I won a CSSS scholarship!

Hooray! Great news!

Two months ago I applied for a Griffith Continuing Student Scholarship (CSSS) – and today I got notification that my application was successful!

Woohoo!

This means that after three years of doing my PhD part-time, as of January 1st 2019, I’m going full time for the next two years and paid a stipend to complete my research!

Awesome!!

The scholarship means that I can take a step back from teaching so much and focus solely on completing my PhD and publishing a few journal articles.

I put the CSSS application in about two months ago. I worked hard on it and did the right thing by seeking advice from a couple of academics on how to boost my chances. I made edits and changes as needed and then submitted it with fingers crossed knowing because the CSSS is quite competitive.

Getting the call

I was in a shopping center at an Apple store when I got the call. I was putting my laptop for service and sitting at the customer desk with all the other customers. My help I have just gone up the back for a couple minutes so I took the call when my phone rang. It was GGRS letting me know that my scholarship application was successful. What a great call to get!

After I hung up the phone I couldn’t help myself.

I turned around to face the store, and no one in particular, and called out excitedly to anyone who cared to hear:

“I just won a super competitive scholarship which means I’ll be paid to complete my PhD research for the next two years!”

The store erupted into unified joyous celebration of clapping and cheering and people’s congratulations.

The couple next to me was smiling broadly and the woman said:

Can I give you a hug? It sounds like a hug-worthy event.

Hells yeah, said I! It was a lovely hug and a very memorable moment.

Three years into my PhD and I know how important it is for motivation and progress to celebrate milestones and achievements.

And this is certainly one to celebrate.

So what is the CSSS?

Griffith University offers a limited number of merit-based scholarships are available to continuing HDR candidates who have successfully confirmed their candidature and are progressing well with their research. The Continuing Student Scholarship Scheme is designed to provide financial support to outstanding HDR candidates, with the purpose of accelerating progress to thesis submission.

My application entailed two steps.

I had to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) outlining my academic basis for scholarship eligibility (i.e. qualifications, publications etc.), confirming I meet all other eligibility criteria, and provide a referee report from my current principal supervisor.
Once the EOI was assessed by the HDR Convenor, you can then submit an application.

I had discussed with Dr Christine McDonald (our much respected HDR Convenor) that I was going for this scholarship. She was fully supportive. She gave me some excellent advice on some extra bits to include in the EOI and application and went into bat for me during the moderation meeting where they ranked and argued over which applications the committee was going to award scholarships to. I have no doubt that my application success had a large part to do with her input. Thanks so much Christine!

The application was quite intense. I had to put together:

a covering letter
a Continuing Student Scholarship Scheme application form
a referee report from your current principal supervisor
an updated research outline and completion plan
an updated CV
evidence of research publications or other research outputs (achieved since original application).

The whole application took far longer than I excepted. But of course, it was well worth the effort. Not only did I get clarity around my PhD progress, but the end result was well worth the initial effort outlaid.

I am super excited about going full-time and super motivated to make the most of this opportunity.

2019, here I come!

12/12/201810/01/2019

Thank you to The Sunshine Family for my recycled bike artist workshop!

Artist Studio. Creative Workshop. Innovation Space. Art & Design Workroom. Conceptual Atelier.

Call it what you will.

Having a designated space to produce original creative work is a blessing.

Most artists I know have some kind of space to produce work, leave out their tools, percolate ideas and have room to let their creative juices flow.

Very few people who are not full-time artists (with the exception of retirees and empty-nesters) are lucky to have such a space.

Personally, I’ve never had such a space.

Until recently….

Thankyou to The Sunshine Family for my recycled bike art workshop! Bicycles Create Change.com. 12th Dec, 2018.

This year I have been working hard juggling teaching, PhDing and a range of other projects. I like to have one creative project on the go to help keep me balanced.

One of my ongoing side projects has been making custom-made recycled bottle cap medallions made only of recycled materials.

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with them.

I make them out of bottle caps filled with predominately bicycle inner tubes and bike parts, but also miscellaneous materials, discarded paper, buttons, board game pieces, broken jewellery and any other manner of opp-shop or scrap bits-and-bobs.

I love how meditative the process is. I often will set aside a few hours, pull out all my gear, have a beer, put on some good music and settle in for a crafternoon session.

I’ve been making these medallions for nearly two years now and have quite a collection.

I use them for lots of things.

In February, the medallions were Eco-Excellence Awards for the Bio-Bike roving performance Claire Tracey and I did for the Sustainable Living Festival (Melbourne, VIC).

Then in June, after completing The Art of Looping Workshop Intensive, each Looping participant was presented with a Looper Award of Excellence.

When I make them, I sometimes set up a ‘crafternoon’ workstation out the front of my house under the carport. I love working outside and the neighbors often drop in to say hi and see what designs I’m working on that day.

Invariably they’ll leave with a medallion that takes their fancy.

It still makes me smile when I see my recycled bicycle medallions on hats, coats and bags being worn around my community.

There’s a running joke around our streets that the locals are ‘supporting the arts’ by drinking beer and giving me the caps. Hilarious!

I often come home to find small bags of bottle caps in my letterbox or on the front steps. Gold.

Thank you to The Sunshine Family

But one particular family have gone above and beyond.

