At Fault

Author(s):  
Sebastian D.G. Knowles

At Fault: James Joyce and the Crisis of the Modern University argues that American universities have lost their way and that the works of James Joyce will put them back on the scent. In American university education today, an excess of caution has led to a serious error in our education system. To be “at fault” is to have lost one’s path: the university’s current crisis in confidence can be addressed by attending to the lessons that Joyce teaches us. Joyce models risk-taking in all three areas of the academic enterprise: research, teaching, and service. His texts go out of bounds, resisting the end, pushing beyond themselves. Joyce writes in an outlaw language, and the acknowledgment of failure is written into every right action. At stake is the enterprise of humanism: without an appreciation of error, and an understanding of infinite possibility, the university will calcify and lose its right to lead the nations of the world. The book draws upon the author’s thirty years of teaching experience to demonstrate what works in the classroom when teaching Joyce and makes a powerful contribution to debates on interdisciplinarity and university teaching. There are chapters on centrifugal motion, gramophones, elephants, fox-hunting, philately, brain mapping, and baseball: a compendium of approaches befitting the ever-expanding world of James Joyce.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
María-José Bezanilla ◽  
Héctor Galindo-Domínguez ◽  
Manuel Poblete

In our globalised, pluralistic, and often information-swamped society, critical thinking is recognised as an important competence to be developed in university education. In order to investigate this, 142 Latin American and Spanish teachers were asked about the importance of and potential for developing critical thinking in university education. Their responses were subjected to an inductive analysis, which lead to 13 categories about the reasons why it is important, and 11 categories about the potential and limitations for developing it in university education. These categories were found to remain statistically unchanged regardless of age, years of teaching experience, area of knowledge, gender and geographical area. Results show that teachers consider important to teach critical thinking at university and mainly for students to become good professionals in a complex world. Teachers believe it is possible to teach it, as long as active methodologies are used, in addition to other reasons, such as taking into account the lack of interest and preparation about critical thinking that students bring to university. Getting to know university teacher´s views about the importance and possibilities of teaching and learning critical thinking is crucial for the establishment of meaningful curriculum plans and learning activities for its development. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Sternberg

Occupational fields and career prospects of economic geographers. Empirical evidence from a graduate follow-up study at the Leibniz Universität Hannover and conclusions for teaching at universities. The employability of the alumni has become an important aspect of university teaching in Germany since bachelor and master courses were introduced some years ago. This also applies for the university education of economic geographers. The paper demonstrates the increased and still increasing relevance of employability for economic geographers studying at German universities. Based on data for 295 economic geography graduates from the Leibniz Universität Hannover it is shown that such alumni have rather good career opportunities to achieve both high income and satisfying work conditions. Adequate specialization of the curriculum, excellence in teaching and research, and a close relationship between university teaching (and teachers) and the professional world outside the university are important conditions for successful alumni.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ribeiro ◽  
Juliana Paulin

Context: Rethinking mathematics teaching practices in a university context is an emerging research theme. Objectives: In this article, we aim to discuss the limits and possibilities of using mathematical tasks in the teaching and learning processes of the concepts of Derivative, Integral and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Design: The study is based on a qualitative-interpretative perspective of research, with methodological procedures inspired by a Design-Based Research. Environment and participants: The research was developed with students attending a Functions of a Variable class in a public university in the state of São Paulo. Data collection and analysis: Data were collected through mathematical tasks on Differential and Integral Calculus solved by students. The protocols produced were analysed, pointing out the main aspects identified, which led us to organize categories of analysis and dimensions (i) knowledges mobilized and developed by students in relation to mathematical concepts; (ii) main errors and difficulties presented by students in the development of tasks; (iii) limits and possibilities of the practice of exploratory teaching in the university context. Results: The results reveal aspects that characterize a process of resignifying the mathematical concepts discussed with the students and a deepening of their knowledge about the concepts of the DIC. Conclusions: As future notes, we suggest rethinking university teaching practice, since the study indicated possibilities and potentialities of the use of exploratory tasks in the teaching of Differential and Integral Calculus.


