Suchergebnisse

This workshop offers participants hands-on training in how to set up a secondary school course in an online learning environment: Moodle (an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). It also reviews the process of implementing Moodle at the American International School (AIS), Hong Kong over the past year, and outlines our future plans. Moodle is a popular free software package designed to deliver an online learning environment offering a user-friendly interface, a large online support community of enthusiastic users, developers and educators at www.moodle.org, and open source availability for custom additions. AIS is currently using Moodle to assist in the delivery of 16 courses, support the faculty in another 5 areas, and implement a school Intranet. A recent directive from the secondary school administration asks all of the teachers to prepare for a potential school closing due to avian flu by making their course materials available online using Moodle. One of the co-presenters, Aaron Metz, a recent HKU MSc[ITE] graduate and current IT teacher at AIS, introduced Moodle to the school as a result of his studies. For the workshop the co-presenters, with the help of several PC workstations and Moodle software installed, will demonstrate how Moodle is used and offer opportunities for participants to review the environment on their own. Software operations demonstrated will include: course creation; developing course materials and resources; the initiation and maintenance of discussion forums; the collection of assignments; and the delivery and marking of assessment tools. Expected discussion will include: the background of Moodle development; the criteria for selecting an appropriate learning environment; proposals for administration; web hosting requirements; software setup; teacher training; the pros and cons of an online learning environment compared to traditional education delivery methods; curriculum delivery options; and an overview of the ongoing Moodle implementation at AIS. The implementation of an online learning environment is an important method of delivering education using IT. This workshop will provide participants an opportunity to discuss an ongoing implementation at a HK international school, and get hands-on experience in the use of a popular software package of this type. ; published_or_final_version ; Centre of Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kong and Education and Manpower Bureau, the Government of the Hong Kong SAR

This is a conference paper. ; This paper is written by the Water & Sanitation Adviser to the EU's Humanitarian Plus Programme in Sudan and is based on over three years experience in Sudan and 25 years experience working in Africa. The paper focuses on one of the HPP projects implemented by a Sudanese NGO; El Sugya Charity Organization, who constructed a 30,000 cu.m hafir (water reservoir to collect run-off water) for and with a group of previously neglected villages in North Kordofan State. The paper shows how the NGO built up a partnership with the community before, during and after construction of the hafir and describes how people were involved. But this is not just another water supply project as it has radically changed life in the villages for the better. The construction and filling of the hafir proved to be a catalyst for the State government to do something to assist the communities after decades of neglect. The paper goes on to critically assess how the various interventions have had quite a dramatic effect in alleviating poverty, which is endemic to many rural area of Sudan and has been exacerbated by the 21-year civil war that has adversely affected all of Sudan, not just the south. The paper concludes with some practical learning points for practitioners, civil servants and members of civil society organizations.

Intro -- FOREWORD -- PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION -- Chapter 1. GOING PUBLIC -- Chapter 2. FOLLOWING THE VISION -- The Children's Center for Arts and Learning St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Denver, Colorado -- Chapter 3. LEARNING BY EXAMPLE -- Alfred Street Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia -- Chapter 4. "HEALING THE WORLD" -- Kehillat Israel Synagogue, Pacific Palisades, Calfornia -- Chapter 5. A COMMITMENT TO HOPE -- Dugan Alternative High School Holy Cross/Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church, Chicago, Illinois -- Chapter 6. PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE PRIVATE SOUL -- Shepherd's Hand Clinic Christ Lutheran Church, Whitefish, Montana -- Chapter 7. "A BUNCH OF TROUBLEMAKERS" -- Oakhurst Presbyterian Church, Decatur, Georgia -- Chapter 8. MINISTRIES OF PRESENCE AND PRAYER -- Post-September 11, New York City -- AFTERWORD -- SELECTED RESOURCES.

