Digital Inclusion or Occlusion?

Greetings from the National Library of Australia where I am attending the Canberra "Digital Inclusion Manifesto Workshop" by GoDigi. I am not entirely convinced of the need or aims of the GoDigi initiative. In 1994 the Australian Computer Society lobbied Australian governments for digital literacy initiatives ("Vision for a Networked Nation"), the response included provision of Internet access through libraries, schools and other community facilities. More recently a "Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum: Technologies" was endorsed by all Australian State and Territory Ministers for Education for use in all Australian schools. In 2015 Internet access and literacy should be routine.

Where there are those who can't use the Internet, it is a failing in the education system and a matter for government policy, not a volunteer effort. Also those who can't afford the Internet may have other priorities, such as food, shelter and medicine. The experience of the OLPC project, which aimed to provide a low cost computer for education, but instead diverted scarce resources from higher educational priorities is a lesson that needs to be heeded.

Before looking to others to provide a more inclusive Internet, GoDigi need to do their homework. Their web page scores only 69 / 100 for speed on the Google Page Speed Insights and 0 / 100 (the lowest possible score) on the W3C mobileOK Checker.

Digital Inclusion at the National Library in Canberra This Friday

Helen Milner OBE, CEO of the Tinder Foundation will be speaking at the Canberra Digital Inclusion Manifesto Workshop, 10:30am, 30 October 2015 at the National Library of Australia. This will be followed by a public lecture by Helen on "Leaving no one behind: Can Australia be truly a digital nation? Stories from the UK", at 1pm.

"In Australia, there are 3.7 million people who have never used the internet. On top of this, many Australians who do have internet access, are not confident enough to do the basics. To become a truly leading, inclusive and global digital nation we need everyone to become confident internet users by 2020."

I suggest an aspect of digital literacy which needs to be addressed in Australia is the data use of on-line applications. This particularly impacts remote users of the NBN Interim Satellite Service, with the so called "Data Drought". Users find their small data allocation is soon used up on day to activities, so that their children then can't access on-line education. This will remain a problem even with the new

ps: The Tinder Foundation is a UK not-for-profit organization helping with digital literacy and access for the community. Not to be confused with Tinder the dating App. ;-)

a not-for-profit social enterprise that makes good things happen with digital technology. Established in December 2011 as a staff-owned mutual, our 40-strong team supports a network of 5,000 local community partners and works with hundreds of national organisations. - See more at: http://www.tinderfoundation.org/about#sthash.6yNlAjnp.dpuf

a not-for-profit social enterprise that makes good things happen with digital technology. Established in December 2011 as a staff-owned mutual, our 40-strong team supports a network of 5,000 local community partners and works with hundreds of national organisations. - See more at: http://www.tinderfoundation.org/about#sthash.6yNlAjnp.dpuf

a not-for-profit social enterprise that makes good things happen with digital technology. Established in December 2011 as a staff-owned mutual, our 40-strong team supports a network of 5,000 local community partners and works with hundreds of national organisations. - See more at: http://www.tinderfoundation.org/about#sthash.6yNlAjnp.dpuf

Festival of Social Change in Canberra

Changemakers National Festival of Social Change is being held 17 to 26 October. As part of the festival Canberra is hosting YWCA'  Women leading change and the Deloitte Canberra Social Innovation Pitch. Meetings are being held 8am to 10am each Friday morning up to the festival about organising events this year and next year.

Changemakers Festival website says: 

"... a nationwide celebration of the great work happening in our community, an exploration of the ideas, techniques and technologies that are driving this change, and an invitation for everyone to get involved in creating a better future for our communities and our world."

This is an initiative of  the Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI): 

"... created to help find better solutions to complex social problems like child abuse and neglect, Indigenous disadvantage and the challenges of ageing and caring."

The meeting last Friday was attended by about a dozen people. I was not sure what this was all about but went along to Tilley's Devine Café Gallery find out. There were about a dozen people, half who worked, or had worked, in the public service. Some like me just turned up to find out what it was about, one normally had breakfast in the cafe at that time on a Friday anyway (a very pleasant prospect: I spent a six months regularly sitting in Tilley's corner booth writing a book).

One topic which came up was innovations which can help the communality, not just private business. Recently I spent a week in Vancouver looking at education and innovation and am tutoring a team of students producing a new product for Innovation ACT.

Innovation ACT ends with an awards night 25 October, within the Changemakers Festival period. The competition allows for non-profit community initiatives, as well as for-profit private business ideas.

One frustration with innovation competitions has been that students don't get any academic credit for participating. While in Vancouver for the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Education (ICCSE 2014), I dropped in on Philippe Kruchten at UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is involved with the "New Venture Design" course (APSC 486), where engineering and business students learn to produce a business plan for a product. This is an intensive program which requires considerable resources from the university to run. I thought something more lightweight would be possible where the student does the theory component on-line through their university and participates in a competition, such as Innovation ACT, for the practical part.

