Dancing on the deck of the Titanic? Adult education, the nation-state and new social movements

This article begins with a discussion of the implications of CONFINTEA VI having been organised in Brazil ?C the author uses the term ??Brazilian effect?? ?C and the role of social movements challenging neoliberalism. Next, drawing from the experience of Latin America, this paper analyses the counter-hegemonic practice of the new social movements. The concluding section highlights the dilemmas faced by UNESCO in trying to create a democratic and efficient process of policy-making and institutional service in adult education in the nation-states. Furthermore, the proposal of popular education portrayed by the new social movements is described as a tool for empowerment. CONFINTEA VI??s recommendation of moving from rhetoric to action in adult education programmes, practices and policies demands that we take the agendas of the new social movements in the post-neoliberalism era seriously.     

Forensic child sexual abuse evaluations: assessing subjectivity and bias in professional judgements

Objectives

Evaluators examining the same evidence often arrive at substantially different conclusions in forensic assessments of child sexual abuse (CSA). This study attempts to identify and quantify subjective factors that contribute to such disagreements so that interventions can be devised to improve the reliability of case decisions.

Methods

Participants included 1106 professionals in the field of child maltreatment representing a range of professional positions or job titles and years of experience. Each completed the Child Forensic Attitude Scale (CFAS), a 28-item survey assessing 3 forensic attitudes believed to influence professional judgments about CSA allegations: emphasis-on-sensitivity (i.e., a focus on minimizing false negatives or errors of undercalling abuse); emphasis-on-specificity (i.e., a focus on minimizing false positives or errors of overcalling abuse); and skepticism toward child and adolescent reports of CSA. A subset of 605 professionals also participated in 1 of 3 diverse decision exercises to assess the influence of the 3 forensic attitudes on ratings of case credibility.

Results

Exploratory factor analysis identified 4 factors or attitude subscales that corresponded closely with the original CFAS scales: 2 subscales for emphasis-on-sensitivity and 1 each for emphasis-on-specificity and skepticism. Attitude subscale scores differed significantly by sample source (in-state trainings vs. national conferences), gender, years of experience, and professional position, with Child Protective Service workers unexpectedly more concerned about overcalling abuse and more skeptical of child disclosures than other professionals—a pattern of scores associated with an increased probability of disbelieving CSA allegations. The 3 decision exercises offered validation of the attitude subscales as predictors of professional ratings of case credibility, with adjusted R²s for the three exercises ranging from .06 to .24, suggesting highly variable effect sizes.

Conclusions

Evaluator disagreements about CSA allegations can be explained, in part, by individual differences in 3 attitudes related to forensic decision-making: emphasis-on-sensitivity, emphasis-on-specificity, and skepticism toward child reports of abuse. These attitudes operate as predispositions or biases toward viewing CSA allegations as likely true or likely false. Several strategies for curbing the influence of subjective factors are highlighted including self-awareness of personal biases and team approaches to assessment.     

Whole-body vibration effects on the muscle activity of upper and lower body muscles during the baseball swing in recreational baseball hitters

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) on the muscle recruitment of selected upper and lower body muscles during the baseball swing. Participants were recreationally trained males (n = 16, 22 +/- 2 years, 181.4 +/- 7.4 cm, 84.7 +/- 9.0 kg), with previous baseball experience. Subjects participated in three randomized sessions on separate days, consisting of three sets of five swings offa hitting tee. Exercises (upper and lower body dynamic and static movements) with or without WBVexposure were performed between swing sets. During each swing, the gastrocnemius, biceps femoris, gluteus maximus, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, and triceps brachii were evaluated for electromyographic (EMG) activity. EMG values were normalized to EMG measured during maximal voluntary isometric contraction. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in EMG activity across the three treatments. In addition, the results displayed a specific muscle recruitment order during the swing, starting with the lower body followed by the upper body muscles. This study was the first to report the recruitment order during the baseball swing. Although acute exposure to WBV did not significantly alter the muscle recruitment, these results may prove useful for practitioners looking to enhance baseball swing performance.     

