Theoretical perspectives on preventing fishing vessel accidents.

Despite the availability of new technologies, fishing vessels come to grief far too often. Prevention education is excessively functionalist and not sufficiently focused on human factors. The author interrogates the problem from contrasting theoretical perspectives and claims prevention educators should embrace subjective as well as objectivist ontologies and place power relations at the centre, not on the margins, of their efforts

Using the Internet for Informal Learning about Joining the Brain Drain: A Qualitative Central/East European and Pacific Perspective

The Internet greatly expedites the process of “shooting through” from one’s home country. An online survey of Slovaks, New Zealanders and others suggests the Internet expedites leaving home – largely because of its informality and the way it erodes official control

Superstition as an Impediment to the Education of Commercial Fishermen: A Psychocultural Investigation Using Video

Commercial fishermen are prone to be superstitious and engage in rituals of avoidance designed to resolve anxiety and diminish danger. Video interviews with British Columbia fishermen illuminate this problem. The author pleads for a broadening of techno-rational approaches to prevention-education. Psycho-cultural, as well as techno-rational factors (equipment etc) should be considered

Meanings and Manifestations of the Anarchist-Utopian Ethos in Adult Education

Anarchist-utopians in adult education ascribe considerable significance to learning that occurs away from the surveillance of formal education. First generation anarchist-utopianism was different to that now shaping educational practice. In adult education, leading anarchist-utopians included Ivan Illich and John Ohliger

Voices From the Deep: What the Pacific Charmer Tragedy Means for Preventing Fishing Accidents

The CFV Pacific Charmer capsized, sank and two men died. Using interviews with survivors, associates of the deceased and rescuers, the author theorizes the incident and charts what needs to be done to prevent fishboat accidents

Sage on Stage is not sustainable: participatory pedagogy for a change

At the cusp of the 21st century natural resource educators face a bewildering variety of crises and contradictions. First, tomorrow does not replicate today, let alone yesterday. So not much is achieved by maintenance learning-the learning of fixed rules for recurring patterns. Secondly, learners are apt to behave like consumers and can secure access to education without having to endure the indignities of tyrannical teachers, capricious requirements, lectures or other manifestations of a transportation model of education. Thirdly, there is doubt about the extent to which progress can be wrought from the calm certitudes of tested knowledge and objective science. Indeed, in some places, there is suspicion that natural resource education is part of the problem-corporatism, environmental degradation, collapse of communities - and not part of the solution to what ails the planet. With these factors in mind the author maps approaches to education about natural resources and argues that there should be a migration from techno-rational or functionalist perspectives towards humanist, radical humanist and radical functionalist approaches

Great Walls from Mao to Now: A Biographical Perspective on Adult Education Inside Chinese Communist Revolution

From 1921 onwards, adult education was a vital corollary of Chinese Communist revolution. In 1954 Yao Zhongda lived near Mao in the Zhongnanhai and became Chief of the Bureau of Workers’ and Peasants Education. He is now 86 years old. The purpose of this study was to capture his biography and reflect on what it means for 21st century China. Data was secured during a 10-day Beijing interview session. Yao is an outstanding figure in Chinese adult education and today’s scholar-officials could learn a lot from him

Panoptic Variations: Surveillance and Discipline in Web Courses

Disciplinary surveillance nested in some Web courses violates principles of adult education. Using Foucault’s notion of panopticism, the authors present a model that can be used to determine levels of disciplinary surveillance

How Much Do Multicultural Residents of Greater Vancouver Know About the Internet?

Vancouver high school honors and university award lists are crowded with Asian names. But do these abilities in face-to-face settings extend to the Internet, which is the centerpiece of distributed learning? The purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which Internet knowledge varied as a function of age, sex, and language spoken at home. An Internet Quiz was administered to 3,537 residents in Greater Vancouver. Those who spoke English at home knew more about the Internet than those who spoke Chinese or other languages. The difference in English, Chinese, and other language scores possibly stemmed from relationships between Internet use and Internet knowledge, the pragmatism of Chinese in Greater Vancouver, the exigencies of immigration, and English-language dominance of the Internet.Dans les écoles secondaires et les universités de Vancouver, les palmarès abondent de noms asiatiques. Il faut se demander par contre, si ces habiletés en face-à-face s’appliquent à l’Internet, la plaque tournante de l’apprentissage distribué. Cette étude avait comme but de mesurer à quel point les connaissances de l’Internet variaient en fonction de l’âge, le sexe et la langue parlée à la maison. On a fait passer un test portant sur l’Internet à 3 537 résidents de la région de Vancouver. Les personnes pour qui la langue parlée à la maison était l’anglais à la maison connaissaient mieux l’Internet que celles pour qui c’était le Chinois ou une autre langue. Les différences dans les résultats pour l’anglais, le chinois et d’autres langues pourraient être attribuables au rapport entre l’emploi de l’Internet et les connaissances de l’Internet, le pragmatisme des Chinois de la région de Vancouver, les exigences relatives à l’immigration et la dominance de la langue anglaise dans l’Internet

Adult Education Adrift in a Net: Making Waves or Clutching a Lifering?

The Internet and World Wide Web exemplify values advanced by heroic adult education theorists such as Ivan Illich. They have also triggered a deluge of hyperbole and surfeit of false dichotomies (e.g. online versus face-to-face education). But, in the chorus of critics and advocates, adult educators have been noticeably silent. This symposium is designed to rectify this situation by interrogating Internet and Web learning and education from an adult education perspective