scholarly journals Action Learning in the neighbourhood of Benicalap (Valencia): an innovative teaching and learning experience in an International Development Master

Author(s):  
Victoria Pellicer-Sifres ◽  
Alejandra Boni ◽  
Monique Leivas Vargas ◽  
Vania Wassel Antich

This article aims to analyze an innovative teaching and learning experience carried out by  the “Development Cooperation Master’s Degree” taught at the Politechnical University of València (UPV), Spain. During two weeks, the students of the Master carried out an Action Learning process in the neighborhood of Benicalap (Valencia), with the aim to explore how the housing conditions in the neighborhood influence on the youth’s learning and aspirations. The process was developed with the participation of three local organization. As outputs of this research, some proposals for improving the neighbourhood were presented to several actors from Benicalap. University exercised then a part of its social responsibility, moving lessons from the classroom to the street. In turn, UPV students acquired social and technical skills for their personal and professional development.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Wiputra Cendana ◽  
Yonathan Winardi

There have been many ways offered as professional development (PD) for language teachers as well as conferences discussing its trends and alternatives. However, the world is facing CoVid19 pandemic that changes the context and media of English language teaching and learning in primary classrooms at present. Therefore, there is a need for novice teachers to be equipped by ways and opportunities in professional development that suit with the existing context and available media to apply PD. A preliminary cross-sectional survey was done in late July 2020 to get feedback on the ways primary English teachers of two private schools in West Jakarta did professional development. Possible solutions and opportunities are offered to assist them having a sustainable and meaningful professional development in the future during home-based learning (HBL) due to CoVid19 pandemic.The conclusion of the research is the primary English teachers have done various PD ways and need internal and external support from the school and local government mainly in the infrastructure, in order to provide the best possibility of the new learning experience with the students in the online classroom.    


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 470
Author(s):  
Joseph Meng-Chun Chin ◽  
Gregory S. Ching ◽  
Fides del Castillo ◽  
Tzu-Hsing Wen ◽  
Yu-Chen Huang ◽  
...  

Due to COVID-19, remote or distance education has become the norm in the Philippines. Yet even in its second year, remote teaching and learning still face ongoing challenges, as does the need for teachers’ professional development. This paper describes a study that examined teachers’ perspectives on barriers and needs in professional development. The study involved 174 teachers who were teaching online courses in the National Capital Region. The participants completed a survey detailing their professional development frequency, perspectives, barriers, and needs, while eight teachers agreed to participate in a follow-up interview. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis have shown that teachers’ pedagogical and information technology skills requirements are influenced primarily by their prior professional development experiences and their need to apply active learning and innovative teaching ideas. Qualitative analyses indicate that teachers’ professional development needs are mostly focused on skills related to online teaching, information technology literacy, and conducting research. In addition, data indicated that barriers to professional development were primarily caused by financial and time constraints and a lack of teacher motivation and logistical support. In summary, for remote education to be sustainable, teachers need ongoing professional development as well as adequate logistical support.


Author(s):  
Abdul Mohaimin Noordin Ayus

The 20th century legal education system is said to have failedto teach students practical legal skills, critical analysis anddecision-making methods, as it did not give studentssystematic training in effective techniques for learning the lawfrom the experience of the legal practice. At the end of thecentury, a pedagogic method known as the clinical legaleducation was developed which broadens legal education inall of these dimensions. It is important for a member of a lawschool academic to examine this pedagogical approachtowards enhancing students’ knowledge and skills in meetingthe needs of the changing time. Law schools in Malaysia andto some extent in Brunei Darussalam have some or limitedautonomy in introducing Innovative Teaching and Learningmethods into the curriculum design, but no true success couldbe lauded either as difficulties and realities in the study of lawwithin the common law jurisdictional context requires strongcognitive elements before a student could really delve inpractical legal skill exercises. The realities cover two main areasof development: (1) the components of legal studies, and (2)the outcomes of the studies. The difficulties may be associatedwith (1) the governing educational policies; (2) qualificationand quality of students admitted to law school, (3) theexperience of the law teachers; and (4) the learningenvironment. The traditional method could not simply beblamed or ignored, if there ever be a failure in the system, onthe one hand, and the much ushered innovative learningmethods may not necessarily be the success factor, on theother.


Author(s):  
Yasemin Gülbahar ◽  
Müge Adnan

With faculty members and instructors struggling with the massive transformational challenges stemming from technological innovation, the establishment of a digital teaching-learning culture to ensure that university graduates are ready to join the 21st-century workforce is of the utmost importance. At this juncture, the key players are those who lead the learning experience, namely faculty members and instructors. Being an experienced faculty member and possessing advanced skills of using technology does not necessarily lead to an instructor becoming an effective e-instructor. This chapter, therefore, discusses the changing nature of digital teaching and learning from the perspective of faculty members, within the framework of certain required competencies and skills that every faculty member should possess. The chapter also includes a brief overview of the literature regarding the professional development of faculty members, synchronized with reflections and experiences from an online e-Tutor course.


