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This article discusses the experiences and challenges of introducing a third-party learning support provider into the teaching and learning culture at Southern Cross University (SCU), a regional university with campus locations in New South Wales and Queensland. The provider was engaged to extend online study support after-hours to first year students to complement the on-campus and online academic skills consultations available during business hours. The case study covers a 2015 pilot, a wider roll-out in 2016, and finally, a 2017 university-wide access via the intranet as well as through nominated units. The project team collaborated, planned, and prepared for adding third-party student support with specific strategies used to implement institutional cultural change. The case study offers implications for practice and policy across the higher education sector through the lessons learned, including the need for a complementarity of services approach with existing student services, a team-based strategic approach with a provider representative, and the benefits from open and positive communication. The partnership between SCU and the third-party provider evolved to the mutual benefit of both organisations. Students received support and feedback when they needed it most, academic staff revitalised coursework, and the third-party provider fine-tuned a targeted service for the institution. Implications for practice or policy: • Situate the academic skills support services provided in-house and the service provided by the third-party provider as complementary to each other. • Re-enforce this complementarity in all communication with students and academic staff. • Adopt a team-based approach to planning the introduction and implementation of a thirdparty provider's services. • Utilise the provider's strengths, such as data generation and reporting, that enable student usage information about the after-hours service to be disseminated across the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies to optimize beef cattle production in Northern Australia promises to boost the sector's productivity and profitability. This study examines the roles of grazier women in particular in the current use of and further adoption of on farm technology. It adds to the broader literature on women in agriculture, briefly examining feminist theory and then discussing eco feminism, capital resource ownership, and rural residency. The study considered the adoption of specific rural technologies (such as remote cameras, remote weather stations, bore cameras, and other livestock management systems), but found the current use of these tools to be limited. The limited spread of new rural technologies strongly supports the aim of this study, and ultimately, raises the question of who is driving rural technology diffusion and adoption amongst cattle producers. Data collected through 60 conversational interviews and from 141 participants of an online survey established the centrality of women graziers' roles. The research found that women use most components of online technology three times more often than men. While they were sometimes reluctant to take on the digital homestead tasks, by doing so they feel empowered and valued in their work. More importantly, the study found that as technology diffuses into rural settings and is adopted by grazier women, it is modifying gender divisions, specifically away from traditional separate roles and towards productive partnerships in farming families. Those advocating the further adoption of the new PLF technologies need to be mindful of the women graziers' role as busy users and joint decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, various scholars have expounded on the notable pedagogic work that assessment plays in educational contexts, describing its capacity to convey powerful messages on the valued aspect of education knowledge, impacting upon how and what students learn in these contexts. However, not many studies have sought to gain an insight into what and how discourses are reproduced or produced in the classroom through assessment, or the pedagogic consequences that may arise. The pilot study presented in this article provided some insights into the aforementioned issues in the field of Physical Education (PE) at the middle and senior phases of learning in Queensland schools. The findings show that the messages that were transmitted and acquired through assessment may not be in alignment with the official intended discourse, and that systemic accountability mechanisms not only influence the rigour of assessment that is conducted in PE, but also influence the consistency of teachers' and students' awareness of the valued elements of subject matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To protect and improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef, the Queensland Government's Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets that 90% of sugarcane, horticulture, cropping and grazing lands in priority areas be managed using best management practices for sediment, nutrient and pesticides by 2025. Progress towards this target is insufficient and variable across catchments and industries. The motivation to adopt improvements in management practices is heavily influenced by social, economic, cultural and institutional dimensions. In this paper we synthesise the literature on how these human dimensions influence decision making for land management practice and highlight where future investment could be focussed. We highlight that focussing on —1) investigating systems to support landholder decision making under climate uncertainty (risk); 2) generating a better understanding of the extent and drivers of landholder transaction cost; 3) understanding if there are competing 'right' ways to farm; and 4) improving understanding of the social processes, trust and power dynamics within GBR industries and what these means for practice change— could improve practice change uptake in the future. • Understanding human factors is essential for land practice change • Human factors include economic, social and cultural and macro institutional elements • These will affect trialling, adoption and dis-adoption of a practice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]