The Torrens University online MBA

Torrens University, Australia's newest teritary institution was formally opened in 2014 with much fanfare following a flying visit from former US President Bill Clinton.

As Torrens University is part of the Laureate network, the university has links to a vast network of universities worldwide with what I expected to be shared resources and synergies. In 2016 Torrens University bought out Chifley Business School in what should have been a positive transaction for students - sadly this was not the case.

I am tending to believe the quality of their teaching and learning just isn't what I initially expected. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of New England, a well established regional university with an excellent reputation for online education. I had grown accustomed to a quality learning process so my expectations were relatively high.

The staff interactions were excellent, we were required to join online discussions and we received marks for mandatory posts on a learning outcome and we were required to provide a minimum number of referenced replies to student posts.

This brought about excellent student interactions and we learnt from fellow students. I had trouble with one lecturer and was dismayed to have him for a second semester directly after I complained about him.

Torrens University started well, the client advisor was an American from Walden University in the United States, he was in constant contact with me during the initial stages.

The Americans know customer service and this guy was good; however, it appears he was sequestered for the start-up phase and when he returned to the United States so did the outstanding service.

Torrens University utilises the Blackboard learning management system like many tertiary institutions and colleges. So this learning management system is industry standard.

I had previously used the Moodle learning system so a period of adjustment was necessary. However, the Torrens University instructional design processes are well below expected standard I expected.

Furthermore, they have not been updated each unit since before the Chifley Business School purchase and we were doing outdated assessments from previous trimesters. That in itself isn't a bad thing if the assessments are good.

The issues arose from different versions and the dates on the assignments - it was very confusing as you were never sure of submission dates. When you are undertaking multiple units, setting schedules was much harder than it needed to be.

The schedule dates in some units were aligned to trimester 1, 2015 and we were in trimester 2, 2016, this made following the schedule almost impossible and complaints weren't headed.

The lecturers didn't have access to the learning management system course design and were instead purely learning facilitators, initially some of whom were employed at rival universities. I am guessing a contract was awarded for the initial course design but an ongoing maintenance contract was not costed and instructional designers were not employed on staff.

Torrens University was not utilising hard copy textbooks instead opting for the Vitalsource electronic book; ok, that is an acceptable option. The problem arose after the amalgamation.

The learning management system wasn't updated and the required readings were totally skipped instead just relying on supplementary readings that really didn't align to learning outcomes.

As the learning management system still aligned to the required reading, I searched online for a free pdf version of the textbook that I shared with my fellow students - not good enough.

These courses are not cheap and they initially came with ebooks for study, all of a sudden after the amalgamation, the ebooks were dumped and the course required us to still read certain chapters.

Supplementary readings are exactly that, supplemental information to reinforce an objective and are not core learning concepts. Now they were being used as the main source of learning, the required online interactions really didn't embed learning and the concepts were really unclear.

I won't complain too much, I received a scholarship that saw me granted advanced standing and a discount on the remaining units that saw the price significantly reduced. One hopes the management really engages in self-reflection and engages in critical analysis like we are told we should do.

All in all I enjoyed the online experience despite the stress, I began with two units per trimester but soon worked out after the second trimester that I was unable to keep up the pace. Instead I only undertook a single unit per trimester.

I was able to concentrate on the coursework, even then I struggled as there is plenty to learn. This took me beyond the timeframe of my scholarship but I felt I gained more out of it and there was really no value graduating in the middle of a downturn.

Lest we forget - the brutality of the battle of New Guinea

There have been many published photographs of World War II depicting loss, bravery and the brutality of war. For Australians, there is no more an enduring photograph than the beheading of Sergeant Leonard Shiffleet in New Guinea on the 24th of October 1943.

Naval officer Yasuno Chikao gained infamy for the beheading Australian prisoner of war Sergeant Leonard Siffleet in Aitape, New Guinea in 1943. After being captured himself, Chikao escaped the death penalty by hanging as the order was given by Vice Admiral Michiaki Kamada.

Instead, Chikao was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in conditions vastly superior to the POW camps the Japanese military ran. Had Chikao not requested a subordinate to take the photograph of him wielding the execution sword, he may have had escaped punishment for his war crimes.

Shiffleet volunteered for the Services Reconnaissance Department of the Allied Intelligence Bureau in Melbourne in 1942. Shiffleet was then transferred to Cairns with the Z Special Unit and promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1943. Later that month Shiffleet was transferred to M Special Unit that was deployed to New Guinea.