Four months ago, a family (who I’ll call The Sunshine Family because they asked to remain anonymous, but you know who you are!) offered me the use of their double-fronted shed as a designated art workshop until the end of the year.

Oh joy!

What an offer!

Hells yeah!

It is a massive, clean space and had everything I might ever need.

Having this studio meant I could have all my gear set out and ready to go.

I got so many more medallions done when I was in there.

Talk about productive!

Whenever I had the time, I’d get in there and easily smash out 50 medallions at a time.

One of the best (and most unique) features of this space is the double-fronted garage doors rolled up to look out on the private backyard.

So when all the local musos came over for the weekly jam session, I had a primo position to enjoy the tunes, banter and company!

Best studio ever!

But now it is the end of the year, so its time pack up my materials and return the shed.

This post is to say thank you to the Sunshines.

Thank you for letting me use the space so I know what it feels like to have a designated creative workspace, for the wonderful offer, for good company, for trusting me, for ‘supporting the arts’ and for giving me my first-ever studio space! I will treasure your thoughtfulness and generosity always.

To The Sunshine Family, a massive big, heart-felt THANK YOU!

20/09/201826/09/2018

English Australia Conference 2018

This week, I am in Sydney attending the annual, national English Australia Conference (EAC) 2018.

Earlier this year at the EA (QLD) PD Fest, our Bicycles Create Change session won the QLD Bright Ideas Award.

So, thanks to Pearson and the EA Queensland Branch, I’m in Sydney representing our BCC internship team session at the conference.

I am very honoured and very excited!

EAC 2018 Day 2 Program

Session Presentation:

From EAS to Collaborative Internship:

Lessons and insights where Bicycles Create Change

Many international students undertake English and Academic Skills (EAS) and DEP bridging classes to get into university with the ultimate aim of getting a job in their field of study.

There is a perception that English classrooms are for learning English, University tutorials are for discipline-specific content, and the workplace is for vocational skills. Internships are one-way students can become more work-ready. However, a number of studies confirm that current tertiary students lack generic employability skills (ACNielsen Research Services 2000; ACCI/BCA 2002), an issue that is even more challenging for international students.

I was curious to explore what a career development program that specifically catered to the academic, vocational and personal needs of the international students in my DEP classes might look like.

This presentation is a brief overview of the origins, activities and outcomes of this exploration: The Bicycles Create Change.com 2016 Summer Internship Program.

Program background

This Internship was a volunteer, eight-week, collaborative internship that ran from January 4th to February 27th, 2016. It required participants to fulfil 80-110 working hours.

The blog Bicycles Create Change.com (which has over 110,000 readers locally and internationally) served as the professional platform for work activities as it was a low-cost, high-exposure, authentic, skills-integrated outlet to showcase work.

The program was semi-structured with space to modify and self-initiative content. Hours were achieved individually, in pairs and as a team. The team met for one full day each week to review tasks, run workshops, refine skills and to discuss progress.

Theoretical underpinnings

This program integrated key theories including, scaffolding new skills (Vygotsky 1987), the need for authentic vocational guidance, participation and engagement (Billet, 2002), promoting creative thinking and expression (Judkins, 2015) and building on foundational DEP EAS skills and competencies (GELI, n.d.).

Origins and participants

All participants had just graduated from the Griffith English Language Institute (GELI) 10-week DEP program in December.

Semester 1 2016 did not commence until Feb 28^th.This left a gap of 9 weeks before university started, which is when the internship was undertaken.

Key considerations

There were are a number of key considerations built into this program:

Strengthening self-confidence and independent learning
Experience with unique, transferable and challenging skills
Fostering creativity and valuing artistic expression
Emphasis on developing reflection, collaboration and planning skills
Integrating EAS, vocation and personal skills to a range of contexts
Promoting initiative and the ability to generate own opportunities
Increasing employability, CV and work-ready skills
Authentic interactions and connection with locals/community
Create a comprehensive evidence portfolio of work, skills and achievements
To have fun applying skills in a challenging and productive way

Program design

The focus was to build on current competencies, develop new skills, build a professional portfolio of experience (and evidence), and for participants to become more confident in initiating their own opportunities and outputs.

Tailored experiences (below) provided exposure to a collection of advanced competencies that are cumulatively not commonly experienced in other internships or classes.

The program integrated three main competency streams: EAS, Professional Skills and Individual Development. The program was scaffolded, so tasks became progressively more challenging and required greater participant self-direction to complete, as seen below:

Unique features

Participants undertook a series of challenging tasks, including:

Develop and present a professional development workshop (individually and in pairs)
Undertake an individual project that resulted in an output (ie. Crowdfunding project, publication)
Self-identify an industry leader to cold call for a 20-min introductory meeting
Complete a Coursea MOOC on an area of their choosing
Research a social issue to creatively present as an individually ‘art bike’ as part of the team Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum
Research and produce five original blog posts on how bicycles are being used to create more positive community change in their home country
Weekly meeting with an assigned independent industry expert mentor
Join an industry association and attend events
Series of community activities: vox pops; invite locals to contribute to a community storybook; solicit locals to donate bicycles; deliver their work at a local community garden to the general public as part of the Art Bike Public Forum; conduct an individual public presentation
Complete an Internship Portfolio (documentation of work and reflection journal that documents, audits and reviews tasks, opportunities and skills)
The BCC Internship Team: Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum. Sunday 13^th March 2016.

