The university of the future: Stiegler after Derrida

Abstract

Higher education has not been spared from the effects of the disruptive aspects of technology. MOOCs, teach bots, virtual learning platforms, and Wikipedia are among technics marking a digital transformation of knowledge. The question of the university, the foundation of its authority and purpose is more than timely; it is urgent to any future philosophy of higher education. Will the university survive in the future and if so, for what purpose? We examine two philosophers, Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler, who take on this challenge. Derrida, writing at ‘the scene of teaching’, proposes new humanities for a university ‘without condition’, one with increasing autonomy to democratize it further. Stiegler takes issue with him on the conditions of the university of the future. Stiegler offers not an ‘anti-Derridian discourse’ but a ‘deconstruction of a deconstruction’ of Derrida. Stiegler’s critique of Derrida on the role of the professoriate and the university of the future expand the fissure between them. In this article, we argue that Stiegler’s reading of Derrida points to the university not as an anachronistic way of knowing displaced by the digital revolution but as vital to a politics of the spirit in a democratic future.     

Piaget's theory and the teaching of arithmetic

Conclusion For centuries, education has been a folk art based on tradition and opinions called philosophies. With the advent of associationism and behaviourism, however, education began to enter a scientific era. Now that we have Piaget's constructivism—a more adequate scientific theory—it is time to change the way arithmetic is taught in elementary schools.I hope educators and researchers in other countries will also experiment in classrooms to test the hypothesis that I tested. Because logico-mathematical knowledge is universal and the same in all cultures, I expect the same kinds of results in other countries.Constructivist teaching is much harder than the teaching of algorithms and correcting of worksheets. However, in spite of this difficulty, an increasing number of teachers in the United States are becoming convinced of the truth of Piaget's constructivism. When these teachers encounter children's originality and intelligence that they have not observed before, they are truly overjoyed. Once they have seen the possibility that exists in each child, these teachers do not think of going back to their old ways of teaching.Constance Kamii studied under Jean Piaget, Barbel Inhelder and Hermina Sinclair in the late 1960s and during the 1970s and subsequently developed a pre-school curriculum based on Piaget's theory. She later extended this work to mathematics education in the first three grades and is now working at the fourth and fifth grade level. She has taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the University of Geneva, and is now a professor of education at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, in the United States.I am grateful to Janice K. Ewing for critically reading a draft of this paper and making helpful suggestions.     

Anatomical Sciences Education Vol. 4, Issue 5, 2011 Cover Image

Drawing session from an art and anatomy workshop for medical students at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and art students at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A current trend in medical education is to integrate aspects of the humanities into the medical school curriculum. In this issue of ASE, Dr. Charleen Moore and her colleagues describe an art and anatomy workshop that uses drawing exercises to increase observational skills, to foster the development of humanistic sensitivities, and to emphasize the emotional aspects of dealing with mortality. (Photograph by Penelope Borchers).     

Place-Based Stewardship Education: Nurturing Aspirations to Protect the Rural Commons

In this mixed-methods study, we examine the potential of place-based stewardship education (PBSE) for nurturing rural students’ community attachment and aspirations to contribute to the preservation of the environmental “commons.” Analyzing pre- and post-experience surveys (n = 240) and open-ended responses (n = 275) collected from middle school students in a Northeast Michigan school district, we found significant increases in students’ environmental sensitivity, environmentally responsible behaviors, community attachment, and confidence in their capacities for civic action. Analyses of open-ended responses pointed to the potential of PBSE to nurture students’ identification with their community and to increase their commitment to stewardship of their community's natural resources. This study makes a unique contribution to the literature on rural schools by focusing on the environmental commons and younger generations’ commitments to preserve it as an asset of rural communities. By linking students’ learning with collective action to preserve the environmental commons, PBSE can expand students’ aspirations for the kind of world they want to live in and the roles they might play in it.     

