Entrepreneurial learning as experienced by agricultural graduate entrepreneurs

Developing entrepreneurial graduates is essential to the future of higher education and supply of quality human resources in developing countries. To address this issue in the agriculture sector, which is dominant in economic terms in most developing countries, an exploratory combined qualitative and quantitative research was conducted to understand entrepreneurial learning of agricultural graduate entrepreneurs. For the phenomenological study, 14 agricultural graduate entrepreneurs were purposely selected, and for the quantitative study, 92 entrepreneurs were selected through simple random sampling method. The phenomenological study revealed 12 themes on how graduates experienced entrepreneurial learning. Our study finds support for “experiential learning,” “learning by doing,” and “social learning” theories. Nine themes including previous business experience, risk-taking propensity, entrepreneurial persistence, use of various information sources, tendency to be self-employed, concerns about job or career, interest in practical courses and activities, passion for agriculture, and thinking outside the box are internal to the entrepreneur and could be seen as learner identity. The theme of “support from family and friends” could be seen as a significant external influence. The survey showed that entrepreneurial learning themes were generalizable to the studied population. Although different students can take different learning paths to become the best they can be, our findings suggest that the overall student learning experience can be designed to ensure that graduates are more likely to become entrepreneurs.     

Training for lifestyle entrepreneurs

Many developed countries have issues with the movement of populations away from rural areas. There has been an active move towards ‘value adding’ in rural areas, and in particular, the development of tourism activities, to counter this trend. The purpose of this paper is to document the curriculum development process that was engaged in, in the design, delivery and outcomes of a programme designed to encourage and equip rural entrepreneurs to extend into the tourism and hospitality industries. These entrepreneurs operate in Hedmark Region of Norway and the training took place in Brisbane, Australia. The development and delivery of the training programme took place in Norway and Australia. The methodology is qualitative and it is hoped the research will lead to a longitudinal study of the impact of lifestyle entrepreneurs on local economic development in rural areas. The action research process that was engaged in means that the entrepreneurs are active participants in the research, and the quality of their feedback and willingness to discuss their changed behaviour are critical to both evaluating the impact of the programme and the potential for further study on the economic impact of their activities. The development process and the nature of the curriculum used for these entrepreneurs may well provide insights into effective training for lifestyle entrepreneurs in other contexts. The participants were asked to evaluate the programme immediately on its conclusion and six months after the programme when they were interviewed in their place of operation.     

Learning as Transformation

Journal of Science Education and Technology -     

搜索就是学习

每天早晨,步入办公室。启动电脑之后,人们通常都会做些什么呢？登陆QQ,看看朋友们说了些什么;打开邮箱,检查一下今天有什么往来邮件要处理;访问“鲜果”、“抓虾”,查阅一遍自己订阅的博客和新闻有那些更新;转到Google日历,看看今天自己有那些事情在什么时候需要去处理;走进自己的博客,关注一下访客的留言,更新自己的博文;     

The returns to education for opportunity entrepreneurs,necessity entrepreneurs,and paid employees

We assess the relevance of formal education on the productivity of the self-employed, distinguishing between opportunity entrepreneurs, who voluntarily pursue a business opportunity, and necessity entrepreneurs, who lack alternative employment options. We expect differences in the returns to education between these groups due to different levels of control over the use of their human capital. The analysis employs the German Socio-Economic Panel and accounts for the endogeneity of education and non-random selection. Results indicate that the returns to a year of education for opportunity entrepreneurs are similar to the paid employees’ rate of 8.8%, but 3 percentage points lower for necessity entrepreneurs. Pooling the two types of entrepreneurs tends to understate the value of education for opportunity entrepreneurs and may spark misguided hopes concerning necessity entrepreneurs. The results may also partly explain Europe/US differences in average entrepreneurial returns.     