Takeaways:

There were many lessons learnt from this project and given time constraints, only a few are mentioned in the presentation. Some key takeaways were:

Provide transferable and unique opportunities to develop ‘generic employability’, critical reflection and creative problem-solving skills
Provide integrated, genuine and practical ways to apply skills
Celebrate strategies, ‘sticky points’, ‘misfires’ ‘pregnant opportunities’ and successes
Make tasks more challenging and higher profile
Participants loved having more contact with the local community
Adaptations are needed for aspects to be taken up by educational institutions
Work from the end result backwards (CV and skill development)
Have visible, productive and meaningful evidence (or body) of work
Foster ability to independently create own opportunities and networks
Honour unexpected outcomes
Change the mindset to change to experience

References:

ACCI/BCA (2002) Employability skills for the future, DEST, Canberra.

ACNielsen Research Services (2000) Employer satisfaction with graduate skills: research report, Evaluations and Investigations Programme Higher Education Division, Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA).

Billett, S. (2002). Workplace pedagogic practices: Participation and learning. Australian Vocational Education Review, 9(1), 28-38.

Griffith English Language Institute (GELI): Direct Entry Program. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.griffith.edu.au/international/griffith-english-language-institute.

Judkins, R. (2015). The art of creative thinking. Hachette UK.

Lyons, M. (2006). National Prosperity, Local Choice and Civic Engagement: A New Partnership between Central and Local Government for the 21st Century. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

McLennan, B., & Keating, S. (2008, June). Work-integrated learning (WIL) in Australian universities: The challenges of mainstreaming WIL. In ALTC NAGCAS National Symposium (pp. 2-14).

Vygotsky, L. (1987). Zone of proximal development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, 5291, 157.

31/08/201805/09/2018

How many Australians participate in mountain biking?

In July, Nao Kamakura joined Bicycles Create Change as Research Assistant. Nao is investigating rates of participation in mountain biking, with a particular focus on rates of female participation. Below is Nao’s first post for BCC where she shares a few preliminary findings and thoughts.

How many Australians participate in mountain biking as a sport?

Brisbane City Council claims that “Mountain biking is one of the fastest growing recreational activities”.

But, how many people actually participate in mountain biking as a sport?

According to 2016 data from the Australian Government Australian Sports Commission, cycling is the 5th most popular sport in Australian for women (over 15 years) old and its total number of participants was 85,5231.

The total female population (for all ages) in Australia is 12.2 billion in 2016. Therefore, statistically, 7% of Australian women ride bicycles! This number includes both road cyclists and mountain bikers.

To participate in mountain bike competitions, riders need to register with Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA), which is the peak national organisation for mountain biking.

MTBA covers a number of off-road biking styles, including cross country, downhill, observed trials, cross-country marathon and cyclocross. Currently, MTBA has over 15,000 members and 175 affiliated clubs nationwide.

The number of female MTBA members in 2017 was 2,481 – and this gives provides our initial baseline for female participation and interest in the sport of mountain biking. However, these membership rates do not adequately signify actual participation rates.

Although MTBA registration offers membership in categories such as: race, non-riding, recreation, public liability, value-add, free trial, family and day licenses – it is important to keep in mind that are still a number of riders who are/have not registered with MTBA who mountain bike – and that their participation would not be represented in these rates.

Many riders are registered, but not all MTBers participate in competitions. In particular, these numbers do not include the account for many riders who enjoy mountain bike without participating in competitions.

The approach, definition and classification of mountain biking vary significantly between the individual states and territories. Such differences impact how data is analysed, where funding is allocated and how the sport is viewed (and represented) by each state’s governing body. This is an area that will be of concerted interest for the project I am working on.

Interestingly, Western Australia is the only state that has clear statistics on mountain bikers. The WA government published the WA Mountain Bike Strategy 2015-2020 to encourage more people to engage in mountain biking. The report clearly states that the number of women who mountain bike is 14,400.

However again, these results do not mean that each of those 14,400 riders engages with MTBA as a sport, but it does list that the top three reasons Western Australians ride mountain bikes is 1) for the outdoor experience, 2) for fitness, and 3) for socialising.

So initial investigations show mixed results about the rates of mountain biking registration and participation.

So far, my research has not yet confirmed the actual number of female mountain bikers in the whole of Australia – the rate is still unconfirmed.

One reason for this is that the definition of mountain biking is ambiguous.

Depending on what you read or what states/territory you are in, mountainbiking can be classified as a sport, as recreation, or as transport. This lack of consistency means that it can be difficult to compare data sets.

It is a challenge and a pleasure to be learning more about mountain biking in Australia – and I look forward to sharing more insights and findings as they arise.

I hope mountain biking is more recognised as a sport in the near future and that rates of participants will increase!

23/08/201824/08/2018

GCCRP Climate Change Symposium – Abstract

While participating in the Looping Masterclass earlier this year in July, Claire Tracey (my wonderful collaborator) suggested we put in an abstract for the GCCRP Climate Change Symposium.

Claire and I have produced a number of environmental/art performance projects over the years like The Wattle Festival ‘s Pop-Up ReCycle Shop (2013), Leki and the Ova (2014) and The Bio Bike: Your Future Thanks You (2018).

Recently, we have been workshopping our newest eco-performance idea.

