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28 Be: Sport BOG SNORKELLING Just when you think human civilization has reached its cultural nadir, along comes the sport of bog snorkelling. Competitors in this bizarre sport don snorkels and flippers and race down filthy trenches filled with disgusting, murky brown water dug out of the Waen Rhydd peat bog near Llanwrtyd in Wales. The sport’s hero is the great Andrew Holmes who holds the world record time of 1 minute 24 seconds for swimming a length of unmentionable filth. It should surprise nobody to learn this sport began with a wager between inebriated patrons at a Welsh pub, but for contemporary bog snorkellers, like Jeremy Gardner, it’s action that shouldn’t be missed. “A sport like bog snorkelling really doesn’t sound that attractive; it’s cold, murky and you can’t see a single thing. Despite all this, it is fantastic fun.” SHEEP SHEARING It may not have taken the world by storm yet, but New Zealanders are so taken by the competitiveness of sheep shearing that they have called for it to become an Olympic sport. The country’s top sports funding body, the SPARC, already recognises sheep shearing as a sport, providing it with grants to run competitions. “Surely, the time has come to elevate shearing’s sporting status to the ultimate world stage,” New Zealand Farmers Federation spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell said of the Olympic bid. EXTREME IRONING Half sport, half performance art, extreme ironing is when an adventurer takes an ironing board to a remote and dangerous location (such as the top of a mountain, the rim of an active volcano, or an underwater cave) to, well, iron a shirt. According to the official website, extreme ironing is “the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.” More bizarre sport photos at Be Extras : www.be.cqu.edu.au ISSUE 13
Be: Engaged 29 Read, write and tweet As social media begins to find its place inside Australian classrooms, students will find participating in class the ‘cool’ thing to do, discovers Jacob Lowry. PHOTO: PETER LAWRENCE The way we connect with each other is rapidly changing. Gone are the days when we needed to meet up in person or pick up the phone on the wall to catch up. All you need in 2012 is a pair of opposable thumbs and you can have a thriving social life. Social media is the way of the future, allowing millions to connect with millions more. It’s now the preferred method of communication for teenage socialites and is rapidly encompassing other age groups as well. But could it be the future of education? Research conducted by Dr Michael Cowling and Jeremy Novak from CQ<strong>University</strong>’s International Education Research Centre has revealed a method of teaching and learning that could make schoolwork more accessible and attractive than ever before. Twitter, the social networking site home to Ashton Kutcher’s rants and over 200 million ‘tweets’ per day, could revolutionise the way class discussion is approached by both teachers and students. The pair used Twitter as the main discussion medium over a single semester in a Diploma-level management course on CQ<strong>University</strong>’s metropolitan campuses. Instead of using the ‘raised hand’ method, students would respond to questions on Twitter, using cyber-threads to replace vocal debate. The researchers discovered that the in-class participation rate was much higher than using traditional discussion, and found the learning experience was far more engaging and involved. On the back of their successful study, Dr Cowling believes the time is nigh for Twitter to become commonplace not only in the lecture theatre, but in the high school classroom as well. He believes that using social media could unlock the potential of thousands of disengaged students. “Our research is part of a broader focus on technology in education going forward,” he says. “We know most students are active on social media anyway, so by giving them another use for it we can hopefully encourage higher participation rates in classes. Quite often we see students who have valuable input to a class discussion, but are too shy to voice it. As the old adage goes, if ‘one person raises their hand, there are 10 more thinking the same thing’, so hopefully by implementing Twitter into these sorts of situations we’re giving these students a voice.” The work of Cowling and Novak follows a recent announcement by Apple in January that they intend to release ‘digital textbooks’ on iPads, allowing students to view animations, videos and extra material that can enhance traditional text-based study notes. “For teachers, the students sitting in front of them today are different. They are digital natives, they’ve grown up using this technology, they’re comfortable with it. This is the culture of the 21st century student, so let’s use it to engage them.” Initial indicators have the researchers optimistic about the adoption of Twitter into pedagogy, yet how will the students fare with having social media sanctioned during class time? The duo’s theory brings into question the effect Twitter could have on the educational institution as a whole. Are students likely to use it to engage with teachers more? Or will it just be a better way to kill time between lunch breaks? Cowling concedes that teaching methods will need to be drastically altered to make this a mainstream teaching method. The aging demographic of high school and tertiary educators and the possible distractions of the Twitter-sphere could make the adoption of Twitter quite a challenge, but rewarding for both teachers and students. ISSUE 13
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Page 3 and 4: Be: Contents 3 26 With the trademar
Page 5 and 6: Be: Calendar 5 FOR MORE DETAILS AND
Page 7 and 8: 7 KOALA SIGHTINGS Koala hot and col
Page 9 and 10: 9 ART COLLECTION Jon Cattapan | Ope
Page 11 and 12: 11 While a giraffe needs only two h
Page 13 and 14: Be: Committed 13 PHOTO:PETERY WALTO
Page 15 and 16: Be: Challenged 15 Helping Hands Nur
Page 17 and 18: 17 GETTING A CHECK UP We checked a
Page 19 and 20: 19 Circle of Friendship by Kerry Re
Page 21 and 22: 21 For those of you who enjoy the h
Page 23 and 24: 23 Q What are your earliest memorie
Page 25 and 26: Science and technology Apart from t
Page 27: 27 Gustavo-Falciroli-vs-Soo-Chul-Ki
Page 31 and 32: Be: Informed 31 Time to Think Tax C
Page 33 and 34: 33 PHOTO: PETER LAWRENCE The pictur
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