Probing and Proving Competence

In: A.J. Kallenberg and M.J.J.M. van de Ven (Eds), 2002, The New Educational Benefits of ICT in Higher Education: Proceedings. Rotterdam: Erasmus Plus BV, OECR ISBN 90-9016127-9Since 1997 the Amsterdam Faculty of Education (EFA) has been officially recognised as a Dutch centre for experimental teacher education. EFA is a co-operation institute of the Hogeschool Inholland and the Hogeschool of Amsterdam. In this paper we will describe the essentials of an assessment system and a web-based portfolio system that should help students take responsibility for their learning and their proving competence at three consecutive integrative assessments. The whole Faculty with 3500 students has embarked on a transition from “supply driven education and assessing whether the supply is absorbed by the student” to “demand driven education and challenging students to prove in their own way that they are competent”. To support the understanding of portfolio use, the new concept of curriculum for educating higher-level professionals is discussed briefly. We will stress the aspect that a new educational concept can only be successful in implementation if the assessment system is correspondingly altered. ICT plays an important role in this change. The portfolio system helps people, under their own responsibility, to collect materials that can be used and re-used at different times for different purposes: - learning (probing your learning processes, often with help of feedback by other people) - assessing (proving competence, towards an outside authority; e.g. to gain admission to the next phase of the course, or to get a job, or to get admission to a next level of job) - sharing (products and expertise should be part of a knowledge base; "unknown" people should be able to find them) The nice thing about web-based portfolio is that you can use the same materials for those different purposes. Materials over the years can be ordered at different times for different purposes. For each purpose you pick a selection of the materials and cement them together (with a storyline) into a structure that serves the purpose. The portfolio system is now in use for three years. Information can be found at the EFA publication site: http://www.efa.nl/publicaties/english.htm

Remembering together in Rwanda and South Africa

Memory after violent conflict is a contentious issue. The way in which the past has been remembered has often been the impetus for renewed violence rather than healing and reconciliation. Exploring collective memory in the Rwandan and South African contexts, this paper argues that how we remember is more important than what we remember if the process of remembering is to contribute positively to the recovery process. Memory making has taken place through memorials, monuments, ceremonies, education, the media and social discourse since the end of Apartheid in South Africa and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. These processes will be analysed in the context of Nigel Hunt’s psycho-social framework of personal and collective memory. Further, Miroslav Volf’s suggestions as to how to remember well, in a way that brings healing and reconciliation, will be applied to the contexts of Rwanda and South Africa. The argument will be made that integrating all the conflicting and contending narratives after a traumatic event and remembering together is key in terms of how to remember

Longing for home : pre-genocide and post-genocide refugees in Rwanda

Rwanda has a history of violent conflict resulting in mass exoduses of people to neighbouring countries, both prior to the 1994 genocide and after it. This article will consider the experiences of Rwandan refugees in terms of their relationship to their home country. Their differing attitudes towards Rwanda after the genocide will be explored through four life stories that were collected between 2007 and 2009. Two of these life stories are from Rwandan Tutsi who were refugees in Uganda until 1994 and returned to Rwanda after the genocide. The other two are from Rwandan Hutu who have been refugees since the late1990s. Their relationship to Rwanda while being refugees and their experience of what it means to be a refugee are significant for their differences and for their similarities. This article will explore these and will argue that the similarity of the refugee experience may open the way for dialogue between those still in exile and those within Rwanda. In the case of all four refugees, there is a shared desire for a place to call home.http://www.accord.org.za/publications/ajcram2013gv201

The delay of the Day of the Lord in Malachi: A missional reading

In this article, the missional significance of the delay of the Day of the Lord in the postexilic book of Malachi will be studied, employing a missional hermeneutic. First, the canon-historical meaning of the relevant eschatological texts in Malachi 3 will be established. Attention will be paid to the historical and literary context of Malachi in which his precursor, Joel, is pivotal. Second, the New Testament appropriation of Malachi 3 in Matthew’s Gospel is assessed. To conclude, a proposal how Malachi’s motif of the delay of the Day of the Lord can best be missionally re-employed in the present time, will be presented. Hence, apart from a brief note on missional hermeneutics, the missional origin of the text of Malachi, the missional motivation for the delay and the role of the Day of the Lord in modern missiology will be studied

Shattered stories : healing and reconciliation in the South African context

Sharing our stories has been described, by those in the field as well as by popular opinion, as a way to foster healing and reconciliation following violent conflict. This article argues that sharing stories is in itself not necessarily helpful. It is when our stories are shattered by the story of another that meaningful change can begin to take place and new stories can emerge. This idea will be explored in the South African context, with reference to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as current events. It will consider storytelling and reconciliation using John Lederach’s four-part model of justice, truth, mercy and peace.http://www.ve.org.zaam2013gv201