It was our newest project’s conceptualization and development she thought would be an interesting addition to the GCCRP Climate Change Symposium program.

And of course – she was right!

So we put in an abstract and are presenting at the end of this week!

GCCRP Climate Change Symposium - Abstract. Bicycles Create — Claire and I working on our last eco-performance project ‘The Bio Bike’ for the national Sustainability Living Festival (Melbourne – Feb 2018).

Griffith Climate Change Response Program (GCCRP) Climate Change Symposium.

The GCCRP Climate Change Symposium is a research forum where HDRers and Early Career Researchers from Griffith University share their discoveries, outcomes and innovations.

It is on at Griffith Uni Southbank Friday 24 August 2018, 9 am – 4 pm

The symposium features a range of research presentations that showcase the cross-cutting nature of climate change research.

The five key research themes are:

Climate change impacts
Climate change and food security
Community engagement in climate change adaptation
Climate change policy and theory
Climate change and health

Our Symposium Abstract

Here is the abstract for the session Claire and I will be presenting:

Furthering climate change discourse and action through performative works

Presenters: Claire Tracey and Nina Ginsberg

Collaborators Claire Tracey (Visual Arts) and Nina Ginsberg (Education) use performance and audience engagement to communicate environmental issues. Through community art engagement, they aim to connect with local communities on an immediate level, furthering climate change discourse and action through performative works. Their work links Climate Change and Environment Science themes with performance, design and community- art interaction.

This research explores the intersection of climate change research and artistic interpretations of how to convey complex environmental issues to communities in a proactive and engaging manner. Their work seeks to increase community awareness about climate change issues in ways that are novel, participatory and educational. Their projects are informed by feedback from the engagement of the project itself, creating a direct relationship between the action and the sustainable and environmental issues that affect our immediate society.

The result of each performance interaction is offered with an open spirit- with the reception by the public to be determined in the moment as a collaborative process.

This session will outline a number of climate change projects we have undertaken to explain how theory and practice are enacted, using archetypes such as a feminine ecological shadow warrior, whose presence echoes of hope and perseverance derived from historical ideas of female protection, nurture, power and subversion.

About GCCRP

The Griffith Climate Change Response Program has been leading Griffith University’s research into climate change adaptation and mitigation since 2007.

GCCRP leads Griffith University’s research into climate change adaptation and mitigation.

As climate change issues cut across many fields of study its research projects are transdisciplinary. The program brings together the wealth of Griffith research expertise from across the University, enabling climate change problems to be addressed in a comprehensive manner.

GCCRP has successfully developed a number of strategic domestic, regional and international partnerships in the area of climate change adaptation and attracted significant external research funds.

The result is a growing portfolio of research and applied research projects where GCCRP works in collaboration with other research institutions, governments, international bodies, NGOs and communities to effectively understand, plan and respond to the adverse effects of a rapidly changing climate.

GCCRP now has a strong platform from which Griffith University’s research and expertise can influence the climate change policies, plans and actions required for effective adaptation and mitigation.

I’m excited to be part of this discussion!

I’ll let you know how Claire and I go!

09/07/201801/09/2018

Introducing Nao: BCC’s Research Assistant

It is my pleasure to announce that Bicycles Create Change is breaking new ground!

I have many exciting plans for this blog and making these ideas into reality will take a concerted amount of effort, organisation, research, networking and resources.

As many of you know, it is a principle of Bicycles Create Change to collaborate with Griffith students and graduates to support and develop advanced personal, academic and professional skills.

These forays have been highly successful so far – such as:

The Bicycles Create Change Summer Internship (2016) which was an 8-week intensive program I designed and ran in conjunction with four wonderful international students – Gabriel, Sachie, Juliet and Mauricio. Not only did we have a challenging, wonderful and productive time, this program was also recognised by English Australia for its innovative approach to academic and professional skill development by being awarded the 2018 Bright Ideas Teaching Award.
Bella Turner (a Griffith Design (now) graduate) and I worked on a few projects together before she graduated and left for the UK, including the Go Ride app she and her team were working – and our collaboration to create the fun short film LEKI, which won the People’s Choice Award at the Brisbane Bicycle Short Film Festival 2018.

Introducing Nao -BCC's Research Assistant. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th July 2018 — Nao’s assignment: What is the current status of Australian female MTB participation?

Project: Australian women’s participation in mountain biking

Currently, I am working on a number of bike-related projects and initiatives.

One of these is a public lecture investigating the issues and aspects relating to Australian women’s participation in mountain biking.

This is a big research project.

To help with this project, I am delighted to introduce the newest member of the Bicycles Create Change team – Nao Kamakura.

Nao is joining us as a Research Assistant and will be responsible for the background work for this investigation.

Introducing Nao Kamakura

Below, is a little bit about Nao in her own words….

Hello Readers!

My name is Nao and I am from Japan.

I came to Brisbane to study English and study at Griffith University. I want to learn about Australian business culture. After my English studies and a semester at Griffith University, I am now a research assistant for Nina and Bicycles Create Change.

The focus of my research for Bicycles Create Change is investigating aspects of women’s participation and perceptions of mountain biking – with a particular focus on the Australian context.

I’m a Chemist and an Environmentalist.

I believe the past development of the field of Chemistry has unfortunately destroyed our Earth a lot, but further, that future chemical innovations will be able to create a better world!

