TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Communication across distance, people and disciplines. A pulse across Taranaki, the energy province. The Maori equivalent of Wavelength is “Iarere.” From a Maori perspective, “Te Iarere” is a positive way of communicating over vast distances. Cover: Seecond cultural identification Ian M Clothier This digital print was gifted to WITT by the artist. It was part of a project exhibited in San Jose in 2006, where the online audience first filled out a questionaire about cultural identity. The responses were visualised according to a constructed lexicon - the cover image is an example. Te Iarere Wavelength As the Interdisciplinary Journal of Academic Activity at WITT, Te Iarere Wavelength provides a forum for the publication of scholarly articles, points of view and creative works from all academic disciplines and subjects of general interest. Submission Guidelines are found on the following page. Te Iarere Wavelength is published annually by WITT, Private Bag 2030, New Plymouth, www.witt.ac.nz, ph (06) 757 3100. Te Iarere Wavelength Committee Ann Bride, Ian M Clothier, Andrea Corbett, Christine Fenton, Tengaruru Wineera. Disclaimer All articles and creative works published in Te Iarere Wavelength are reviewed for accuracy of information (where applicable) and consistency of style and presentation. The views and creative philosophies expressed in this journal, however, are those of the author(s) and artist(s), and should not be taken to represent or reflect any aspect of institutional policy. ISSN 11773197 © 2008 TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Aim Te Iarere Wavelength provides a forum for the publication of academic articles, points of view and creative works by current WITT staff members. Co-authored articles, in which one or more of the authors is either a WITT student or a non-WITT employee, will also be considered for publication. Submissions are not limited to research or scholarly activity that relates directly or indirectly to WITT programmes of study. Any subject of general interest on which sensible and well-informed opinions may be expressed, and creative works e.g. short stories and graphic images, will be considered for publication. Readership It is intended that Te Iarere Wavelength is published in hard copy at least once a year. Copies will be distributed internally to all WITT faculties, interested staff, divisions, service areas, and nationally to other institutions. Editorial Committee An editorial committee drawn from Research Committee members will receive and review each article or creative work submitted for publication. The editorial committee may seek specialist opinion outside its membership where this is deemed to be helpful or necessary. The editorial committee reserves the right to accept, edit or decline any piece of work submitted for consideration, and to make suggestions for - or seek - clarification of meaning where appropriate. A call for submissions is made approximately three months prior to publication dates. Articles (including print based creative works) Academic articles are expected to be formally structured with adherance to academic standards and should aim to be up to 2,500 words (longer ones will be considered). Point of View articles are informal and can be vary in length. All submissions selected for publication will be subject to editing. All articles should be submitted electronically, preferably as a Word document. Articles should be presented in single-line spacing in 10pt Verdana font. Headings should be printed in bold type, in 10pt Verdana font. Any footnotes and references should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) format. Copies of the WITT APA Referencing Guide are available in hard copy at the Learning Centre. Articles should not normally be submitted if they have been published elsewhere. In the case of prior publication, permission must be sought and obtained from the original publisher before the article is submitted to the editorial committee. Articles should be submitted to the Research Administrator ([email protected]). Graphics Any written text accompanying graphics should follow the same guidelines as per the section “Articles (including print based creative works)”, above. Graphic images should be supplied in JPG or TIF format at no less than 300dpi. TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 CONTENTS Issue 3 Winter 2008 Page IN THIS ISSUE 4 EDITORIAL Christine Fenton Lecturing to the lecturers 5 POINTS OF VIEW Debra Hitchcock To Google or not to Google? Is the library 9 obsolete? That is the question Christine Fenton Where have all the scientists gone? 15 CREATIVE WORKS Te Huirangi Waikerepuru Te Hā Oranganui - spiritual physical wellness 21 Kurt Adams Drawing the digital 7, 23, 36, 50 Murray Strong Queen Street, Winter Night and Riwaka 8, 24, 68 ACADEMIC FORUM John Hudson A guided tour through past hospitality 25 industry training: using your past to build a stronger future Barbara Morris ESOL learning disability: an enigma in tertiary 37 classrooms? Barbara Chamberlain and Linking research to teaching and learning: 51 Lorette Rayner a shared responsibility of the library and department TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 IN THIS ISSUE To google or not to google? by Debra Hitchcock Discussing the role of the library in a technological age, Debra happily declares her bias and defends her stance that in a world of information overload, the library is just as important as ever. Debra is the Collection Services Librarian in the WITT library. Where have all the scientists gone? by Christine Fenton This article is a point of view article written by former Head of Science and current convenor of the New Zealand Microbiological Society’s special interest group in Education. Christine is also co-founder of the Nexus Research Group, a group that