27,020 research outputs found
The learning process in intercultural collaboration: evidence from the eChina-UK Programme
The eChina-UK Programme was established in 2002 and originally comprised a small
number of projects in which British and Chinese teams worked collaboratively to develop
and pilot e-learning materials in the field of education. Phase 1 of the Programme
spanned the period 2003 to 2005 and produced a number of practical outputs (Spencer-
Oatey 2007). Three follow-on projects were funded in Phase 2, which started in October
2005, and these included research reflecting on issues of pedagogy as well as the
creation of further teaching and learning materials. These projects ran until 2007 and, in
December of that year, Phase 3 of the Programme was put in place to capture insights
from the experiences of all of the completed projects. The goal of Phase 3, therefore, was
to draw out the learning from Phases 1 and 2 of the eChina-UK Programme with respect
to the management of intercultural aspects of international education projects.
In addition to the learning to be gained from the eChina-UK projects, the Phase 3 work
included new research both into data generated in Phases 1 and 2 and into other sources
of knowledge relating to intercultural effectiveness. The focus was on situating the learning
from the eChina-UK projects into a wider intellectual context. The intention was to
maximise the understanding of the intercultural management of international education
projects and enable the production of resources for those engaged in current and future
projects of this kind (Reid et al. 2009).
This paper presents findings from one strand of the research carried out during Phase 3 of
the eChina-UK Programme. The objective of this strand was to draw on data from eChina-
UK and related studies in order to produce theoretical and practical insights into the nature
of intercultural collaboration as a learning process. The focus on learning was primarily
determined by the realisation (from analysis of the eChina-UK data and other studies of
intercultural collaboration) that building intercultural competencies required significant
attention to individual and group learning. Any practical recommendations and resources
developed in Phase 3 of the programme would therefore need to pay attention to how
participants managed their learning during an international partnership. Similarly, we
might usefully be able to demonstrate how those planning such collaborations could
benefit from embedding good learning practices from the outset of their work.
The purpose of this paper is to summarise and analyse the findings from the empirical
work carried out within this strand of Phase 3 research. I have set out elsewhere the
theoretical background to this research and specifically to the development of the learning
process model utilised here (Reid 2009a). That model will constitute part of the material
available to researchers, managers and other practitioners through the Global People
Resource Bank (www.globalpeople.org.uk) developed in Phase 3 of the eChina-UK
Programme. None of this work would have been possible without the sustained support
and co-operation of our colleagues in the various eChina-UK projects and at our funding
body, the Higher Education Funding Council for England
The learning process model for intercultural partnerships
This paper addresses the issue of how learning can support intercultural effectiveness and is
one of the outputs of the eChina-UK Programme. In this paper I synthesise theory and
evidence from a number of fields in order to propose a practical model of learning that can
be applied to intercultural collaborations. The aim is not to replace existing theories and
models of learning but to draw on them in order to present a simple description that might
be of value to those planning and managing international partnerships. Although much of
what is said here relates specifically to intercultural collaboration I believe that many of the
observations remain true of cross-sectoral partnership (which is, anyway, often intercultural
as well) and of inter-professional learning too: indeed, there might be an argument for
asserting principles of learning that contribute to effectiveness in working across boundaries
in any long-term collaboration.
The paper is divided into an Introduction and four further sections. Section 2 reviews the
various streams of literature which have informed the current study and presents an
argument for the particular approach to learning promoted in this paper on the basis of
established and complementary research in a number of different disciplines. Section 3
contains a description of the learning model for intercultural collaboration which has been
developed as part of our current research at the University of Warwick. The practical
application of this model, and the implications for policy in cultural collaboration, are
discussed briefly in Section 4. The final section summarises the work and looks forward to
further research and development around the issue of learning in intercultural collaboration
A postgraduate design learning experience: understanding the effects of community, cultural and contextual environment
This paper describes on going research that investigates how learning (students and tutors) takes place in a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural postgraduate design programme in the UK. The research maps and makes explicit the effects of community, cultural and contextual environment on learning. Initial findings have identified that learning is taking place within communities of practice and further research is used to explore reasons for its emergence. The authors evaluate and discuss the effects of learning in a post disciplinary and multi-cultural environment, and its value to current design postgraduate pedagogy. A social model of learning and communities of practice is evident in the design programme studied and preliminary findings indicates that this model is particularly relevant model to adopt in the current post-disciplinary era
An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?
Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction
Unusual conversations: A reflection on the mechanics of internationally engaged public scholarship
This article analyses the civic engagement pathways of researchers from the Asia-Pacific and the United States in an effort to see how the principles of what American  scholars consider publicly engaged research and creative practice are being enacted in research sites across the globe. The purpose of this ongoing project is to focus on finding ways of connecting American scholars with a network of higher education and research institutions that hold a commitment and passion for social responsibility and civic engagement as it impacts education, research and service for community development overseas. The narrative includes the voices and perspectives of colleagues dedicated to engaged scholarship from across the new region in which I work (the Asia-Pacific), alongside the voices of some of Imagining Americaâs (IA) 2014 National Conference participants. These conversations serve as a critical reflection on the mechanics of doing public scholarship overseas and frame a new model of internationally engaged scholarship.Keywords: Internationally engaged public scholarship, unusual conversation
Games for a new climate: experiencing the complexity of future risks
This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Center Task Force Reports, a publication series that began publishing in 2009 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.This report is a product of the Pardee Center Task Force on Games for a New Climate, which met at Pardee House at Boston University in March 2012. The 12-member Task Force was convened on behalf of the Pardee Center by Visiting Research Fellow Pablo Suarez in collaboration with the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre to âexplore the potential of participatory, game-based processes for accelerating learning, fostering dialogue, and promoting action through real-world decisions affecting the longer-range future, with an emphasis on humanitarian and development work, particularly involving climate risk management.â
Compiled and edited by Janot Mendler de Suarez, Pablo Suarez and Carina Bachofen, the report includes contributions from all of the Task Force members and provides a detailed exploration of the current and potential ways in which games can be used to help a variety of stakeholders â including subsistence farmers, humanitarian workers, scientists, policymakers, and donors â to both understand and experience the difficulty and risks involved related to decision-making in a complex and uncertain future. The dozen Task Force experts who contributed to the report represent academic institutions, humanitarian organization, other non-governmental organizations, and game design firms with backgrounds ranging from climate modeling and anthropology to community-level disaster management and national and global policymaking as well as game design.Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centr
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Promoting learner autonomy through multiliteracy skills development in cross-institutional exchanges
This contribution presents findings from two empirical case studies, which followed a task-based telecollaborative learning format. Participants included student teacher trainees, tutors, and language learners from colleges/universities in Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The projects aimed at promoting learner autonomy through awareness raising of modes and meaning-making online and multiliteracy skills development based on hands-on analysis of web resources and social networking tools.
It was hoped that this awareness would foster the teachers' own autonomy in virtual learning environments and enable them to design tasks whichâin turnâwould promote learner autonomy as understood by Palfreyman (2006): the informed use of a range of interacting resources in context. We argue that this awareness is reflected in enhanced multimodal communicative competence, i.e., âthe ability to understand the combined potential of various modes for making meaningâ (Royce, 2002, p. 92), and multiliteracy, with the latter allowing teachers and learners to realize the potential of blended and online only settings for language acquisition purposes. Ideally then, while becoming gradually more versed in multimodality and multiliteracy, learners can also take over more control and self-direct their own learning when working online (Benson, 2001) which are also characteristics of autonomy
A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities
Examines the state of the foundation's efforts to improve educational opportunities worldwide through universal access to and use of high-quality academic content
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