面向中华古籍阅读推广与文化传播的VR系统模型构建与实现

[目的/意义] 旨在借助VR媒介技术,克服或弱化普通读者在古籍阅读中存在的古籍获取不便和古汉语理解、专业知识、特定文化背景知识、阅读动力不足的问题,促进古籍阅读推广与文化传播。[方法/过程] 利用文献调研方法分析梳理认知科学和教育技术领域相关理论,提出VR古籍系统设计原则与模型,基于单个案例分析,设计、开发、测试系统原型,最后利用实验方法以问卷方式收集评估数据,验证设计原则、模型的有用性。[结果/结论] 研究成果包括VR古籍系统设计原则、VR古籍系统理论模型、首例VR古籍系统应用原型、VR古籍系统使用理论,可为后续从事VR古籍系统研究与设计的科研人员和设计人员借鉴使用。     

学术简讯

常识的概念已经成为一种意识形态,在当代社会构建霸权主义、并将霸权主义作为道德与智力领导力的过程中起着重要作用。尽管在事实上新自由主义作为一种经济发展模式已经彻底失败,与新自由主义相关的文化政治仍然盛行于世,并在塑造现代政府和教育角色的理念中变成了新的常识。新自由主义全球化是全球化中最突出的模式,以市场相对于政府的主导地位和放松管制的治理模式为前提,在"学术资本主义"背景下深深地影响了高校。由此带来的改革通常以促进国际竞争力为合理借口,也被称为"竞争型改革"。市场力量日益渗透到高等教育领域,围绕学术资本主义"游戏"展开的大学治理模式的重构,均显示了新自由主义对高校影响的四个主要方面,即效率与问责制、认证与普及化、国际竞争力、私有化。通过引入以管理主义治理院校的新型模式,高校深化并扩大了自身的危机。虽然高校采纳并实施了这些改革措施,但是在不同领域,在自上而下地通过政策和重心调整强制改革时,全球化面临着越来越大的阻力。在许多情况下,新自由主义改革通过收取较高学费与减少政府对院校和个人的支持,限制了一些阶级和种族接受高等教育的机会。 更多还原     

An evolving Learning Management System for new educational environments using 2.0 tools

The tools used in learning processes are in a continuous state of flux. One of the most significant changes is the application of Information and Communications technologies (ICTs) to educational contexts. This provides new possible ways to carry out learning activities, new learning services, the possibility to use new kinds of contents and activities, etc. However, ICTs have not provided as many advantages as they were supposed to, so changes are necessary. In this context, a new set of tools, Web 2.0, offers a new way to understand the Web, in which the user is the centre. Further, users can cooperate in order to define contents. This concept is also applied in technology-mediated learning but there are important problems when one tries to integrate such tools and concepts with existing systems. This paper explores the integration of these tools in traditional learning environments, the various possibilities and their advantages and drawbacks. After that, an interoperability scenario is described and two experiences are presented to show how 2.0 tools can be integrated in learning activities, and its effect in educational process.     

Developing an audiovisual notebook as a self‐learning tool in histology: Perceptions of teachers and students

Videos can be used as didactic tools for self‐learning under several circumstances, including those cases in which students are responsible for the development of this resource as an audiovisual notebook. We compared students' and teachers' perceptions regarding the main features that an audiovisual notebook should include. Four questionnaires with items about information, images, text and music, and filmmaking were used to investigate students' (n = 115) and teachers' perceptions (n = 28) regarding the development of a video focused on a histological technique. The results show that both students and teachers significantly prioritize informative components, images and filmmaking more than text and music. The scores were significantly higher for teachers than for students for all four components analyzed. The highest scores were given to items related to practical and medically oriented elements, and the lowest values were given to theoretical and complementary elements. For most items, there were no differences between genders. A strong positive correlation was found between the scores given to each item by teachers and students. These results show that both students' and teachers' perceptions tend to coincide for most items, and suggest that audiovisual notebooks developed by students would emphasize the same items as those perceived by teachers to be the most relevant. Further, these findings suggest that the use of video as an audiovisual learning notebook would not only preserve the curricular objectives but would also offer the advantages of self‐learning processes. Anat Sci Educ 7: 209–218. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

What makes a landmark effective? Sex differences in a navigation task

In Experiment 1, two groups of female rats were trained in a triangular pool to find a hidden platform whose location was defined in terms of a single a landmark, a cylinder outside the pool. For one group, the landmark had only a single pattern (i.e., it looked the same when approached from any direction), while for the other, the landmark contained four different patterns (i.e., it looked different when approached from different directions). The first group learned to swim to the platform more rapidly than the second. Experiment 2 confirmed this difference when female rats were trained in a circular pool but found that male rats learned equally rapidly (and as rapidly as females trained with the single-pattern landmark) with both landmarks. This second finding was confirmed in Experiment 3. Finally, in Experiment 4a and 4b, male and female rats were trained either with the same, single-pattern landmark on all trials or with a different landmark each day. Males learned equally rapidly (and as rapidly as females trained with the unchanged landmark) whether the landmark changed or not. We conclude that male and female rats learn rather different things about the landmark that signals the location of the platform.