IT Entry knowledge and skills of university teachers vis-à-vis their interest levels: the case of the oldest university in Asia

Technology, considered as the new language of teaching and learning, is an irrevocable reality. Any institution of higher learning is expected to look into the future without losing sight of its core capabilities-the malleability of its faculty members. Today, more than ever, teachers are expected to operate in an environment where “hiteach”, “hi-touch” and “hi-tech” govern their instructional behaviors. It is in this light that this study was conducted to situate teachers coming from a time-tested institution, such as the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest university in Asia, in terms of their IT knowledge, skills, and interests with a view to identifying implications on how faculty development programs may be made more responsive to the present-day educational structure.     

Religion,Identität und Computer

Zusammenfassung Anwendungsf?higkeiten und das Interesse für neueste mediale Technik sind zu einem Kennzeichen moderner Adoleszenz geworden. Dabei spielen das Medium Computer bzw. Anwendungsweisen neuer Medien eine erhebliche Rolle. Doch die Computernutzung Jugendlicher geht über einfache technische Anwendungsweisen weit hinaus. In der Relation von Medium und Subjekt ereignen sich individuelle Identit?tsbildung und Selbststabilisierung, geschehen Suchbewegungen und Explorationen von Subjektgestaltung. Innerhalb dieser Prozesse der Identit?tsbildung und Subjektgestaltung sind Dimensionen jugendlicher Computernutzung zu beobachten, die in den Bereich der individuellen Sinngenese fallen und in den Kontext der Diskussion um Medienreligion bzw. um Formen „verflüssigter“ Religion geh?ren. Wie sich diese Formen ausdifferenzieren will der folgende Beitrag entfalten, dem ein qualitativempirisches Forschungsprojekt zugrunde liegt.

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Summary Religion, Identity and Computers — Fluid forms of religion in youth culture Competency and interest for new media technology have become recognizable elements of modern adolescence. The computer and the use of new media play particularly significant roles in this context. However, adolescents’ use of computers goes far beyond simple technical application. The relationship between medium and subject influences identity formation and self-stabilization, and initiates a process of searching and exploration of individual development. Dimensions of computer use within these processes can be viewed in the context of individual processes of sense-making construction and are therefore relevant to the discussion of media religion and of so-called “fluid” forms of religion. This paper will show how the forms develop on the basis of a qualitative empirical research project.

     

Variability of inter-team distances associated with match events in elite-standard soccer

Abstract

In soccer, critical match events like goal attempts can be preceded by periods of instability in the balance between the two teams' behaviours. Therefore, we determined periods of high variability in the distance between the teams' centroid positions longitudinally and laterally in an international-standard soccer match and evaluated corresponding match events. Position data were collected with AMISCO Pro®. Inter-team distance variability was calculated over a 3-s moving window. Out of the 242 match periods that exceeded the variability criterion, 51 were dead-ball situations. Match events identified through longitudinal inter-team distance primarily related to defending players moving forward-backward after a longitudinal pass. Match events identified through lateral inter-team distance mainly corresponded with defending players moving laterally following sideways passing. One of two goals and two of fourteen goal-attempts were preceded by a period of high variability. Together, periods of highly variable inter-team distance were associated with collective defensive actions and team reorganisation in dead-ball moments rather than goals or goal attempts. Inter-team dynamics quantified (mutual) reorganisation of the teams and marked teams' collective defensive ability to respond to attacking explorations.     

Explaining as Mediated Action

Explaining is one of the most important everyday practices in science education. In this article, we examine how scientific explanations could serve as cultural tools for members of a group of pre-service physics teachers. Specifically, we aim at their use of explanations about forces of inertia in non-inertial frames of reference. A basic assumption of our study is that explanatory tools (e.g., typical explanations learned) shape the ways we think and speak about the world. Drawing on the theory of mediated action, analysis illustrates three major claims on scientific explanations: (1) explaining is an act of actively responding to explanations presented by others (and not only to evidence itself); (2) the actual experience of explaining involves the enactment of power and authority; (3) resistance (not acknowledging an explanation as one’s own) might be a constitutive part of learning how to explain (hence, teachers could approach scientific explanation in a less dogmatic way). These assertions expand the possibilities of dialogue between studies of scientific explanations and the social sciences. Implications for science teaching and research in science education are presented.     

