scholarly journals MacIntyre and the Challenges of Higher Education in the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ((2) 18) ◽  
pp. 13-33
Author(s):  
Miguel Angel Belmonte

Reflection on the nature of the university and its role in contemporary society occupies an important place in the work of the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. His academic career and his view of the incommensurable nature of moral discourses combine to suggest an original and provocative proposal for a new model of higher education. This model is characterized by a unity based on a philosophical and theological formality capable of dispelling the dangers of fragmentation and utilitarian specialization. In MacIntyre’s proposal, the university becomes the most important vehicle for organizing knowledge and, consequently, for ordering social life.

Author(s):  
Meghan Perdue

In the midst of the current technological revolution, there is a thriving conversation about how society should adapt to the future of work taking place in the national media, universities, policy organizations, think tanks, consulting firms and companies. One such model for work and education under consideration is that of the role of higher education in workforce development. How well does a bachelor’s degree prepare an individual for a career in this shifting landscape of work? What is the responsibility of the university to the student – to prepare them for a career? Or to help them build the intellectual framework to build a meaningful life Incorporating the practice and development of 21st century skills into the higher education classroom does not necessarily require a great rethinking of the education model or content delivery. Rather, it could be as simple as encouraging faculty to use proven educational principles such as active learning and group-based learning into the classroom. This would allow students to practice some of the necessary skills such as communication, respect, teamwork, and problem solving into their higher education curriculum.


PRIMO ASPECTU ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 46-51
Author(s):  
Dang Khoa Mai ◽  
Nikolai M. Borytko

The world is witnessing dramatic changes in the digital age, marking the advancement and rise of digital technologies that enable more efficient processing, transmission, storage and review of information. As digital technology is increasingly affecting all aspects of social life, innovation is considered the key to making competitiveness and sustainble development of individuals, organizations and the whole society. Innovation is the process of creating new values by applying new solutions to existing problems. And innovation culture is an enviroment that nurtures, promotes and realizes innovation. This shows that the formation of an individual’s innovation culture is essential to be able to build an innovation culture of the organization and even of society. Higher education is also not out of this trend. Therefore, it is necessary to study the innovation culture in the field of higher education, first, the university lecturer’s innovation culture. The article aims to clarify some issues related to innovation culture. On that basis, the content of the concept of university lecturer’s innovation culture will be analyzed, simultaneously, the impacts of the digital age on higher education in general and university lecturer in particular will be mentioned to highlight the role of university lecturer’s innovation culture in the new context of society.


Author(s):  
V.S. Akimova ◽  
◽  
S.S. Atlasova ◽  
K.E. Ershova

Japan is a developing country but is getting diffi cult to hold in leadership 21st century. The domestic lack of raw materials fosters the government to count on competitive power of science and the higher education system. Japanese system of higher education must become demanded in the world. The history of Hokkaido University, the oldest institution in the country and is being modernized at present, is reviewed. It is noted that various mid-term and long-term measures have been developed and implemented. The university partakes in diff erent activities to raise the university international rating.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
María Guadalupe Veytia-Bucheli ◽  
José Gómez-Galán ◽  
Diego Vergara

Communication processes are part of human life. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and, especially, the use of smartphones have generated new forms of interaction and communication, both synchronous and asynchronous, in formal and informal spaces. One of the most used applications is WhatsApp, which allows the sending of text, documents, images, and emojis. It is important to study these new forms and languages of communication in higher education because any educational or training process is essentially communicative. This research was carried out using a mixed approach, with a nonexperimental, descriptive, and transversal design, using a technique of a survey made up of 30 items. It was applied to postgraduate university students to determine their use and value among people with a consolidated university academic career, which would allow us to determine the presence of these new languages in this context. The basic objectives were to identify the frequency of use of emojis through WhatsApp amongst Mexican graduate students and to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of their use. The results confirmed the increase of emojis in conversations conducted by WhatsApp among fellow students. As positive elements, it was determined that they favor the development of a pleasant environment, confidence, and empathy, in addition to expressing emotions, feelings, and reactions. However, emojis also have drawbacks and disadvantages. Among them is the risk that they are misunderstood since their meaning is not shared, that they divert attention from a central idea, and, in general, that they sometimes have an addictive character that implies a waste of time in a study context, such as at the university. In conclusion, it can be argued that ICTs are profoundly transforming the processes of written communication in today’s society, including the university world. New languages that present intercultural, dynamic, dialectic, and ecosystemic alternatives to speech or writing have appeared. Emojis, in the context of higher education, would be an example of this trend.


