A Social Media Platform in Higher Education

This paper reports on the successful use of Graasp, a social media platform, by university students for their collaborative work. Graasp features a number of innovations, such as administrator-free creation of collaborative spaces, context-aware recommendation and privacy management. In the context of a EU-funded project involving large test beds, we have been able to extend this platform with lightweight tools (widgets) aimed for learning and competence development and to validate its usefulness in a collaborative learning context

Responding to bargaining moves in a digital era: refusals of offers on Mercado Libre Ecuador

This chapter investigates the different ways in which sellers on Mercado Libre-Ecuador, a virtual market place, refuse bargaining offers (Placencia 2016). Drawing on work on offers, refusals, bargaining, and CMDA, among other areas, and on the basis of a corpus of refusals taken from 227 buyer-vendor exchanges, it examines how refusals are realized, and the extent to which sellers pay attention to interpersonal concerns in their formulation of refusals. Despite the interactions being anonymous, most sellers were found to use one or more verbal strategies with a mitigating function (e.g. affiliative address, greetings, apologies, justifications, expressions of thanks). Possible factors exerting influence on this behaviour are considered. They include, for example, the medium of interaction, features of the genre and Mercado Libre norms and conventions

Learn Languages, Explore Cultures, Transform Lives

Selected Papers from the 2015 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Aleidine J. Moeller, Editor 1. Creating a Culture-driven Classroom One Activity at a Time — Sharon Wilkinson, Patricia Calkins, & Tracy Dinesen 2. The Flipped German Classroom — Theresa R. Bell 3. Engaging Learners in Culturally Authentic Virtual Interactions —Diane Ceo-Francesco 4. Jouney to Global Competence: Learning Languages, Exploring Cultures, Transforming Lives — J. S. Orozco-Domoe 5. Strangers in a Strange Land: Perceptions of Culture in a First-year French Class — Rebecca L. Chism 6. 21st Century World Language Classrooms: Technology to Support Cultural Competence — Leah McKeeman & Blanca Oviedo 7. Effective Cloud-based Technologies to Maximize Language Learning — Katya Koubek & John C. Bedward 8. An Alternative to the Language Laboratory: Online and Face-to-face Conversation Groups — Heidy Cuervo Carruthers 9. Free Online Machine Translation: Use and Perceptions by Spanish Students and Instructors —Jason R. Jolley & Luciane Maimone 10. A Corpus-based Pedagogy for German Vocabulary — Colleen Neary-Sundquist 11. Grammar Teaching Approaches for Heritage Learners of Spanish —Clara Burgo 12. Going Online: Research-based Course Design — Elizabeth Harsm

Mentoring: fostering the profession while mitigating the gap

Literature suggests that mentoring in the field of interpreting will help novice interpreters overcome the steep learning curve that exists between graduation from college preparation programs (or through other entry-level avenues) and work readiness. This study investigated the perceived benefits of mentoring for the signed language interpreting profession by practitioners in the field. A total of 443 respondents varying in age, sex, ethnic backgrounds, work experience and certification levels from the United States and Canada were included in this study. The purpose was to clarify the attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives of current practitioners and students in the field of signed language interpreting related to mentoring. Four constructs were investigated regarding mentoring in relation to work readiness for entry-level interpreters: knowing how to present qualifications as well as how to present one’s roles and responsibilities, working in specific settings, mentoring in relation to increasing professional acumen related to interpreting, and feelings of readiness to handle ethical decision making as an entry-level interpreter. Results from this investigation indicated that the majority of respondents perceivedmentoring to be beneficial in the majority of the work settings investigated and other topics included in this research. There was however, a higher importance placed upon linguistic skill-based settings over non-skill-based topics in relation to mentoring for entry-level interpreters (e.g., knowing how to present qualifications, knowing how to present their role and responsibilities, freelance business knowledge, general business knowledge). Respondents also reported a feeling of readiness to handle ethical dilemmas during their first year of interpreting

Towards ending the animal cognition war: a three-dimensional model of causal cognition