University Flipped Faculty

Universities are adopting open access and flipped classroom techniques to improve education. The same  techniques could be used to improve the running of the university, removing the time wasting tedium of many academic meetings, by adopting a "Flipped Faculty". In "What if You Flipped Your Faculty Meetings?" Bill Ferriter discusses the benefits of this (TLN, 7 July 2012).

In particular I suggest:

1. Open Access Paperwork: Place the meeting paperwork on the university's public web site. Distribute the small amount of material which needs to be confidential separately.
2. Provide Short Clear Online Documents in Advance of Meetings: Documents should be designed for on-line reading, not on paper, with the style changed to place the conclusion first and remove unnecessary detail. HTML should be used in preference to PDF and hyperlinks should be included to other documents.
3. Request Input in Advance: There should be specific requests for action in documents, such as requesting input, selecting from options in a survey. This information should be collected online and collated in advance of any face-to-face meeting.
4. Provide Online Forums: There should be an online forum to discuss and provide feedback. Also online surveys should be used for specific questions.
5. Reserve face-to-face meeting for activities: It should be assumed participants have read the paperwork in advance and the face-to-face events should be confined to group work, with an emphasis on the participants contributing, not wasting their time listening to speeches.

These techniques will require new skills to implement, but could boost university efficiency and effectiveness significantly, just as implementation of new pedagogy has been shown to improve education. Old habits can be hard to break, but I suggest it will be worth the effort.

As well as saving staff time, these measures will allow those who can't attend in person to have meaningful input. Just as universities has an obligation to aim for social inclusion in education, they have an obligation to provide an inclusive workplace. Universities more than any other organizations have the technology and training to include people who can't attend a meeting and is therefore obliged to use it. In particular Australian and international law prohibits discrimination on the basis gender, religion, age or disability and failing to use available technology to include people is unlawful discrimination.

Concepts of Research

The sixth, and last, fortnightly topic for the research supervision course I am undertaking is the conceptions of research which students and their supervisors have. Somehow half way through I strayed from the topic, into the area of student diversity:

What The Candidates Think

As part of the ANU Information & Human Centred Computing group, I attend fortnightly research presentations (this week: “Computer games for rehabilitation”). In this area "research" is synonymous with "experimentation" using the scientific method. Students do literature searches and build hardware, but only as a precursor to experiments, where they carry out repeated tests under controlled conditions using human subjects. Students are expected to have already conducted such research as an undergraduate, typically in Honours. Some are doing research into policy, but only after proving themselves in experimental work.

Readings

Course Notes

"HDR candidates" divides the topic into four:

1. Student Motivation

The notes distinguish between those interested in research and those interested in a qualification for career advancement. International candidates are singled out as being typically motived by career advancement. But this analysis of student motivations is not then linked to practical outcomes.
The research presented suggests that about half of doctoral graduates go on to work in higher education, but no split between administrative, teaching and research positions is provided. The notes appear to be trying to obscure the fact that most research graduates do not go on to a career in research.

2. Conceptions of research

The notes discuss common student misconceptions as to what research is, such as only gathering data to support preconceived ideas and suggests it is critical for a supervisor to discover if students hold such misconceptions. But if such misconceptions are as common as indicated, then I suggest the appropriate action is to have a formal test for all students and then set work to correct the misconceptions. This should not be left to some informal fireside chat between supervisor and student.

3. Student experience

The notes suggest that as well as supervisors, others will be important to the student, such as librarians, technical support and lab staff, family, friends and peers. The importance of written and oral communication skills is emphasised.

The "Ideas & tools" section of the notes references "Life as a doctoral student - more than research" (Oxford Learning Institute, 2011), which shows a page out of a student diary to emphasise that university is about social as well as study activities. It suggests these steps:

1. Building relationships
2. Learning to be proactive
3. Developing new skills and identities
4. Communicating one's research
5. Imagining a future beyond the doctorate
   

Perhaps the university could update this approach by making the student's e-journal part of the assessment.

4. Diversity

The notes point out that about 14% of Australian doctoral candidates are international students. The top three countries for international PHDs in 2008 were: Malaysia, China and Indonesia. Also 36% of students were part time for at least part of their program, with the proportion of part time students increasing over time. The notes point out that full-time candidates are more likely to complete, but the part-time candidates who do complete do so in less time.

Oxford's "Student diversity" points out that UK Higher education institutions are subject to legislation protecting against discrimination by age, race, sexual orientation, religion and gender. Australian universities are subject to similar legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and are required to anticipate the requirements of their students. It is not lawful to wait for a student to ask for special access. This principle was confirmed in the case of "Maguire v SOCOG 2000" (for which I was one of the expert witnesses).

As a part-time coursework student I have faced considerable impediments to study, where courses and administrative procedures have been designed on the assumption that the typical student is on-campus, full time, young, nimble and has good eyesight. It must be much more difficult for a student from a remote part of Australia, or overseas, who has work, family, religious or cultural commitments, which prevent them studying to a fixed timetable and location. This contrasts with studies at an online university, which I found set up for a diverse student population.

Other Readings

Åkerlind  (2008) point out that there is much less literature on academics' experience of research, than of teaching. They point out that the increasing emphasis on measurement and accountability of academic research activity, in‐depth exploration of the ways in which academics experience research, and of their underlying intentions in being a researcher and undertaking research, become important.

Åkerlind  (2008) examines ten phenomenographic studies using interviews of students and supervisors, mostly in technology disciplines. Studies looked at the extent to which academic value research in terms of contributing to goals of individual researchers and the research team. In addition they looked at the quality of the research, how it contributes to knowledge and is of general benefit and solves practical problems.
The authors note a difference in outlook of those conducting research into research, in terms of outcomes,  process, or intentions. They then conducted their own research of of 28 academics at an "research‐intensive university in Australia" (most likely ANU). The results were summarised as "Being a researcher as ...":

1. fulfilling academic requirements
   
2. establishing oneself in the field
   
3. developing oneself personally
   
4. enabling broader change
   

Bills (2007) investigated the questions: what is research, what is good research and what qualities make a good researcher, what makes a good research student and why do research? Rather than interviews or surveys an ethnomethodology, with analysis of focus group discussion was applied. The major finding of Bills (2007) was that it is the supervisor's own concepts of how research is conducted (and in particular who is in charge), which can cause problems for students, as much as the student's perceptions. Also it is suggested that undertaking a research degree is largely a process of socialisation into a discipline.

References

Bills, D. (2007). Supervisors' conceptions of research and the implications for supervisor development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360144042000296099. doi: International Journal for Academic Development, Vol. 9, No. 1, May 2004, pp. 85–97 Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360144042000296099

Åkerlind, G. S. (2008). An academic perspective on research and being a researcher: an integration of the literature. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070701794775. doi: Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 33, No. 1, February 2008, pp. 17-31. Retrieved rom:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075070701794775

Meeting the needs of part-time research students

McCulloch and Stokes (2008) address a neglected issue: the needs of part time research students in a brief and readable 37 page booklet (one of the SRHE Guides on postgraduate issues). As well as the needs of part time students, the authors address the different motivations of these students, which effect what type of program they need.

However, in my view the whole view of university needs to be "flipped", from one where an on-campus full time student is considered normal, with special allowances made for others. The assumption should be that the average student is part time and off campus most of the time with  work and family commitments.

This would be much like the change of approach for disabled access on campus. It is no longer acceptable to assume that students with a disability are an exception who can be catered for on a case by case basis: disabled access must be planned for in advance and failing to do so is unlawful.

Similarly universities can't honestly claim special efforts to be inclusive, when the standard programs exclude most of the population.

ps: Unfortunately, I could not find the booklet online and got a paper copy from the University of Canberra Library (also at La Trobe University).

References

McCulloch, Alistair & Stokes, Peter. Silent majority & Gough, Martin Dr & Society for Research into Higher Education (2008). The silent majority : meeting the needs of part-time research students. Society for Research into Higher Education, London

Online University Access for Indigenous Communities

The Final Report of the "Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People" was released 14 April 2012 by the Australian Government. The report makes 35 recommendations, aimed at "Parity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff in the higher education sector". The target set is 2.2%, being the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the population.

Measures proposed to achieve this include revising the guidelines for the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) to emphasize academic skills in school. Also universities and the vocational education and training (VET) sectors should work with professional bodies and private and public sector employers on alternative pathways into higher education. It is suggested the MyUniversity website have information on scholarships. A new funding model is proposed with tutoring support for more students.

Of particular interest to me is Recommendation 15:

That universities consider how best to support the needs of regional and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, including through:

• the use of virtual networks and other technology-based solutions to provide greater access to universities by remote and regional students ...
• working with the Higher Education Standards Panel to develop quality standards for Away-from-Base education delivery
• collaboration to allow recognition of the effort of universities that may enrol students who then go on to complete their degrees at different universities.

These measures for on-line education, education in the community and students being able to study at more than one university would be of benefit to all students, particularly those in remote areas. As a student myself, I found it useful to combine courses from different universities into the one program, using distance education and on campus courses. However, this has been a complex and expensive process.

The report discusses the use of telecommunications to improve access to education:

Access to high-speed technology and virtual networks for regional and remote students

Students from regional and remote areas require access to technology to support their distance learning. The consultations with HDR students indicated that the main forms of communication are often telephone and Skype (a voice-over-internet protocol service), but in many instances, telephone communications are considered unsatisfactory.

