Further work to be included here (am currently preparing relevant items and will soon update) will cover three ultimately linked phases in my evolving/convergent academic career: (a) philosophical, cultural and rhetorical studies, (b) an ‘education’ focus on new literacies, educational technology, active learning models and design research, and (c) (more recently) an interdisciplinary framework for new models in policy research, applied/complex problem-solving, sustainable development, academic literacy and lifelong learning. Across these phases I have continued to refine and innovate around long-term interests in methodologies of knowledge-building, critical/systems thinking and global cultural/knowledge convergence. Address: The World
... the learning and assessment activities which make up the e-portfolio function as a guided but... more ... the learning and assessment activities which make up the e-portfolio function as a guided but open ended 'journey' to engage ... Distance education, on-campus learning, and e-learning convergences: An Australian exploration. International Journal of E-Learning, 1(3), 30-39. ...
Despite the relative abundance of rainfall and plentiful surface water resources, recent reports ... more Despite the relative abundance of rainfall and plentiful surface water resources, recent reports suggest Malaysia country is faced with the prospect of water scarcity.The predicted scarcity is less related to changes in rainfall patterns but in the diminishing availability of water resources and treatment capacity for urban populations, both of which are linked to the inadequacy of the current water management regime.Further to this, growing concerns over dilapidated infrastructure (i.e. non-revenue water as high as 40 percent in some cities), urban water pollution concerns, institutional weaknesses, and political interference to the implementation of recent water reforms have sought to characterize Malaysia's modern day water industry.One way of addressing the current unsustainability of the water industry is for greater collaboration and partnership between the industry's key players, including developing robust and relevant industry-university collaborative partnerships.To date, there is no evidence of a strategy to coordinate and integrate broad interests of industry and university stakeholders; instead, research tends to be done in an an hoc manner, focused on specific technical issues without addressing some of the more fundamental and complex industry challenges.With this in mind, this paper aims to present the findings of a recent research project aimed at developing an interdisciplinary research framework for industry-university collaboration in the Malaysian water industry.
Advances in Sustainability and Environmental Justice, 2013
Purpose – Because businesses conducting e-commerce are often able to set up off-shore to avoid re... more Purpose – Because businesses conducting e-commerce are often able to set up off-shore to avoid regulation, taxation, and other aspects of corporate responsibility, the developed-developing divide which tends to inform World Trade Organization (WTO) policies is especially an impediment to future global e-commerce. This chapter explores the particular accountability challenges represented by WTO e-commerce policies.Design/methodology/approach – The framework of inquiry focuses on a policy research study of relevant WTO e-commerce policy documents, especially the ones related to the negotiations under the WTO Work Program on Electronic Commerce and the GATS Agreement.Findings – The virtual nature of e-commerce interactions means that businesses are often able to circumvent the national boundaries and controls of conventional commerce. Because of this, the WTO and its e-commerce policy are crucial to the responsible and accountable development of future global e-commerce. Such policies need to be significantly improved as a matter of urgency to overcome current omissions and inadequacies.Research implications – Accountability gaps within WTO’s e-commerce policies provide a basis for companies from developed countries to set up off-shore to avoid their corporate social responsibilities. A constructive critique of international agency policy documents is able to provide a basis for recommending change and improvement to the overall WTO framework.Practical and social implications – Companies should profess genuine rather than merely surface commitment to global as well as local corporate social responsibilities. Likewise the WTO should also aim to practice deep rather than “shallow” accountability by aiming to rectify omissions and inequities in its e-commerce policies.
E-commerce is becoming an increasingly important focus of the international trade. Dealing with t... more E-commerce is becoming an increasingly important focus of the international trade. Dealing with the virtual nature of e-commerce to create a borderless global economy requires the involvement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the only international organization regulating global trade between nations. However, the WTO has struggled in its efforts to address the various uncertainties of classification applied to e-commerce products (hereinafter ‘Classification’) under its existing Agreements (e.g. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)). This article investigates how a comprehensive approach is needed to address foundational Classification challenges. Using the key tools of the grounded theory method, this article analyses all the WTO Members’ discussions (1998–2014) related to the Classification issue. It does so as a basis for critiquing the WTO’s approach to addressing this challenge. It argues e-commerce products are...
