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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Expert adult readers process fluent and disfluent fonts differently, at both early perceptual and late higher-order processing stages. This finding has been interpreted as reflecting the more difficult to read disfluent fonts requiring greater neural resources. We aimed to investigate whether neural activity is affected by font disfluency in pre-adolescent readers, and to determine if neural responses are related to reading performance. Thirty-three participants between 8 and 12 years old completed two one-back tasks using letter and word stimuli, where font was manipulated (fluent versus disfluent stimuli), during which electroencephalography was recorded. Event related potentials (ERPs) were calculated relative to non-target stimuli for both tasks. The Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement reading specific tests, and the Castles and Coltheart Test 2 were also collected. Font (fluent versus disfluent stimuli) did not consistently affect neural activity during both the letter and word tasks. Fluent stimuli elicited greater late activity (450–600 ms) than disfluent stimuli during the word task, suggesting easy-to-read fonts may enhance the maintenance of words in visual working memory and facilitate the retrieval of semantic information. However, reading performance was not associated with neural disfluency effects, suggesting that pre-adolescents are still at an early developmental reading period. Font manipulation may be a useful way to track developmental reading trajectories in the brain.

Background Medicine use is the most common intervention in health care. The frequency with which medicines are used means medication-related problems are very common. One common type of medication-related problems is adverse drug events, which are unintended and harmful effects associated with use of medicines. Reporting of adverse drug events to regulatory authorities is important for evaluation of safety of medicines; however, these adverse effects are frequently unreported due to various factors, including lack of consumer-friendly reporting tools. Objective The aim of this study was to develop a user-friendly digital tool for consumers to report medication-related adverse effects. Methods The project consisted of 3 parts: (1) content development, including a systematic literature search; (2) iterative system development; and (3) usability testing. The project was guided by participatory design principles, which suggest involving key stakeholders throughout the design process. The first 2 versions were developed as a mobile app and were tested with end users in 2 workshops. The third version was developed as a web application and was tested with consumers who were taking regular medicines. Consumers were asked to complete a modified version of the mHealth app usability questionnaire (MAUQ), an 18-item questionnaire with each item scored using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The MAUQ assessed 3 subscales including ease of use (5 items), interface and satisfaction (7 items), and usefulness (6 items). Continuous variables were reported as mean (SD) values, whereas categorical variables were presented as frequencies (percentages). Data analysis was conducted in Microsoft Excel. Results The content for the system was based on a systematic literature search and short-listing of questions, followed by feedback from project team members and consumers. Feedback from consumers in the 2 workshops were incorporated to improve the functionality, visual design, and stability of the third (current) version. The third version of the system was tested with 26 consumers. A total of 79% (N=307/390) of all responses on the MAUQ were scored 6 or 7, indicating that users generally strongly agree with the usability of the system. When looking at the individual domains, the system had an average score of 6.3 (SD 0.9) for “ease of use,” 6.3 (SD 0.8) for “interface and satisfaction,” and 5.2 (SD 1.4) for “usefulness.” Conclusions The web-based system for medicine adverse effects reporting is a user-friendly tool developed using an iterative participatory design approach. Future research includes further improving the system, particularly the usefulness of the system, as well as testing the scalability and performance of the system in practice.

Recent debate has seen the proposition that difficult to read, or disfluent, typefaces can improve certain learning conditions. This is counterintuitive for typography where it is the aim to support reading acts by creating texts that are as clear and as easy to read as possible. We explore recent literature on the disfluency effect in an effort to contextualize the results for typography research that is grounded in functional readability. What is evident is that the discussion about whether or not disfluent reading materials support learning is far from resolved. Further research is needed in key areas such as those related to the typographic principles of visual cuing and emphasis as well as other broader areas such as how we may be able to determine threshold for disfluency, benefit over time, and what impact environmental distractions have on the disfluency effect. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In late 2019, a panel of design educators came together at the ACUADS conference to launch the Communication Design Educators Network and discuss what we saw then as big questions: Is tradition serving or stunting us? And, are the most valuable skills future design practitioners need today being taught? Then months later, the global pandemic brought immediate and ongoing impacts, masking what were also significant changes to higher education in Australia through the federal government’s Jobs Ready Graduates package. Faced with an urgent need to reinterpret how they teach in order to keep students engaged via online studios and forums, locally and internationally, meant design educators had to reorient their priorities because it was not possible to carry on with the status quo. So, we reached out again to ask the same questions, and see what has changed, or not. original creative work - textual work

Place and history shape all aspects of knowing, yet intentional interrogation of personal identities, histories, beliefs and values is lacking in how design students’ readiness to practice is framed in design curriculums. Furthermore,design education has historically elevated westernised approaches to design that do not necessarily value all local contexts. This Conversation aims to foster new exchanges that critically evaluate how design students are supported to form their identity as ‘designer’ and how this prepares them for practice. Our motivating research questions are: How do ‘place’ and ‘history’ shape design education and design practice? How are ideas of what is deemed valuable to becoming a designer constructed? What are the consequences when something is left out? During the Conversation,educators and researchers will collaborate to identify and map the learning opportunities and strategies that support design students’ readiness to practice, drawing on individual professional journeys, priorities and contexts.Through this approach, we anticipate an expanded understanding of cultures of design education in different contexts, and how interpretations of readiness to practice are constructed. Our approach is geared towards possible protocols for more progressive, responsible and inclusive approaches to design education that foster the practices societies need today

