
I encourage you to view them, as they are relevant for all Polytechnic
staff interested in the future of libraries and learning.
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Hints to improve your Google
Scholar experience
Elsie Langdon
Accessing E-books and articles directly
from Google Scholar
I saw your reference to Google Scholar in
the latest Forum (Vol 26, September 2013) and
just wanted to make sure staff were aware that
through Google Scholar you can access full-text
of articles and ebooks that link to the Boppoly
Library Databases.
First you need to click on “Settings” at
the top of the Google Scholar screen. From
the settings page of Google Scholar – click
on Library Links - search for Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic and tick both the options that come
up - and save your settings.
Your searches will link to our ebooks and
full-text databases.
After you have typed in your search terms
on the results screen right-hand side you can
see links to E-resources@BOPP Library and
Full-Text @ My Library. These links go through
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to our Databases or ebooks. This access is
only available when the Link to the BoPPoly
is chosen.
Note: when you click on the full-text link
– there is an interim screen that first comes up
(see screen shot example below). Wait approx.
20 seconds and then the page with the full-text
(usually a PDF) appears.
Heather Hamerton
Exporting citations from Google Scholar
to EndNote
When on the Google Scholar homepage,
you can set your computer to link to EndNote.
Click on the “Settings” button at the top of the
screen, then click on “Search results”. At the
bottom of this page is a Bibliography manager.
Check the button “show links to import citations into…” and choose EndNote from the
dropdown list. Then save your settings.
When you next perform a Google Scholar
search you will see at the bottom of every item
in your results the option to “Import into Endnote”. When you click on this option
below the article or book, your Endnote programme will be called up, the citation will be
imported into your current EndNote library,
and should show up in the References window.
When I perform this operation at BOPP using
Internet Explorer, I get a prompt asking me if
I want to “Open” or “Save” the citation. If you
see this pop-up at the bottom of your screen,
simply click “Open”.
Note: Only one citation at a time can be
exported to EndNote in this way. Also, if you do
not have EndNote available on the computer
you are using, you could save the citation and
import into Endnote later.
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Inquire, Inspire 2013
By Heather Hamerton
On Friday 30 August, staff from the University of Waikato, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi gathered for a research symposium led by the
University of Waikato.
Staff from all
three organisations
participated in
the day, which
offered a number
of very interesting
and exciting
presentations.
Professor Dawn
Penney from the
University of
Waikato’s Faculty of
Education began the
day with a Keynote
Address where she
explored tensions
and opportunities
inherent in
undertaking research with the intent of
“making a difference”. Her talk set the scene
for the day and many of her points were
echoed by other presenters. Rebecca Sargisson,
psychology lecturer for the university here in
Tauranga presented findings from her research
testing new entrant children at Tauranga
primary schools on a range of skills.
Paora Howe, also from the University of
Waikato, talked about He Kakano, which is a
professional development initiative aimed at
improving culturally-responsive leadership
in schools. Carol Murphy then talked about
the relationship between student talk and
learning in mathematics. She suggested that
supporting independent student-student
talk is likely to encourage self-efficacy in
learning mathematics.
A panel consisting of Professor Dawn
Penney, Heather Hamerton, Paora Howe and
Carol Murphy discussed the question “What
makes research worthwhile?” In her brief
presentation, Heather used Taiorangahau the
name for the Pacific Coast Applied Research
Centre to demonstrate how staff research
at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic contributes to
knowledge, community health and wellbeing,
and to student learning.
After lunch, Sonya Hunt, a University of
Waikato social work lecturer based in Tauranga,
presented Rena volunteer research on behalf
of her team which included Kelly Smith and
Rebecca Sargisson from the University of
Waikato, Heather Hamerton from Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic and Pim de Monchy and Stephanie
Twaddle from Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
Findings explained what motivated people to
volunteer to clean up oil from the beaches, and
how volunteering assisted them in dealing with
their initial responses.
Continuing the Rena theme, Dr Phil Ross
from the University of Waikato and Keith
Gregor from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic gave
an overview of a number of research projects
carried out by university and polytechnic staff
and students looking at the ecological impacts
of the Rena oil spill on Astrolabe Reef. Then
Nigel Calder (University of Waikato) spoke
about his study of secondary school studentcentred inquiry learning.
The final presentation of the day was given
by Judi Honeyfield (Bay of Plenty Polytechnic)
and Dr Vaughan
Bidois (Te Whare
Wananga o
Awanuiarangi).
They described
their current
project entitled
“Becoming
effective teachers
for under-25
students: A model
for professional
development
decision-making”.
This project which
is funded by an
Ako Aotearoa
National Project
Fund is underpinned by a kaupapa Maori
framework and involves five organisations
working in collaboration
Overall this series of presentations had
much to offer staff at both the University of
Waikato and Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, as
well as examples of how people are working
collaboratively within the Tertiary Education
Partnership. While many in the audience
ducked in to attend particular sessions in
between their teaching schedules, others
managed to stay through the whole day.
Positive feedback was received from those who
attended; for those who missed out, another
such partnership event is planned for next year.
Thanks also to the 3rd year fashion degree
students who agreed to extend the time of
their exhibition in The Void so that symposium
attendees could come and view their work
during the lunch break. Those who made
the journey across the road were inspired by
the creativity and professional work that the
students had on display.
Photo From Left: Carol Murphy, Heather
Hamerton, Paora Howe and Dawn Penney
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Researching Climate Change
An interview with Sam Goundar
In the second half of 2012, Sam Goundar went with his family to
spend 6 months as a Research Fellow at the United Nations University
in Macau, China. In this interview with Heather Hamerton he talks
about the University and the research work he undertook while there,
and about his time in Macau.
I was accepted as a Research Fellow at the
United Nations University based in Macau,
China. This university has a number of institutes in various countries. The one in Macau
is the International Institute of Software
Technology. Within that institute there are
a number of research groups; I was with the
e-governance research group. The focus is ICT
for sustainable development. Researchers look
for solutions for how ICT can be used for sustainable development, they look at things like
climate change, energy and development.
So what were you doing?
I was asked to come up with a solution
where ICT can be used within the e-governance framework for sustainable development,
and I decided to focus on climate change. After
attending some courses on climate change,
energy and sustainable development and
doing some simulation and modelling courses,
I decided to come up with a solution using
automated regulatory compliance for climate
change regulations.
What I proposed was a conceptual framework which can be developed into software
that will automatically monitor environment,
industries, organisations, to see whether they
are complying with climate change regulations. For example, in many countries, or if
you look at the United Nations framework or
international panel on climate change, they
have certain regulations. For example they
prescribe that the air pollution should be at
this level, you can have this amount of carbon
particles in the air, water quality and everything
else. My proposal was to collect data from the
source using remote sensors so the government
would install sensors around industrial areas,
workplace and environment, and these sensors
at certain intervals would take readings from
the environment on the air quality, the water
quality, and all other readings that are required,
such as carbon and so forth. The sensors would
send information to the software that I am
proposing, and the software would analyse and
compare with its benchmark and then the soft-
be to actually implement this research and
develop the software that can be used.
Will that be you?
It could be me, or it could be someone with
more experience and expertise in software
development. I would be able to do it but I’d
need to learn more about developing software,
so I was thinking of maybe taking this project
to some university or polytechnic over here and
look for some graduate students who can do it.
It’s a very practical project.
Yes, the theoretical part has been done.
Researchers look for solutions for how ICT can be
used for sustainable development,
ware would produce an output saying whether
the particular factory or industry is complying
or not. The sensing could be done anywhere in
the world.
So how did you get on?
All the groundwork is done and all the
research is done and I have written a paper.
What I’m trying to do is find a reputable journal to publish it. The conceptual framework
is there and the algorithms that are going to
make it happen. All those frameworks and the
design are there. Probably my next step would
After that it becomes a software development project.
Do you talk to students about this work?
Yes, I have shared information about this
with my students and I also learned a number
of other things while I was there have helped
me with my teaching as well. I’ve talked about
the research itself, because at the moment
climate change is a big thing. Last year there
was Rio+20 The United Nations Conference
on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, so everyone was talking about it.
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bottom A caption for
this image.
Is it a research university rather than a teaching university?
It is both. There are a number of PhD students there. Students
at many other universities have supervisors who are staff at the UN
University because of their expertise – in e-governance, in health information, in educational technology and things like that. Those students
spend some time at their own university, and for their final year they
come and complete their PhD at the UN University.
