The significance of competing conceptions of civic engagement is increasingly apparent as efforts are made to respond to the measurement imperative that characterises contemporary higher education. The importance of devising appropriate means of recognising and incentivising civic engagement is asserted in this paper and the potential offered by emerging measurement and mapping methodologies is considered. The empirical basis for the argument derives from a multi-site case study of the process of embedding community-based learning within Irish higher education. Analysis of interview data from four cases, drawn from the university and extra-university sector, yielded, inter alia, a typology of orientations to civic engagement. Findings are discussed, including those relating to orientations, ambivalence, scepticism, and legitimisation strategies. The case is made that these themes and the factors which impact on sustainability are mirrored within the wider domain of civic engagement—hence the opportunity to learn from a civically engaged pedagogy.
The rise of the Mongol empire was a shock to the Arab world and led many Arab authors to describe these conquerors in decidedly negative terms. The great historian Ibn Khaldūn also discusses the Mongols' rise and their conquests. As a nomadic people they challenged and defeated sedentary populations and founded their own dynasties. Consequently, the Mongol conquests perfectly fit Ibn Khaldūn's theories on ?a?abiyya – which is superior in nomadic groups – and the rise and fall of dynasties. For the Maghrebi historian, the rise of the Mongols was a natural step in the course of history. This consequently colours his view of the Mongols and affects the way he portrays them, especially regarding the themes of violence and religion – recurring themes in many contemporary works dealing with the Mongols – and in his depiction of the Turco-Mongolian conqueror Timur, who is presented in a more favourable light by Ibn Khaldūn than he is in many contemporary works. 相似文献
Virtue, according to Aristotle, is doing the right things at the right time with the right people for the right end and in the right way. This concept is central to the work of the Early Learning Initiative, an Irish community-based educational initiative. This paper describes how a community of parents, early childhood care and education practitioners and a third-level institution used action research to develop a three-year numeracy programme for children aged zero to six years. The Early Numeracy Project was one of 11 national projects that aimed to influence early years practice, provision and policy in Ireland. Remaining true to our local values and virtuous practice while implementing a national project was challenging, particularly when robust evidence of the impact of the programme on the children and parents in our community was required at national level. Approximately 860 children (zero to six years old) and their families took part in the Early Numeracy Programme each year, with national and local evaluations indicating that the outcomes for children in the programme had improved. The programme is an example of how a local community can use action research and virtuous practices to implement a national programme and improve outcomes for children. 相似文献
Force plates represent the “gold standard” in measuring running kinetics to predict performance or to identify the sources of running-related injuries. As these measurements are generally limited to laboratory analyses, wireless high-quality sensors for measuring in the field are needed. This work analysed the accuracy and precision of a new wireless insole forcesensor for quantifying running-related kinetic parameters. Vertical ground reaction force (GRF) was simultaneously measured with pit-mounted force plates (1?kHz) and loadsol® sensors (100?Hz) under unshod forefoot and rearfoot running-step conditions. GRF data collections were repeated four times, each separated by 30 min treadmill running, to test influence of extended use. A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to identify differences between measurement devices. Additionally, mean bias and Bland–Altman limits of agreement (LoA) were calculated. We found a significant difference (p?® devices for these parameters. For these same parameters, the LoA analysis showed that 95% of all measurement differences between insole and force plate measurements were less than 12%, demonstrating high precision of the sensors. However, highly dynamic behaviour of GRF, such as force rate, is not yet sufficiently resolved by the insole devices, which is likely explained by the low sampling rate. 相似文献
This narrative account draws on dialogic approaches to education to critically reflect on teachers’ expressed pedagogic thinking in community. The context for the study is a teacher community in Central Finland comprising teachers from pre-primary to upper secondary contexts. The shared interest of the community is in the foreign-language mediation of education. The data were collected over a period of one and a half years and primarily consisted of teacher-produced notes from community sessions. These data were thematically analysed using a theory-driven approach. The key findings underline the value of pedagogic relationships between teacher-colleagues to support enriched critical understanding of pedagogy. This research suggests the importance of mutual pedagogic relationships to support teacher development. 相似文献
It is argued that online discussion is a useful tool for creating opportunities for learning in teacher education. In a project designed to improve the practicum in rural areas, researchers placed pre-service teachers (PSTs) in two different moderated online discussion forums: an unstructured personal blog space and a structured threaded discussion forum where discussion topics guided them to reflect on their practicum experiences in relation to theoretical components of their studies. Findings indicated a marked difference in the contributions made to each form of online discussion with significantly greater participation in the unstructured blog format. Using Kreber and Cranton’s hierarchy of reflection, analyses of both forums found that PSTs rarely engaged in high-level reflection. Examination of lecturer involvement in the forums suggests that their contributions did not sufficiently encourage PSTs towards optimum critical reflection. These results leave the researchers considering ways in which the practicum experience can better promote reflective practice in this crucial, component of teacher education. 相似文献