Distance Education is very lonely and isolating. I would definitely have enrolled as an internal student if I could have. I saw my supervisor once or twice a year.⁷⁶

Students often face challenges in gaining sufficient access to university services. One student relates:

I was unaware of any scholarships as I was living out on my homeland in a remote locality.⁷⁷

Virtual networks would help higher-degree students based in remote or regional areas to better access peers and academics. Suggested approaches during consultations included establishment of online forums and regionally based networks.

The National Broadband Network will play a critical role in increasing functionality of online support and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has suggested that the needs of remote communities should be addressed in the rollout of the National Broadband Network (submission no. 65, ASSA, p. 6). ...

From: Final Report of the "Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People", Professor Larissa Behrendt, Professor Steven Larkin, Mr Robert Griew and Ms Patricia Kelly, July 2012

Table of Contents of the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

• Foreword
• Executive Summary
• Recommendations
• Introduction
• Context
• Our approach: empowering communities, Closing the Gap and nation building
• Next steps
• Building on existing efforts
• Current situation
• What are we trying to achieve?
• Parity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff in the higher education sector
• Part I: Unlocking capacity and empowering choices
• 1 Unlocking capacity and empowering choices
• 1.1 Schools
• 1.2 Other pathways
• 1.3 Enabling programs
• 1.4 Access to information
• Part II: Supporting success and releasing capability
• Introduction to Part II
• 2 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student success
• 2.1 Provision of support through Indigenous Education Units and the faculties
• 2.2 Building professional pathways and responding to community need
• 3 Provision of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander–specific support to universities and students
• 3.1 Indigenous Support Program funding
• 3.2 Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme – Tertiary Tuition
• 3.3 Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from regional and remote areas
• 3.4 Other non-financial support for students
• 3.5 Recognising and broadening student choices
• 3.6 Financial support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
• 4 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and research
• 4.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and perspectives
• 4.2 Higher degrees by research and research training
• 4.3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research capability
• 5 Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff
• 5.1 Growing and retaining the general Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university workforce
• 5.2 Building the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academic and research workforce
• 6 University culture and governance
• 6.1 University culture
• 6.2 University governance
• 6.3 Parity targets to be included in mission-based compacts
• 7 The way forward: an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education strategy and evaluation framework
• 7.1 Development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education strategy and the role of the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council
• 7.2 Development of a monitoring and evaluation framework
• Part III: Lessons learned
• Introduction to Part III
• 8 Whole-of-university approach
• 9 Unlocking capacity and empowering choices
• 9.1 Schools
• 9.2 Vocational education and training sector
• 9.3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce
• 9.4 Correctional centres
• 9.5 Aspiration
• 9.6 Readiness
• 9.7 Access to information
• 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student success
• 10.1 Student support: a case management approach
• 10.2 Regional and remote delivery
• 10.3 Financial support
• 11 Building professional pathways and responding to community need
• 11.1 Community-based approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education
• 11.2 Professions and universities collaborating
• 11.3 Indigenous graduate attributes
• 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and perspectives
• 12.1 Curriculum and pedagogy
• 12.2 Teacher education
• 12.3 The interface between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems
• 13 Research, research training and university workforce
• 13.1 Good practice supervision of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher degree by research students
• 13.2 Cohort support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher degree by research students
• 13.3 Building Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research capacity in students and early career researchers
• 13.4 Building the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education workforce
• 13.5 Ethical practice in research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• 13.6 University strategies to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers
• 13.7 Research teams and models for research success
• 14 University culture and governance
• 14.1 Bringing community knowledge to campus
• 14.2 Decision-making and accountability structures
• Acronyms and abbreviations
• Glossary
• Appendices
• Appendix I: Terms of reference
• Appendix II: Review process and personnel
• Appendix III: Submissions
• Appendix IV: Consultations
• Appendix V: Commissioned research
• References

Analysis Closing the Gap Strategy to Reduce Indigenous Disadvantage

Professor John Boulton will speak on "Wedging the gap: Why the rhetoric is wrong for remote Aboriginal child health" at the Australian National University, in Canberra on 29 March 2012. In my view recent government interventions in indigenous communities have failed as they do not empower indigenous communities.

Internet to Empower Indigenous Communities

Public Lecture
Wedging the gap: Why the rhetoric is wrong for remote Aboriginal child health

The credibility of the rhetoric of Closing the Gap is predicated on the demonstration of improvement in Aboriginal Infant Mortality Rates (IMR), child health, and school engagement. The Prime Ministerial Closing the Gap Report 2012 (15 Feb 2012), which stated that the IMR was set to close by 2018 and that early childhood education would be in place for all Indigenous four-year-olds in remote communities by next year, are examples. The reality for children born in remote northern Aboriginal Australia belies these predictions. In this presentation the marked discrepancies in IMR and the increase in risk ratio of death during infancy over the past decades, and separately those for performance on the national school entry Australia Early Development Index, will be presented from an historical and anthropological perspective to illustrate the extent of the barriers to the achievement of equity in outcome for life chances in health and for future economic independence using the example of an Aboriginal child born in the remote Kimberley region of north west WA.

