The role of planning in outdoor adventure decision-making

ABSTRACT

This article explores the influential role of planning on recognition-primed decision-making. Considerable prior thinking occurs and there is a need to trace and account for the cognitive processes that precede and guide decisions in dynamic outdoor environments. Seven expert leaders from four countries were interviewed about memorable decisions made on outdoor journeys with an educational focus on land, sea and ice. Four stages of planning were identified: (1) long-term preparation; (2) formal leadership meetings; (3) day-by-day planning on route and (4) thinking immediately prior to the event. The stages sequentially capture the planning progression, illuminating the cognitive processes at each stage to culminate in option selection. In each decision situation, planned goals and actions were implemented through the creation and re-creation of micro-plans. As windows of opportunity presented themselves, the flexible execution of plans was a key feature. Planning provided the solid bedrock upon which decisions were made.     

Planning,re-bordering and setting times: a comparative analysis of European and Latin American ‘education spaces’

The article compares educational regionalisation in Europe and Latin America. This analysis unveils the influence of three social phenomena in the two case studies, namely power, fields of activity and knowledge. Mostly, it focuses on the initiatives led by the European Union and the Organisation of Ibero-American States in order to implement large strategic, multi-government educational plans in each continent. The actions of international political players, the theories (or ‘ontologies’) embedded in these devices and the consequences for sub-national politics are observed.     

Teachers’ dilemmatic decision-making: reconciling coexisting policies of increased student retention and performance

In recent years, many countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have formulated educational policies aimed at providing better education to more students. However, this may be perceived as constituting dilemmatic spaces, where teachers must make efforts to reconcile coexisting political demands in their everyday work. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into how teachers handle coexisting educational policies of increased student retention and performance. Empirical findings from a one-year field study at a Danish vocational school explore how teachers’ decision-making as response to coexisting demands of increased student retention and performance involves the development of various pedagogical approaches to the students: an active ‘caring’ approach, a passive ‘wait until this class is over’ approach, an active ‘vocational gate-keeping’ approach, and a passive ‘wait and see whether they drop out’ approach. Based on the findings, it is argued that the various pedagogical approaches are developed through social negotiations with leaders, students, and other teachers. Moreover, these pedagogical approaches lead to the development of further negotiated, dilemmatic decisions to be made. Thus, a dynamic approach to teachers’ dilemmatic decision-making is proposed.     

IDMI analysis of regional low-carbon development based on system dynamic simulation

During the decision-making process, especially in multi-disciplinary complex cases, assessment technique is needed to assist policy-makers in making the right decision. Many of such assessment techniques have been developed for policy-makers, but the inevitable subjectivity of policy-makers often becomes the main obstacle in making the right or proper policy. Interlink decision-making index （IDMI） is a newly proposed assessment method with the advantages of being simple to use and having less human interference over other methods, as it does not require a weighting process of each selection criterion. This paper implements IDMI to assist with decision-making in national or regional low-carbon development, using China as a case study. The Chinese government has annotmced its carbon emission reduction target along with other development targets by 2020. Many policy settings can be chosen in order to achieve those targets. The problem is how to determine the best setting and the means by which decision-makers can avoid subjectivity and extremes. A number of policy setting options are generated carefully by a system dynamic model under different policy scenarios. The IDMI demonstrates a perfect way to assist in selecting the ＂best＂ among all the options that can achieve the goals within the acceptable range.     

客家籍与潮汕籍大学生消费决策风格比较研究

采用Sproles编制的消费者决策风格问卷(CSI)对550名客家籍和潮汕籍大学生的消费决策风格的差异进行探测。结果表明:客家籍与潮汕籍大学生在"新潮时尚"、"忠诚习惯"消费决策风格上存在差异;男女大学生在"品牌导向"、"休闲娱乐"、"新奇趣味"和"价格敏感"等消费决策风格上存在差异;农村和城镇大学生在"新潮时尚"和"重视质量"消费决策风格上存在差异;客家籍和潮汕籍与性别对大学生消费决策风格中"休闲娱乐"的交互作用明显;客家籍和潮汕籍与城乡来源对大学生消费决策风格中"口碑影响"的交互作用明显。     

Modelling Quoting in Newswriting: A Framework for Studies on the Production of News

ABSTRACT

The Mediated Social Communication (MSC) approach considers mass media a venue for opposing and complementary societal groups to publicly negotiate socially relevant topics. This negotiation is conducted through representatives of these groups and mediated by journalists. Inspired by the MSC approach, this paper presents an empirically grounded model that structures the mediating process through the process of quoting. By identifying the key phases of newswriting as sub-processes of quoting, the paper argues that journalists (1) decide on a topical issue to be addressed (topicalisation), (2) identify groups of people who are linked to this issue (societal localisation), (3) pick some people as representatives of these societal groups (personalisation), and (4) verbalise these people's points of view, often by means of quoting, inter alia (verbalisation). The four-phase model is then operationalised into a data collection method that facilitates access to and fosters new insights into the subtle dynamics of newswriting. Hitherto, these dynamics have often remained obscure, because the craft ethos is adopted as tacit knowledge through implicit socialisation and is therefore difficult for journalists to verbalise. The paper concludes by calling for reconsideration of journalists’ role as gatekeepers who decide which issues and voices are heard in public discourse.     

Pupil participation in planning provision for special educational needs: teacher perspectives

There are legal, moral and practical reasons to involve pupils in planning provision for their special educational needs. We do not yet know how principles are implemented in practice. This study explored the views and experiences of 64 teachers with an interest in special educational needs through an online survey. Participants reported greater pupil involvement in everyday matters, less in conceptual aspects of planning. Effective strategies were based on good teacher-pupil relationships and school-wide systems for sharing pupil views. Participants gave examples of the impact of pupil participation on teacher insight, pupil motivation and material provision. 84 per cent indicated that they would like pupils to be more involved in decisions about their provision than they currently are. Barriers included the nature of children’s difficulties and practitioner attitudes. Listening to children is intrinsic to good teaching, yet pupils also benefit from a more formal role in provision planning.     

Bayesian reasoning in avalanche terrain: a theoretical investigation

In this article, I explore a Bayesian approach to avalanche decision-making. I motivate this perspective by highlighting a version of the base-rate fallacy and show that a similar pattern applies to decision-making in avalanche-terrain. I then draw out three theoretical lessons from adopting a Bayesian approach and discuss these lessons critically. Lastly, I highlight a number of challenges for avalanche educators when incorporating the Bayesian perspective in their curriculum.     

中国教育财政决策机制的路径分析

In China’s current educational fiscal decision making, problems are as follows: no law to trust or not abiding by available laws, absence of equity and efficiency, as well as the standardization of decision-making procedures. It is necessary to set up effective fiscal decision-making mechanism in education and rationally devise reliable paths. Translated from Jiaoyu Lilun Yu Shijian 教育理论与实践 (Theory and Practice of Education), 2006, (4): 14–17