Therefore, I would like to be a person who contributes to a future where Chemistry can facilitate a more sustainable world.

Here is a link to my website called Enjoy the World. This is where I sometimes write about my greatest hobby – travelling and Australian life. I will let you know now though, it is all written in Japanese!

The BCC Research Assistant role

Nao and I have worked together previously. She is a DEP graduate of my class and for the last 13 weeks, we have been working on a PhD writing course as well while she was completed a semester of Griffith Coursework. Now she is looking for a new challenge.

Nao brings a remarkable set of skills to BCC. She has a science background so has a particular analytical approach to work, which offsets my more global and creative approach to work. She is great at the detail, I work best with the big picture. She is also a thoughtful and proactive environmentalist.

As well as having excellent English skills, Nao is also incredibly well travelled. For the last 8 years, she has kept her own travel blog, which is an amazing record of all the places she has travelled, people she has met and wonderful insights she has garnered along the way.

For this BBC role, Nao ‘s has been charged with finding and collating data, reports and research about the participation, motivations and perceptions of why women either do – or do not- ride mountain bikes in Australia and then to synthesis this information.

You will be able to hear about Nao’s work as she will also be presenting her findings as part of an upcoming Bicycles Create Change Public Symposia I have planned – the details of which will be released very soon. Stay tuned!

10/05/201821/05/2018

Bright Ideas 2018 Award Winner – English Australia (QLD)

Great news!

In March, I presented two workshops at the English Australia (QLD) PD Fest. This event is the state precursor to the national conference held later this year.

The Bicycles Create Change Internship workshop was one of 5 sessions nominated for the EA (QLD) Bright Ideas Award.

This blog formed the basis for work undertaken for this internship, and bicycles and community participation were main features for this project.

All nominees had a mystery EA selection committee representative attend their session and participant feedback is also considered.

The winner is sponsored by EA (QLD) to present at the national English Australia conference in September in Sydney with all expenses paid: full EA Conference and gala dinner registration, accommodation for 2 nights in Sydney and return flights.

I just got the news our session won the Award!

Here’s what I got:

We are delighted to announce the recipient of this year’s award:

Nina Ginsberg

from Griffith English Language Institute (GELI), Griffith University

The committee was unanimous in its decision. Nina’s paper and presentation, entitled From EAS to Collaborative Internship: Lessons and insights where bicycles create change, was highly praised by both the committee and in delegate feedback.

Hooray! What an honour! I immediately contacted my four ’emerging professionals’ (collaborators) to let them know – they were tickled pink!

(Note: I had asked that the students be listed on the program and in the title as co-presenters. But, it is a ‘teachers conference’, three of the students were not physically there on the day (they are overseas, so they presented via video) and seeing as though I was ‘the main presenter ‘- the organizers used my name only on the program. However, the students are listed in the event publication. Such a bummer we can’t all go to present as a team in Sydney. So I am going to Sydney as the team representative, but this was by no means a solo project and the award and recognition goes to everyone on our amazing team. NG)

Bicycles really do create change!

I am very proud of our team.

We have all come so far since our humble beginnings in Jan 2016. Now 1.5 years on, Gabriel is completing his Social Work course at Griffith Uni, Sachie is back home in Japan completing her final semester, Mauricio has graduated and is now working in Brisbane in IT, and Juliet is a Special Ed teacher in NZ.

The students worked so hard during this internship (and still continue to do so!). As the program designer and facilitator, I learnt just as much as they did!

Now our project is going to the national conference! Hooray!

Here’s the PD Fest Learnings Publication 2018 with all session details:

Thanks all!

Thank you to all the teachers who attended the session and saw the value in what we were doing. It was great to see such enthusiastic interest in our project.

A big thanks to English Australia (QLD), the selection committee and Pearson for this wonderful opportunity.

Workshop Session Abstract – From EAS to Collaborative Internship: Lessons and insights where Bicycles Create Change

Many international students undertake English and Academic Skills (EAS) and DEP bridging classes to get into university with the ultimate aim of getting a job in their field of study. There is a perception that English classrooms are for learning English, University tutorials are for discipline-specific content, and the workplace is for vocational skills. Internships one way where students can become more work-ready. However, a number of studies confirm that current tertiary students are lacking in generic employability skills (ACNielsen Research Services 2000; ACCI/BCA 2002), an issue that is even more challenging for international students. I was curious to explore what a career development program that specifically catered for the academic, vocational and personal needs of the international students in my DEP classes might look like. This presentation was a brief overview of the origins, activities and outcomes of this exploration: The Bicycles Create Change.com 2016 Summer Internship Program.

Program background

This Internship was a volunteer, eight-week, collaborative internship that ran from January 4th to February 27th, 2016. It required participants to fulfil 80-110 working hours. The blog Bicycles Create Change.com (which has over 118,700 hits locally and internationally) served as the professional platform for work activities as it is a low-cost, high-exposure, authentic, skills-integrated outlet to showcase work.

Origins and participants

The four volunteer participants varied in ages, backgrounds and degree levels and disciplines. The 4 volunteers for this program were; Sachie (female, 23, Japanese, Philosophy undergrad), Mauricio (male, 33, Columbian, IT PG), Juliet (female, 37, Indian, Special Education PG) and Gabriel (male, 42, Cameroonian, Social Work PG). All participants had just graduated from the Griffith English Language Institute (GELI) 10-week DEP program in December. Semester 1 2016 did not commence until Feb 28^th, leaving a gap of 9 weeks before university started, which is when the internship was undertaken.