Critique, criticism and critical thinking are essential tools for design. Not only do they inform design process but they also provide a means to make sense of the designed objects, environments and communication embedded in the way we live. However, traditional education models that compartmentalize and separate design theory and practice may be making it difficult for students to see how the practice of thinking about design informs the practice of doing design, and vice versa. This has led to a misunderstanding of what criticism is, slowed skill and knowledge development necessary to do criticism, and impeded the ability of students to recognize the value of criticism to design practice. This article reports on data collected and analysed as part of an exploratory study examining how design students understand and think about criticism and whether they value it as part of their practice. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The knowledge and skill required by graphic designers is expanding from traditional views that value craft and technical expertise to those reliant on reflective design thinking. This marks a re-definition of design as a social practice more concerned with the facilitation of interaction(s) and that draws on design criticism and principles of rhetoric. Consequently, design practitioners must apply skills that place more emphasis on the impact or outcome of design and where people, and how they respond as part of a communication system, are the priority.However, despite this indication that rhetoric is vital to shifting design thinking and practice, our understanding of the skills related to its application and how they are developed is relatively limited. In this exploratory study we gauge the current state of design education in an Australian university to determine whether and to what extent students reflect critically on the effectiveness of their work. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Routledge Companion to Criticality in Art, Architecture, and Design presents an in-depth exploration of criticism and criticality in theory and practice across the disciplines of art, architecture, and design. Professional criticism is a vital part of understanding the cultural significance of designed objects and environments that we engage with on a daily basis, yet there is evidence to show that this practice is changing. This edited volume investigates how practitioners, researchers, educators, and professionals engage with, think about, and value the practice of critique. With contributions from a multi-disciplinary authorship from nine countries - the UK, USA, Australia, India, Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Belgium, and Denmark - this companion provides a wide range of leading perspectives evaluating the landscape of criticality and how it is being shaped by technological and social advances. Illustrated with over 60 black and white images and structured into five sections, The Routledge Companion to Criticality in Art, Architecture, and Design is a comprehensive volume for researchers, educators, and students exploring the changing role of criticism through interdisciplinary perspectives.

Recent changes to communication design practice and thinking have seen an increased emphasis on the valuing of the social impact of design over formal and aesthetic aspects related to the designed object or output. Consequently, the idea that communication design, as a practice defined by the production of physical objects, visual and material forms, and technical skill, is no longer feasible. This shifting emphasis necessitates a broader education for designers that prioritizes social practices and focuses on developing competencies like evaluative and reflective thinking, research, and the ability to position and present convincing arguments; however, design education has been slow to respond, likely due to influences and understandings of design that are embedding in those more traditional practices and models of doing design. As a means to explore how design is understood through discourse, we examine the judging criteria, rules, and procedures for a student design competition. We hypothesize that design competitions expose a fragile nature that is part of a professional practice that values and emphasizes aesthetics and design outputs above social impact, and which perpetuates traditional and elitist master-apprentice models of education and practice.

Designers draw implicitly on rhetorical modes of appeal (ethos, pathos, logos) in the way they talk about their work in terms of its strategic, social, and cultural impact.Rhetorical practice on its own, however, may not align with an ethical position.Yet design’s increasing emphasis on values, behaviours, and social action indicates a practice that requires expertise in formulating compelling design propositions that inspire people to act. This has significance for design education in relation to developing learners’ capabilities in making more compelling arguments for their design work that emphasise the social and ethical impact of design in use. This paper proposes that such capabilities can be developed by examining the rhetorical modes of appeal integrated with the dialogic aspects of design studio learning (Shreeve,2015). We discuss results from observations of studio critiques at four Australian universities that sought to gauge the degree to which the rhetorical appeals were implicit or explicit in students’ presentations. We argue that examining how design students describe their work and think about their role as designers improves understanding of the value of rhetorical practice within new and developing fields of design. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Preference for graphic material plays a large role in which books children will choose to read and how much time they will spend practicing their literacy skills. As fluent readers, it is difficult to know how a child engages with the materials they are meant to be learning from during the beginning stages of their literacy acquisition; even more difficult is understanding what it feels like for a child who struggles with reading due to dyslexia. Designers cannot expect to produce effective materials for an audience they do not know or understand; yet, literacy materials continue to be generated by fluent adult readers with very little consultation of their young and inexperienced audience. By simply asking children and involving them in the design process, we can improve our understanding oflzow the presentation of content in reading books for children influences their motivation to read, and how to improve the ease and efficiency with which children who struggle are able to gain fluency. This paper provides a practical example using empirical research methods and shows how valuable it can be to engage children in the role of a type of co-designer when generating literacy materials for them. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Aim This study aimed to investigate fatigue, and its correlates, in children and adolescents with physical disabilities. Method Sixty-five young people aged 8 to 17 years (35 males, 30 females; mean age 13y 2mo, SD 2y 8mo) with mild to moderate physical disabilities (Gillette Functional Assessment Questionnaire levels 7–10) were recruited. Self-reported fatigue was measured using the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale. Physical activity was measured using 7-day hip-worn accelerometer. Associations between fatigue, physical activity, and socio-demographic characteristics were examined using analysis of covariance, with significance (α) set at 0.05. Results were compared with normative data from other paediatric populations. Results Among children with physical disabilities, fatigue was associated with being physically inactive (F-statistic=4.42, p=0.040), female (F=4.37, p=0.042), and of low socio-economic status (F=3.94, p=0.050). Fatigue was not associated with age, weight status, or functional impairment. Young people with physical disabilities experienced high levels of fatigue compared with other paediatric health populations, and comparable to the paediatric cancer population. Interpretation Fatigue is an important issue for young people with physical disabilities. Clinicians and researchers working with this group should be mindful that fatigue is likely to impact on an individual's ability to undertake new treatment regimens or interventions. Interventions aimed at reducing fatigue are warranted. Increasing physical activity might play a role in reducing fatigue.

