title: Our journey to school: A collaboratively constructed, digitally facilitated transition to school

authors: Woodhouse, Hazel Maxine

subjects: transition to school

abstract: A parent’s role in supporting their child’s transition to school has been well researched and the importance of educational settings developing a partnership with parents has been identified as a key factor in a child’s effective transition to school. However, this idea is based on the belief that it is the child who is experiencing the transition, while the parents have only a supporting role to play. A smaller body of research and literature focuses on a family’s transition to school and acknowledges that the parents as well as the child are undergoing their own processes of change, and may need support in this process.
Taking a new approach to the transition to school process, this thesis explores the use of Facebook by a New Entrant teacher to develop a Community of Practice (CoP) to collaborate with families in making decisions about their own transition to school process. Applying a qualitative, case study approach involving 20 families who had children transitioning from three early childhood centres to the same primary school, online questionnaires were used to generate data from families and teachers at the start of the process to support the purpose and design and of each of the two separate Facebook group (families and teachers) sites. van Gennep’s three phases of transition provided a framework to perceive transition as a process where families’ needs changed over the period of their transition. Reflecting the onging process of transition, the two groups’ online data generated through the Facebook page over the period of seven months were used formatively to provide for the families’ immediate needs, and summatively to view activity and the evolving CoP.
The research found that Facebook was an accessible and flexible tool, and allowed families to participate and collaborate as much as they wanted or needed. This study shows that the functions available through Facebook provided opportunities to share children’s learning with all stakeholders, and so develop transition practices in both ECE and NE environments through sharing and discussing examples of practices. The CoP framework provided a network that enabled those families who needed advice or support about their child’s transition to seek this from experienced members of the group. Facebook facilitated the development of a range of resources for families and teachers to return to at their leisure. It also provided a space to ask questions, have anxieties alleviated and success celebrated. Using the digital space in Facebook, traditionally not the place for more formal orientation meetings, allowed the subsequent face-to-face meetings to become social events. These face-to-face opportunities to meet supported the connections that the families and teachers had initially made online. This thesis advocates for the use of social media platforms, such as Facebook, to enhance a blended approach of both digital and face-to-face opportunities to give families greater agency during their child’s transition to school.

text: Our journey to school: A collaboratively constructed, digitally facilitated transition to school A parent’s role in supporting their child’s transition to school has been well researched and the importance of educational settings developing a partnership with parents has been identified as a key factor in a child’s effective transition to school. However, this idea is based on the belief that it is the child who is experiencing the transition, while the parents have only a supporting role to play. A smaller body of research and literature focuses on a family’s transition to school and acknowledges that the parents as well as the child are undergoing their own processes of change, and may need support in this process.
Taking a new approach to the transition to school process, this thesis explores the use of Facebook by a New Entrant teacher to develop a Community of Practice (CoP) to collaborate with families in making decisions about their own transition to school process. Applying a qualitative, case study approach involving 20 families who had children transitioning from three early childhood centres to the same primary school, online questionnaires were used to generate data from families and teachers at the start of the process to support the purpose and design and of each of the two separate Facebook group (families and teachers) sites. van Gennep’s three phases of transition provided a framework to perceive transition as a process where families’ needs changed over the period of their transition. Reflecting the onging process of transition, the two groups’ online data generated through the Facebook page over the period of seven months were used formatively to provide for the families’ immediate needs, and summatively to view activity and the evolving CoP.
The research found that Facebook was an accessible and flexible tool, and allowed families to participate and collaborate as much as they wanted or needed. This study shows that the functions available through Facebook provided opportunities to share children’s learning with all stakeholders, and so develop transition practices in both ECE and NE environments through sharing and discussing examples of practices. The CoP framework provided a network that enabled those families who needed advice or support about their child’s transition to seek this from experienced members of the group. Facebook facilitated the development of a range of resources for families and teachers to return to at their leisure. It also provided a space to ask questions, have anxieties alleviated and success celebrated. Using the digital space in Facebook, traditionally not the place for more formal orientation meetings, allowed the subsequent face-to-face meetings to become social events. These face-to-face opportunities to meet supported the connections that the families and teachers had initially made online. This thesis advocates for the use of social media platforms, such as Facebook, to enhance a blended approach of both digital and face-to-face opportunities to give families greater agency during their child’s transition to school.

year: 2024-06-11

title: Work-integrated learning as a landscape of practice

authors: Jackson, Denise

subjects: Boundary crossing

abstract: This article proposes that work-integrated learning (WIL) is a Landscape of Practice (LoP) within the wider higher education ecosystem. It applies concepts from the LoP literature to present a new perspective on WIL programs and ecosystems. It further emphasizes that students are central within the WIL LoP, developing knowledge as they traverse individual communities including industry partners, professional accrediting bodies, careers services, academics, curriculum, and support staff connected to WIL. Additionally, the article highlights the role of higher education institutions in addressing tensions of difference between communities comprising the WIL LoP. The article contributes to the literature on WIL and higher education by conceptualizing WIL as a LoP, revealing a new understanding of how various communities support student development through WIL. It also offers higher education institutions practical implications for developing and maintaining student-centered communities of practice that constitute a supportive WIL LoP.

text: Work-integrated learning as a landscape of practice This article proposes that work-integrated learning (WIL) is a Landscape of Practice (LoP) within the wider higher education ecosystem. It applies concepts from the LoP literature to present a new perspective on WIL programs and ecosystems. It further emphasizes that students are central within the WIL LoP, developing knowledge as they traverse individual communities including industry partners, professional accrediting bodies, careers services, academics, curriculum, and support staff connected to WIL. Additionally, the article highlights the role of higher education institutions in addressing tensions of difference between communities comprising the WIL LoP. The article contributes to the literature on WIL and higher education by conceptualizing WIL as a LoP, revealing a new understanding of how various communities support student development through WIL. It also offers higher education institutions practical implications for developing and maintaining student-centered communities of practice that constitute a supportive WIL LoP.

year: 2025

title: Technology, culture and location in a recent New Zealand sonic art project

authors: Whalley, Ian

subjects: music

abstract: The HIEMPA (Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation And Models of Pütorino and Aquascape) project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise toward the artistic outcome of extending the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The project involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of Pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in real-time, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of Pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the research process.

text: Technology, culture and location in a recent New Zealand sonic art project The HIEMPA (Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation And Models of Pütorino and Aquascape) project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise toward the artistic outcome of extending the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The project involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of Pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in real-time, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of Pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the research process.

year: 2008