AUC Academic Conference 'From Virtual to Reality' The University of
Queensland 1996AUC Academic Conference 'From Virtual to Reality' The University of
Queensland 1996
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POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS
Professional Development via CD-ROM
Marjorie Carss, The University of QueenslandAssessing the value of computer aided learning
Alexander Davies, Massey UniversityUse of Databases in managing research surveys
Chris Del Mar, The University of QueenslandOdontogenesis - Tissues and Mechanisms
Tom Kardos, University of OtagoQuickTime is more than simply a nice way to digitise,
store and playback movies!
Andrew Lambert, The University of New South WalesSpecial purpose software for the teaching of Chaos
Neville Smythe, Australian National University
Poster Session Title:
Professional Development via CD-ROM
Presenter:
Ms Marjorie Carss, Graduate School of Education
The University of QueenslandFaculty area: Education
Summary:
The influx of computer technology, and instruction with and about computers, has been a key theme in education over the last decade. Over this period, the number of computers in Australian schools has increased dramatically, as has the level of knowledge and expertise required of teachers to effectively integrate computer technology into the curriculum.
Education employing authorities are collaborating with education faculties in universities to meet the professional development needs of teachers in this rapidly expanding area, and are investigating flexible means of delivering education. In 1994, staff in the Graduate School of Education, The University of Queensland (UQ) and the Faculty of Education, Griffith University (GU), together with the Queensland Department of Education obtained Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET) funding under the National Professional Development Program, for a project to develop a Graduate Certificate in Computer Education.
The purpose of this project was to incorporate four existing subjects (two from UQ and two from GU) into a Graduate Certificate with three of the subjects (the fourth is a project) redesigned into self contained modules able to be delivered through flexible delivery modes. This meant that teachers would have access to modules that address specific IT needs. They could choose to enrol in the Graduate Certificate and submit the required assessment tasks for university credit, or they could access the modules for purely professional development purposes without being required to enrol in a tertiary program.
The outcome of the project is the Multimedia and Information Technology Across the Curriculum (MITAC) CD-ROM, a cross-platform (Macintosh and Windows) application, which enables teachers to gain an understanding of information technology (with a particular focus on multimedia) and how it can be integrated into classrooms.
One of the most obvious advantages of the MITAC CD-ROM is that it allows the process of exploration to be controlled by the learner, and therefore facilitates exploration without imposing assumptions about the user's prior understandings or commitments. Teachers can view the material in their own time and at their own pace. It also provides:
- activities which are based primarily on the needs and concerns which teachers themselves identify
- the opportunity for teachers to take responsibility for their own learning and construct their own knowledge
- for the expertise of the teacher to be acknowledged
- opportunities for collaborative and collegial activities so that professionals are joined in working partnerships engagement of teachers in critical reflection of their teaching practices
- opportunities to integrate theory and practice.
The MITAC CD-ROM contains all content required for the Graduate Certificate of Computer Education including text, software demonstrations, interviews, sound files, and videos as well as a number of case studies which demonstrate best practice. These include a range of practical examples showing how teachers incorporate interactive multimedia as part of the teaching/learning process.
Contact Details:
Ms Marjorie Carss
Graduate School of Education
The University of Queensland
St Lucia 4072
QueenslandPhone: 07 3365 6606
Fax: 07 3365 7199Email: M.Carss@mailbox.uq.oz.au
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Poster Session Title:
Assessing the value of computer aided learning
Presenter:
Alex Davies (with Quentin Davies)
Associate Professor in Veterinary Anatomy
Massey UniversityFaculty area: Physiology and Anatomy
Over 30 programs in a variety of formats are currently in use to assist the teaching of Veterinary Anatomy at Massey University. These have been developed within the Department of Physiology and Anatomy, or in conjunction with Australian and US veterinary schools, in HyperCard or SuperCard.
Classes of up to 70 students are served by 8 networked Power Mac 6100 machines, with 8 or 16 MB RAM with Ramdoubler, and 800 Mb hard drives, connected to a 2 Gb partition on a server. All programs are available from the hard drives of each machine. Student access is controlled by At Ease 3. The computers for part of the equipment of the Anatomy Museum, to which there is extensive after hours access.
Analysis of computer and program use is made by the recording date, start and finish times, and student comments, on to the hard drive of each machine. This information is then collected on to one machine and analysed by a program written in SuperCard.
In a manner better than could have been devised to assess any other experiment in the use of new technology in teaching, these computers supply information to show
- how frequently and for how long each of the programs has been used, to assess their popularity
- the occupancy of each computer during the day and week, to assess to what extent this number of computers satisfies the demand for this type of learning
- what problems students are having with particular aspects of each program.
