For many people, social media is an integral part of everyday life that can lead to a greater sense of social inclusion. This article examines social media's impact on social inclusion regarding art museum disability access. This qualitative study explores ways people with disabilities interact socially and culturally using social media and how it impacts their perception of being socially included. Data were collected from individuals with varying types of disabilities regarding their use of social media. Results show that social media can have a positive effect on people with disabilities regarding social inclusion. This research also discusses how art museums can use social media to better connect and socially include people with disabilities.

At a time when the world is increasingly moving beyond a text-based culture to one that is saturated in images it appears there is a growing need to consider students' visual education. The explosion in the use of visual media and technologies in our times has meant there is a greater need for training visually literate individuals who are capable of critical visual analysis. The use of visual media in learning and teaching is supported by research demonstrating that learner preferences and styles might be more effectively addressed, and that enhanced learning and retention can take place through the use of visual material. This paper explores strategies for encouraging children to be more innovative and adventurous in their thinking when responding to visual images. These strategies have emerged from the findings of a qualitative research study (conducted by the author) that focused on critical and creative engagement amongst Australian primary and secondary students involved in visual arts education. The purpose of the paper is to show not only the benefits of including visual communication in multimodal approaches to learning but also to show the strategies currently being applied in schools to teaching children to effectively decode and encode artefacts of their own visual culture. These strategies should enable them to develop skills as critical and aesthetic responders to forms of visual communication as well as effective visual communicators who create their own images and artefacts.

Quality arts education can produce positive learning outcomes, such as creating positive attitudes to learning, developing a greater sense of personal and cultural identity, and fostering more creative and imaginative ways of thinking in young children (Bamford, 2006; Eisner, 2002; Robinson, 2001). Arts-based processes allow children the opportunity to express their knowledge, ideas and feelings in ways that do not necessarily involve words (Livermore, 2003; Robinson, 2001). Unfortunately, the value of arts-based learning can often be overlooked because of the social and cultural dominance of literal language and written modes of expression (Eisner, 2002; Kress, 2000). Forming models of quality arts education in the early years of primary school can also be a highly problematic task. This has been highlighted in a series of recent national reviews that have investigated the current state of arts education in Australian schools. This national attention has in part focused on the level of preparedness of non–specialist teachers, in teaching the creative arts; music, dance, art and drama.

One of the major new developments in higher education is the growth of virtual universities and eLearning. eLearning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching but typically requires students to access media and communication with the aide of a computer and the Internet. While this development has definite practical benefits, such as, freedom from constraints of time and geography, there are also disparities that arise between real world and virtual technology-led teaching. Some creative ICT solutions in different disciplines or domains have proved to be successful, however, tertiary visual arts educators still face significant challenges in this new learning environment. Removing face-to-face interaction has implications for creating spaces where pre-service teachers can develop their art practice and knowledge of art pedagogies. This paper explores the specific issues that relate to off campus e-learning in the visual arts domain and presents findings from a study that investigated the attitudes of a group of tertiary students (enrolled in a primary creative arts education undergraduate unit) towards e-learning.

This qualitative inquiry explores the content, processes, and social functions of personal meanings of specific pieces of music. The inquiry analyses the personal meanings adhering to 390 pieces of music selected by 79 adults aged between 30 and 78 years. An innovative aspect of the inquiry is that its data sample was not collected by the researcher but drawn from an archive of radio interviews conducted by a previous interviewer. Analysis and interpretation of these data was guided by the systematic methods of constructivist, grounded theory methodology. The inquiry reveals that the content of personal meanings of specific pieces of music aligns with meanings described in previous research. However, probing beneath the surface of such descriptions, this inquiry reveals a number of distinguishing characteristics of personal meanings. Firstly, personal meanings adhere to specific pieces of music. In this case, the sounds of a piece of music, its sonic materiality, matter. Secondly, personal meanings are not fixed but are dynamic, cumulative admixtures of multiple meanings. Thirdly, personal meanings adhere to pieces of music via a number of pathways which integrate aesthetic responses to the music, acquired knowledge about the music or its performance, and biographical associations into the ongoing story of informants' lives. Fourthly, personal meanings constitute social action simultaneously engaged in the reflexive project of self and ongoing reproduction of expectations and assumptions about the role of music in social life. The inquiry suggests that previously collected qualitative data can provide trustworthy samples for later research. It also highlights the need for scholars of music to reconsider the potential of subjective meanings as sites for investigating the human experience of music.

