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- ItemA proposal for student-centred first year teaching(Ako Aotearoa, 2018-07-01) Heinrich E; McDonald JWe present a new proposal for teaching at first year university level that better adjusts to the individual strengths and weaknesses of students as they enter university. We suggest that changes in teaching approaches and student support are urgently required to facilitate successful outcomes that serve individuals, institutions and society well. Students come from diverse backgrounds, many study part-time and have additional responsibilities beyond their studies. Students invest their time and money and may accumulate large financial debts for their years of study. Failure rates are substantial and even students who pass often do not build the strong foundations in subject knowledge and study skills required for successful degree completion. The pressure on students to achieve affects not only the students but also higher education institutions and teaching staff, as pass rates determine funding. Our proposal builds on a large body of literature and strong evidence of effectiveness of the Personalised System of Instruction (PSI) that was popular more than 50 years ago. Combining this with Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and our experience of effective educational practice we provide an outline for how such a proposal might be implemented. Through paying close attention to the design of the learning environment and following the principles of SDT, our proposal advocates explicitly supporting the development of autonomy, competence and relatedness in our students and thus aims to increase both student motivation to succeed and student success. Fundamentally, our proposal is about substantially increasing the opportunity for meaningful pedagogic conversations between students and teachers. How fast and how well a student progresses through the course will be determined not by administrative constraints but by the student themselves. Students at all levels of subject knowledge and learning skills at the start of the course should have a strong chance to pass the course and do so well. Through direct engagement with students, the teaching team can adapt and focus their formative feedback to meet individual student needs as well as inform course design. In effect, we present a way to transform the conventional course from a static set of resources, lectures and activities programmed for administrative convenience to a living, breathing and continually evolving process. Important elements include: flexible semester durations based on individual student needs; opportunity to learn from formative feedback to ensure students cover all learning objectives; mandated, focussed, one-to-one discussions with teachers; scheduled opportunities for student-led problem-solving and discussion; study plans developed by students to match their own circumstances and knowledge; and a well-structured and responsive support network. We ask students to take responsibility for their learning. Through a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, higher education teachers and learning and writing consultants have provided feedback on our proposal. Their feedback echoes the literature reviewed and we have documented their endorsements, cautions and insights with respect to potential implementation. Our interviewees see the potential for assisting students based on their individual needs and for ensuring that students move on with solid knowledge foundations and study skills. What came across strongly is the passion educators have for helping students and the satisfaction they gain from direct contact with students. It is central to our proposal to significantly increase the number of hours invested into student support. The number of casual support hours per student in first year courses in the mathematical and information sciences sits currently at about 1.5 hours per student and semester, lacking well beyond what is offered in other disciplines. We argue that this needs to be lifted substantially to about 8 hours to ensure that students pass first year courses with strong levels of subject knowledge and learning skills. We propose that the additional support would result in substantially higher pass rates and improved retention at higher levels of study, paying back the initial outlay. From the evidence presented in this report, our clear recommendation is that our proposed approach is piloted within one or two institutions with a limited number of courses in order to i) properly determine the costs of implementation and ii) evaluate the degree to which anticipated benefits accrue.
- ItemNew Zealand Home Affordability Report: Quarterly Survey Q4 2024(Massey University Real Estate Analysis Unit (MUREAU), 2025-03-01) Javed A
- ItemAn exploration of the organisational excellence architecture required to support an award winning business excellence journey(2024-04-01) Baig A; Robin M; James L; Macpherson WThis report shares the findings from research investigating the Organisational Excellence Architecture (OEA) required to facilitate and accelerate an organisation's business excellence journey. The research builds on the Centre of Organisational Excellence Research (COER) 's research programme called Excellence Without Borders that is supported by the Global Excellence Model Council and Global Benchmarking Network. As the research aims to learn about the business excellence journey, organisations participating in the research were required to have undertaken at least one business excellence assessment (internal self-assessment or external assessment) in the last five years. In total, 48 organisations from 15 countries participated through completing a survey with 23 of these also participating in a structured interview. The research took place between November, 2020 to November, 2021.