Although there appears to be a clear link between design and rhetoric within design practice,our understanding of whether design students are developing necessary rhetorical skills aspart of their visual communication design education remains relatively limited. This is problematicbecause the changing role of the designer demands the ability to not only foresee andanticipate future need and means for social interaction but to propose and clearly communicateto clients, stakeholders, and a diverse public the relevance, reliability, and desirability ofparticular design solutions. In this paper we discuss our method for exploring and examininghow visual communication design students understand rhetoric and whether they are ableto draw on this practice when discussing their work. Formal in-class studio critiques providean opportunity to examine the use of rhetorical devices (ethos, pathos, and logos) and meansto determine and analyse the current understanding of rhetorical practice in educationaldesign studios. This study is part of on-going research and by presenting our method for thisexploratory phase we aim to facilitate discussion around its viability.

Design criticism is an important tool for practitioners to make sense of the way we interact with each other, our environments,and objects. With the changing role of design and the designer it is increasingly important that students are able to engage in productive critique as part of their design practice. However,the current education model does not explicitly break down and develop these skills nor does it seem that students have a developed understanding of its value. The display of fear when faced with a studio critique of work may attest to this as well as demonstrate a general lack of theoretical knowledge that should be a foundation of design practice, which may be compromising the ability to situate work socially and to fully understand their role as a designer. This paper describes an exploratory study protocol that aims to investigate the current state of how design students think about criticism and what value they place on it as part of their design process, and is also a means to identify future areas for investigation. This study is the first part of a larger project that aims to develop a framework for a more critical design education. The method for data collection and analysis is presented for discussion, and critique

Physical activity affords a wide range of physiological and psychological benefits for children and adolescents, yet many children with physical disabilities are insufficiently active to achieve these benefits. The StepUp program is a newly developed 6-week pedometer-based self-management program for children and adolescents with physical disability. Participants use a pedometer to undertake a 6-week physical activity challenge, with personalised daily step count goals set in consultation with a physiotherapist. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the StepUp program, using a randomised control trial design. A target sample of 70 young people with physical disabilities (aged 8–17 years, ambulant with or without aid, residing in Adelaide) will be recruited. Participants will be randomly allocated to either intervention or control following completion of baseline assessments. Assessments are repeated at 8 weeks (immediately post intervention) and 20 weeks (12 weeks post intervention). The primary outcome is objective physical activity determined from 7 day accelerometry, and the secondary outcomes are exercise intention, physical self-worth, quality of life and fatigue. Analyses will be undertaken on an intention-to-treat basis using random effects mixed modelling. This study will provide information about the potential of a low-touch and low-cost physical activity intervention for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12613000023752 .

We aimed to investigate the contributions of visual letter form and abstract letter identity to the time course of letter recognition, by manipulating the typeface (i.e. font) in which letters were presented. Twenty-six adult participants completed a modified one-back task, where letters where presented in easy-to-read typefaces ("fluent" letter stimuli) or difficult-to-read typefaces ("disfluent" letter stimuli). Task instructions necessitated that participant's focus on letter identity not visual letter form. Electroencephalography was collected and event-related potentials (ERPs) were calculated relative to letter stimuli. It was found that typeface affected both early-mid (N1 amplitude and P2-N2 amplitude and latency) and late processing (450-600 ms), thereby including time points whereby it is theorised that abstract identity is extracted from visual letter form (that is, 300 ms post-stimulus). Visual features of the letter therefore affect its processing well beyond the currently theorised point at which abstract information is extracted; which could be explained by a feedback loop between abstract letter representations and lower-level visual form processing units, which is not included in current cognitive reading models. Refereed/Peer-reviewed