Australian governments appear to be in the process of succumbing to efforts of persuasion by the ... more Australian governments appear to be in the process of succumbing to efforts of persuasion by the Transurban corporation to adopt a so-called user pays 'road pricing' scheme on all public roads in the future (i.e. that people might need to pay to drive just down the road to the shops or a school, and not just on the existing tollways). We investigate here how this proposal for ubiquitous electronic toll roads – to be facilitated of course solely by Transurban for profit-would also seem to be the culmination of a cynical, opportunistic and often counter-productive process. This is also how, encouraged and supported by an uncritically naïve and generally reckless governmental strategy of market-led public-private investment and public asset privatisation in Queensland as well as elsewhere in Australia in recent times, Transurban emerged as a manipulating and all devouring as well as opportunistic 'mega-monopoly' ruthlessly seeking to take over, own or at least control, and endlessly profiteer from perhaps the most pivotal domain of public infrastructure assets (public roads). With a particular personal as well policy focus on Transurban's recent takeover of the SouthEast Queensland tollway network as a model also for Sydney, Melbourne and beyond, the paper also explores the nature of various claims at both the macro and micro level that this all constitutes a rip-off, a sting, a rort, and/or a scam (i.e. various and interrelated inappropriate 'conflicts of interest') that needs to be challenged as a convergent corporate-governmental-bureaucratic refusal as well as failure of overall accountability at every level.
This paper will compare and contrast the approaches to second language teaching represented by th... more This paper will compare and contrast the approaches to second language teaching represented by the methods of Suggestopedia and the Silent Method (TSM) respectively. The paper will then discuss whether these methods have application for introducing interactive approaches to second language teaching in 'resistant' EFL contexts. Introduction This paper will compare and contrast the approaches to second language teaching represented by the methods of Suggestopedia and the Silent Method (TSM) respectively. These particular methods represent opposite perspectives on the connection between 'acquisition' and 'learning'. Whilst a central focus of Suggestopedia is the memorisation of a vast vocabulary (Lozanov, 1979), TSM (Richards & Rodgers, 1986:99) encourages students to actively and consciously take control of their own learning. An applied context for this discussion will be the following situation: a teacher of English as a second or foreign language with a basi...
INTRODUCTIONPlaying digital games has become the dominant activity of the current generation (Bec... more INTRODUCTIONPlaying digital games has become the dominant activity of the current generation (Becker, 2007). Consumers spent $22.41 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in 2015 and 68.7 percent (15.4 billion) of these sales include games, add-on content, mobile apps, subscriptions, and social networking games (Entertainment Software Association, 2016). Thirty-five percent of gamers play games on smartphones, and thirty-one percent play games on wireless devices (Entertainment Software Association, 2016). Besides this, several different demographics as well as age groups are captivated deeply in their leisure time especially by gaming activities (Saulter, 2007). ESA (2016) has reported that the average game player is 35 years old and women aged 18 or older represent the biggest age-gender cohort of the game-playing population (33%). These figures are in contrast to traditional views where playing virtual-games was generally regarded as a male youth activity. Now male adul...
The growing stresses and complex problems of an increasingly globalized and fastchanging world ha... more The growing stresses and complex problems of an increasingly globalized and fastchanging world have made it clear to employers around the world that more effective and not just new methods of ‘human capital’ preparation and ongoing professional development as well as lifelong learning are needed. Universities are being regularly criticized for their failures to produce graduates with the range of generic skills and knowledge needed for not only the new world of work but also of diverse social, technological, and environmental challenges. Also those already in the workforce may need to be ‘re-trained’ and supported to better deal with a range of external challenges and internal imperatives of change. What is at stake is more than a matter of encouraging professionals of the future to participate in or pursue continuing education and training of various kinds. An optimally effective approach to achieving a range of desired outcomes is needed which also goes beyond the corresponding we...
The concept of ethics has generally played little role in modern science inquiry and technology d... more The concept of ethics has generally played little role in modern science inquiry and technology development beyond a procedural notion of the term. This is in contrast to non-Western or traditional knowledge systems of the past where the inductive, experimental and knowledge-building roles of 'science and technology' have often been inextricably linked to prevailing social values and the physical as well as cultural determinations of specific and local contexts. However scientists and technology developers or users have not remained immune to the growing ethical concerns of different kinds of people around the world in light of the threat of 'climate change' and related challenges of environmental and even economic sustainability. Governments and private sector corporations as well as local social contexts everywhere have recognized the renewed importance of a common or global ethics needed to better reconcile human imperatives of development and sustainability. Thus...
