Higher education as formation of the self and citizenship: an ethnography of the University Students from Amman, Jordan

My interest in higher education and citizenship in the Middle East at large and in Jordan in particular is fostered by some of the reflections Eickelman proposed (1992). Being a quite recent phenomenon, intimately linked with the more general topic of state formation it seemed to me more suitable to study it in a little country with a recent history (a field study left almost unexplored until now as far as Jordan is concerned, to the best of my knowledge, since Antoun 1994 focuses on the migration as a quest for higher education). The process of state formation in Jordan is quite studied. I thus intended to study the higher education policies as an attempt both to create a national citizenry and more recently as a way of controlling the more problematic part of the population (youth, which constitutes more than the double of the population. See UNDP and Ministry of Planning 2000). How do the young students enter the university system, and in which way does this system work? How is this system designed, in order to retain social control of the students (since they are usually perceived to be a factor of social and political instability, as in Iran or in Egypt)? Is there any significant difference between different faculties? And if so, why? My conclusions at this stage are that the university system is an integral part of the survival of the regime. The system works quite well, and Jordan has one of the best educational position in the region. Yet there are important distinctions to be made: the access to the better faculties is socially selective while the less valued faculties are left to the poorer and less wealthy youth. This results in a different treatment of the students and of the courses that I analysed. In the better faculties the teaching standards are quite high, and the relationship between professors and students is almost on a same-level base, while in the less privileged faculties the opposite is true. Thus we can observe a concrete politics of divide et impera intended to split the youth in two. For the more privileged there are some freedoms, both within and outside classes, designed I guess at forging them as autonomous individuals. On the opposite the less privileged are kept under tight control, even if also these students are a privileged category among youth at large.

Proposing a 'Consent Commons' in open education - balancing the desire for openness with the rights of people to refuse or withdraw from participation

A new 'Consent Commons' licensing framework is proposed, complementing Creative Commons, to clarify the permissions given for using and reusing clinical and non-clinical digital recordings of people (patients and non-patients) for educational purposes. Consent Commons is a sophisticated expression of ethically based 'digital professionalism', which recognises the rights of patients, carers, their families, teachers, clinicians, students and members of the public to have some say in how their digital recordings are used (including refusing or withdrawing their consent), and is necessary in order to ensure the long term sustainability of teaching materials, including Open Educational Resources (OER). Consent Commons can ameliorate uncertainty about the status of educational resources depicting people, and protect institutions from legal risk by developing robust and sophisticated policies and promoting best practice in managing their information.

The relationships between technology and open education in the development of a resilient higher education

The place of technology in the development of coherent educational responses to environmental and socio-economic disruption is here placed under scrutiny. One emerging area of interest is the role of technology in addressing more complex learning futures, and more especially in facilitating individual and social resilience, or the ability to manage and overcome disruption. However, the extent to which higher education practitioners can utilise technology to this end is framed by their approaches to the curriculum, and the socio-cultural practices within which they are located. This paper discusses how open education might enable learners to engage with uncertainty through social action within a form of higher education that is more resilient to economic, environmental and energy-related disruption. It asks whether open higher education can be (re)claimed by users and communities within specific contexts and curricula, in order to engage with an uncertain world.

Opening Education Beyond the Property Relation: From Commons to Communism

Open Education, and specifically the OER movement, seeks to provide universal access to knowledge, undermining the historical enclosure and the increasing privatisation of the public education system. In this paper we examine this aspiration by submitting the implicit theoretical assumptions of Open Education to the test of critical political economy. We acknowledge the Open Education movement's revolutionary potential but outline the inherent limitations of its current focus on the commons (property relations) rather than the social relations of capitalist production (wage work, the company) and because of this, argue that it will only achieve limited, rather than revolutionary, impact.

What do academic libraries have to do with Open Educational Resources? Theme : Long term sustainability of open education projects first steps to start up

This paper will discuss the possible roles of academic libraries in promoting, supporting, and sustaining institutional Open Educational Resource initiatives. It will note areas in which libraries or librarians have skills and knowledge that intersect with some of the needs of academic staff and students as they use and release OERs. It will also present the results of a brief survey of the views of some OER initiatives on the current and potential role of academic libraries.

Criteria for ICT-supported Higher Education Teachers Training

Aquest document pretén recollir aportacions teòriques sobre les pràctiques pedagògiques que incorporen i promouen l'ús de les TIC per tal de definir els criteris per al disseny de la formació dels professors d'educació superior en les TIC.

