I am not a superhero but I do have secret weapons! : using technology in higher education teaching to redress the power balance

This article explores the role of technology in supporting student learning. It expresses the view that university/college students need to have educators who act as 'superheroes' seeking to understand their students' views of the world and their learning experiences within it. The author explores how a range of 'secret weapons' namely learning and communication technologies have been used by a reluctant adopter (not a superhero) to simply and effectively engage and empower students in the classroom. The overall aim of this approach was to offer students an opportunity to learn in a way that will put them in a strong position to be successful not only at university but also in their life ahead. Beginning with a discussion of the current UK learning context and the power dynamics that exist within the university classroom, the article then goes on to offer practical and pragmatic advice on using a specific range of technologies to support student learning. These technologies are a student response system called Socrative (available as a free smartphone app); Google Sites (a free website building tool - used for enhancing case studies and designing authentic assessments); tablet computers and audio (voice) feedback recorders. The paper concludes with a range of general tips for those adopting new technologies. These include involving the wider team (fellow academics and learning technologists) as well as students. Additionally it encourages thinking about pedagogical and practical approaches that need to be considered when adopting new technology either in the classroom or in assessment

(R)evolutionary aesthetics: Denis Dutton’s The art instinct: beauty, pleasure and human evolution

Denis Dutton’s ‘‘The Art Instinct’’ succeeds admirably in showing that it is possible to think about art from a biological point of view, and this is a significant achievement, given that resistance to the idea that cultural phenomena have biological underpinnings remains widespread in many academic disciplines. However, his account of the origins of our artistic impulses and the far-reaching conclusions he draws from that account are not persuasive. This article points out a number of problems: in particular, problems with Dutton’s appeal to sexual selection, with his discussion of the adaptation/by-product distinction and its significance, and with drawing normative conclusions from evolutionary hypotheses

Incorporating Diverse Literature Into the Middle Grades Classroom

In the field of education, we know from existing research that the literature students are exposed to has an impact on how they view themselves as students, as people, and as citizens of the society in which they live. It can have a lasting impact on their success in school, in work, and in their relationships with others. However, almost all research also shows that it’s not just about which books are taught, but how they are taught. For this project, I have designed a series of unit plans that can be used as a tool for any middle grades ELA teacher to use within their classroom. The unit plan draws on existing research and will specifically focus on how to effectively incorporate and teach diverse literature in the classroom

The ‘anti-social’ nature of prosocial research; a psychosocial critique

This article provides a critical review of recent psychological articles on prosocial behaviour. Even though it focuses on a specific section of this literature – giving to charities and prosocial responses to humanitarian disasters – the paper aims to offer a wider critique as it interrogates the epistemological and methodological underpinnings of the prosocial literature as a whole. It aims to illustrate how the problematic aspects of traditional quantitative, deductive, experimental research in prosocial behaviour in general, when applied to giving to charities, preclude a deeper and more complex understanding of a phenomenon quintessentially social and altruistic. I identify three specific issues that make mainstream approaches to prosocial behaviour problematic and limited in scope. The first relates to the insularity of mainstream psychology and the lack of contextualisation of its findings, in particular the problematic neglect of ideological and socio-historical factors in prosocial behaviour. The second relates to mainstream psychology's disregard for the role played by conflict, contradiction and ambivalence, in attitudes and decision making as well as in the emotional aspects of prosocial behaviour. The third looks at the constraints imposed by scientifically inspired methods, how they predetermine the range of participants' responses and make it hard to apply the findings to real life situations. I claim that these epistemological and methodological constraints severely limit the applicability and comprehensiveness of current research. The discussion of these issues is woven through the review and uses some specific studies to illustrate the limitations imposed by these constraints. Throughout the paper I also argue for the need to incorporate a psychosocial approach to research into prosocial behaviour

Why you do not adore you in Hungarian

This paper provides an overview of the pronominal coding of local coreference relations in Hungarian. In Hungarian, unlike in English, personal pronouns do not normally take local antecedents even if favourable pragmatic conditions are available. The paper argues that complex forms of the reflexive anaphor are used for the coding of local coreference, and they outcompete, as it were, personal pronouns in this function