Richards, C. & Bhattacharya, M. (2001). An introductory internet skills program for teacher educa... more Richards, C. & Bhattacharya, M. (2001). An introductory internet skills program for teacher education: or from practice to theory: a case study. In J. Price et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2001 (p. ...
... the learning and assessment activities which make up the e-portfolio function as a guided but... more ... the learning and assessment activities which make up the e-portfolio function as a guided but open ended 'journey' to engage ... Distance education, on-campus learning, and e-learning convergences: An Australian exploration. International Journal of E-Learning, 1(3), 30-39. ...
Despite the relative abundance of rainfall and plentiful surface water resources, recent reports ... more Despite the relative abundance of rainfall and plentiful surface water resources, recent reports suggest Malaysia country is faced with the prospect of water scarcity.The predicted scarcity is less related to changes in rainfall patterns but in the diminishing availability of water resources and treatment capacity for urban populations, both of which are linked to the inadequacy of the current water management regime.Further to this, growing concerns over dilapidated infrastructure (i.e. non-revenue water as high as 40 percent in some cities), urban water pollution concerns, institutional weaknesses, and political interference to the implementation of recent water reforms have sought to characterize Malaysia's modern day water industry.One way of addressing the current unsustainability of the water industry is for greater collaboration and partnership between the industry's key players, including developing robust and relevant industry-university collaborative partnerships.To date, there is no evidence of a strategy to coordinate and integrate broad interests of industry and university stakeholders; instead, research tends to be done in an an hoc manner, focused on specific technical issues without addressing some of the more fundamental and complex industry challenges.With this in mind, this paper aims to present the findings of a recent research project aimed at developing an interdisciplinary research framework for industry-university collaboration in the Malaysian water industry.
Advances in Sustainability and Environmental Justice, 2013
Purpose – Because businesses conducting e-commerce are often able to set up off-shore to avoid re... more Purpose – Because businesses conducting e-commerce are often able to set up off-shore to avoid regulation, taxation, and other aspects of corporate responsibility, the developed-developing divide which tends to inform World Trade Organization (WTO) policies is especially an impediment to future global e-commerce. This chapter explores the particular accountability challenges represented by WTO e-commerce policies.Design/methodology/approach – The framework of inquiry focuses on a policy research study of relevant WTO e-commerce policy documents, especially the ones related to the negotiations under the WTO Work Program on Electronic Commerce and the GATS Agreement.Findings – The virtual nature of e-commerce interactions means that businesses are often able to circumvent the national boundaries and controls of conventional commerce. Because of this, the WTO and its e-commerce policy are crucial to the responsible and accountable development of future global e-commerce. Such policies need to be significantly improved as a matter of urgency to overcome current omissions and inadequacies.Research implications – Accountability gaps within WTO’s e-commerce policies provide a basis for companies from developed countries to set up off-shore to avoid their corporate social responsibilities. A constructive critique of international agency policy documents is able to provide a basis for recommending change and improvement to the overall WTO framework.Practical and social implications – Companies should profess genuine rather than merely surface commitment to global as well as local corporate social responsibilities. Likewise the WTO should also aim to practice deep rather than “shallow” accountability by aiming to rectify omissions and inequities in its e-commerce policies.
E-commerce is becoming an increasingly important focus of the international trade. Dealing with t... more E-commerce is becoming an increasingly important focus of the international trade. Dealing with the virtual nature of e-commerce to create a borderless global economy requires the involvement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the only international organization regulating global trade between nations. However, the WTO has struggled in its efforts to address the various uncertainties of classification applied to e-commerce products (hereinafter ‘Classification’) under its existing Agreements (e.g. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)). This article investigates how a comprehensive approach is needed to address foundational Classification challenges. Using the key tools of the grounded theory method, this article analyses all the WTO Members’ discussions (1998–2014) related to the Classification issue. It does so as a basis for critiquing the WTO’s approach to addressing this challenge. It argues e-commerce products are...
