title: TELA: Laptops for teachers evaluation—Final report years 9-13

authors: Cowie, Bronwen

subjects: education

abstract: In this evaluation, three methods of data collection were used: first, six focus groups of teachers in face-to-face meetings, second, a questionnaire sent to teachers in a range of schools, and third, case studies of eight schools participating in the TELA scheme. The focus groups allowed teachers to talk about their experiences and changes in their use of the laptop over the three years. Each year, teachers from twenty focus group secondary schools met in five regions. The annual questionnaire asked teachers about various aspects of their laptops’ experience, including school support for laptops, professional development, their use of laptops at home and in school, and their goals for future use. In this final report, questionnaire results are presented together with the results from focus groups held over three years and case study data from three years of case studies.

text: TELA: Laptops for teachers evaluation—Final report years 9-13 In this evaluation, three methods of data collection were used: first, six focus groups of teachers in face-to-face meetings, second, a questionnaire sent to teachers in a range of schools, and third, case studies of eight schools participating in the TELA scheme. The focus groups allowed teachers to talk about their experiences and changes in their use of the laptop over the three years. Each year, teachers from twenty focus group secondary schools met in five regions. The annual questionnaire asked teachers about various aspects of their laptops’ experience, including school support for laptops, professional development, their use of laptops at home and in school, and their goals for future use. In this final report, questionnaire results are presented together with the results from focus groups held over three years and case study data from three years of case studies.

year: 2008-06

title: The history of transportations of stoats (Mustela erminea) and weasels (M. nivalis) to New Zealand, 1883–92

authors: King, Carolyn M.

subjects: biological invasions

abstract: This article presents an intensive original analysis of the history of the first deliberate transportations of non-domesticated European predators into southern New Zealand during the second half of the nineteenth century. It was part of one of the world’s first large-scale attempts to use alien carnivores as agents of biological control against a major vertebrate pest. In response to serious pasture damage in Southland and Otago by European rabbits, and the consequent decline in the value of wool exports, tens of thousands of the rabbits’ ‘natural enemies’, semi-tame ferrets, and pet cats collected from cities, were liberated on the worst-affected pastoral land, followed by wild-captured stoats and weasels. Against strong and repeated protests, at least 7,838 stoats and weasels were imported from Britain in at least 25 shipments between 1883 and 1892. The total cost over the decade was probably at least NZ$1–2 million in today’s money, with no effect on the numbers of rabbits. The historic details of the mustelid introductions, never previously assembled, cast an unconventional light on an old story, concerning how powerful economic interests and dominant cultural assumptions determine official policy, with implications for thinking about contemporary ecological globalisation.

text: The history of transportations of stoats (Mustela erminea) and weasels (M. nivalis) to New Zealand, 1883–92 This article presents an intensive original analysis of the history of the first deliberate transportations of non-domesticated European predators into southern New Zealand during the second half of the nineteenth century. It was part of one of the world’s first large-scale attempts to use alien carnivores as agents of biological control against a major vertebrate pest. In response to serious pasture damage in Southland and Otago by European rabbits, and the consequent decline in the value of wool exports, tens of thousands of the rabbits’ ‘natural enemies’, semi-tame ferrets, and pet cats collected from cities, were liberated on the worst-affected pastoral land, followed by wild-captured stoats and weasels. Against strong and repeated protests, at least 7,838 stoats and weasels were imported from Britain in at least 25 shipments between 1883 and 1892. The total cost over the decade was probably at least NZ$1–2 million in today’s money, with no effect on the numbers of rabbits. The historic details of the mustelid introductions, never previously assembled, cast an unconventional light on an old story, concerning how powerful economic interests and dominant cultural assumptions determine official policy, with implications for thinking about contemporary ecological globalisation.

year: 2017

title: Kōura in the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes and potential effects of catfish

authors: Kusabs, Ian

abstract: I am going to talk about kōura and the novel sampling method we are using, then talk about the population characteristics of kōura in the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes, including results from my PhD research, the Lake Taupō experience with catfish, which Michel Dedual has more than adequately described, and also future work.

text: Kōura in the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes and potential effects of catfish I am going to talk about kōura and the novel sampling method we are using, then talk about the population characteristics of kōura in the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes, including results from my PhD research, the Lake Taupō experience with catfish, which Michel Dedual has more than adequately described, and also future work.

year: 2017