Contact Details:
Alex Davies
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology and Anatomy
Massey University
Palmerston North
New ZealandPhone +64 6 3504473
Fax +64 6 3505674email: A.S.Davies@massey.ac.nz
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Poster Session Title:
Use of databases in managing research surveys
Presenter:
CB Del Mar FRACGP FAFPHM
Professor of General Practice
University of QueenslandFaculty area: Medicine
A research project required the survey of primary care medical practitioners about a series of excision specimens from the skin. The lesions of interest were melanocytic skin naevi, commonly called 'moles', which are difficult to distinguish clinically from a type of skin cancer called melanoma. Melanomas are well-recognised to be potentially fatal if neglected. Amongst other things, we wanted to study the effect of perceived patient 'pressure' on the clinician to have those lesions excised.
Over five thousand melanocytic skin lesions were excised from the population over a two-and-a-half year period. We obtained copies of each lesions' histology from the pathology services serving the two cities. For the final two years of the study period we sent questionnaires about each lesion to the doctor who excised it to ascertain a) the reason for the excision (to exclude malignancy, or another reason), b) the patterns of referrals among primary care doctors, and c) the pressure to which the doctor felt subject. We had to accommodate referrals from other clinicians.
This huge volume of paperwork was managed efficiently by employing a relational database ('Double Helix'), programmed by the Chief Investigator, running on an Apple Macintosh (Portable), which in turn was operated by a research assistant from her home. Entering data from the pathology services directly into the computer served both as the primary data source and also as the material sent out to the doctor as part of the questionnaire about the lesion in question. Data could then be entered from returned questionnaires directly to supplement the database. From here the data was exported into a statistical analysis program (we used JMP by SAS for initial frequency analysis) and onto a floppy disc for export to the statistician on the project.
Contact Details:
CB Del Mar FRACGP FAFPHM
Head: Centre for General Practice
University of Queensland
Medical School
Herston, Brisbane,
Queensland
Australia 4006Tel +61 7 3365 5381
Fax +61 7 3365 5442email: c.delmar@mailbox.uq.edu.au
Other Principal Investigators:-
Dr Adèle Green PhD
Epidemiologist
QIMR
Herston
Brisbane 4006Diana Battistutta BSc
Department of Social and Preventive Medicin
Medical School
University of Queensland
Herston
Brisbane 4006
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Poster Session Title:
ODONTOGENESIS -
TISSUES AND MECHANISMSPresenter:
Dr Thomas B. Kardos
School of Dentistry
University of OtagoFaculty area: Oral Biology and Oral Pathology
The biological basis of clinical dentistry has its foundations in the structural organisation of tissues in health and the changes that occur with disease. Traditional courses use microscopic examination of prepared material to familiarise students with tissue structure and to give insight into the mechanisms underlying their development. Our aim was to design an interactive information acquisition (IIA) module using high resolution colour-images of histological preparations as an adjunct to a course in structural oral biology. Prerequisites for the program included the creation of a template that would provide easy text entry and editing, access to a large visual data base and a simple way to relate parts of the text with a specific part of an image. These attributes were considered necessary to facilitate adaptation of the program for other courses in dentistry that rely on a large database of images.
A Hypercard 2.2 stack with 250 information cards was created with the provison to access up to six colour images for each card. Two entry points permit students to select a topic and progress through a series of cards in a linear manner. The third entry point gives the choice of selecting one of ten fields (nine processes or one which leads to a description of the final tissue) each of which has a number of stages or tissues. In this part of the program students have the freedom to navigate amongst common processes that occur in the development of various oral tissues. Rapid navigation is facilitated by a "reference button" or a map.
For ease of editing, images are located in a separate folder and the information cards in each section may be arranged at a final stage of editing. "Hot-words" in the text activate an arrow to illustrate a particular feature on an image, a glossary dialogue box or both. Four interactive self-assessment modules utilise those images in the program that have "hot-words". A "help" button provides access back to the information cards allows the self-assessment part of the program to be used for guided learning. A "give up" button provides the correct answers. A summary of statistics provides students with an indication of their progress.
The reduction in the time necessary to cover basic information has enabled a shift in course content and has significantly improved teaching in the practical component of the course. For the student the advantages of the IIA program are self-paced learning, greater time for discussion of processes during formal teaching periods, 24hr access, full colour high resolution images, and the opportunity for self-assessment.
The assistance of M. Lousberg, M. Norris and R. Tamblyn of the Educational Technology Support Services, University of Otago, is gratefully acknowledged.
Contact Details
Dr Thomas B. Kardos
School of Dentistry
University of Otago
P.O. Box 647
Dunedin
NEW ZEALANDPh 64-3-479 7099
Fax 64-3-479 0673Email Tom.Kardos@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
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Poster Session Title:
Quicktime is more than simply a nice way
to digitise, store, and playback movies!Presenter:
Andrew Lambert
Academic Level B / Professional Engineer
School of Electrical Engineering
Australian Defence Force Academy
University of New South WalesFaculty area: Electrical Engineering
Andrew Lambert, Jonathan Paxman, and Donald Fraser
The processing power of the Power Macintosh, and the architecture of Quicktime combine to awesome application potential. With little programming outlay and using a humble personal computer, we can perform tasks that were traditionally left up to dedicated signal processing hardware. We describe a real-time automated tracking system which uses Fourier image processing on the sequence of images to locate and track a target in an image. Our application is the guidance of a telescope, using the video obtained from a CCD camera attached to the telescope to "lock" onto the celestial object. However, our methodology might just as easily apply to any real-time image processing problem.
