Landscapes and Local Identity: the Eight Views of Linfen

This chapter is the first part of an exploration into the history and meaning of landscapes, based on a case study of the “must-see” scenic spots or Eight Views (bajing 八景) of Linfen County in the south of China's Shanxi province. County histories not only include poems and travel accounts describing these places, but often also, from the 18th century onwards, images representing them. They are thus well-documented places, which makes it possible to trace fragments of their history and draw conclusions about the relationship between humans and their physical environment. This part of the study focuses on how the physical environment interlocked with the historical heritage of a place to form a cultural landscape that gave identity and meaning to a place and its people

Teachers' perception of the students' foreign language learning and the potential role of ICT

This article focuses on the learning problems that arise in the teaching of second languages. Nowadays, the introduction of new technologies in this field has had a relevant effect by offering new possibilities that did not exist in the analogue era. However, many of the learning problems persist, and one of the causes identified is the change in learning styles. The use of new technologies has fostered an experimental learning style among students. This style is incompatible with traditional classes of theory and practice, in which an intellectual effort is required to understand the theory and then put into practice what has been learned. The present work starts from this reality and tries to provide possible improvements. For this, an analysis of the main problems encountered by the learners in the various linguistic acquisition components (lexicon, grammar and processes of comprehension and production, both oral and written) has been carried out. The method used was a questionnaire answered by 113 active language teachers. After the analysis of the answers received, a series of specific problems of the teaching-learning process was enumerated and different IT applications and ICT resources were searched that could solve or at least minimize them

Adoption of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) for Librarians’ Professional Development in Africa

Librarian development is the process of constantly strengthening professional attainment, broadening academic knowledge, and enhancing skills. This chapter explores how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), can be used as continuing professional development of a librarian. This chapter narrates how MOOCs may offer a librarian an opportunity to upgrade their skills or further their education. It explains the benefits and challenges of the adoption of MOOCs for continuing professional development in developing countries and how this can be applied in developing economies. The major benefits of MOOCs to librarians are to help in professional and personal learning, but most librarians who wish to experience progressive career-development are yet to ascertain this fact. The chapter concludes that librarians have the opportunity to leverage this technology to improve their relevant professional skills in the 21st century. It is also established that the adoption and use of MOOCs among professional librarians in Africa is low as in advanced countries