Key considerations

There were are a number of key considerations built into this program:

Strengthening self-confidence and independent learning
Experience with unique, transferable and challenging skills
Fostering creativity and valuing artistic expression
Emphasis on developing reflection, collaboration and planning skills
Integrating EAS, vocation and personal skills to a range of contexts
Promoting initiative and the ability to generate own opportunities
Increasing employability, CV and work-ready skills
Authentic interactions and connection with locals/community
Create a comprehensive evidence portfolio of work, skills and achievements
To have fun applying skills in a challenging and productive way

Program design

This program minimised the ‘daily’ supervision and ‘student’ mentality of traditional internships to instead put supported autonomy firmly into the hands of each participant, who ultimately self-managed their own workload. The program provided tailored experiences (below) that provided exposure to a collection of advanced competencies that are cumulatively not commonly experienced in other internships or classes.

The program integrated three main competency streams: EAS, Professional Skills and Individual Development. The program was scaffolded so that tasks became progressively more challenging and required greater participant self-direction to complete, as seen below:

Unique features

Participants undertook a series of challenging tasks, including:

Develop and present a professional development workshop (individually and in pairs)
Undertake an individual project that resulted in an output (ie. Crowdfunding project, publication)
Self-identify an industry leader to cold call for a 20-min introductory meeting
Complete a Coursea MOOC on an area of their choosing
Research a social issue to creatively present an individual ‘art bike’ as part of a team Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum
Research and produce five original blog posts on how bicycles are being used to create more positive community change in their home country
Weekly meeting with an assigned independent industry expert mentor
Join an industry association and attend events
Series of community activities: vox pops; invite locals to contribute to a community storybook; solicit locals to donate bicycles; deliver their work at a local community garden to the general public as part of the Art Bike Public Forum; conduct an individual public presentation
Complete an Internship Portfolio (documentation of work and reflection journal that documents, audits and reviews tasks, opportunities and skills)
The BCC Internship Team: Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum. Sunday 13^th March, 2016.

Takeaways

There were many lessons learnt from this project and given time constraints, only a few were touched on in the presentation. Some key takeaways were:

Provide transferable and unique opportunities to develop ‘generic employability’, critical reflection and creative problem-solving skills
Provide integrated, genuine and practical ways to apply skills
Celebrate strategies, ‘sticky points’, ‘misfires’ ‘pregnant opportunities’ and successes
Make tasks more challenging and higher profile
Participants loved having more contact with the local community
Adaptations are needed for aspects to be taken up by educational institutions
Work from the end result backwards (CV and skill development)
Have visible, productive and meaningful evidence (or body) of work
Foster ability to independently create own opportunities and networks
Honour unexpected outcomes
Change the mindset to change to experience

For more details, or to contact the participants, go to Bicycles Create Change.com (search: internship). This project was a voluntary, independent and informal project, so for ideas on how to modify or embed aspects of this program into an existing course or for any other information, please contact Nina Ginsberg.

References

ACCI/BCA (2002) Employability skills for the future, DEST, Canberra.

Billett, S. (2002). Workplace pedagogic practices: Participation and learning. Australian Vocational Education Review, 9(1), 28-38.

Griffith English Language Institute (GELI): Direct Entry Program. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.griffith.edu.au/international/griffith-english-language-institute.

Judkins, R. (2015). The art of creative thinking. Hachette UK.

Lyons, M. (2006). National Prosperity, Local Choice and Civic Engagement: A New Partnership between Central and Local Government for the 21st Century. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

McLennan, B., & Keating, S. (2008, June). Work-integrated learning (WIL) in Australian universities: The challenges of mainstreaming WIL. In ALTC NAGCAS National Symposium (pp. 2-14).

Vygotsky, L. (1987). Zone of proximal development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, 5291, 157.

18/03/201818/04/2018

Bicycle Short Film People’s Choice Winner

Hooray!

Great news!

Our short film ‘Leki’ took out the People’s Choice Award at the 2018 Brisbane Bike Short Film Festival on Friday night!

For this film, I collaborated with Isabel Turner, who is the spunky, young designer who really made this film happen.

Thanks to all!

Bella and I wanted to say a big thank you to all those who people who voted for us! We very much appreciate your great sense of humour and for supporting more inclusive, active and colourful (cycling) communities. We need more happy people out there like you! Thank you!!

Congratulations also to all the other entrants who made a great effort and contributed their stories and creativity! It was wonderful to see such multiplicity in their approaches, themes and celebration of bikes in Brisbane.

A big thank you also to the organisers, volunteers and sponsors who worked so hard to make this a memorable and fun night.

Without further ado – here is this our 2018 Brisbane Bike Bites People’s Choice film. Enjoy!!

Click here to find out more about the lead-up to the Festival here.

Click here to see the finalists films.

‘LEKI’ Brisbane Bicycle Short Film People’s Choice Winner!

The night started out with a Style over Speed ride for those who could make it (I had to teach). Then there was a boisterous welcome by the bike band on arrival at the Kangaroo Point Multicultural Centre.

It was great to see lots of bikes parked outside for the event. Inside, people milled about eating pizza, drinking and chatting. Then the bell sounded for us to take our seats.