Debates in animal cognition are frequently polarized between the romantic view that some species have human-like causal understanding and the killjoy view that human causal reasoning is unique. These apparently endless debates are often characterized by conceptual confusions and accusations of straw-men positions. What is needed is an account of causal understanding that enables researchers to investigate both similarities and differences in cognitive abilities in an incremental evolutionary framework. Here we outline the ways in which a three-dimensional model of causal understanding fulfills these criteria. We describe how this approach clarifies what is at stake, illuminates recent experiments on both physical and social cognition, and plots a path for productive future research that avoids the romantic/killjoy dichotomy.Introduction Dissecting disagreement - Principles of interpretation - A big misunderstanding and the conceptual question The conceptual space of causal cognition - Causal information -- Difference‑making accounts of causality -- Geometrical–mechanical accounts - Difference‑making and geometrical–mechanical aspects of human concept of causation - Understanding causality - Parameters of causal cognition -- a) Sources of causal information -- b) Integration -- c) Explicitness From causal cognition to causal understanding - A three‑dimensional model of causal cognition - The evolution of causal cognition and the nature of causal understanding - The metrics of the model and future research Conclusio

A social connectedness intervention as pathway to teacher resilience in primary schools in challenged spaces

Evidence from Africa and other challenged contexts is scant in the emerging teacher resilience knowledge base. This study aimed to investigate the utility of a school-level social connectedness intervention as a pathway to promote teacher resilience given structural disparity and chronic and multiple challenges. A concurrent mixed-methods intervention study design was employed to describe teacher resilience and social connectedness of conveniently sampled teachers (n=36) from six purposively selected peri-urban primary schools from lower socio-economic neighbourhoods in the Eastern Cape, South Africa before and after a social connectedness intervention. Following a year-long, Participatory Reflection and Action process, the Isithebe Social Connectedness Intervention was co-constructed with teacher participants, implemented over six months, and quantitative and qualitative teacher resilience and social connectedness data were collected at pre-, process and post-intervention timepoints. Whereas qualitative data (verbatim transcriptions and visual data) were thematically analysed, quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Irrespective of the social connectedness intervention, teacher resilience and social connectedness were high amongst teachers–despite the challenged context. The intentional gatherings between teachers led to a significant increase in trust. The teachers acted on a heightened awareness of social connectedness by leveraging school and school-community networks to bond across school spaces. The bonding signifies an enabling pathway to respond to needs using social networks and resources to provide and receive social support from peers, learners, parents, and caregivers. Following the social connectedness intervention, evident enablers of quality education included teacher professionalism (opportunities for professional development via social networks, peers and schools) and teaching and learning competencies (creativity, adaptability, compassion). Enablers of occupational well-being included social connection, acknowledgement of occupational inputs, and experiencing occupational purpose. This study contributes evidence of an accessible, school-level intervention that, when implemented with teachers working under extreme challenges and constrained structural support, forges trusting school communities. The socially connected spaces enable teachers to capitalise on bonded networks within and across schools and school communities. Plausibly, teacher well-being and quality education are enabled as teachers provide and receive compassionate implicit social support to acknowledge one another and a shared career purpose. Teachers also use pragmatic explicit social support to share teaching and learning competencies and opportunities for professional development.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2022.NRF UP POSTDOC BURSARYEducational PsychologyPhDUnrestricte

Teaching counselling ethics: a resource book

The purpose of this project is to present active learning activities and instructional strategies that will allow counselling students to: (a) become familiar with ethical codes, (b) understand their application to their professional conduct, (c) strive to adhere to the codes' principles and values, (d) translate formal codes and standards into day-to-day professional practice, and (e) critique the codes for applicability in real-life scenarios. This project explores the following ethics topics: multicultural and diversity issues, client rights and counsellor responsibilities, confidentiality, boundary and multiple relationship issues, professional competence and training, supervision and consultation, research ethics, couples and family therapy, group work, and rural counselling. The elements used to explore the ethics topics include: discussion questions, case studies, activities, assignments, and annotated bibliographies.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b160009

