From Awareness to Action: College Students’ Skill Development in Intergroup Dialogue

A central goal of intergroup dialogue (IGD) is to strengthen individual and collective capacities to foster social justice commitments by supporting new ways of thinking about oneself, others, and the social structures in which we live. Relatedly, IGD assists individuals with building multicultural competencies and skill sets that support peoples’ capacities to take action and work towards social change. The following qualitative study contributes to current research by describing the types of skills undergraduate students report learning as a result of their IGD experience and the challenges they encounter as they develop communication, cognitive, and affective skills.     

Subject English as citizenship education

This article is equal parts educational history and political philosophy. We aim to remind readers that subject English (SE) and indeed state education emerge from the contradictory impulses of classical liberalism, and that, more than simply resembling citizenship education, SE emerges in the first instance as a form of highly normativising citizenship education. We further argue that, following England's recent educational reforms initiated by former Education Secretary Michael Gove, SE continues to be framed in moral terms consistent with citizenship education—again, of a highly normativising sort. England's current educational policy generally, and specifically the framing of SE, employs the language of liberal possibility, while ultimately espousing an invidious exclusionary and assimilationist politics. The framing of SE, moreover, is one that misrepresents the supposedly ‘rich and varied literary heritage’ it is supposed to exemplify and promote. The current political landscape in which the study of literature takes place is one where a crisis of liberalism is manifest (in terms of populism, radicalisation or apathy). However, we do not believe the answer is to retreat into a sealed, hermetic canon that excludes the reality that England and English literature are fundamentally multicultural and polyethnic. SE will be the poorer for not fully acknowledging and embodying this, for not enabling students to imaginatively and critically engage with characters and experiences that reflect both the present and long-standing diversity of English society, as well as its present and long-standing inequalities.     

Contrasting Two Approaches to Distance Language Learning

In this article we contrast two distance foreign language programs developed at two European institutions of higher education (the Modern Languages Program at the Open University, UK; and the English Program at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain) as instances of two pedagogical models used to address the many challenges posed by teaching languages at a distance. A detailed analysis of both approaches reveals that the pedagogical choices made by both universities are in great measure determined by the historical and cultural contexts in which both institutions are embedded. In addition, we discuss the similarities and differences between the two and draw several conclusions regarding the appropriateness of the two distance universities' general educational, administrative, and technological models for distance language learning.     

Dialed In: Continuous Response Measures in Televised Political Debates and Their Effect on Viewers

As a result of emerging debate formats and technological advancements over the years, the media started using continuous response measures (CRMs) in the form of on-screen trackers, allowing select audiences to rate candidate performances in political debates in 2004. Given the limited amount of scholarly research that has tackled this issue, this study aims to investigate the effect of CRMs on college students’ voting choices and perceptions of political candidates. This experimental study has found that these trackers did influence the participants’ evaluations of the political candidates shown in the debate regardless of previously stated political affiliation.     

Partnership working in the production of clinical guidelines

This article describes a working partnership between the Cairns Clinical Librarian Service, Health Care Libraries, University of Oxford and the Emergency Department (ED) at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. This collaboration resulted in the establishment of a guideline development group in June 2002. The aim of the group is to produce a set of easily accessible, user-orientated, evidence-based guidelines for the use of clinicians in the Emergency Department, within a realistic timescale. The Cairns Clinical Librarian Project was built on previous models of clinical librarianship and incorporated an evaluation of previous programmes. The objective was to provide information to clinicians at the time and point of need. Consultation with the ED from the outset determined the approach adopted by the Cairns team. Clinical guidelines have been shown to improve clinical practice. Pending the introduction of nationally available protocols, we have begun to establish a collection of evidence-based guidelines using web-based architecture in conjunction with the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust's IT department. A piece of diagnostic analysis was undertaken to ensure a coherent strategy was developed for the guideline project. An 'intermediate approach' was adopted, where existing valid guidelines were modified to fit local circumstances. We strove to be transparent at all times about all aspects of the guideline development process. Formative evaluation has shown how the application of evidence-based health care needs adequate resources and requires people with appropriate knowledge and skills. This article charts the progress of the project and highlights how the partnership between the clinical team and the Clinical Librarian has been deemed to be essential to the success of the project.     

A Comparative Study Examining Academic Cohorts with Transnational Migratory Intentions Towards Canada and Australia

This research examines the issue of transnational academic mobility of academic staff, those choosing to migrate to higher education institutions in different countries as part of their career development, and performs a comparative study between the characteristics of academics examining Australia as a possible migratory destination with those considering Canada. A combination of Google Analytics and two online questionnaires, running in parallel for a period of 12 months, were employed in capturing a range of rich primary quantitative and qualitative research data. Quantitative web analytics data is analysed to locate the geographic origins of migratory interest, with qualitative survey data providing further insight into the academics' background, qualifications, disciplines and reasons for wanting to migrate. When combined, this mixed‐method approach is able to utilise the merged data to develop a detailed profile of academics with migratory intentions towards Australia and Canada, enabling comparisons between the two cohorts to be made.     

An empirical study on teaching urban young children music and English by contrastive elements of music and songs

The purpose of the study is to teach urban young children music concepts and English by composing creative music and songs with contrast elements. The subjects were seven urban young children aged from three to four in a Taiwan kindergarten. The duration was twenty-four weeks, with two sessions per week. The teaching contents included Hello Song, Musical Movement, Music Appreciation and Goodbye Song. The study applied the thematic music elements to the teaching content. The main methodology was a qualitative study and quantitative data used to receive objective support. Assessment included a pre-test at the beginning, a post-test and participation observation at the end of the study. The head of the kindergarten, the classroom teacher and a parent completed activity feedback forms to obtain social validity. The results show that through the use of creative music pieces of contrast and song activities, urban young children＇s understanding of music concepts was progressive and English ability was improved. The study findings are： （1） Using contrastive music pieces is a good method for teaching very young urban children to understand music concepts; （2） Creating simple target objective songs with contrast elements is a good way for urban young children to learn simple English; （3） Music with contrastive elements could motivate urban young children to do movement spontaneously and learn the spoken language simultaneously; and （4） Contrastive music could be used for pre-classical music learning.