Emergence of informal educative space out of an anonymous online bulletin board in Korea during the global economic crisis

This study aimed to understand how people learn and teach informally in an anonymous online bulletin board, the primary purpose of which is not learning and teaching. We conducted a qualitative analysis of comments and replies tagged to the most popular postings of an anonymous online bulletin board, during the global economic crisis in 2008–2009. The bulletin board, Agora Economy Room, is housed in the Korean portal site, Daum. We found four interrelated collective activities—recognizing teaching presence, collaborating, labeling, and guarding—among the participants that made active informal learning and teaching possible. These activities had an effect on the characteristics of the emerging informal educative space in different ways. A conceptual map of the findings of this study is discussed as a conclusion.     

A Hundred Years of Peter Pan

The centenary of the first performance of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan was celebrated in December 2004. Taking account of the various events in Britain to mark the occasion—newspaper articles, radio and television programmes, retrospects in the original theatre—this article examines the status and popularity of Peter Pan after a hundred years. The article traces the double story of Peter Pan—the play itself, and the biographical narrative of those events in Barrie’s life that led to and succeeded its creation—and examines the two recent films, Peter Pan (2003) and Finding Neverland (2004) as examples of fresh approaches to both life and work in the centenary year.Peter Hollindale retired in 1999 as Reader in English at the University of York. He edited ‘Peter Pan and Other Plays’, and an edition of ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ and ‘Peter and Wendy’, both for the Oxford University Press World’s Classics series He is author of the critical study ’Signs of Childness in Children’s Books’.     

Micropolitical literacy: reconstructing a neglected dimension in teacher development

Teachers’ professional learning takes place in an organisational context, in which issues of power, influence, and control can play an important part. In this article, we argue that learning how to deal with these inevitable micropolitical aspects of their work lives, constitutes an important dimension in teachers’ professional development and needs to be included in any appropriate theory on teacher development. We describe this ‘political’ learning process as the development of micropolitical literacy. Although the development of micropolitical literacy may be stimulated and intensified by particular policy measures or reforms, as a learning process it starts at the very beginning of the teacher career. Using the micropolitical perspective as a theoretical framework, we will illustrate this by presenting the results of an interpretative analysis of one primary teacher's story about his first years in teaching.     

University entrepreneurship in a developing country: The case of the P. Universidad Católica de Chile, 1985–2000

Privatization in higher education is usually understood either as the surge of private institutions or as universities’ growing reliance on private sources of funding or otherwise operating more like firms. Joining the growing literature on university entrepreneurship, this is a case study on the less examined problem of entrepreneurial universities in developing countries. In a period of roughly 15 years, the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile, founded in 1888, turned itself from a mostly teaching institution to a research-oriented university, responsible for one-fourth of the Chile’s mainstream scientific output and 40% of all Ph.D.s awarded nationally. Yet, public funding represents today only 17% of its revenues, down from almost 90% in 1972. How such academic development could have occurred as the State withdrew and the market took hold of Chilean higher education after the reforms introduced by the military rule of Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990) is the theme of this work. Universidad Católica’s policies and strategies are described, and the factors contributing to its success, together with their limitations, identified. The case suggests that orientation to the market can be more a means for survival and growth under the pressure of privatization, than a result of a ‘Triple Helix’ strategy of universities, government and industry to generate innovation out of academic knowledge. Secondly, while in the industrialized world, higher education entrepreneurship is associated with knowledge production for economic development (‘Mode 2’), entrepreneurial universities in the context of developing countries may just be finding their way to the academic, disciplinary mode of research.     

Issues of relevance in Kenyan mathematics and science curricula

Are ‘Mathematics’ and ‘Science’ such universal notions that one curriculum can serve equally well in all societies, subject only to exemplification from local circumstances? Or do different human cultures construct and use ‘Mathematics’ and ‘Science’ so differently that each culture needs to construct its own curriculum to teach its own children? At issue is whether curricula developed in industrialised states can be readily transferred or adapted to developing countries.Taking as its starting point the fates of the Scools Mathematics and the Schools Science Projects in Kenya, — both adaptations of British models, — this paper reviews the research addressed to these questions. Its conclusion is that definitive answers are not yet possible. Nevertheless, what evidence there is seems to question the possibilities of transferability or even of simple adaptation.     

