StateChurch: Bringing Religion to Public Higher Education

Religion undeniably impacts life in modern society in numerous ways. In the U.S., discussions about religion in public life often start at the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution as fundamental to the separation of church and state. Public higher education does not necessarily share established associations with any religion, but is not free from religious influence. Although Christian influences are undeniably present on public campuses, educators hesitate to discuss religion and spirituality due in part to a pedestrian understanding of the establishment clause and epistemologies that artificially equate secularism with intellectualism. This paper examines case studies conducted at five public U.S. institutions. Focus groups and interviews highlight what different public campuses are doing to address religious diversity, and how they are succeeding or failing to accommodate the needs of students. Findings indicate that executive leaders’ attitudes towards religious diversity on campus are essential for sustained interfaith efforts, but fell short without bottom-up buy-in. Faculty in particular served as key bottom-up leaders for interfaith motivation on campus with students often feeling most comfortable exploring different worldviews within the classroom. This study provides reasonable and responsible pathways toward helping locate religion within public education, and substantiating interfaith ideas as necessary for an informed and responsible global citizenry.

Internationalization at Home (IaH) in living-learning contexts

Internationalisation has been associated with the cultivation of global competencies. However, there have also been contentions about inclusivity, accessibility and mobility, and that it may privilege some. This reflective piece attempts to respond to these tensions through a description of, and reflection on, the effectiveness of two Internationalisation at Home (IaH) initiatives. It focuses on informal curricula in living-learning contexts where literature and concrete examples are scanty. Drawing on the learning points, it shares thoughts about the need for critical mass, whole university experience, and intentionality. Keywords: Global citizenry, Internationalization at Home (IaH), Internationalisation, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning How to cite this article: Lee, K.C., Soong, S.K.A. & Putra, A.S. 2021. Internationalization at Home (IaH) in Living-learning contexts. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. 5(1): 129-138. DOI: 10.36615/sotls.v5i1.164. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learning the Code

The concept of "digital literacy" has been much discussed and variously misunderstood in our society. Owing to digital communication technologies, it is often confused with other literacies and skills necessary for utilizing and evaluating digital information. As information and communication is increasingly produced, accessed, and controlled in digital formats there is significant need to clarify among "information literacies" what "digital literacy" means and demands. In order to accomplish this the author reviews what is meant by literacies in human society; examines the nature of the digital as a language; describes genuine digital literacy; and elucidates the sociopolitical importance of the growing digital illiteracy in global citizenry and how this might be addressed.

The Human Dimensions of Coastal Adaptation Strategies

Not only are humans responsible for the anthropogenic causes of currently observed climate change, but we are also responsible for our responses to climate change. How we choose to respond provides important insights into our ability to collectively act in the face of threats with the unique characteristics of climate change. This communication attempts to provide an overview of some of the difficulties in forging new policy directions along our coastlines in an era of climate change. It is meant as a referential framing for the research presented in this Special Issue. As this communication is being written, the world is gripped by a global pandemic caused by a variant of the coronavirus. There are important corollaries between the underlying characteristics of the coronavirus and the causes and effects of climate change. Seeing how the global citizenry is responding to the current epidemic provides some insight into the difficulties in fostering collective action towards climate change. As with the pandemic, the issue is not really one of understanding the problem, but rather the varying human responses to the problem. We can expect the same difficulties as we continue to confront the ever-growing problem of climate change.

Peacebuilding as a Means to Global Citizenry

The objective of this chapter is to illustrate approaches that can be used by community colleges to promote both global knowledge and global engagement—often taking the form of education abroad—using peacebuilding means. To make the case, examples and models from several U.S. community colleges will be shared. Examples from community colleges from throughout the country are given.

Creating Global Citizens Through Multicultural Education

The goals of multicultural education are evolving as the world is increasingly interconnected. Fostering inclusion is no longer sufficient; rather, educators should strive to build a global citizenry who values differences and recognizes their responsibilities to others in the world. A classroom based on global citizenship provides an opportunity for all students, not just diverse students, to become invested in the principles of inclusion, equity, and social justice. Drawing upon fields of intercultural competence, social justice, and global studies, the authors present theories and concrete curricular approaches for teachers and students to understand themselves as cultural beings, reconcile their privileges, value inclusion, foster empathy, and develop a sense of responsibility to promote equity. By cultivating these competencies, educators can move forward in fostering global citizenship, an essential instrument in constructing a coexistence.

Global Citizenship as a Means for Teaching Environmental Education to Gifted Learners

Increasingly, social issues are expanding at global proportions. Some of the biggest threats surround sustainability and environmental challenges. Global learning can prepare future global citizens to acknowledge and resolve social issues. Global citizenship can be used as a means for addressing awareness, knowledge, and action relative to sustainability and environmental education. For the purpose of teaching sustainability and environmental education via global citizenry to gifted learners, a curricular framework was developed to use across disciplines, grade levels, and service delivery options. In essence, the curriculum prepares advanced and gifted learners to raise their awareness of sustainability and environmental issues, teach the necessary tools for taking action, and to prepare them to inspire future citizens who engage in related global community change.

The Human Dimensions of Coastal Adaptation Strategies

Not only are humans responsible for the anthropogenic causes of currently observed climate change, but we are also responsible for our responses to climate change. How we choose to respond provides important insights into our ability to collectively act in the face of threats with the unique characteristics of climate change. This communication attempts to provide an overview of some the difficulties in forging new policy directions along our coastlines in an era of climate change. It is meant as a referential framing for the research presented in this special issue. As this communication is being written, the world is gripped by a global pandemic caused by a variant of the coronavirus. There are important corollaries between the underlying characteristics of the coronavirus and the causes and effects of climate change. Seeing how the global citizenry is responding to the current epidemic provides some insight into the difficulties in fostering collective action towards climate change. As with the pandemic, the issue is not really one of understanding the problem, but rather the varying human responses to the problem. We can expect the same difficulties as we continue to confront the ever-growing problem of climate change.

Probing on the Relationship between Students' Self-Confidence and Self-Efficacy while engaging in Online Learning amidst COVID-19

The onslaught of the Coronavirus-19 disease around the world has shaken the physical and mental well-being of the global citizenry. The student populace in particular faces added burdens and struggles in light of the pandemic due to the abrupt shift in learning modality and educational delivery to cope with the "new normal." Hence, this study aims to probe the relationship between self-confidence and self-efficacy among the randomly selected sixty (60) Grade 12 students of the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines while engaging themselves in online learning amidst COVID-19 through a descriptive correlational study. Data were gathered online using valid and reliable 4-point adapted Likert-type survey questionnaires. Results revealed that both self-confidence (x ̅= 2.61, SD= 0.84), and self-efficacy (x = 2.83, SD= 0.80) were described as high. Pearson's r correlation was also found to be significant, r (58) = .2144, p = .000059, p<0.05, which led to the rejection of the null hypothesis and led to the conclusion with at least 95% confidence that there is a moderately high positive correlation (r=0.50) between the levels of self-confidence and self-efficacy among the students while engaging in online learning. It is recommended that schools should instill policies to augment students' self-confidence and self-efficacy levels to guarantee optimal learning outcomes despite the current setting. It is also recommended that future researchers explore the same variables in public schools and far-flung areas to discover the conditional differences amidst the similarity of the shared experiences during the pandemic time.