Schools are extraordinary laboratories of citizenship where students can learn to take a position, express their opinions and play an active role in the life of the community to which they belong with an openness to global challenges. Moreover, the need for a fair and quality education for all, enabling children to become people capable of acting in today's complex and global reality, is expressed in numerous national, European and international documents. Therefore, it is necessary to ask ourselves which teaching practices can be used to foster a habitus oriented towards the exercise of citizenship rights in terms of participation in the social, political, cultural and economic life of one's own living environment. Teaching through a community of inquiry inspired by Matthew Lipman and Ann M. Sharp's Philosophy for Children could be the operational response to the urgent need to educate future citizens who are aware and able of taking part in public life in the name of democracy. ; La scuola rappresenta uno straordinario laboratorio di cittadinanza in cui gli studenti possono imparare a prendere posizione, esprimere le proprie opinioni e avere un ruolo attivo nella vita della comunità di appartenenza con un'apertura alle sfide globali. Del resto, l'esigenza di un'educazione equa e di qualità per tutti, che permetta ai ragazzi di divenire persone capaci di agire nell'attuale realtà complessa e globale, è espressa in numerosi documenti nazionali, europei e internazionali. Occorre dunque domandarsi attraverso quali pratiche didattiche si possa favorire un habitus orientato all'esercizio dei diritti di cittadinanza in termini di partecipazione alla vita sociale, politica, culturale ed economica del proprio contesto di vita. Una didattica della comunità di ricerca ispirata alla Philosophy for Children di Matthew Lipman e Ann M. Sharp può essere la risposta operativa all'urgenza di educare all'insegna della democrazia futuri cittadini consapevoli e capaci di prendere parte alla vita pubblica.

Learning volunteer abroad for development (LVA4D) starts with unpacking -- An overview of the diverse volunteer abroad options, trends and motivations -- Lva4d and cross-cultural engagement -- Skills development and testing a career choice : capital accumulation and perceived benefits -- It's all about the timing : a "place" for adventure and travel -- Having an "impact" and other helping narratives -- Conclusion : understanding rationales and the possibilities for effective practices in volunteer abroad programs.

In an increasingly digital world there is a considerable and growing divide between those who are considered to be digitally literate and those who are not. In addition, among those who are digitally literate, there is a divide between those capable of engaging with technology end products and applications as competent users and those capable of developing software themselves; between users and creators. As technology becomes more pervasive in our society it has impacts in most aspects of life, including education, health, culture and work. In terms of the workplace impact it is clear that the currently reported skills deficits, gaps and mismatches are generating significant demand for skilled information technology workers across many sectors and the ability to meet this demand can have substantial impact on economic development. Developing appropriate technological skills and competence among young people has been the focus of many government, industry-led and voluntary schemes and has given rise to a diverse set of initiatives around Europe. However, little has been published on the attainment of knowledge, skill, competence and evidence of learning outcomes through these initiatives. This research has focused on the efforts to support development of coding capability among young people through the CoderDojo voluntary initiative and sought to identify the skills which are potentially transferable in an education and workplace context. CoderDojo is a global movement of free, volunteer-led, community based programming clubs for young people between the ages of seven and seventeen. The movement was founded by James Whelton and Bill Liao, an entrepreneur and philanthropist. From the first Dojo founded in Cork in Ireland in 2011, the movement has grown significantly and by May 2015 there were over 675 verified Dojos in 57 countries globally [1]. Through a review of the extant literature and the development of a potential skills acquisition template, this research seeks to identify and evaluate the knowledge, skills and competence that may be developed by participants in the CoderDojo movement. Before seeking to identify the skills that might be attained through programming activities, consideration of the broad themes and language of digital skills attainment is presented. The actual skills that are attained are considered in relation to the context within which the learning takes place. A research instrument is developed in association with project collaborators in the CoderDojo volunteer coding movement. The findings from the research are analysed and some preliminary recommendations are considered.

This is second in a two-issue series conceptualized as documenting educational innovations in higher education that could be seen as responses of colleges and universities to changing economic, political, and social forces. This issue's authors diagnose a number of different problems in the current practices of colleges and universities and prescribe pedagogical initiatives that link students to the community through service learning, which is the integration of community service activities into the curriculum through intentional analytical processes. The authors of these articles are pushing the theoretical and praxis boundaries of service learning to tackle challenging issues such as how to best enhance the student's learning experience to create self-motivated learners who become civic participants, how to structure programs and practices to best support such work, and how to alter institution- and discipline-driven reward systems to promote and sustain faculty involvement in service learning.