John Boulton has worked in the Kimberley as senior regional paediatrician since his retirement from academic paediatric practice at the University of Newcastle in 2005. His research interests were in growth and nutrition and included the childhood origins of future disease. In the Kimberley he is an advocate of the need to inform medical practice with an anthropological, historical, and demographic perspective. His present investigative focus is on an anthropological understanding of the crisis in Aboriginal child morbidity and mortality. He holds honorary academic appointments at the universities of Sydney and Newcastle.

Energy Efficiency Information Grants

The Australian Government released "Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program Guidelines" on 9 February 2012. The program is for industry associations and non-profit organisations to provide energy efficiency information to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and community organisations. The Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program opens for applications on 13 February, closing 16 March, with decisions to be announced April 2012, and projects to complete by June 2015. Grants will be $100,000 to $1M, with more possible for "... where a proposal demonstrates exceptional value for money ...". An applicant must be an industry association or professional institute, or a non-profit organisation. The applicant can partner with a government agency, research
institution, training provider, trade union or company. There is also the Low Income Energy Efficiency Program and the Community Energy Efficiency Program.

1.2 Objective of the program
The Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program will assist industry associations and non-profit organisations provide practical, tailored energy efficiency information to SMEs and community organisations.

The objective of the program is to empower SMEs and community organisations to make informed decisions about energy efficiency.

Energy saving results may become apparent immediately in some cases, but in others awareness of the opportunity will be the first step to reducing energy costs.

Successful projects under this program will provide quality information that comes from a trusted source and is delivered in a manner that meets the needs of a time poor audience. A message that penetrates to decision makers is key in this difficult to reach part of the community.

Merit, as judged through a competitive process, will be the primary consideration when awarding grants. However, the program also aims to achieve a diffusion of benefits across a range of business and community released on sectors and into remote and regional settings.

The program will directly support the research, development, dissemination and evaluation of energy efficiency information by trusted sources. Financial assistance for energy efficiency retrofits and equipment upgrades is beyond the scope of this program. ...

From: "Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program Guidelines", Australian Government, 9 February 2012.

Low Income Energy Efficiency Program

The Australian Government released "Low Income Energy Efficiency Program Guidelines" on 9 February 2012. It opens for Expressions of Interest on 13 February 2012 for $100M in grants to service providers to demonstrate smarter energy use in low income households. The closing date for submission of Expressions of Interest is 16 March, with successful consortia invited to submit applications in May 2012. It appears that the details of the process have not been worked out, with more information on the application process to be provided "shortly". More information will be provided on the website. There is also the related Community Energy Efficiency Program and the Energy Efficiency Information Grants.

The Australian Government has previously had difficulties with the administration of energy efficiency building upgrade schemes, particularly the "Home Insulation Program". As the auditor reported:

"Overall HIP has been a costly program for the outcomes achieved, including substantial remediation costs. There still remains a range of safety concerns and coronial inquiries are yet to be completed in relation to the four fatalities associated with installations under the program.".

It would be unfortunate if this was repeated with the Low Income Energy Efficiency Program. The scheme has a high political risk, with the Minister deciding on each project and thus risking being held politically responsible for any financial loss or deaths resulting.

There are lessons for the energy efficiency programs in the results of the Building the Education Revolution. In particular, the non-government school systems were able to produce more innovative results, such as the St Monica’s Primary multi-purpose learning centre. But while state government administered systems may have problems, it is unfortunate that government‐owned public housing is excluded from the Low Income Energy Efficiency Program.

1.3 How the program will be managed
The Low Income Energy Efficiency Program is a competitive merit-based grant program with defined funding limits. Only the strongest proposals that most successfully meet the assessment criteria will be funded. Applicants are encouraged to consult the Department
while preparing Expressions of Interest and Applications to ensure their proposal meets the basic application requirements. Guidance material is available to assist potential applicants.

A Program Advisory Group comprising officers from relevant Commonwealth agencies will work with the Department to assess eligible Expressions of Interest and to score Applications against the merit criteria. The Department will have overall responsibility for managing the Expressions of Interest and Application assessment processes, and for making recommendations to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (the Minister). The Minister will make final decisions regarding which Expressions of Interest will be invited to submit Applications and which applicants receive grant funding under the Program, based on the recommendations provided by the Department.

1.4 Low Income Households

The definition of ‘low income households’ for this program is a general term and applicants will be required to describe how they will identify and enlist low income households into their trial. Applicants will also need to indicate the particular type of low income household group being targeted as part of their trial.