Multimedia users should be aware of Quicktime, but most consider it synonymous with movie playback and recording. And with good reason - the architecture of Quicktime supports inclusion of any time varying media whether it be video, text, sound, scripts, MIDI, and so on, providing a wrapper known as a movie to join them together in harmony. However, looking more closely into the architecture would reveal an abundance of solutions to any problem relating to manipulation of time varying data.
With Quicktime came components, and with components came the ability to fine tune the operation of the system, without needing to delve into hardware specific code. The video digitiser component provides an expandable, malleable way of operating different video digitising hardware, and at a higher level the sequence grabber component controls the digitisation. Higher up still exists the sequence grabber panel component that allows the user power over the digitisation process, independent of the hardware beneath. It is at this level we provide all the necessary code to turn the humble digitisation process into the tracking system.
Interrupt callback routines are a feature of the digitisation process, on which we base the real time nature of our tracking system. By creating a sequence grabber component we allow the user the ability to calibrate the procedure, install or turn off the tracking scheme, and interact with the parameters of the process. An installed callback gets called on frame transfer, which, after determining if a latency period has expired, determines any relative shift between the current and a reference image. This information may be used to adjust tracking motor speeds or kept for a record of the motion. One should note that the actual process that occurs here is dependent on the application, and in fact can be redefined later if the callback routine has a common interface and resides in a shared library.
Although the tracking process in our case is complicated, the integration is not! With little outlay on our part, and with no concern for the underlying hardware, we created a sequence grabber panel component which when dropped into the system folder, appears in the sequence grabber panel of all Quicktime aware applications. This functionality is a testament to the versatility of Quicktime, and the ability to process real-time sequences is a testament to the power of the Power Macintosh.
Contact Details:
Andrew Lambert
Academic Level B / Professional Engineer
School of Electrical Engineering
Australian Defence Force Academy
University of New South Wales
Northcott Drive,
Canberra, ACT 2600.ph: +61 6 2688351
fax: +61 6 2688443e-mail: a-lambert@adfa.oz.au
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Poster Session Title:
Special purpose software for the
teaching of ChaosPresenter:
Neville Smythe
School of Mathematical Sciences
Australian National UniversityFaculty area: Mathematics
Brian Davies & Neville Smythe
1. Setting.
Non-linear dynamics and chaos is a comparatively new science, emanating from the remarkable fact that determinism does not imply either regular behaviour or predictability. Interest has grown rapidly since Edward Lorenz published a numerical study of a simplified model of atmospheric convection and discussed its gloomy implications for weather prediction.
Typical orbits of Lorenz and Rössler in three dimensions.
It was the computer which made Lorenz' discoveries possible: it remains the most important tool for current research. In contrast most published teaching material provides only rudimentary computer assistance.
2. The project.
The objective is to develop an instructional package which enables the student to make sophisticated numerical experiments without writing programs. The program provides visualisation of dynamical behaviour and tools for making precise numerical measurement. These include bifurcation and similar diagrams, measurement of parameter and state variables, and calculation of Lyapunov exponents and Fast Fourier transforms.
The solution of non-linear equations is numerically intensive; interacting with results is best done in a "point and click" environment. This makes the PowerPC an ideal platform, with real computational power. There is a 680x0 version of the program, and the speed difference is most instructive!
A feature of the program is the high quality of printed output, compared with much commercial software (such as MATLAB or MAPLE). The pictures in this synopsis were produced using the program.
3. Examples of use.
Strange attractors are an important idea in the theory of chaos. It appears that the evolution of many systems is attracted toward a "state" which never repeats itself, is totally unpredictable, and yet has many regularities about it. A standard paradigm for describing this is the "baker's dough model": it is like taking a piece of dough, and rolling it out and folding it repeatedly.
This action is seen in a simple model due to Otto Rössler. First we view the orbit of the system in three dimensional space. Then we sample its cross section (called a Poincaré section), to see the stretching and folding action. The demonstration is best seen live; here we show a sample of four pictures taken at different places around the orbit.
Poincaré sections of the Rössler orbit shown above.
Other examples of demonstrations and student assignments will be shown in the session itself. Here we provide sample graphs from two more available tools.
Some tools available in the program.
4. Conclusion.
We believe that this package, when fully developed and tested, will prove to be an effective component in the teaching of ideas from chaos which are changing the basic modes of scientific thought in the late 20th century. The challenge is to communicate the essential concepts to a wide student audience so that some of the buzz words which have entered our vocabulary become meaningful modes of thought for them.
Contact Details:
Neville Smythe
Mathematics Department,
School of Mathematical Sciences,
Australian National University
Canberra
ACT 0200Phone: 062 492709
Fax: 062 495549Email: neville.smythe@anu.edu.au
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