I’ve managed to score a new gig, for the next 6 months at least. I’ll be in charge of developing the new Wildlife (Marine Mammal) Regulations:

DSE is responsible for administration of the Wildlife Act 1975 (the Act) and its subordinate legislation. There are a number of regulations made under the Act, including the Wildlife (Whales) Regulations 1998 which are due to sunset on 1 December 2009 and require reviewing.

The objective of the Wildlife (Whales) Regulations is to provide for the long term protection of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) in Victoria. These regulations govern human interactions with cetaceans and include restrictions on vessels approaching cetaceans and a range of other behaviours near whales and dolphins. The Regulations also prescribe the fees payable for the issue of whale sightseeing permits and whale swim tour permits.

In October 2005 and November 2006, the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council, of which Victoria is a member, agreed to adopt the Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching (the National Guidelines) and the National Strategy to Address Interactions between Humans and Seals: Fisheries, Aquaculture and Tourism (the Seal Strategy) respectively.

To facilitate implementation of these guidelines, amendments to the Act were required. The Wildlife Amendment (Marine Mammals) Act 2008 received Royal Assent on 26 August 2008. The Wildlife (Whales) Regulations 1998 were also extended for 12 months to provide sufficient time to review and re-make the existing Regulations and to incorporate new provisions relevant to the management of seals and seal tourism into the one set of regulations.

The proposed regulations will be known as the Wildlife (Marine Mammals) Regulations 2009. These Regulations need to be in force by 1 December 2009.

Now that our work on the Biodiversity Assessment is more or less complete I’m now working on the Biodiversity Strategy Renewal:

In Our Environment, Our Future - Victoria’s Sustainability Action Statement (2006) the government announced that it would renew the Victorian Biodiversity Strategy 1997. The Strategy is being renewed during 2008-09.

The Strategy will be a separate document to the Land and Biodiversity at a Time of Climate Change White Paper and will provide strategic directions for biodiversity management across Victoria. It will be a 5 year strategy that implements priority issues as identified via the Land and Biodiversity White Paper and engagement across government, industry & community sectors.

	Land & Biodiversity White Paper	Biodiversity Strategy
Covers:	Land and Biodiversity	Biodiversity only
Timeframe:	20 – 50 years	5 years
Scope:	Sets Government priorities and directions over next 20-50 years	Key priority actions for Government, Community & Industry Sectors

In order to improve biodiversity outcomes through enhanced cooperation, the Strategy is taking a partnership approach, involving traditional and non-traditional stakeholders. It will promote the value of partnerships across government, industry and the community sector for addressing a range of biodiversity issues.

The Strategy will consolidate the Government’s approach to protecting Victoria’s biodiversity by taking account of the policy directions proposed in the White Paper and providing a more detailed framework for their implementation.

Just a screen shot at this stage, as the site is not ‘live’ yet.

After a few weeks of sending off job applications with little results, I’ve managed to score an excellent job with the Victorian government Department of Sustainability and Environment. My job is primarily to work on the Victorian component of a Commonwealth report on biodiversity, called the National Land and Water Resource Audit (NLWRA) Biodiversity Assessment 2008. This is a second iteration of the original NLWRA Biodiversity Assessment from 2002.

My main tasks are as follows (from my performance plan):

NLWRA Biodiversity Assessment 2008

Preparation of reports and analyses for the Victorian component of the National Land and Water Resource Audit Biodiversity Assessment 2008

Tasks:

• Collection and collation of required material for Biodiversity Assessment
• Liaison with case study contributors for NLWRA Biodiversity Assessment 2008.
• Compliation of biodiversity data for Contract Milestone #2 (31 December 2007).
• Editing and standardising of case study reports.
• Completing compilation of material for final report for Contract Milestone #3 (March 2008).
• Responding to draft reports from NLWRA for completion of final report as required.

Biodiversity information systems

Interrogation of Departmental biodiversity information products and databases, particularly the Actions for Biodiversity Conservation Database, Flora and Fauna Information Systems to provide Bioregional and NRM regional synopses.