As a guide, one or more of the following indicators should be used to define low income households for the purpose of the Program:

• Household income is in the bottom two quintiles of the Australian population
• Householder is in receipt of an Australian Government concession card
• Household income is mainly derived from income support payments
• Householder is a member of a particularly disadvantaged target group e.g. Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, new arrivals, person with a disability
• High energy needs due to either individual or locational factors e.g. disability or climate (high energy usage relative to household size and composition)
• Householder is participating in an energy hardship program
• Householder is disconnected or at risk of disconnection from their energy source.

The term ‘households’ includes private dwellings such as houses, flats and home units but excludes government‐owned public housing.

1.5 Consortium arrangements
Those interested in applying for funding must be part of a consortium to submit a proposal under the Low Income Energy Efficiency Program. The formation of a consortium will assist interested parties to interact effectively with each other and submit a coordinated
application that provides a targeted approach to meet the program’s objectives. It will be important to ensure that the consortium possesses all the relevant skills and attributes required to deliver a successful project.
Low Income
Consortium members should carefully consider the most appropriate management and governance arrangements to suit their membership and the nature of their project. Other than the Department’s requirement to contract with a single entity to ensure central management of each project, there is no blueprint for the membership or governance of a consortium. The structure of the entity that deals with the Department could involve a single entity leading the consortium in effect as a ‘prime contractor’ or the formation of a separate incorporated body.

A consortium may subcontract the performance of part of the project to third parties noting that the costs of doing so must qualify as eligible expenditure if the consortium wishes to include these expenses in the project budget. In undertaking a project, the entity that
enters into the funding agreement will be responsible for the performance of the entire project, notwithstanding that implementation of parts of the project may be undertaken by consortium members or subcontractors.

Organisations that could be involved in the project through membership of a consortium include, but are not limited to, the following:

Community organisations – the ability to identify and work with relevant low income households will be essential to each project’s success. Community organisations have extensive experience and linkages with low income households and will be able to play a vital role in encouraging the participation of low income households in the project.

Energy companies – energy companies can benefit from being involved in a project through providing their customers with a better understanding of energy efficiency and how this relates to their energy bills and charges. This may also assist in the reduction of or shift away from peak demand periods which could delay the need for further investment in networks.

State, territory and local governments – state, territory and local government involvement in projects can offer a contact point for eligible households as well as providing established administrative and reporting structures, and possibly additional financing.

State or territory governments and their agencies will only be allowed to lead consortia where this is shown to be necessary to provide governance and administrative support to other consortium members. In these instances, the projects will need to be clearly shown as additional to existing or planned state or territory programs and free from the risk of substituting Commonwealth for state or territory funding. State or territory owned entities and their subsidiaries, such as energy companies, will be able to lead consortia.

Manufacturers, suppliers and installers of energy efficient technologies – active participation of these organisations is important for creating a market for energy efficiency services and products. These organisations could also provide support for the adoption of standards, training, accreditation processes, product testing, installation and guaranteeing post‐sales support. This may also provide opportunities to engage local industry.

Financial institutions – financial institutions could assist in the development of flexible packages for households, including those that reduce up‐front capital costs for technologies and services trialled through projects.

Research institutions – a research institution could assist in developing strategies for and assisting in the collection and analysis of relevant trial data necessary to assess the success and benefits of each trial. ...

From: Low Income Energy Efficiency Program Guidelines, Australian Government, 9 February 2012.

Digital Futures Project

The Australian National University (ANU) , University of Southern Queensland (USQ), and the University of South Australia (UniSA) are collaborating on a $9M Digital Futures Project. The project aims to research social and policy challenges in boosting participation in higher education through technology rich learning environments. This part of the federal Government's Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program, which aims to boost research at small regional universities by teaming them with large city ones. This project will research Mobility, Openness and Digital Communities. ANUand USQ previously collaborated on an Engineering Hubs and Spokes Project for teaching undergraduates using blended learning. ANU and USQ have an alliance for teaching and research. Currently I am studying Research-Led Education via a program at ANU, including courses provided by USQ.

High-Speed Internet Not a Requirement for Online Classes

Recently I was asked if high-speed Internet should be a requirement for students taking online courses. I suggest educational institutions not require high speed Internet, unless they have a need for speed. It would exclude students unnecessarily and may cut across anti-discrimination policies. Instead, I suggest 56 kbps would be a reasonable speed for courses generally.

Some Australian educational institutions specify "a 56K modem or broadband connection to the Internet". A few Australian institutions require students to have "Broadband connection to the Internet".

The Australian Government definition of "broadband" is a download speed of at least 256 kbit/s. This comes from the OECD.

But the Australian Universal Service Obligation currently sets the minimum data speed to be available to all citizens at just 64 kbps.

