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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness and relevance of the Mental Health Professional Online Development (MHPOD) training package in further developing the skills in mental health and recovery-informed practice of the Australian non-government community mental health workforce. MHPOD is an evidence-based, self-paced, online learning resource that consists of 58 mental health topics.

A total of 349 e-learners were recruited from seven non-government community mental health services across Australia. E-learners were invited to complete up to twelve online surveys, a baseline survey, a topic completion survey for each completed topic, and a follow-up survey towards the end of the pilot.

The majority of e-learners indicated that MHPOD was useful for professional development and relevant to their current employment. E-learners identified that MHPOD led to significant improvement in their knowledge and confidence in their ability. A number of enabling factors such as managerial and organizational supports, technical supports and up-to-date and relevant content materials need to be present for the successful implementation of online programs such as MHPOD.

Online training packages such MHPOD that a relatively easy to use are helpful in developing knowledge, and confidence in the skills of the mental health workforce. The evaluation findings suggest that MHPOD is a relevant and appropriate training tool for the non-government community mental health sector within Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the implications of new and unfamiliar roles for educators, students and employers generated by experiential learning (EL) activities. It considers how a series of tensions and instabilities in traditional role identities for each group arise from an expanded definition of university learning environments.

The paper thus uses the concept of liminality, or “in-between-ness”, to explore processes of role transition via EL. This theme emerged from analysis of qualitative data gathered via focus groups and interviews with academic unit convenors, workplace supervisors and students across a range of disciplines.

Because none of the cohorts were fully supported in or securely ascribed to these new roles, the unsettled nature of EL is argued to be both a key benefit and challenge to educators.

This paper was based on a small-scale study of a specific EL programme. As such, it could be complemented by longitudinal and broader-scale research across different sites and national contexts, as well as with cohorts that the authors do not canvas here: university administrators, policy advisors and employers more broadly.

The paper reflects on how higher education institutions can support participants in these new educational settings, as well as raising the question of whether new roles are still emerging from this process.

The paper canvasses impacts of EL on individual participants as well as the sector itself.

The authors believe that understanding EL activities through the lens of liminality provides a new approach to its impact at individual, institutional and social levels.

Drawing upon the findings from three related research projects focused on academic leadership provided by university professors, in this chapter a leadership-sceptic lens is applied to the examination of the concepts of, first, leadership, and second, academic leadership. Discussion then focuses on the ways in which their perceptions of their leadership roles were found to influence how professors carried out their work, and with what effect(s). The key challenge is to persuade senior managers to remove their blinkers so that they may then see leadership not primarily as embodied in a person, but as influential agency that may – and does – occur in a myriad of ways, many of which go unnoticed and unrecognised, and are difficult to monitor and assess through formal performativity mechanisms.

This study aims to understand the role of technology in relationship maintenance among romantic partners.

It takes a qualitative, inductive approach and collected data from in-depth interviews with 20 individuals who are married or in cohabiting relationships.

This study supports the extension of relationship maintenance typology derived from face-to-face relationship studies to technology-mediated communication, but highlights how technology use transforms the implementation of maintenance behaviors. Technology helps couples coordinate tasks and keep in touch with friends and families. Although technology-mediated communication cannot replace face-to-face interactions in relationship talk and sharing in-depth feelings, it plays an important role in redefining the ways in which couples interact positively, maintain mutual understanding, and secure the future of the relationship. Moreover, this study identifies a new maintenance behavior, communication coordination. These maintenance behaviors reflect a tension between maintaining connectivity and managing the boundary between work and home and between the public and private spheres.

This study builds on previous work on technology use and relationship maintenance, but takes a different qualitative, inductive approach to address the limitations in the survey research dominant in the literature. It helps us understand the advantages and challenges in maintaining relationships in the digital age and also explores the factors that influence the patterns of technology use in relationship maintenance.