New research at Griffith has revealed a direct correlation between student activities on enterprise social networks (ESN) and their academic grades.
The study examined the habits of online postgraduate students and how they engaged with Microsoft’s Yammer network to share ideas and collaborate with other students and academic staff.
The online opportunity to ask the right question at the right time also emerged as a significant benefit for students.
Professor Nick Barter, Academic Director of Griffith Online, looked at SWOOP Analytics data focusing on three Yammer groups and the activities of 222 students at Griffith University.
Each individual was attributed with one of five online personas as a result of their engagement activities.
“Preliminary results showed a clear correlation between SWOOP persona and academic performance,” Professor Barter said. “On average, the highest performing students were engagers, the most desirable of the five personas.”
SWOOP is designed to analyse and report on all relationships that are formed
Author: admin
Cost of comfy retirement unattainable for many
More than 80 per cent of Gen X and Y Australians may not be able to afford a comfortable retirement, according to research undertaken by Griffith University.
Commissioned by No More Practice Education, it shows that in 26 years’, more than $2.06 million will be needed to achieve the retirement goal.
Based on that figure, 81.3% of people born from 1966 to 1994 are going to fall short. That percentage rises to almost 94% if Australia’s long running inflation rate of 5.07% is used as the figure.
The research was led by Professor Mark Brimble and is featured in the report “Reinvention is the new Retirement“.
“Whilst these numbers represent our ‘worst case’ scenario analysed, they are a very real possibility we need to be prepared for – this low growth scenario has been the reality for countries like Japan for over 20 years,” said Professor Brimble.
Marcus Field, Managing Director of No More Practice
Cinema great delivers public lecture at Griffith
One of the most celebrated figures in world cinema, Oscar-winning Lord David Puttnam, is to deliver a sell-out public lecture this evening at Griffith Film School.
Lord Puttnam, whose career as an independent producer includes classic films such as Midnight Express, The Killing Fields and Chariots of Fire will look at creative criticism in filmmaking and other business models.
Creative Collisions – It’s never easy but it’s worth it reflects on his recent time at Pixar animation studios to consult on their creative culture and processes.
“Change is tough, but you have to set the bar high and ensure that you keep pushing to create the best project possible,” he said.
“That means being open to criticism, recognising your strengths and weaknesses and fostering your creative relationships.”
Lord Puttnam will also discuss his return to the film industry. After many years as a film educator and a member of the House of Lords, he is set
Improving allergy management with a focus on gut bacteria
Helping sufferers with the symptoms of allergic rhinitis by investigating the use of topical nasal sprays and the role of gut bacteria, is the focus of a new Griffith University study.
Better known as hayfever, people are being reminded to stay on top of the condition as we enter the storm season, in order to avoid triggering symptoms or making them worse.
The study is examining the mechanisms by which nasal sprays reduce symptoms of allergy and the way in which the composition of the bacteria in our gut may predispose people to allergy.
“We are aiming to determine why people respond differently to allergy treatments,” says researcher Dr Nic West from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland.
“We know that individuals do not respond equally to common treatment strategies and determining why is important to helping people in the community manage their allergy symptoms.
An altered gut bacteria and immune profile
“Gut bacteria are also able
Unitemps celebrates outstanding debut year
The first of its kind in Australia, university-operated recruitment agency Unitemps Griffith is celebrating a successful first year after its establishment in July 2016.
With branches on the Gold Coast and Nathan campuses, Unitemps Griffith has placed hundreds of students and graduates into a broad range of vacancies in local Southeast Queensland businesses as well as within Griffith University.
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Ian O’Connor stresses the university’s commitment to student outcomes and Unitemps Griffith is a further demonstration of this focus.
“Griffith University’s confidence in the quality of our students and graduates is demonstrated by the fact that within the university Unitemps has hired students for $681,000 of internal wages and over 20,000 hours of work in its first year which is an amazing feat,” Professor O’Connor said.
Deputy Director of Development and Alumni Ms Joanne Nyland said her experience with Unitemps Griffith has been very rewarding.