Analysis of teachers training for ICT Higher Education

Aquest document pretén recollir aportacions teòriques i pràctiques sobre les pràctiques pedagògiques que incorporen i promouen l'ús de les TIC per tal d'aclarir, facilitar i fer coherent el disseny de la formació dels professors d'educació superior en les TIC. El seu propòsit és trobar alternatives de formació que compleixin amb les necessitats educatives del professor, així com per superar o atenuar les dificultats i/o la manca de voluntat a les quals s'enfronta en la pràctica educativa en introduir aplicacions de les TIC.

Transnational study of roles/functions and associated ICT competencies for Higher Education teachers

Aquest estudi forma part del projecte eLene-TLC1 Virtual Campus (2007-2008) recolzat pel programa eLearning de la Comissió Europea. L'objectiu d'aquest projecte és que els professors i els estudiants facin el millor ús possible de les TIC en l'educació superior, preparant als professors per als estudiants de la generació xarxa, permetent als estudiants a la transferència de coneixements i pràctiques de la vida quotidiana per al seu aprenentatge i estimular tant la integració plena de pràctiques innovadores d'ensenyament i d'aprenentatge possibilitades per un entorn tecnològic en constant evolució. Per tal de cobrir part d'aquest objectiu general, es va concebre un estudi per examinar les competències en TIC professors d'Educació Superior en entorns d'aprenentatge en línia.

Action Research : the first steps to start up a pilot experiment in heritage education

Peer-reviewed

Schooling in the Network Society : Internet in Primary and Secondary Education. Research report (synthesis document)

Aquest projecte té la intenció d'identificar i analitzar els efectes de la introducció d'Internet a les escoles catalanes (educació primària i secundària). L'objectiu és posar de manifest la manera com s'utilitza la xarxa en aquest àmbit i en quina mesura contribueix a l'aparició, en els centres educatius, d'una nova cultura adaptada a les necessitats de la societat xarxa. Amb aquest propòsit, aquest projecte desplega les seves línies d'anàlisi per a fer atenció al procés d'incorporació d'Internet, principalment, en tres direccions: la pràctica pedagògica, les formes d'organització i gestió dels centres educatius i la seva vinculació amb la comunitat i el territori. Aquesta investigació ha estat desenvolupada pel grup de recerca ENS (Education and Network Society). Amb una perspectiva comparativa, el treball d'aquest grup vol contribuir, sobre la base de dades empíriques, a interpretar la transformació de l'àmbit educatiu no universitari en els paràmetres que estableix, avui dia, la nostra societat.

L'ensenyament universitari del segle XXI : més enllà del paper

Durant les últimes dècades, en un context en què impera la influència de les TIC, el model de l'ensenyament universitari ha canviat radicalment. Paral·lelament, els rols de l'estudiant i del professor també s'han vist modificats: l'estudiant ha deixat de ser un lector passiu per convertir-se en un lector que participa activament en el procés d'aprenentatge, aportant material complementari i en diferents suports a la informació que li arriba. Neix, així, el concepte de lectura augmentada. La Universitat Oberta de Catalunya és un exemple de la tendència de futur de l'ensenyament universitari, en què l'estudiant pren les regnes de l'aprenentatge i les institucions educatives s'adapten a les noves necessitats de l'usuari afavorint la flexibilitat, la mobilitat i les eines tecnològiques imprescindibles per a aquest nou model d'ensenyament.

L'ensenyament universitari del segle XXI : més enllà del paper

La Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) és un exemple de la tendència de futur de l'ensenyament universitari, en què l'estudiant pren les regnes de l'aprenenetatge i les institucions educatives s'adapten a les noves necessitats de l'usuari afavorint la flexibilitat, la mobilitat i les eines tecnològiques imprescindibles per a aquest nou model d'enseyament.

Les habilitats Informacionals a la Biblioteca de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

In this paper the initiatives carried out by the Biblioteca Virtual UOC in relation to the information skills, in the UOC curricula as well as in the context of new European higher education area, are presented. Looking forward the catalogue of generic skills to be defined by the UOC, in relation to which the Virtual Library has submitted a proposal to introduce a course on information skills to be offered during the first semester, the Library has chosen to develop and carry out two complementary initiatives. On the one hand, to offer a course of information skills for teachers within the program of training courses for teachers organized by the Teaching Action Management Area. On the other, the Library participates in the presential meetings organized by the University by means of workshops to guide students in finding information.