University of South Australia Students
Report from OZDouglas Ross, Department of ManagementSomething galls when recent travelers complain of the rigors and risks of their intercontinental forays , so Ill skip the 30+ hour BWI to Adelaide, Australia, flight details and merely suggest that:
Oz-tensibly I went to present papers at conferences in Adelaide and Sydney and to teach a short summer course (February 97) at the University of South Australia in Adelaide (the uni). What interests me is augmenting active learning methodology with appropriate technologies to enhance learning and these papers were reports of recent in-class experiments. Thanks to the Faculty Development Office and the CBE for conference travel grants and to Hoke for signing off on the sabbatical teaching arrangement. The uni experience involved meeting cordial and collegial colleagues and a diverse class of 25 students, who hailed from 6 different countries and ranged in age from 23 to 47. They resembled my hardworking international business students at Towson so I felt right at home. Travel encourages looking and listening. As the first class session ended , darkish men painted with white stripes happened across my path, so I followed to what turned out to be a noon concert and was introduced to the didgeridoo, sticks and aboriginal dance. Each day saw some new discovery --aboriginal artists at work in the State Art Museum, Rundle Street market and cafes, beach & cliff walks, snorkeling, travels to the world renowned wineries in McLaren Vale, visits to Warrawong (a sanctuary for indigenous marsupials --kangaroos, wallongongs-- and birds), regular laps in the olympic swimming and diving complex, partaking of barbi fare (grilled shrimp, emu.. ), theatre, the Kangaroo island sanctuary. At our last class session, held at Njapurti (an internet center for the public featuring computers by the dozen of various kinds, and a coffee bar), they surprised me with a wonderful gift --a mousepad with an aboriginal drawing on it. So it went. Most Australian unis offer a wide range of courses, both internally and externally. If youre interested in connecting to Australia, their semesters begin in early March and late July. Summer break is December through February. The University of South Australia itself is a multi-campus affair of some 23,000 students of which about 3,500 are external. For graduate programs, faculty may fly to Singapore, Hong Kong, or Manila to give seminars and meet their external students. Australia hosts the largest distance education facilities in the world. So it made sense to go visit one. My tour of the Flexible Learning Centre was hosted by director Ted Nunan. The Center itself is about the size of Van Boeklin. Not only does it supply materials for students from its warehouse, it also assists faculty in improving teaching quality and supports various communications technologies. Some sites to see:
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