A toolkit to implement graduate attributes in geography curricula

This article uses findings from a project on engagement with graduate outcomes across higher education institutions in New Zealand to produce a toolkit for implementing graduate attributes in geography curricula. Key facets include strong leadership; academic developers to facilitate conversations about graduate attributes and teaching towards them; ownership of the process by the teachers; the development of a contextualized set of graduate attributes for the geography degree; curriculum mapping to promote alignment between graduate attributes, learning outcomes and assessment tasks; incorporating high-impact educational experiences and signature pedagogies to foster graduate attributes; the use of evaluative data to inform continual enhancements; and allowing at least five years for curriculum renewal to occur.     

An investigation of factors determining cycling experience and frequency

A bicycle tourism destination is composed of complexes of different attributes that are crucial for the determination of tourist satisfaction levels. However, the relative impact of sector-specific destination attributes on bicycle touring and leisure cycling experience and frequency has been both poorly understood and studied. This study is an attempt to fill this literature gap by exploring a demand-side perspective on the important contributors of overall satisfaction with cycling experience and the key determinants of cycling frequency. The 28 sector-specific destination attributes were drawn from the relevant literature, and then modified by a panel of industry experts. Using exploratory factor analysis, three destination-specific attribute-level satisfaction factors were identified in descending order of satisfaction degree: ‘provision of signage services,’ ‘provision of safety and emergency services,’ and ‘quality of bicycle routes.’ Among these factors, ‘provision of safety and security services’ and ‘provision of signage services’ were found to be the most important contributors to overall satisfaction. Finally, ‘monthly income’ was proven to be a significant predictor of cycling frequency. This study is of great importance as there is a growing body of evidence that the use of bicycle for leisure, recreation, and tourism is undergoing a resurgence worldwide. The findings of this study may be of interest to scholars in Western countries where bicycle tourism is mature and highly developed and in Asian countries where the sector is at an early stage of development. Since bicycle touring and leisure cycling experience and frequency can be increased by modifying destination marketing and management practices, the government and industry sectors should focus more attention on ensuring the provision of multi-functional grocery and convenience stores along designated bicycle routes, developing an informative and visible signage system for designated bicycle routes, and targeting middle- to high-income bicyclists with diverse bicycle touring and leisure cycling experience options.     

旅游目的地定位突出属性的识别——轮换方格分析技术的运用

随着旅游市场竞争日趋激烈,目的地定位的重要性愈加突出。然而,国内研究和实践对"把握旅游者兴趣和需求"这一定位首要工作普遍认识不足,且实施不到位。鉴于此,本研究对目的地定位中"击中消费者心灵"这一关键环节的实施从理论和实证上进行了阐释。理论上,分析了目的地突出属性与定位之间的关系及当前国内误区。实证上,引入轮换方格分析法,以国内十大海滨城市目的地为要素,阐释了识别旅游者对竞争目的地相比较的目的地突出属性的方法程序。此外,对旅游者访谈结果与目的地业界代表访谈结果的比较发现,供需双方在旅游者需求的认识上不吻合。文章最后还对本研究的应用价值和局限做了总结。     

In search of a better method to distinguish artefacts from geofacts

Archaeologists use a method of evaluating the characteristics of flakes, called scoring, to distinguish geofacts (pseudo-artefacts or eoliths) from artefacts. Lower total scores are considered indicative of a natural source of the finds, while higher ones support the opposite. However, this method has some limitations. The most important are the small quantity of assemblages subject to such an analysis and the unclear boundary drawn by a ranking within a point-based score evaluation between collections with finds of cultural and anthropic origin. Here, we present a method that minimizes these limitations. It consists of a statistical approach using scoring percentages, a new method of visualizing them and the application of clustering. This way, we obtained clear differences between pseudo-artefacts and artefacts by considering flakes from six flint assemblages from Central Europe as well as an experimental assemblage.     

Soanian cores and core-tools from Toka,Northern India: Towards a new typo-technological organization

Since the initial ‘discovery’ and explanation of the Soanian industry by H. de Terra and T.T. Paterson in the 1930s, multiple interpretations have been offered by various investigators on its chronology, geographical distribution, relationship with the Acheulian, and technological progression. In most cases, the presence of explicit tool-types and the absence of Acheulian bifaces were the distinguishing features utilized to recognize the industry as well as delineate its technological development through time and space. However, in light of recent intra-regional geoarchaeological investigations and the analyses of a large surface assemblage by the author, the existing framework for Soanian typology is in need of judicious revision. In this paper, some of the methodological and interpretative problems are briefly discussed from a historical perspective and the technological organization of cores and core-based tools from Toka, a rich factory site, is described. Essentially, the Toka assemblage comprises a dynamic range of non-biface tool-types on quartzite, which possess varying patterns of core reduction techniques, edge retouch, and associated use-wear. The study also introduces a modified typological classification of specific chopper morphologies, which may be broadly applicable in global context.     

Developing graduate attributes through participation in undergraduate research conferences

Graduate attributes are a framework of skills, attitudes, values and knowledge that graduates should develop by the end of their degree programmes. Adopting a largely qualitative approach and using semi-structured interviews, this paper outlines students’ experiences at a national undergraduate research conference over three years and evidences the graduate attributes developed. The students demonstrated intellectual autonomy, repurposing their work for presentation to a multidisciplinary audience through conversation with and benchmarking against peers. They gained confidence in expressing their identity as researchers and moved towards self-authorship, consciously balancing the contextual nature of their disciplinary knowledge with intra-personally grounded goals and values.     

Fostering deeper critical inquiry with causal layered analysis

Causal layered analysis (CLA) is a technique that enables deeper critical inquiry through a structured exploration of four layers of causation. CLA’s layers reach down from the surface litany of media understanding, through the layer of systemic causes identified by conventional research, to underpinning worldviews, ideologies and philosophies, and deep subconscious drivers that manifest in myth and metaphor. CLA applies equally to geographical research’s socioculturally constructed situations and to the exploration of individual meta-cognition and motivation through pedagogic research. Outcomes, explored through reflective journals and term papers, suggest that CLA helps more, especially middle achievement, learners discover deeper structures within their studies.     

Does digital video enhance student learning in field-based experiments and develop graduate attributes beyond the classroom?

The connection between fieldwork and development of graduate attributes is explored in this paper. Digital technologies present opportunities to potentially enhance the learning experience of students undertaking fieldwork, and develop core digital attributes and competencies required by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and employers. This paper reports the success of adopting digital video capture in technology-rich field experiments that form part of final year undergraduate courses in Physical Geography at an HEI in New Zealand. Student perceptions were obtained via a range of approaches. Results suggest that deployment of digital video reinforces student learning and connects with core graduate attributes.