Having a low national standard for Internet access makes it difficult for an institution to require students to have a higher "broadband" speed, as it would exclude many students. It is likely that this would not be permitted under Australia law, unless the institution could show that this was really required for a specific course. The institution may have its government accreditation canceled and may be taken to court by individual students for unlawful discrimination.

Keep in mind that if you do require the students to have high speed broadband, this implies the institution is set up to provide courses to students at that speed. Consider an assignment which requires the student to submit a video on-line. A significant proportion of students will wait until a few minutes before the deadline before uploading their video to the institution's Learning Management System and then download a copy to check it was received okay. It would not take many students, each using a high speed broadband connection, to saturate the institution's links and servers.

The Australian National Broadband Network will provide a minimum of 512 kbps for remote areas using satellite, 12 Mbps for regional areas using fixed terrestrial wireless and 100 Mbps by fiber optic cable in cities.

It should be noted that even with "broadband" some remote satellite links may have so much "latency" that some interactive applicators may not be usable. Latency is the delay between the student pressing the button (or saying something) and the time the signal arrives at the other end. This may cause problems for real time audio and video links and also for e-labs, where the student is interacting with a real device in a remote lab.

Apart from speed and latency, there is also the cost to consider. Students using wireless via the mobile phone network can be paying tens or hundreds of times as much for data as fixed network users. In this case high speed could result in them running up a large bill very quickly. The cost of downloading one video may be prohibitive.

Also it needs to be kept in mind that the student may only have a low performance computer which cannot process or store large amounts of data. I normally set webinar applications to use no more than 56 kbps, even though I have a 100 mbps link in my office. Setting a low speed reduces the processing load on my low power "netbook" computer and reduces problems for people with a slow link at the other end. Most webinars work fine at 56kbps.

The approach I suggest is to ensure that:

1. Large non-interactive files, such as e-books, videos and any special software needed, can be downloaded in advance in bulk: Students should be able to download the bulk of materials in one session at a cyber cafe at the beginning of the course for use later. Also it should be made clear to students which materials are required for the course and which are optional. All required audio and video should have a companion alternate text version for those who can't see or hear the video. Disability law requires this, but it can also be a useful alternative for those who can't download large files. This is also good teaching practice, allowing students to choose the format for their learning style.
2. Low bandwidth options be offered for interactive parts of the course: Text based chat forums are very bandwidth efficient. Video, where offered, should be optional for real time forums, with still slides as an alternative. What should be avoided is putting prerecorded video in the real time session. Allow the students to download the prerecorded video in advance. This is also good teaching practice, allowing students to study material in advance of the interactive session.
3. Notes in efficient formats: Web format documents should be used for course materials. The web's native HTML format should be used to prepare course notes and reading materials, where possible. Older versions of Microsoft Power-point and Microsoft Word should be avoided, as should PDF, as these create much larger files. The newer Microsoft Office and OpenOffice formats are more efficient, but care should be taken to format images as these can make documents tens or hundreds of times larger than they need be. Where possible use the content creation tools of your Learning Management System to make course notes which download efficiently.

MAKE COURSES COMPACT FOR TECHNICAL AND EDUCATIONAL EFFICIENCY

In my view 56 kbps should be sufficient for the average course. This is fast enough for ordinary web content, for a real time "webinar" with audio and slides and to download some short low quality video.

It should be noted that video, audio and real time interaction are not necessary for a successful on-line course. I have run a university unit which required no video or audio and with no real time class interaction. The students were instead supplied with about 500 kbytes of text based notes in an e-book at the start of the 12 week course and then posted their input to a text based forum at least twice a week: .

Many teachers think that if they are not standing in front of the class talking, then they are not "teaching". This is not the case. Research shows that giving hour long talking lectures is one of the least effective ways to teach. Replicating this format on-line with hour long recorded video lectures is therefore not a good idea: it wastes bandwidth and does not significantly help educate students. Text based materials, interspersed with interactive activities is more effective. This can be supplemented by short audio and video segments, with graphics.

ps: I will be discussing images and video for on-line education at the Australasian National University in Canberra, 29 June 2011.

Some Non-Financial Costs of the NBN

Graig Gamble wrote about "Some advantages of the NBN" in the Canberra Times (11 Jun, 2011 12:00 am). But these advantages will not be without some cost. Apart from the financial cost of the system, the the National Broadband Network (NBN), will invovle social changes. There will need to be investments to counter the undesirable possible changes.

1) Benefit of the NBN will not be evenly distributed

As with most technological developments, those with more resources and education will be in a better position to benefit from it. The NBN will provide high speed broadband to homes and small businesses across most of Australia, However, having speed broadband is not the same as being able to make good use of it.

Rural Australia will benefit from better Internet access, but the more remote areas will get only wireless access, which will reduce the relative speed of access they have compared to the city.

