title: Adapting to COVID-19 disruptions: Student engagement in online learning of accounting

authors: Ali, Irshad

abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to provide insights on student engagement in the learning of accounting during the COVID-19 disruptions and the pivot to online learning. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on reflections of academic staff members teaching accounting papers at two large New Zealand universities. Further supporting information was derived from student feedback collected via paper appraisals. Findings: The findings of this paper suggest that there were some successes and numerous challenges in engaging students in online learning of accounting. Strategies that seem to have worked well include the use of synchronous and asynchronous channels to proactively facilitate and provide learning support to students in online learning. The challenges include frustrations with online technologies and the difficulties of making personal connections with students; therefore, engaging some of the cohort in the learning proved to be difficult. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this paper suggest that there were some successes and numerous challenges in engaging students in online learning of accounting. Strategies that seem to have worked well include the use of synchronous and asynchronous channels to proactively facilitate and provide learning support to students in online learning. The challenges include frustrations with online technologies and the difficulties of making personal connections with students; therefore, engaging some of the cohort in the learning proved to be difficult. At risk, students were less likely to participate in online live sessions due to issues such as the lack of proper computer equipment, connectivity issues, family responsibilities or the home environment. Practical implications: This paper has the potential to inform and enhance practices of higher education institutions, accounting educators and other stakeholders such as support staff on strategies that could be implemented to achieve effective student engagement in online accounting education. Originality/value: This paper is original and contributes towards sharing ideas with the academic community on effective teaching practices used during the COVID-19 pivot to online delivery, which can enhance student engagement in business education.

text: Adapting to COVID-19 disruptions: Student engagement in online learning of accounting Purpose: This paper aims to provide insights on student engagement in the learning of accounting during the COVID-19 disruptions and the pivot to online learning. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on reflections of academic staff members teaching accounting papers at two large New Zealand universities. Further supporting information was derived from student feedback collected via paper appraisals. Findings: The findings of this paper suggest that there were some successes and numerous challenges in engaging students in online learning of accounting. Strategies that seem to have worked well include the use of synchronous and asynchronous channels to proactively facilitate and provide learning support to students in online learning. The challenges include frustrations with online technologies and the difficulties of making personal connections with students; therefore, engaging some of the cohort in the learning proved to be difficult. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this paper suggest that there were some successes and numerous challenges in engaging students in online learning of accounting. Strategies that seem to have worked well include the use of synchronous and asynchronous channels to proactively facilitate and provide learning support to students in online learning. The challenges include frustrations with online technologies and the difficulties of making personal connections with students; therefore, engaging some of the cohort in the learning proved to be difficult. At risk, students were less likely to participate in online live sessions due to issues such as the lack of proper computer equipment, connectivity issues, family responsibilities or the home environment. Practical implications: This paper has the potential to inform and enhance practices of higher education institutions, accounting educators and other stakeholders such as support staff on strategies that could be implemented to achieve effective student engagement in online accounting education. Originality/value: This paper is original and contributes towards sharing ideas with the academic community on effective teaching practices used during the COVID-19 pivot to online delivery, which can enhance student engagement in business education.

year: 2021

title: Generation and Langmuir probe analysis of a DC glow discharge and the deposition of chromium from a carbonyl precursor

authors: Pilling, L.S.

abstract: Experimental investigations detailed in this thesis fall into two distinct areas: Diagnostics of a nitrogen DC discharge with Langmuir probes and spectroscopy, and experiments designed to deposit chromium metal from a chromium hexacarbonyl precursor (Cr(C0)6). New diagnostic equipment was designed, tested and implemented to record Langmuir probe data with high resolution and accuracy. A monochromator was employed to record the light emission from the plasma. This identified which ionized species were present as well as the ion temperature from the resulting band structures present. The monochromator analysis was necessary to validate the assumptions of the Langmuir probe theory and to allow a choice of which theories applied. 
The Langmuir probe analysis of the recorded data for many plasmas have been well covered in the literature but few papers give a comprehensive coverage of the main probe theories using the one set of data and fewer still make use of double as well as single probes. The majority simply assume the particular theory used is relevant to the plasma conditions and the resulting temperatures and densities are correct. 
During the experiments and subsequent analysis it was found, similar to other researchers, that the ion densities were consistently higher than the electron densities even though the theoretical analysis applied in the saturation regimes appeared to be valid. Rather than ignoring this issue, and assuming ion collisions or secondary electron emission were the cause, new methods were developed to analyse the data. By determining the gradient of the saturation regimes and comparing them to those expected experimentally, it was found that the ion saturation regime neither followed the orbital nor radial motion theories investigated. However, the electron current did follow the orbital motion theory and it is demonstrated that the densities obtained from the ion currents, using these theories, were incorrect. This had been previously shown to be true only with non-probe methods. 
Using the same discharge configuration, impurity-free chromium films were deposited onto stainless steel substrates from a chromium hexacarbonyl precursor. This had been attempted by previous researchers, using a variety of discharge configurations, who invariably deposited similar metallic films with significant levels of oxygen and carbon impurities. The combination of the carbonyl precursor and the carrier gases (nitrogen and argon) with the discharge configuration resulted in these impurity-free films even when a negative bias of up to 50 V was applied to the sample.

