In small businesses with no employees, learning environments have a low learning readiness. Consequently, learners need to rely on their own agency to shape their learning experiences. Results from a study of agricultural entrepreneurs indicated that the components of motivation and self-regulated learning strategies shape learner's agency and explain learning environment configuration in small businesses with no employees. Configuration of the learning environment was found to be a weak determinant of the learning performance of these learners. However, results showed that prior performance of learners in small businesses with no employees dictates how their agency operates and what learning effect is achieved; higher prior performance results in higher learning effects. We conclude that mechanisms that underlie learning in traditional learning environments work similarly in learning environments in small businesses with no employees. 相似文献
Gender & Technology: Empowering Women, Engendering Development**London and New York: Zed Books Ltd.. By Everts, Saskia (1998) Privatising Agricultural Extension in India**Policy Paper 10, National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, P.O. Box 11305, New Delhi 110 012, India, February 2000. 95 p. 64. By Rasheed Sulaiman V and V.V. Sadamate. 相似文献
Abstract In many countries agriculture is in a process of rapid change,
- it has to meet a growing demand for food in a sustainable way,
- the international competition is increasing,
- the increase in labour productivity is decreasing the employment opportunities in agriculture,
- agricultural research is offering many new opportunities to increase productivity,
- government price support for agricultural products in industrial countries is decreasing.
These changes have many implications for agricultural extension, such as:
- the knowledge and capabilities of farmers has become a major factor in their ability to compete in national and international markets,
- advice is not only needed on the adoption of new technologies, but also on many other decisions farmers have to make, such as the choice of their farming system and the decision whether or not to earn an income from outside agriculture,
- this requires a change in extension methods and in the information sources extension agents use,
- agricultural development demands painful changes in the way of farming and of living for many farm families. It is a challenge for extension agencies to help farm families to realise this,
- a major task for leaders of extension organisations is to manage a process of change in agricultural extension. Often the role extension has to play in agricultural development can not be performed by one extension organisation, but only by a pluralistic extension system.
Agricultural extension is often expected to contribute to a reduction of poverty among farmers and farm labourers. One has to think seriously how one can realise this objective. 相似文献
Abstract The paper describes the results of an exploratory study of farmers’ reasons for changing or not changing to more sustainable production methods in arable farming in the Netherlands. The background of the research is the disappointing adoption of Integrated Arable Farming Systems (iafs). Perceived production risk was expected to be an important factor constraining adoption. This study suggests, however, that perceived risk is not a satisfactory explanation. One reason is that iafs as it has become in Dutch practice cannot be easily distinguished from conventional arable farming systems. A continuum of gradual adoption of iafs methods, mainly for economic reasons, was observed. A real watershed difference was observed between partial adopters of iafs and organic farmers who used no chemicals at all. Secondly, dealing with production risks, such as weather‐dependent problems with weeds, pests and diseases, is considered part of professionalism of both conventional and iafs farmers and hence not a reason for avoiding a specific crop husbandry technique. However, uncertainties emanating from market conditions and environmental policy were found to be important considerations. JAgr Educ Ext (2001, 7, 3, pp 153–166)相似文献
Miteinander Reden: Kommunikationspsychologie für Führungskräfte (Talking with another: Communication psychology for leaders). by F. Schulz von Thun, J. Ruppel and R. Stratmann (2000), Reinbek, RoRoRo Sachbuch 60687, ISBN 3 499 60687 9, DM 16.90. 相似文献
One main focus of teacher education research concentrates on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). It has been shown that teachers’ PCK correlates with teaching effectiveness as well as with students’ achievement gains. Teachers’ PCK should be analyzed as one of the main important components to evaluate professional development programs. On this account, it is necessary to develop standardized measures of biology teachers’ topic-specific PCK that are labor-efficient. This paper presents a study on the development, evaluation, and validation of a paper-and-pencil test to measure biology teachers’ declarative PCK on the topic of blood and the human cardiovascular system. The development of the test was based, among other considerations, on a review of research literature on PCK and an analysis of 50 videotaped biology lessons. The final test instrument was comprised of 15 items distributed across 2 scales. The findings of the main study—with 93 preservice and in-service biology teachers and 12 biologists—confirmed that this measure of biology teachers’ declarative PCK was reliable, objective, and valid. In-service biology teachers scored higher on the test than preservice teachers (effect size Cohen’s d, 0.65) on one hand and, also, than biologists (Cohen’s d, 1.00) on the other hand. Future versions of this test should explore enlarging the scales and measuring procedural aspects of PCK. 相似文献
This study examines the nature of teacher participation in the context of a video club. Video clubs are professional development meetings in which teachers watch and discuss excerpts of video from their classrooms. In this study, I adopt a situative perspective to examine how teachers develop in their participation to accomplish the goals of the video club. In particular, I examine the roles participants play and explore teachers' participation in four roles that correspond with key goals of the video club. Analysis revealed that teachers' participation shifted in qualitatively different ways over time, with the teachers coming to prompt the group to discuss student mathematical thinking, to propose a variety of interpretations of student ideas, to build on one another's ideas, and to challenge one another's thinking in order to advance the group's conversations. This analysis suggests that the group learned how to participate in roles central to accomplishing the goals of the video club. Studying teacher learning through a lens of participation provides insight into the ways in which teachers coordinate themselves to engage with the goals of professional development and has implications for designing professional development that helps teachers develop practices for teaching mathematics for understanding. 相似文献