Schooling for the future in United States of America: Educational policy at the crossroads

A purposive sample of 10 senior educational policy leaders was interviewed for this Phase 2 of the study from across the US. Interview participants argued the need for: (1) more clearly defining the purpose and value of public education to the communities served; (2) the development of new stakeholder partnerships to accomplish this end; (3) visionary leadership to bring different and sometimes polarized groups together around the need for a quality system of public education; and (4) attracting the very best college graduates to a career of teaching as a professional. If these were accomplished, then the prospects for the favored ‘re-schooling’ scenarios becoming ‘best practice’ would improve greatly.     

Teachers’ emotions in educational reforms: Self-understanding, vulnerable commitment and micropolitical literacy

Based on narrative-biographical work with teachers, the author argues that teachers’ emotions have to be understood in relation to the vulnerability that constitutes a structural condition of the teaching job. Closely linked to this condition is the central role played by teachers’ “self-understanding”—their dynamic sense of identity—in teachers’ actions and their dealing with, for example, the challenges posed by reform agendas. The (emotional) impact of those agendas is mediated by the professional context, that encompasses dimensions of time (age, generation, biography) and of space (the structural and cultural working conditions). Finally, it is argued that the professional and meaningful interactions of teachers with their professional context contains a fundamental political dimension. Emotions reflect the fact that deeply held beliefs on good education are part of teachers’ self-understanding. Reform agendas that impose different normative beliefs may not only trigger intense feelings, but also elicit micropolitical actions of resistance or proactive attempts to influence and change one's working conditions.     

Selectivity in Learning: A Theme in the Application of Whitehead’s Theory of Prehensions to Education

This paper, which is particularly centered on the student’s learning process, is the first half of a detailed study of selectivity in Whitehead’s philosophy of education. Here, by setting forth the analogy between the creative process exhibited in Whitehead’s Theory of Prehensions and the learning process through an interpretation of the term, ‘prehending subject’ as ’learner,’ I argue that selectivity, via ‘negative prehensions,’ is the efficient motive power at work in the process of learning. Various concrete classroom examples of selectivity are alluded to, which lend support to this thesis. With clues from the Aims of Education, by reading the theory of prehensions with some conceptual modifications made for the purposes of education, I present the perspective that, as one side of a logical contrast, Whitehead’s theory of prehensions can be said to be conducive to a critical pedagogy.     

School systems and social equity in western and communist countries: A historical-comparative appraisal

In outlining the problem of this article the author discusses the conceptual relationship between ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ with regard to educational opportunity and to their controversial interpretation in Western and Soviet sources. After a historical retrospective the analysis is focused on the clarification of ‘equality of educational opportunity’, its implementation in school systems and its differentiating definition by James S. Coleman. The recent development characterised by a turn from exaggerated optimism to disillusion is explained by actual events and trends as well as by reference to sociological and genetic works, published in Western and Communist countries.The outline of some essential obstacles to the realisation of equality of educational opportunity paves the way for concluding remarks in which possible ways of overcoming these obstacles (confined to the Western scene) are proposed. They are rooted in the thesis that ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ are less easy to define as objectives than reduction in unjustifiable deficiencies. Stress is laid on the thesis that the concept of equality of educational opportunity through education is in danger of being reduced to a programme of minimal knowledge and the tyranny of meritocratic examination systems, not of humane and individual personalities, potential good citizens. Admitting, therefore, that ‘equity’ deserves to be given priority over ‘equality’ the author concludes by emphasising that efforts to foster equity must not supersede the inclusion of reduction in inequality in educational programmes.     

