Resources

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Buddhist-Based Universities in the United States: Searching for a New Model in Higher Education investigates in depth four American Buddhist universities, namely, the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, the University of the West, the Soka University of America, and the Naropa University, all of which offer degrees in liberal arts and professional fields, and at the same time educate their students in the philosophy and practices of Buddhism. Buddhist universities in the United States are unique because there are no comparable universities based on the philosophy and practices of other Asian religions also popular in the United States, such as Hinduism, Confucianism, or Sikhism. Even the Jewish community has created only two universities in which professional skills and liberal arts are taught from the position of the moral-philosophical principles of Judaism. This book presents the institutional history and academic programs of four Buddhist universities in America and analyzes Buddhist-based pedagogical principles, as well as teaching and learning techniques, which can be very useful for other colleges and universities in the United States. (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue. Full text is available online.

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Service-learning in higher education combines students' academic coursework with their voluntary work, enhancing students' learning and benefiting the community. The key to unlocking the connections between the theory and practice of service-learning is critical reflection, which is examined in this book along with students' academic reflective writing and assessment. The power and dynamics of service-learning are explored through the construction of a theoretical paradigm and the assertion that it can be extended further to critical pedagogy. Critical Perspectives of Service-Learning in Higher Education takes a refreshingly critical and innovative look at service-learning, employing theoretical and empirical work to shed new light on this approach to education. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Lifelong learning, the arts, and community cultural engagement in the contemporary university maps the work of adult educators, teachers, researchers and graduate students from North America, Europe and Africa who use the arts in their university classroom teaching, their research and in service. It is written specifically for graduate students, and educators working in higher education, communities, schools, and practitioners who want to learn how to better integrate the arts in their practice to critically and creativity communicate, teach, make meaning, uncover, and involve. The book contextualises the place and role of the arts in society, adult education, higher education and knowledge creation, outlines current arts-based theories and methodologies and provides examples of visual and performing arts practices to critically and creatively see, explore, represent, learn and discover the potential of the human aesthetic dimension in higher education teaching and research. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: In Class Not Dismissed, award-winning professor Anthony Aveni tells the personal story of his six decades in college classrooms and some of the 10,000 students who have filled them. Through anecdotes of his own triumphs and tribulations—some amusing, others heartrending—Aveni reveals his teaching story and thoughts on the future of higher education. Although in recent years the lecture has come under fire as a pedagogical method, Aveni ardently defends lecturing to students. He shares his secrets on crafting an engaging lecture and creating productive dialogue in class discussions. He lays out his rules on classroom discipline and tells how he promotes the lost art of listening. He is a passionate proponent of the liberal arts and core course requirements as well as a believer in sound teaching promoted by active scholarship. Aveni is known to his students as a consummate storyteller. In Class Not Dismissed he shares real stories about everyday college life that shed light on serious educational issues. The result is a humorous, reflective, inviting, and powerful inquiry into higher education that will be of interest to anyone invested in the current and future state of college and university education. (From the Publisher)