Tasks:

• Proficiency with Departmental biodiversity information products and databases.
• Efficient and accurate reporting of relevant biodiversity data.
• Complete analysis of Threatened Species status changes between 2002-2007 for NLWRA Biodiversity Assessment 2008 Contract Milestone #2 (31 December 2007).
• Complete case studies on effectiveness of recovery actions based on data from Actions for Biodiversity Conservation Database, for NLWRA Biodiversity Assessment 2008 Contract Milestone #3 (March 2008)

http://www.butchartsj.net-a.googlepages.com/pith_report.pdf

An important part of the Peer Instruction in the Humanities project that I’m currently working on is the development of a web site.

AIM #2: To create and maintain a freely accessible ‘Peer Instruction in the Humanities’ website. The website will contain information for all educators in the sector on the details of the method, the way it is being used in philosophy at Monash and reports on our evaluations of its effectiveness. Most importantly, the website will provide free access to the crucial resource for PI, the bank of ConcepTest questions.

The website will provide free access to the bank of ConcepTest questions for philosophy that we will create and test. We will also invite people who have adopted the method to contribute their ConcepTest questions and to share their experience and results. In this way, the website will serve as both a repository of knowledge and resources and as a forum for discussion and dissemination of the method.

At the recent Reference Group meeting the idea was floated to set up the website as a wiki. So I’ve set up a draft website here on my server using Mediawiki (the software used for Wikipedia). Check it out here: http://www.jpaarons.net/pi/

Sam Butchart has also set up a website with a wealth of information on this project. Sam also has a blog describing the progress of the project. There is also an official page for the project located on the Faculty of Arts server at Monash University, but this is currently just in draft form.

Edit (19 April): I’ve also written a brief report outlining the options for the project website. You can find a copy of the report here or over on Sam’s website here.

Here’s a short feature story about Asher and his latest exhibition Heavens from today’s ABC TV Sunday Arts Show:

There are some other videos of Asher and his work on his YouTube page. I hope I haven’t stepped on anyone’s toes by uploading these videos, especially the ones taken from ABCTV. If anyone from the ABC has a problem then I won’t hesitate to delete them from YouTube. Ideally I think the ABC should host these clips as part of their online Video on Demand service, but it seems that the Sunday Arts Show is not featured here. Also, it seems that they have deleted any reference to the Asher Bilu segment on the Episode Guide for April 1, although the Story Details page still exists.

Bethany Aarons

Born: Wednesday 21st March at 5.54pm.
Weight: 3.35kg (7lb 6oz)
Length: 49cm

More photos can be found on Beth and Annalena’s Diary

So after almost a year of being a homedad I’m now going back to work a few days a week as a research assistant on an interesting and fun project back in the School of Philosophy and Bioethics in the Arts Faculty at Monash University.

Peer Instruction (PI) is an innovative technique for generating active learning in medium to large enrolment lecture classes. Briefly, the method works in the following way. After lecturing on a topic for 15-20 minutes, the lecturer ask a series of multiple-choice quiz questions that test students’ understanding of the topic under discussion. Everyone in the class then votes on the answer to the question. Students are then given the opportunity to discuss the question with other students in the class and another vote is taken. Once most students in the class have the right answer, the lecturer can confirm it and moves on, or if necessary, go back and explain the topic again.

Research on the use of PI in science teaching indicates that it can significantly improve students’ conceptual understanding and ability to solve quantitative problems. However its potential in the humanities remains largely untapped. Given the importance of conceptual understanding and critical engagement in many humanities disciplines, it is clear that the PI method has enormous potential in this context.

In other projects we have begun exploring the effectiveness of PI in several first year Philosophy units. The aim of this project is to expand and evaluate the use of PI in philosophy teaching at Monash and encourage its adoption elsewhere. The eventual outcome may be the widespread use of a better teaching method, benefiting both students and the university.