Author(s):  
Frank Abrahams

This chapter aligns the tenets of critical pedagogy with current practices of assessment in the United States. The author posits that critical pedagogy is an appropriate lens through which to view assessment, and argues against the hegemonic practices that support marginalization of students. Grounded in critical theory and based on Marxist ideals, the content supports the notion of teaching and learning as a partnership where the desire to empower and transform the learner, and open possibilities for the learner to view the world and themselves in that world, are primary goals. Political mandates to evaluate teacher performance and student learning are presented and discussed. In addition to the formative and summative assessments that teachers routinely do to students, the author suggests integrative assessment, where students with the teacher reflect together on the learning experience and its outcomes. The chapter includes specific examples from the author’s own teaching that operationalize the ideas presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Daniel Abril-López ◽  
Hortensia Morón-Monge ◽  
María del Carmen Morón-Monge ◽  
María Dolores López Carrillo

This study was developed with Early Childhood Preservice Teachers within the framework of the Teaching and Learning of Social Sciences over three academic years (2017–2018, 2018–2019, and 2019–2020) at the University of Alcalá. The main objective was to improve the learning to learn competence during teacher training from an outdoor experience at the Museum of Guadalajara (Spain), using e/m-learning tools (Blackboard Learn, Google Forms, QR codes, and websites) and the inquiry-based learning approach. To ascertain the level of acquisition of this competence in those teachers who were being trained, their self-perception—before and after—of the outdoor experience was assessed through a system of categories adapted from the European Commission. The results show a certain improvement in this competence in Early Childhood Preservice Teachers. Additionally, this outdoor experience shows the insufficient educational adaptation of the museum to the early childhood education stage from a social sciences point of view. Finally, we highlight the importance of carrying out outdoor experiences from an inquiry-based education approach. These outdoor experiences should be carried out in places like museums to encourage contextualized and experiential learning of the youngest in formal education.


2021 ◽  
pp. 001458582098650
Author(s):  
Gloria De Vincenti ◽  
Angela Giovanangeli

Researchers examining nationalistic conceptions of language learning argue that nationalist essentialism often shapes the way languages are taught by educators and understood by learners. While numerous studies focus on how frameworks informed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and intercultural education offer alternative approaches to national stereotyping, these studies tend to focus on theoretical approaches, teacher perspectives or innovative teaching and learning resources. The literature to date, however, does not provide case studies on student responses to activities designed by the teacher to open up the classroom with opportunities that move beyond essentialist representations. This article responds to the need for such scholarship and presents a case study involving a focus group with tertiary students in an Italian language and culture subject. It reveals some of the ways in which students enacted and reflected upon alternatives to nationalist essentialising as a result of language learning activities that had been informed by the discursive processes of CDA. The findings suggest that students demonstrated skills and attitudes such as curiosity, subjectivities and connections with broader social contexts. Some of the data also indicates student engagement in critical inquiry and their potential for social agency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1490
Author(s):  
Agustín Moya-Colorado ◽  
Nina León-Bolaños ◽  
José L. Yagüe-Blanco

Project management is an autonomous discipline that is applied to a huge diversity of activity sectors and that has evolved enormously over the last decades. International Development Cooperation has incorporated some of this discipline’s tools into its professional practice, but many gaps remain. This article analyzes donor agencies’ project management approaches in their funding mechanisms for projects implemented by non-governmental organizations. As case study, we look at the Spanish decentralized donor agencies (Spanish autonomous communities). The analysis uses the PM2 project management methodology of the European Commission, as comparison framework, to assess and systematize the documentation, requirements, and project management tools that non-governmental organizations need to use and fulfill as a condition to access these donors’ project funding mechanisms. The analysis shows coincidence across donors in the priority given to project management areas linked to the iron triangle (scope, cost, and time) while other areas are mainly left unattended. The analysis also identifies industry-specific elements of interest (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) that need to be incorporated into project management practice in this field. The use of PM2 as benchmark provides a clear vision of the project management areas that donors could address to better support their non-governmental organization-implemented projects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8053
Author(s):  
Maram Meccawy ◽  
Zilal Meccawy ◽  
Aisha Alsobhi

(1) This study demonstrates how a Saudi university has responded to the COVID-19 lockdown in order to examine the success factors and highlight any challenges. The main purpose was to determine the perceptions of students and faculty towards emergency online distance learning from a teaching and learning perspective; (2) A cross-faculty study was conducted: two different self-administered questionnaires were developed for students and faculty, respectively. In addition, data was collected from official reports; (3) The results show that students had a more positive perception of e-Learning despite the difficulties that they may have faced, while faculty results leaned slightly towards a negative perception. However, there was not a definite positive or negative perception, depending on the aspect of teaching that was being evaluated. The study also indicated that faculty and students’ gender had no significant effect on their perceptions. Overall results showed that the university performed well in accordance with three of the five pillars of online learning quality framework in terms of student satisfaction, access and scalability. On the other, improvements are needed to achieve better results for faculty satisfaction and learning effectiveness; (4) The findings present a number of suggestions for increasing satisfaction to improve the online learning experience post COVID-19.


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