Faculty Agency: Departmental Contexts that Matter in Faculty Careers

In a modern context of constrained resources and high demands, faculty exert agency to strategically navigate their careers (Baez 2000a; Neumann et al. 2006). Guided by the O’Meara et al. (2011) framework on agency in faculty professional lives, this study used Structural Equation Modeling to investigate which departmental factors (perceptions of tenure and promotion process, work-life climate, transparency, person-department fit, professional development resources, and collegiality) influenced faculty agentic perspective and agentic action. Results showed that faculty perceptions of certain departmental contexts do matter in faculty career agency, such as work-life climate, person-department fit, and professional development resources. These contexts have a particular influence on faculty agentic perspective. Results also showed a large effect of agentic perspective on agentic action. The study has important implications for administrators regarding departmental role in faculty agency and contributes to the growing body of literature on faculty sense of agency in academe.     

Making a Difference: Dyslexia and Social Identity in Educational Contexts

Dyslexia is known as a Learning Disability (LD), a reading disability and a neurological disability; yet there is confusion about dyslexia and the associated support required in learning. Challenges are experienced by adult students with dyslexia in both social and organisational contexts. This study explored the life experiences of adult students with dyslexia, in Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Colleges in Australia. The shift from a prior negative self‐perception to a current positive social identity in adult students with dyslexia can be developed through key supporting relationships and interactions in educational institutions.     

A Critique of Educational Research

Abstract

Instrumentalist theories are older than liberal, reconstructionist or child‐centred ones and the concept of progress they embody seems very obvious at first sight: making schools and other educational institutions more relevant to social needs. In open market societies however social needs are even more fiercely contested than are intrinsic educational values or the needs of individual childen. When a social need is politically legitimated in newly closed societies, even resolute instrumentalists may blanch at what is required of schools, as Durkheim's disciples found in occupied France. In contemporary English‐speaking societies the paradox is noted that neo‐Marxists consider educational institutions to be instruments in the hands of the ‘ruling classes’ and to be part of an Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), whereas all those who may be defined as members of such ruling classes bemoan that these institutions are dysfunctional to the needs of industry and commerce and hostile to market societies.     

学科语境:教育研究方法的新视角--以"高等教育产业化"论为例

教育学科的发展离不开与其他相关学科之间的互动与回应，但必须警惕其对教育学科的控制与束缚。文章试图提出一种“学科语境”的研究进路。该研究进路坚持以当下存在的问题为中心关注，力求语境化地——即设身处地地、有差异地——理解和研究实践中和思维中的困惑，尊重任何一种学术问题存在的合理性，但又会深入地考察它所存在的具体学科情景。强调学术性而非政治性的、经济性的、抑或其他的批判态度，切实注重不同学科之间具体的限制和边界，探讨特定问题对学科场景的回应。文章试对“高等教育产业化”论进行剖析来解读学科语境的研究方法。     

Critique and Negativity: Towards the Pluralisation of Critique in Educational Practice,Theory and Research

There are many possible ways to approach the topic of educational theory and critique. One could inquire into the meaning of critical phenomena and subject‐matter in practical education and instruction, investigate the various forms of critique with the goal of determining the extent to which they assist in clarifying pedagogical action, or one could ask: ‘What is meant by critical educational research?’ and ‘How do the various approaches to this topic relate to one another?’. This article inquires into the relationship between critique and negativity. Such a distinction is relevant for the practical, theoretical and research‐oriented use of the various forms and subject matters of critique. This analysis of their relationship aims to clarify how the structure of human learning connects to that of pedagogical action; and, additionally, how the theoretical guidelines and orientation for pedagogical action relate to scientific analyses and research in education in a way that is productive. Distinctions made in thought, judgement and action are not simply delimiting positive characteristics. Such distinctions are at once mediated by the relations of knowledge and ignorance, ability and inability. Although ignorance and inability can be transformed into positive knowledge and ability, they are not superseded in the process. Ignorance and inability are, on the contrary, constitutive elements of learning. The possibility for transitions from ignorance and inability to knowledge and ability—a possibility that itself presupposes knowledge and ability—point to a form of negativity within the process of education (Bildung). This form of negativity relates to the human ability to learn (Bildsamkeit) and provides the definitive basis of human learning. A form of negativity constitutive of learning processes leads to one that grounds pedagogical processes. Pedagogical efficacy is mediated by a double negativity, comprised of both a universal and a particular form of negativity. The relation of negativity to learning and pedagogical efficacy, with specific reference to educational research studies on teaching and learning processes, is considered. A form of educational research that operates beyond fundamentalist criticisms—that is to say, criticisms based on unshakeable beliefs—and utilises issues arising from a pluralisation of critique to confront the pluralism of critical positions, is considered. The article closes with reflections on the relation between the Critical and the Uncritical.     

