Following on from the recent successful public lecture by John Rolfe at Melbourne Campus and as part of a program of activity to raise the public profile of the Campus, academics at Melbourne have held an initial series of lunchtime lectures highlighting recent published research.   The series ran over four weeks.  Topics discussed included the adoption of e-markets for electronic business by SME's in Australia; the use of educational blogs to encourage and develop reflective thinking by students; the need for change within Australian universities in order to properly address academic requirements and concerns of new students, especially those of new international students; and how teachers' attitudes to teaching affect their approaches to teaching within the context of a multicultural student body.   The series was well attended, with lively discussion and debate at each seminar.  Melbourne Campus will be continuing with a further seminar series in Term One 2010.

Seminar One - Presenter: Assoc Professor Pramila Gupta

A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating the Adoption of E-Market for Electronic Business in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Australia ...
Assoc Professor Pramila Gupta

Pramila discussed a paper recently presented at the 2009 Information Resource Management Conference, hosted by UAE University, El Ain, United Arab Emirates.  The paper proposes a conceptual framework for evaluating the adoption of e-markets for e-business in small and medium-sized enterprises in Australia.  The conceptual framework is built on a comprehensive analysis of existing research in e-markets, in particular with relation to the value drivers and the critical success factors for adopting e-markets in businesses.

Seminar Two - Presenter:  Ritesh Chugh and Dr Mahesh Joshi

New paradigms in the teaching and learning of accounting: Use of educational blogs for reflective thinking...
Ritesh Chugh

Ritesh and Mahesh discussed the use of educational blogs for reflective thinking. Their paper, forthcoming in International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, examines how educational blogs can be used as an engagement and reflective tool for accounting students and how they can improve educational outcomes for accounting students. Their paper emphasises that teaching and learning strategies should move away from procedural tasks and memorising professional standards towards more conceptual and analytical teaching and learning. They will discuss the pedagogical importance of blogs as an instructional and assessment tool. Ritesh and Mahesh will also discuss the impact of educational blogs on other aspects of the teaching and learning process such as learners' involvement in collaboration, reflection and dialogue, autonomy and independence, access to information and educational resources.

Seminar Three - Presenter:  Dr Patricia A Kerslake

How the product is shaped by the container: A learning ideology (Container: Noun: an object used to hold or store things in)...
Dr. Patricia Kerslake

Tris discussed the paradox of Australian universities delivering new ideas through the mechanisms of 19^th-century pedagogy, as well as examining the changing demands of 21^st-century university students.  Her paper, forthcoming in Studies in Learning, Evaluation, Innovation & Development, proposes a need for change within Australian universities in order to properly address the academic requirements and concerns of new students and especially those of new international students. Through a discussion of Australian and non-Australian pedagogical, economic and social paradigms, it examines the pressures of university choice, as well as the educational and social dislocation which influence the expectations of new students.  It considers the provision of a multi-structured methodology within the tertiary learning environment.

Seminar Four - Presenter: Edilson Arenas

How do teachers' attitudes to teaching affect their approaches to teaching in the context of a multicultural student body?...
Edilson Arenas

Edilson discussed how teachers' attitudes to teaching affect their approaches to teaching within the context of a multicultural student body.  Edilson's paper, forthcoming in Higher Education Research and Development, argues that despite extensive research about good practice teaching international students, it is still unclear what constitutes good practice within this specific context. This research uses empirical data to determine how teachers may improve their understanding of, and adapt their teaching to, diverse groups of international students to meet emergent demands.