Australian governments appear to be in the process of succumbing to efforts of persuasion by the ... more Australian governments appear to be in the process of succumbing to efforts of persuasion by the Transurban corporation to adopt a so-called user pays 'road pricing' scheme on all public roads in the future (i.e. that people might need to pay to drive just down the road to the shops or a school, and not just on the existing tollways). We investigate here how this proposal for ubiquitous electronic toll roads – to be facilitated of course solely by Transurban for profit-would also seem to be the culmination of a cynical, opportunistic and often counter-productive process. This is also how, encouraged and supported by an uncritically naïve and generally reckless governmental strategy of market-led public-private investment and public asset privatisation in Queensland as well as elsewhere in Australia in recent times, Transurban emerged as a manipulating and all devouring as well as opportunistic 'mega-monopoly' ruthlessly seeking to take over, own or at least control, and endlessly profiteer from perhaps the most pivotal domain of public infrastructure assets (public roads). With a particular personal as well policy focus on Transurban's recent takeover of the SouthEast Queensland tollway network as a model also for Sydney, Melbourne and beyond, the paper also explores the nature of various claims at both the macro and micro level that this all constitutes a rip-off, a sting, a rort, and/or a scam (i.e. various and interrelated inappropriate 'conflicts of interest') that needs to be challenged as a convergent corporate-governmental-bureaucratic refusal as well as failure of overall accountability at every level.
This paper will compare and contrast the approaches to second language teaching represented by th... more This paper will compare and contrast the approaches to second language teaching represented by the methods of Suggestopedia and the Silent Method (TSM) respectively. The paper will then discuss whether these methods have application for introducing interactive approaches to second language teaching in 'resistant' EFL contexts. Introduction This paper will compare and contrast the approaches to second language teaching represented by the methods of Suggestopedia and the Silent Method (TSM) respectively. These particular methods represent opposite perspectives on the connection between 'acquisition' and 'learning'. Whilst a central focus of Suggestopedia is the memorisation of a vast vocabulary (Lozanov, 1979), TSM (Richards & Rodgers, 1986:99) encourages students to actively and consciously take control of their own learning. An applied context for this discussion will be the following situation: a teacher of English as a second or foreign language with a basi...
INTRODUCTIONPlaying digital games has become the dominant activity of the current generation (Bec... more INTRODUCTIONPlaying digital games has become the dominant activity of the current generation (Becker, 2007). Consumers spent $22.41 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in 2015 and 68.7 percent (15.4 billion) of these sales include games, add-on content, mobile apps, subscriptions, and social networking games (Entertainment Software Association, 2016). Thirty-five percent of gamers play games on smartphones, and thirty-one percent play games on wireless devices (Entertainment Software Association, 2016). Besides this, several different demographics as well as age groups are captivated deeply in their leisure time especially by gaming activities (Saulter, 2007). ESA (2016) has reported that the average game player is 35 years old and women aged 18 or older represent the biggest age-gender cohort of the game-playing population (33%). These figures are in contrast to traditional views where playing virtual-games was generally regarded as a male youth activity. Now male adul...
The growing stresses and complex problems of an increasingly globalized and fastchanging world ha... more The growing stresses and complex problems of an increasingly globalized and fastchanging world have made it clear to employers around the world that more effective and not just new methods of ‘human capital’ preparation and ongoing professional development as well as lifelong learning are needed. Universities are being regularly criticized for their failures to produce graduates with the range of generic skills and knowledge needed for not only the new world of work but also of diverse social, technological, and environmental challenges. Also those already in the workforce may need to be ‘re-trained’ and supported to better deal with a range of external challenges and internal imperatives of change. What is at stake is more than a matter of encouraging professionals of the future to participate in or pursue continuing education and training of various kinds. An optimally effective approach to achieving a range of desired outcomes is needed which also goes beyond the corresponding we...
The concept of ethics has generally played little role in modern science inquiry and technology d... more The concept of ethics has generally played little role in modern science inquiry and technology development beyond a procedural notion of the term. This is in contrast to non-Western or traditional knowledge systems of the past where the inductive, experimental and knowledge-building roles of 'science and technology' have often been inextricably linked to prevailing social values and the physical as well as cultural determinations of specific and local contexts. However scientists and technology developers or users have not remained immune to the growing ethical concerns of different kinds of people around the world in light of the threat of 'climate change' and related challenges of environmental and even economic sustainability. Governments and private sector corporations as well as local social contexts everywhere have recognized the renewed importance of a common or global ethics needed to better reconcile human imperatives of development and sustainability. Thus...
Richards, C. & Bhattacharya, M. (2001). An introductory internet skills program for teacher educa... more Richards, C. & Bhattacharya, M. (2001). An introductory internet skills program for teacher education: or from practice to theory: a case study. In J. Price et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2001 (p. ...
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