Posts Tagged ‘Lyn Daff’

Well versed

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Lecturer a multi-published poet

An Avondale lecturer has found a peer-reviewed publisher for her poetic take on academic life.

Lyn Daff’s poetry regularly appears in two accounting journals. Credit: Aaron Bellette.

Lyn Daff has now had six of her poems published in the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal and Critical Perspectives on Accounting. Two of the poems are inspired by Lyn’s PhD. The most recent, “The ethics application,” published in the March 2012 issue of the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, likens preparing an ethics application to the biblical character of David facing the giant Goliath. The other poem, “The research proposal” (April 2011), also published by the journal, reflects on the nonlinear process of preparing a proposal.

“The thing I like about this type of poetry is you can raise issues in a humourous way, and that gets people’s attention,” says Lyn.

Lyn, a senior lecturer in accounting in the Faculty of Business at Avondale College of Higher Education, began writing academic-themed poetry only in 2010. But her broader interest in it began at an early age—she remembers visiting her grandmother’s brother and sister, who enjoyed reciting poetry.

She can thank her father for the gift. “Dad writes poetry for birthdays and weddings, and I enjoy doing that, too,” says Lyn. A case in point: the event at which Lyn first shared one of her poems in public? “My wedding.”

 

No more monopoly on teaching

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Lecturer shows Gen Y need more say in learning

Sonja Larsen
Editorial assistant, Connections
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Playing the board game Monopoly in class engages tech-savvy accounting students, research by an Avondale College of Higher Education lecturer shows.

Keith Howson

Collaborator: Inspired by generational differences in learning preferences, Dr Keith Howson wrote a paper to find new ways of teaching his students. His findings: lecturers have to be more engaged, authentic and involved in learning. Credit: Aaron Bellette.

Collaboration is the key, says Dr Keith Howson, dean of the Faculty of Business and Information Technology. Inspired by generational differences in learning preferences, Keith wrote a paper to find new ways of teaching his students. “I know how to reach generation X, but you have to switch gears to reach generation Y,” he says. “These students require us to more engaged, authentic and involved in learning.”

Keith uses Monopoly in class, although he notes the literature also suggests using technology, such as blogs and wikis, and small group tutorials as ways of engaging students and involving them in learning.

Keith presented his paper, called “Teaching accounting to generation Y: applying current technologies to the education experience. An Australian view,” at the 11th World Congress of Accounting Educators and Researchers in Singapore.

Colleague Lyn Daff, a senior lecturer in accounting, also presented. Her paper, “Lessons for accounting educators from the medical world,” examines how medical training incorporates well-developed approaches to teaching interpersonal skills and how these can be adapted for use in accounting education. Lyn has now received an invitation to present a paper at the Southern African Accounting Association this year.

Following the conference in Singapore, Keith presented another paper, “Teaching business ethics: an Australian perspective” at the 22nd Asian-Pacific Conference on International Accounting Issues on the Gold Coast.

Of art and conversation

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Communication central to lecturers’ papers

Two Avondale College lecturers presented communication-themed papers at the Biennial Conference in Philosophy, Religion and Culture at the Catholic Institute of Sydney, October 3.

Dr Richard Morris’s “The interior landscape: metaphors for faith and belief in the religious paintings of Colin McCahon” examined the New Zealand artist’s ability to communicate “with a profound delicacy potent biblical themes” through minimal means, such as the use of a virtually black and white palette. Richard, a senior lecturer in visual arts, described the paintings as having an “austere aesthetic of colour and form” and a “sobriety of content” giving them an “‘interior’ beauty of ‘means.’”

Lyn Daff, a senior lecturer in accounting in the Faculty of Business and Information Technology, discussed her qualitative study, “Beyond hello: Christians in conversation.” The study, co-authored with lecturer in marketing Don Dickins, examined the change in conversations of 11 people who completed training in relationship skills. A key finding: the participants were more mindful of and purposeful and intentional in their conversations post-training. The paper built on a quantitative study Lyn presented at the same conference in 2008.

Recognition of service . . .

Lyn has received an award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants recognising her 25 years of service to the profession. She began in the Melbourne office of international firm Arthur Andersen before moving into accounting and tax services in a suburban practice. A 10-tenure at Monash University followed. Lyn then joined the faculty at Avondale after working briefly for interdenominational training organisation Caleb Leadership Ministries. She has served at Avondale for nearly five years.

. . . for poet laureate

A cousin’s frustrating real-life experience inspired Lyn to write a poem that is now published in the November 2010 issue of the journal Critical Perspectives on Accounting.

“Confusing Communication” reads, in part: “I left my accountant, almost in tears/ They had done nothing at all, to alleviate my fears/ . . . The more questions I asked, the greater the fee/ Is the problem with them, or is it just me?/ The issues are real, though they’re stated in rhyme/ Can anything be done, so it’s better next time?”

Lyn is studying accountants’ communication within the not-for-profit sector for her PhD. “When I tell people I’m studying accountants’ communication, they say, ‘That’s an oxymoron.’ It’s frustrating, but that’s the perception.”