Transforming supervisors? A critique of post-liberal approaches to research supervision

Preparation for research supervision has assumed greater importance in academic departments of universities with the increase in the number and diversity of both research candidates and supervisors and the financial incentives for on-time completions. Over the past decade a body of literature by both academics and academic developers has emerged and more recently post-liberal theories and frameworks (feminism, postmodernism and post-colonialism) have been used to problematise the field of postgraduate supervision. Central to the feminist and post-colonial critiques is the belief that supervisors are best equipped for their roles by a process of personal self-transformation which allows them to achieve an appropriate balance between emotional and rational elements in their supervisory practice. We wish to set critical and post-modern approaches in historical perspective. We seek to show that feminist and post-colonial approaches are heir to a form of critique, which was founded upon the assumption that certain institutions and practices of modern society are dehumanising because they fragment human beings’ essential unity. We argue that engaging supervisors in a process of self-transformation reinforces the idea that successful supervision is a function of the supervisor's recovery of a fully integrated and higher self.     

Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Pre-service Teachers’ Evaluation of their Mentors

The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities between mentor teachers’ espoused theories and theories-in-use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 mentor teachers to investigate their perceived mentoring roles prior to the placement. Their seven pre-service teachers were also interviewed at the end of the practicum to explore their ideas and evaluation of their mentors’ mentoring practices. The findings suggest that 14 mentor teachers did put into practice their ideas regarding their roles. However, only two mentor teachers appeared to act against their espoused theories. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Roles,Risks, and Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education

Successful peer mentoring in university settings is the result of relationships among students, mentors, and instructors. Findings from this study indicate that even in programs where training is ongoing and established, assumptions cannot be made about the understanding of the roles, risks, and benefits involved in such relationships. This study demonstrates that students, instructors, and mentors all have different perspectives about a mentor’s role and how that role should be enacted. Connecting link, peer leader, learning coach, student advocate, and trusted friend were identified as predominant roles enacted by mentors. Also described are risks and benefits for being or having a peer mentor.     

Editorial

This paper analyses the experience of a teacher and her Year 6 class (10–11 year‐olds) over a school year, while participating in a pilot project introducing Personal Digital Assistants as a learning tool. The intervention was initiated and supported by the local City Learning Centre, which was concerned with how best to use technologies for learning, and the teacher was prepared to take risks to learn how to use the technology and apply it within the national curriculum. This paper focuses on the roles the teacher played in designing, managing and mediating multi‐modal approaches to teaching and learning, while meeting the curriculum requirements. Her creative approach was rewarded with high levels of student engagement, motivation and autonomy across the class, and higher than expected results in the national tests.     

观光旅游在两岸关系和平发展中的角色功能

2008年7月18日,大陆居民赴台旅游正式实施,开启了两岸双向旅游互动的新纪元。旅游作为一种低阶性政治活动,能够超越两岸关系结构性矛盾的边界,衍生出政治、经济、社会及文化等层面连动的大格局。两岸双方基于旅游发展所进行的合作与互动,在两岸关系和平发展进程中具有机制建构、利益联结、文化整合及社会融合等政治功能。正确认识观光旅游在两岸互动中的角色与功能,对于两岸关系的和平发展具有特别重要的意义。     

El estilo didáctico en la configuración del discurso interactivo de clase

Resumen

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar de qué forma el estilo didáctico de tres profesores configura de una forma específica el discurso interactivo de clase desde un enfoque constructivista del aprendizaje que marca el énfasis en la interacción como factor determinante de los procesos de aprendizaje en los que el individuo —el alumno en nuestro marco—se ve envuelto. El proceso de esta investigació n nos ha llevado a afirmar que hay una dinámica que prioriza la transmisión de información y de conocimientos que se refleja en un alto grado de protagonismo del discurso del profesor. El protagonismo del profesor conlleva la reducción de la participación del alumno limitada a un discurso cuya función principal es responder a las evaluaciones emitidas por el profesor. Por el contrario, una dinámica de clases que priorice los procesos interactivos del aula supondrá un cierto equilibrio de las fuentes de discurso y una mayor riqueza y variedad de las intervenciones del alumno. Una metodología didáctica que priorice la participación del alumno en la “construcción” del discurso de clase contribuirá a aumentar su cooperación en los procesos de aprendizaje.     

对新角色的困惑——从子君与安娜谈起

爱情与生命是人类常谈常新的话题,人生的困惑之一就是不能平衡天长地久的爱情与短暂无常的生命,安娜为守住爱情而卧轨,子君为失去爱情而轻生。她们的悲剧命运不仅是某个时代的典型,更是千百年来若干个民族不由自主遵循着的一种规律的体现,在不同的时代演绎着相同的人生。故试图分析造成二者悲剧的根源,论女性对新建角色的适时的认知和调整的必要性与重要性。     

How to facilitate knowledge diffusion in complex networks: The roles of network structure,knowledge role distribution and selection rule

The diffusion of knowledge within organizations provides opportunities for interpersonal co-operation, improves creative ability and therefore leads to competitive advantage. Focus of prior literature on knowledge diffusion has been on identifying factors that influence individuals' behavioral intentions to seek and share knowledge. However, knowledge diffusion as an enigmatic, emergent and organizational-level process is more than the simple aggregation of individual attributes and needs to be further investigated. Accordingly, this study focuses on three distinct system-level factors, i.e., architectures of connections among individuals, distributions of knowledge roles and designs of selection mechanisms and analyses their effects on knowledge diffusion. To be more specific, we examine three distinct knowledge roles: seekers, contributors and brokers. We also distinguish between three types of selection mechanisms: objective selection mechanisms, feedback-based selection mechanisms and random selection mechanisms. By conducting agent-based simulations on four representative networks, i.e., regular networks, random networks, small-world networks and scale-free networks, our results show that the optimal knowledge diffusion performance can be achieved on scale-free networks where all agents implement objective mechanisms and show characteristics of brokers. Moreover, our results (a) highlight the significance of brokers, (b) illustrate the superiority of objective selection rules and (c) demonstrate that scale-free networks provide an optimal framework for knowledge diffusion. Furthermore, we also find the interdependent relevance of these three factors to knowledge diffusion and propose a qualitative explanation of these findings.     

Who are We?

This article scrutinises the usage of the words “we”, “us” and “our” by BBC radio journalists when reporting and discussing news and current affairs. By analysing reports and discussions on the “flagship” Radio 4 Today, a daily news programme whose centrality to political and public debate is widely recognised, the article raises substantive questions about clarity, accuracy and impartiality in senior broadcast journalists’ choice of language. In exploring the assumptions which may underlie the invocation, via such language choices, of an implied community, and against the backdrop of the BBC's commitment to impartiality in its Editorial Guidelines, the article identifies numerous recent examples where the choice of words and identifiers can be seen as undermining the BBC's impartiality and which show several of its senior journalists adopting the first-person plural “we” when reporting on matters of public policy. The findings therefore indicate a general need to codify norms which are seen to integrate the need for accuracy as well as impartiality, and for these norms to take into account issues which might at first glance seem to be inconsequential, micro-level features of the journalists’ language. The evidence suggests that more fine-grained guidelines on permissible circumstances for BBC journalists’ usage of “we” and “our” need revising and disseminating in the light of these findings.     

大学英语阅读教学的互动课堂探究

大学英语阅读教学应以提高学生的语言综合运用能力为目标，而倡导交流、合作的互动阅读课堂教学是实现其有效的方式，为实现互动课堂，我们应以互动阅读课堂理论为依据，实现教师五个角色的转变，并可根据具体情况采用四种不同的互动课堂组织形式。