China in Africa: A New Scramble

This paper looks into the nature of China’s involvement with African nations, which is a highly debated issue in recent times. Supporters of African nations’ relations with China argue that African countries have enjoyed increased trade, aid and investment from these relations; skeptics, however, worry that these relations may be reminiscent of European colonization, hinging upon unequal exchange and the exploitation of Africa’s resources and people. This paper interrogates whether theories of Western colonization, imperialism, and dependency by John Hobson, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and David Harvey can explain the current context and conditions of China’s role in Africa. I also employ a case study to look into this issue: that of land grabs in Africa. Land grabs mostly involve the expropriation of land in developing countries to facilitate food production and resource extraction to meet demand in more developed countries. While many regions of the Global South have been subject to land grabs, the bulk of these has occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent times. Focusing on China’s role in the land grabs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the case study explores the economic and political aspects of China’s agricultural investments in the DRC, and the effects of this on dependency and unequal exchange. Through such an analysis, the relationships between capitalism and incipient, contemporary forms of domination and resource control may be unpacked

The Impacts of an Academic Intervention Based in Metacognition on Academic Performance

Providing reflective opportunities for students to independently develop their metacognition and expand their abilities to make judgments about themselves as learners, including which learning strategies are personally most effective for any given task, have been shown to improve academic performance. We designed a metacognition-based intervention that was structured to provide four weeks of reflective opportunities for students following a metacognitive learning strategies workshop. Qualitative analysis of student responses from the first week’s survey found evidence of metacognitive skill development and self-reported improvements in learning, including an improvement in confidence and preparedness for classes and exams, and better understanding and retention of course content. Our results suggest that students who described an increase in their confidence during the first week were two times more likely to complete the intervention. This completion was correlated with a higher semester GPA, regardless of student identity, prior academic performance, and strategy choice or outcome description during the first week. Read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post here

The Impacts of an Academic Intervention Based in Metacognition on Academic Performance

Providing reflective opportunities for students to independently develop their metacognition and expand their abilities to make judgments about themselves as learners, including which learning strategies are personally most effective for any given task, have been shown to improve academic performance. We designed a metacognition-based intervention that was structured to provide four weeks of reflective opportunities for students following a metacognitive learning strategies workshop. Qualitative analysis of student responses from the first week’s survey found evidence of metacognitive skill development and self-reported improvements in learning, including an improvement in confidence and preparedness for classes and exams, and better understanding and retention of course content. Our results suggest that students who described an increase in their confidence during the first week were two times more likely to complete the intervention. This completion was correlated with a higher semester GPA, regardless of student identity, prior academic performance, and strategy choice or outcome description during the first week