A case study investigation of the learning needs of the Niagara grape and wine community

The Niagara Grape and Wine Community (NGWC) is an industry that has undergone rapid change and expansion as a result of changes in governmental regulations and consumer preferences. As a result of these changes, the demands of the wine industry workforce have changed to reflect the need to implement new strategies and practices to remain viable and competitive. The influx of people into the community with little or no prior practical experience in grape growing (viticulture) or winemaking (oenology) has created a need for additional training and learning opportunities to meet workforce needs. This case study investigated the learning needs of the members of this community and how these needs are currently being met. The barriers to, and the opportunities for, members acquiring new knowledge and developing skills were also explored. Participants were those involved in all levels of the industry and sectors (viticulture, processing, and retail), and their views on needs and suggestions for programs of study were collected. Through cross analyses of sectors, areas of common and unique interest were identified as well as formats for delivery. A common fundamental component was identified by all sectors - any program must have a significant applied component or demonstration of proficiency and should utilize members as peer instructors, mentors, and collaborators to generate a larger shared collective of knowledge. Through the review of learning organizations, learning communities, communities of practices, and learning networks, the principles for the development of a Grape and Wine Learning Network to meet the learning needs of the NGWC outside of formal institutional or academic programs were developed. The roles and actions of members to make such a network successful are suggested.

Ten years after : a qualitative study of students' experiences in a high school theatre company

This qualitative study explored 4 former students' perceptions of the learning associated with their involvement in a high school theatre program and the contextual factors they linked to their perceived development. The study involved 4 adult participants, 2 male and 2 female, who had participated extensively in a high school theatre company from 1996 to 2001 when they were students in a large Ontario school board. Data were collected from January to August, 2007, when the 4 former students took part in two in-depth, open-ended interviews. The focus of investigation was participant perspectives. Data analysis revealed that the 4 participants' involvement in high school theatre produced both wide-ranging and enduring developmental benefits across personal, social, and cognitive domains. Participants achieved these benefits through interactions among 3 related contexts: (a) rehearsal and performance practices, (b) the world of the play, and (c) characteristics of the high school theatre company.

Teachers' professional learning within communities of mathematics-for-teaching practice

Ontario bansho is an emergent mathematics instructional strategy used by teachers working within communities of practice that has been deemed to have a transformational effect on teachers' professional learning of mathematics. This study sought to answer the following question: How does teachers' implementation of Ontario bansho within their communities of practice inform their professional learning process concerning mathematics-for-teaching? Two other key questions also guided the study: What processes support teachers' professional learning of content-for-teaching? What conditions support teachers' professional learning of content-for-teaching? The study followed an interpretive phenomenological approach to collect data using a purposive sampling of teachers as participants. The researcher conducted interviews and followed an interpretive approach to data analysis to investigate how teachers construct meaning and create interpretations through their social interactions. The study developed a model of professional learning made up of 3 processes, informing with resources, engaging with students, and visualizing and schematizing in which the participants engaged and 2 conditions, ownership and community that supported the 3 processes. The 3 processes occur in ways that are complex, recursive, nonpredictable, and contextual. This model provides a framework for facilitators and leaders to plan for effective, content-relevant professional learning by placing teachers, students, and their learning at the heart of professional learning.

Narratives of Experience in Education: Living and Working Through Poverty in a Rural Community

In this study, I use my own experiences in education as a former elementary student, research assistant, and as a current secondary school teacher, to examine how living in a marginalised rural community challenged by poverty affected my formal education. The purpose of this study was to use stories to: (a) explore my formative elementary education growing up in a community that was experiencing poverty, and; (b) to examine the impact and implications of these experiences for me as a teacher and researcher considering the topic of poverty and education. This study used narrative inquiry to explore stories of education, focusing on experiences living and working in a rural community. My role in the study was both as participant and researcher as I investigate, through story, how I was raised in a marginalised, rural community faced with challenges of poverty and how I relate to my current role as a teacher working in a similar, rural high school. My own experiences and reflections form the basis of the study, but I used the contributions of secondary participants to offer alternative perspective of my interpretation of events. Participants in this study were asked to write about and/or retell their lived stories of working in areas affected by challenging circumstances. From my stories and those of secondary participants, three themes were explored: student authorship, teaching practice, and community involvement. An examination of these themes through commonplaces of place, sociality and time (Connelly and Clandinin, 2006) provide a context for other educators and researchers to consider or reconsider teaching practices in school communities affected by poverty.

