Different discourses,discourses of difference: Globalisation,distance education and open learning

Post‐Fordism and globalisation are trends in the contemporary world in which the role of the market and consumer are given greater centrality. It has been argued that these trends have consequences of spreading ‘Western’ lifestyles and values around the globe, encouraging cultural uniformity, while also giving greater importance to senses of the local and place, encouraging cultural difference. Drawing on Foucault's notion of discourse, this paper suggests these trends are found also in changing theories of distance education and open learning. It is argued that notions of distance education are part of the trend towards uniformity under conditions of globalisation, while those of open learning are part of the trend encouraging difference and diversity. The discussion is situated within contemporary debates about the modern and postmodern.     

Globalisation,Effectiveness and Improvement

It is argued that globalisation is imposing pressures upon the nature of education, internationally. A case is made that school effectiveness research has contributed to these global pressures but should be concerned to establish more knowledge about the complex interactions between culture and schooling. A series of questions are asked about the extent to which schools of the future should be different from historic models, and about the potentially important role of educational researchers in furthering education advance and building a more just society.     

Globalisation,the Learning Society and Comparative Education

Extending the logic of industrialism thesis, it is argued here that the world now has a global infrastructure, information technology empowered by those who control capital. Globalisation has resulted in the development of learning societies as a superstructural phenomenon. Four dimensions of the learning society are analysed in this article and the implications of these are explored for the study of comparative education. The thesis of the article is that the field of comparatives is broader than education itself, and that reasons for comparative studies have changed little since early adult education comparativists met in 1966 and agreed on a number of major themes.     

日本产学研合作新体系评述

20世纪90年代是日本经济发展停滞的十年,转变经济增长方式势在必行。此时,日本将科技创新、走原创之路确定为基本国策,将建立政府搭台、校企唱戏的合作关系确定为落实基本国策的有效途径。抓住搭建转化平台、强化合作机制、实施绩效评估三大环节,突出政府提供服务、高校致力转化、社会实施监督等工作重点,不断进行结构调整和制度创新,产生了一定的显性效果,极大地推动了基本国策的实施进程,值得我们研究与借鉴。     

Globalisation,the State and Education Policy in Singapore

This paper explores the concept of globalisation and educational policy making in the context of a recently developed ‘strong state’, Singapore. It suggests both the need to clarify the concept of globalisation from such concepts as dependency and centre-periphery and to avoid overly deterministic accounts of the influence of global trends on education policy making. An analysis is provided of policy initiatives in Singapore between 1979 and 1991 located within state-based imperatives to respond to both global and state-centric challenges.     

Restructuring Teacher Education,the National Interest and Globalisation

This paper argues that the repositioning of Asian countries as new ‘centres’ for world trade and commerce and the transformation of Australian society and economy to accord with this global consolidation, includes a general restructuring of all levels of Australia's ‘education industry’ and specifically the (re)forming of its initial teacher and professional‐education programmes. The need for such reformation arises in part from the restructuring of the work of teaching based on a broader definition of the people and educational settings that are involved in the teaching/learning process, a reworking of this teaching/learning process, the higher status given to certain substantive areas of study, such as languages other than English, and the management of education along corporatist lines. This paper suggests further that teacher‐education programmes should also provide students with the resources to critically analyse these changes, giving consideration to issues such as identity, the impact of new technologies on culture and learning, the use of language in promoting particular discourses, and the repositioning of education as a tool for economic reform.     

Self-regulated learning and the role of ePortfolios in business studies

Students’ work in ePortfolios was assessed through a case study supported by observation techniques and eQuestionnaires to gather data from a sample of eighty students over a period of 4 years (20 students per academic year). The main purpose of the study was to explore whether ePortfolios can be used efficiently to support the learning process of postgraduate business students taking a course where finance modules were a major component. The use, role and learning value of integrating ePortfolios into the learning process in a higher education institution was analysed over the period of study. The empirical findings suggest that ePortfolios could be used to facilitate and enhance students’ self-regulated learning. Additionally, the role of the instructor was found to be fundamental during early stages of the learning process to guide and coach students on how to use the tool. This role diminished as students became familiar with the course requirements. Overall, students judged the ePortfolio as being positive to their education, noting a significant improvement in their learning experience when compared to a traditional learning approach. The evidence suggests that ePortfolios could be used to support technical and complex modules in a controlled environment. At the same time, ePortfolios were found to be flexible enough to give students creative space by helping them to integrate their own ideas and views through their learning process. Students were also able to offer their instructors feedback on their learning achievements.     

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education – This paper examines policy documents produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the European Union (EU) in the field of adult education and learning. Both these entities address adult education as an explicit object of policy. This paper investigates how globalisation processes are constructed as policy problems when these transnational political agents propose adult education as a response. The author’s main argument is that while UNESCO presents the provision of adult education as a means for governments worldwide to overcome disadvantages experienced by their own citizenry, the EU institutionalises learning experiences as a means for governments to sustain regional economic growth and political expansion. After reviewing the literature on globalisation to elucidate the theories that inform current understanding of contemporary economic, political, cultural and ecological changes as political problems, she presents the conceptual and methodological framework of her analysis. The author then examines the active role played by UNESCO and the EU in promoting adult education as a policy objective at transnational level, and unpacks the specific problem “representations” that are substantiated by these organisations. She argues that UNESCO and EU processes assign specific values and meanings to globalisation, and that these reflect a limited understanding of the complexity of globalisation. Finally, she considers two of the effects produced by these problem representations.     