Shiffleet's unit landed in New Guinea in July 1943, midway through September 1943 a small patrol including Shiffleet operating behind enemy lines was discovered by New Guinean natives and captured after a brief fight. The patrol was handed over to occupying Japanese forces and taken to Malol for a ruthless interrogation over a period of two weeks - in layman's terms, torture. 

On the afternoon of 24th of October Private Pattiwahl, Private Reharin and Sergeant Shiffleet were marched to Aitape Beach; bound, blindfolded and forced to kneel and executed by beheading in front of a crowd of Japanese soldiers and locals. The photograph of the execution was found on the body of a dead Japanese Major near Hollandia still in New Guinea in 1944 by American forces.

Apparently the photograph was widely distributed within the Japanese military as some sick form of memento and eventually ended up in Life magazine showcasing the brutality of the Japanese Imperial Forces. 

The Dam Busters - the amazing heroics of 617 squadron

I was sitting at home on a raining Sunday afternoon with my laptop computer perched on my knees working on my resume to send out to prospective employers when The Dam Busters showed up on the title menu. I was quickly on the phone to my old man, he wasn't going to miss this even though he had seen the movie on plenty of occasions.

As a young punk I had read Paul Brickhall's book of the same name so I knew exactly what this 1955 movie was based upon. Naturally, Brickhall's book is based on real events, this is a true story complete with photographs of the main players, aircrews and the amazing aircraft. In putting his case forward to procure resources, my favourite scene of the movie played out "What possible argument could I put forward to convince them to loan you a Wellington Bomber? Barnes Wallis replied "What if you told them I designed it, do you think that could help?" Needless to say, Wallis got his aircraft.

The full-throated roar of the four V12 Rolls Royce Merlin 1280 horsepower engines powering the Avro Lancaster is spine tingling, it must have been amazing to witness these aircraft in flight. We have a Lancaster bomber at the Aviation Heritage Museum in Perth, the Lancaster was flown to Australia and then left out in the weather before eventually being moved to the museum, but unfortunately I have never heard the engines roar to life. The scene in the movie with the Lancaster engines firing up as they departed on their mission still gets me excited.

The bouncing bomb, actually a mine as it detonates at depth was required to skip across the water and had to be dropped from an altitude of 60 feet, that's 18 metres - unreal. At that altitude the altimeter wasn't accurate enough so two spotlights mounted at the rear of the bomb bay, the bomb doors had been removed to mount the bouncing bomb. The spotlight beams converged at 60 feet, yep, they were flying over water at night with their lights on under fire from German defensive positions to position the aircraft for the bomb drop.

On the flight over and back, there was anti-aircraft fire, interception from German fighter aircraft and ground based fire. Strategic Bomber Command had horrendous losses during the war, this highly secret mission just multiplied the danger. 617 Squadron was formed in 1943 with highly experienced personnel from the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force with Guy Gibson as Wing Commander.

There are no spoilers here, everyone knows the mission was a success despite heavy losses as eight aircraft were lost each with seven crew members with only three survivors out of fifty six men. The dams were busted, German industry disrupted, military assets diverted to protect and the Second World War was arguably shortened. The aircrews are amazing, they are a bunch of people I have the upmost respect for all or these aircrews and as ANZAC Day approaches, we remember their sacrifice. 

Amed just before Christmas

The eruption of Mt Agung on the Indonesian resort island of Bali made worldwide news with airlines ceasing flights due to safety concerns emanating from the volcanic ash cloud pluming from the volcano and hovering above the airport. The reports on the Channel 7 nightly news at 6 pm ran emotional stories of stranded at Ngurah Rai International Airport just wanting to return home.

This was over done, a couple of nights sleeping at the airport isn't such a major inconvenience compared to the plight of ordinary Indonesian residences evacuated from the surrounds of Mt Agung. Still, I had a decision to make as I was booked at the Anda Amed Resort on the north east coast relatively close to the active volcano from the 17th to the 23rd of December before heading down to Legian for the final two days at the Jayakarta Resort.

The clientele of Amed is predominantly French, German, Dutch and British with the Americans preferring Ubud and the Australians congregating down in Kuta. This is my pre-Christmas end of year trip to kick back, sit around the pool, drink some alcohol and eat well. I'm not interested in exploring the island to any great extent as I come here on a regular basis and have done this already.

I am here to kick back, unwind from my battles with recalcitrant managers and relax. I leave my phone behind, reduce my social media usage although I do bring my dive equipment and do some rafting from time to time. Amed is very quiet compared to the party and nightlife dominated area of Kuta.

