Heidegger’s Reinscription of Paideia in the Context of Online Learning

Abstract

One of the questions that Heidegger presents in his paper, ‘Plato’s Doctrine on Truth’, is the distortion as he sees it of paideia—that is the loss of the essential elements in education. This loss is characterised according to Heidegger, by a misconception of Plato’s concept of teaching and learning. By undertaking an historical examination, Heidegger provides a means to rectify this loss. With reference to past, present and future philosophical perspectives of teaching and learning as particular spaces, an attempt is made in this paper to examine Heidegger’s reading of paideia within the context of online learning. This, for many contemporary writers on education, is an encounter with new literacies, new knowledge and the adoption of an online environment that challenges the hegemonic order of the institution as the purveyors of knowledge. Teachers within this new environment are, however still constituted as experts and their knowledge is seen as ultimately inviolate. Heidegger in his re-interpretation of Plato sees the teacher as leading the students to where they might make themselves intelligible within the space of their being. This alignment forms an acceptance and a challenge to the metaphysical concepts of uniformity of being and place that limits the potential of knowledge as something that is fixed and complete. The experience of the social web or Web 2.0 has seen a shift in learning premised upon dialogue, exchange and constantly shifting horizons. Within this context, the teacher is recast as a craftsman, creating learning opportunity within dialogic exchange. The heightened sense of involvement that is revealed in this context lays the ground for a future visioning of education where emergence is seen as essential, unlike a re-working of authorisation to learn that inhibits student and teacher alike in new attempts at revitalising education.     

Fuzzy books and sideways looks: discourses of schooling on Australian television advertisements

Media constructions of schooling provide suggestions about what should be expected of the school experience. Studies on discourses of schooling have examined how the school is framed in media discourses, but few have examined how it is formed mundanely and repeatedly in advertisements promoting products that are not directly educational. This paper examines how the school is constructed in a range of television advertisements that sell products that are not directly educational such as cereal and broadband Internet, focusing on how schools come to be framed negatively in advertising narratives. The television advertisements often use the technique of governmentality, whereby they attempt to direct the conduct of viewers by suggesting that self-improvement is achievable through personal enterprise. These advertisements position parents as agentive consumers of education, whose consumption habits are central to their children's scholarly success within problematic educational spaces.     

Critical Analysis of Primary Literature in a Master’s-Level Class: Effects on Self-Efficacy and Science-Process Skills

The ability to think analytically and creatively is crucial for success in the modern workforce, particularly for graduate students, who often aim to become physicians or researchers. Analysis of the primary literature provides an excellent opportunity to practice these skills. We describe a course that includes a structured analysis of four research papers from diverse fields of biology and group exercises in proposing experiments that would follow up on these papers. To facilitate a critical approach to primary literature, we included a paper with questionable data interpretation and two papers investigating the same biological question yet reaching opposite conclusions. We report a significant increase in students’ self-efficacy in analyzing data from research papers, evaluating authors’ conclusions, and designing experiments. Using our science-process skills test, we observe a statistically significant increase in students’ ability to propose an experiment that matches the goal of investigation. We also detect gains in interpretation of controls and quantitative analysis of data. No statistically significant changes were observed in questions that tested the skills of interpretation, inference, and evaluation.     

The validity of endurance running performance on the Curve 3TM non-motorised treadmill

This study aimed to test the validity of a non-motorised treadmill (NMT) for the measurement of self-paced overground endurance running performance. Ten male runners performed randomised 5-km running time trials on a NMT and an outdoor athletics track. A range of physiological and perceptual responses was measured, and foot strike was classified subjectively. Performance time was strongly correlated (r = 0.82, ICC = 0.86) between running modes, despite running time being significantly longer on the NMT (1264 ± 124 s vs. 1536 ± 130 s for overground and NMT, respectively; P < 0.001). End blood lactate concentration and rating of perceived exertion were significantly higher on the NMT compared to overground. Integrated electromyography was significantly lower on the NMT for three muscles (P < 0.05), and mean stride rate was also significantly lower on the NMT (P = 0.04). Cardiorespiratory responses of heart rate, oxygen uptake and expired air volume demonstrated strong correlations (r = 0.68–0.96, ICC = 0.75–0.97) and no statistical differences (P > 0.05). Runners were consistently slower on the NMT, and as such it should not be used to measure performance over a specific distance. However, the strong correlations suggest that superior overground performance was reflected in relative terms on the NMT, and therefore, it is a valid tool for the assessment of endurance running performance in the laboratory.     

The effects of resistance exercise with and without different degrees of blood-flow restriction on perceptual responses

The aim was to compare exercise with and without different degrees of blood-flow restriction on perceived exertion (RPE) and discomfort. Participants were assigned to Experiment 1, 2, or 3. Each completed protocols differing by pressure, load, and/or volume. RPE and discomfort were taken before and after each set. For pressure and RPE, the 20% one repetition maximum (1RM) blood-flow restriction conditions were affected by increasing the pressure from 40% to 50% blood-flow restriction (~12 vs. ~14). This did not appear to happen within the 30% 1RM blood-flow restriction conditions or the higher pressures in the 20% 1RM conditions. The similar RPE between 20% and 30% 1RM to failure was expected given both were to failure. For discomfort, ratings were primarily affected by load at the lowest pressure. Increasing pressure to 50% blood-flow restriction increased discomfort at 20% 1RM (~2.6 vs. ~4). There was a further increase when increasing to 60% blood-flow restriction (~4 vs. ~4.8). The high-load condition had the lowest discomfort, while ratings were highest with 20% 1RM to failure. In conclusion, exercise with blood-flow restriction does not appear to augment the perceptual response observed with low-load exercise to failure.     

The effect of time trial cycling position on physiological and aerodynamic variables

To reduce aerodynamic resistance cyclists lower their torso angle, concurrently reducing Peak Power Output (PPO). However, realistic torso angle changes in the range used by time trial cyclists have not yet been examined. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of torso angle on physiological parameters and frontal area in different commonly used time trial positions. Nineteen well-trained male cyclists performed incremental tests on a cycle ergometer at five different torso angles: their preferred torso angle and at 0, 8, 16 and 24°. Oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide expiration, minute ventilation, gross efficiency, PPO, heart rate, cadence and frontal area were recorded. The frontal area provides an estimate of the aerodynamic drag. Overall, results showed that lower torso angles attenuated performance. Maximal values of all variables, attained in the incremental test, decreased with lower torso angles (P < 0.001). The 0° torso angle position significantly affected the metabolic and physiological variables compared to all other investigated positions. At constant submaximal intensities of 60, 70 and 80% PPO, all variables significantly increased with increasing intensity (P < 0.0001) and decreasing torso angle (P < 0.005). This study shows that for trained cyclists there should be a trade-off between the aerodynamic drag and physiological functioning.     

Assessing the Need and Potential of Community Networking for Development in Rural India

This article reports the results and conclusions of a mixed-methods research strategy designed to assess the potential of community networking in rural Tamil Nadu, India. The data reported and analyzed in this article include socioeconomic and household spending, agricultural marketing and price search, availability and use of information on agricultural problems, and communication media use. We use these data to define a framework of existing sources of information for various community agents, with a special emphasis on farmers. We analyze the methods and costs at which these agents obtain information, and identify information and communication gaps that information and communication technologies (ICTs) may help alleviate. This study allows us to demonstrate opportunities for socioeconomic development through ICT-enabled information access. The article concludes by stating the importance of basic communication technologies and contextually relevant information services, and suggesting recommendations for future research in this area.