在重点专业中打造精品课程——《学前教育原理》课程建设设计与实施

《学前教育原理》是中央财政支持重点建设的学前教育专业的核心课程,对其它课程的学习起到了概括、统摄和凝炼的作用,在教师教育课程改革中始终起着基础关键性的作用。近几年来,课程组组成强大的教学团队,在课程目标的设定、内容的选择、网络资源建设、课程使用的绩效等方面做了很多工作,成为学前教育专业课程建设的示范。     

The implementation of the Bologna process

Abstract

This study identifies the responsibilities of the bodies and institutions involved in the implementation of the Bologna Process. They include the levels of Europe, nations, higher education institutions, departments, degree programmes, teachers and students. The future planning is analysed using the Balanced Scorecard approach designed for the communication and implementation of the strategy. The approach is used to analyse the objectives of European education policy from the different perspectives. Strategic planning and quality assurance are most efficient when they are transformed into action at the closest possible point to teaching and learning.     

Evaluating teaching effectiveness and teaching improvement: A language for institutional policies and academic development practices

Demands for institutional accountability in higher education have been increasing and have led to greater attention to the evaluation of teaching, the assumption being that improved teaching will result in enhanced learning. In our work as academic developers, we are increasingly helping academic managers make explicit teaching policies and practices that seem fair and equitable. To help us in this work, we have developed a framework for evaluating the practice of teaching. What is unique about this framework is the language it provides to differentiate aspects of teaching. For instance, it provides a basis for differentiating and linking criteria to standards, i.e. the level of achievement desired or expected. Standards are critical if the evaluation of teaching is to be seen as fair and equitable, yet they are often unexamined in other representations of the evaluation of teaching. Although the original intent of our efforts was to provide a framework for academic managers, we have come to find it useful in our own work as university teachers and as academic developers. Examples of all three uses are provided in the paper.     

Student-centred and teacher-centred learning environments: what students think

This contribution explores the relationship between teacher-centred and student-centred learning environments from a student's perspective. Three different views with respect to this relationship can be retrieved. The balance view suggests that the more teacher-centred a learning environment is, the less student-centred it is and vice versa. The transactional view stresses the continuous renegotiation of teacher- and student-roles. The independent view argues that teacher- and student-centredness are independent features of learning environments. Results from three survey studies of higher education students’ conceptions of quality education are discussed. While the practice-oriented literature regularly seems to adopt a balance view, factor analyses did not reveal evidence for the balance view in any of these studies. In students’ minds student-centredness and teacher-centredness seem to be mutually reinforcing features of high quality education. From a curricular point of view, and especially with regard to teacher training, the results warrant to argue for the development of so-called powerful learning environments rather than for the transition from teacher-centred towards student-centred learning environments.     

Inclusive spaces in post-secondary education – exploring the experience of educational supports for people with a neuropsychiatric disability

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of studying among people with a neuropsychiatric disability who received support from a Supported Education (SEd) programme, and people who did not receive this support. The research employed a narrative approach, where 14 participants with a neuropsychiatric diagnosis were asked to write a short reflective narrative about their experience of studying, with/without support from a SEd intervention. The results show that the persons without support from the model relied on their family as their primary support, and that support from formal support providers was not available prior to receiving a formal diagnosis. Those who received services from SEd were generally satisfied with the support they received, and did not emphasise the family as support givers in the same way. The study points to the importance of developing neurodiverse spaces, which can serve as transitional environments and that can help supported education models adapt to the needs of this group.     

Field Note: Standard Web Application for Information Exchange on Agroforestry in India

Abstract

Purpose

To explain how training and education events (TEEs) can be designed to increase the likelihood of achieving behavioural objectives.     

On adventure therapy and the natural worlds: Respecting nature's healing

Abstract

This paper sets out to discover if the history of outdoor education, within the UK and more particularly Scotland, provides its modern exponents with a legacy of prescribed conservatism or alternatively a form of education which embraces, or is capable of embracing, diversity of theory and practice. It begins in the post World War II period entitled “out of the ashes” and charts the history decade by decade.

Secondary sources are used and include statutory instruments as well as the body of literature that relates to outdoor education. The paper has succeeded in adding to the literature through uncovering rarely used sources. Secondary sources have been supplemented by primary data in the form of interviews. The interviews were used to provide detail and fill gaps where secondary sources were lacking.

The time between the post-war period until the end of the 1960s charts the growth of outdoor education provision. This growth is characterised by diversity where common themes such as “fitness for war”, “character building” “social education” “recuperative holiday for socially disadvantaged young people” and “progressive education” emerge as competing and contrasting claims. Consequently it can be stated that outdoor education defies definition in terms of being a fixed entity of common consent, homogeneous over time and space.     

Adventure education and resilience: The double-edged sword

Abstract

Adventure education philosophers have argued that controlled exposure to challenge can enhance participants' psychological resilience. This study supports this claim, demonstrating significantly greater gains in psychological resilience for 41 young adults participating in 22-day Outward Bound programs than in a control group. All Outward Bound participants reported positive changes in their resilience and their overall change effect size was large. Perceived levels of social support predicted 24% of the variance in resilience gain scores, with participants' ratings of the least supportive group member being the best predictor. The findings for enhanced resilience and the important role of social support warrant wider investigation. In promoting psychological resilience adventure educators are alerted to the importance of facilitating positive interpersonal relations and minimising the detrimental impact of the diverse needs of group members.     

An ethic of care and educational practice

Abstract

This article explicates the theoretical framework of an ethic of care and outlines recommendations for applying the framework to practice in adventure education, offering possibilities for re-imagining organizations as centrally concerned with compassion and care. Focusing on the work of Gilligan and Noddings, we suggest an understanding of an ethic of care that is contextual, ungendered, and inclusive of both the private and public spheres of life, and draw parallels between this ethic and the philosophies underlying Outward Bound specifically, and adventure education more generally. Finally, we outline possibilities for organizing educational curricula around centres of care for self, others, and the natural world, using Noddings' suggested curricular components of modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation.