Promoting social cohesion during blended learning in a Foundation Degree

This paper explores curriculum theory and principles, evaluates the social cohesion of curricula, and synthesises theory and policies related to education for sustainable development, whilst evaluating and enhancing a higher education blended learning module. Blended learning is defined as a ‘pedagogical approach that combines the opportunities of face-to-face learning with the opportunities of the online environment’ (Hew and Cheung, 2014, p. 3). The key challenge is social cohesion, specifically learner collaboration and social learning, which Lockhorst, Admiraal and Pilot (2010) break down into participation, interaction and the nature of the communication. To identify strategies to enhance the module, thereby maximising social cohesion and collaboration, this paper explores the module’s curriculum: the policy context, theoretical principles of curriculum design, social cohesion in the context of the parity of esteem between work-based and academic learning, and education for sustainable development. It concludes by proposing enhancements to the module curriculum to meet the demands of twenty-first century graduates (Ashwin et al., 2015, p. 159) and education for sustainable development

NOTE-TAKING IN INTERPRETING CLASS

Note-Taking is said to be helpful in undertaking interpreting task, particularly in consecutive interpreting. As research found out, note-taking was proved to be ‘a necessary helper’ in consecutive interpretation (Meifang, 2012). In informal research in two interpreting classes it was found out that for majority of the students note-taking was helpful. However, in consecutive interpreting practice some students found that it was distracting and made the interpreting task even more difficult because they had to do two tasks at the same time, i.e. listening to the speech to be interpreted and thinking about what to write. In addition, they also claimed that they had difficulties in using their notes for accomplishing the interpreting task. More practices were then given on how to take notes during the interpreting task. The factor which students claimed to be intimidating was also eliminated. This paper will present how the note-taking practice works in the interpreting classes. Keywords: note-taking, interpretin

TRANSLATORS’ CENSORSHIP IN ENGLISH-INDONESIAN TRANSLATION OF DONALD DUCK COMICS

Not all aspects of Western culture, reflected in the language used in Walt Disney’s Donald Duck comics, are acceptable in Indonesia. So, in translating the comics, the translators have to manipulate the text for it to be acceptable by the target readers and parents. This research aims at finding out censorship through the translation techniques used by the translators in translating the English humorous texts in the Walt Disney’s Donald Duck comics into Indonesian and the reasons underlying the translators’ choice of the translation techniques. It also aims at analysing whether or not the choice of the translation techniques affects the rendering of meaning, maintenance of humour, and acceptability of the translation. For these purposes a qualitative method was employed with content analysis technique and reader response analysis. Content analysis was used in comparing the source text (ST) and target text (TT) to find out the translation techniques used as a means of censorship and to find out the translators’ reasons for choosing the techniques. Reader-response analysis was done to find out the readers’ response to the rendering of meaning and maintenance of humour in the translation. The research findings discovered that the translators performed censorship through the dominant use of reduction and generalisation techniques so as to reduce sarcasm and insults. The interview with the publisher’s Senior Editor also revealed that “decency” was the first priority in the translation decision making, followed by clarity of meaning and maintenance of humour.  Further research to investigate other elements censored, and compared with other translated comics is recommended