text: Generation and Langmuir probe analysis of a DC glow discharge and the deposition of chromium from a carbonyl precursor Experimental investigations detailed in this thesis fall into two distinct areas: Diagnostics of a nitrogen DC discharge with Langmuir probes and spectroscopy, and experiments designed to deposit chromium metal from a chromium hexacarbonyl precursor (Cr(C0)6). New diagnostic equipment was designed, tested and implemented to record Langmuir probe data with high resolution and accuracy. A monochromator was employed to record the light emission from the plasma. This identified which ionized species were present as well as the ion temperature from the resulting band structures present. The monochromator analysis was necessary to validate the assumptions of the Langmuir probe theory and to allow a choice of which theories applied. 
The Langmuir probe analysis of the recorded data for many plasmas have been well covered in the literature but few papers give a comprehensive coverage of the main probe theories using the one set of data and fewer still make use of double as well as single probes. The majority simply assume the particular theory used is relevant to the plasma conditions and the resulting temperatures and densities are correct. 
During the experiments and subsequent analysis it was found, similar to other researchers, that the ion densities were consistently higher than the electron densities even though the theoretical analysis applied in the saturation regimes appeared to be valid. Rather than ignoring this issue, and assuming ion collisions or secondary electron emission were the cause, new methods were developed to analyse the data. By determining the gradient of the saturation regimes and comparing them to those expected experimentally, it was found that the ion saturation regime neither followed the orbital nor radial motion theories investigated. However, the electron current did follow the orbital motion theory and it is demonstrated that the densities obtained from the ion currents, using these theories, were incorrect. This had been previously shown to be true only with non-probe methods. 
Using the same discharge configuration, impurity-free chromium films were deposited onto stainless steel substrates from a chromium hexacarbonyl precursor. This had been attempted by previous researchers, using a variety of discharge configurations, who invariably deposited similar metallic films with significant levels of oxygen and carbon impurities. The combination of the carbonyl precursor and the carrier gases (nitrogen and argon) with the discharge configuration resulted in these impurity-free films even when a negative bias of up to 50 V was applied to the sample.

year: 2003

title: Treaty People Recognising and Marking Pākehā Culture in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Black, Rosanne Marjory

subjects: Pakeha culture

abstract: The suggestion that all people are cultural and live in cultural worlds acts to challenge members of culturally dominant groups as they tend to see their way of life as normal rather than cultural. Dominant group members usually talk about themselves in relation to their national identity (New Zealander, Australian, or American) rather than name being part of a cultural group within their nation state. This study, located in Aotearoa New Zealand, explores with a particular group of New Zealanders, how Pākehā who are members of the dominant group, may come to recognise themselves as being cultural, to name themselves culturally, and to mark aspects of their culture. The contribution that recognising culture makes to a decolonisation agenda is also explored. This study of Pākehā culture is approached from both a realist and a social constructionist perspective. Culture, an abstract concept, is largely theorised as a constructed notion in a historically structured location. How culture is recognised, and the ways it is produced and enacted, through relationships and interactions in the broader structures of New Zealand society were explored using realist thematic methods of analysis. Treaty people are a network of mostly Pākehā activist educators who have engaged in promoting knowledge of and support for Māori claims for justice under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi was the document signed by Settlers and Māori leaders in 1840 to establish settlement arrangements). Treaty people are practised in talking about cultural issues largely through their engagement with Māori - Pākehā relationships. The research focused on the situations and processes that stimulated a group of thirty four ‘Treaty people’ to start thinking about themselves as cultural; about what it meant to have a cultural identity; and what they recognised as markers of their culture. I have been a member of this Treaty People network for many years and carry the dual positioning of being the researcher, and a participant, both as a member of the group and as a Pākehā. Data was collected over an eighteen month period from two focus groups in 2003 and 2005. These sessions were video and audio-recorded and later transcribed. I meet with available participants in their own locations early in 2005 and audio-recorded the conversations. The transcriptions and notes form the data for this study. My findings from this study include: • Culture was often first recognised through encounters with different cultural groups and usually when a person is in a situation where they are in a minority. Although, dominant group members do not always see their own daily practices and values as cultural they often name as cultural the practices and values of people different from them. • Recognising and naming ourselves as cultural and marking our culture were difficult tasks that go against the grain of dominance. • Pākehā culture was recognised in a number of ways. Treaty people recognised that there were other forms of knowing about the world and that dominant group members valued being ‘right’ and in control of knowledge. Coming to recognise themselves as cultural unsettled a sense of certainty about their position in the world, and opened up possibilities for new ways to engage in intercultural relationships where participation rather than being in control was valued. • Accepting the name Pākehā implied having a position of responsibility to tangata whenua and to the land. In turn those who have accepted being Pākehā receive a sense of belonging to Aotearoa and a place to stand in justice alongside Māori and other people who are culturally different from them. • While this thesis does not make explicit links between ‘being cultural’ and a decolonisation agenda the Treaty People participants named strategies to support decolonisation and challenge Pākehā dominance which include: recognising practices and values that are perpetuated through colonisation, in particular egalitarianism, assimilation and superiority; recognising Māori as tangata whenua (first people of the land) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationships; taking up the challenge to seek justice through striving to deal with past wrongs and to engage in equitable relationships with Māori. This thesis contributes to the psychology and social science literature as it serves to address the question “We don’t have a culture … do we?” I posit that all psychologists do have a culture and provide some rich descriptions, for those who are Pākehā, of how their culture may be recognised, how it might be described and talked about. This is a core cultural competency requirement for psychologists. My thesis also contribute to a growing body of literature from members of dominant groups, who are developing a discourse to explore and make visible their cultural or raced (whiteness) positions of power and privilege.

