Open and Distance Learning for Basic Education in South Asia: its potential for hard-to-reach children and children in conflict and disaster areas: Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Country Studies

These are the country studies for the UNICEF funded project which explores the ways in which, in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka various forms of open and distance learning could be developed to better meet the needs of marginalised children and those affected by natural disaster (Bangladesh) and by conflict (Sri Lanka)

Here today, gone next week: some lessons for the delivery of itinerant primary schooling of a distance education program designed for the children of the Showmen's Guild of Australasia

This paper presents initial results of research on a distance education program developed in 1989 for the children of the Showmen's Guild of Australasia. The program accommodates the mobility of children and their parents who are rarely in any town for more than a week during the show circuit. The children complete correspondence lessons in various subjects and are assisted by their parents or home tutors. Several times a year, distance education teachers join the children during the show circuit and work intensively with them for several weeks. Unlike many other groups involved in the distance education program, the Showmen's Guild is well organized. It has a very supportive parent base and has campaigned over the years to establish favorable political support for a program to meet the special needs of its children. A literature review reveals that high mobility can place students at an educational disadvantage while placing an enormous burden on those providing the education for the mobile group. Interviews conducted with parents, children, home tutors, and teachers revealed close and trusting relationships between parents and distance education teachers and between students and distance education teachers. In addition, there is typically an intimate relationship between the mother and her children as it is the mother who takes on the responsibility for organizing and managing her children's education during a hectic working day. This paper concludes that the uniqueness of each mobile group must be taken into account when implementing an educational program, and delivery must respond to the socioeconomic and cultural attributes of each group. (LP

O noua provocare a invatamantului superior din Romania - universitatile antreprenoriale

Learning and teaching have always been at the core of economic change and development. For long time there was a search for suggestions, ideas, plans and projects of how educational systems can be made more relevant to the needs of the societies they were established to serve. Implementing the Bologna principles and following the priorities of Lisbon strategy, Romanian education system and, particularly, the higher education system, reconsiders and rebuilds its vision and mission as well as its entire strategy. In this regard, the following basic elements are considered in the paper: •What is learned must be relevant to the needs of the people in economy. Educational providers need to be in touch with labour market requirements; •Effective learning must be judged on the basis of the outcomes that result, rather than on the inputs required; •Ways must be found to facilitate learning rather than to simply supply instruction; •The valueing of research and innovation within educational organizations must be increased; •Tailor made “entrepreneurial” education towards the necessities of the market, especially focused on small and medium size enterprises; •The lifelong learning –education permanence- should be continuously developed and be linked to the market requirements. The role and the main influences that higher education system will have over economic and human resources development are underlined. Also, appreciating that entrepreneurship becomes more and more one of the most important factors of development, the education and economic development are linked through the concept of “entrepreneurial university”.higher education, economic development, entrepreneurial university

Authentic learning experiences: complementary organizational strategy for academic professional development

There are numerous websites and considerable literature which describe approaches to learning and teaching using a range of technologies in higher education contexts for academic staff. Further, that as academic staff development is increasingly recognized as having an essential role to play in the recasting of ways in which teachers work with students and how students best learn, that this is an area ripe for new consideration. It is the author's contention here, that embracing the role of student, as a lived experience, can assist academic developers in reconsidering and renewing their conceptions of learning and teaching. This could go in some part in informing the practice and processes of academic staff developers in understanding, promoting and supporting flexible learning modes

Alternative High School Math Pathways in Massachusetts: Developing an On-Ramp to Minimize College Remediation in Mathematics

Of the Massachusetts graduates from the Class of 2005 who enrolled in public colleges, an appalling 29 percent enrolled in a developmental (remedial) math course during the fall semester. Nationally, 63 percent of college students who remediate in mathematics do not earn a 2- or 4-year degree. At a time when a college degree is one of the critical components of one's ability to afford a home and support a family, that such high rates of Massachusetts' high school graduates require remediation in math is cause for alarm - and action. The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy has produced a policy brief that proposes a new pathway in high school mathematics aimed at eliminating the need for college remediation in math.The policy brief, entitled Alternative High School Math Pathways in Massachusetts: Developing an On-Ramp to Minimize College Remediation in Mathematics, proposes a plan designed to significantly reduce, and ultimately, eliminate the number of students who require college remediation in mathematics.Rather than the traditional progression of math courses (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Calculus), we propose three new math courses at the middle and high school levels - including a new fourth year math course titled: Topics in Applied Mathematics for College Preparation that would provide an alternative to Pre-calculus/Calculus for students pursuing non-math related majors. We recommend that Massachusetts policymakers and school and district leaders should take the following steps toward establishing to a well-aligned, effective system that ensures all students are ready for college-level mathematics:Ensure mastery of arithmetic by the end of seventh grade;Focus on mastery and application of algebraic concepts;Offer the ACCUPLACER(R) test to high school juniors;Provide guidance based on the Elementary Algebra ACCUPLACER(R) score; andEncourage all students to take mathematics during their first college semester

Body + Power + Justice: Movement-Based Workshops for Critical Tutor Education

In this participatory article (with suggested activities, check-ins with the body, and freewriting), we use collaborative narrative inquiry to unpack considerations that underlie the planning, facilitation, and processing of a series of movement-based workshops. Critiquing liberal multiculturalist approaches in writing centers, we argue against the all-too-common flattening of differences and think through how embodiment helps us work the hyphens (Fine, 1998) or find third ways (Soja, 1996) that break open new possibilities for working and learning together toward equity and racial justice. In contrast to role-playing scenarios that characterize many tutor education practices, we suggest that centering the body through movement allows for an alternative and more generative way to interrogate and restructure racial power. In total, we argue for attention to the body and embodied practice to engage tutors (and all writing center staff, directors included) in developing critical praxis for racial justice. For us, praxis comes in the form we call critical tutor education, which is essential for writing centers committed to more equitable relations and practices, as we continue to strive for the ought to be (Horton as cited in Branch, 2007)