Social competence following mild head injury and moderate traumatic brain injury: Investigating the neuropsychological relationships between arousal, social decision-making and depression

Client-directed long-term rehabilitative goals and life satisfaction following head injury emphasize the importance of social inclusion, rather than cognitive or physical, outcomes. However, very little research has explored the socio-emotional factors that pose as barriers to social reintegration following injury. This study investigates social barriers following head injury (i.e., decision-making - Iowa Gambling Task [IGT] and mood – depression) and possible amelioration of those challenges (through treatment) in both highly functioning university students with and without mild head injury (MHI) and in individuals with moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). An arousal manipulation using emotionally evocative stimuli was introduced to manipulate the subject’s physiological arousal state. Seventy-five university students (37.6% reporting a MHI) and 11 patients with documented moderate TBI were recruited to participate in this quasi-experimental study. Those with head injury were found to be physiologically underaroused (on measures of electrodermal activation [EDA] and pulse) and were less sensitive to the negative effects of punishment (i.e., losses) in the gambling task than those without head injury, with greater impairment being observed for the moderate TBI group. The arousal manipulation, while effective, was not able to maintain a higher state of arousal in the injury groups across trials (i.e., their arousal state returned to pre-manipulation levels more quickly than their non-injured cohort), and, subsequently, a performance improvement was not observed on the IGT. Lastly, head injury was found to contribute to the relationship between IGT performance and depressive symptom acknowledgment and mood status in persons with head injury. This study indicates the possible important role of physiological arousal on socio- emotional behaviours (decision-making, mood) in persons with even mild, non-complicated head injuries and across the injury severity continuum.

Educational Loans And The Higher Education Sector In India

In 2001 the Indian Banks Association have come up with a model frame work for educational loans in the country. With the approval of the Central Government the public sector banks in India started to give education loans. The private and cooperative banks also joined the fray. Due to growing NPAs and the intervention of the Government these norms were modified in 2011. The budget allocation for the primary and higher secondary education is on the increase in India. However, higher education has been of late relegated or left to the mercy of the private players. There has been a steady growth of educational loans disbursed, private colleges and deemed universities started and enrolments of students in higher education during the years 2001 to 2011. This paper is a humble attempt to 1) analyse the growth of the educational loans vis-à-vis other forms of personal loans at the national level, 2) showcase the disbursements of educational loans in Kerala State, 3) to assess the growth of educational institutions and enrolment of students in higher education in India from secondary data and 4) to make suggestions based on the findings

L'Exercici de la docència de la psicologia i el Burnout

En l’actualitat el burnout o síndrome de cremar-se per la feina és considerat un risc emergent als països occidentals essent el col·lectiu docent un dels més afectats. L’espai europeu d’educació superior proposa un nou rol pel professor que haurà de ser compaginat amb la gestió, la recerca i la transferència de coneixement. En la present recerca s’analitza el nivell de burnout en una mostra formada per 42 docents (mitjana d’edat: 37,21 anys; D.T.: 8,98; 70,8% dones) del departament de Psicologia de la Universitat de Girona. El burnout s’ha avaluat amb el Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) així com amb un qüestionari d’elaboració pròpia que recull variables sociodemogràfiques, característiques del tipus de treball i de l’ús del temps lliure, el locus de control i el burnout percebut. Els resultats obtinguts indiquen valors mitjans en les puntuacions de les dimensions Cansament Emocional i Despersonalització, i valors elevats en Realització Personal. El 20,5% dels docents es percep cremat per la feina

Research and teaching: a holy or an unholy alliance?

Much of the self-image of the Western university hangs on the idea that research and teaching are intimately connected. The central axiom here is that research and teaching are mutually supportive of each other. An institution lacking such a set of relationships between research and teaching falls short of what it means to be a university. This set of beliefs raises certain questions: Is it the case that the presence of such a mutually supportive set of relationships between research and teaching is a necessary condition of the fulfilment of the idea of the university? (A conceptual question). And is it true that, in practice today, such a mutually supportive set of relationships between research and teaching characterises universities? (An empirical question). In my talk, I want to explore these matters in a critical vein. I shall suggest that: a) In practice today, such a mutually supportive set of relationships between research and teaching is in jeopardy. Far from supporting each other, very often research and teaching contend against each other. Research and teaching are becoming two separate ideologies, with their own interest structures. b) Historically, the supposed tight link between research and teaching is both of recent origin and far from universally achieved in universities. Institutional separateness between research and teaching is and has been evident, both across institutions and even across departments in the same institution. c) Conceptually, research and teaching are different activities: each is complex and neither is reducible to the other. In theory, therefore, research and teaching may be said to constitute a holy alliance but in practice, we see more of an unholy alliance. If, then, in an ideal world, a positive relationship between research and teaching is still a worthwhile goal, how might it be construed and worked for? Seeing research and teaching as two discrete and unified sets of activity is now inadequate. Much better is a construal of research and teaching as themselves complexes, as intermingling pools of activity helping to form the liquid university that is emerging today. On this view, research and teaching are fluid spaces, ever on the move, taking up new shapes, and themselves dividing and reforming, as the university reworks its own destiny in modern society. On such a perspective, working out a productive relationship between research and teaching is a complex project. This is an alliance that is neither holy nor unholy. It is an uneasy alliance, with temporary accommodations and continuous new possibilities

The internationalization of Business Studies : a comparative framework between the European Higher Education System and the Chinese one. 'La internacionalización de las Ciencias Empresariales : un marco comparativo entre el Sistema Europeo de Educación Superior y el Chino'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Artistic education an alternative formative pedagogical and didactic tool: folder, blog