text: Treaty People Recognising and Marking Pākehā Culture in Aotearoa New Zealand The suggestion that all people are cultural and live in cultural worlds acts to challenge members of culturally dominant groups as they tend to see their way of life as normal rather than cultural. Dominant group members usually talk about themselves in relation to their national identity (New Zealander, Australian, or American) rather than name being part of a cultural group within their nation state. This study, located in Aotearoa New Zealand, explores with a particular group of New Zealanders, how Pākehā who are members of the dominant group, may come to recognise themselves as being cultural, to name themselves culturally, and to mark aspects of their culture. The contribution that recognising culture makes to a decolonisation agenda is also explored. This study of Pākehā culture is approached from both a realist and a social constructionist perspective. Culture, an abstract concept, is largely theorised as a constructed notion in a historically structured location. How culture is recognised, and the ways it is produced and enacted, through relationships and interactions in the broader structures of New Zealand society were explored using realist thematic methods of analysis. Treaty people are a network of mostly Pākehā activist educators who have engaged in promoting knowledge of and support for Māori claims for justice under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi was the document signed by Settlers and Māori leaders in 1840 to establish settlement arrangements). Treaty people are practised in talking about cultural issues largely through their engagement with Māori - Pākehā relationships. The research focused on the situations and processes that stimulated a group of thirty four ‘Treaty people’ to start thinking about themselves as cultural; about what it meant to have a cultural identity; and what they recognised as markers of their culture. I have been a member of this Treaty People network for many years and carry the dual positioning of being the researcher, and a participant, both as a member of the group and as a Pākehā. Data was collected over an eighteen month period from two focus groups in 2003 and 2005. These sessions were video and audio-recorded and later transcribed. I meet with available participants in their own locations early in 2005 and audio-recorded the conversations. The transcriptions and notes form the data for this study. My findings from this study include: • Culture was often first recognised through encounters with different cultural groups and usually when a person is in a situation where they are in a minority. Although, dominant group members do not always see their own daily practices and values as cultural they often name as cultural the practices and values of people different from them. • Recognising and naming ourselves as cultural and marking our culture were difficult tasks that go against the grain of dominance. • Pākehā culture was recognised in a number of ways. Treaty people recognised that there were other forms of knowing about the world and that dominant group members valued being ‘right’ and in control of knowledge. Coming to recognise themselves as cultural unsettled a sense of certainty about their position in the world, and opened up possibilities for new ways to engage in intercultural relationships where participation rather than being in control was valued. • Accepting the name Pākehā implied having a position of responsibility to tangata whenua and to the land. In turn those who have accepted being Pākehā receive a sense of belonging to Aotearoa and a place to stand in justice alongside Māori and other people who are culturally different from them. • While this thesis does not make explicit links between ‘being cultural’ and a decolonisation agenda the Treaty People participants named strategies to support decolonisation and challenge Pākehā dominance which include: recognising practices and values that are perpetuated through colonisation, in particular egalitarianism, assimilation and superiority; recognising Māori as tangata whenua (first people of the land) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationships; taking up the challenge to seek justice through striving to deal with past wrongs and to engage in equitable relationships with Māori. This thesis contributes to the psychology and social science literature as it serves to address the question “We don’t have a culture … do we?” I posit that all psychologists do have a culture and provide some rich descriptions, for those who are Pākehā, of how their culture may be recognised, how it might be described and talked about. This is a core cultural competency requirement for psychologists. My thesis also contribute to a growing body of literature from members of dominant groups, who are developing a discourse to explore and make visible their cultural or raced (whiteness) positions of power and privilege.

year: 2010