Components of reading comprehension and scholastic achievement

The aim of this study was to understand whether the reading comprehension process is better explained by a single or by multiple factors. 184 students (9 to 13 years old) were presented with a recently devised battery of tests, that measure ten aspects of reading comprehension. Structural equation modelling showed that a two factors model better accounts for the data compared to a one or a three factors model. Results confirmed the hypothesis which distinguishes between ‘basic’ and ‘complex’ aspects of reading comprehension. The second goal of the study was to analyze the relationship between the two-components model and scholastic achievement. Our results highlighted that the more ‘complex’ aspects of reading comprehension, reflecting some metacognitive knowledge and control processes, are the better predictors of scholastic achievement.     

Should ‘ought’ be taught?

The argument in this paper is that teachers and other education professionals could benefit from the opportunity to develop ethical understanding, in addition to other aspects of professional knowledge. Having first discussed the nature of ethics, the first main section of the paper establishes the case in favour of including ethical education in the initial or ongoing professional learning of teachers. The case focuses particularly on showing the negative effects of the fashionable claim that ‘values are relative or subjective’ which I argue is a key source of confusion for teachers. In the final part of the paper I discuss some of the kinds of consideration about values and ethics that teachers might find useful.     

‘Distance education’ and ‘e-learning’: Not the same thing

This article examines the distinct differences between ‘distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ in higher education settings. Since the emergence of the new information and communication technologies (ICT), many have related to them as the new generation of distance education, and some have referred to their implementation in academia as challenging the very existence of campus-based universities. Many policy makers, scholars and practitioners in higher education use these two terms interchangeably as synonyms. But the fact is that distance education in most higher education systems is not delivered through the new electronic media, and vice versa – e-learning in most universities and colleges all over the world is not used for distance education purposes. ‘Distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ do overlap in some cases, but are by no means identical. The lack of distinction between ‘e-learning’ and ‘distance education’ accounts for much of the misunderstanding of the ICT roles in higher education, and for the wide gap between the rhetoric in the literature describing the future sweeping effects of the ICT on educational environments and their actual implementation. The article examines the erroneous assumptions on which many exaggerated predictions as to the future impact of the ICT were based upon, and it concludes with highlighting the future trends of ‘distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ in academia.     

Professional Communities in the Context of Teachers’ Professional lives: A Case of Mathematics Specialists

We describe an urban school initiative aimed at teachers’ professional development with the goal of increasing their mathematics content knowledge and helping them improve their practice. In the lowest performing schools, mathematics specialists were employed to teach only mathematics in upper-elementary grades (ages 9–12). One aspect of this initiative was a provision of time and space for the formation of site-based professional communities that were intended to support teachers in trying to implement changes in their practice. Teachers’ professional communities developed at some sites and not at others. In this analysis, we explore the conditions that afforded or constrained the development of teachers’ professional communities. Using two contrasting school sites as examples, we describe five aspects of the teachers’ individual and collective professional lives that influenced the emergence of teachers’ professional communities.     

Secular and Koranic literacies in South Asia: From colonisation to contemporary practice

This paper explores the distinction between ‘secular’ and ‘Koranic’ schooling and literacy in South Asia. It begins by tracing an archaeology of the distinction between secular ‘literacy’ and religious ‘illiteracy’. It locates the emergence of the distinction in the colonial census of the 19th century, in the development of ‘English’ education, and the responses within madrasa schools. The second part locates these debates and their on-going importance within a contemporary ethnographic setting. It examines the relevance of the distinction in relation to women's literacy practices. The paper argues that both secular and religious literacy practices are significant for women's status and well-being, and illustrates the centrality of religious reading and learning in Bangladesh. The paper challenges the conventional distinction between religious and secular schooling and literacy, noting their complementary and overlapping nature.     

In search of “the vibe”: Creating effective international education partnerships

In common with universities in the United Kingdom, Canada and NewZealand, increasing numbers of Australian universities have established offshore education partnerships, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. More than one-third of international students currently enrolled in Australian university courses study at a campus in their home country or somewhere other than in Australia (IDP 2002). Suchpartnerships, also assumed under the rubric of ‘transnational education’ and ‘franchising’, add additional challenges, complexities and risks to the roles of international education managers and administrators. Using convergent interviews and case studies, this paper identifies and examines the critical success factors for the successful establishment and development of relationships between Australian universities and their international partners. Critical among these are the development of effective communication structures and frameworks, the building of mutual trust, and the encouragement and demonstration of commitment between relationship partners.     

