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Issue h1, term 1, 2011

Curtin Bachelor of Arts wins award

The new Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) degree has taken top prize at this year's Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence and Innovation.

Over the past two years, a team of staff has developed and implemented the course from the best parts of 12 previous degree programs.

The degree comprises 25 majors across the fields of art, design, media, writing, performance, Asian languages and social sciences.

Humanities Dean of Teaching and Learning, Professor Sue Trinidad, said the program would allow students to select either single or double majors.

Some majors are available to students off campus, with a new 'Curtin Online' curriculum that is relevant to industry and easy to use.

For more information on the Curtin Bachelor of Arts program, visit the Faculty of Humanities or to book a presentation at your school please contact Alana Joske on +61 8 266 1676 or a.joske@curtin.edu.au

Jesper Just, Bliss and Heaven, 2004, Super 16mm film transferred to DVD, 8:30 min, (production still), image courtesy of the Artist; Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris; and Galleri Christina Wilson, Copenhagen.

The John Curtin Gallery presents film artist Jesper Just

The John Curtin Gallery starts its 2011 exhibition program with a suite of stunning video works by celebrated Danish film artist Jesper Just.

Combining high-end film production with an artist's profound insight into the human condition, Just explores gender and racial politics through the lens of cinematic convention.

A public program supports this exhibition, which will appeal to media, screen and art teachers, as well as students studying related courses in Years 10 - 12.

The exhibition runs from 11 February - 8 April and is open Monday to Friday 12 - 5pm plus the following Sundays; 13, 20 & 27 February, 6 & 27 March and 3 April 1- 4pm.

For further information visit the John Curtin Gallery website, email gallery@curtin.edu.au or contact Samantha Smith on +61 8 9266 4155. The Gallery will consider opening for private school visits outside of normal opening hours.

Design concept helps Indigenous youth

The design of an interior space to help reconnect Indigenous teenage girls to their culture has won Curtin University student Sheridan Emby a commendation at the recent WA Design Institute of Australia Awards.

The Interior Architecture student was given a brief to design a space for former AFL Eagles player David Wirrpanda's Dare to Dream program.

The fourth year student said the interior design responded to the needs of spiritually homeless teenagers.

Professor Peter Davis, Curtin's Head of the School of Built Environment said it's great to see students getting recognised for their hard work.

The WA Design Institute of Australia Awards is an annual event which recognises and acknowledges the achievements of WA designers. Awards are given to both professional and student designers.

Student Profile- Felicity Higgs, Bachelor of Education (Primary Education)

I've certainly learnt a lot in my time at Curtin, and really enjoyed all the extracurricular activities that the Bentley campus has to offer, such as the student ambassador program, Curtin Volunteers!, and awesome guild events. I had some fantastic tutors and lecturers, which makes a huge difference to what you get out of your studies.

The opportunity to travel abroad to study is probably the most exciting part of my course, because it will allow me to apply my knowledge and skills in a very different and challenging context, which will be incredibly beneficial to me as a teacher.

The enthusiastic tutors and lecturers constantly re-ignite my passion for teaching, and their own teaching experiences are invaluable to us as teaching students.

I think teaching is a fantastic, challenging and worthwhile profession, and a fascinating field of study.

New Performance Studies Production

The first major theatre production for 2011 by Curtin's Hayman Theatre Company will be The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman.

Directed by artist-in-residence Michael McCall, The Laramie Project chronicles a year in the life of the town of Laramie, Wyoming after the 1998 murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, who was killed because he was gay. The Laramie Project is a breathtaking theatrical collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.

Suitable for student groups to attend, teachers can make enquiries and bookings by calling 9266 7026. The show will run at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs at Curtin University from Friday 25 February to Saturday 5 March.

The theatre also runs Sunday night productions and has a season of one-act plays. There will be 2x one act plays every Sunday March 20, 27, April 3, 10 & 17, with the first performance beginning at 8pm. All tickets are $10 and sold at the door from 7:15p. For any enquiries, telephone +61 8 9266 2383 or email L.Brennan@curtin.edu.au for the program.

Annual English/ English Literature Conference

The Department of Communication and Cultural Studies will again present the English/ English Literature Conference at Curtin University's Bentley campus in June this year.