The students’ topics must be interesting too.
Your students must be interested in such a practical example.
Yes. The application of software development, application of programming language, because our students do go through software design, they
do programming languages, they are required to develop software, they do
user interface design, human-computer interaction. They would be able to
apply all these to the software I’m proposing, but it will be a big project. It
might take a couple of semesters to get everything up and running and it
will need a lot of resources as well.
Tell us a bit more about the university itself.
The United Nations University is an international university. In our
institute there were 3 local administrative staff; all the Researchers and
Research Fellows, Directors and Heads of Centres were international professors. Almost every week there was a seminar from some internationally
renowned professor who was invited to speak on his research or conduct
a seminar. Also in our team every Friday we presented what we had
done, everybody did. There were 8 of us in the research group at that time,
so every Friday we had a lunch meeting in the seminar room, and each
person would present what they were doing, and everyone responded,
critiqued, gave feedback about what to focus on. These were experienced
academic researchers.
I presented a seminar on climate change for small islands, and I
focused on Fiji looking at how climate change is going to affect small lowlying coral atolls in Fiji in maybe 10 or 15 years. Fiji at the moment claims
that it has 333 islands, but will have to reduce that number because a
number of islands will be under the sea by then. Then I did a few presentations on my research project, the automated regulatory compliance work.
So everyone was very open about sharing?
Yes, and I was the most junior in there, so I really learned a lot from
them on how to come up with the conceptual frameworks, how to do
conceptual diagrams and things I hadn’t looked at previously. I think after
my stint there I’ve become a more critical researcher. While there I met
a number of people from other universities, professors who were doing
different things. We are still in contact and I’m on the review and editorial
boards for a number of journals – about 14 last time I counted. I’ve been
asked to review a number of papers and I’m able to critique them and
offer suggestions for how to improve them. I’ve received good feedback
on my reviews. Even the authors have liked my reviews. I’ve learned
a lot and seen what other people have done and I’m still in touch with
them. I’ve always volunteered to help them, because each different person has a focus on a different part of e-governance. At the moment one
of them is looking at smart cities and has asked me to contribute whatever I can, and I’m looking at that. The relationships will continue.
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Yeah. The head of the Centre for e-Governance is the most prominent
person in e-governance anywhere in the world. He is number one so
any student who wants to do a PhD would find him an ideal supervisor.
There are a number of centres there, in areas such as health information
and educational technology, and a number of professors there who are
leaders in their field.
Are some of those people based there full time while others come
and go?
Yes, they like to rotate their staff every 3 – 5 years. One person has
been there as long as 10 years and the university has existed for 20 years.
They keep on trying to change the people; the most you can get is 6
months or a year’s fellowship, then they replace that person with someone else. They identify people from developing countries and developed
countries and they will come and train, and then they go back and contribute to their countries.
How did you hear about this?
On Facebook. I’m associated and I help organise a number of conferences and many of my colleagues are on Facebook. In 2011 I attended a
conference in Hong Kong where I became friends with a number of people and then one of these Facebook friends posted a call for Fellowships
at the United Nations University. I responded and I was very lucky to get
it because there was only one Fellowship within the e-governance team.
Three hundred people applied from all over the world and I was lucky
enough to get it.
That says something about your reputation. It’s also huge for
the Pacific.
It is huge, lots of countries are affected. And what my research says is
there’s a lack of resources, lack of expertise. In most small countries the
resources are not there, the money is not there to have a climate change
department, and there are very few climate change experts, so why not
automate it, let the software do all that.
Tell us about Macau
Macau is a special administrative region of China just like Hong Kong
so it has its own rules and government and legislation. It is not under
the Chinese government communist rule. It’s a very small island, maybe
smaller than the city of Tauranga, but it has a population of about 550,000
people.
Macau is famous for its casinos and gambling; because of these it is a
very popular tourist destination. Every weekend 250,000 Chinese people cross the border into Macau, just to spend the weekend and gamble.
Casinos are illegal in China, but legal in Macau. Crossing the border is
just like crossing a road. There is border control, people have to show
their passport and are issued with a visitor’s visa, but a lot of people swim
across the Pearl River that separates Macau from mainland China. There
are some who swim across or come in small boats.
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It is known as Macau SAR: Macau Special
Administrative Region. Macau was under the
Portuguese until 1997, so there is a Portuguese
influence. The place is very diverse in culture,
you can see equal representation of Portuguese
culture and Portuguese food and Chinese, basically Cantonese.
Are there indigenous people as well?
The indigenous people would have been
Chinese, and the mixture of Portuguese and
Chinese is known as Macanese. You have
the option of eating Chinese, Portuguese or
Macanese, which is a combination. The culture
is diverse and every week or so you have things
happening there. Because of the amount of
revenue the casinos generate, the country is
quite rich and everyone is looked after quite
well, the infrastructure is quite organised and
the social welfare system is quite good. Every
year the permanent residents get money from
the government; at the beginning of this year
everybody got $8,000. They share the wealth,
and that is why China doesn’t want to disturb
what is happening there. Although Portugal
gave control back to the Chinese in 1997, they
have opted to let Macau remain as it is.
school where all the subjects were taught in
English, part of the Macau government requirement is that you need to learn Chinese as well,
even though you are in an international school.
After a month or two, my wife got a teaching
job there as well, and she got a year’s contract
teaching at an international school. So it’s been
an adventure for them as well.
Was it easy living there?
Living there was very easy, everything was
provided. We were housed in a hotel, a 2 bedroom apartment. The moment we got out of the
airport we were greeted by someone, taken to
our apartment, everything was organised. They
also organised my daughter’s school. At the
university we were not required to keep office
hours. We had 24/7 access to the Institute and
worked whenever we wanted, whenever we felt
like working. Some people work in the middle
of the night. It’s your own work, so if you have
deadlines you will stick to the deadlines. A few
of my colleagues wanted to work during the
night because they wanted to work undisturbed,
so there were people who worked from 8pm
till the morning, then slept the whole day, then
came back at night. I was keeping my regular
hours – get there by 9 and come back home by 4,
and the weekends we would take off and go to
different places in Macau, explore. It was a real
academic environment where researchers and
fellows can thrive.
So did you take your whole family?
Yes, I did take my family over there with
me. My daughter went to school there, she
was ten years old at that time. She learned to
speak Mandarin quite well and is able to converse. For some time she was my interpreter
when I used to go to the Chinese market to
buy vegetables. She picked that up at school
because although she attended an international
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Battle of the Fittest 2013
Megan Read
Battle of the Fittest!!! The most prestigious Crossfit competition in New Zealand!
How did I end up here and how on earth
did I end up winning the over 45 year old
Master Women’s division? Yes I am that old!
I’ve been doing Crossfit for nearly two
years now. I do it to have time to myself where
I can “unleash the beast”, meet new people
and learn a thing or two from the coaches.
I’ve done a few Crossfit competitions but I
had never competed in a master women’s
division. So this is how the journey to the
podium unfolded…
It was back in July when one of our coaches
excitedly dared me to enter some Crossfit
competition at the Big Boys Toys in Auckland,
whatever that was…. No pressure, right? I had
a bad feeling it was something big. So I paid
my registration first THEN I took a look at what
I’d signed up for. WOWZA!!! What have I got
myself into! Hello panic attack! I felt way out of
my league but the all important first step had
been taken and there was no going back. It’s
amazing how motivated you become when you
don’t want to look like a dick!
So the question was how do I go about not
looking like a dick? Where do I start? How do
I do it? HELP ME!!! I had about 13 weeks to
prepare. Luckily at the time a 10 week nutrition challenge was about to start, perfect! Extra
training programs were introduced, excellent! I
now had the tools to set me on my way. Tools
need to be put to action in order to work so
planning ahead was crucial to being able to fit
it all in.
The strength programme had to be done 3
times a week, the WODs (workouts of the day)
14 forum magazine
were 3 times a week, Olympic lifting training
program was 2 times a week. With my shifts it
meant I had to do 2 trainings a day, 3 times a
week with 3-4 hours between. Then there were
weekend trainings for the nutrition challenge
& competing online. WHAT!!! Yeah, even now
when I look back I wonder how I actually managed to fit it in.
