Learning communities can strengthen early undergraduates’ learning, but planning them can be daunting for instructors. Learning communities usually rely on integrative assignments that encourage interdisciplinary analysis. This article reports on our experiences using microloans as an interdisciplinary assignment in a learning community that united algebra with world literature. Students used the microfinance website www.kiva.org to make small loans of real money to entrepreneurs in low-income countries. Four themes emerged from student reaction to the assignment: awareness of Africa, community impact, mathematical consciousness, and productive collaboration among students. Our reflections suggest that microfinance assignments may support integrative learning across many other disciplines. 相似文献
Purpose: This study attempts to close the research gap created by the fact that existing studies neglect the problem of how effectively agricultural professors from different European countries communicate. The aim is to identify similarities and differences in the numbers of agricultural professors perceived by students as engaging in verbal and nonverbal immediacy communication.
Methodology: An online survey was conducted among students of agricultural universities from Austria, Slovenia and Albania.
Findings: The results show that professors of agriculture from Austria, Slovenia and Albania should generally not be satisfied with their own communication patterns and should thus try to improve their communication. The result also reveals cultural differences in the shares of agriculture professors employing different communication patterns in Austria, Slovenia and Albania. Compared to Austrian and Slovenian students, their Albanian peers perceive that most of their professors use nonverbal immediacy communication. According to Austrian students, the majority of their professors use verbal immediacy. On the contrary, Albanian students assessed that some of their professors employ verbal immediacy.
Practical Implications: The results show the professors of agriculture should improve the way they communicate to students. In particular, the Albanian professors should improve their verbal communication especially in terms of providing timely and quality feedback to students.
Theoretical implications: The study reveals differences in immediacy communication among countries (Austria, Slovenia and Albania) which the scientific literature considers to have a high-context culture.
Originality/Value: Given that no study has yet examined how students perceive professors’ communication in different European countries, this research helps understand the characteristics of agricultural professors’ communication. 相似文献
There is a comprehensive body of scholarly work regarding the way media represent crime and how it is constructed in the media narrative as a news item. These works have often suggested that in many cases public anxieties in relation to crime levels are not justified by actual data. However, few works have examined the gathering and dissemination of crime statistics by non-specialist journalists and the way crime statistics are gathered and used in the newsroom. This article seeks to explore in a comparative manner how journalists in newsrooms access and interpret quantitative data when producing stories related to crime. In so doing, the article highlights the problems and limitations of journalists in dealing with crime statistics as a news source, while assessing statistics-related methodologies and skills used in the newsrooms across the United Kingdom when producing stories related to urban crime. 相似文献
The article analyses some of the problems of academic women in Poland. It begins with an historical survey of the status of educated and professional women in Poland beginning with the end of the eighteenth century and then focusses on the social and political determinants and the differences and similarities of the recruitment patterns and the course of the careers of women and men in the academic world. Women, the author recognizes, are underrepresented in academic and scientific careers in comparison with men; however, the problem stems as much from the perceived role of women in society at large as from blatant sexual discrimination. The situation is slowly improving, but women need to form organizations to further their collective interests. 相似文献
ABSTRACTInclusive education of disabled students has been promoted in European disability policies. However, the transition process from more segregated system is slow. The purpose of this study was to provide an insight about different types of schooling of disabled children affected by a rare disease across Europe and to evaluate their and caregivers’ well-being. We analysed data from a cross-sectional study (BURQOL-RD) of persons with rare diseases that cause intellectual and/or physical disability: Prader-Willi syndrome, fragile X syndrome, three types of mucopolysaccharidosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The sample consisted of 359 children aged 6–17 and 269 caregivers from eight European countries. Results showed differences between countries in proportion of students placed in special schools, which are still valid option in countries such as Germany, France or UK. Within the inclusive education modalities, lack of special support for disabled students was observed especially in low-income countries. No association between the type of schooling and quality of life was observed, but the subjective caregivers’ burden seems to be higher in special schools. The study shows existent differences in implementation of inclusive education in Europe. More research is needed in the field of rare disease disability and educational needs. 相似文献
Educational technology research and development - In-game learning supports aim to help students solve game levels (i.e., game-related supports), and connect to underlying content (i.e.,... 相似文献
Engineering asset management (EAM) is a rapidly growing and developing field. However, efforts to select and develop engineers in this area are complicated by our lack of understanding of the full range of competencies required to perform. This exploratory study sought to clarify and categorise the professional competencies required of individuals at different hierarchical levels within EAM. Data from 14 field interviews, 61 online surveys, and 10 expert panel interviews were used to develop an initial professional competency framework. Overall, nine competency clusters were identified. These clusters indicate that engineers working in this field need to be able to collaborate and influence others, complete objectives within organisational guidelines, and be able to manage themselves effectively. Limitations and potential uses of this framework in engineering education and research are discussed. 相似文献