HIST 173: Old World and New World Encounters Course Redesign

Poster summarizing course redesign activities for HIST 173: Old World and New World Encounters.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/davinci_itcr2014/1001/thumbnail.jp

University Scholar Series: Ruma Chopra

Choosing Sides: Loyalists in Revolutionary America On April 30, 2014, Dr. Ruma Chopra spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Interim Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. In this talk, Dr. Chopra discusses colonial resistance to the American Revolution. Dr. Chopra’s book, Choosing Sides: Loyalists in Revolutionary America, details arguments given by America’s original colonists, including slaves and Native Americans, against the formation of the United States. Even hundreds of years into America’s existence, these arguments are echoed and championed both within and beyond our borders. Dr. Chopra is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at SJSU.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/uss/1030/thumbnail.jp

Dynamic stability of a bearingless circulation control rotor blade in hover

The aeroelastic stability of flap bending, lead-lag bending and torsion of a bearingless circulation control rotor blade in hover is investigated using a finite element formulation based on Hamilton's principle. The flexbeam, the torque tube and the outboard blade are discretized into beam elements, each with fifteen nodal degrees of freedom. Quasisteady strip theory is used to evaluate the aerodynamic forces and the airfoil characteristics are represented either in the form of simple analytical expressions or in the form of data tables. A correlation study of analytical results with the experimental data is attempted for selected bearingless blade configurations with conventional airfoil characteristics

Seeking conditions of possibility: conceptualizing the space for democratic discursive practices in adult education programme processes

I draw on an ethnographic based research study of gendered communication practices related to land ownership and adult education programme practice, in one village in Uttaranchal (India), in order to (re)conceptualize the space for democratic discursive practices in adult education programme processes. Through ethnographic accounts I explore the (im)possible experience of hearing the Other as a need for self-deconstruction in adult education programme processes. This I claim may open spaces for hearing and acknowledging the voices and silences of gendered adult education subjects speaking for themselves within adult education programme processes. I construct the ‘ideal’ adult education programme as an ‘empty signifier’ (Laclau 1989) in order to create spaces for officially recognising conflict and strategically creating consensus within adult education programme processes. The concept of the empty signifier enables me to move beyond discursive practices framing adult education processes as ‘bottom-up’ learner centred adult education programmes. I argue that such conceptualisations of adult education programmes create closure and silence around the discursive practices which reveal that any democratic process for adult education programmes does not transcend hegemonic discursive practices. I claim that it is only through the recognition of hegemony, within democratic adult education programme processes, that hegemonic relations can be transformed

Moving beyond access: widening participation in post compulsory teacher education through the integration of LAMS

The School of Education at Greenwich University offers a range of courses in primary, secondary, higher and community teacher education from foundation degrees to doctorate programmes. The postgraduate certificate in teaching in the post compulsory sector registers approximately 2,000 students on its part-time, flexible, full time and subject specialist additional diploma courses every year. In addition, 28 Further Education colleges in London work in partnership with Greenwich University to provide these teacher education courses. Over fifty per cent of course participants at Greenwich University belong to Black and Ethnic Minority groups. This paper explores integrating LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) for developing flexible learner centred teaching/learning strategies for the delivery of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher education programmes. Currently the Additional Diploma (ESOL) subject specialist programme has paper based study guides to support course participants. Feedback from course participants has indicated that the study guides are limited in providing interactive activities, are text heavy, undifferentiated and do not lend themselves to collaborative work outside the class context. Developing differentiated multimodal activities through LAMS may enable people to engage with course content through a variety of learning preferences and work collaboratively outside the class. By drawing on a pilot project and the work of Burns & Walker (2009) this paper will explore the use of LAMS: 1. To design multimodal and multicultural Additional Diploma (ESOL) resources for supporting active and reflective teaching/ learning practice. 2. As an e-learning tool that encourages reflective thinking and supports differentiated, self paced, inclusive and collaborative ESOL teaching/ learning practice

Transforming epistemological invisibility: (re)claiming intercultural learning within an ESOL teacher education programme

This paper analyses critiques, shared by first generation migrant ESOL(English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher ‘trainees’, on officially validated dominant perceptions of professional competency and identity within an ESOL teacher education programme. Drawing on the work of Street and Lea (1999;2000) and Dahlstrom (2006) this paper seeks to address the following questions: • What type of issues related to voice, visibility and agency are involved in officially validated conceptualisations of ESOL teaching competency and professional identity? • How is the learning trajectory of first generation migrant ESOL teacher trainees impacted on by issues of power and representation? • How do they critique ESOL teaching/learning practice in terms of second language acquisition theory, teaching methodology and reflective practice? Through ethnographic vignettes I (re)present the multicultural practices and identities of first generation migrant ESOL teacher ‘trainees’ as forms of (un)validated knowledge. I examine how intersectionality in terms of ethnicity, class, age, religion and gender impacts on their learning and learning identities. I consider how a process of (re)claiming intercultural learning (see Collard and Wang 2005) may encourage a more active engagement with the (un)validated knowledge and socio-cultural realities of minority groups of ESOL teacher ‘trainees’. Based on a twelve month ethnographic style study on a pre-service ESOL teacher education programme, this paper strives to provide insights into ‘other’ realities which form a part of the subjective processes through which diverse polyvocal situated gendered first generation migrant ESOL teacher ‘trainees’ understand, use and create knowledge to write themselves into multilayered representations. Through the use of data collection methods such as: participation observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions my presentation provides an account of historical practices not possessing a ‘knowing’ of ESOL teacher ‘trainees’ but rather miming the route of how I could not ‘know’ without their voice (Spivak 1999)