UNESAP and the Let's Hang It! exhibition is a school-based art project that began over ten years ago (by Dr Frances Alter at UNE). The key goal of the art event is to raise the profile, status and interest in the visual arts in regional and rural schools throughout New South Wales. Each year approximately 600 artworks are submitted to UNESAP from students aged 5 to 18 years of age) studying in regional and rural schools throughout NSW. Approximately 10% (60 works) are selected for the exhibition event at NERAM. These works are curated under the direction of Dr Frances Alter but selection of works for the exhibition involves a panel of experts recruited from both NERAM and UNE. Winning works in the UNESAP prize are acquired by UNE and added to the UNESAP art collection. This is managed by the UNE art curator Ms. Michelle Arens and the UNE Art Advisory Committee. Dr Alter is also a member of this committee.

This paper discusses the concept of visual literacy and the problems inherent in regarding images as 'texts'. In large part contemporary understanding of visual literacy has emerged through the work of Kress (2003) and Kress and van Leeuwen (2006). These theorists have helped form a system of visual grammar and syntax that can be used to decipher meaning in imagery. While this creates further insight into the ways in which visual communication works, it rarely reveals 'the whole picture'. In this paper it is suggested that a dichotomy exists between a systemic functional approach to reading images as 'text' in English education and what could be described as an aesthetic approach in art education.

One of the major new developments in higher education is the growth of virtual universities and eLearning. While this development has definite practical benefits, such as, freedom from constraints of time and geography, there are also disparities that arise between real world and virtual technology-led teaching. Tertiary Visual Arts educators face significant challenges in this new learning environment because removing face-to-face interaction has implications for creating spaces where pre-service teachers can develop their Visual Arts practice and knowledge of pedagogies. This paper describes the experiences of a tertiary Visual Arts education academic and presents findings from a small scale study that investigated the attitudes of a group of tertiary students, enrolled in a primary undergraduate unit, towards e-learning.

UNESAP and the Let's Hang It! exhibition is a school-based art project that began over ten years ago (by Dr Frances Alter at UNE). The key goal of the art event is to raise the profile, status and interest in the visual arts in regional and rural schools throughout New South Wales. Each year approximately 600 artworks are submitted to UNESAP from students aged 5 to 18 years of age) studying in regional and rural schools throughout NSW. Approximately 10% (60 works) are selected for the exhibition event at NERAM. These works are curated under the direction of Dr Frances Alter but selection of works for the exhibition involves a panel of experts recruited from both NERAM and UNE. Winning works in the UNESAP prize are acquired by UNE and added to the UNESAP art collection. This is managed by the UNE art curator Ms. Michelle Arens and the UNE Art Advisory Committee. Dr Alter is also a member of this committee.

This thesis by publication is a combined synthesis of a multipart body of research that investigates disability access and social inclusion in art museums. This research combines the findings from a series of interrelated studies to present a comprehensive view of disability access in art museums. A qualitative, grounded theory research design utilised a variety of data collection strategies to provide rich data. The researcher chose a qualitative research design guided by the theoretical lenses of disability access and social inclusion theories in order to capture expressive individual perspectives from both museum staff members and individuals from the disability community about values, beliefs, and motivations that underlie museum services and programs. The primary research question for this research is: What key measures can art museums take to become more accessible and socially inclusive for people with disabilities? Related to this primary question, the researcher considered the role and value of the types of technological tools and outreach strategies that art museums currently employ to encourage social engagement and improve the quality of the museum experience for people with disabilities. Another aspect of the research enquiry was to discover the perceptions that people with disabilities have about art museums programs and services and their ideas about how these institutions could provide a greater sense of social inclusion to people with disabilities. The results of this research highlight general trends in disability access offerings in art museums and underscores the importance of inclusion and disability advocacy in terms of taking steps towards improving museum outreach and services. An important finding was that the majority of participants with disabilities involved in the research often did not visit public art institutions because they feel excluded, unwelcome, or did not find anything of value. What emerged through an evaluation of the research findings, was an understanding that the process of becoming an accessible and inclusive museum requires a change in attitude, policy, functionality, and programming throughout the museum's administrative, access, and outreach functions. This research provides art museum administrators and staff with strategies and examples of successful inclusive initiatives offered by art museums. Moreover, this research provides a conspectus of resources and a theoretical framework of disability access and social inclusion that may assist art museums with becoming more accessible and socially inclusive for all.