Resources

Journal Issue.

This book explores one of the enduring issues in educational research and one of the challenges for formal education. That is, understanding the relationship between learning in one context, setting or time and a subsequent related learning experience or activity. The chapters in the book examine the issue drawing on existing theory as starting points but using each author’s own research to push existing boundaries of what we know in terms of the ideas captured in the title of the book: transfer, transitions and transformations of learning. The chapters explore the issue through a range of approaches and settings including: possibilities for a concept-context approach to transfer, transfer between knowledge domains, transfer as an iterative process between contexts, transfer as boundary crossing between vocations, transfer as integration of theory and practice, transferring standards in assessment, representation in the transition from novice to expert, transformation of self through sustainability education, transforming identities of first year design and technology teachers and the role of implicit knowledge in understanding the relationship between declarative and procedural knowledge in the transition to expertise. This book should be of interest to teachers in schools and the adult education sector, research students, teacher educators, researchers and policy-makers who are involved in learning in, through or with technology. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Given the continued plight of men of color in college after a decade of ineffective interventions focused more on “fixing the student” than on addressing the social, structural and institutional forces that undermine his academic achievement, this book is intended as a catalyst to change the direction of the dialogue, by providing a new theoretical framework and strength-based models for developing strategies for success. This book brings together five of today’s leading scholars concerned with the condition of males of color in higher education – LeManuel Bitsóí, Edmund T. Gordon, Shaun Harper, Victor Sáenz and Robert Teranishi, who collaborated closely through of a series of conversations convened by the College Board to diagnose the common factors impeding the success of under-represented males and to identify the particular barriers and cultural issues pertaining to the racial and ethnic groups they examine. This cohesive volume starts with the recognition that understanding males' disengagement from the classroom requires determining what it means to be a male in a non-dominant group in today’s society. The authors use the methods of feminist theory to uncover the impact of dominant paradigms of White, middle-class, heteronormative masculinity on men of color in general, to define what comprises masculinity for various groups, subgroups and individuals, and to lay bare the social and institutional forces that perpetuate constructions of masculinity that negatively impact men of color. They demonstrate that researchers and practitioners alike must pay more careful attention to within-group diversity as they study college men of color and create initiatives that respond to their varied needs. They establish the need for men of color campus initiatives to be mindful of the masculinities with which students enter college, as well as how they develop, negotiate and perform their gender identities on campus; the vital importance, in developing programs and interventions, of addressing the sociological undercurrents of men’s bad behaviors and poor help-seeking tendencies; and for providing opportunities for men to engage in critical individual and collective reflection on how they have been socialized to think of themselves as men. This book advances the critical priorities of increasing enrollments and completion rates among college men of color, and of graduating well-developed men with strong, conflict-free gender identities. For practitioners who work with these populations, it offers insights and signposts to create successful programs; for researchers it offers a set of new directions for analysis; and for policymakers, new ways of thinking about how policy and funding mechanisms ought to be reconsidered to be more effective in responding this issue. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Explores the nature and role of wisdom in education. Modern scholarship has struggled to come to terms with the meaning of wisdom and its significance in the field of education. This book examines the importance of pursuing wisdom in schools by turning to ancient and medieval sources for clarification concerning the nature of wisdom. Sean Steel argues that our current emphasis on the development of rigorous critical-analytic thinking skills, on assessment, and on accountability in education has negatively impacted the ability of schools to foster an environment in which both students and teachers might pursue wisdom. Although in recent times efforts have been made to incorporate the pursuit of wisdom into schools through Philosophy for Children (P4C) and contemplative education programming, such initiatives have missed their mark. Steel therefore recommends not more accountability in education for the purpose of ensuring global competitiveness, but rather the institutional promotion of periods of leisure or schole in the school day. Drawing upon his own experiences as a teacher who has tried to encourage students to search for wisdom, the author discusses some of the challenges and pitfalls of wisdom seeking. He also offers examples of various wisdom-seeking activities that might bear fruit in the classroom. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Rethinking Knowledge within Higher Education argues for a higher education that is neither a romantic idyll of learning for its own sake nor an instrumental institution designed to train a willing workforce for the prevailing economic system. Instead, using analysis informed by critical theorist Theodor Adorno, this book argues that higher education should have social and economic roles at its heart, and that these should encompass the needs of all society. The key to achieving this purpose without privilege lies in the ways in which knowledge is understood and engaged with in higher education. Higher education has a special role in society as a place in which complex, contested and dynamic knowledge is engaged with, challenged and created. The realization of this purpose challenges traditional dichotomies between economic and social purposes, liberal and vocational education, and theory and practice. Jan McArthur shows that by interpreting and adapting some of Adorno's most complex ideas, the nature of knowledge and the pursuit of social justice within higher education is feasible and aspirational. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Could we have imagined how much theological education would change in the new millennium? Shifting needs of students, classrooms, and churches have demanded constant revisions of the curriculum, course design, classroom technology, and pedagogical strategies. Saint Paul School of Theology felt the tide of change within our own walls and designed a project called "Proleptic Pedagogy" to address three distinct pedagogical challenges for the future of theological education. First, instead of fitting new technologies into old pedagogies, how are teaching and learning transformed by shifting needs of students who are "digital natives," "digital immigrants," or distance learners? Second, instead of reactive strategies, what pedagogy proactively eliminates "accommodations" because courses are designed with flexibility and openness to diverse learning styles, disabilities, and needs? Third, instead of engaging student diversity with the tools of the 1960s, what new teaching and learning strategies anticipate future student racial and ethnic demographics and interracial educational experiences? This volume of essays narrates our classroom stories, teases out pedagogical issues, examines pedagogical literature, reflects on theology of pedagogy, and constructs pedagogical proposals—with an open invitation for other theological educators to join our conversation about the future of theological education. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: This anthology brings together some of the finest writers on different aspects of adult education and related areas to provide a complementary reader to the introductory text by Leona English and Peter Mayo Learning with Adults: A Critical Introduction. Areas tackled include Disability, Prisons, Third Age Universities, Lifelong Learning Policy, Learning Society, Poverty, LGBTQ, Sport, Women, Literacy, Transformative Learning, Community Arts, Aesthetics, Consumption, Migration, Libraries, Folk High Schools, Adult Education Policy, Subaltern Southern Social Movements, Social Creation, Community Radio, Social Film. Contexts focused on include Africa, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Asia (India), small island states. Over thirty authors involved including Zygmunt Bauman, Rosa Maria Torres, Oskar Negt, Antonia Darder, Jim Elmborg, D. W. Livingstone, Palle Rasmussen, Mae Shaw, Leona English, Asoke Bhattacharya, Cynthia L. Pemberton, Eileen Casey White, Daniel Schugurensky, Dip Kapoor, Peter Rule, John Myers, Joseph Giordmaina, Antonia De Vita, Alexis Kokkos, Marvin Formosa, Carmel Borg, Julia Preece, Patricia Cranton, Lyn Tett, Ali A. Abdi, Anna Maria Piussi, Behrang Foroughi, Taadi Ruth Modipa, Robert Hill, Edward Shiza, Kaela Jubas and Didacus Jules. (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue.