title: Personalising Learning: Exploring the principles and processes of the IEP for young, gifted readers

authors: Mazza-Davies, Laurie Lynn

subjects: personalising learning

abstract: This small-scale qualitative, action research study sought to establish the efficacy of using the Individualised Education Programme (IEP) as an assistive tool towards the differentiation of reading programmes for young, gifted and talented readers. Despite a growing awareness about the importance of curriculum differentiation for all students, research indicates how little some classroom teachers do to meet the needs of gifted readers.  The literature reviewed reveals how the prolonged mismatching of instructional reading programmes to the academic and emotional maturity of the gifted reader may well result in underachievement, and a diminished opportunity to learn how to react to challenge.

In November 2006, the New Zealand Ministry of Education launched its personalising learning initiative, which promotes the active participation of students in their education by creating their own learning pathways.  Students are encouraged to articulate their learning needs and preferences, and set goals in collaboration with their parents and family/whanau and teachers.  With its underlying principles based on collaboration and communication, together with its seemingly flexible structure, this study utilised the IEP as a personalising learning framework for young gifted and talented readers, and as a differentiation tool for their teachers. 

Over a five month period, the researcher worked alongside three Year Two/Three teachers from an urban, decile five primary school as they each identified one gifted reader from their classes, and together with the student and the student's parents, set about planning and implementing an IEP, using strategies and approaches suggested by the literature as the most apposite for gifted readers.  Data was gathered through in-class observations, participants' journals, focus group meetings, IEP meetings, and semi-structured interviews.  

This study reveals the use of the IEP holds great promise as a differentiation tool towards the personalisation of learning programmes for young, gifted readers.  Each student attended his or her own IEP meetings, indicated their learning preferences and needs, helped to set his or her own learning goals, and assessed their own achievement using the IEP goal indicators.  Significantly, for the teachers involved in this project, the IEPs proved not only useful as qualitatively differentiated planning frameworks for the students in the study, but many of the goals and strategies used proved pertinent for all children, in particular, for the 'top' reading groups.  In this regard, IEPs proved to be 'work-smarter' tools for the teachers involved, serving as planning blueprints for the most able readers in their classes, thereby creating inclusive rather than exclusive conditions for the gifted readers.  Furthermore, the insights gained by the teachers involved into the needs of their gifted readers ultimately challenged their personal teaching philosophies, and resulted in changes to their teaching practices for their gifted students.

text: Personalising Learning: Exploring the principles and processes of the IEP for young, gifted readers This small-scale qualitative, action research study sought to establish the efficacy of using the Individualised Education Programme (IEP) as an assistive tool towards the differentiation of reading programmes for young, gifted and talented readers. Despite a growing awareness about the importance of curriculum differentiation for all students, research indicates how little some classroom teachers do to meet the needs of gifted readers.  The literature reviewed reveals how the prolonged mismatching of instructional reading programmes to the academic and emotional maturity of the gifted reader may well result in underachievement, and a diminished opportunity to learn how to react to challenge.

In November 2006, the New Zealand Ministry of Education launched its personalising learning initiative, which promotes the active participation of students in their education by creating their own learning pathways.  Students are encouraged to articulate their learning needs and preferences, and set goals in collaboration with their parents and family/whanau and teachers.  With its underlying principles based on collaboration and communication, together with its seemingly flexible structure, this study utilised the IEP as a personalising learning framework for young gifted and talented readers, and as a differentiation tool for their teachers. 

Over a five month period, the researcher worked alongside three Year Two/Three teachers from an urban, decile five primary school as they each identified one gifted reader from their classes, and together with the student and the student's parents, set about planning and implementing an IEP, using strategies and approaches suggested by the literature as the most apposite for gifted readers.  Data was gathered through in-class observations, participants' journals, focus group meetings, IEP meetings, and semi-structured interviews.  

This study reveals the use of the IEP holds great promise as a differentiation tool towards the personalisation of learning programmes for young, gifted readers.  Each student attended his or her own IEP meetings, indicated their learning preferences and needs, helped to set his or her own learning goals, and assessed their own achievement using the IEP goal indicators.  Significantly, for the teachers involved in this project, the IEPs proved not only useful as qualitatively differentiated planning frameworks for the students in the study, but many of the goals and strategies used proved pertinent for all children, in particular, for the 'top' reading groups.  In this regard, IEPs proved to be 'work-smarter' tools for the teachers involved, serving as planning blueprints for the most able readers in their classes, thereby creating inclusive rather than exclusive conditions for the gifted readers.  Furthermore, the insights gained by the teachers involved into the needs of their gifted readers ultimately challenged their personal teaching philosophies, and resulted in changes to their teaching practices for their gifted students.