This book uses international case studies to present insights on the policies, actors, and institutions that are critical to successful transit-oriented development (TOD). TOD has many potential benefits for cities and regions, and is considered a critical element in reshaping sprawling car-dependent urban regions into denser regions built around transit corridors. However, it is not a magic bullet solution for metropolitan transportation problems: challenges persist, such as displacement of local residents and regulatory barriers. How has TOD been successfully implemented? How can we integrate the positive aspects of TOD while minimizing its negative impacts? This book presents a study conducted at the University of Amsterdam, exploring 11 international case studies, including a meta-analysis, rough set analysis and policy transfer workshops. The authors discuss the findings and present solutions to persistent challenges to transit-oriented development. Additional literature on eTOD (equitable TOD) strategies, as a fundamental component of planning for regional transportation, shows that these approaches can result in more collaborative processes, community-led development that minimizes the negative impacts of transportation infrastructure. As our Dutch colleagues stated, TOD can be considered a policy concept that can be used as a story to unite people.

Background. As part of the process to develop more community-oriented medical teaching in Vietnam, eight medical schools prepared a set of standard learning objectives with attention to the needs of a doctor working with the community. Because they were prepared based on government documents and the opinions of the teachers, it was necessary to check them with doctors who had already graduated and were working at different sites in the community. Methods. Each of the eight medical faculties asked 100 practising recent graduates to complete a questionnaire to check the relevance of the skills that the teachers considered most important. We used mean and standard deviation to summarize the scores rated by the respondents for each skill and percentile at four points: p50, p25, p10 and p5 to describe the variation of scores among the respondents. Correlation coefficient was used to measure the relationship between skill levels set by the teachers and the perception of practicing doctors regarding frequency of using skills and priority for each skill. Additional information was taken from the records of focus group discussions to clarify, explain or expand on the results from the quantitative data. Results. In many cases the skills considered important by teachers were also rated as highly necessary and/or frequently used by the respondents. There were, however, discrepancies: some skills important to teachers were seldom used and not considered important by the doctors. In focus group discussions the doctors also identified skills that are not taught at all in the medical schools but would be needed by practising doctors. Conclusion. Although most of the skills and skill levels included in the learning objectives by the teachers were consistent with the opinions of their graduates, the match was not perfect. The experience of the graduates and their additional comments should be included as inputs to the definition of learning objectives for medical students. © 2007 Hoat et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Understanding how floodplain communities of the Brazilian Amazon respond to the impacts of extreme flooding induced by hydroclimatic variability and how learning supports these responses are the dual focus of this thesis. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (2014) demonstrates that rural communities in developing countries are among those most impacted by extreme climatic events, which are likely to increase in frequency and intensity in the near future. However, the community-based adaptations (CBA) literature indicates that rural communities have coped with climate variability by using a range of local assets, especially when governments have failed to provide proper assistance. My study followed a qualitative approach, employing semi-structured interviews with community members and institutional agents, participant observation, participatory mapping exercises, and validation workshops. Findings demonstrate that the repeated occurrence of extreme floods between 2009 and 2015 resulted in severe impacts, including some that had never been experienced by the local communities, such as the complete loss of perennials. Utilizing the sustainable livelihoods and resilience lenses, I investigated the locally-devised short-term and long-term responses to these impacts. Results revealed a wide range of responses, some of which I placed in a newly-proposed category of annual responses. Data about the capacity to absorb impacts without responding and about transformative responses were also provided. I also found that much of the learning that was foundational to the responses was instrumental in nature. The learning outcomes for individual participants resulted in proposing two new learning domains –introspective and emancipatory learning. Transformative outcomes were revealed for some participants who found that the intensity and repetition of extreme flooding drove them to leave the floodplain for upland or urban areas. Findings also revealed a wide array of learning domains ...

Abstract
Community engagement projects create an avenue for university students and faculty to interact with local communities. These endeavors place together groups with different worldviews, cultures, and languages. Service-Learning (sl) has acquired novelty in academic circles; however, there has been limited research analyzing what happens with intercultural communication. This article attempts to fill this gap by asking how intercultural communication is shaped through sl. Research was conducted on a community engagement project in the Andean paramo of Chugchilán, Ecuador involving faculty, students, and members of the indigenous community. For the analysis, a blended design of transcendental phenomenology and sl methodology was used to analyze how participants perceive and make sense of their experience. From a linguistic perspective, we used both bilingualism and diglossia to analyze intercultural communication during the sl experience. The findings show that sl is a valid methodology that can increase intercultural communication while developing cultural competency between participants of the project. Finally, the study considers the revitalization of indigenous languages to be a fundamental step for a global intercultural world.