2014 ◽  
Vol 889-890 ◽  
pp. 1684-1687
Author(s):  
Ling Yan Hu ◽  
Yong Xin ◽  
Yan Ni Zou ◽  
Chun Quan Li ◽  
Shao Ping Xu

At present, there is a big gap between education level of Chinese universities and that of North American universities, especially compare with US universities. The paper studied the key factors for the success of North American university education according the authors experience and analyzed the problems existing in Chinese university education. Taking the curriculum of Data Structure as an example, the paper developed a teaching reform scheme focusing on cultivating students abilities. Two years practical teaching results showed that the teaching reforms proposed in this paper can stimulated the students initiative to learn. The students were able to apply the theoretical knowledge to solve the practical problems. Accordingly teaching efficiency has been improved significantly.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-27
Author(s):  
Tidita Abdurrahmani

The study aims to analyse the results of “Teacher Qualification Exam” in Albania, and to link these results with teacher preparation curricula taught in public universities. The methodology of research includes desk research on the literature about curricula and teacher continuous professional development, elaboration of the results of the testing of 3064 teachers, analysis of the university teacher preparation curricula in terms of skills development, the elaboration of the results of questionnaires developed by novice teachers, and in depth interviews with students graduating from the education departments. As a result, the research shows the relationships amongst the curricula developed in the teacher preparation faculties in Albania, the poor results of novice teachers involved in the induction scheme, and the comparatively low results of teachers pertaining to the third category of the Qualification Scheme (novice teachers having no more than 5 years of teaching experience) in Albania. It is advisable to adopt a better professional development scheme. Key words: desk research, novice teachers, teacher qualification.


2021 ◽  
pp. 177-187
Author(s):  
Мария Владимировна Асмоловская ◽  
Агзам Абрарович Валеев

Деятельностный характер современного высшего образования настоятельно требует сегодня введения в его содержание и формирования у студентов рефлексивных компетенций, что может говорить о важном направлении модернизации образования в целом. Это касается, в частности, и обучения иностранному языку, где существенным образовательным ресурсом становится использование интерактивных технологий, когда в условиях постоянного обновления информации становится столь необходимым ее рефлексивное обобщение. В этой связи использование студентами интерактивных технологий в ходе изучения иностранного языка с точки зрения их рефлексивной готовности к этому становится особенно актуальным, поскольку студенты не обладают еще достаточным умением выявлять причинно-следственные связи в лингвистических аспектах изучаемого языка. Проблема развития рефлексивной готовности студентов к использованию интерактивных технологий в процессе обучения иностранному языку обусловливается потребностью обновления вузовской системы образования, где имеют место определенные противоречия. Это касается, например, требования по решению проблемы расширения рефлексивной деятельности студента и недостаточной методологической разработанностью качественного введения рефлексии в процесс обучения иностранному языку с учетом использования интерактивных технологий. В связи с этим проанализированы методологические аспекты рефлексивных умений студентов вуза посредством интерактивных технологий. Таким образом, целью настоящей работы стало рассмотрение аспектов развития рефлексивной готовности студентов к использованию интерактивных технологий в процессе обучения иностранному языку. The active nature of modern higher education today urgently requires the introduction into its content of the formation of students’ reflective competencies, which can be said as an important direction of modernization of education in general. This applies, in particular, to teaching a foreign language, where the use of interactive technologies also becomes an essential educational resource, when, under conditions of constant updating of information, its reflexive generalization becomes so necessary. In this regard, the use of interactive technologies by students in the teaching process of a foreign language from the point of view of their reflexive readiness for this becomes especially relevant, since students do not yet have sufficient ability to identify cause-and-effect relationships in the linguistic aspects of the language being studied. Hence, the formulation of the problem of the development of students’ reflexive readiness to use interactive technologies in the teaching process of a foreign language is conditioned by the need to update the university education system, where there are certain contradictions. This concerns, for example, the requirements for solving the problem of expanding the student’s reflective activity and the insufficient methodological development of the qualitative introduction of reflection into the process of teaching a foreign language, taking into account the use of interactive technologies. In this regard, this article is devoted to understanding the methodological aspects of the reflexive skills of university students, in particular, through interactive technologies. Thus, the purpose of this work was to consider the aspects of the development of students’ reflective readiness to use interactive technologies in the teaching process of a foreign language.


