Resources

Over half the world’s population is now online, interconnected through a globally-networked media and consumer society. The convergence of information, media, and technology has created the predominant ecosystem of our time. Yet, most educational institutions are still teaching what and how they have for centuries, and are thus increasingly out-of-date and out-of-touch with our current needs. The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education provides a theoretical framework and practical applications for educators and teacher education programs to transform education by putting critical media literacy into action in classrooms with students from kindergarten to university. Douglas Kellner and Jeff Share lay out the evolution of thinking and development of media and cultural studies, from the Frankfurt School to current intersectional theories about information and power that highlight the importance of race, gender, class, and sexuality. They provide insightful and accessible entry into theorizing education and information communication technologies through linking the politics of representation with critical pedagogy. The increase in fake news, alternative facts, bots, and trolls, challenge our abilities to judge credibility and recognize bias. Kellner and Share present a critical lens and strategies to contextualize and analyze the dominant ideologies going viral across social media platforms and disseminated globally from enormous transnational corporations. The Critical Media Literacy Guide is a powerful resource to analyze and challenge representations and narratives of multiple forms of identity, privilege, and oppression. Since the struggle for social justice and democracy require new theories and pedagogies to maneuverer the constantly changing terrain, this book is essential for all educators. (From the Publisher)

The greatest potential of the online learning environment is its capacity to foster high levels of interactive learning that lead to “deep understanding.” The instructor’s role is critical to making this happen. The manner and frequency of the instructor’s response to students in the discussion forums is what tends to determine the quality of the learning experience. Instructional Responses Your ability to provide effective instructional feedback on your courses discussion forums will be the key to successful student learning. For effectiveness, instructors should minimize non-instructional responses and maximize instructional prompts. While your instructional prompts will be in response to an individual student’s post, it should serve the purpose of moving the discussion along for the class as a whole. Pay close attention to your student’s posts. If a student’s response is correct, give a short, overt affirmation. If a student’s FORMAT in responding is incorrect, say so and allow the student to correct the post. If a student’s CONTENT response is incorrect (factually wrong, reflects a misunderstanding), provide corrective feedback. When reviewing your students’ responses, judge critically. Look for correct responses and expected incorrect response and use them as opportunities for instructional prompts. Allow time for students to think about and compose responses to complex questions. Use student responses as opportunities to refer the class members to readings or instructional content. INSTRUCTIONAL PROMPTS Instructional prompts are those instructor responses that help the students move toward “deep understanding” of the course concepts. Here are eight types of instructional prompts you can use when responding to student posts online. These prompts are directly correlated to facets of critical thinking. Critical Thinking Prompts Why do you say so? Where else might that idea apply? Is that your opinion, or did you overhear that? What might be the consequences of that action? What might someone else say about that? What would that take? How did you arrive at that opinion? Elaboration Prompts Could you go into that in more detail? I would expand that idea by saying . . . . Who can expand on that idea from your own context/experience? I’m not sure now that applies. Can you build on that idea more? Clarification Prompts What exactly do you mean? Do I understand you to mean . . . ? Please provide an example to help us understand your point of view. Can you provide a short definition for how you are using that term? Comparison Prompts That’s an interesting statement. How does that compare with what was previously said? With what the author of the text claimed? I might compare that with . . . . Do you think that’s a fair comparison? I see the following similarities in the ideas presented so far . . . . What others do you see? Contrasting Prompts How would you contrast your idea to the one that (name of other) gave previously? In contrast to your statement, I think . . . . I see that idea as different from his/her’s in these ways . . . . How does your interpretation contrast with the author’s (with another student)? Can you offer a contrasting view of opinion? Justification Prompts How would you defend that statement against . . . ? What assumptions are you basing that on? Tell me why you think that idea/solution would work. Evaluation Prompts What is your reaction to that idea? My reaction to that/your idea is . . . . What do you think of that idea? Tell me why you think your idea/solution is better. While these prompts also work in the classroom environment, the immediacy of the classroom discussion and the limitations of time constraints make it a challenge for a teacher to engage in deep learning dialogue. The online environment provides the instructor with the luxury of analyzing student responses, identifying the best feedback-prompt to use, and formulating the response to help the student, and the class, move toward deeper learning. Using a hybrid format, an instruction can determine which course components may be best to move to the online discussion forum to allow for more process and discussion so the instructor can be more effective in the use of instructional prompts for deeper learning.

Trends in institutional partnership in higher education have shown tremendous growth in the past three decades. These trends are manifested through the growing initiatives of joint programs that promote collaborative research, academic mobility, joint curriculum development and course delivery, joint bidding for development projects and benchmarking. Partnerships in higher education have been used not only as an instrument for institutional development through a wide range of strategic alliances but also as an essential way of introducing new voices to the operations of the universities by initiating new paradigms that bring new perspectives and bear competitive advantage on the partners. As the trend of partnership in higher education grew, scholars in higher education studies have also engaged in conceptualizing higher education partnership from academic perspectives, analyzing trends and developing models of higher education collaborations. Partnership in Higher Education: Trends between African and European Institutions is a pioneer in bringing together a comprehensive perspective on matters of higher education partnership among African and European institutions. It discusses the ongoing debates on higher education partnership and internationalization strategies by providing empirical insights from various case studies. (From the Publisher)

Intersectional Pedagogy explores best practices for effective teaching and learning about intersections of identity as informed by intersectional theory. Formatted in three easy-to-follow sections, this collection explores the pedagogy of intersectionality to address lived experiences that result from privileged and oppressed identities. After an initial overview of intersectional foundations and theory, the collection offers classroom strategies and approaches for teaching and learning about intersectionality and social justice. With contributions from scholars in education, psychology, sociology and women’s studies, Intersectional Pedagogy include a range of disciplinary perspectives and evidence-based pedagogy. (From the Publisher)

In the field of education, researchers firmly believe that non-cognitive skills and factors are equally or even more important than cognitive aspects in the educative process and for employment potentials. When identifying the personal qualities that are required to function well in the 21st century, the role of non-cognitive factors is often highlighted in the discourse. In recent years, increasing attempts have been made to investigate the role of non-cognitive factors in academic success. The notion of ‘non-cognitive’ has many phraseological collocations. Among frequently used collocations are constructs, traits, skills, abilities, variables, outcomes, attributes, and predictors. In addition, a myriad of other specific skills have been identified as non-cognitive. To name a few: grit, tenacity, curiosity, attitudes, self-concept, self-efficacy, anxiety, coping strategies, motivation, perseverance, confidence are among those frequently referred to in the literature. In some instances, non-cognitive factors are considered multifaceted. Some refer them to soft skills and personal characteristics that fall under the purview of affective domain. This book attempts to define non-cognitive traits, ways to measure them, impact of non-cognitive factors and how they can affect the positive outcomes in academic achievement, influence in employability, and success in social life. The information contained in this book provides knowledge growth and current thinking about non-cognitive factors and educational strategies that can be effectively used to nurture the well-being of individuals. (From the Publisher)