Verbond en zending : een verbondsmatige benadering van zending

In this dogmatic study we develop from a Reformed covenantal perspective a missiological theory which is applicable in missionary praxis. In chapter I we account for our choice of the covenant concept as the cornerstone of our theory. Added to this we explain our hermeneutical approach towards the biblical text in relationship to the context of our research with special attention to the Bible as the canonical Word of God and the own nature of theology as a science. In chapter 2 we start our theological-historical orientation in the covenant concept with an outline of our theological biography highlighting the covenant theology of the Dutch theologian K Schilder and outlining the rise and development of Orthodox-Reformed covenantal theology from the times of the Reformation. In the chapters 3 and 4 we discuss the different covenants in the Old and New Testament in their interrelationship with strong emphasis on their common structural elements, i.e. the unilateral creation, the bilateral continuation and the forensic foundation of covenant. We pay special attention to the relationship between the Old and New Testament with regard to the New Covenant. In chapter 5 we discuss the dogmatic implications of our biblical-theological research in the covenant concept with regard to the Orthodox-Reformed covenant tradition suggesting that this tradition is in need of some adaptation in order to stay in line with Scriptural teachings on covenant. We analyse the implications of interrelating covenant, creation and revelation. In this analysis we pay attention to a covenantal approach towards creation and revelation. This interrelationship is considered structurally from the three basic elements of covenant as well as spiritually from the functions of the cult, the law and baptism in covenant. In chapter 6 we draw missiological relevant conclusions from our biblico-dogmatic study discussing from a covenant perspective several themes topical for a missiological theory which has to be applied in missionary praxis. We round off our study with discussing mission and creation with emphasis on inculturation, ecology and the theology of religions.In deze dogmatische studie ontwikkelen we vanuit een gereformeerd verbondsperspectief een missiologische theorie, die in de missionaire praxis toepasbaar is. In hoofdstuk I geven we rekenschap van de keuze voor het verbond als hoeksteen van onze theorie. We zetten in aanvulling daarop uiteen wat onze hermeneutische benadering is van de bijbelse tekst in samenhang met de context van ons onderzoek, waarbij we speciaal aandacht besteden aan de bijbel als het canonieke Woord van God en aan de eigen aard van de theologie als wetenschap. In hoofdstuk 2 beginnen we ons theologisch-historisch onderzoek naar het verbond met een schets van onze theologische biografie, waarin we de verbondstheologie van de nederlandse theoloog K Schilder accentueren en de opkomst en ontwikkeling van deze theologie in de orthodox-gereformeerde traditie sinds de Reformatie beschrijven. Wij bestuderen in de boofdstukken 3 en 4 de verschillende verbonden in het Oude en Nieuwe Testament in hun onderlinge samenhang met nadruk op hun gemeenschappelijke structuurelementen, namelijk het unilaterale ontstaan, het bilaterale voortbestaan en de forensische fundering van het verbond. We geven speciaal aandacht aan de verhouding tussen Oude en Nieuwe Testament met betrekking tot het Nieuwe Verbond. In hoofdstuk 5 bespreken wij de dogmatische consequenties van ons bijbelstbeologiscb onderzoek voor de orthodox-gereformeerde verbondstheologie en suggereren aanpassingen van deze traditie, die nodig zijn om in overeenstemming te blijven met de bijbel terzake van het verbond. Om een stevige fundering te leggen voor een verbondsmatige missiologische theorie analyseren we de implicaties van het met elkaar verbinden van verbond, schepping en openbaring. In deze analyse geven we aandacbt aan een verbondsmatige benadering van scbepping en openbaring. De onderlinge verhouding tussen beiden wordt structureel beschouwd vanuit de drie structuurelementen van het verbond en spiritueel vanuit de functies van de cultus, de wet en de doop binnen bet verbond. In hoofdstuk 6 trekken we missiologisch relevante conclusies uit ons bijbels-dogmatische onderzoek en behandelen we verschillende themata die actueel zijn voor een missiologische theorie die in de missionaire praxis toepasbaar moet zijn. We besluiten onze studie met het aan de orde stellen van bet onderwerp zending en schepping, waarbij we aandacht besteden aan de inculturatie, de ecologie en de theologie van de godsdiensten.Philosophy, Practical and Systematic TheologyD. Th. (Systematic Theology

New experiences in nature areas: architecture as a tool to stimulate transformative experiences among visitors in nature areas?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to share architecture as a tool that is increasingly implemented in nature areas and its potential for stimulating transformative experiences among visitors in nature-based tourism. Design/methodology/approach – Based on three examples of architecture in nature, the value of architecture to nature-based tourism is presented. Findings – It was found that architecture in nature has a wide range of benefits for nature-based tourism and may form a catalyst for gaining transformative experiences in the examples presented. Originality/value – The findings presented in this paper touch upon a new way of stimulating transformative experiences among visitors in nature-based tourism by implementing architecture

Reconciliation from the top down? Government institutions in South Africa, Rwanda and Burundi

National reconciliation has increasingly become an integral part of post-conflict recovery processes in Africa. What national reconciliation means, how it differs from interpersonal reconciliation and to what extent governments can facilitate reconciliation at all remains under debate. This article examines government institutions intended to facilitate national reconciliation processes in South Africa, Rwanda and Burundi. Rather than normatively prescribing what governments should be doing, this article seeks to examine what governments are doing as a starting point to understanding what national reconciliation is.This research had been made possible by support from the Social Science Research Council's African Peacebuilding Network research grant, with funds provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York.http://www.up.ac.za/en/political-sciences/article/19718/strategic-review-for-southern-africa/am201