小议二语习得中的学习策略与外语教学

学习策略是近年国外应用语言学家广泛研究的课题之一,特别是在成功语言学习者使用策略研究方面取得了一定的成果。主要从成功者学习策略的分类,使用策略的特点、影响因素、策略培训等方面评析这一领域已取得的成果。为适应我国外语教育的特点,我国教育工作者应在此基础上结合具体实际,开展具有中国特色的学习策略研究,进行外语教学改革。     

Using Films as Learning Tool

Most people would agree that watching movies is one of their favorite free-time activities. We often thind of movies as fun entertainmeng,but have you ever considered that movies can also be used to help us learn? Viewing English movies is a great way to help English students improve theie overall language skills. The most important thing to consider is how you watch the movie. Here are a few suggestions that should help you as you watch your favorite English film.     

Retirement as a Learning Process

This article draws upon a major qualitative empirical research investigation in Great Britain to explore the relationships between retirement and learning. Though retirement is frequently viewed as an event leading to a life stage, our data show that it can perhaps be best understood as a lengthy process. This process begins well before actual retirement in most cases, and it continues well after any symbolic retirement event. Through this process of change, it is common for persons to be retired by one definition but not by another. The article shows that if we adopt recent understandings of learning as a process of becoming—incorporating informal as well as formal learning—then retirement is a process and learning is an inevitable, integral part of that process. We conclude by suggesting some implications that follow from understanding retirement in this way.     

Learning as a Generative Process

A cognitive model of human learning with understanding is introduced. Empirical research supporting the model, which is called the generative model, is summarized. The model is used to suggest a way to integrate some of the research in cognitive development, human learning, human abilities, information processing, and aptitude-treatment interactions around the notion of transfer of experience and abilities.     

浅论企业家精神

企业家精神是指在一个公正的市场环境中企业家自发形成的在生产经营方面有目的的创新活动与道德行为原则的总称。培育和倡导这种精神，能为企业家的不断进步提供精神动力。本文从七个方面分析和描述了现代社会中企业家精神的特征。     

Learning to Mentor as Learning a Second Language of Teaching

This paper describes and interprets the process by which two novice mentors of English teachers, who are experienced high school teachers of English, learnt to construe their new role by articulating differences and similarities between their practice as teachers of children and as mentors of teachers. The evolving competencies that the focal mentors attributed to their learning are interpreted through the metaphor of 'learning to mentor as learning a second language of teaching'; an organising framework that emerged from the findings of a qualitative case study that investigated the learning process experienced by two veteran teachers of English in their passage from teaching English to school children to becoming mentors of teachers of English (Orland, 1997). The study suggests that although the passage from being a teacher of children to becoming a teacher of teachers is shaped by strong emotional and motivational dispositions, it is also a highly conscious and gradual process of developing communicative competencies, whereby the mentor learns to redefine his/her context of teaching in order to make sense of his/her new context of mentoring. At an operational level the study indicates that there is a definite need to prepare teachers for this passage by providing opportunities to voice and articulate these connections in teacher education programmes.     

中国顶级企业家之“后事”

有道是"君子之泽,五世而斩"、"富不过三代",正在红火的中国顶级企业家们在市场大舞台上纵横捭阖十数年而不倒,但打下江山的创始人终会老去,这是无法抗拒的自然规律,随着他们黄昏年龄的即将到来,退休已不可避免,他们开创的霸业盛世在下一代手上能支     

University presidents as policy entrepreneurs: Evidence from U.S. universities engaged in prestige behaviour

This article examines how university presidents who led their institutions to achieve Carnegie “R1 Highest Research Activity” managed policy tensions created by prestige priorities and worked with groups and coalitions internally and externally. Striving to achieve R1 status requires U.S. universities to re-calibrate their focus, resources, and messaging both internally and externally. Using four elements of policy entrepreneurship (PE), the three cases included in this article illustrate the critical role of university presidents as PE in maintaining a sustained effort over an extended period. University leaders displayed their social acuity and built teams by cultivating their social and political capital with influential constituents and groups. As PE, university presidents were deliberate and thoughtful about the language they used to define and describe policy problems and solutions. The findings expand our understanding of the role of university presidents as PE.     

论高职院校的公共学习社区功能

高职院校建设公共学习社区是正向处理高校四大职能后的位移,在U型理论指导下建设区域协同创新中心是高职院校的制度安排。制度设计过程中,要关注三大力量,适应发展的新环境;要着眼于培育四大特性,应对发展的新要求;要着力于建设三大共同体,协同社区幸福美好发展。