It’s all down to planning, time management
and commitment. If there is anything out there
that you really want to do you will always find
a way to make it happen. If you’re not fully sold
on achieving your goal you will always find an
excuse why you can’t and you’ll never succeed.
Thirteen weeks later everything had come
together perfectly. I had won the nutrition challenge & I was in the best shape I could be in to
complete. I then started tapering off my training by going over Olympic movements, fine
tuning and a lot of mobility work. By the time
the first day of the comp came around I was
itching to get the show on the road. And that’s
how you want to feel.
Now with crossfit competitions they don’t
let you know what the workouts are till the last
minute. However, they did inform us that the
first day would consist of Olympic lifting so we
could prepare ourselves for the requirements
needed as it was in front of proper Olympic
lifting referees on platforms in front of a huge
crowd. Intimidated? You bet!
When I was up for my first lift, my hands
were shaking so much I wondered how I was
ever going to get the bar off the floor. I knew I
had to control my nerves, block out the crowd
and trust that all the hard work I’d done would
see me through. So with a few deep breaths
and by focusing on the moment, I lifted! And
I lifted 5 more times that morning to win the
event in my division. It gave me the confidence
I needed to set me up for the rest of the competition. The next eight WODs were spread out
over the next two days. I gave 100% for every
one of them, however I knew by Saturday night
that I’d won. So I just needed to get through
Sunday without munting myself.
The final was amazing. The open competitors were inspired by watching a couple of us
“oldies” doing muscle ups in the closing minutes of the final and it was great to hear about
this afterwards. I had an amazing support crew
cheering me on the whole way.
The prize giving was a fantastic reward for
all the hard work I had put in. A big thank you
all those who supported & encouraged me
along the way, it really meant a lot.
Our health and wellness is so important to
having quality of life. So having goals, big or
small, will keep us moving forward. Remember
our saying here at the poly gym “If it doesn’t
challenge you, it won’t change you”. This experience has taken me to the next level. Just do it!
The how will come!
Hoping to inspire others….I dare you to
take that first step!
Megs
New Zealand’s Fittest Master Woman 2013
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Improving Student Recruitment,
Engagement & Retention
Scott Henderson School Liaison
Marketing and Communications Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
23 – 24 SEPTEMBER 2013 · STAMFORD PLAZA, AUCKLAND CONFERENCE
Exploring strategies for successful recruitment & retention of tertiary
students
In September I was invited to represent Bay
of Plenty Polytechnic to speak at the Student
Recruitment, Engagement and Retention
Conference in Auckland.
Keynote speakers included the Hon Steve
Maharey, Vice-Chancellor, Massey University
and Dr. Grant Klinkum, General Manager
Tertiary Investment, Tertiary Education
Commission. There were also presenters from
the Ministry of Education, AUT University,
Otago University, Southern Institute of
Technology, University of Canterbury,
• Can this online, automated, low
maintenance tool still provide students with a
quality on-campus experience?
• What are the benefits to the student?
• Does the ‘Student for a Day’ experience
successfully convert into enrolments?
Scott Henderson, School Liaison, Bay of
Plenty Polytechnic
Many of the speakers were presenting ‘big
picture’ strategies and learning pedagogies,
philosophies and strategies ranging from
engagement of Maori and international
There was a focus on ‘who is the client’ i.e.
young people with a lot of pressure on them to
make a career decision at a challenging stage of
life, managing the expectations of generation
‘Y’ and parental influences on decision making.
I then went into the logistics of the online
programme and the strengths and weaknesses
of having an automated system. To break up the
‘talking’ aspect I included video interviews with
careers advisors, tutors and current students
who had used the system as well as high school
students who were on the BoPP campus for a
.....young people with a lot of pressure on them to make a career
decision at a challenging stage of life.
University of Waikato, Victoria Business School,
Wintec, NZUSA and Randstad.
My part was a 45 minute case study on
day one, just before Steve Maharey, to a
crowd of tertiary education professionals
ranging from Chancellors, Vice Chancellors,
Marketing Directors, Heads of Faculties and
representatives from the Ministry of Education.
The session was billed as:
CASE STUDY turning innovative ideas into
effective recruiting tools
Hear about how Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
has improved their recruitment results by
re-developing a ‘Student for a Day’ programme.
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students, to the use of technology and teaching
to the ‘Y’ (connected) generation.
My session on the ‘Student for a day
programme’ had four different perspectives:
From a marketing /recruitment perspective
(results driven), from a tutor’s perspective
(screening students), from a careers advisor’s
perspective (helping students make informed
career decisions) and, most importantly, from
the perspective of the high school students
themselves (trying before buying, gaining
confidence, helping to confirm their career
decision either way).
‘student for a day experience’. I finished off with
results and statistics and took 10 minutes of
questions form the crowd.
Feedback from the delegates which came
back from the conference organisers was very
good. I was approached by representatives from
the Ministry of Education and three different
polytechnics and Te Wananga o Aotearoa about
the possibility of implementing the system
in their institutions. On the whole, it was an
excellent conference and a great opportunity to
exchange ideas with peers in the tertiary sector.
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The Pearly Queen of Aotearoa
by Debbie Shepherd
In November 2013, Debbie Shepherd, with her latest creation, was an award winning
finalist at the 12th Annual Cult Couture Fashion Awards, Southside Arts Festival, in
Auckland. Her ensemble: “The Pearly Queen of Aotearoa” was runner-up in the Flight
of Fantasy category, during an evening of inspired sartorial creativity, where the Cult
Couture awards combine music and fashion to dramatic effect, celebrating creative
fashion by designers from all over New Zealand. In this article, Debbie describes how this
work came about through a fusion of her more recent experience of living and working in
Aotearoa New Zealand and her British roots.
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Design & Concept
The Pearly Queen of Aotearoa is a cultural
cohesion – drawing inspiration from the historical working class charitable society of the
London “Pearly Kings and Queens”, the royalty
of British urban street style, and the contemporary relaxed street style of the New Zealand
youth. Since migrating to Aotearoa from the
UK in 2010, I have observed, researched and
been inspired by the historical use of symbolism by indigenous Maori people as a means to
pass on ancestry, major historic events, beliefs
and legends, and identified parallels with those
used by the “Pearlies” of my British heritage.
Born and raised in a London orphanage,
Henry Croft at the age of 13 was out on the
streets and having to make a life for himself
as a road sweeper. Befriended by the caring
“Costermongers” (street traders of the London
markets), Henry was fascinated by their way
of life, loyalty, generosity and charitable code
of looking after each other if they were sick or
in need. Although each Coster family traded
independently, they remained loyal to other
Costers, collecting for those that fell on hard
times – their charitable code.
Their philosophy of life was one of “Fate –
some you win, some you lose – when things
get bad you pick yourself up and start all
over again”.
The Costermongers, who had been a feature
of London life since the 11th Century, cried
their wares to attract customers – much to the
annoyance of London’s “well-to-do” society –
and provided an essential service to London’s
poor. They stitched pearl buttons on the seams
of their garments, referred to as skeleton suits,
to be noticed and show their status.
Henry drew inspiration from the
Costermonger’s way of life and decided he
would help those less fortunate than himself,
such as the children in the orphanage. He
began by collecting all the buttons he found
whilst sweeping and stitched them onto his cap,
and then his suit until it was smothered. The
first “smother suit” was created. Henry Croft –
the original Pearly King.
He became in such demand for his charity work that his friends, the Costermongers
stepped in to help. Many became the first
“Pearly” families, one for each London Borough,
and in 1911 the “Pearly Society” was formed.
Just as Henry had sewn on his buttons, the
tradition of the “Kings” designing and sewing
continues today. Each outfit can hold many
tens of thousands of buttons and can weigh up
to thirty kilos and more. Designs with symbolic meanings run in families, visualizing their
heritage, but some imagery is familiar throughout: the horseshoe for luck, the dove for peace,
the heart for charity, an anchor for hope, wheel – circle of life and hearts,
diamonds, spades and clubs – “life’s a gamble”.
Just as a traditional Maori emblem should be worn with respect, and
given or received with love in order to create a spiritual link between
people spanning time and distance, the Pearly Queen of Aotearoa wears
and treasures her ensemble with respect and pride, keeping it alive
and changing.
