title: Conclusion

authors: Williams, P. John

subjects: education

abstract: As the preceding papers have illustrated, there are two innovations within project e-scape. The first concerns the development of an e-portfolio system that enables learners to capture evidence of their activity (using hand-held devices in the workshop/studio/science lab/playing field) and to lodge it in a web-space where their portfolio emerges dynamically, in real-time. Teachers and examination bodies can interact with this system to a greater or lesser extent according to the circumstances. If the activity is part of a formal examination, then the Awarding Body can specify the task and the activity framework (all of which can be downloaded by the school) and teachers in many schools can then run the same activity in a standard way. If the activity is a normal piece of curriculum, then teachers can design activities for individuals or groups of learners and either run them with the learners, or enable the learners themselves to work through the activity autonomously. In any event, the outcome of all this is a web-portfolio.
The second innovation concerns the assessment of these portfolios. Using comparative judgement and the pairs engine, groups of teachers and/or examiners can collaborate in the assessment of groups of portfolios. This might be for an Awarding Body, with the results counting towards an official award, or it might be within a school, where collaborating teachers use the data for their own purposes. These two innovations were launched in 2009 with the final report of phase 3 of the e-scape project. The purpose of this concluding piece is to reflect on what has happened since then; on the extent to which these innovations have been adopted in various parts of the world and the issues that this adoption is raising. Sometimes the adoption has been of only one of the innovations (either the portfolio-building or the comparative judgement), and sometimes it has been both.

text: Conclusion As the preceding papers have illustrated, there are two innovations within project e-scape. The first concerns the development of an e-portfolio system that enables learners to capture evidence of their activity (using hand-held devices in the workshop/studio/science lab/playing field) and to lodge it in a web-space where their portfolio emerges dynamically, in real-time. Teachers and examination bodies can interact with this system to a greater or lesser extent according to the circumstances. If the activity is part of a formal examination, then the Awarding Body can specify the task and the activity framework (all of which can be downloaded by the school) and teachers in many schools can then run the same activity in a standard way. If the activity is a normal piece of curriculum, then teachers can design activities for individuals or groups of learners and either run them with the learners, or enable the learners themselves to work through the activity autonomously. In any event, the outcome of all this is a web-portfolio.
The second innovation concerns the assessment of these portfolios. Using comparative judgement and the pairs engine, groups of teachers and/or examiners can collaborate in the assessment of groups of portfolios. This might be for an Awarding Body, with the results counting towards an official award, or it might be within a school, where collaborating teachers use the data for their own purposes. These two innovations were launched in 2009 with the final report of phase 3 of the e-scape project. The purpose of this concluding piece is to reflect on what has happened since then; on the extent to which these innovations have been adopted in various parts of the world and the issues that this adoption is raising. Sometimes the adoption has been of only one of the innovations (either the portfolio-building or the comparative judgement), and sometimes it has been both.

year: 2011

title: Flat primes and thin primes

authors: Broughan, Kevin A.

subjects: flat prime

abstract: A number is called upper (lower) flat if its shift by +1 ( −1) is a power of 2 times a squarefree number. If the squarefree number is 1 or a single odd prime then the original number is called upper (lower) thin. Upper flat numbers which are primes arise in the study of multi-perfect numbers. Here we show that the lower or upper flat primes have asymptotic density relative to that of the full set of primes given by twice Artin’s constant, that more than 53% of the primes are both lower and upper flat, and that the series of reciprocals of the lower or the upper thin primes converges.

text: Flat primes and thin primes A number is called upper (lower) flat if its shift by +1 ( −1) is a power of 2 times a squarefree number. If the squarefree number is 1 or a single odd prime then the original number is called upper (lower) thin. Upper flat numbers which are primes arise in the study of multi-perfect numbers. Here we show that the lower or upper flat primes have asymptotic density relative to that of the full set of primes given by twice Artin’s constant, that more than 53% of the primes are both lower and upper flat, and that the series of reciprocals of the lower or the upper thin primes converges.

year: 2010

title: Possibilities of transformation: discourses of difference in organisational communication

authors: Jones, Deborah Helen

abstract: In this thesis I set out to create an interdisciplinary location from which to address the relationship between gender and communication in an organisational context. I draw on feminist and post-structuralist theory to ask the question: How is ‘difference’ constructed in organisational communication? I use the term ‘difference’ here to indicate that I am interested in how ‘gender’ works in relationship with other kinds of difference, especially in relation to ethnic difference.

My thesis is intended as a contribution to feminist communication theory, and specifically, to the emerging field of feminist organisational communication. Because of the approach I take to ‘communication’, this project addresses broad issues of identity, agency and discourse in organisations. In this sense, I also see the thesis as a contribution to organisational studies, and particularly to the study of organisational discourse, which opens up new relationships between ‘organisation’ and ‘communication’. Interdisciplinarity itself is a key issue in my thesis, as I set out to create connections between disciplinary fields in the service of contesting them, rather than seeking to create new boundaries. A second key focus is the development of theoretical sophistication in the field of gender and communication. I draw on feminist/post-structuralist theory, especially feminist readings of Michel Foucault’s work to generate this development. My third key focus is the issue of agency, which I see as central to theorising organisational transformation, and also as central to re-thinking communication theory.

My writing strategies demonstrate my commitments to reflexivity in developing feminist/post-structuralist research epistemologies, and I experiment with ways of paying attention to issues of authority throughout the thesis. This thesis is divided into two main parts. In Chapters 2 to 6, I set up a theoretical framework for feminist/post-structuralist accounts of gender and ethnicity, and weave this theory through the literatures of ‘gender and communication’, ‘cross-cultural communication’, and ‘organisational communication’. I set out to produce an ‘autocritique’, an opportunity to draw on developments in post-structuralist theory to think differently about feminist ‘organisational communication’, putting it within a broader framework of ‘difference’.

In the second part of the thesis, Chapters 7 to 12, I put issues generated by this theoretical framework in a specific organisational context, asking: How are gender and ethnic differences constructed in the discourses of Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Biculturalism in New Zealand government organisations? Chapters 7 and 8 introduce my field studies methodology and research subjects, and provide background narratives which frame the historical and cultural context in which they were carried out. In Chapters 9 to 12 I carry out a discourse analysis of interviews with EEO and Biculturalism practitioners, and also analyse published and unpublished documents associated with ‘difference’ in employment policies. These accounts of field studies are intended as a series of experiments with theorising ‘organisational communication’ in different ways. I complete the thesis with a ‘Review’ (Chapter 13) in which I reflect on key theoretical threads, and on further questions that emerged during the project.

text: Possibilities of transformation: discourses of difference in organisational communication In this thesis I set out to create an interdisciplinary location from which to address the relationship between gender and communication in an organisational context. I draw on feminist and post-structuralist theory to ask the question: How is ‘difference’ constructed in organisational communication? I use the term ‘difference’ here to indicate that I am interested in how ‘gender’ works in relationship with other kinds of difference, especially in relation to ethnic difference.

My thesis is intended as a contribution to feminist communication theory, and specifically, to the emerging field of feminist organisational communication. Because of the approach I take to ‘communication’, this project addresses broad issues of identity, agency and discourse in organisations. In this sense, I also see the thesis as a contribution to organisational studies, and particularly to the study of organisational discourse, which opens up new relationships between ‘organisation’ and ‘communication’. Interdisciplinarity itself is a key issue in my thesis, as I set out to create connections between disciplinary fields in the service of contesting them, rather than seeking to create new boundaries. A second key focus is the development of theoretical sophistication in the field of gender and communication. I draw on feminist/post-structuralist theory, especially feminist readings of Michel Foucault’s work to generate this development. My third key focus is the issue of agency, which I see as central to theorising organisational transformation, and also as central to re-thinking communication theory.

My writing strategies demonstrate my commitments to reflexivity in developing feminist/post-structuralist research epistemologies, and I experiment with ways of paying attention to issues of authority throughout the thesis. This thesis is divided into two main parts. In Chapters 2 to 6, I set up a theoretical framework for feminist/post-structuralist accounts of gender and ethnicity, and weave this theory through the literatures of ‘gender and communication’, ‘cross-cultural communication’, and ‘organisational communication’. I set out to produce an ‘autocritique’, an opportunity to draw on developments in post-structuralist theory to think differently about feminist ‘organisational communication’, putting it within a broader framework of ‘difference’.

In the second part of the thesis, Chapters 7 to 12, I put issues generated by this theoretical framework in a specific organisational context, asking: How are gender and ethnic differences constructed in the discourses of Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Biculturalism in New Zealand government organisations? Chapters 7 and 8 introduce my field studies methodology and research subjects, and provide background narratives which frame the historical and cultural context in which they were carried out. In Chapters 9 to 12 I carry out a discourse analysis of interviews with EEO and Biculturalism practitioners, and also analyse published and unpublished documents associated with ‘difference’ in employment policies. These accounts of field studies are intended as a series of experiments with theorising ‘organisational communication’ in different ways. I complete the thesis with a ‘Review’ (Chapter 13) in which I reflect on key theoretical threads, and on further questions that emerged during the project.

year: 1998