it takes a long time to move

A doorway. A grave. A body. A scar. The hole was dug in my studio a month after I had moved in and the day after I burned my foot in the metal shop. A new navel sits on the top of my left foot and a raised scar marks an accidental grave in the ground of studio ten in Red Hook, New York. It came from water. A leaking pipe. Blueprints of the building did not point here as the source of the water main because there are no blueprints. Instead, a pipe in the corner and a shot in the dark designated mine as the studio to be cut into. Uninvited wound that let the world come rushing back into that space, pushing me out of a stagnant staring at indecision. The Universal Builders Supply dug the hole seven feet long, almost two and half feet at the widest, and around three feet deep. The ground gave me my material and a pooling of water seemed to laugh at the mistake; the water main was not here. Each detail holds a larger gesture on a pin prick. Water carved my studio like it carves the small pool on the headstone. The rock that was chipped away collected at its base, reaching back towards something like knowing. A reddish substance leaks from the lowest points in the ground. There is a sheen of oil and orange water sweating on the wall. A conduit strike pierces, or maybe nestles, between the floor and the ceiling, anchoring a new gravity. The room begins to pull inwards and warp. What’s becoming is the material that’s been left over, sitting somewhere, aging. A single copper wire, like a strand of hair, catches a spotlight. It carries the action of this labor between rock and bone. All this seeping from the space, sweating and crying like unroofed blisters, lays a soggy biology on the architecture. Skin grows like concrete over wounds, stronger for their new covering. The grave, a gift and a warning, was the skeleton of some home: pipe and foundation and that spongy mush. This loss from the ground, this loss from my body, this reaching back towards something before knowing. I didn’t want to touch anything, to claim with my hands. These markers of a life leftover, memorials to the seams where they tore off, hold the memory of a violent separation. It takes a long time to move and the moving is changing and giving, attention and love. How the smallest gesture can tear a hole in concrete. Time closes in on the joints, pushing on like gravity and aging fast. The doorway as a metronome to set the pace or record the time of all this sinking and piercing. A rubbing of the hole as a doorway. I created a new gravity and invited this weight to sit on my shoulders. The lower I had to be to steady myself, it seemed, the larger and heavier it became. When I was able to untie everything that had become knotted with time, the sudden absence became a wrenching upwards. Bumping up against the ceiling, trying to get past the architecture to become airy. Have you ever wondered how far into the atmosphere a spider can fly on its silk? This method of travel is called ballooning or kiting. The threads, like protein floaters in your eye, lost in blue and fixed in some soft agitation are unwilling or unable to settle. *Many thanks to Keith, Justin, and the workers at UBS in Red Hook for their work digging and filling the hole

Using the Bristol City Council Quality of Life Survey (2011-2013) – Preliminary analysis of life satisfaction and recommendations for further analyses

The purpose of this report is to explore the utility of the Bristol Quality of Life (QoL) Survey for measuring levels of life satisfaction (as a measure of well-being and mental health) in Bristol’s population aged 55 and over. An earlier report examined the variables available to measure levels of physical activity. This report focuses on life satisfaction and its association with physical activity and other variables. Life satisfaction was higher for women (73.5%) than for men (72.2%), higher amongst non-BME (Black Minority Ethnic) (73.4%) than for BME (63.3%) respondents and highest in the most affluent North & West (Inner) sub-locality (81.1%) and lowest in Inner City (East) (67.6%). Across age groups, life satisfaction rose from 68.3% overall for those aged 55-59, through the 60-64 age group (72.8%), remained around 75% through ages 65 to 84 before falling again to 66.5% for those aged 85-89 and to a low of 65.4% overall for those aged 90+. There was an association between life satisfaction and physical activity, with 76.7% of those that undertook moderate physical exercise at least once per week reporting positive life satisfaction, compared with 56.4% of those who took moderate exercise less than once per week. This held across all age groups studied here (55-59 up to 90+). Life satisfaction amongst those who remained physically active at age 85-89 was high (78.3% for men and 78.8% for women). Life satisfaction amongst the least active (moderate exercise less than once per week) was only 46.7% among men in age group 85-89 and 49.4% for women. General health in the past 12 months was positively associated with life satisfaction, while having a limiting long-term illness, having had an accidental fall in the last 12 months and being underweight or obese were all associated with lower levels of life satisfaction. There is a negative association between deprivation and both life satisfaction and physical activity. Social interaction (e.g. meeting family and friends), neighbourhood satisfaction and a sense of belonging to the neighbourhood were positively associated with life satisfaction. Reporting that ‘something prevents me leaving that house’ and feeling unsafe outdoors were associated negatively with life satisfaction

The Analysis of Students’ Listening Proficiency Viewed from Their Different Learning Styles after Getting the Strategy Instructions