Author(s):  
Maggie Broderick

This chapter examines representation of women and minorities in 21st century higher education with regard to how the online learning culture serves diverse students. Over the past two decades, faculty and student representation by women and minorities has increased, while online learning has also grown exponentially, becoming almost ubiquitous in its reach and scope. Even with differences across institutions (public versus private, size of the university, and populations served), the online learning environment has a seemingly agreed-upon set of rules, standards, and practices. Arguably, online learning has a distinct culture, which can thus be viewed through the lens of Vygotskyian sociocultural theory. While online learning may have some perceived downsides, a potential benefit is that the nature of the technology and the agreed-upon culture of 21st century online learning across institutions may serve to mask and inhibit implicit bias and thus level the playing field for women and minority students and faculty in higher education.


Author(s):  
Rochelle Rodrigo ◽  
Kristopher Purzycki

As more students bring powerful pocket-sized computers to class in the form of their smartphones and tablets, faculty need to take advantage by devising curriculum that incorporates mobile video production as a means of contributing to the discourse of the university and the world at large. Projects where students use mobile devices to make videos create active learning environments where they are more likely to build and connect their classroom learning with what they already know. These types of projects also develop student digital composing skills while navigating several issues pertinent to a 21st century participatory culture. These assignments engage students with themes and issues that not only promote success in higher education but throughout their careers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 233264922110377
Author(s):  
Theresa Rocha Beardall

Moments of performative racial consciousness, however urgent and necessary, often fail to reckon with long-standing demands against injustice from communities of color. In the case of Indigenous Peoples in higher education, these demands frequently include an end to derogatory mascots and racialized campus violence. This article attends to those issues by merging and extending settler-colonial theory and racialized organization theory to examine how the logics of Indigenous elimination and dispossession permeate higher education. With a specific focus on land-grant universities, I argue that racialized organizations are embedded in institutional fields and that both operate within a broader settler-colonial project. I introduce the concept of settler simultaneity to further historicize the study of racialized organizations and uncover how they target persons, collectives, and ideas that pose obstacles to settler goals of subordination, extraction, and profiteering both locally and globally. I look to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a case study that illustrates how these logics work across time and conclude by considering how critical engagement with the logics of elimination can help us to better understand, and hold accountable, the policies and programs of racialized organizations in other areas of social life.


2021 ◽  
pp. 221-226
Author(s):  
Mandla S. Makhanya

AbstractWhile the old Heraclitan adage: “The only constant in life is change” remains true, it is the scale and impact of that change that distinguishes the routine from the radical, and the evolution from the revolution. This difference is captured succinctly by Palinkas who asserts:“Change uses external influences to modify actions, but transformation modifies beliefs so actions become natural and thereby achieve the desired result ” (Palinkas 2013). Higher education, in its current state of disruption, is forcing us to revisit everything that we know and believe about education, in pursuit of its continued relevance and sustainability as a “new normal”. Key contributors to the state of disruption are fundamental and influential shifts in geo-socio-economic and political practices, rampant technological and scientific innovation, a multiplicity of role players, many of whom reside outside of the traditional higher education sphere, changing views on the nature and value of knowledge and the role of the university, and compelling contextual realities such as the need (and demands) for equity, social justice and redress.


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