I couldn't believe it, the beautiful Anda Amed Resort was totally empty in peak season leading into Christmas with every client except myself cancelling. When I booked in early September on Booking.com I had to make a quick decision, the last bungalow was available but people were searching.

The other resorts in the area were fully booked and I had limited options even though Anda Amed Resort was my first choice. Naturally, it doesn't hurt to search and negotiate to find a better deal or bargain.

So here I was in this wonderful small private resort of just ten bungalows with the run of the place. As we drove into Amed after being picked up from the International airport for our two and a half hour drive north to Amed we were amazed at the lack of activity.

All the resorts, restaurants and businesses were dark, this was arojnd 10 pm so no chance of picking up a meal now as my budget flight didn't provide a meal and I never purchased one on-board. I feel sorry for the resort owners and staff but from a personal viewpoint - it doesn't get better than that.

Longines the official sponsor of the Commonwealth Games

Omega has long been associated with Olympic games timing dating back to 1932 with the Heuer brand taking over official timing duties for a brief period from 1978 to 1980. Longines, a brand along with seventeen other watch brands including Omega forms the Swatch Group.

Longines is the official timer of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Queensland and was the official timer of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland.

Building on their French Open exposure, Longines partners the Swiss Timing consortium through collaboration with Omega, Tissot,  Blancpain, Certina and Swatch to develop and maintain timing technology.

Heuer was involved with Swiss Timing at some point but I believe no longer is associated with the consortium and Breitling was involved at some point also for the Equestrian Games but that is now dominated by Longines. 

I would suggest that the Swiss Timing consortium founded in 1972 is only involved in Swatch Group brands now. From my viewpoint, I prefer the actual brands to be represented at sporting events and I believe offers the greatest exposure to the brands.

Swiss Timing is now headquartered Corgémont, Switzerland maintaining a degree of independence to the Swatch Group. This is very much a values based judgement, this appears to be an organisation devoid of ethics.

From what I can gather, Swiss Timing was involved in a bribery scandal at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Indian police claim Swiss Timing supplied equipment at exorbitant rates resulting in a large financial loss to the Indian government.

So I'm guessing Swiss Timing will remain the holding company with the actual brands performing the timekeeping duties and hopefully they remain scandal free. This scandal may not have damaged individual brand credibility but it still doesn't make it right.

Let's hope that now that the brands themselves have taken over official timing duties, any hints of impropriety have now been been resolved. You purchase a brand, you don't purchase a holding company and Longines is a pretty decent brand.

Viagra on the beach

I like to travel to South East Asia to dive so I spend plenty of time down the beach. Any one familiar with South East Asia is aware that pretty much everything is unregulated and for sale. So when I am constantly approached on the beach and propositioned to purchase Viagra, I ask myself, does anyone really purchase drugs from a guy on the beach?

My knowledge of Viagra is pretty rudimentary, Pfizer was developing a blood pressure and angina drug when they noticed some unusual side effects during human testing. Apparently you need to firstly visit a doctor where I guess they measure your blood pressure along with some other tests whilst reviewing your medical history.

So I have to ask, who I purchase pills off a guy on the beach that has the potential to kill me? We have never got as far as discussing price but I do wonder what the expected savings are? Ok, so I don't need to pay for the medical consultation and I imagine the pills are discounted. Pfizer is a major international drug company producing drugs for medical professionals, hospitals and clinics.

I seriously doubt Pfizer would be developing a grey market for pharmaceuticals and I am guessing these pills would be fake. So I have to ask myself, would I be popping fake pills with the potential to kill myself? Surely, no rational person would actually buy these?

The Lucky Country - no recession for a generation

Australia was dubbed the lucky country as a somewhat of a ironic term, but the description has been largely misquoted from an insult to a positive. Penned by Donald Horne in 1964 in his book of the same name; Hornes critique of the nation is "Australia is a lucky country run by second rate rate people who share its luck."

We may well fit Horne's description as the lucky country as we have avoided a recession for over a quarter of a century. Prior to the 1990/91 recession we had become accustomed to a recession every seven years or so. Post 90/91 recession we have had a number of economic downturns from the Asian currency crisis, the tech crash, the GFC and Chinese demand slowdown but we have somehow managed to avoid a technical recession.

Tell that to anyone caught up in the downturn and they will struggle to pick the difference. We are now in the midst of an economic downturn and people are feeling uneasy, people are feeling we have delayed an economic downturn but still feel we are going to pay the debt somehow. Even though we have managed to avoid a recession, the household debt we have accumulated during this period is now the largest risk to the economy.

