My Runaway Story我的出走史

我是在16岁的时候离家出走的。我的母亲有狂躁郁闷症。我的继父是个严格的基督教徒，他总是喜欢将自己的信念强行灌输进他的家庭——他多次对我说我做的所有事情都是罪恶的、我将要下地狱。而且好像我将因为我的罪恶而下地狱已经成为他的热心话题。我的亲生父亲不想和我有任何瓜葛——我从未见过他。     

Knowledge management as a mechanism for technological and organizational change management in Israeli universities

During the last decade, the higher education sector has experienced many pressures and changes (Hanna, Educause Review, 38(4), 25–34, 2003; Scott, Educause Review, 38, 64–80, 2003; Waterhouse, The power of e-learning: The essential guide for teaching in the digital age, 2005). Universities around the world are facing the need to adapt to a rapidly changing educational and social landscape, in which technology is both the main cause of change and a tool for dealing with the change. This study examines the organization-wide technological changes that have infiltrated every aspects of life at all universities that are part of the higher education system in Israel during the last 7 years: the introduction of on-line instruction, e-learning and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology for university work processes The research findings show that there is a mechanism for managing organization-wide technological changes at Israeli universities but it is not a rational one. This study proposes a model for managing organization-wide technological changes in universities on the basis of the existing mechanism, using knowledge management strategies for the purpose of change management: KM-M-CM (Knowledge Management as a Mechanism for Change Management) Implementation of this model will make it possible to realize the challenge of transforming the university from a "knowledge institution" to a "learning institution." It will come life to the extent that the higher education system in Israel, its leaders and decision-makers understand the need for a permanent mechanism to manage change and adopt this rational model in order to establish it.     

Book reviews

Distributed Learning: social and cultural approaches to practiceEdited by Mary R. Lea and Kathy Nicoll, 2002 RoutledgeFalmer 214 pp., £19.99 ISBN 0 415 26809 5Distributed Learning: social and cultural approaches to practice, edited by Mary R. Lea and Kathy Nicoll, is published as part of the Open University UK course Understanding Distributed and Flexible Learning within the Postgraduate Programme in Open and Distance Education. The book comprises of 12 chapters written by authors from different academic backgrounds. They draw on their extensive practical experiences to present and reflect on a number of conceptual models and describe best practices in distributed learning. The volume is aimed at practitioners who intend to use technology in a higher education setting and also helps those who may have been using it for a few years to rethink their approaches to online learning and teaching. The reader is introduced to several theoretical concepts based on different disciplines and perspectives, e.g. anthropology, psychology, sociology, philosophy, economics and pedagogy. The specific focus is on the social and cultural aspects of learning. What does the term distributed learning mean? It describes practices on the continuum between traditional distance education and campus-based face-to-face education (cf. flexible learning, blended learning). With the proliferation of information and communications technology (ICT) in campus-based educational settings the boundaries between distance education and face-to-face education are fading. More and more traditional campus-based universities are providing access to higher education in a distance learning format. In fact, ICTs facilitate contact over a distance. Some authors even speak of a convergence between the two forms of education (Mills &;Tait, 1999). Campus-based institutions cannot deny their tradition: they insist that contact sessions are essential for successful internet-based independent learning, although distance education with its high quality pre-prepared study materials and tutorial (online) support has proven otherwise. This is what models for blended learning try to illuminate: the appropriate mix of face-to-face and distance teaching approaches. A strength of the book is that the authors come from both distance teaching as well as campus-based institutions and thus different views on the continuum are presented.