“I’ve had two Unitemps
Quantum light makes better measurements
Scientists at Griffith University have made a breakthrough in measurement precision, achieving a result that has been a major goal of the scientific community for the last 30 years.
Published in Nature Photonics, researchers from Griffith University’s Centre of Quantum Dynamics have demonstrated that certain optical measurements using photons – or single particles of light – can be performed with a higher level of precision than could ever be achieved without quantum techniques.
“Over the centuries advancements in how precisely we can measure things have consistently resulted in new breakthroughs in science and technology. So, we hope our result will be important for the future,” said Professor Geoff Pryde, the team leader.
Theoretical physicists have predicted since the 1980s that certain pairs of light beams containing a specific number of photons can be used to extract the maximum amount of measurement information per particle. In this technique, the photons are entangled (or connected
Sport technology experts share innovations
The most important sport engineering conference in the world is coming to Brisbane.
Timed with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018), and hosted by GC2018 Official Partner, Griffith University, the International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) 2018 Conference will run from March 26 to 29 with the Australian Sports Technologies Network.
Bringing together world leading researchers, sports professionals and industry organisations, the conference will share progress in design, mechanical, performance, analytics, textiles and wearable technology and how they are changing sport.
Organisers Professor David Thiel and Dr Hugo Espinosa from Griffith Engineering said the conference was an opportunity to showcase Australian developments.
“The whole idea is it’s the filtered down elite commercial product effect,” Professor Thiel said.
“People will want what the athlete has got if they win a few races so the price of the most expensive bike used by elite athletes drops and becomes more available to the general public.”
“As new technology becomes
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome movie ‘to inspire and empower’ the Gold Coast
Inspiration, information and empowerment regarding the topic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is expected this week with the screening of movie documentary Unrest on the Gold Coast.
The Sundance Festival award-winning documentary about the condition will be screened on October 12 by the support group ‘Young People with ME/CFS on the Gold Coast’ and will feature a talk by Griffith’s Professor Don Staines, co-director of Griffith University’s National Centre of Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED).
CFS (and the related Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)) is currently a very misunderstood yet, prevalent illness, often hitting people just as their lives are meant to take off and is estimated to affect 1.2 per cent of the population.
Unrest is a complex story of hope and resilience, depicting the “hidden” patient experience of post-exertional crashes and touching on the worldwide impact of CFS/ME on patients, their families, the health care system and the tax-payer.
A powerful film
At 97 minutes long,
Queensland College of Art Director Message – October 2017
Not only is the Queensland College of Art (QCA) one of Australia’s foremost institutions of Art, Design and Film, it is also one of the country’s longest running and largest creative academies. Pivotal for the QCA is a belief that cutting edge, creative processes and productions that challenge the way we perceive and understand the world, must be vigorously encouraged.
On 5 September 2017, Vice Chancellor Ian O’Connor unveiled the new Fine Art and Design studios on our Queensland College of Art South Bank campus. Central to the design brief for these refurbishments was the need to develop open studio spaces that would encourage interaction between student groups, support collaborative learning, accommodate digital and micro-electronics fabrication equipment, laser-cutters, and 3D printers and electronics assembly spaces. These latest technologies and tools enable our students to learn how to solve complex problems and integrate design-led strategies into existing practice in business, government and
QCA student looks to creative future after Games emblem
With her honours degree in Design Futures on the cusp of completion, Queensland College of Art student Janet Turner is also celebrating the unveiling of the Games Village emblem by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The emblem is the brainchild of Janet, from Inverell in northern NSW, who is majoring in Visual Communication at Griffith’s South Bank campus.
It was revealed to the world when the Premier officially handed the Parklands Development over to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) for its transformation into the Commonwealth Games Village.
“A very cool experience” is how Janet summed up the journey which started with an email from a tutor asking if she’d like to be involved in the creation of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Village emblem and which ended with GOLDOC chair Peter Beattie “putting me on the spot” and asking her to explain the emblem’s creation to the Premier before a