An investigation of the experiences of psychotherapists regarding Ubuntu in their psychotherapy practice: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Psychotherapy is a Eurocentric concept and practice that has migrated to South Africa with technology, as part of the general transfer of knowledge (Mkhize, 2003). It has embedded Eurocentric principles that sometimes do not easily accommodate working with Africans. It has been practised by psychotherapists of African origin with clients of African origin, but is based upon Eurocentric ideas and guidelines for practice. Many African people consider their core values to be uBuntu, rooted in a principle ‘umntu ngumntu ngabantu’ (translated as ‘a human being is a human being because of other human beings’). Some important features of uBuntu are interdependence, respect, spirituality and the primacy of communality as an approach to life. Some of the ways in which these impact on daily functioning are not foregrounded by adherence to Western principles. The use of only Eurocentric principles when working with clients of African origin may thus not lead to the desired outcomes in psychotherapy. However, these Eurocentric principles are recognised and enforced by the authoritative bodies in the field of psychology, such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa. A distinction will be made between the more inflexible ethical principles of psychology and the ideas of therapy frames. Therapy frames are not seen as being as rigid as ethical codes and they could be augmented, to be appropriate for the context, particularly in the commonly multicultural settings that are found here. Psychotherapists of African origin are torn between abiding by the ethical principles that they have been taught and practising in the way that they, together with their clients, have been socialised. Abiding by the principles as described in the codes is safe because it does not pose any threat of being sanctioned by the regulator of practice, but clients may be let down and there may be limited success with certain clients. This clash of ideas of ways of practice poses dissonance and many dilemmas among psychotherapists of African origin. Due to the nature of this study, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was adopted as a suitable methodology, where eight practising amaXhosa psychotherapists were interviewed about their experiences of incorporating uBuntu in their psychotherapy practice. The raw data from initial interviews were analysed and the findings concluded that although psychotherapists were trained in Western ways of practice, they included some practices of uBuntu in their practice as well as upholding some Eurocentric principles that seemed to be helpful for their clientele. Subsequently a summary of the findings were discussed with participants in a focus group setting, where participants endorsed and expanded upon their original responses. With the above in mind, a psychotherapy model called uBuntu-Centred Psychotherapy was created, which reflects the principles and therapy frames that have been found to be useful in treating clients of African origin. This modality is more congruent with the worldviews and style of living of many South Africans, in the post-apartheid era. It embraces some Eurocentric principles that are relevant for Africans, while it is embedded in the phenomena and way of life reflected in uBuntu, a predominant mode of functioning for the group that was the focus of this study, the amaXhosa. The study ends by making recommendations for practice, as well as highlighting the need for further and more extensive research to contribute to the project of Africanising psychotherapy

Unmaking: Exploring Agency Through Unmaking

This thesis proposes that if people and local communities were more skilled in making and repair, they could be more resourceful with the objects around them, making it possible to engage in more sustainable practices. Such skills afford a revised pattern to the consumption of products, services and materials. The thesis explores an observed gap between a person’s sense of agency and their capabilities to act in more sustainable ways. Maker movements, Transition Towns, and other project-based learning organizations like Vancouver’s Citystudio and Costa Rica’s Earth University, are re-skilling people to live more sustainable lives. Communal learning and tangible skills build more self-reliant communities. These movements are seen as vital steps in a long path toward sustainable local and circular economies. Through a series of hands on ‘Unmaking’ workshops the research attempts to leverage our relationship to waste electronics and appliances as mode of exploration to discuss ideas of agency, capability and curiosity. By taking waste electronics and appliances apart, un-boxing the black-box, participants mindfully investigate our complicity in their existence, and ultimately develop new understandings and skills to collaboratively tackle their adverse effects. The act of Unmaking, not only provides a platform for discussion, but also gives participants an opportunity for co-learning driven by mutual curiosity. The heuristic nature of this research opens up an exploratory space for designers and non-designers alike that encourages a reflective practice. The resistance to adopt more sustainable lifestyles partly lies in a lack of understanding of our built environment, the resources and energies involved in its production, and a sense of value in the objects we encounter in our daily lives

The influence of social media and contract cheating website use on the perception of academic integrity standards

This work sought to address gaps in the literature regarding perceived student acceptance of certain types of cheating in higher education and the potential relationships to social media use and the digital academic services, called contract cheating websites (Rowland et al., 2018) or study helper websites (Harrison et al., 2021). In detail, the core of the study was the analysis of social media and contract cheating website use and how it related to judgments of cheating strategies by current and past postsecondary students. Through an online survey, participants (n = 47) were asked to indicate demographic features; report the time spent on specific social media sites and contract cheating websites (Chegg, Course Hero, and Quizlet); and indicate their judgments of seven academic dilemma scenarios depicting cheating. Spearman correlations revealed a moderate relationship between the time spent on social media and contract cheating websites (rs = .438, p = .003). Although no links emerged between dilemma judgments and social media in the overall sample, when separated into groups, contract cheating website users (n = 17) indicated greater time spent on social media than non-users, t(42) = 2.847, p = .003, along with correlations to certain cheating scenario and strategy judgments. These findings highlight the need to investigate the underlying connections students may have to social media, contract cheating services, and their perceptions of academic integrity to inform remedial strategies for cheating in higher education