Globalisation,knowledge economy and comparative education

This paper seeks to introduce this special issue by setting out what seem to be some of the major theoretical and methodological issues raised for comparative education by the increasing prominence of the discourses of the knowledge economy, which, it is argued, represent a particularly strong version of globalisation and its possible relationships to education systems, and hence an especially acute challenge to comparative education. It focuses on the possible implications of these changes for each of the three elements of ‘national education system’. In terms of the ‘national’ it discusses the nature and consequences of methodological nationalism, and emphasises the emerging pluri‐scalar nature of the governance of education. In terms of ‘education’, it argues that education is now being asked to do different things in different ways, rather than the same things in different ways. In terms of ‘system’, it is suggested that the constitution of education sectors may be in the process of changing, with a development of parallel sectors at different scales with different responsibilities. Overall, the article suggests that we may be witnessing the development of a new functional, scalar and sectoral (non zero sum) division of the labour of educational governance. Finally, it addresses the question ‘what is now to be compared’ and considers the consequences for both ‘explaining’ and ‘learning’ through comparative education.     

Globalisation and education

This paper analyses the links between globalisation and education. The growth of the global economy has increased opportunities for those countries with good levels of education, but has made growth more difficult for countries with weak levels of education. Countries with good human resources, high savings and good economic policies (chiefly in East and Southeast Asia) have attracted foreign investment and technology, and have experienced fast growth in exports of manufactures and in output per capita. Developed countries find it increasingly difficult to compete with such economies unless they invest in good education, training and skills, leading to high rates of innovation and productivity. Countries with weak levels of human resources have found it more difficult to succeed—and many, especially in Africa, have experienced falling per capita incomes. Globalisation has made it more difficult to build up educational levels in these countries, as public expenditure has been cut during adjustment. Hence virtuous and vicious cycles of development have emerged, with a good spread of education leading to high growth and generating resources for further development of education and, conversely, countries with poor human resources having low or negative growth and reduced potential for building up their educational systems.     

Globalisation,the challenge of educational synchronisation and teacher education

In this article, we set out from the challenge that globalising synchronisation – usually exemplified by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Bank initiatives – presents for education to argue that the time–space compression effected by globalisation must educationally be dealt with with caution, critical vigilance and a broadening of educational theoretical outlooks. We focus on the demands this raises upon the teacher as a researcher and a critical thinker and claim that meeting such demands presupposes some curricular enrichment of teacher education. We suggest two theoretical frameworks that can effect such enrichment and be made relevant to a critique of the globalising educational synchronisation, namely, the charge of developmentalism and the capabilities approach (Sen, Nussbaum) to equality. We conclude with some indications of the need for a reformulated notion of cosmopolitanism that should be contrasted with those globalising practices that often appear in cosmopolitan guise.     

浅谈经贸英语专业学生文学学习现状

本文就经贸英语专业学生文学学习现状进行问卷调查,收回有效问卷218份。调查结果显示,经贸英语专业学生学习文学的动机处于良性状态,英语文学首选的体裁是小说,读书依然是文学学习的主要方式,英美文学作为必修课是完全必要的。调查结果对英美文学课的教学乃至整个英语教学都具有重要的启发意义。     

The contribution of reflective learning to experiential learning in business education

Abstract

Experiential learning theory states that reflection is just as important to learning as action. However, business educators often overlook reflection in their experiential learning activities, especially when it’s understood as a dialogue process. Drawing on reflective learning theory, we explored the case of an undergraduate business programme that has been combining experiential learning with three different reflective learning mechanisms for the past ten years. Results show that: (1) reflective dialogue is central for ensuring that impressions from experience translate into better-defined learning outcomes, (2) this dialogue process greatly benefits from a closely guided process, and (3) different reflection mechanisms contribute differently to the learning process. Considering how fast experiential learning has popularised in business schools, this study alerts educators to the importance of combining their experiential learning activities with a guided process of reflection. Otherwise, educators risk students extracting meagre, wrong or misleading impressions from their experience.     

Attitudes to computer-assisted learning amongst business and management students

Computer‐assisted learning (CAL) is becoming ever more important as a method of teaching and facilitating learning in an increasingly overburdened higher education sector in the UK. A number of authors have made pleas for more evaluation and research in the area of CAL. This study set out to evaluate the attitudes to CAL amongst over 300 business and management undergraduates using a questionnaire survey. The survey revealed a positive disposition towards CAL irrespective of age, gender or educational background. In addition respondents were asked to compare the features of CAL with those of other more traditional methods of teaching and learning. Two factors were identified, labelled CAL ‘instructional’ features and CAL ‘tutorial’ features. The instructional features of CAL were rated more highly than its tutorial features. Respondents rated CAL as better than traditional methods in terms of its instructional features and about the same as traditional methods in terms of its tutorial features. Younger respondents rated the instructional features of CAL more highly than did the older respondents. The findings were discussed in terms of their implications for the use of CAL in an expanding system of mass higher education.