A selective analysis of empirical findings in networked learning research in higher education: Questing for coherence

In this paper, we have attempted two ambitious tasks. We have undertaken a wide-ranging survey of the Network learning (NL) literature, and tried to identify the emerging themes of this work. We have selected three of these themes, and in each case tried to identify the main theoretical perspectives in use, the main directions of the studies, and the key ideas being addressed and researched. We have also tried to indicate where the main research effort might be directed in order to help to ‘fill in the gaps’ and achieve some coherence for the theme. Our second major task has arisen from our assertion that the field of Networked Learning research is theoretically fragmented. We have argued that this situation arises because Networked Learning research is a new field, and is drawing upon a wide range of theoretical perspectives. However, unless we can achieve some synthesis of these perspectives we may find it difficult to establish a coherent research programme in the field. We argue that one way of developing some coherence is to make theory and praxis interact explicitly, in other words, to ‘converse’ with each other in our research. By this we mean, to use theory to interrogate praxis, and use praxis to modify and develop theory, thus moving towards perspectives that are changing theory, modifying and improving it. As part of this argument, we have briefly surveyed the current level of Theory–Praxis Conversation, either explicit, or implicit, in the thematic research we have described. It is clear that some outstanding work is being done to make theory work, and to modify it in the light of research into praxis. However, it is also the case that much current Networked Learning research does not interrogate the theory that it uses to contextualise it. We see Theory–Praxis Conversation as a way of thinking explicitly about how we might make the work of interrogating theory in our research more explicit and systematic. In this way, our ‘Quest for Coherence’ may, we hope, help Networked Learning research to climb up to the higher ground, and give us a wider ranging view of learning in networked environments.     

‘Scaffolding’ through talk in groupwork learning

In the present study, we develop and deploy a conceptual framework of “scaffolding” in groupwork learning, through the analysis of the pursuit of a learning goal over time. The analysis follows individuals’ different experiences of an interaction as well as collective experiences, considering individual attainment as a result of a bi-directional contextualized conversation and action. We detect, describe and evaluate two (2) types of interaction that can be characterized as “scaffolding process”: the first concerns “Scaffolding individual thinking” and the second “Scaffolding collective thinking”. The latter, apart from presenting the educational advantages of collective thinking through peer discussion (D) and curriculum-focused evaluation context of Teacher Initiation – Student Response – Teacher Follow up (IRF), also presents the advantage of ‘spiral’ verbal exchanges in which the teacher “tunes in” to the students’ present state of ability or understanding (spiral IDRF).     

A Look at the Anatomy Educator Job Market: Anatomists Remain in Short Supply

In 2002, a widely publicized report projected an anatomy educator shortage based on department chairpersons' perceptions. Now, 17 years later, the question lingers: “Does an anatomy educator shortage persist and, if so, how severe is the shortage?” Trends in the number, type, and fill rate of anatomy educator job openings were explored by analyzing job posting in the United States over the past two years. A survey was distributed to leaders of anatomy-related departments in the United States, Canada, and European Union. Most departmental leaders who responded (65% or more) from the United States/Canada (n = 81) and the European Union (n = 52) anticipate they will have “moderate” to “great” difficulty hiring anatomy educators in gross anatomy, histology, and embryology over the next five years. Within the United States, the number of anatomy educator job postings at medical schools more than doubled from at least 21 postings in 2017 to 52 postings in 2018. Twenty-one percent of postings between 2017 and 2018 were never filled. While the number of anatomy educator openings within the United States/Canada is perceived to remain in a steady state for the next five years, the European Union estimates a five-fold increase in the number of openings. Departmental leaders prioritize anatomy educator applicants who have teaching experience (mean ± SD = 4.64 ± 0.84 on five-point Likert scale), versatility in teaching multiple anatomy disciplines (3.93 ± 1.07), and flexibility in implementing various teaching pedagogies (3.69 ± 1.17). Collectively, these data suggest the shortage of anatomy educators continues in the United States/Canada and the European Union.