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If any engineering courses are unlikely to be transferable between Australasian and overseas universities, one could argue that civil engineering capstone design courses with a strong practical engineering focus would be the least likely. This analysis considers two capstone design courses in the US and New Zealand. The analysis examines the approaches each university has taken to improve design education through simulating professional practice. The two approaches are superficially very different with different course structure and course requirements. In addition the emphasis on site and project, and the consequent dependence on country-specific matters related to regulation and codes, would lead one to expect low transferability. Closer analysis shows that the learning objectives of the courses are relatively similar and that the relationship between site and design are key for both. The challenges faced by the two approaches have much in common, reflecting similar student experiences, and so high transferability. The paper provides details on learning objectives and challenges faced at the two programs to aid others who wish to analyse capstone design experiences across multiple universities. The conclusion is that transferability between these two design experiences is high. The implication is that, through similar forces for educational change in both countries, internationalisation of engineering education is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology and change are so closely related that the use of the word innovation seems synonymous with technology in many contexts, including that of higher education. This paper contends that university culture and existing capability constrain such innovation and to a large extent determine the nature and extent of organisational change. In the absence of strong leadership, technologies are simply used as vehicles to enable changes that are already intended or which reinforce the current identity. These contentions are supported by evidence from e-learning benchmarking activities carried out over the past five years in universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the emergence of education as a marketable service with institutions now seeking to market themselves in a professional manner. A comparison is made between two samples- one of administrators within educational institutions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States, the other of college and university students in Australia. Statistical analysis identified a series of key factors considered critical to the successful marketing of these institutions. A comparison of institutional and student views is made concluding that significant differences exist between the two groups. Managerial and research implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to benchmark roles that veterinary librarians at universities and colleges play in systematic reviews (SRs) and scoping reviews that are conducted by faculty and students at their institutions, to benchmark the level of training that veterinary librarians have in conducting SRs, to identify barriers to their participation in SRs, and to identify other types of literature reviews that veterinary librarians participate in. Methods: Sixty veterinary librarians in universities and colleges in Canada, the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand were surveyed online about their roles and training in conducting SRs, barriers to participation in SRs, and participation in other types of literature reviews. Results: Veterinary librarians' highest participation was at an advising level in traditional librarian roles as question formulator, database selector, search strategy developer, and reference manager. Most respondents reported pretty good to extensive training in traditional roles and no or some training in less traditional roles. Sixty percent of respondents received few or no requests to participate in SRs, and only half of respondents had participated in SRs as a review team member. Sixty percent of respondents stated that their libraries had no policies regarding librarian roles and participation in SRs. Conclusions: The surveyed veterinary librarians participated in SRs to a lesser degree than human health sciences librarians, experienced low demand from veterinary faculty and students to participate in SRs, and participated as review team members at significantly lower rates than human health sciences librarians. The main barriers to participation in SRs were lack of library policies, insufficient training, and lack of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To explore the concept of sustainability in nursing using social media as a vehicle for discussion on the topic. Background There is a need for an increased awareness among nurses of the issues that are crucial for the healthcare sector to prepare for climate change and contribute to sustainable development. However, topics about sustainability and climate change are not a requirement of nursing curricula in Europe; social media provides an opportunity to raise issues and promote discussion. Design A thematic analysis of a Twitter discussion. Methods A Twitter discussion session hosted by @WeNurses took place on 24 March 2015 over 1 hour. Data were gathered via this online discussion hosted on Twitter, a social media platform. Following the discussion a thematic analysis of the posted Tweets was conducted. Findings One hundred and nineteen people posted nine hundred and ninety six Tweets, a reach of 3,306,368. Tweets broadly followed the questions posted by the team. Several threads related to the sustainable use of healthcare resources and the need to reduce waste was evident. A Word Cloud of the Tweets highlighted prominent words in the discussion: sustainability, nursing/nurses, curriculum, important, waste, practice, resources, student, plastic, health, gloves. Conclusion Social media is an effective way of engaging nurses and students in a discussion on challenging issues. Sustainability appears to be important for nurses, with a particular emphasis on resource use and the importance of sustainability topics in nurse education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined preservice teachers' (PSTs) knowledge of basic language constructs across four different English-speaking teacher preparations programs. A standardized survey was administered to participants from Canada (n = 80), England (n = 55), New Zealand (n = 26), and the USA (n = 118). All participants were enrolled in undergraduate university programs that led to teacher certification for general education in the primary grades. Our data reveal that preservice teachers from all four countries show patterns of relative strength in areas that were targeted to be crucial within their national initiatives. Nevertheless, in general, PSTs demonstrated a lack of knowledge of certain constructs needed to teach early reading skills. The results are discussed in relation to research reports and initiatives regarding beginning reading instruction from each of the four countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information from various aspects of the field of international serials and electronic resource management. Abstracts for several research articles are included on topics such as scholarly electronic books (e-books) and open source data in academic publishing. Additionally, awards and grants presented by the American Library Association (ALA) in 2011 are highlighted along with notes on the reorganization of the United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG). Brief information regarding the 2012 conference for the UKSG and a list of online resources related to serials librarians are also included.

The article provides information about American geography and the geography in New Zealand. William Morris Davis, president of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), has influenced the geography and geographers in the country. The founding years of AAG marks the year of publication of one of the earliest geographies of New Zealand. University geography has started in a harmful manner through the spasmodic forays at various colleges of the federal University of New Zealand and its formative years has attracted the best of British and American academic geography. The author said that the geographical cycle has kept the small academic fraternity in New Zealand with the international intellectual climate.

This article presents information about various scholars, who contributed their articles to the journal. Andrew Ahlgren is associate director of Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and emeritus professor of education at the University of Minnesota. He was a major participant in the development of the high-school physics course Harvard Project Physics, and the recent AAAS books Science for All Americans and Benchmarks for Science Literacy.Miles Barker is a senior lecturer in science education in the School of Education, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. He holds a MSc in zoology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a doctorate in science education from the University of Waikato.