Project Champions
The project relied on the passion and enthusiasm of a number of project champions at different universities across Australia. The champions undertook three main roles:
Project Champions disseminated information about the project to staff at their institution, and encouraged staff to complete the online Tourism Educators’ Survey.
Project Champions arranged ethics approval (where required) at their respective universities. They arranged for the distribution and collection of paper-based surveys to students in a Year 2 or Year 3 core unit. The surveys were then returned to the Project Manager for scanning and analysis.
Project Champions disseminated information about the project to industry stakeholders (e.g. through industry advisory boards and contacts associated with work-based placement programs). The industry survey was made available online.
Above all, the key contribution of these Project Champions was to make personal contact, increase awareness and encourage participation in data collection processes. The Project Manager supported the Champions in a variety of ways as required, but it was their engagement and commitment that made the data collection process a success. We expect that various opportunities for further research and analysis of the data will continue to emerge and ongoing engagement of the Project Champions in welcomed and encouraged.
Champions’ Access to Data
Given that the Project Champions played such an important role in the conduct of this project, the Project Team are committed to facilitating access to the data so that the Project Champions may conduct further analysis.
Following the completion of the project, the Project Manager will provide Project Champions with a copy of the collated survey data for their institution (students, educators and industry). It is expected that this will provide a valuable resource for those involved in program planning.
Should Project Champions wish to pursue research publications from the data collecte d, please contact one of the Project Team members listed below to discuss further analysis and co-author ing opportunities and ALTC requirements. Due to the ethical requirements and approvals in place, the substantial work conducted by the Project Team to date, and issues of quality control, it is expected that Project Team members will co-author future research papers with Champions. It is important that Project Champions know that the ALTC have strict requirements relating to acknowledgment of research and other outputs from the projects funded.
Who are our project champions?
We wish to acknowledge the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the Project Champions throughout the conduct of the project. An award for the "Champion of Champions" will be announced at the CAUTHE 2012 Conference in Melbourne.
Dr Elisa Backer, University of Ballarat
Dr Shane Barry, Griffith University
Dr Narelle Beaumont, University of Southern Queensland
Dr Noreen Breakey, University of Queensland
Dr Glen Croy, Monash University
Dr Alison Dunn, University of Tasmania
Chris Fanning, Flinders University
Nicola Fish, Swinburne University of Technology
Dr Michael Hughes, Curtin University
Alana Harris, William Angliss Institute
Penny Jose, Victoria University
Dr Aise Kim, University of South Australia
Professor Jamie Murphy, Murdoch university
Dr Julie Nyanjom, Edith Cowan University
Dr Alfred Ogle, Australian College of Applied Education
Dr Phillip Pearce, James Cook University
Dr Mike Raybould, Bond University
Dr Scott Richardson, Central Queensland University
Dr Tamara Young, Newcastle University