Our failure to squander the twin mining construction booms by firstly paying off debt before taking on more debt without initiating a sovereign wealth fund for future generations. The Howard Government established the Future Fund to cover the expenses of federal government retirement obligations with $156 billion of funds currently under management. However, this isn't a true sovereign wealth fund for the benefit of all Australians, just senior public servants.

To a lesser extent, there is a Medical Research Future Fund, Disability Care Future Fund, Education Investment Fund and Building Australia Fund but the funding is well under what they should be. Whilst some may argue the retirement savings of Australians held in superannuation with over $2 trillion in funds under management is a wealth fund.

This is the fourth largest pool of retirement savings in the world constituting a form of wealth fund, this is a private series of funds and not a sovereign wealth fund as such. There is however plenty of discussion that the funds under management still won't fully finance the retirements of the majority of Australians and the federal government will still be required to partially fund.

Our concerns are the investments that could decline in value following an economic downturn similar to Black Monday, the Tech Crash and the GFC could wipe out the values of retirement accounts when we do finally suffer a major economic downturn resulting in a lenghy and costly recession sending our retirment funds to money heaven. 

The tall poppy syndrome

The tally poppy syndrome may be described as a social phenomenon where people of genuine talent and intellect are resented due to their outstanding achievements distinguishing these individuals from the average everyday person.

In many respects, I admire the egalitarian attitude of Australians seeking to dismiss pretense; but greatly dislike the resentment of successful people who have achieved or over-achieved. The tall poppy syndrome runs contrary to everything positive people achieve instead focusing on negativity, jealousy and reinforcing the behaviour of their own inadequacies.

There is much I like about the American persona and their attitude of wanting to achieve success whereas the Australian attitude seems to be if they achieved success of some sort is by deceptive means and not talent, hard work and skill. In this regard, the American attitude of success and achievement is superiour to the Australian attitude where we cut down successful people.

Live sheep exports - this has to stop

The story 60 Minutes Australia reported that aired on Sunday night was an outrage to all rationally minded people. The live sheep export to the middle east is exposed with the 60 Minutes promotions stating that the report on Sunday night at 7.00 will spark an outrage - this is absolutely true.

Whistleblower Faisal Ullah secretly filmed the conditions sheep on board bulk carriers are exposed to - horrible. They are squalid, for years, live sheep exporters have assured the Australian public the well-being of sheep on these voyages is their priority - this claim has now been well and truly refuted.

The footage sent to the Federal Minister on Wednesday by Animals Australia needs to spark a federal enquiry; one suspects the footage was also passed onto 60 Minutes Australia who aired the segment - for this we are thankful. Pressure needs to be applied to the federal government; now 60 Minutes has aired the story, the federal government will be forced to act.

Filming onboard sheep ships has been banned by the operators; all requests by news organisations had previously been denied - it's now not hard to see why. 60 Minutes describes this as explosive footage in their promotions and they are correct. They air secret footage they claim will shock the world, this animal cruelty had to be exposed and action needs to be taken immediately.

Channel 9 reporter Liam Bartlett stated on Twitter that Australians will be horrified, that is an understatement. Bartlett also hinted that the only reason Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud acted was because of the footage aired on the program. Possibly, but I like no doubt many others will want answers and those answers had better be good.

Faisal Ullah, who is a graduate of Pakistan's Marine Academy was employed as a trainee navigation officer on five shipments from Australia has done our nation a great service; he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. One suspects his whistleblowing has just scuttled his maritime career just as it was beginning, we hope he is not black-banned and able to enjoy a long and distinguished maritime career as he did the right thing and doesn't deserve this.

Three days in Hong Kong

It had been nearly twenty years since I had spent a couple of days in Hong Kong, this was back in the days of the old airport well before Kai Tak Airport was decommissioned so I got a pretty good close up view of Hong Kong as the plane rumbled in between buildings.

Sometimes just getting there is half the adventure; however, my transit flight through Singapore wasn't eventful and the cabin crew performed their jobs admirably. Jetstar to me is a cheap and nasty airline, they have plenty of little tricks to squeeze some more money out of you.

I have been informed their staff aren't well remunerated and the conditions are nowhere near as good as a major airline; regardless of their work conditions, they acquitted themselves well.

I too am cheap and I am willing to forgo comfort for a cost saving on selected flights. So with this in mind, I departed Perth after work on a late night flight to Singapore. I have been known to be a little critical of Jetstar in the past, although in my defence, this normally relates to their clientele on Bali flights.

