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This paper examines the effectiveness of a course aimed at pressing humanities students into forging explicit connections between their studies and part-time work. Students undertaking Griffith University's Workplace Learning Project were engaged in a series of reflective experiences to find examples of generic skills in their backgrounds (work, university courses, part-time work) and to work out how the generic skills were related to these experiences. Ample evidence of struggle was found as students forged connections and were awakened to connections that they had not seen before and to feelings of empowerment. There were also examples of direct application of the new meanings in practice. It was concluded that the techniques were effective in building connections between particularised meanings and coherent wholes.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.162 and TD/TNC 90.163. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.164 to TD/TNC 90.211. Show less

With the recent trends towards vocationalisation in higher education, non-vocational disciplines such as humanities have increasingly found themselves being marginalised. Falling enrolments, retention problems and perceptions of irrelevance have prompted stakeholders in the field to find new ways of identifying and making explicit the value of an arts degree. This paper reports on a pilot study currently being undertaken at Griffith University to make explicit the full range of generic and transferable skills developed in arts undergraduate students as identified in the context of their existing part-time jobs and the extent to which this combined experience augments their graduate capacities when seeking employment in the full time workforce.

The three volumes of conference proceedings are indexed from TD/TNC 72.49 to TD/TNC 72.51; selected papers are indexed from TD/TNC 72.08 to TD/TNC 72.11 and TD/TNC 72.52 to TD/TNC 72.100. Show less

Many university humanities students undertake part-time work in order to support themselves through their undergraduate studies. Griffith University’s workplace learning project sought to identify students’ conceptualisations of the relationships between their academic humanities studies and their part-time work experiences. This paper re-examines the data from that project in terms of the nexus between students’ experiences as humanities students and their experience as part-time workers using Van Oer’s framework for different concepts of contextualisation. This framework explains the notion of context as the derivation of meaning through activity. It is used here to understand potential relationships that could be developed between students’ workplace experiences and the aims of humanities courses.

Published abstract reprinted by the permission of the copyright owner.

Volumes of papers are indexed from TD/TNC 77.351 to TD/TNC 77.353. Individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 77.354 to TD/TNC 77.437. Show less

In the 'new economy' the requirements for increased workplace productivity have prompted renewed interest in the way people solve ill-defined problems. Models of thinking which allow for the flexibility required to engage in creative problem-solving are emerging from the established problem-solving literature. This paper presents one such model and the research which has instantiated it. Its application is shown in relation to the solving of graphic design problems requiring creative outcomes. The research provides insight into the development of expertise in creative thinking from a cognitive perspective including its implications for vocational teachers and practitioners within creative endeavours

Excerpts from printed abstract used with the permission of the copyright holder.

Volume one of these proceedings is indexed at TD/TNC 68.31, volume two is indexed at TD/TNC 68.32 and individual papers may be found from TD/TNC 68.17 to TD/TNC 68.29 and TD/TNC 68.33 to TD/TNC 68.100. Show less

This paper reports on a pilot project investigating the effectiveness of an innovative education program in reengaging homeless people in inner city Sydney. Homelessness has become an entrenched feature of many western societies. Homeless people are in danger of becoming disengaged and alienated from mainstream society, slipping into a culture of dependence, poverty and social exclusion. It was hypothesised that an education in the humanities would provide an opportunity for such marginalised and disaffected people to think and reflect on the world in which they live. They would therefore be less likely to simply react to contexts and events and more likely to examine, question and contemplate. Such an education is very different from the many ‘life skills’ or ‘vocational’ courses available to welfare recipients. In this project, university level humanities courses with appropriately qualified teachers and lecturers were offered within a community, rather than an academic, setting. Participants were recruited through collaboration with a large, established, community agency, which provides a number of services for local homeless people. Thus this research also contributes to an understanding of how interorganisational capacities can be developed to address social justice issues.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.212 and TD/TNC 90.213. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.214 to TD/TNC 90.264. Show less

This chapter stresses the importance of creative thinking and the need for its development within vocational education and training (VET). The author defines creativity through the discussion of various definitions, then examines models of creative problem-solving. Cognitive theory is used to explain processes of creative thinking. A case study of creative problem-solving in graphic design is presented to highlight the cognitive processes in a vocational context. Implications for teaching and learning within VET are outlined and suggestions are made for teaching and developing creativity in students. The complete volume is indexed at TD/TNC 77.461; individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 77.462 to TD/TNC 77.472. Show less

This paper explores the ways Arts students may be assisted in acquiring an explicit rather than a tacit understanding of their full range of graduate attributes. With this understanding, the students may be better able to represent themselves when seeking graduate employment and be more proficient at transferring their academically-acquired skills into the workplace.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

The volume from which this paper is taken is indexed in two parts at TD/TNC 80.451 and TD/TNC 80.452. Selected papers from this conference are indexed at TD/ACT 78.02 and TD/ACT 79.04; from TD/TNC 80.453 to TD/TNC 80.477 and from TD/TNC 80.614 to TD/TNC 80.617. Show less

The StrateGEE model for creative problem-solving was developed through a synthesis of the creativity and cognitive literatures and research instantiations. It has the potential to serve as an heuristic tool to scaffold the thinking processes of problem-solvers engaged in creative endeavours. The model was first presented at the PCET [postcompulsory education and training] conference of 2001 [paper indexed at TD/TNC 68.29]. This paper presents follow-up research on a pilot project investigating the usefulness of the model as an aid for creative problem-solving when used by first-year university students faced with the task of developing a creative product for an assessment item.

Published abstract reprinted by the permission of the copyright owner.

Volumes of papers are indexed from TD/TNC 77.351 to TD/TNC 77.353. Individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 77.354 to TD/TNC 77.437. Show less

This paper examines data drawn from interviews with homeless people who were undertaking a Clemente programme offered by the Australian Catholic University in the Vincentian Village in East Sydney. The Clemente programme, conceptualised by Shorris, is based on the belief that an education in the humanities empowers people to engage in a more controlled way with the world in which they live, and that they will therefore be less likely to react simply to contexts and events. Two of the striking things about the interview data were the rejection of ‘vocational courses’ and the way in which the learners referred to changes in their bodies that flowed from the humanities programme: the way they walked, the straightness of their backs, together with the metaphor of climbing. The present paper seeks to interpret these and other changes in terms of Mauss’s and Bourdieu’s conceptions of habitus, bodily hexis and dispositions, and possible implications for teaching and learning in vocational education.

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