In designing
the Pearly Queen
ensemble, I have
emphasised contemporary trends,
including the classic
New Zealand street
styles of leggings,
tunics, singlet, hoodie
and vest, combined
with engineered
digital textile printing
and “crafted” manipulated buttons as a
way of demonstrating Kiwi innovation
and ingenuity.
When teaching in
an area of the creative industries it is
extremely important
to be current in your
own design practice.
Entering a fashion /
design competition,
and being selected as
a finalist, gives you
the opportunity to
showcase your creative work alongside
others in a professional forum. The Cult
Couture Awards also
enable young and upcoming designers to
do just that, alongside
those who may be
more established.
Far Left and Above:
On stage at
Cult Couture
Left: Studio
Designer:
Debbie Shepherd
Photographer:
Anne Shirley
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Pearly Queen
The kiri tuhi (pattern not regarded as having the cultural
aspects related to moko) I have used, through consultation
with Karam Hood of “Moana Moko”, draw on designs with
similar meanings.
• Hei-tiki – the first man created by Tane. A powerful good
luck symbol. The wearer is assumed to be clear thinking
and loyal – strength is their character.
• The Koru – symbolising new life, growth, strength
and peace.
• Hei-Matau (Fish Hooks) – symbolising strength, prosperity,
provision, companionship, support in times of need.
• Pikorua (tiple twist) – the symbol for eternity – the joining
together of peoples / cultures for eternity – bonded by
friendship and loyalty.
• Heart – Friendship.
• Hammerhead – Strength, Determination.
• Moana (Water / Sea) – Harmony.
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Collaboration with China in
moving forward to StudentCentred learning and teaching
Sam Honey
SINO-NZ Vocational Education Forum 2013 – 22nd to 24th September 2013
Qingdao, P.R China
View from the 36th floor of hotel, Qingdao
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In April this year an agreement was signed
between P.R. China and New Zealand to foster
stronger linkages in Vocational Education and
Training (VET). As part of this agreement,
Wintec was asked to lead a project to build
vocational education and training relationships
in China in key targeted regions under a Sino
/ NZ TVET Programme. WINTEC already
have several important links and collaborative
partnerships with some Chinese vocational
institutes. While Wintec took the lead on the
project, the work and outputs are expected to
involve multiple ITPs and to benefit the wider
ITP sector as a whole. Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
has an opportunity to be a part of this.
One output of the project was an education
conference in Qingdao, Shandong Province,
on September 23rd and 24th 2013. The theme
of the conference was Excellence in Vocational
Teaching and was enthusiastically supported
by China’s Central Institute of Vocational
Training and Education (CIVTE), Education
NZ and our hosts in Qingdao. Ten New
Zealand VET academics were invited to attend
the conference and present on areas such
as engineering, on-the-job training, English
language skills acquisition, problem-based
learning and student-centred approaches to
vocational teaching and learning.
With the support of Ako Aotearoa,
Kelly Pender and I were among the
recommendations for staff to present at the
conference. Of course when asked we gratefully
accepted the invite! Other presenters who
attended included Aiden Bigham, Peter Bilous,
Selena Chan, Jo Thomas, Karen Vaughan,
Adrian Woodhouse, Julia Bruce and John
Clayton. Funding for the venture meant all
flights and accommodation for 5 days were
covered through the organisers.
A bit of fun and experience
before the Qingdao conference
For many of the presenters it was our
first time to China. To be honest it was not at
the top of my list of trips I must make in the
coming years, however this was too good an
opportunity to turn down! It was to be my
first foray into a non-western country, and my
first presentation to a non-English speaking
conference and we were all excited by what lay
ahead for us.
After organising relief tutors, just in case
the classes stopped spinning in our absence of
course, we prepared presentations to be sent for
translation into Chinese. It’s important to add
here that there were difficulties in translation,
as of course not all English words, phrases,
jargon and technical language have an exact
counterpart in other languages. However we
received the translated copies back, organised
families, received Visas, packed our bags
(carefully!) and set off up to Auckland for the
19 hour flight.
With such an opportunity I was extremely
fortunate to be able to include my husband
Brendon in the trip, so we decided to extend
the 5 day adventure into 12 days. We managed
two days experiencing the attractions in Hong
Kong including Giant Buddha, Tai O fishing
village, all the markets, harbour Junk tour,
Symphony of Lights, the heat and the crowds
of wonderfully friendly people, before meeting
Kelly and the rest of the group at the Hong
Kong airport to fly to Qingdao the morning
that Typhoon Usagi was due to hit Hong Kong.
Thankfully we flew out about 6 hours before
they closed the airport!
About half of the New Zealand contingent
stayed on after the conference for a few extra
days to take in as much, if only a minute part
of the scale, of China and its offerings as we
could. A group of five caught the day train to
Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technical
College, which is one of eight educational
institutes that make up stage 1 of the Haihe
Educational Park, which when completed will
support educational and residential needs of
over 300,000 people!! and then on to Beijing.
Beijing is another story – another time…
an incredible mix of western influence and
traditional practice, cars, bikes and pollution,
mega multi-lane highways and 800 year old
parks and temples, the Great Wall, a long
history of invasion and survival, and so much
more.
The two days of conference
From the minute we arrived in Qingdao,
a beautiful, sunny, coastal city of 7 million
people, we were treated like VIPs. In fact Kelly
and I passed a bemused look between us when
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they introduced us to the conference attendees
as ‘the experts from New Zealand’, waiting
to see who else had arrived! Everything was
catered to perfection, the hotel – all 48 stories
–was 5 star by NZ standards, and our Qingdao
Technical College hosts were incredible. Over
the two full days we ate wonderful traditional
fresh sea food and vegetable dishes and even
tried chicken feet. We had translator-guides
from the forum with us the whole time. We
gum-bayed as appropriate (Chinese toasting
– respectful and traditional) and attended
a theatre restaurant. We were taken to the
Olympic sailing venue, Old Qingdao, and learnt
a bit about the amazing history of Qingdao and
all its colonisers.
Trying the chicken feet – yum!
The forum, of about 600 attendees, opened
with a formal welcome from Professor Qin
Chuan, President of Qingdao Technical College,
followed by a short speech from the vicemayor of Qingdao Municipal Government, Liu
Mingjun, followed by a series of speeches from
various signatories of the MOU between China
and NZ. From the start the value placed in this
forum was obvious.
Unfortunately the NZ group was split
into two different lecture theatres to present,
so we couldn’t watch all the presentations,
but feedback was that we had hit the theme
and purpose of the forum exactly. Although
The New Zealand 10 presenters plus 2
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Qingdao Technical College - hosts
our presentations were all quite different,
they focussed on the same message – that of
facilitating learning, interacting with students,
facilitating spaces and activities where students
can share their knowledge with each other and
us, and where they can practice and further
develop their skills.
China’s education
moving forward
China is undertaking nation-wide education
reforms. Out of 21 countries China ranks 1st in
math, yet ties last place in creative imagination
and 5th from the bottom in creativity. China
has had extreme economic and GDP growth
in the past 15-20 years and to continue to set
itself as a world leader in business it needs its
working population to be more than workers. It needs to be able to train its exceptional
learners to be creative thinkers, innovative business leaders and forward thinking employees
and that training needs to happen in Chinese
Universities, technical colleges and schools, not
in overseas universities.
Traditionally China’s education system is
teacher centred – the institute and government
decide what needs to be taught and the curriculum, and the teachers decide how they will
teach it. The ‘machine’ is very hierarchical, the
methods of delivery are just that: delivery. The
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ultimate success has been to be able to recite
back to the examiners what you were told in
your lessons. University exams, largely based on
reciting information, are what have got Chinese
students into universities. Questioning content
and suggesting alternatives were never a place
of the student or the teaching staff, so huge
changes lie ahead, for teachers, administrators
and the students.
Gum-bay with our host
Now China is embracing ideas of education
used in other countries; not just New Zealand,
Australia, England and Canada but also Spain,
South America and South Africa. So we are
just privileged contributors in this reciprocal partnership. And embracing they are. The
attendees at the forum were very keen to hear
of and experience our teaching methods. They
valued the importance we place on student
contribution as active learners and the learning partnerships we create with our learners.
