Bringing Active Learning to Life

Active learning has been applied to different NLP tasks, with the aim of limiting the amount of time and cost for human annotation. Most studies on active learning have only simulated the annotation scenario, using prelabelled gold standard data. We present the first active learning experiment for Word Sense Disambiguation with human annotators in a realistic environment, using fine-grained sense distinctions, and investigate whether AL can reduce annotation cost and boost classifier performance when applied to a real-world task

Philosophy-based Language Teaching Approach on the Horizon: A Revolutionary Pathway to Put Applied ELT into Practice

As a unique approach in today’s language teaching methodology, Philosophy-based Language Teaching (PBLT) engages learners in dialogues using philosophical question and answer activities to tackle the process of language learning in ELT classes. Accordingly, the present study sought to illuminate the practical ways through which PBLT could be utilized to put Applied ELT into practice. In so doing, the key is to redefine the inherent roles of both English learners and practitioners in an Applied ELT classroom. Bringing a bulk of sample philosophical questions, the paper provides the following recommendations to implement PBLT in Applied ELT classes. First, ELT life syllabus can be designed using the principles of PBLT approach. Second, while dealing with language skills, material designers might reshape the common pre and post task activities including life-related philosophical questions. Moreover, as males and females have different points of view towards life issues, materials should provide a platform to augment learners' thoughts through sharing ideas of both genders in the classroom in answering philosophical questions. Third, along with cross-cultural approaches, PBLT can aid life syllabus design which assists learners to consider themselves as an active member of local and global communities all around the world

The Educational Work of the Slavic Women’s Union in Poland (and Czechoslovakia) during the Interwar Period – Ideas, Postulates, and Selected Examples

The beginning of the work of Slavic associations ought to be connected with the idea of Slavic alliance – the idea of Panslavism – which was reborn after World War I. It was argued that Slavic nations needed to be united on equal rights, without the supremacy of any single nation. This cooperation (bringing together, improving relations) was to take place, first of all, in economy (according to the idea of economic unity), and also in politics (political alliance), and culture (the idea of common acquaintance, understanding, promotion of culture) and it was to involve all Slavic nations. What may serve as an example of such cooperation can be the Polish- Czechoslovakian relations, in spite of their political and social difficulties. Throughout the years 1929–1939 associations of Slavic women were established and active in Poland as well as Czechoslovakia. The forms of their work as well as aims and tasks were similar. They would implement similar ideas. Their statutes clearly defined the aims and the forms of work in education; they were: establishing and fostering friendly contacts between Slavic nations, learning about the culture and the life of Slavs, promoting, supporting, and bringing together Slavic nations by all means permitted by law, and improving economic and cultural cooperation in the spirit of Slavonic mutuality. The broad and diverse educational work of the Slavic women’s associations in Poland and Czechoslovakia contributed to the improvement of the good relations and bringing together the two nations

Third-grade evaluators thrive as readers

This study addresses the question, When third grade students become evaluators of themselves as readers, what new roles do they negotiate for themselves? I studied third grade students who became evaluators of themselves as readers, examining evaluation process. This included their own determination of their strengths, goals, assignments, and what to use as documentation of their learning processes in portfolios, as well as the influence of the classroom community on goal setting. Using observation, co-teaching, and group and individual interviews, I documented the new roles students adopted as they became better evaluators of their learning needs and took a more active role in planning their own learning experiences during reading class. I found that four different student roles emerged as they evaluated themselves as readers: (1) constructors: students who created and planned learning experiences based on self evaluations, (2) reflectors: students who reflected critically about what was and wasn\u27t working in their goals and made revisions as necessary, (3) connectors: students who bridged learning goals to other areas of curriculum and life, and, (4) resistors: students who challenged and resisted the invitation to take a more active stance as a learner. Additionally, elements of time and talk were especially influential in helping these third grade readers develop reading confidence. The connected concepts of evaluation, talk, and time all led toward confident students who took initiative in their learning decisions. Students negotiated new roles and new ways of viewing themselves as learners as they worked through their goal-setting. Their evaluations of their own needs became central to their reading progress, and students made themselves responsible for continuing their progress by setting new goals. By negotiating new roles and bringing confidence to their abilities to make decisions, these third graders, if given support in future grades, will see themselves as people who can make a difference in their own learning