year: 2008

title: Satellite remote sensing for mapping vegetation in New Zealand freshwater environments: A review

authors: Ashraf, Muhammad Salman

subjects: emergent aquatic vegetation (EAV)

abstract: Freshwater environments in New Zealand provide a range of ecosystem services and contain important biodiversity. Managing these environments effectively requires a comprehensive inventory of the resource and cost-effective tools for regular monitoring. The complex and extensive margins of natural water bodies make them difficult to sample comprehensively. Problems thus occur with extrapolating point-specific sampling to accurately represent the diversity of vegetation in large freshwater bodies. Mapping freshwater vegetation using satellite remote sensing can overcome problems associated with access, scale and distribution, but it requires high-resolution images that have appropriate spectral characteristics. This paper provides an overview of the optical satellite data characteristics required for mapping riparian, submerged and emergent vegetation associated with freshwater environments in New Zealand.

text: Satellite remote sensing for mapping vegetation in New Zealand freshwater environments: A review Freshwater environments in New Zealand provide a range of ecosystem services and contain important biodiversity. Managing these environments effectively requires a comprehensive inventory of the resource and cost-effective tools for regular monitoring. The complex and extensive margins of natural water bodies make them difficult to sample comprehensively. Problems thus occur with extrapolating point-specific sampling to accurately represent the diversity of vegetation in large freshwater bodies. Mapping freshwater vegetation using satellite remote sensing can overcome problems associated with access, scale and distribution, but it requires high-resolution images that have appropriate spectral characteristics. This paper provides an overview of the optical satellite data characteristics required for mapping riparian, submerged and emergent vegetation associated with freshwater environments in New Zealand.

year: 2010

title: An exploration of the ethical implications of the digitisation and dissemination of Mātauranga Māori  (with special reference to the Pei te Hurinui Jones Collection)

authors: Anderson, Michela

subjects: digitisation

abstract: At the core of this thesis is the ethical implications involved in the digitising of Mātauranga Māori. It investigated how Kaupapa Māori theory can inform this process and how issues relating to access were considered.  It is intended that this information should provide whānau, hapū, iwi and institutions with a solid foundation for the development of their own digital collections. The research reported here tracks the processes and procedures undertaken by a Research Team on a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research funded project that is being conducted to research and develop ethical processes for the digitisation of the manuscripts, works and collected taonga of one of Māoridom’s prominent scholars, the late Dr. Pei te Hurinui Jones. 

The thesis begins with an outline of the scope of the research and the approaches and methods used (Chapter 1).  This is followed by selected literature reviews on museums, libraries and archives and the influence of writing in the Aotearoa /New Zealand context (see Chapter 2), digitisation, digital libraries and Mātauranga Māori (see Chapter 3), and ethics, ethics in practice and Kaupapa Māori theory (see Chapter 4).  Chapter 5 describes the Pei te Hurinui Jones’ collections, the processes that were undertaken during the initial negotiation stages, the development of tikanga in the archiving, cataloguing, physical layout and conservation of the collection and the drafting and development of the Deed of Gift under the principle of takoha. Chapter 6 discusses the research ethics approval process, the methodology applied, and the development and analysis of the thematic categories that emerged from the focus group discussion. A conceptual model of the digitisation process is then presented. Chapter 7 provides an overview of the research and a summary of the findings, together with an indication of its limitations, research contribution, and suggestions for future research.

text: An exploration of the ethical implications of the digitisation and dissemination of Mātauranga Māori  (with special reference to the Pei te Hurinui Jones Collection) At the core of this thesis is the ethical implications involved in the digitising of Mātauranga Māori. It investigated how Kaupapa Māori theory can inform this process and how issues relating to access were considered.  It is intended that this information should provide whānau, hapū, iwi and institutions with a solid foundation for the development of their own digital collections. The research reported here tracks the processes and procedures undertaken by a Research Team on a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research funded project that is being conducted to research and develop ethical processes for the digitisation of the manuscripts, works and collected taonga of one of Māoridom’s prominent scholars, the late Dr. Pei te Hurinui Jones. 

The thesis begins with an outline of the scope of the research and the approaches and methods used (Chapter 1).  This is followed by selected literature reviews on museums, libraries and archives and the influence of writing in the Aotearoa /New Zealand context (see Chapter 2), digitisation, digital libraries and Mātauranga Māori (see Chapter 3), and ethics, ethics in practice and Kaupapa Māori theory (see Chapter 4).  Chapter 5 describes the Pei te Hurinui Jones’ collections, the processes that were undertaken during the initial negotiation stages, the development of tikanga in the archiving, cataloguing, physical layout and conservation of the collection and the drafting and development of the Deed of Gift under the principle of takoha. Chapter 6 discusses the research ethics approval process, the methodology applied, and the development and analysis of the thematic categories that emerged from the focus group discussion. A conceptual model of the digitisation process is then presented. Chapter 7 provides an overview of the research and a summary of the findings, together with an indication of its limitations, research contribution, and suggestions for future research.

year: 2012