supports science in schools and is a Waikato University Doctoral scholar recipient. This article is a personal viewpoint on the state of NZ science education. Te Ha Oranganui – spiritual physical wellness by Te Huirangi Waikerepuru Dr Te Huirangi Eruera Waikerepuru composed this pure for personal use to settle the spirit, mind and body. It is performed in the early morning at the break of day to welcome the sunrise, acknowledge life and the challenges it brings to each new day. He pure tēnei hei whakararau i te wairua, i te ngākau, i te tīnana. E kawea ana i te atatū, i te ata hāpara, i te takiritanga mai o te ata. Me te mihi anō hoki ki te huranga mai o te rā, ngā painga, me ngā karo ka puta ki tēnei ao. Drawing the digital by Kurt Adams These images provide an example from Kurt’s ongoing research into the use of drawing as a spontaneous device for dismantling digital conventions and exploring the excessive manipulation of our environment. The process of digitally sculpting dirty pixels and finger smudges allows new possibilities in the development and engagement with hand drawn artifacts. The work has been exhibited throughout New Zealand and currently Kurt teaches various computer graphic papers in the BVA. Queen Street, Winter Night and Riwaka by Murray Strong We present a collection of three poems written by Murray Strong, the Crown Commissioner. Some of Murray’s poems have been visualised by WITT art tutor Donna Williard-Moore and have been successfully exhibited. Murray has a background in governance and senior management experience in the commercial and tertiary education sectors. A guided tour through past hospitality industry training by John Hudson John Hudson, a hospitality tutor with a specialist area in catering and a Masters Degree in Adult Education provides a guided tour through changes in the NZ hospitality industry. A diverse industry, John advocates communication and unity instead of competition to meet the needs of the student. ESOL learning disability by Barbara Morris Barbara is an experienced and passionate learning skills tutor who has written an informative article on the difficulties of identifying and working with an almost hidden aspect of education: English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) students who have learning disabilities. Linking research to teaching and learning by Barbara Chamberlain and Lorette Rayner A collaboration of educationists, Barbara and Lorette teamed up to investigate the relationship between academic departments and the library and attempted to identify roles of each in teaching and learning. Barbara Chamberlain has since retired from WITT after service in the business and computing area and Lorette has a new role out of the library as the institute’s Flexible Learning Facilitator. TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 LECTURING TO THE LECTURERS  Christine Fenton When I studied at university, I went to lectures. When I began my teaching career, I too lectured. If you look into the history of universities, most knowledge was communicated by standing in front an audience, and talking. The audience would gather around, and write their own notes if they needed to. In the very early universities, no textbooks would have been available to support the learning as the printing press hadn’t been invented yet. It was just the word of the teacher - the ‘professor’, the academic leader, the thinker, renowned in his (very rarely her) discipline area - knowledge was taken straight from the thinker’s mouth. It hasn’t changed much. In fact, New Zealand law legislates that lecturers of a degree must be active researchers. That is because anything in a printed textbook is probably at least two years old. Degree teachers in particular, should be discoverers of new information that the student can immediately benefit from. Students should still be gaining up-to-date information from the thinker’s mouth. Lecturers should have written the book, instead of just read from it. However, recent information is much more readily available with online journals for example - information that is perhaps only six months old. So, why are we still lecturing? A simple answer might be that now there is too much information. The lecturer becomes the guide for the student through the textbook, through the digital media, through the internet, and through the content. Now, because there is too much information, we may trip over content. There is too much to deliver in the short contact time given; we must teach them what is required for the current workplace so we fill them with knowledge, and we test this knowledge with assessment. But, does this help them become independent learners? Does this enable them to react to the unforeseeable future workplace? Instead of being the sole source of information (as in the ancient universities), the lecturer is now the content guide who structures the course and adds meaning through their own study or experience. As the lecturing/tutor role changes TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 ISSN 1177 3197  from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’ the teaching methodologies also have to change. How do we facilitate learning and ensure that graduates become the ‘independent learners’ that is required of a degree by the Amendment to the Education Act? Independent learners will be able to react in the workplace of the future with all its unknowns, by seeking knowledge for themselves – one of the pivotal differences between being ‘trained’ and being ‘educated’. How does this apply in the ITP (Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics) sector where often the content is vocational and practical? The worker of the future will have to be adaptable, and may have to function in an environment that, perhaps, we have not yet contemplated. The production of independent thinkers which has been facilitated