Kelly’s presentation on ‘empowerment and
compassion, enhanced through experiential
learning’, gave insight into building a class
culture of support and experience and his haka
was a moving finish amplifying the passion of
his students for learning. Julia Bruce ran one of
the four chosen workshops on the second day
- exploring learning styles, demonstrating an
activity for discovering students’ preferences for
Visual, Audio and Kinaesthetic learning. It was
interesting that for the fifteen Chinese teachers
in that workshop, it was their first introduction
to teaching to students’ preferred ways of learning. They took a lot away that they were going
to put into practice with their students.
For us as guests of China, we learnt so much
from and about our Chinese colleagues: their
passion for continued improvement for what is
best for their students and their country, humbleness, pride in all that is China and its history,
traditions and future, and that tradition and
cultural strength is to be valued and used as the
guide to future change.
It was a truly awesome experience – a once
in a lifetime, and both Kelly and I are still buzzing that we were a part of it. We also want to
acknowledge our students here; as it was their
stories and experiences we were privileged
to tell.
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Where the focus goes, energy
flows: an overview of a year’s
professional development.
t
Shirley Porter
New York Times dubbed 2012 as “The Year
of the MOOC”. A MOOC is a “Massive Open
Online Course”, free to those around the world
who wish to enrol. MOOCs first caught my
attention early 2012 while I was keeping an
eye on digital developments in the teaching
and learning field and terms like “flipping the
classroom” were being bandied around. I saved
any information I could gather on MOOCs,
not actually researching them but some of my
mathematics sites were transmitting article
after article. So when I was choosing a paper
at the start of 2013 to head towards the completion of my Masters, the Waikato University
paper “Globalisation and Global Education”
seemed the obvious choice. Although unsure
whether MOOCs would affect the Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic in the future, it seemed wise to
become more informed about them.
programmes taught solely online need to be
certain of the quality they offer. A deterrent
from participating in a MOOC is the lack of
At first I was dismayed to learn the paper
was more philosophical than relating to current
developments. Terms such as “connectivism”
and “neo-liberalism” were commonplace and
not a MOOC mention anywhere. Fortunately
the professor, Michael Peters, was keen to
be student directed and as we moved on to
considering the difficulties and successes of
implementing education in developing (thirdworld is no longer PC) countries, he was happy
to accept MOOCs as the topic for my major
assignment.
The Polytechnic sits in a relatively comfortable position as it has many programmes
that will not lend themselves to MOOC
encroachment, programmes like carpentry,
marine studies and environmental, hospitality,
any with a practical content. However, those
credit points associated with them. The analysis
of students enrolling in MOOCs has indicated
that the majority is people already with degrees
and interested in acquiring further knowledge
and skills, not students wanting to gain a
degree.
For the second semester I decided to stay
with the same professor, especially as he edits
four journals and was keen to have our assignments from the previous course published.
I enrolled in “International Development
Education” and again we followed our inclinations and my focus became Girls’ Education
with a case study set in Pakistan. The research
into this was an education in itself as I
struggled to understand all points of view: academics; human rights; women’s rights; United
Nations; the Taliban; Islam; the Pakistani
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government. I was delighted at the end of this
course to be invited to assist the professor in
editing a special edition on the topic of “Girls’
Education, Social Change and Development”
of the journal “Policy Futures”, which Professor
Peters publishes out of Oxford. This will credit
as my next paper for my Masters.
I also undertook a MOOC,“How to Learn
Math” out of Stanford University, mainly to gain
the experience. This emphasised the psychology
of mathematics learning, less academic, more
reality based and surprisingly enlightening.
I would recommend this MOOC to anyone
teaching mathematics at any level; the course
will run again starting May 2014.
On reflection, 2013 has been a journey
through fog over unknown terrain but with
clear skies by the end. I have enjoyed every step
of the way. The future is looking more and more
exciting; who knows where it will go.
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Homeward bound:
to ‘check out the tech’!
Ruth Boal
Leaving on a jet plane - I can still hear all
my friends singing it to me at one of several
leaving parties - Don’t know when she’ll be
back again! That was almost 7 years ago and
I’ve been home to Scotland 3 times since. When
planning my recent trip I thought it would be
a good idea to ‘check out the tech’ and find out
I visited three universities: Edinburgh;
Queen Margaret; Napier and three colleges
(the equivalent of Polytechnics): Edinburgh;
Borders and I even ventured where most Scots
fear to tread, crossing the border to visit my
English cousins at Southampton City College!
Reassuringly we are all on the same page in
developed resource used widely - or PebblePad,
with two providers using both Mahara and
PebblePad - just because they can! Anecdotal
evidence suggests that ePortfolios are used
most successfully in higher levels of study. They
are also being used in lower level programmes
rather more tentatively. All providers offer
ePortfolios are used most successfully in higher levels of study.
what’s been happening with eLearning and
educational technology in the Scottish tertiary
education system. I had been networking
‘virtually’ with some tertiary providers, so had
a bit of an idea what they had been doing
and where they were headed. In my role as
Academic Advisor eLearning, I was keen to
see for myself as there is often a disconnect
between intent and practice.
many respects with some further down the
road on their technology journey than others.
So what innovation is actually occurring and
is it different to what is happening here in NZ?
Most are using Moodle as their learning
management system (LMS), with one
using Blackboard and one provider using
both Moodle and Blackboard. All are using
ePortfolios, either Mahara – yes all the way
around the world to see a New Zealand
technology-enhanced, blended and fully online
learning options.
We provide a very similar service in terms of
eLearning and our LMS functionality. The main
difference to our provision is ePortfolios. We do
not currently support the use of ePortfolios but
are actively investigating the options available
to identify a solution that can truly support
lifelong learning where students can take their
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ePortfolio with them when they complete their programme of learning at
BoPP.
Right, that’s me done so I’m away for a haggis supper, a wee dram
and to chew the fat. Cheerio!
The common focus areas for all, regardless of their current position,
are striving for improvement to:
•
increase the use of educational technology
•
improve the quality of online resources
•
support staff to optimise the use and range of LMS features
•
extend use of online assessment
•
increase flexible learning opportunities
•
identify smart use of devices
•
identify innovation through networking
•
determine market position through benchmarking
The most effective uses of technology identified were:
•
Wikis and Discussion Boards to facilitate collaboration
•
PD programmes delivered in-house
•
Fully online programme development and delivery
•
Other online communication tools
•ePortfolios
Future focussed priorities include:
•
Learning analytics
•
Digital futures
•
Quick Response (QR) codes
•Badges
•
Interactive video books
•
Media Lounge - technology playroom
•
Portable devices for practical assessment observations
•
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Everyone’s talking about Badges; it’s obvious they are currently in
vogue! But, what are they and why all the hype? Well, they are often
associated with MOOCs and are used as a form of certification, awarded
on completion of a module of learning or programme of study. They are
awarded for achievement and progress, based on a range of criteria and
can be displayed through a student’s profile. Badges will be available
for us when we move to the next iteration of Moodle – ‘virtually’
coming soon!
What are we doing that others aren’t? This year we provided single
sign on (SSO) for more efficient student access. Get Connected, the
student portal was launched to provide a one-stop-shop to provide
access to all services and support. Some of our programmes are taking
tentative steps with technology-enhanced and blended learning, whilst
others have been on the technology journey for some time and have
some fantastic strategies and tools. We also have a number of fully online
programmes, with the NC in Horticulture adding fully online delivery to
their portfolio of delivery models for 2014. A number of our programmes
are facilitating virtual classrooms via Adobe Connect. We are ahead of
the game nationally being the only Polytechnic that has enabled data
integration from EBS to Moodle via a mapping tool – courtesy of Mark
Ward! We are currently in the processing of upgrading to Moodle 2.6 with
all the enhanced features this iteration offers.
I was employed by Borders College for over 10 years and they are
doing some awesome things with technology. No favouritism of course,
but I thought you might appreciate their humorous take on the names
they have given their Moodle and Mahara users groups: SMUG (Scottish
Moodle Users Group) and MacHara (no explanation required).
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Photography:
Cairngorms, Scotland
Tabrez Ahmad
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Conferencing Colleagues
Five tutors, three presentations at ATLAANZ 2013
Cath Fraser, Pam Simpson, Pip Crombie, Judi Honeyfield and Sean Squires
The 2013 ATLAANZ (Association of Tertiary
Learning Advisors of Aotearoa New Zealand)
conference was hosted by the Eastern Institute
of Technology in Napier, November 27-29. This
is a great annual event which draws around 100
delegates from universities, ITPs, wananga and
PTEs, and focuses on the way support services
can work alongside teaching staff to improve
learner outcomes. Keynote speakers are
selected from a range of areas of expertise, and
this year we were treated to addresses from:
• Peter Coolbear, Director Ako
Aotearoa: “Supporting the success of
priority learners”
• Marcia Devlin, Education Consultant and
ex-RMIT, Melbourne: “Australian strategies
to support students from low socioeconomic backgrounds”
• Linda Aumua, Director Pacific Student
and Community Engagement: “Pacific
knowledge, expertise and cultural
understanding to support the success of
students and communities”
• Paul Fenton, Director Student Learning
and Engagement, AUT: “The winds of
educational change: Perils, potential
and projections”
• Sereana Naepi, Faculty of Arts
Undergraduate Equity Coordinator,
University of Auckland: “Listening and
learning: What our students’ voices can
teach us about higher education”
Alongside all this wisdom were 30
workshops and presentations, as well as
special interest group meetings, particularly
for Maori (MATLAANZ) and Pacific learners
(PATLAANZ). BoPP was well represented with
three presentations:
• Sean Squires, who described the student
engagement and whakawhanaungatanga
approaches introduced by the automotive
team this year, in his discussion “We are
practical people - Building new initiatives
to improve student success in Level 3-4
programmes”. Sean’s presentation was
very well received and (in the words of an
audience member) “inspirational in giving
Learning Advisors an insight into how
collaborative programmes can be run”.
• Judi Honeyfield and Cath Fraser
co-presented the new “Goalposts” resource
in a national launch introduced by Ruth
Peterson, Manager of Ako Aotearoa’s
Northern Regional Hub. The talk was titled
“Everything a Learning Adviser needs to
know about the scholarship of teaching
and learning in ten easy pages – Yes way!”
• Pip Crombie, Pam Simpson and Cath
Fraser’s presentation “International
graduates: Where do they
go? What do they do?”
discussed key findings from
their current research into
the first destinations of
our international students
once they complete their
qualification(s) with us.
And sort-of-from-BoPP, many
of our staff would have recognised
(as did many of the ATLAANZ
members) the previous Manager
of Kahurangi, Lin Ayo, who
also attended and shared her
knowledge of the eastern-western
learning culture differences
gleaned from her four years
in Bahrain.
There were a lot of highlights, and we
all found the three days of professional
conversations and networking extremely
useful. Sean even managed to include a visit
to another automotive provider while in the
neighbourhood, and make some valuable
contacts. Meanwhile, Judi worked with Lesley
Petersen at EIT to complete a large milestone
report for her current research, also funded
by Ako Aotearoa, to support teaching staff
professional development relating to under-25
students.
And as for the conference, it was good to
get a programme tutor’s perspective: Sean
noted that none of the other organisations
and learning centres represented seemed to
have a model exactly like ours, with Learning
Facilitators who come into the classes and
work with the entire group, so that students
don’t have to travel to them, ask for help or feel
singled out in any way – instead the invitation
and engagement is with everyone (hopefully
some of our Ako Awe team might consider
attending this event next year and spread the
word – we have a good story to tell here!)
The rest of us also gathered up strategies
and suggestions – for documenting evidence of
the impact of student support, for working with
Saudi students, for approaches to collaborate
with teaching staff to focus on achieving parity
for under-served and priority learner groups …
and more. So it was a good experience for both
seasoned and new presenters, and now, just the
papers to write for (hopefully) publication in the
peer-reviewed conference proceedings book due
out in 2014. Thanks to BoPP and Ako Aotearoa
for assistance with our attendance at this
valuable professional development opportunity.
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Rabindra Das
Today’s tertiary IT Managers and Chief
Information Officers are living through
unprecedented rates of change within the ICT
industry. Between the massive movement to
online course delivery and MOOCs (Massively
Online Open Courses), through to new
demands for greater collaboration, and of
course the ever-present pressure to increase
productivity and revenue streams, reduce costs
and create efficiency, IT managers are facing
new levels of demand on their time, energy and
budgets. So how can we not only survive, but
drive innovation and change in our sector?
The answers are never simple or
straightforward, but these are the types of topics
that are explored at the annual Tertiary ICT
Conference. Back in October 2012 some of my
peers spoke to me about hosting the Tertiary
ICT Conference for 2013. Initially I was rather
flattered that they believed the Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic could host this event and make it
a success. Only after accepting the challenge
did it really sink in how much there was to
plan and organise alongside my normal day
job! Help was at hand, and my counterpart at
the University of Waikato, Kevin Adamson, and
outgoing convenor Mark Marshall from CPIT
joined me in organising the programme for
the conference.
The Tertiary ICT Conference, held over
three days, gives tertiary IT professionals an
opportunity to hear from industry and academic
speakers on a range of relevant and hot topics,
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alongside an IT suppliers’ trade show where they
can see some of the new products and services
being offered. We also hear from our peers
and sponsors on some of the new innovative
solutions and services that are available or that
have been deployed within the tertiary sector.
Microsoft sponsor a number of Innovation
Awards to allow for a bit of competition
giving the Universities, ITPs and Wananga
the opportunity to showcase their innovative
projects and services in various categories, with
an ultimate winner.
We were fortunate to involve three students,
two from the Diploma in Tourism (Event
Management) and one from Graphic Design for
the duration of the conference. These types of
events allow students the opportunity to gain
valuable work experience alongside their studies,
and we should all consider this when organising
events. I am glad to say they all performed their
duties admirably, and I have to mention Angus
Templeton the Graphic Design student. He
took photos of both evening events, which is not
easy given the demands of the sponsors and the
usual poor lighting issues. Both sponsors for
those evening events were blown away by his
professionalism and output; I personally believe
the results were better than anything I have seen
in previous years.
Each year the conference has a theme and I
chose the theme for this year as “Connecting”;
by that we meant that it was all about
demonstrating that the services and solutions
being presented are connecting both our staff
and learners to these technology solutions and
services.
The Conference
This year was the third year the Bay of
Plenty Polytechnic had entered a project
into the Microsoft Innovation Awards, being
finalists twice before. I was confident we
had a good story to tell with a theme which
was very relevant to connecting students to
technology and staff, as it was around the
getConnected web portal we developed along
with the associated services. Our abstract was
as follows:
Building upon the recent initiatives of
creating a wireless Campus, Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic undertook a range of initiatives
to work on connecting with the ‘connected
generation’, our students. This included
the development of iPhone and Android
mobile apps for students, Integrated and
Single Sign-On across key web services using
Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services
(ADFS) and SimpleSAML, development of a
student web portal, live help, migrating to a
new Learning Management System (Moodle2),
introduction of some elements of Microsoft
Office 365 and Timetable integration with our
recently launched EBS Student Management
System.
The project team’s underlying drive was
‘get Connected – any-time, anywhere’. Mobile
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Building upon the recent initiatives of creating a
wireless Campus, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic undertook
a range of initiatives to work on connecting with the
‘connected generation’, our students.
App development was undertaken as an
exploratory project to better understand the
audience, development and sustainability of
creating mobile applications. This was run in
parallel with our first iteration of introducing
responsive design into our public and student
portal sites. We envisaged that the benefits to
our learners would be to increase accessibility
of information via a number of different mobile
methods, ability to connect to both teaching
staff and support staff in a number of different
ways, provide a streamlined login process
to access systems and provide the ability to
amend personal data.
Mark Ward was the key architect for much
of the work mentioned above, and presented
to the independent panel of judges. We
were fortunate enough to win our category
(Innovation in connecting students to new
technologies and services) and received a
$5,000 prize towards Educause Australasia
2014 at the Microsoft Awards dinner held
at the Trinity Wharf Hotel. As I said in my
somewhat unprepared winners’ speech, the
award is recognition to all those within the ISS
team along with others that provided input in
various components of the project that led to
the overall success of the project.
Next Year
Reflection is critical if you want to improve
and better. So on the last day of the conference
we had an open session, during which we
discussed the future of the Conference. Some
key themes came out from this session:
• There needs to be a steering committee to
help drive the programme.
• The programme should be confirmed
earlier in the year to allow delegates
to plan attendance better, and to allow
better promotion.
• There needs to be better attendance from
all institutions especially universities.
• The conference needs to be held in the
main centres for ease of travel, and the next
few conferences should be agreed.
