Educational research at international level: Features,expectations and limitations

This paper offers a short review of the major characteristics and limitations of international educational research institutions. One of the major concerns of the paper is to constrast the role of international vis à vis national institutions in educational research. The complementarity of international and national institutions is manifested in the selection of topics, application of approaches, use of methods and organisation of work usually applied in international research programmes, but rarely used in national projects. The article concludes by drawing attention to the fact that the variety of international research institutions alone cannot satisfy evolving needs in the educational field, but should be accompanied by sufficient flexibility for continuous adaptation.

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Zusammenfassung Dieses Papier bietet eine kurze Übersicht über die Hauptcharakteristika und Beschränkungen internationaler pädagogischer Forschungsinstitute. Eines der Hauptanliegen dieses Beitrags ist es, die Rolle der internationalen den nationalen Institutionen gegenüberzustellen. Internationale und nationale Institutionen ergänzen sich; das zeigt sich insbesondere in der Auswahl der Themen, Anwendung der Forschungsansätze, und dem Gebrauch von Methoden und Arbeitsorganisation, die gewöhnlich in internationalen Forschungsprogrammen angewendet werden, aber in nationalen Projekten kaum zu verwirklichen sind. Der Artikel weist schliesslich darauf hin, dass die Vielfalt der internationalen Forschungsinstitute allein die sich im pädagogischen Bereich entwickelnden Bedürfnisse nicht befriedigen kann, sondern dass gleichzeitig genügend Flexibilität zur dauernden Anpassung vorhanden sein muss.

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Résumé Ce document présente un aperçu sur les caractéristiques majeures et les limites des institutions internationales de recherche en éducation. L'un des soucis essentiels de ce document est de mettre en contraste le rôle des institutions internationales vis-à-vis des institutions nationales de recherche en éducation. La complémentarité de ces deux genres d'institutions se manifeste dans le choix des sujets, l'application des approches, l'usage des méthodes et l'organisation du travail suivis habituellement dans les programmes de recherches internationales, mais difficilement réalisables dans les projets nationaux. En conclusion, l'article attire l'attention sur le fait que la variété même des institutions internationales de recherche ne peut pas satisfaire aux besoins se manifestant progressivement dans le domaine éducatif, mais devrait être stimulée par une souplesse suffisante pour une adaptation continue.

     

Environmental learning in regions: a social capital based approach. The case of Latvia

How do people learn about the environment and behave accordingly? What is the cognitive process at the base of this learning mechanism? The present paper is a pilot work investigating the dynamics of individual environmental knowledge on the basis of social capital theory. Using Tsai and Ghoshal’s findings, a well known framework widely accepted in organizational studies which supports the existence of a relationship between structural, relational and cognitive dimensions of social capital, and between social capital and knowledge exchange, these dynamics are then tested in the context of environmental behaviour studies. The quantitative analysis is carried out by means of a structural equation model based on data collected in the Republic of Latvia. Results support main theoretical hypotheses, but several effects are found to be highly sensitive to control variables (residence place dimensions, ethnic affiliation, age, personal income), leading to hypothesise a strong dependency of environmental learning patterns on the socio-demographic, socio-economic and cognitive context.     

Rapid inertial solution exchange for enrichment and flow cytometric detection of microvesicles

Exosomes, nanosized membrane-bound vesicles released by cells, play roles in cell signaling, immunology, virology, and oncology. Their study, however, has been hampered by difficulty in isolation and quantification due to their size and the complexity of biological samples. Conventional approaches to improved isolation require specialized equipment and extensive sample preparation time. Therefore, isolation and detection methods of exosomes will benefit biological and clinical studies. Here, we report a microfluidic platform for inline exosome isolation and fluorescent detection using inertial manipulation of antibody-coated exosome capture beads from biological fluids.     

International dimension in engineering education

Engineers of the 21st century will spend appreciable portions of their careers in environments rich with global connections. Therefore, engineering colleges and universities must develop strategies that provide the global perspectives and international experiences that will help their graduates excel in this new world order. The current paper presents some European and American approaches to creating multi-organizational, international partnerships of academic and industrial organizations that emphasize collaborative educational programmes and research efforts that meet the globalization needs of faculty members, students, and industry.     

工程教育的全球合作

Erasmus主题网络(Erasmus Thematic Networks)已经成功地为欧洲高等教育的发展做出了贡献:取得了若干重要成果,同时也指出了不久的将来所面临的挑战。这些成果和挑战包括:完成博洛尼亚进程、在工程教育领域发展和推广欧洲互认机制(例如EUR-ACE)、保护大学的自主权、吸引最优秀的年轻人参与工程研究、提供好的终身学习(LLL)机会、在不降低科学和技术学习水平的前提下扩展非技术技能的内容、加强企业和大学在教育问题上的合作。欧洲工程教育肯定要越过老欧洲大陆的界限,以确保质量和提高其对整个大西洋地区和新兴经济体的吸引力为目标。在不久的未来,欧洲学术网络必将向全世界开放,与全球的学者、学生、工业界和专业人士合作。我们已经通过国际工程教育学会联盟(IFEES)为这样的合作提供了一把保护伞,以期为这个目标提供良好的服务。即使这些任务看上去似乎已经很令人欣慰了,但是仍然不够。基于总体成本效益比而不只是GDP增长的分析,使我们有了更长远的眼光,我们还应考虑工程教育其他方面的重要因素,并且克服在科学/技术文化和人文文化之间固有的鸿沟。从社会和环境的角度看,如果工程教育希望为维护整个地球的良好状况做出贡献,这...     

Educational research at international level: Features, expectations and limitations

This paper offers a short review of the major characteristics and limitations of international educational research institutions. One of the major concerns of the paper is to constrast the role of international vis à vis national institutions in educational research. The complementarity of international and national institutions is manifested in the selection of topics, application of approaches, use of methods and organisation of work usually applied in international research programmes, but rarely used in national projects. The article concludes by drawing attention to the fact that the variety of international research institutions alone cannot satisfy evolving needs in the educational field, but should be accompanied by sufficient flexibility for continuous adaptation.