Educating through communities of practice

The aim of this paper is to attempt at building a bridge between education and situated learning. The etymology of the word education outlines the two major ways of envisioning education. The meaning which we give to the term ‘education’ surely influences the ways in which the process of education unfolds and is actually conducted. The Constructivist Approach which is being used in education today is characterised by its studentcenteredness rather than teacher‑centeredness. The adoption of Communities of Practice from the industrial sphere to the realm of Catholic schools is a way in which education as bringing forth from the student (e‑ducere) and the constructivist approach developed earlier can be put into practice in Catholic Schools. Communities of practice create the right condition for situated learning in Catholic schools today. It is here that legitimate peripheral participation can be put into practice, thus fulfilling the Church’s mission of evangelisation in our contemporary culture by drawing students from the periphery of the educational endeavour, making them active participants at the core.peer-reviewe

Embracing Complexity: Creating Cultural Change Through Education for Sustainability

Campus Kindergarten in Brisbane, Australia, is a community-based organisation for children and families that has embraced change through the evolution of its internationally acclaimed ‘Sustainable Planet Project’. The centre initiated the project in 1997, introducing a range of new curriculum and pedagogical processes - always with young children at the heart - that have led to improvements in play spaces, reduced waste, lowered water consumption and improved biodiversity. This child-focussed approach is reflected in the way that children’s ideas provide much of the motivation and inspiration for changing to more sustainable practices. A whole centre project on water conservation, for example, was sparked when preschoolers (aged 4 years) articulated their concerns to staff about water use in the sandpit. This paper overviews a recent research project designed to document, examine and highlight the Sustainable Planet Project, to assist centre staff, researchers and others with a commitment to sustainability, to understanding the change processes. An important feature has been the project's slow, sometimes erratic, development that has always added complexity to the teachers’ work. Such change, however, has not been viewed negatively. Complexity theory has helped to explain the project’s evolution and complexity has been embraced as a vehicle for creativity, engagement, critique and ongoing change in this learning organisation. As a consequence, a culture of sustainability now permeates the centre where a strong vision has been translated into small but realistic goals and achievements

Sustainability and renewal: findings from the Leading Sustainable Schools research project

"A research study highlighting the characteristics of sustainable schools and the leadership qualities required to develop sustainable schools." - Page 1

The Good Flow: How Happiness Emerges from the Skillful Enactment of Morality

In this paper, I will argue that 'being good' positively correlates to 'being happy.' First, I will clarify how I’ll be using the word ‘morality’ and the phrase ‘being good’. Second, I will claim that moral goodness is developed and exercised as a kind of practical skill. This will allow me to propose that ‘being good’ – like other complex and engaging skills – entails the elicitation of a kind of flow experience. Third, I will propose that ‘being good’ involves achieving what I'll call ‘vertical coherency’ within one’s life and that this provides sustained engagement (‘flow’) and meaning while exercising moral goodness. Lastly, I will show why the kind of happiness that we truly want for ourselves and those we care about emerges from a moral engagement – a ‘good flow’ – of the sort described

There’s More That Binds Us Together Than Separates Us : Exploring the Role of Prison-University Partnerships in Promoting Democratic Dialogue, Transformative Learning Opportunities and Social Citizenship

In this paper we argue that education – particularly higher education (HE) - has the potential to offer socially, economically and culturally transformative learning opportunities–cornerstones of social citizenship. Yet, for prisoners, the opportunity to engage in HE as active citizens is often limited. Using a Freirean model of democratic, pedagogic participatory dialogue, we designed a distinctive prison-University partnership in which prison-based learners and undergraduate students studied together. The parallel small-scale ethnographic study, reported here, explored how stereotypes and ‘Othering’ - which compromise social citizenship - could be challenged through dialogue and debate. Evidence from this study revealed a positive change in ‘de-othering’ attitudes of participants was achieved. Furthermore, participants reported growth in their sense of empowerment, agency, and autonomy–cornerstones of social citizenship. Findings from this study contribute further evidence to the developing body of knowledge on the value of partnerships and dialogue in prison education. We conclude that policy makers, and respective institutions, need to work harder to establish prison-University partnerships, thus providing the space for real talk to take place