Nurturing lifelong learning in communities through the National University of Lesotho: prospects and challenges

This paper analyses one aspect of a pan-African action research project called ITMUA (Implementing the Third Mission of Universities in Africa). This particular paper draws on the data from that project to explore the National University of Lesotho’s contribution to lifelong learning in its communities. It provides background information on the ITMUA initiative and analyses interview and focus group responses to two case studies in terms of their contribution to lifelong learning. It uses, as its analytical framework, a modified version of Mbigi’s African perspective on the four De Lors’ ‘pillars’, by adding a fifth pillar, courtesy of Torres. The paper argues that community engagement is a two-way process between universities and their wider constituencies with opportunities for mutual lifelong learning. But there are also challenges of understanding and process which must be addressed if the full range of these lifelong learning pillars is to be accommodated within African contexts. The paper provides an introduction to the history of community engagement in Africa as a university mission, followed by a brief discussion of lifelong learning within African perspectives. After describing the particular context of Lesotho, the concept of community service and community engagement in contemporary African contexts introduces the action research project and the case studies. The final part of the paper presents and discusses the research findings.     

Africa and international policy making for lifelong learning: textual revelations

This paper discusses the relationship between international agendas for lifelong learning and financial aid for low income countries, especially those on the African continent. It argues that there are subtle differences in terminology written by policymakers respectively in Europe and South Africa for lifelong learning but that international development agendas reinscribe lifelong learning for countries in receipt of development aid. Taking a postcolonial perspective the paper provides a textual analysis of case examples from policy documents in two African countries to demonstrate how international aid priorities negatively affect government choices and policies for lifelong learning, in spite of more regional analyses of the role of education and lifelong learning for the continent's development needs. It argues that the inclusion of indigenous worldviews from the south have potential to enhance a global agenda for the social purpose element of lifelong learning.     

New Learning: a different way of approaching conference evaluation

New Learning (NL) is an innovative process aimed at collaborative learning in professional and scholarly events and is a new way of approaching evaluation at professional conferences. NL is a process integral to a conference that focuses on the learner and how and what they learn, rather than on presenters and presentations. Whereas most professional conferences claim learning as a primary objective, seldom do any structure or evaluate to maximize that objective. The NL process helps to structure and assess organizational learning as a primary outcome in addition to providing avenues for collection of traditional evaluation information. This article explains the NL process, reviews the literature of learning and evaluation, describes what NL is and how it works, and then compares and contrasts it with traditional evaluation methods and theory. It concludes with implications for future applications and research for NL.     

Approaches to the international recognition of professional qualifications in engineering and the sciences

The recognition and regulation of professional qualifications has sometimes been handled by state bureaucracies and sometimes by professionals themselves. However, professional services are now being provided within global operations and professionals are practising beyond the nation-state in which they were trained. There is a developing need for the international recognition of professional qualifications. It is becoming increasingly important that individuals, and the organizations which employ them, can feel confident that their qualifications are recognized and that professional licences are protected in international markets. This paper reviews the various approaches to the international recognition of professional qualifications and attempts an evaluation with respect to engineering, technology and the sciences. It continues with an examination of the challenges currently facing the international professional federations in these respects.     

Sex and the Quiet Schoolgirl

The article is based on a year's ethnographic work at a West Midlands comprehensive school, which is described. The usual genderising pattern of subject choice and behaviour are identified, and used as the basis of an analysis of the differences, real and imagined, between boys and girls and their expectations of secondary schooling.

Having identified quietness as one of the distinguishing characteristics of girls at Cator Park school, I relate this to their own assessment of how they accommodate to the demands of school. This highly selective adaptation is suggested as one reason why the boys are puzzled by the behaviour of girls in school, and it is suggested that it allows the girls to retain their private identity outside school. The conclusion is that quietness is a successful adaptation to the situation of girls in school, and should not be viewed as a weakness.     

Crossing the communication divide: Intergroup contact and the desire to learn the outgroup’s language

This paper explores the role of ethnolinguistic vitality and intergroup contact in changing attitudes and the interest to learn Hungarian among Slovak-speaking secondary school students in Southern Slovakia (N?=?225). Several indirect paths linking the all these variables were found. In general, lower local ethnolinguistic vitality of Hungarian decreased intergroup anxiety and increased the quality of contact with members of the Hungarian minority, which led to a more positive attitude toward the Hungarian minority, and enhanced the interest to learn Hungarian.     

Navigating OER: The Library’s Role in Bringing OER to Campus

In 2014, three librarians at the University of San Diego came together to explore open educational resources (OER). Coming from both technical services and digital collections, we were well-versed in the economic challenges facing today’s libraries. In order to formulate the approach that would work best for our campus, we first had to educate ourselves on the past, present, and possible future of the Open Access movement. While traditionally Open Access has focused on serials, OER offer the opportunity to expand its benefits to other formats. This article examines opportunities and tensions surrounding OER, as well as highlighting major players on the OER landscape. Our efforts began with a focus group for faculty to assess their own knowledge of and opinions on OER. After establishing a stipend budget, we sent out a call for proposals to faculty who were interested in participating in the Copley OER Initiative.     

Segment coupling and coordination variability analyses of the roundhouse kick in taekwondo relative to the initial stance position

The initial stance position (ISP) has been observed as a factor affecting the execution technique during taekwondo kicks. In the present study, authors aimed to analyse a roundhouse kick to the chest by measuring movement coordination and the variability of coordination and comparing this across the different ISP (0°, 45° and 90°). Eight experienced taekwondo athletes performed consecutive kicking trials in random order from every of the three relative positions. The execution was divided into three phases (stance, first swing and second swing phase). A motion capture system was used to measure athletes’ angular displacement of pelvis and thigh. A modified vector coding technique was used to quantify the coordination of the segments which contributed to the overall movement. The variability of this coordination (CV) for each ISP was also calculated. Comparative analysis showed that during the stance phase in the transverse plane, athletes coordinated movement of the trunk and thigh with a higher frequency of in-phase and lower frequency of exclusive thigh rotation in the 0° stance than the 90° stance position (P < 0.05). CV was also influenced by the different ISP. During the first swing and the majority of the second swing phase, predominant in-phase coordination of the pelvis and thigh was observed. Including exercises that require in-phase movement could not only help athletes to acquire coordination stability but also efficiency. The existence of a constraint such as ISP implies an increase of the variability when the athletes have to kick from ISP they are not used to adopt (i.e., 0° and 90° ISP) as an evidence of adaptability in the athletes’ execution technique.