Around the book: Crossing and Controlling Borders. Immigrations Policies and their Impact on Migrants Journeys – 2011

Book revie

Circular Pedagogy and Digitisation A New Educational Paradigm

Existing educational systems and models are insufficient to address the challenges associated with our evolving socio-economic and environmental systems. In this paper, we offer critical insights on the core elements defining Higher Education Institutions, the digitisation of teaching and learning practices with a dominant trend favouring STEM education that overlooks the value of social sciences. The neglection of social sciences and the criticism and negative connotations that affect research in the field of pedagogy are also considered as they are essential in articulating our vision of the need for pedagogical innovations that acknowledge our new learning and teaching realities and the importance of introducing new practices that help on the transition towards a new educational paradigm. We propose a new pedagogy called Circular Pedagogy, where the role of the teacher, the learner and the researcher are identified as interchangeable over the lifelong learning process. Our research offers some initial insights into how Circular Pedagogy can be connected to Bloom\u27s Taxonomy as we are at the early stages of developing the theoretical foundations of this new pedagogy

Circular Pedagogy for Smart, Inclusive and Sustainable Education

Higher education institutions seem to be engaged in a reactive process when thinking about education for sustainable development, instead of being proactive. A every stage, educational models remain very limited to specific goals and agendas driven by the fad of the moment and without articulating a sustainable educational model that we argue should be uttered within the concepts of intercultural competencies, smart, inclusive, and sustainable education where learners engage on a circular learning process as captured by the circular pedagogy for higher education. If the academic community is serious about driving actions that help us to enact change and impact to develop a more sustainable conscious socio-economic and environmental global society, we need to rethink our education models and pedagogies so that they are attuned with the complexity of our evolving reality

A Circular Pedagogy for Higher Education

Over the last two decades, higher education has been subject to significant scrutiny due to increasing pressures to provide a meaningful and relevant learning experience to the student population, and by their strong connection to the functioning of the economic and political systems. By reflecting on the controversies surrounding pedagogy, this paper contributes to the current debate by exploring pedagogy as a circular process where learners grow and develop by taking different roles and identities as they navigate a research-informed learning continuum defined by growing levels of complexity and uncertainty. This study introduces a new pedagogical paradigm for adult education, inspired by the Humboldtian model for higher education and that we have coined as “circular pedagogy” where the role of the teacher, student and researcher are indissoluble

Circular Pedagogy to Advance the Integration of Learning Technologies: Supporting Technological Universities Cultural Transformation

European countries need active and proactive educational systems assisted by models that can drive a cultural transformation that supports sustainable socio-economic and environmental development. In this paper, we reflect on the future of European education. We offer some insights on how the foundations of a new educational model (ANEM) could be cemented and solidly supported by pillars that acknowledge our societies\u27 rich and diverse cultures. Furthermore, the European University of Technology\u27s (EUt+) future educational model is taken as a case study to enable us to reflect and analyse the need for novel pedagogies that drive change for a more sustainable socio-economic and environmentally friendly European society. European education faces significant challenges from the need to enable learning environments guided by equity, diversity, and inclusive frameworks for all categories. To make progress, it is essential that we first learn how new inclusive learning environments can be articulated to help us address our contemporary society\u27s learning needs and demands. We are conscious that education worldwide faces a stark and unpleasant reality as the students/learners\u27 learning experience is significantly impacted by social status and economic disparities. Students are often confronted with difficult situations involving racism, discrimination and exclusion that materialise in students suffering mistreatment and microaggressions in learning environments still blind to the biases forwarded through teaching practices. The richness of our European cultures and languages and their significance in helping us to work together are paramount in our quest for high-quality education that cultivates, promotes, and cherishes European educational values while welcoming other cultures and languages. Within the complexities of our global societies, we argue that the future of our educational system must enable and foster mechanisms that nurture behaviours that will help us address cultural conflict, clashes, and potential detachment. Cultural clashes emerge as a major challenge for the development of our future European University, and we need to be able to minimise potential problems associated with multicultural, plurilingual and diverse working and learning environments. We are conscious of the need to develop appropriate educational programmes and curricula guided by our novel Circular Pedagogy , where we provide an initial and evolving framework for students, teachers, and researchers to interchange their roles. We propose a learner-centred, dynamic, and proactive pedagogy that helps us to manage and navigate the inevitable cultural conflict and supports us in understanding and identifying the triggers that might arise due to cultural clashes and increasing levels of detachment

Protective effects of dietary supplement Spirulina (Spirulinaplatensis) against toxically impacts of monosodium glutamatein blood and behavior of swiss mouse

Background: Well-known monosodium glutamate (E-621, MSG), originally used as a food flavor enhancer, was approved approximately in all countries, but the toxicity versus the safety of (MSG) are still unclear due to variable scientific toxicological reports. Moreover, it was reported to trigger elevated frequencies of nausea and headaches in humans and provide deleterious effects on laboratory animals. The objectives of the present study were to (i) estimate the possible toxic effects of the food additive MSG (ii) and the ameliorating protective effects of the dietary supplement spirulina (Spirulina platensis) on the biochemical parameters of blood and the damage produced in organs of Swiss mice after applying a supplementary daily dose of MSG for 4 weeks. (2) Methods: The present study was conducted on 20 mature Swiss mice, which were randomly organized into four groups of five Swiss mice. The treatments were (I) the control group, in which Swiss mice were fed only animal feed and drinking water; group II MSG1, which received 1 mL of MSG; group III MSG0.5, which was treated with 0.5 mL of MSG; and (IV) the group MSGS, which was treated with 1 mL of monosodium glutamate and 1 mL of spirulina (aiming to reduce the MSG toxicity). (3) Results: At the end of the experiment, Swiss mice treated with MSG demonstrated a passiveness regarding behavioral aspects. As we hypothesized, the parameters of the spirulina group reached similar values to the control group, and no histopathological observations have been found. Altogether, our findings evidenced that monosodium glutamate leads to histopathological changes in Swiss mice kidneys and caused important modifications for all biochemical parameters of the blood serum. Noticeably, the potential protective effect of Spirulina platensis was proved and was described by using the FTIR spectroscopy technique. (4) Conclusions: A diet rich in antioxidants and other plant-derived bioactive compounds may provide healthy nutrition, alleviating the potential side effects of some food additives

Enhancing Human Security by Transforming Education Through Science, Technology, and Innovations

In this paper, we provide in-depth critical analysis and reflections on how technology, innovation and digital literacy can help to bring awareness on the need for a new dimension and approach to foster a transformational attitude towards education. Learning drives change, and if we aim to make an impact, there is a need to enable collaboration between different disciplines so that new transformative educational models can emerge. At the centre of our analysis, we identify the role of pedagogy and how it can contribute to put forward humans as central and critical actors in using science, technology, and innovations (STIs) to foster human security. We explore the critical role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their engagement with science, technology, and innovation in the search for educational transformation that supports multicultural, diverse and inclusive learning environments within the tenets of social engagement and cohesion that guide us towards the principles of human security

Institutions fighting Trafficking in Human Beings in the Contemporary Romania

In the last approximately 15 years, mainly in the last decade, Romania made substantial efforts to establish the institutions fighting THB according with the EU’s Directive 38 /2011’s requirements and the recommendation assumed by the International Treaties signed and ratified in this area. The plethora of institutions were founded, but they are not functioning yet as a system because of the absence of the independent assessing institution. That is why, it must be, immediately, created. Beside, the institutional system needs, as a unavoidable complement the launching of Cultural Strategy in tabooing for good, the THB in Romania