20 Questions Toward Better Thinking: A Look at Internet Based Learning

New technology and good teaching practices must be combined to produce the most up-to-date and effective Internet-based learning. Critical and creative thinking techniques incorporated with technological enhancements will stimulate better comprehension of a variety of resources including in Internet-based learning. Two key concepts of critical and creative thinking that I focus on are Metacognition and Frame of Reference. Metacognition is the self-awareness of one’s thought process. It includes knowing why one makes decisions, what factors contribute to a choice, and why the opposite decision was not chosen. While most people disregard or ignore metacognition it can have numerous positive effects on one’s thought process. Understanding one’s Frame of Reference is understanding oneself. Frame of Reference factors include identifying one’s personal goals, values, ideals and personal experiences. It is influenced by experiences taught directly or indirectly. To illustrate the integration of technology with critical and creative thinking in Internet based learning; I have created a computer simulation game based on the classic game of twenty questions. The computer will choose a topic from a random list of topics. The students will complete a form by selecting questions from a list of keywords. After selecting a question the computer will respond whether the question is true or false in relation to the topic. The game will stimulate thinking by incorporating prompts, called stimuli, which assist the student in understanding their biases and frame of reference when choosing a question. The stimuli will incorporate the critical and creative thinking concepts of Metacognition and Frame of Reference. They will be open-ended to provoke introspective thought. The game runs on the teacher’s Internet server and utilizes the TCP/IP protocol to connect one or many students to the computer. It will dynamically store the student’s questions, answers and comments in the computer’s database. The computer uses the Web function of hypertext links to enable both student and teacher to view his and other student’s work. The links also provide connections to related subject matter Web-sites

Nietzsche's Critique of Truth

Nietzsche has made many paradoxical remarks about truth, including the claim that truth does not exist. Philosophers have attempted to tease out various theories of truth from his scattered remarks. This piece argues that Nietzsche had no interest in a theory of truth, rather he is interested in the rhetoric of truth; how claims of truth are used to coerce agreement and conformity, to hide expressions of subjective wills behind alleged objective facts. This kind of analysis is predicated on understanding Nietzsche’s various prima facie conflicting pronouncements by finding their intended audience. Nietzsche is not interested in finding eternal truths, rather his pragmatic concern is to move various audiences from their complacent beliefs. What is needed to move one target audience might be the opposite of what is needed at another time to move another targeted audience. Nietzsche is aiming at local interventions rather than global philosophical truths. This suggests a general model for Nietzsche interpretation: To understand a given Nietzsche text, first try to find who his intended audience/ audiences is/are and from what beliefs is he trying to pry them, and in what direction he seeks to move them. The general thought behind this piece is that Nietzsche should be regarded more as a psychologist or Kulturkritker than as a philosopher in the modern sense (one who is interested in questions of ultimate ontology, epistemology, etc.). I also suggest in this piece that careful attention be paid to Nietzsche language, in particular his use of the metaphoric of degeneration. To this end I analyze his use of martial and forensic metaphors. Footnote 14 touches on the highly important and vexing question of his responsibility for his subsequent use arguing that Nietzsche's culpability lays not so much in his particular claims but in his very language.Article (Reprinted in "Oxford Readings in Philosophy: Nietzsche", edited by B. Leiter and J. Richardson, Oxford University Press, 200

The Ambiguous Mother-Figure in Harold Pinter’s The Room 87

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

TEACHERS QUESTIONING STRATEGIES IN ACHIEVING STUDENTS SPEAKING COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH CLASSROOM

The study investigates the grilling system teachers applied at school to know the learners’ answers and “the” teachers’ reasons for achieving students’ speaking competence in English classrooms. The qualitative method is chosen to see the researcher's question responses, the observation in the classroom, and some questions toward the educators. As the findings implied, the two teachers required prompting, changing cognitive demand levels, and providing additional information in display type more dominant than others questions strategies and effective communication. The teacher at the private school repeated the questions and translated them into Indonesia or mixed the questions to relieve the learners' understanding about inquiries and responses effectively. Nevertheless, the totality of English was engaged by the teacher at the state school.  The students were easier to understand simpler after the teacher explores many questions and applied much longer time toward the wait time method. The study presented the helpful results of the questions used when the teachers operated in the teaching and learning process and upgraded learners' responses in participating in the learning process. This study offered effective teachers’ questioning strategies in increasing learners' communicative skills, particularly in achieving speaking competence