- ItemNew Zealand Home Affordability Report: Quarterly Survey Q1 2024(Massey University Real Estate Analysis Unit (MUREAU), 2024-04-15) Javed A
- ItemNew Zealand Home Affordability Report: Quarterly Survey Q2 2024(Massey University Real Estate Analysis Unit (MUREAU), 2024-07-15) Javed A
- ItemNew Zealand Home Affordability Report: Quarterly Survey Q3 2024(Massey University Real Estate Analysis Unit (MUREAU), 2024-10-01) Javed A
- ItemLife cycle assessment and environmental footprinting of sectors and products in the New Zealand economy(Massey University, 2024) Patterson, M. G.; Kim, Joon-Hwan; McDonald, Garry; Grimson, Duncan; McDonald, Nicola; Monge, Juan J.Environmental policies rewarding the efficient use of natural resources as well as limiting current levels of pollutant are both profitable alternatives and costly constraints to some of New Zealand’s major economic contributors. Hence, more emphasis is being placed on identifying the sectors that are either the most efficient users of the nation’s precious natural resources or the most polluting ones contributing to both local problems like lake eutrophication and globally to challenges such as climate change. This publication contributes to our understanding of these issues, by undertaking input-output based life cycle assessment and environmental footprinting of 32 sectors in the New Zealand economy. This covers utilisation of natural resources (energy, land, freshwater, ecosystem services) and the pollutants (nitrogen, phosphorus, greenhouse gases, wastewater, landfill wastes). In total, 335 life-cycle assessment diagrams that quantify the direct and indirect natural resources or pollutants emitted from each sector. As well as being of practical use to life-cycle assessment and footprinting practitioners, these LCA diagrams should help better visualise the indirect impacts on the environment of sectors in New Zealand economy.
- ItemSummary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.(2024-12-16) McElwee PD; Harrison PA; van Huysen TL; Alonso Roldán V; Barrios E; Dasgupta P; DeClerck F; Harmáčková Z; Hayman D; Herrero M; Kumar R; Ley D; Mangalagiu D; McFarlane RA; Paukert C; Pengue WA; Prist PR; Ricketts TH; Rounsevell MDA; Saito O; Selomane O; Seppelt R; Singh PK; Sitas N; Smith P; Vause J; Molua EL; Zambrana-Torrelio C; Obura D
- ItemDigital Council for Aotearoa New Zealand. (2020). Towards trustworthy and trusted automated decision-making in Aotearoa.(Toi Āria: Design for Public Good, 2021-04-16) Brown A; Law M; Mark S; Parkin T; Reade A; Shibata S; Tobin AWe spoke to over 180 people throughout Aotearoa about different situations where ADM has specific impacts on the lives of individuals, whānau and communities. We heard loud and clear that ADM and other decision-making systems should be built for — and with — the people who are impacted. This is essential for ensuring trusted and trustworthy systems. When workshop participants talked about ADM, they focused on more than the technology itself. Instead, they talked about algorithms as being part of a much wider system that also included the way data is collected and used, the people and organisations that develop the systems, and the interventions resulting from decisions. Participants thought that ADM, with its ability to process data fast and at scale, is well suited to some situations. However, they were clear that it can be harmful in other situations and can intensify pre-existing bias and discrimination — especially when the decision has major impacts on the lives of individuals and their whānau. Participants provided clear and concise suggestions of what would make them feel more comfortable in situations where ADM is used. They want systems that are built to meet the needs and reflect the values of the communities impacted. To achieve this, it is important to participants that people who have similar lived experience to them are involved in the development of decision-making systems and the interventions that result from them. Participants told us they would be more comfortable if there was transparency and clear communication about how the government uses ADM and how it is used to make decisions. We took these clear and urgent suggestions and used them as a basis to develop a set of recommendations to the government. We looked at work already underway and the barriers preventing systemic change, and gathered input from experts to inform our thinking
- ItemUnlocking Transport Innovation: A Sociotechnical Perspective of the Logics of Transport Planning Decision-Making within the Trial of a New Type of Pedestrian Crossing(Building Better Homes, Towns, and Cities (BBHTC) National Science Challenge, 2018-06-01) Opit S; Witten KThis paper considers the proposal to install a novel type of pedestrian crossing, as part of a neighbourhood intervention, to investigate the architecture of decision-making that influences the delivery and outcomes of our urban environments. While political and policy-making directions often signal a movement towards providing better active transport options and safer urban environments for pedestrians and cyclists, delivering projects that achieve such goals can prove challenging, time-consuming and be marred by conflict. Innovative projects can stagnate, diminish in scale or fail to be realised entirely. The exact causes of these less than ideal outcomes are difficult to determine as they involve a complex sociotechnical assemblage of various actors, institutions, resources and logics. The architecture of decision-making that surrounds these projects is created through a myriad of de jure and de facto actors that, in concert, affect the material construction of neighbourhoods and shape our homes, towns and cities In Auckland, the regional Road Controlling Authority (RCA), ‘Auckland Transport’ (AT), dedicates a chapter in its ‘code of practice’ outlining its commitment to enabling innovative solutions where appropriate. Yet, as political demands for a modal shift towards active and public transport have gradually intensified, the organisation has sometimes struggled to adapt from ‘business-as-usual’ practices that prioritise goals associated with the private motor vehicle, such as road network capacity and flow efficiency (particularly, alleviating peak hour congestion problems).