by teaching methods that are based on research and scholarly activity is of vital importance, no matter what the content, no matter what the level. As educators, we need to alter our focus from the delivery of content towards the facilitation of learning. We help by guiding and demonstrating, creating opportunities for students to engage with the content and develop life-long learning skills. Students may not like it, but we are required by law to teach them not to need us, to be discoverers of their own information by thinking independently and reflecting on their own practice. Just like a lecturer. TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 7 Image from an animation Kurt Adams TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 8 QUEEN STREET They walk with heads bowed Striding without purpose Pretending to think Wanting no one Other than themselves One rises, contact Smile offered, returned But quickly caught And thrust back with hands Into pockets stuffed with self Murray Strong TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 TO GOOGLE, OR NOT TO GOOGLE? IS THE LIBRARY OBSOLETE? THAT 9 IS THE QUESTION Debra Hitchcock We live in the Age of Digital Information, with so many new bells and whistles on the Internet that a library could now be considered obsolete. If you spend half a thought on the image of a library, you might think of the library of yesterday, with stacks of books, a spinsterish woman at the front desk with her hair in a bun, sporting glasses, a twin-set and ‘sensible’ shoes; perpetually saying “shush”. Another half a thought might bring you into today, where there are a few new computers – and perhaps a more fashionable twin-set – but not many other visual differences. And with that in mind, why would you consider visiting a library when the Internet is available? Why wouldn’t you think the Internet the best option? Here’s where I have to own up to a bias. I’ve lived, breathed, and worked in all sorts of libraries for most of my life, and I know that you’ve been short-changed if you think libraries are redundant. So, I’d like to discuss what you may be missing. HISTORY For a start, the collection of books you might think of as ‘the traditional library’ is just a stereotype of 20-50 years ago. Libraries have a much more colourful history than this. In ancient Europe the few books in existence were the treasure of a privileged elite, including Alexander the Great, who acquired every written item he could track down, building a great, private library. The Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu (604BC – 531BC) complained that “People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge” – so some form of readily-accessible ‘library’ must have existed in a part of ancient China. Medieval monks chained books in place to protect them, and also wrote them in Latin to keep their ideas even more secure. In pre- European Aotearoa, Māori worked to earn the right to knowledge, and tohunga protected their body of knowledge, carefully vetting acolytes over a period of time before disseminating parcels of information. Back then it was widely believed that repositories of information were repositories of power, and power must be kept secure. During the latter part of the English Industrial Age, the invention of the printing press helped to create an environment TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008 ISSN 1177 3197 10 of economically accessible books, written in an accessible language. This situation led to the establishment of lending libraries which were the beginnings of our ‘traditional’ public libraries. Another feature of this time was the itinerant lecturer who went from hall to hall describing and discussing the latest inventions and discoveries. So many people had a good general knowledge of, and interest in, their environment and in emerging technologies. Although having accessible collections of books was perceived as the pivotal new development, it was actually the accessibility of ideas which was radical. Indicators of the time suggest this availability of information, or power, wasn’t a calamity; rather it was a comparatively healthy cultural period for most people. INFORMATION BARRIERS Despite these advances, there are more modern examples of attempts at restricting access to ideas. Hitler burned books: many, many books. Calculated destruction of books like this is called “Biblioclasm”. Chinese officials ‘rewrote’ the end of World War II by restricting general access to international books for Chinese people, and carefully constructing their own history books. And more recently, in the early stages of the so-called War on Terror, arson devastated the national library and museum in Iran. No-one claimed responsibility for the burning, but it was specific to the buildings housing the nation’s history, and flying bullets ensured that no-one fought the fires. The emails flying around in library circles at the time spoke of the irreplaceable, global loss of some of our oldest, unique manuscripts and artefacts. Macintyre (2003) lists other dictators, and other losses. In the New Zealand context, had the Crime Reform Bill passed into law when it was debated some ten years ago, the information on the Internet in this country would have been as tightly controlled as it was in China at this same time. Also around then, legislation was passed which allowed politicians to decide which of their records were preserved in our National Archives, and which they quietly shredded; although that provision has recently passed back into the control of the Chief Archivist. SEMANTICS Have you noticed that I’m using the terms “books”, “records”, “ideas”, “information” and “knowledge” fairly interchangeably? Libraries were never just “books”; I was taught that libraries are for the collection, preservation and dissemination of information TE IARERE WAVELENGTH Issue 3 WINTER 2008