First up was a screening of the six short film finalists. I loved the diversity of each entry – they were all completely different.

I really appreciated the effort and thought that had gone into each entry. I especially liked the moving simplicity of The Route and the down-to-earthiness and kool kustom bikes (and lit-up allure) of Anthony’s Ride your bike. Free your soul.

Before interval, the Spaces for Cycling Brisbane judges announced their top prizes for first, second and third.

A special award went to Tegan Methorst for being the youngest film-maker to enter with her film It moves you.

Then it was time for intermission. More drinks, socialising and pizza. This is where the audience got to cast their votes.

The second part of the night was a filming of the film Why we ride. This is a documentary from Copenhagen exploring the ideas and experiences of a range of cyclists in the Netherlands. It was super interesting and had lots of ideas that have stimulated and progressed very interesting conversations since! (See the trailer for this feature film trailer below.)

The People’s Choice Prize was awarded at the end to close.

What a night!

The making of Leki

At the end of January 2018, Bella moved to the UK for work.

So as a final farewell collaborative project, we decided to put together a bicycle short film entry about my flower bike Leki. Bella did all the hard work behind the screen (scene?) that made this film happen.

We had a great time doing the filming in and around our community.

The interactions and conversations we used were all total strangers that I accosted on the street then and there to interview. We wanted an authentic and true, unedited representation of what local people thought and said about Leki.

It was a little daunting going up to random strangers and asking them to go on film to talk about Leki, but our community was super supportive and up for it.

We filmed around Bayside Wynnym Manly area in Brisbane.

We had many ideas about what we were going to put into it. We discussed doing some of the stories about Leki in animation and adding in some more creative aspects to show off Bella’s skills.

However, in the end, we wanted it to be no-fuss, low-key and accessible, so opted for a straightforward vox pop and storytelling format.

We wanted Leki and the community to speak for itself without ‘jazzing it up’ with any frills – just take it as it is – and enjoy!

We wanted to include a few local sites around our community to up the ‘Brisbane-ness’ of the film (I talk about riding in Melbourne at one stage), so we wanted to be sure people knew we were specifically located and riding around in and around Brisbane.

Local Cycling Community Hero – Richard @ Crossley Cycles

We included an interview with Richard Crossley from Crossley Cycles (Manly, Brisbane) as well. This was important to us for a number of reasons; Richard is not only a wonderful friend and constant supporter of me personally (he loves to chat about my PhD bike research and see what I’m making next out of recycled bike parts and inner tubes, so I am often in his workshop on Saturdays tinkering and chatting with him as he works on his bikes), but he is also a local hero to the Manly cycling community.

Richard has been serving local riders and BMXers at his shop in Manly for 47 years – and he is well loved and well respected by some very big names.

So having Richard in our short film was our way of recognising and honouring his contribution to the range, colour and life of the local Brisbane cycling network. Thanks Richard!

Thanks Bella!!

A massive big thanks to Bella Turner for all her hard work on Leki – and for all the other work we did together. Congratulations…. and best of luck in the UK!!

13/02/201803/09/2018

Bio Bike SLF 2018

It’s been an exciting last couple of days! After constructing the Bio Bike in Footscray with Pete and Tom helping me (thanks for being my random lunchtime saviours!), I put the frame on the bike Sarah had procured and all that was left was to put on the finishing touches. Then lunchtime Friday, I set off to ride the Bio Bike the 15 kms from Footscray into the city. I arrived at the Festival site on time, made some adjustments, got changed and then did the Friday night performance solo. Claire and Sarah joined me for Saturday and Sunday. Here’s what happened…

Bio Bike SLF 2018

We had a great time performing with the Bio Bike this weekend at Melbourne’s Sustainable Living Festival (SLF) 2018.

Check out our adventures and the awesome people the Bio Bike met on Instagram

Also see what else was on offer at the SLF 2018 on Instagram via:

So what did the Bio Bike do?

We were mainly located around the food precinct and near the Dome, which was great as there were always people milling about, we had more room to move about and we had much more shade than if we travelled up the guts of the display tents.

We met so many lovely people.

Essentially we asked people three things: 1. why they had come to the festival, or what they had seen at the festival they had liked; 2. what they thought was Australia’s most pressing environmental issue and finally; 3. what were they personally doing to help the environment and be more sustainable.

After chatting about this for a little while, we then said we wanted to award them an Eco Excellence Award for their hard work. We told them the background that each award was upcycled out of bicycles bits, inner tubes and found objects and was totally unique – just like they are! We would give them their award, then get photos with them wearing it.

The response was great.

I loved how different each interactions was.

We made a point of talking to people of different ages (young and old), cultures (from everywhere!), perspectives (some conservative, others super feral), lifestyle choices (urban, rural and some backpackers) – but each interaction was interesting and unique. It was an absolute pleasure.

I got to chat with Bob Brown on Friday just before he went on for the Big Debate. Then on Saturday, Claire, Sarah and I had a great time with Costa from Gardening Australia. (See picture below). Costa remembered Claire and I from our 2014 SLF Leki and the Ova show, and he spent ages with us chatting away, taking videos of us, introducing us to people and taking lots of photos. He is always a delight to catch up with!

Aside from meeting all the wonderful people we met, we got to hear about some amazing projects and ideas.

It was inspiring, humbling and reaffirming.