On each day of the conference, Curtin academic staff, alongside specialist lecturers from the secondary and tertiary education sector, present 40 lectures on 18 topics. The lectures complement the excellent work of the English secondary school teachers by reinforcing understanding of the syllabus and focusing on exam tasks and questions. They also provide a means of offering teachers and students new ways of teaching/understanding texts and genres.

Students also have the opportunity to interact with university staff and experience life on a university campus.

For more information about the English Conference please contact Leigh Brennan on +61 8 9266 7026 or L.Brennan@curtin.edu.au.

New Master of Applied Design and Art

Curtin has launched a new postgraduate program called the Master of Applied Design and Art which - for the first time - enables you to obtain a postgraduate qualification in art or design without having a Bachelor degree in these fields.

You can study any of Curtin's design or art specialisations, such as Fine Art, Textiles, Graphic Design, Digital Design or Fashion.

The course allows you to obtain a Graduate Certificate in 1 semester or a Masters degree in 3 semesters (part-time study is also available).

For more information see Humanities courses.

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Inspire program professional development day

Curtin welcomed 600 local primary and secondary teachers to the Curtin Stadium on Monday 31 January for the Inspire Professional Learning Day.

The Inspire program is a collaborative teaching and learning model that supports current teachers in local schools to work collaboratively with our future primary, secondary and tertiary teachers. This year, 17 local primary and special schools and two local secondary schools are working with Curtin to improve their students' performance and give their teaching staff the opportunity to discuss education issues.

John Fleming, an innovative school educator from Victoria presented and participants took part in numerous workshops delivered in areas as diverse as dance, literacy, Aboriginal learning styles and the emerging Australian Curriculum.

School staff also gained an insight into the range of collaborative opportunities available through the Inspire program. Congratulations to the School of Education for their involvement in this day.

Animated fish-shed light on learning

Unique research at the School of Education is using animated fish to find out how people learn. Professor of Learning Technologies, Richard Lowe, is using computer-generated 3D images of moving fish as part of his research.

"With the advent of the internet and online learning, more animation is being used on the web to help people learn," Professor Lowe said.

"We are researching how to design animation so that it can help learning."

"We are using eye-tracking to find out how people process movement by showing them animated moving fish.

"Our findings show when they are forced to make inferences they become more analytical and learn more efficiently.

"Animation is used for teaching and learning in many areas such as education, medicine, finance, and engineering.

"Our research will provide the fundamental guidelines for designing effective animations that are good for learning."

Design student wins advertising competition

Final-year Design student, Matthew Nankivell, has been named a joint winner of the 2010 international Young Guns creative advertising competition.

The competition, run every year by the prestigious Leo Burnett Advertising Group, recognises outstanding creative work by young design professionals aged under 30.

The 2010 competition brief was "Drop One Product", in which the entrants were asked to get consumers to stop buying one product that they regularly purchase. There were more than 100 entries from around the world, with 11 finalists named - two of which came from Curtin.

Along with Matthew's winning entry, entitled Drop 1 Product with Woolworths, another entry from a group of two Curtin Design students, Liam Riddler and Chris Percival, was also a finalist.

Matt explains his winning entry:

"Using an iPhone application, consumers create a shopping list which displays all relevant product information as well as an 'eco point' rating system to determine how eco-friendly each product is.

"Once a shopping list is compiled, the consumer would then be asked to drop one product, according to the eco-points allocated to each item."

Awards for Curtin Journalism

Curtin Journalism students and staff added a few more feathers to their cap for their work in 2010.

Nicholas White won the Best Print Feature (Undergraduate) award in the Journalism Education of Australia 2010 Ossie Awards for his article in The Western Independent entitled "Our Man in Washington", featuring Australia's Ambassador to the United States, Kim Beazley. The Western Independent is produced by Curtin Journalism students, under staff supervision.

In the same competition, the Independent was highly commended in the 'Best Regular Student Publication' category.

The Curtin Journalism department also won the 2010 Humanities Pro Vice-Chancellor's Award in recognition of its work in developing the Curtin Journalism website Inkwire, produced by Curtin's radio, television, photography, online and print journalism students.