The students’ listening cognitive and metacognitive problems should be overcome with an effective listening strategy instruction. Besides, their learning style as the individual learners’ differences should be taken into account in getting a satisfactory listening outcome. To seek the solution, the present study aimed to find out quantitatively the effectiveness of implementation of Explicit (Meta)-cognitive collaboration strategy instruction (M-CCSI) and top-down strategy instructions (TDSI) toward the students’ listening proficiency viewed from their learning styles. The participants of the study were 50 Javanese EFL students at Muria University of Kudus, Indonesia. The data were gathered by using a listening proficiency test adopted from Longman TOEFL listening section and a questionnaire of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK) learning styles. Descriptive statistics, Independent Sample t-test, and Friedman two-way analysis of variance revealed that the experimental group has a significant effect of their listening proficiency after treated by using M-CCSI. Meanwhile, the control group has no significant effect on their listening proficiency after dealt with by using top down strategy (TDSI) as a general listening teaching. On the other hand, the result of two-way analysis of variance reveals that students’ listening proficiency was not influenced by learning styles including visual learners, auditory learners, and kinesthetic learners for both experimental group and control group. Thus, the findings imply that it is not essential for the lecturers of listening course to divide students into different learning styles in applying Explicit M-CCSI

The process of developing new competences : a case study at a family agricultural production unit

This article addresses the difficulties faced by farmers who implement new production methods on their land. We discuss the nature of the new competences that farmers must develop, highlighting the complexities of the means they use, the difficulties they confront in this process, and the strategies farmers develop in consonance with the practical knowledge of their profession. The method used includes elements of Ergonomic Work Analysis combined with a case study. Le Boterf's model of the process of constructing competences is used to support the data analysis. The discussion is organized based on an analysis of the evolution of consolidated competences that are re-elaborated for a new agricultural production. The analysis of the strategies and operational modes is introduced, and their contribution to the development of new competences is noted, thus enriching the model proposed by Le Boterf. It is essential to understand the cognitive processes, strategies, and operating modes involved in the development of competences. This procedure provides mechanisms that preserve the opportunity for observation of significant variables in managing variability to be included in the transformation or evolution of work situations and to define the activities that workers will perform

Architectural programming from the perspective of ergonomics : a case study in the public sector

A falta de correspondência entre os ambientes construídos e o uso de edifícios destinados ao Judiciário brasileiro sugerem a dificuldade dos arquitetos em atender, em seus projetos, os requisitos qualitativos e quantitativos das necessidades dos servidores e da organização. A associação da abordagem da ergonomia da atividade à programação arquitetônica foi realizada em resposta à demanda de um novo edifício-sede para um órgão judicial. Tendo uma dissertação de mestrado como referência empírica, este artigo pretende definir parâmetros, fundamentados em procedimentos metodológicos, como suporte para o processo de programação. A equipe multidisciplinar envolvida com a investigação facilitou a articulação das diferentes etapas da análise ergonômica do trabalho. A formação de grupos focais possibilitou a coleta dos dados por meio das representações dos servidores das diferentes unidades do órgão. A definição de módulos de áreas, fundamentada nos dados coletados, permitiu que elementos qualitativos fossem incorporados ao dimensionamento do projeto. Observações sistemáticas em um recorte da situação de estudo complementam a validação dos dados. Ressalta-se a importância do tema na expectativa de aproximação dos arquitetos aos edifícios projetados para o setor público, agregando a realidade de trabalho nos ambientes construídos por eles projetados.The lack of correspondence between the constructed environments and the use of Brazilian Judicial buildings suggests the difficult that architects have to deal, by their design, with the qualitative and the quantitative requirements of both employees and organization. The association of the activity ergonomic approach to architectural programming was done to answer the demand for a new headquarters building of a judicial agency. Taking into account a master dissertation as empirical reference, this paper intends to define parameters, based on methodological procedures, to support programming process. The multidisciplinary team involved in the research allowed connecting the diferent steps of the work ergonomic analysis. The implementation of focus groups made it possible to collect data from different employees' representations. The area modules definition, based on the collected data, added qualitative elements to the dimensioning process of the design. Systematic observations of a sample of this study completed the data validation. We enhance the importance of this subject expecting that architects could get closer to public buildings design adding the work reality to the constructed environments designed by them