Networks in Education: An Analysis of Selected Discourses

‘Network’ is a fashionable and current term in every field of contemporary society and education is no exception. In this paper, the concept of network (and other associated concepts, such as partnership and collaboration) is reviewed. Such revision regards selected theoretical contributions and is explored in terms of the use of the concepts in legal documents and in the discourses of aldermen and educational officers from Portuguese municipalities, offering a critical and multi-layered perspective. The analysis reveals the various layers of the network concept, often appearing vague and diffuse. It is a floating signifier disputed by different discourses and embodied by different meanings. This, in turn, brings major research problems linked to the use of the concept of network in education.     

Effects of the use of raised line drawings on blind people’s cognition

The creation of inclusive schools is no simple process as it implies huge changes that might generate resistance and fears, which can undermine the process of change. Quite often the changes in the legislation do not correspond to changes in the conceptions and/or practices of the actors involved in the process. As such, it is important to study what is happening in schools and to understand how they are managing to implement the political changes and overcome the tensions and difficulties they face. This is a comparative case study, aimed at describing five mainstream school teachers, their beliefs and practices, and how these are related to other schooling conditions. This study raises some questions, namely about the importance of an adequate regular school teacher support and an adequate education.     

Creating a common grammar for European higher education governance

This paper addresses the interaction between European Union policies and national higher education sectors in the countries involved in the TRUE project (England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland) making the case for European governance. Relevant for this matter is the role of political processes that evolve at European level shaping political discourses and practices, thus creating a common grammar for European higher education governance. By empirically focusing on evaluation and funding policies the paper argues that European governance reflects in how this common grammar is being created and reconfiguring the environment within which European higher education systems and institutions are developing.     

Phospholipid—polymer amphiphile hybrid assemblies and their interaction with macrophages

Recently, the combination of lipids and block copolymers has become an alternative to liposomes and polymersomes as nano-sized drug carriers. We synthesize novel block copolymers consisting of poly(cholesteryl acrylate) as the hydrophobic core and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) as the hydrophilic extensions. Their successful phospholipid-assisted assembly into vesicles is demonstrated using the evaporation-hydration method. The preserved thermo-responsive property of the lipid-polymer hybrids is shown by a temperature dependent adsorption behaviour of the vesicles to poly(l lysine) coated surfaces. As expected, the vesicle adsorption is found to be higher at elevated temperatures. The cellular uptake efficiency of hybrids is assessed using macrophages with applied shear stress. The amount of adhering macrophages is affected by the time and level of applied shear stress. Further, it is found that shorter PNIPAAm extensions lead to higher uptake of the assemblies by the macrophages with applied shear stress. No inherent cytotoxicity is observed at the tested conditions. Taken together, this first example of responsive lipid-polymer hybrids, and their positive biological evaluation makes them promising nano-sized drug carrier candidates.     

Redefining professional identity: the voice of a language teacher in a context of collaborative learning

Following a narrative and biographic approach, in this study, we present the case of an in-service language teacher and her professional learning trajectory in the context of the project ‘Languages and education: constructing and sharing training’. This project aimed at the construction of a collaborative teacher education context for learning and transformation of experiences, views and practices in language education, and involved teachers, teacher educators and researchers. Based on a single case study, the analysis tries to disclose the teacher’s discursive displacements as hints of professional transformation while she reinterprets the learning taking place in the collaborative education process. The signs of change are visible in the way she constructs meanings regarding her professional identity, re-identifies her mission as a language teacher and reconsiders her professional identity. Finally, we reflect upon how collaborative teacher education scenarios may foster teachers’ personal professional learning and renewed self-images.     

The Orientation to Life Questionnaire: Validation of a Measure to Assess Older Adults’ Sense of Coherence

Increasingly, the literature suggests that the sense of coherence (SOC) positively influences well-being in later life. This study reports the assessment of the following psychometric properties: distributional properties, construct, criterion and external-related validities, and reliability of the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OtLQ) in an cross-national population of older adults. We recruited 1291 community-dwelling older adults aged between 75–102 years (M = 83.9; SD = 6.68). Convenience sampling was used to gather questionnaire data. The construct validity was asserted by confirmatory factor analysis and convergent and discriminant validity. Moreover, criterion and external-related validities, as well as distributional properties and reliability, were also tested. Data gathered with the 29-items OtLQ scale showed overall good psychometric properties in terms of distributional properties, construct, criterion, and external-related validities, as well as reliability. Three factors were validated for the OtLQ scale: (a) comprehensibility; (b) manageability; and (c) meaningfulness. We validated the three-factor OtLQ scale, which produced valid and reliable data for a cross-national sample with older adults. Hence, it is an adequate instrument for assessing sense of coherence among older people in health care practice and program development contexts.     

Remote learning during Covid-19 lockdown: A study on anatomy and histology education for pharmacy students in Jordan

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed almost all aspects of education. The anatomy and histology courses for pharmacy students focus heavily on the face-to-face communication of theory and practical knowledge, and due to the pandemic, only theory content was delivered in an online format. This brought up many concerns about pharmacy student preparedness. This work explores the effectiveness and student perspective of remote teaching of the theoretical anatomy and histology course in Jordanian universities from the perspective of pharmacy students. The objectives are to determine the strengths, challenges, and the effectiveness of remote delivery on student learning. An online-based validated questionnaire was distributed to students majoring in Pharmacy and enrolled in the course during the second semester of 2019–2020 at 11 universities in Jordan. A total of 442 students participated in the study. Results showed that there were significant differences in perceptions of the social media platforms used in distance learning and remote delivery of the course. Most participants had positive perceptions of the educational process and studying via distance learning. There were many strengths noted including time flexibility and several challenges such as the lack of face-to-face interaction with instructors, inadequate internet connectivity, and technical issues. In conclusion, online-taught anatomy and histology course during the Covid-19 lockdown in Jordan was a success as perceived by students, but the course still possessed challenges need to be overcome in the future.