As a result of these discussions Kevin
Adamson and I have agreed that we assist in
driving the programme for 2014. As part of
the changes, we plan to have a wider audience
and a number of focused streams for example
Leadership/Management, Technical and
e-Learning. With the merging of technologies,
IT professionals need to be more aware
of teaching and learning pedagogies. The
innovation awards will continue to be part of
the conference, although this may be a on
a smaller scale with a changed format. The
conference is heavily subsidised for delegates
through the sponsorship of the vendors
that attend, making it affordable for most IT
professionals in tertiary. Next year the event is
being hosted by Massey University, and I hope
that the programme is broad enough to attract
a wide range of ICT and e-Learning staff.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Mark Ward (BoPP, Web Developer), Sarah Bowden (Microsoft NZ, Public Sector
Account Manager), Rabindra Das (BoPP, IT Manager) and Matt Bostwick (Microsoft NZ, Tertiary
Education Sector Manager)
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Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in
the Tauranga Arts Festival
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Art and Design
Staff and students participated in this year’s
Tauranga Arts Festival for the first time in private
and public pop-ups in the visual arts category
of the festival. This was a new initiative for the
festival that we were quick to take up. Art,
Fashion and Graphic Design tutors collaborated
together to present in a Pop-Up exhibition,
titled ‘Up-Pop’ located in an empty shop at 89
Grey Street. The Up-Pop opening night was
perfectly timed between the opening of Gregor
Kregar’s “Foucault’s Pendulum” at Taranga Art
Gallery and the impressive artist caliber of Hurst,
Picasso and McCahon to name a few at Gow
Langsford Pop-Up Gallery just down the road
at No. 29.
The curator Sonya Korohina said, “We were
delighted to have the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
students and staff from the School of Media
Arts and Design participate in the Tauranga Arts
Festival visual arts programme. Their involvement presented emerging artists alongside
established artists, designers and practitioners,
showcasing our diverse visual arts community
in the Bay of Plenty”.
Our intention was that Up-Pop would upcycle materials, processes, methods, art and
design history and theory to create an eclectic
mix of art and design solutions. The exhibition
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showcased our current creative endeavours in
screen-printed artworks, digitally programmed
visual displays and posters, textile designs, fashion collections and photography. Up-Pop was
reviewed by Emma Frederickson from Akari
Design in ARTbop e, November edition. “A very
simple but professionally mounted exhibition.
I just loved the contemporary and dramatic
exhibition catalogue – black on white paper.
Wonderful design and easy to read. I found it
fascinating to see such different expressions
of art and design in the exhibition. What made
this exhibition more
interesting was that
all of this talent and
skill is available here
in Tauranga”.
Unfortunately our
original vacant shop
location was leased
a week before the
festival. With lots of
emails, Bayleys real
estate found us a new
location that was even
better: mainly walls,
long and white with
foot traffic in the city
centre. We quickly wrote a press release that
came out in the first weekend of the festival in
BOP Times lifestyle magazine ‘Indulge’. It was
again perfectly timed with the big yellow bus
tour of the private and public pops throughout
Tauranga city and the Mount; it was our busiest
day of the festival. Being in an unleased shop,
we took turns to look after the exhibition. We
found this to be extremely beneficial as we
were able to network with local artists and
designers as well as prospective students for
the new Bachelor of Creative Industries Degree
to be starting 2014.
Debbie Shepherd’s ‘Identity’ digital textile pattern design prints.
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The Diploma of Art Year 2 course in Art
Business required students to collaborate on
projects for the festival. Students learnt about
proposal writing and worked in groups to
develop written proposals that were emailed
to the curator Sonya Korohina to approve; this
information was then used in the Visual Arts
Festival Programme Guide.
The concept came about as a way to get
better at painting people that quickly turned
into a lucrative opportunity. He has continued
to do portraits for donations after the festival
and will take this concept on a road trip around
New Zealand this summer.
‘Imaginarium’ was a group presentation at
Bay of Plenty Times new building on Cameron
Jesse Morgan, Rebecca Russek and Alex
Morison proposed to do an art happening in
Red Square.
Road. The challenge with this pop up space
was the fact that there were no walls to present
artwork on, a conference room that changed
into an unexpected space, filled with random
artworks and a mini movie theatre. ‘Chromatic
semblance’ proposed action street painting.
Initially to be held in a side street car park, the
group decided the risk of damaging surrounding cars was high and moved to Red Square
to be in close proximity to other pop up performances by their peers. They set up in the
middle with plastic sheets, spray paint, acrylic
paint, paper, brushes and canvas. Within half
an hour shop owners were complaining about
the smell and the group was asked to move.
In hindsight, some role-playing exercises prior
to the festival to understand public reaction
and how to respond in a professional manner
Participants were encouraged to dress up
for a cartoon-like portrait by the 3 artists, each
depicting exaggerated characters. It was a fun
project that made people laugh and smile,
presenting art as fun and inventive.
Group Leader Mary Stewart said, “Being the
first time visual arts have been in the festival,
art students relished the opportunity to participate; they particularly enjoyed creating art
in public spaces and engaging different audiences. They created a profile for the polytechnic
programme in the arts and opportunities have
developed from these public projects such as
the pop up live portraits in Red Square, that
continue to generate income.”
Shanan Philips ‘15 minutes of fame’ pop up
event, where you can sit for 15 minutes and
have your portrait painted in Indian ink on
paper, proved extremely popular with queues
of people waiting to be made famous by
Shanan. In the 10 days of the festival he set up 3
times on 3 different days at 3 different locations.
What started out as a free opportunity turned
into portraits by donation, often $20 notes
were given as appreciation of Shanan’s time
and artistic rendering.
Shanan Philip ’15 minutes of fame’ in Red
Square.
Action painting in Red Square by Ben Lowe
they particularly enjoyed creating art in public
spaces and engaging different audiences
would have helped the situation. We tested
the concept of what a pop up can be; we all
enjoyed contributing to this years festival and
can’t wait for next time.
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Six Week Challenge
September 2013 was action-packed at Te
Pare a Ruahine as the integral six week challenge was commencing. Participants of all
shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels arrived
to measure up and weigh in throughout preassessment week. Goals were considerately
chosen by each individual, with six weeks of
opportunity looming ahead of them to achieve
these ambitions.
Goals ranged from cutting down on eating
baked goods, training for a special event, losing
body fat or simply getting into a regular exercise routine.
The staff at Te Pare a Ruahine worked
their evil magic to fill the six weeks with an
array of events, workouts and a points system
which proved hugely popular. Everything was
designed to provide challengers with the tools
to progress towards their goals, step outside of
their comfort zone, encounter new experiences,
gain confidence and have fun.
First up for the events was a nutrition talk,
offering vital information on how to eat correctly for health and exercise. This was prepared
and delivered by our nutrition expert and
champion marathon runner Tracey Clissold.
From here on a mixture of events were held
weekly, challenging each individual in different aspects of fitness. Included in the line-up
of twelve events was a two hour spin session;
a cross fit workout, a triathlon, an obstacle
course, a wet and wild pool session, a rowing
event for charity, a chance to act like an animal from the zoo, bust a move and a walk in
the bush.
Hard work and determination was needed
to get through most of the events on offer, but
an element of fun was always produced by a
few individuals.
Three musketeers appeared at spin and
kindly brought safety to a new level by wearing
their helmets. These ladies also came equipped
with bike pumps and were generous enough
to provide wine and performance enhancing
drugs, to ensure everyone made it through the
gruelling two hour spin session.
34 forum magazine
Kathy and Shane Fisher kept us entertained
as they showed up in costumes which continued to mercilessly appear from their wardrobe.
These costumes must have helped Shane as
he went on to win the prestigious and well
deserved ‘inspirational’ award which he shared
with Eric Smith and Deirdre Burrows.
Shane brings bundles of energy on each
visit and through the six weeks he completed a
19 kilometre off road run in Waihi and continues to train for the challenging run ‘The Goat’
held in December.
Eric brought a whole new meaning to determination as he pushed himself hard at every
session. We would see Eric arrive with such
purpose several times a day, juggling all his
training between work and a young family.
Our Female inspiration award went to
Deirdre who has been a regular for several
years. Deirdre works hard on her own fitness
and gives everything a go. She does this while
managing to be ‘super Mum’ for her talented
family of athletes.