Author(s):  
Alicia Guerra Guerra ◽  
Lyda Sánchez de Gómez

We are at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution. The authors understand that university education should embrace the keys to this scenario and do so immediately. Considering this fact, new university teaching should be supported by technological immersion, but also by a culture of proactivity and training in values. The third of these pillars achieves an unimaginable relevance in regards to this emerging industrial revolution, which aims to become the revolution of values. Within this context, the university must move into the practice of ethical values and offer training based on soft skills. Moreover, there is a path that links ethics with soft skills based on the synergy between the two. From this idea, the central objectives of this work are to propose a university model for educational innovation based on values that also includes the tools for its implementation. The chapter ends with a practical case for implementing the model at the fablab that the University of Extremadura has available for its students majoring in Information Technology Engineering.


Author(s):  
P. C. Kemeny

The service of institutions of learning is not private but public,” Woodrow Wilson proclaimed at his inauguration as Princeton University’s thirteenth president. “Princeton for the Nation’s Service,” the title of Wilson’s 1902 inaugural address, captured his vision of Princeton’s mission. The nation, Wilson believed, desperately needed the university. The nation and its affairs, he observed, continued to “grow more and more complex” as a result of industrialization and bureaucratization. Furthermore, as successive waves of non-Protestant and non- Anglo-Saxon immigrant groups—”the more sordid and hapless elements” of southern Europe, as he described them elsewhere—congregated in the nation’s growing cities, Wilson, like other Protestant leaders of his day, feared that America’s democratic society stood on the verge of chaos. The very fabric of American society seemed to be ripping apart under the weight of ethnic and religious diversity. Like other educators of the day, Wilson envisioned the modern university’s playing a crucial role in ordering the nation’s business and political affairs and shaping the aspirations and values of the American people. A university education, Wilson explained, was “not for the majority who carry forward the common labor of the world” but for those who would lead the nation and mold the “sound sense and equipment of the rank and file.” The university’s task was twofold: “the production of a great body of informed and thoughtful men and the production of a small body of trained scholars and investigators.” The latter function gave the university a larger civic mission than a college. According to Wilson’s vision, Princeton would not train “servants of a trade or skilled practitioners of a profession.” By enlarging the minds of students and giving them a “catholic vision” of their social responsibilities, Princeton instead would cultivate “citizens” who would live under the “high law of duty.” “Every American university,” Wilson concluded, “must square its standards by that law or lack its national title.” Wilson’s inauguration appeared to confirm the New York Sun’s assessment of his election: “the secularization of our collegiate education grows steadily more complete.”


Author(s):  
Sadrag Panduleni Shihomeka

The purpose of this chapter is to present the characteristics of online learners or students in the Global South and specifically in Namibia. The characteristics were identified by using an autobiographical narrative enquiry of over 17 years of teaching experience in the field of distance education, secondary school teaching, university teaching, and online facilitation. The chapter presents four key characteristics of online learners or students that are likely to be found in the Global South. These characteristics should be taken into consideration before a final decision as to whether use online learning, blended learning, or offline learning. These are technologically-endowed (TE) student/learner, moderate technologically-exposed (MTE) student/learner, severe technologically disadvantaged (STD) student/learner, and acute technologically marginalized (ATM) student/learner. The chapter proposes that a rubric with grading criteria should be developed so that at the end the institution will be able to tell how many students/learners fall under each category.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-57
Author(s):  
Robert C. Christie ◽  

The evolution of scientism, relativism, and the resultant fragmentation of knowledge over the past century have led to a crisis in contemporary university education. John Henry Newman, a nineteenth-century philosopher of education, a major figure in educational theory and applied research, and author of the classic work on education, The Idea of a Univershy, faced similar problems in his time, and his work is valuable in addressing contemporary dilemmas. Newman's philosophy of mind and his vision of the unity of knowledge, which reflects an aesthetic dimension, and the resultant essential role of theology in education, are key elements for reimagining the university. An analysis of Newman's spirited Eighth Discourse anchors this retrospective and commends his work to higher education today by recalling an eariier ideal of the integration of all disciplines.


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