George Orwell and Education uses Orwell's life and works to address current educational questions. His early life, political awakening and artistic development are key elements in the book's presentation of Orwell himself as a learner, and as someone whose ideas continue to speak to contemporary debates about human interdependency. The focus of the book is on critical issues in education, including the idea of universality, the status of young people and the nature of learning. Orwell's efforts to conceptualise, and artistically realise his own experience, create a platform for exploring current educational issues in their philosophical and political contexts. This book will encourage a reimagining of, and stimulate debate about an idea of education that is less individualistic, pays greater attention to human mutuality, is politically engaged and ultimately more sustainable. The book will appeal to researchers, scholars and post-graduate students in the fields of literature in education, pedagogy, educational philosophy, literary theory, citizenship and youth and community

Sociopolitical analyses of religion evidence the increasing prominence of religious communities across the world. However, existing work on religion–consumption interaction focuses mostly on the personal effects of religion and examines how religion and religious ideologies influence individual decision making, choice, and purchase and shopping behaviors. In this study, we focus on the collective experiences of religion and unpack the multiple ways consumption shapes and is shaped by a communal religious ethos. Through an ethnographic study of a Turkish-based Islamic community, we show that consumption plays important roles in attracting individuals to the community, socializing them to the communal ethos, and drawing symbolic boundaries between the community members and outsiders. We also discuss how the communal religious ethos shapes consumption practices and brand relationships of members and influences the marketplace dynamics.

Our world is increasingly driven by data. Medical, economic and political decisions are made based on automated analysis of ever-growing volumes of data, be they patient treatment decisions generated from rule models or stock trading decisions made by micro-trading tools. Scientific discovery is now all but impossible without data-intensive infrastructures, which have transformed both how science is done and what science is done. The Learning Health System (LHS) community has taken up the challenge of bringing the complex relationship between clinical research and practice into this brave new world. At the heart of the LHS vision is the notion of routine capture, transformation and dissemination of data and knowledge, with various use cases, such as clinical studies, quality improvement initiatives and decision support, constructed on top of specific routes that the data is taking through the system. In order to stop this increased data volume and analytical complexity from obfuscating the research process, it is essential to establish trust in the system through implementing reproducibility and auditability throughout the workflow. Data provenance technologies can automatically capture the trace of the research task and resulting data, thereby facilitating reproducible research. While some computational domains, such as bioinformatics, have embraced the technology through provenance-enabled execution middlewares, disciplines based on distributed, heterogeneous software, such as medical research, are only starting on the road to adoption, motivated by the institutional pressures to improve transparency and reproducibility. Guided by the experiences of the TRANSFoRm project, we present the opportunities that data provenance offers to the Learning Health System community. We illustrate how provenance can facilitate documenting 21 CFR part 11 compliance for FDA submissions and provide auditability for decisions made by the decision support tools and discuss the transformational effect of routine provenance capture on data privacy, study reporting and publishing medical research.

The aim of the paper is to analyse how teenagers (age 14-15) talk about body and health after a finished work with a socio-scientific issue on the same theme. How can their discussions about body, health and science education be understood in terms of a constantly ongoing identity construction, especially in terms of gender, social class, ethnicity and "studentship"? Our aim is to show how these categories intersect and produce meaning in students' talk about a topic socio-scientific issue. The paper is departing from a social theory on learning, e.g. learning and identity construction are interdependent on each other; meaning is constructed in relation to a community. Sadler (2009) has emphasized socio-scientific issues as a way to open up for communities of practice where students' identities can be expressed and they can use appropriated discourses. In this paper we intend to problematize Sadler's theories and show the complexity of students' identity construction during school work. Even if they can engage in a common issue, they are doing it in completely different ways. We will use an intersectional perspective to get deeper understanding of the relations between science learning and students identity construction. The paper also intends to discuss what subject positions that are available when students discuss a topical, political issue in the science classroom.The article is mainly built on data from focus group discussions about knowledge and values concerning body and health. Focus group 1 consisted of four girls from "Suburban school", a monoethnic school in a suburban, middle class area with high educational level. Focus group 2 consisted of four boys from the same school. Focus group 3 consisted of six girls from "Urban school", located in a multiethnic urban area with low socio-economic status, low educational level and high degree of unemployment. Focus group 4 consisted of four boys from the same school. We analyse the discussions from a discourse psychological perspective, e.g. how the students ...