This issue's collection of doctoral theses, particularly those accompanied by abstracts, have some common themes: information and communication technologies, mathematics, and learning. I am grateful to ACER's Cunningham Library for supplying information concerning them (as well as the preceding theses titles) and draw your attention to ACER's Research Theses Database (the Bibliography of Education Theses in Australia) at http://www.acer.edu.au/library/theses/search_theses.html where you can access details on over 9000 Australian theses in education.
You might also be aware that ACER produces the Australian Education Index (AEI) which, amongst other things, records information on AARE conference papers. (Each year, hard copies of AARE conference papers supplied by authors to conference organisers are passed on to ACER for inclusion in their library and the AEI.)
I draw a long bow from these things, I suppose, in also bringing to your attention AARE's collection of conference papers available in full text from its own web site http://www.aare.edu.au. Peter Jeffery's inclusion in this newsletter of the traffic on our site clearly indicates the huge interest there is in the academic material available there. Peter J is often at pains to point out that access to the work of Australian educational researchers is now available from the desks of academics throughout the world (ie. those with internet access). What is worth highlighting is that such research is also available to everyone who has access to the web, including politicians, teachers, students and others with an interest in education.
I mention this in the context of the recent DETYA report on the impact of educational research in Australia. Research and researchers are sometimes criticised for being removed from and/or not contributing to 'where the action is', although the DETYA report had some quite positive things to say about this relationship in the Australian context. Of course, accessing research is not just a matter of gaining access to research in print but also about being able to access its meaning, amongst other things. Nevertheless, this publication of AARE members' research, without many of the current constraints of copyright, has significant potential in reaching broader communities and is worth drawing to the attention of interested parties.
What is also signalled here are the changing contexts in which we learn and gain access to information. Several of the theses celebrated below deal with these very issues. Congratulations to the authors. As always, I encourage them to seek out public forums in which to make their research more publicly known, including as AARE conference papers! Details of other doctoral theses completed within the last six months can be passed on to me at t.gale@cqu.edu.au .
Trevor Gale