Deweyan Democratic Agency and School Math: Beyond Constructivism and Critique

In this article, Kurt Stemhagen reconstructs mathematics education in light of Dewey's democratic theory and his ideas about mathematics and mathematics education. The resulting democratic philosophy and pedagogy of mathematics education emphasizes agency and the connections between mathematics and students' social experiences. Stemhagen considers questions about the disconnect between constructivist reformers and critical mathematics educators, and he positions Dewey's ideas as a way to draw on the best of both to create an active and more democratic school math experience.     

Analytic Frameworks for Assessing Dialogic Argumentation in Online Learning Environments

Over the last decade, researchers have developed sophisticated online learning environments to support students engaging in dialogic argumentation. This review examines five categories of analytic frameworks for measuring participant interactions within these environments focusing on (1) formal argumentation structure, (2) conceptual quality, (3) nature and function of contributions within the dialogue, (4) epistemic nature of reasoning, and (5) argumentation sequences and interaction patterns. Ultimately, the review underscores the diversity of theoretical perspectives represented within this research, the nature of dialogic interaction within these environments, the importance of clearly specifying theoretical and environmental commitments throughout the process of developing or adopting an analytic framework, and the role of analytic frameworks in the future development of online learning environments for argumentation.

公共选择理论视角:教育政策低效的根源及对策

从公共选择理论视角的分析来看,造成教育政策低效的成因及根源主要有以下几个方面:教育行政机构的自利行为、教育行政机构的低效和浪费、路径依赖、教育政策执行上的障碍等.为此,需要树立教育政策的权威性;凸显教育政策"公共性",树立教育政策责任理念;建立配套措施,把教育政策义务转化为实务;提升教育政策的可操作性,减少教育政策执行弹性;健全教育制度执行机制.     

Faculty Governance in Neoliberal Educational Contexts: Challenges for Democratic Decision Making

Few faculty members are immune from the deleterious impact of neoliberal values, policies and practices that have resulted in the “corporatization” of universities, with the reduction of teaching and research to “products” and faculty to “producers,” and students to “clients.” The role of faculty governance in this process has been debated yielding diverse perspectives on its effectiveness in challenging this influence, particularly, in regard to the role of democratic decision making at the college-level of governance where administrators may push for furthering market-driven agendas. This critical action research project highlights how two faculty assembly leaders facilitated participatory decision making as they re-conceptualized their leadership roles as team-based representatives, and developed multiple communicative networks that supported faculty voice and leadership listening at the grassroots level—two processes that may thwart corporatization and marketization at the college-level. This article highlights how characteristics of desired communication practices for more democratic decision making at the college-level lay the groundwork for building the collective faculty capacity to respond in a timely manner to neoliberal agendas.     

对教育技术学的哲学批判(之一)——逻辑起点问题

从哲学本体论出发,指出教育技术学存学科的研究对象、研究目的、逻辑起点等基本研究中存在的问题,并通过对教育装备学逻辑起点的研究,说明逻辑起点的探求方法。     

常用软件在《空间解析几何》教学上的实践

本文根据《空间解析几何》的学科特点和教学任务,介绍了常见教学软件在该学科上的应用及注意问题,积极探讨信息技术和《空间解析几何》这一学科的最佳结合形式,达到优化课堂教学,提高学生认知水平、认知能力和数学素养的目的。     

教育经验主义现象批判

在教育生活实践中,存在着执着于个人有限的经验,进而遮蔽事情的整全,或者对自身之外的有限经验痴迷与崇拜,从而视局部经验为普遍真知,这就是所谓的教育经验主义现象。教育经验主义现象就其表征来说,主要有人们对局部经验的趋之若鹜、对教育理论的简单轻视和对方法、技术的情感偏执;教育经验主义现象的根源,主要在于教育经验对教育实践者具有亲和力,而教育理论又过度学术化,说到底是教育理论和教育实践运行着不同的逻辑。教育经验主义现象显然阻碍了教育实践境界的提升,对教育研究也产生了消极的作用。为了消解这一现象,教育研究者需要揭示教育经验的局限,自觉改变教育研究的形象,并探究教育理论与教育实践两种逻辑的会通。