Tonight was good, to save money I didn't take any check-in luggage as the ticket costs soared so I decided on just carry on luggage. I exceeded the 7kg carry on luggage limit by 2kg and I was given a friendly warning to not do this again, I will heed her advice in the future.

My next bout of anxiety began when I recalled the bottle of Hugo Boss aftershave I had thrown into my bag. There is a 100ml limit of liquids allowed on flights, this stuff is a little pricey and I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about having this confiscated as potential bomb-making materials.

This was a brand new bottle so I wasn't keen on confiscation. The customs and immigration staff asked about toiletries and liquids so I handed over my cologne and toothpaste; she throughly checked the contents and I must have not exceeded the limit - second win tonight.

The aircraft arrived in Singapore at 4:30am and I was pretty tired, Terminal 1 at Changi Airport was open with only a few food and beverage shops open for business. I grabbed a little sleep on the floor to clear my head, I was tired and I don't sleep well on flights.

I cleared immigration and jumped on the MRT heading to Marina Bay for some breakfast at TWG Tea in the main shopping complex. I wandered around the mall for a while before heading back to Changi Airport.

Arriving at Hong Kong International Airport late in the evening, I was surprised at the scale of the airport as all the terminals were remote. None of them were joined and arrival information was limited. Obviously the language was Chinese, I was thankful English flashed up every now and again but this was on little help.

I caught the Airport Express into Kowloon, this was well after midnight and although $75 HKD perperson sounded somewhat expensive. The 5.9:1 exchange rate did make everything appear expensive, about $13 is actually pretty good value considering the distance traveled from the airport to Kowloon terminal.

The first day was spent down in the Tsim Sha Tsui district on the Victoria Harbour waterfront. I was really looking forward to wandering the waterfront before heading into the space museum but this was unfortunately closed for refurbishment and the opportunity was missed.

I visited there back on my first trip to Hong Kong and I really wanted to visit again. There was intermittent rain throughout the day and a pretty good day was had in the district. Going out to dinner was interesting, the area was really exciting on a Friday night, this was fun.

The second day was spent on the Hong Kong side of Victoria Harbour, the plan was to walk the old town through the historic streets viewing the sights. The rain had not let up all morning and I was attempting to navigate the undercroft areas.

I was the only person without an umbrella and when the downpour came, all hopes were dashed and the day was spent in the malls around Central and Hong Kong MRT stations.

The rain never let up all day and even returning home via Jordan station in the evening resulted in a drenching. Lunch at WG Tea was excellent but I had to enquire about the name change and was given a pretty good answer as the name was already registered in Hong Kong.

Still raining on Sunday, whilst it didn't let up on Saturday, I was hoping the final day was going to be fine - it wasn't. Headed back over to Hong Kong Island to see the sights we missed on Saturday and ended pretty much where we were on Saturday.

I'm okay, there was so much more I could do and experience in Hong Kong but I have no regrets, I have more to do on my next visit and hopefully it won't be another twenty years between visits.

Reckless riding

Domination of the roads continues in Perth with the war between motorists and bike riders showing no signs of abating. New laws have come into force requiring motor vehicles and trucks to keep a minimum of one metre between their vehicle and rider and one and a half metres if the vehicle is travelling at a speed above sixty kilometers per hour - fair enough.

Bike riders are doing themselves no favours, a bike lane exists and riders want to ride along side by side with each other having a chat outside the bike lines. As we can see, the truck has moved well over and outside the lane to avoid the cyclist but should have never been in that position in the first place.

Clearly both riders should have been within the confines of their bicycle lane riding in single file. Instead of complaining about truck drivers passing too close, pull your head in, stop being arrogant and use the dedicated bike lane as it was intended.

Hendrick's Gin

For a country known for its whiskey, Hendrick's Gin certainly got it together as an alternative to the Scotch whiskey normally produced in Scotland. That being said, distillers William Grant & Sons are known the world over for Glenfiddich, Grant's, Tullamore Dew and Drambuie; so gin is an unusual addition to their range.

I rarely drink a martini anymore but a gin and tonic is my choice of a refreshing drink on a hot summer day. According to Leslie Gracie, Henrick's Gin Master Distiller, Henrick's is best served with tonic water over ice with a cucumber garnish instead of the more traditional lime or lemon slice. Gin is flavoured with juniper berry as the main ingredient; Henrick's Gin is additionally flavoured with rose petals and cucumber infusions to add a distinctive flavour. I also read that Henrick's utilises a marriage of two spirits produced from a Carter-Head and Bennet Still to create a smooth gin balancing subtle flavours.