Claire, Sarah and I worked well together and had a lot of fun.

We wanted our show to be positive because talking about environmental issues can get the best of us down pretty quickly. We also wanted to inject some colour, humour and movement as most of the rest of the festival was stationary (ie stalls and stages), so it was great to have the freedom to roam around and be free to go along the river, up pathways and behind stalls. We found great people everywhere we went!

What needs modifying?

1. After the initial ride in and riding it for Friday’s gig, it became quickly apparent that we needed to make the pod higher. So on Saturday, we raised it and reinforced it where needed. This made being in the Bio Bike much more comfortable.

2. Before I left for the ride into the city, I ended up having to put in a modified splint/brace going from the back wheel to the sides of the tank to give the structure some rigidity and help hold the shape so it didn’t swing.

3. The seat had to be set at a certain height so that the rear of the shell didn’t rub on the back wheel. However, this meant that is was precarious for Sarah and Claire to ride the bike and difficult for them to put their feet on the ground to stop/start riding (we had one serious mishap from this). So an alteration is needed so that we are able to lower the seat as needed.

What we learnt

1. Make sure any lighting, cable ties or decorations do not infringe on the handlebars turning or gear leavers. On Saturday night, we strung up lighting all over the pod. It looked amazing! I had to do a quick gaffer job as loose cables started catching when I turned the handlebars and it made navigating tricky and potentially unsafe – but it was easily rectified.

2. We had an interesting discussion with one festival-goer who asked us if we recycled the cable ties. We explained that the pod screen was recycled from a previous project and that we did reuse the longer cable-ties. She suggested that we could use wire to link the bottle top pod together instead of cable-ties, which I thought was a great idea. I’m looking forward experimenting with this suggestion.

3. I am so glad we carried extra gaffer tape, cable ties and scissors – lifesavers!

4. People really appreciated the Eco Excellence Awards. It made me so happy to see how stoked they were to find out that each one is custom-made out of recycled bike parts. I was also super happy to hear people talking about the Awards and the Bio Bike while I was not performing. I overheard people waiting for food and in the beer tent chatting about cool stuff they have seen at the festival, showing their mate the Award they had received from us and saying that they had fun interacting with our performance. Best compliment ever!

Would we do it again?

Hells yeah!

Thanks to all the awesome peeps who made our time amazing!

A massive big thank you to those involved in making the SLF happen, Simon and Andrea in particular. But also all the other volunteers, exhibitors and crew we met.

The SLF crew was so supportive, helpful and encouraging. Thanks so much for having us as part of your team!

To the punters who came up and chatted – thanks, for your energy, stories and time – it was truly a blessing to meet you all, spend some quality time to connect and hear what you have been up to.

And a big salute to City of Melbourne for putting on such an important event. It was great to see the community coming together to discuss such critical issues that affect us all.

Melbourne … you Rock!

09/02/201812/02/2018

Bio Bike: Your Future Thanks You!

This post shows how we constructed the Bio Bike frame into our second performance model, Your Future Thanks You.

See the last couple of posts for first Bio Bike Model: The Eco T(h)anks.

This is the model we will be using for this weekend’s Sustainable Living Festival. I can’t wait!

Click here to get the Festival Highlights Program.

Here’s the listing for our performance from the Festival Program.

Sweet!!!

I am super happy we were forward-thinking enough to make the Bio Bike frame modular. And now that we have two different tops that we can interchange, it makes the Bio Bike frame so much more versatile.

Currently, we have two tops we can use for two different performances.

The Eco T(h)anks and the Eco Protection Corps
Your Future Thanks You

So, it has been all action stations to get the Bio Bike frame that we previously constructed as the based for the Eco T(h)anks into the Your Future Thanks You.

Construction started, of course, with our Bio Bike base…

Claire had done an amazing job bending the PVC piping to shape the pod shell.

We wanted the pod to look a little comical and dinky.

We both agreed that we didn’t want a fully polished piece, we liked the home-made-any-one-can-do-this feel. We also didn’t want to over-engineer, complicate or over-decorate the pod. The whole point was that it was grassroots and fun.

We also wanted people to be able to see that it was clearly made out of recycled materials and that it wasn’t ‘perfect’ – and didn’t need to be to be super fun!

Claire had a previous artwork that we refashioned to be the back of the pod. The green section gave it a bit of colour and we decided to let it flop at the front because we liked the odd and unruly look of it – made you think that there is no way this thing could fly – which was perfect!

The pod shell was constructed out of recycled PET bottles attached together. I then lay it over the pod and zip tied it to the pod frame, while Claire was working on the wings.

Then, Hey Presto! The wings were ready.

Now, all we have to do is attach the propellers and put it on the bike!

I’ll be riding this Bio Bike from Footscray into Federation Square – just as I did for our 2014 SLF roving performance, Leki & the Ova.

I LOVE doing this!

It is a great way for the bike structure to settle in, I get to see if there are any last minute adjustments needed, and it is great to go whizzing by the poor unsuspecting public and see their faces! Honk! Honk!

It makes me super happy to ride our art bikes to the festival site. It gets me in the happy, bikes-are-awesome mood and this awesomeness is carried over into when the performance starts as I am already primed for fun!

Unleash the beast!

Here is the final Bio Bike…

Here’s our listing on the event program below!

See you all there!