《孙子兵法》思维智慧的主要表现及启示

作为《孙子兵法》军事思想重要支撑的孙子兵法思维智慧,可以主要从战略思维智慧、辩证思维智慧和创新思维智慧三个方面来认识和把握。《孙子兵法》的思维智慧以战略思维智慧为基础,以辩证思维智慧为核心,以创新思维智慧为关键。运用这种思维智慧,《孙子兵法》揭示了不能直接感知到的战争的本质和规律,不仅形成了比较成熟的战争认识论,也得出了系统的战争方法论。《孙子兵法》的思维智慧具有跨越时代的永恒魅力和重要的现实启示。     

Investigating the Efficacy of a Core Kindergarten Mathematics Curriculum to Improve Student Mathematics Learning Outcomes

This study examined the efficacy of a core kindergarten mathematics program, Early Learning in Mathematics (ELM), a 120-lesson program with four content strands: (a) number operations, (b) geometry, (c) measurement, and (d) vocabulary. The study utilized a randomized block design, with 129 classrooms randomly assigned within schools to treatment or control conditions. Measures of achievement were collected in the fall (pretest) and spring (posttest) in kindergarten and in the winter of first grade (follow-up). Although students in ELM classrooms did not differ significantly from students in control classrooms, we expected and found that the effects of ELM depended on students’ initial achievement. Initial achievement moderated condition effects for Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA) scores (p =.0039), but not the Early Numeracy–Curriculum-Based Measurement (p =.1887). We found no effects on follow-up first-grade scores from the Stanford Achievement Test Tenth Edition Problem Solving subtest (p =.9737) or Procedures subtest (p =.6336).     

Involvement of heads of departments in strategic planning in schools in the Pinetown District

ABSTRACT

Strategic planning is crucial in facilitating sustainable development of schools. It enables schools to survive and cope with changes and challenges from government policies and market forces. There is broad agreement that all stakeholders need to be part of school strategic planning. In response to the lack of evidence suggesting stakeholders’ involvement – specifically that of Heads of Department (HOD) – in strategic planning in schools, and its value in ensuring that all stakeholders execute their duties, HODs’ experiences regarding their involvement in strategic planning were explored. Qualitative research was undertaken and semi-structured interviews were employed to generate data. The study reveals that the HODs were involved in some form of planning but there is no evidence suggesting their participation in substantive issues on strategic planning. Further, the study reveals that transparency-driven leadership and collaboration are key factors to ensure HODs’ participation in strategic planning. The findings suggest that the involvement of HODs is crucial towards improving teaching and learning.     

Responses to conditions of decline: The case of Kenya's public universities

Abstract

This paper examines the responses of Kenya's public universities to resource dependence difficulties arising mainly from public finance challenges. The study shows how Kenya's public universities have attempted to hedge against declines in state funding by actively, and purposively exploiting the opportunities in their institutional environments. The universities have not only managed to creatively circumvent a rather restrictive policy environment to pursue economic self-determination, but have also assumed an entrepreneurial institutional behaviour characterized in the main by some form of revenue diversification and market-like behaviour. Through this entrepreneurial behaviour, Kenya's public universities have managed to shift the locus of their resource dependence to the market, to various extents.     

Strategic Marketing of Library Resources and Services

The development of marketing activities for an academic library as an outgrowth of an overall library strategic plan can assist in clarifying which key resources and services should be promoted and in developing the optimal activities for communicating their benefits. Marketing as an ancillary process to strategic planning can increase awareness and use of library resources and services among targeted user groups and can present a clear, consistent image to students, faculty, and administration as to what the library offers to the life of the university community and validate its continued funding. A permanent library marketing committee is the best means for coordinating library marketing activities.     

The Art of Learning with Difficulty

Summary

Librarians should be actively involved in educating students: not merely teaching them the techniques needed for bibliographic searches, but helping them learn the artistry involved in thinking for themselves. This is not a matter of expertise, of teaching rules for use in academic specialties. It's a matter of creating interactive contexts-conversations-in which students can acquire by experience the general good sense needed to be able to decide in situations, specialized or not, which rules to use and why.     

A Library Staff Becomes a Team

Abstract

The staff of the Management & Economics Library of the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University used group problem solving techniques developed by The Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) to redesign the floor plan of the circulation, periodicals, and reference areas of the library to best utilize the space. The ToP^tm (Technology of Participation) planning process utilizes visualizing, brainstorming, and clustering of ideas. Its planning process consists of five workshops: mapping out the practical vision; analyzing the underlying contradictions; setting the strategic directions; designing the systematic action plan; and drawing up the implementation timeline. Each of these workshops is described in part one of this article. Part two describes the implementation of the changes and includes a list of changes, their associated costs, and goals they accomplished. The appendix includes before and after floor plans     

Putting community first: mainstreaming CSR for community-building in India and China

Community-building is studied as a multidimensional process that leads to sustainable improvements in the well-being of individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole. The study looks at the role organizations play in developing countries as an integral function of inter-connectedness between organizations and community. A total of 100 Indian and Chinese organizations were analyzed for the available corporate social responsibility (CSR) information and initiatives using quantitative content analysis. The sample was drawn from the 2011 Forbes Global 2000 list. Significant differences were found between Indian and Chinese organizations in the levels of community-building. Findings also revealed information on the most common CSR terms, issues, and modes used by the organizations and how those differ culturally. Cultural scores on collectivism were also looked at for each country to analyze the relationship between organizations and community-building.     

Scenario planning in public libraries: a discussion

The authors explore the use of scenario planning in public libraries via a Q&A discussion. They discuss the impact of unexpected events and unwelcome trends on libraries’ future, explain the distinction between scenario work and forecasting, and outline a practical approach to devising and delivering scenario planning activities at a local library level. This discussion, which took place at Oxford University’s Said Business School on 23 August 2018, explores the use of scenario planning in public libraries.     

Public Library Evaluation: A Retrospective on the Evolution of Measurement Systems

This article aims to provide a historical and contemporary perspective on how public libraries establish indicators for measuring success, using the Free Library of Philadelphia as a focus of analysis. From the 1970s though the late 1980s, libraries focused on measuring internal statistics, such as bibliographic resources, to communicate the strength of their collection. Within the past twenty years, libraries have shifted their measurement structures toward outward performance in the communities they serve. The challenge today for libraries such as the Free Library is to establish structured formats for guiding community plans for their particular library and establishing agreed-on measures. Simultaneously, these structures need to incorporate ongoing evaluation methods.