SoTL in the Commons: Elephant, Authenticity and Journey

Excerpt: I find it useful to refer to the metaphor of an international feel of the ‘elephant’ presented by Pat Hutchings in the inaugural issue of this journal. Indeed, definitions of scholarship of teaching and learning can be very different depending on which parts of the anatomy one is feeling (or seeing, or experiencing). With a specific focus on the role of theory, Pat took readers through variations of how theory is perceived in different traditions to reach a common ground for all: theory is not an end in itself, but a condition for doing better what we most care about as educators as essential to a meaning-making, knowledge-building process

The Ideology and Praxis of Political Moderates:More Liberal than Conservative?A Research Note

Who is a political moderate in the United States today? What are their stances on important national issues and who do they think should be the agents affecting structural change? In what is commonly perceived to be a polarized political climate in the United States, the middle ground often seems non-existent. However, if the United States is as polarized between right and left as some scholars say, then why do so many Americans self-identify as moderate and why do studies tend to neglect a prominently existing ideological group? In the 2014 Chicago Council Survey on American Public Opinion (n = 2108), moderates were more closely aligned with liberals on almost every foreign and domestic policy issue (excluding the size of the military and immigration policy) while their praxis was slightly more reflective of conservatives. Partisan sorting theory, an application of Blumer’s symbolic interactionism in the political arena, did not fully capture the political moderates, whose ideology did not often match their praxis

Understanding the awakening spirit of a professional teaching force

Social, economic and technological changes on a global scale are challenging traditional forms of knowledge and educational practice. In response, educators worldwide are finding ways to forge new roles, identities and relationships. This paper recognises pressures on the teaching force in a global climate of educational reform. Drawing on data from experienced teachers, the paper elucidates that rich opportunities for professional learning are situated in collective review of challenges and critical incidents where teachers' guilt can be addressed with the choice for personal growth and professional learning. With a framework for tracking how teachers can be liberated from downward drift to negative sentiments, the paper concludes by highlighting the creative energy inside teachers who can rediscover deep values in the realities of their everyday professional lives in a journey of co-learning and reclaiming inner power. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.preprin

A behavioural view of the decision for capability investments: the solar PV industry in Taiwan

This research examines the role of framing in the process of decision-making for new capability investments under conditions of policy and technological uncertainty. I argue that framing can explain the decision to exploit current capabilities, but is not sufficient to explain the decision to explore new capabilities. This research discriminates between “frames” and “framing” in the investigation: whereas “framing” is the process of constructing the meaning of the decision problem, “frame” refers to a specific perspective adopted by the decision makers. I develop a three-level research design: the industry-level analysis adopts the approach of eliciting heuristics to identify general patterns. The firm-level examines sources of variation and causal complexity by comparative case analysis. The decision-maker level investigates the influence of senior managers’ professional experience using a scenario evaluation approach. Three observations from the case study of Taiwanese solar PV firms: firstly, systematic patterns are found in the process of framing environmental uncertainty and attributing the causes of the decision problem of capability investments. Secondly, whilst differentiated framing exists and corresponds to selective attention; such a difference is not necessarily associated with different choice pattern. Finally, the loosely coupling framing and choices leads to the speculation that the role of deliberate practice, rather than framing has a stronger influence on the decision to explore. This research illustrates that the capabilities investment decision is not a single event but a complex process. While the stylised psychological principles explain the heuristic judgments, the influencing factors of an organisational decision are interdependent and temporally connected in the decision context. I argue that the problem of framing lies in prohibiting the alterative frame. Therefore exploration needs to be deliberately sought by the specially designed practice. This research contributes to understanding the relationship between behavioural view of descriptive analysis and prescriptive view of procedural rationality in the decision- making process

Study Of Adhesion Properties Of Natural Rubber, Epoxidized Natural Rubber, And Ethylene-Propylene Diene Terpolymer-Based Adhesives [TA455.R8 K98 2007 f rb].

Kekuatan kupasan, ketahanan ricihan dan sifat-sifat lekitan pada perekat yang berasaskan getah asli terepoksida (ENR), getah asli (SMR) dan getah sintetik, EPDM telah dipelajari dan dikaji. The peel strength, shear resistance and tackiness properties of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR), Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR), and ethylene-propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM)-based adhesives were studied

Understanding the nexus between mainstream schooling and private supplementary tutoring: patterns and voices of Hong Kong secondary students

While research is increasingly available on the scale and costs of private supplementary tutoring, less information focuses on its pedagogical dimensions. This paper addresses patterns in Hong Kong. The paper begins with the quantitative picture solicited through questionnaires for students in Grades 9 and 12, and then turns to data from interviews. Among the students, some received tutoring while others did not. Those who received tutoring were asked to compare their teachers and tutors, and to indicate what they sought from the tutors that they did not find in their schooling. The students who did not receive tutoring were also asked about the culture of tutoring, and whether they would have liked to have received tutoring if they had had the necessary financial resources. Especially pertinent were statements about learning gaps and ways in which tutoring was perceived to help. The themes of this paper may resonate widely. The paper shows that students’ learning objectives may differ from those of their teachers, and comments on the implications of these patterns for wider processes of government-led reform. The paper helps to explain how well-intentioned top-down innovations may be subverted by conflicting expectations and the divergent agendas of students, teachers and tutors.postprin

Liberated to learn: Teacher education as transformation of relationships

This paper reports on a process of curriculum innovation for a pedagogy course with a focus on the perceptual gaps between teacher educators and student teachers. As a collaborative inquiry by teacher educators, it was a response to government-led education reform for a new subject at senior secondary level – Liberal Studies – which aimed to cultivate citizenship with humanitarian values. Observing critical discourse and community learning as desirable pedagogical principles to nurture a new generation of teachers for social awareness and commitment to citizenship, the curriculum innovation began with recognition of student teachers' lack of readiness to embrace such learning orientations due to the pre-university approach to learning for examination performance. The challenges were met with the design of assessment tasks that shaped independent thinking and collaborative inquiry, while building relationships in multiple human and conceptual dimensions. Through analysis of a flow of episodes, the paper captures the meaning of the processes of liberation to learn, and concludes with depiction of a growth model for transformation of relationships amidst a performance-related assessment culture.postprin