As the six weeks progressed it was evident that positive changes had taken place.
Motivation and confidence had flourished and
participants were now arriving for events and
workouts with absolute positivity and sureness,
leaving Intimidated looks seen at the beginning
to vanish. It was noticed that some had added a
bit of ‘swagger’ to their stride and were glowing
with new found energy.
It was also clear that the new points system
introduced this year had added an extra level of
motivation. Points were racking up swiftly right
from the early stages of the challenge showing
competitiveness among its contenders. Points
were rewarded for completing personal workouts, the workout of the week, group fitness
classes and the six week challenge events.
A generous three were rewarded upon
completion of the ‘workout of the week’. This
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was a demanding workout displayed in the
gym providing a way to scoop up those important points.
In the end there were two clear winners in
this point’s category with Paddy Magill dominating the men’s achieving a total of 115 points
and Nicky Crane ruling the female’s on 109
points. These were well deserved points as both
Paddy and Nicky would often complete a class
and a workout in the same visit and even come
twice a day on several occasions.
Not everyone on the challenge chose to
take part in the events or points challenge.
After the pre-assessment some went through
the six weeks completing their own training.
Polytechnic staff member Anthony McKenna
spent most of the six weeks out on his bike
training for the 160 kilometre Lake Taupo cycle
challenge. Anthony came out on top with the
highest amount of body fat lost which was a
whopping 11kg. Dean Tully had another successful year losing 8.2 kilograms of fat backing
up his strong performance from last year,
apparently doing it all without cheating. Group
leader in the Sport and Recreation department
Pete Sommers lost 37% of his body fat, amazing
achievement also. Pete accomplished a hefty
10 kilometres on the erg in the charity rowing event held through the six weeks, to raise
money for the heart foundation.
Winning the female section was Marine
student Marguerite Taiarui, losing 5.2 kg of
her body fat, fitting her training in around her
study. She was closely followed by our points
challenge winner Nicky Crane who lost 19.8%
of her limited body fat. Oriwa Lovett who is
forever consistent and one of our long time
regulars came in for third losing 16.3% of her
body fat.
The six weeks finished with many more
inspirational achievements of all different forms
as many accomplished personal goals, overcame fears or simply created positive exercise
habits. The six week journey may have ended,
but for many it was just beginning. Fuel to their
fitness fires had been added and devotion to
the challenge had produced new fitness levels,
laying foundations for future accomplishments.
Fitness is a way of life so there is no stopping here; we are now running the six week
hang over classes on Thursday night and have
continued to provide a work out of the week
and month. So come and get a head start
on next year’s challenge, or your new year’s
resolution.
It’s never too late and time is never an
excuse when it comes to exercise. Take the
plunge and get started and you could become
one of the many inspiring stories produced here
at Te Pare a Ruahine.
35 forum magazine
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Do everything at least
twice in your life.
Tabrez Ahmad
As is typical of certain Graphic Designers,
this article was written at the last minute, so
please excuse any moments of boredom, or
mistakes in the following article.
To cut a long and sympathy inducing story
short — in 2009 I was jobless in London right
in the thick of the worst economic situation my
generation had ever known. The comedian Jeff
Garlin once said that if he had superpowers,
he would have the power of hindsight. With
this in mind, I like to think I may have, not
quite the gift, but the comfort of knowing that
my somewhat reckless actions led me to a
great place.
So here I was, struggling to make ends
meet in a city that swallows you whole without
hesitation, and trying to put on a brave face
in front of prospective clients, friends and
of course my family, when out of the blue, a
friend asked me if I fancied taking part in a
London - Paris cycle ride to raise money for a
Palestinian charity. With only 2 weeks before
the event kicked off and the monumental goal
to raise £1,500 ($3000) in 14 days I challenged
myself to focus all of my energy into a cause
I believed in, and possibly for selfish reasons,
wanted a distraction from the misery of my
own monetary issues.
It certainly raised my spirits and put life
into perspective, that I managed to achieve
my target and also completed the cycle with
a group of 26 new friends, to raise money for
children born into a world where dreaming of
peace is a regular occurrence, and suddenly my
problems in London felt so trivial. It was in this
cycle challenge, amongst my new friends that I
also made 2 new clients for some design work,
and part of this work was to help establish this
cycling group with a visual order.
For the following year,“Cycling4Gaza”
had an awesome logo, a fully functioning
website, and some amazing T-Shirts designed
by myself for the 2010 Pisa - Rome cycle!
Italy had always been a place I wanted to visit
(since seeing Superman III of course) and
this was my opportunity. However, I was best
man for my cousin’s wedding in a few weeks
and I was strongly advised not to do “another
pointless cycle” by some, but after the incredible
experiences of the previous I just had to go,
knowing that by not going to a new country
and meeting new people was somehow going
to prevent my life from advancing further.
To summarise the Italian experience, yes
the food was amazing, but even more amazing
was that I met a lovely woman who in the short
space of 11 months became my incredible wife,
and then around one year after our marriage,
on October 10 we boarded a plane to travel to
the furthest point away from home we have
ever been, and yet landed in a country which
speaks the same language as us.
My point in this article, is that I stopped
worrying about the small things, and realised
that life really is too short. Since taking up
the London-Paris challenge I’ve cycled in
France, Italy, the entire length of Britain and
most recently around Lake Taupo and through
these events I’ve met some fantastic people.
As HG Wells said,“When I see an adult on a
bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the
human race”.
So on that note this is me leaving NZ for the
first time. Thank you everyone for this amazing
year at the Polytechnic.
Awrabest!
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Sports Research Symposium
Pete Sommers
On May 2nd 2013, the Bay of Plenty
Polytechnic was delighted to host the inaugural
Sports Research Symposium at the Windermere
Campus. The symposium was originally
intended to represent our commitment to the
importance of research informed teaching and
to act as a springboard for the accreditation of
the (AUT) Bachelor of Sport and Recreation
degree programme. It offered the opportunity
for both presenters and delegates to engage
with the newest trends, innovations and discoveries in the Sport and Recreation sector and
offered a challenging and exciting experience.
Early in the year the conference committee
of Peter Sommers, Heather Hamerton, Cath
Fraser and Judith Honeyfield invited submissions for research initiatives from the Sport and
Recreation field. The response was incredible
with 23 researchers from institutions from across
New Zealand expressing an interest to present,
and the committee were delighted with both the
quantity and quality of the responses received.
Presentations included a myriad of topics
from the wider Sport and Recreation world,
including Sports Science, Health and Nutrition,
36 forum magazine
Social Impact and Performance analysis.
Presenters came from as far afield as AUT
University, University of Waikato, Northtec
and EIT as well as industry presentations from
Performance First and Sport New Zealand. Not
to be outdone, Paul Winwood, Steve Lasslett,
Mike Dudson, Grace O’Leary and Tracey
Clissold from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic all presented on their areas of current research.
On the day nearly 100 delegates attended
from across the North Island with staff from
both academic institutions and sporting organisations freely mixing. One of the aims of the
day had been to encourage an informal atmosphere with a friendly social environment, where
interaction between presenters and delegates
throughout the day was firmly encouraged, and
this made for an enjoyable day for all involved.
Leading the day we were delighted to welcome Grant Mclean from Sport New Zealand.
Grant talked about the importance of the
Sport New Zealand knowledge library, specifically developed to connect practitioners to NZ
research on Sport and Recreation. Grant discussed its development and how the library is
seeking to act as a collator and disseminator of
important sports research findings. This library
can be found at www.srknowledge.org.nz
Other highlights during an action packed
day included Professor Dawn Penney (UOW)
and Dr Lynn Kidman (AUT) presenting on communities of practice within a High Performance
programme, Dr Brett Smith (UOW) presenting
on the development of an online metric rugby
analysis tool, Dan Clark and Bobby Newport
(Northtec) presenting on ipad use in teaching and learning of sport and recreation, and
Professor John Cronin presenting on optimizing
resistance training practices for change of direction performance.
Feedback on the day was extremely positive
with all delegates asking if we could make it an
annual date in the calendar.
Following the conference a meeting of the
ITP Sport and Recreation group requested if the
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic would consider hosting a wider ITP Sports Research Symposium in
2014. This was agreed and we are delighted to
announce that we will be hosting this conference on Thursday May 1st 2014!