The pedagogical and didactic dynamic system is focused on individual learning process and aims at the development of artistic knowledge, helping and guiding learners through different strategies or individual support, thus reinforcing the process. In consequence, this presentation looks for an alternative to the intercommunication student-teacher supported on the educational paradigm, through textual analyses of the daily diaries, developped by teacher and students, so as to discover successes or difficulties

Planificación de la docencia en la implantación de materias en lengua extranjera: una experiencia pràctica

EL presente trabajo se centra en la enseñanza en inglés de una asignatura a los alumnos del Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas. Estos estudios son eminentemente prácticos y tienen por objeto formar profesionales capaces de dirigir y gestionar modernas organizaciones en entornos cambiantes. La selección de contenidos para la enseñanza en inglés de finanzas no puede hacerse de forma arbitraria, sino mediante el establecimiento de unos criterios que permitan configurar un corpus con el que conseguir los resultados que se pretenden, de acuerdo con los objetivos pedagógicos establecidos por el profesor y los intereses de los estudiantes. Para el diseño de la asignatura Financial Operations se llevó a cabo una adaptación tanto de la metodología pedagógica como de los contenidos con el fin de alcanzar el objetivo perseguido (adquirir una formación básica sobre el mundo de las finanzas) al mismo tiempo que adquirir unas competencias en el uso de un inglés para fines específicos, en este caso, el inglés financiero

El Aprendizaje basado en el método del caso en el grado de Derecho: ¡aborto legal o ilegal!

Las nuevas metodologías docentes basadas en el desarrollo de competencias, entendidas como “la capacidad de que el alumno haga frente a situaciones problemáticas y resolverlas” obligan a plantear que la resolución de problemas permite que el alumno alcance los objetivos de aprendizaje y con ellos, las competencias que pretendemos. A través del “Método Del Caso” trataremos de desarrollar un sistema de autoaprendizaje del alumno para lo que consideramos necesario, en primer lugar, plantear un caso concreto y en la medida de lo posible real, para que el alumno seguidamente pueda estudiar el supuesto planteado con los materiales que aportaremos de forma individual (doctrinales, jurisprudenciales…) y realice un informe previo en relación con la resolución del caso planteado, concluida esta fase inicial, será necesario que el alumno participe en un grupo pequeño de compañeros con el fin de poder contrastar las vías de solución adoptadas y finalmente, concluir con la exposición y discusión de las decisiones adoptadas con el resto de alumnos del curso (grupo grande) y tras debatir todas las propuestas presentar de forma individual un informe final en el que deberán expresar: a- las cuestiones fundamentales planteadas en el caso, y, b- los argumentos jurídicos y jurisprudenciales de la decisión que adoptan con el fin de resolver la cuestión planteada, teniendo en consideración las estrategias que consideran más oportunas para favorecer los intereses de sus clientes

La Enseñanza-aprendizaje orientada a proyectos en las bellas artes, dentro del marco del EEES. Implantación de la fotografía en las enseñanzas de grado

La asignatura de Dibujo con Luz. Fotografía, pertenece al nuevo Grado en Bellas Artes de la UMU, surgido tras el proceso de implantación del EEES. Esta asignatura pretende que los alumnos sean capaces de crear e interpretar manifestaciones estéticas. Enseñar los instrumentos, procedimientos y técnicas necesarias para poder desarrollar procesos fotográficos con cualquier medio, así como los elementos del lenguaje fotográfico y la manipulación de la imagen. La adquisición de las competencias de la asignatura y la obtención de unos buenos resultados, pasan por adaptarse correctamente al EEES así como por generar una rápida y objetiva actualización de todos los actores que participan en la enseñanza universitaria

La Transversalidad a través del Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos: una aplicación al grado en administración y dirección de empresas

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo programar una actividad que capacite a los estudiantes del Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas en el diseño y desarrollo de proyectos colaborativos, en la toma de decisiones y en la elección de estrategias empresariales. Para ello los alumnos emplearán los conocimientos que proporcionan varias asignaturas a través de la metodología del Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos. Las competencias generales de las asignaturas implicadas en esta experiencia se pretenden alcanzar desde un enfoque transversal, lo que permitirá a los alumnos adquirir una variada mezcla de habilidades, destrezas y conocimientos, acorde con las exigencias del actual desempeño profesional

Desarrollo de la competencia emprendedora en estudiantes de administración y dirección de empresas

En esta comunicación se sintetiza la labor que en el marco de un Proyecto de Innovación Educativa (PIE) se está llevando a cabo en la Escuela Universitaria de Estudios Empresariales de Donostia-San Sebastián de la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU). Dicho PIE, que se encuentra en fase de realización, tiene por objetivo principal diseñar una intervención educativa innovadora dirigida a trabajar la competencia de emprendizaje y creación de proyectos empresariales de los y las estudiantes del nuevo Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas (GADE) que se ha comenzado a impartir en dicho Centro a partir del curso 2010-2011