Metabolic cost of stride rate, resistance, and combined use of arms and legs on the elliptical trainer

We measured the effects of stride rate, resistance, and combined arm-leg use on energy expenditure during elliptical trainer exercise and assessed the accuracy of the manufacturer's energy expenditure calculations. Twenty-six men and women (M age = 29 years, SD = 8; M body weight = 73. 0 kg, SD = 15.2) participated. Twenty-two participants performed two tests, one without the arm poles (leg-only) and the other with arm poles (combined arm-leg). The other 4 participants performed one test without the arm poles. Both tests consisted of six 5-min stages (two stride rates, 110 and 134 stridesmin-1, and three resistance settings: 2, 5, and 8). Steady-state oxygen uptake (VO2), minute ventilation (VE), heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured. Repeated measures analysis of variance determined higher (p <. 001) VO2, VE, and RPE, but not HR, during combined arm-leg versus leg-only exercise at any given intensity. Increases in stride rate and resistance increased VO2, VE, RPE, and HR with the greatest effect on VE and HR from Levels 5 to 8. The manufacturer's calculated energy expenditure was overestimated during both tests. Although the oxygen cost for elliptical trainer exercise was calculated to be approximately 0.1 mlxkg(-1) per stride and 0.7 mlxkg(-1) min-1 per resistance level, VO2 varied widely among individuals, possibly due to differences in experience using the elliptical trainer gender, and body composition. The elliptical trainer offers (a) a variety of intensities appropriate for most individuals and (b) both arm and leg exercise. Due to the wide variability in VO2, predicting the metabolic cost during elliptical trainer exercise for an individual is not appropriate.     

Interpretation of the PPVT-R: A pure measure of verbal comprehension?

The present study examined WISC-R scale, factor, and subtest scores in relationship to PPVT-R standard scores in order to test hypotheses regarding abilities measured by the PPVT-R. For a naturally occurring sample of rural children referred for assessment (N = 51), the results of direct and stepwise regression analyses indicated that, while verbal comprehension abilities may contribute most to successful performance on the PPVT-R, perceptual organization abilities also play a significant though less substantial role in the child's performance on the PPVT-R. While Vocabulary scaled scores accounted for 63% of the variance, addition of Object Assembly and Picture Arrangement scaled scores accounted for an additional 11% of the observed variance in PPVT-R performance. Students for whom the PPVT-R overestimated WISC-R Full Scale performance differed significantly from students for whom the PPVT-R underestimated their WISC-R performance only on the WISC-R Arithmetic subtest. Implications for interpretation of the PPVT-R are discussed.     

The Library of the Royal Society of Physicians in Budapest becomes today's Semmelweis Medical History Library

Objectives:

The 170-year history of the library of the Royal Society of Medicine in Budapest illustrates both that political and cultural context matter and that “medical” libraries, if they survive, in due course become primarily “medical history” libraries.

Methods:

Two of the authors are on the staff of the Semmelweis Medical History Library; the third is a US scholar who makes frequent use of the library. Together, they avail themselves of archival and published materials—and personal experience with the collection—to establish the context that produced the original library, trace its evolution, and describe its present-day incarnation.

Results:

A tale of transformation emerges that reflects how collections are likely to change. The authors present events and individuals in the life of the Royal Society''s library and paint a picture of the value of today''s Semmelweis Medical History Library. Unique treasures in the collection are described.

Conclusion:

The story told here is of how a particular nineteenth-century library became a twenty-first–century institution. The authors establish its peculiarly Hungarian context and potential value to librarians and historians from outside Hungary. The overall message is that general medical libraries everywhere are perforce likely to become medical historical libraries over time.

Highlights

• Context matters. The historical background of a library helps determine its functions and its future; shifts in modes of publishing affect and monetary concerns shape the development and preservation of an historical collection.
• Libraries evolve. Medical libraries undergo a normal and profoundly useful transformation over time into repositories of medical history.
• Books alone do not a library make: Libraries can and should be settings for continuing education, cultural affirmation, and assistance to scholars by preserving and making available for use a variety of sometimes rare archival and published materials.

Implications

• Knowing the political and cultural background of a library is essential to understanding its history as well as its present-day status.
• Preserving and expanding historical collections demands vigilance and creative management, especially under difficult fiscal and political circumstances. The loyal and diligent work of Hungarians and others who helped build and preserve this library can serve as a model for other threatened collections.
• Sharing the story of a relatively unknown library''s development brings its general assets and unique resources to the attention of a wider audience of librarians and scholars. Few outside Hungary have previously had any way of knowing about the Semmelweis Medical History Library''s rich holdings.