VET students’ integration of knowledge engaged with in school-based and workplace-based learning environments in the Netherlands

In vocational education, students learn in different school-based and workplace-based learning environments and engage with different types of knowledge in these environments. Students are expected to integrate these experiences and make meaning of them in relation to their own professional knowledge base. This study focuses both on what types of knowledge students learn in these environments and how they integrate these different types of knowledge. Individual and group interviews were conducted with students, teachers and workplace supervisors in a vocational programme in the Netherlands. Results show that students recognise the importance of vocational knowledge learned in school-based learning environments while they are in the workplace and vice versa, and continuously contextualise knowledge to make it applicable for new circumstances. Also, students learn differently at school due to their experiences in the workplace.     

The way deans run their faculties in Indonesian universities

Using the theory of reasoned action in combination with the Competing Values Framework of organizational leadership, our study examines how deans at Indonesian universities lead and manage their faculties. Based on a large-scale survey with responses from more than 200 Indonesian deans, the study empirically identifies a number of deanship styles: the Master, the Competitive Consultant, the Focused Team Captain, the Consensual Goal-Setter and the Informed Trust-Builder style. Further, the study investigates determinants of deans’ leadership styles, pointing at the important role of their attitudes towards leadership, while their perceived behavioural control only explains some of the styles. The study also suggests that faculty culture is important to take into consideration if we want to gain further understanding of the deanship, since culture turned out to effect the deans’ attitudes and hence their leadership style.     

Performance and acceptance when using tablets as a multiple document learning tool: do application and guidance matter?

This study addressed whether an application adapted to working with multiple documents implemented in an iPad Pro tablet would promote students’ multiple document comprehension and acceptance of tablets as a multiple document learning tool relative to controls who used a traditional application adapted to sequential reading of single documents. Results indicated that students using the multiple document reading application outperformed the control students in terms of comprehension and also worked more efficiently on the assigned multiple document task, but only if given explicit guidance in selecting, organizing, and integrating information by utilizing the functions of the application. Still, after task completion, the more effective and efficient students guided in using the functions of the multiple document reading application displayed much less acceptance of tablets as a multiple document learning tool than did the control students. We discuss possible explanations for this intriguing performance-acceptance paradox and suggest some avenues for future research in this area.

     

Science and Values in Undergraduate Education

Science & Education - While a conception of science as value free has been dominant since Max Weber defended it in the nineteenth century, recent years have witnessed an emerging consensus that...     

El profesor como práctico reflexivo en una cultura de colaboración

The aim was the reconstruction of a school curriculum in reflective teaching situations within a co‐operative culture. Two working assumptions were considered: (a) teacher development was based on teacher thinking and (b) school organisation followed a co‐operative culture paradigm. The process features were: (a) university team consisted of external advisers; (b) school curriculum and classroom instruction were reviewed by school teachers; (c) case study as a research approach; (d) ethnographic techniques to collect data; (e) data analysis by a computer program; (f) teachers’ reflective cycle to reconstruct practice; and (g) teachers’ portfolios: narrative vignettes, etc. Findings showed: (a) a collaborative process school‐university; (b) teachers’ thinking and attitudinal change; (c) mobilisation of teachers’ talents and values to work together: (i) teacher dyads to reflect on teaching; (ii) advisers’ writing narrative vignettes; (Hi) collegial coaching; and (iv) curriculum materials designed by teachers. Two conclusions can be accepted: (a) teachers’ pedagogical practical knowledge showed diversity of their implicit theories to design action; and (b) teachers’ grounded theory confirmed that the educational action was based on a co‐operative and reflective culture.