There will be advantages for those with a disability, for telecommuting, e-health and e-learning. However, these will not necessarily be extra optional services. When banks introduced ATM, phone banking and Internet banking, this allowed them to reduce the number of branches. Similarly, government, medical and educational institutions will be able to reduce their face-to-face services, by introducing on-line facilities.

2) Ubiquitous broadband will be wireless

There is a myth that Australians are early adopters of technology. As my colleague, Dr Idris Sulaiman has found, the residents of Indonesia are overtaking Australian Internet use. This is due to due to wireless Internet on mobile phones. Internet on phones is more expensive, slower and less reliable than the NBN's optical fiber network. The NBN's fixed wireless for regional Australia is a little better. But mobile Internet provides the great advantage of being with you where and whenever you have a phone. Just as Australia is investing in a fixed network, the world is remaking the Internet to be mobile.

3) TV is the NBN killer application

The major application for the NBN is digital TV, the less glamorous one is old fashioned telephones. While much has been made of low take-up rates for the NBN in pilot sites, the government has a guaranteed market for the NBN. It is planned to phase out copper cable, with it not being installed for new housing developments. If a homebuilder wants a phone connection or Internet access, then they will have a choice between the NBN's fiber cable or wireless. Old fashioned copper telephone cable will not be an option. This will ensure the takeup of the NBN, assuming householders want a landline phone.

The most likely use for the NBN will be for digital TV. Already pay TV providers are offering services over ADSL Internet connections (and Transact's fiber optic cable in Canberra). While much is made of free DIY video on the Internet, it is likely that households will be willing to pay for professionally produced TV. It is also likely that current broadcast channels will be carried over the NBN. This will create some interesting regulatory issues, with the NBN not being limited by traditional broadcast regions.

4) NBN Worth it Just for Phones

The cost of the NBN was estimated at $42B, then $35B and likely to go lower, as the NBN Corp works out how to install it efficiently. Also newer technology is likely to lower the cost. Installation in new suburbs and apartment buildings is the cheapest option and retrofitting old suburbs the most expensive. The best strategy in social terms is to install the NBN in regional areas and those pockets of the city without adequate broadband currently. New greenfield developments can also be done first as they are cheap. Most Australian city suburbs with adequate ADSL broadband can be done last, or perhaps never, if wireless technology improves to the point where NBN is not needed.

5) NBN Will Not Make Internet Cheap

The cost of providing an Internet service has little to do with the cost of cables, but is mostly about billing and marketing. So the NBN will not make the Internet cheaper, but we will get a faster and more reliable service.

There may be some low cost add-ons provided on top of the NBN. It would be feasible to provide a wireless services using the NBN as the back-haul channel. Low power wireless bas stations would be plugged into the NBN and used to carry the signal the last few tens of meters. This could be used for wireless Internet access at speeds faster than current ADSL and also be used for telephony. With this arrangement, only a few houses in the street would need an NBN connection to provide coverage for the whole street.

Social inclusion by cooperative e-learning

Greetings from the Australian Collaborative Education Network forum on social inclusion and cooperative education at University of Sydney. I am speaking from my ICT point of view on how to do that with social networking and mobile accessible web design. I have some reinforcement with Doug O'Hara from the ACS Foundation in the audience.

One point which came out is that the Australian Minister for Social Inclusion is also the Deputy PM, Minister for Education and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. This should make it easier to apply social inclusion principles in the education and workplace.

One of the other panellists is an Indian ICT graduate who related his experience in first staying in an Australian country town. This was a mirror image to my experience in staying in an Indian village, he was worried by the spare population, whereas it was the crowd which unsettled me.

Australian institutions can learn from others. As an example Professor Uma Kanjilal, Director of the School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU), visited some weeks ago and talked about the problems of scale in her institution.

Another issues which came up was defining graduate attributes. This is an area I am working up a research proposal for in the business end of computing (information studies). My solutions for this may not be popular with elite universities, as it would involve building on the work which professional bodies have done in defining what skills practitioners need and the work the vocation education sector has done in carefully describing their courses. This may involve some loss of autonomy by the universities. Anyone interested in being involved, please let me know.

Use of Computers in Education Needs to be Planned

Research by Clotfelter and others suggests that the introduction of home computers has a negative impact on student performance. Rather than seeing this as a reason for not providing computers, this indicates that computers and networking have to be integrated into the planned education. Just providing a computer will distract the student, rather than help them. I will discuss this on the panel on Making “social inclusion” a focus when creating opportunities for participation in cooperative education programs ACEN Forum, University of Sydney, 20 August 2009.

... the introduction of home computer technology is associated with modest but statistically significant and persistent negative impacts on student math and reading test scores. Further evidence suggests that providing universal access to home computers and high-speed internet access would broaden, rather than narrow, math and reading achievement gaps. ...

From:

From: Scaling the Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology and Student Achievement, Charles T. Clotfelter, Helen F. Ladd and Jacob L. Vigdor, Duke University, July 29, 2008