ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Lippmann-Dewey "Debate" Revisited: The Problem of Knowledge and the Role of Experts in Modern Democratic Theory
Author: DeCesare, Tony
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Democracy,Politics,Theories,Expertise,Knowledge Level,Competence

With only some fear of oversimplification, the fundamental differences between Walter Lippmann and John Dewey that are of concern here can be introduced by giving attention to Lippmann's deceptively simple formulation of a central problem in democratic theory: "The environment is complex. Man's political capacity is simple. Can a bridge be built between them?" Or, borrowing Dewey's formulation of the same problem, one might ask "how the gap between the limited capacities of the citizen and the complexity of his environment [is] to be bridged." That such a gap existed was a point of agreement between Dewey and Lippmann. Both understood the difficulties that would result from a relatively uninformed and incompetent citizenry governing popularly in the complex modern age of political affairs. Where the two men had a fundamental disagreement was not so much in their diagnoses or critiques of the problems in modern democracy as in the constructive and prescriptive aspects of their respective democratic theories. This essay focuses on the "problem of knowledge" as understood by Lippmann and Dewey and on the different roles that each subsequently gives to the "expert" in the constructive aspects of their respective democratic theories. The author argues that the heart of Lippmann's and Dewey's disagreement over the role of the expert vis-a-vis the public in a democracy are fundamental differences of thought concerning (1) the kind and degree of knowledge and competence required of citizens in a popularly governed polity and, related, (2) the potential of the average citizen to acquire and exercise such knowledge and competence in political affairs and practical life in general. (Contains 59 footnotes.)
Education, Decentralization, and the Knowledge Problem: A Hayekian Case for Decentralized Education
Author: Currie-Knight, Kevin
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Administration,Administrative Organization,Theories,Centralization,Economics,Decision Making,Knowledge Level

American public education has become increasingly centralized over the last hundred and fifty years. Everything from curricular objectives and assessment tools to teacher certification criteria (and, often, textbook decisions) are being made at the state level rather than the county, district, or school level. Increasingly, teachers are told what they must teach, what "best practices" they need to employ, what tests they must give, etc. This paper brings the arguments of economist Friedrich A. Hayek to bear on the problem of centralized decision making in education. Hayek marshaled several arguments against central planning of economies that the author will argue should be applied to similar trends in the field of education. Namely, Hayek argued that there was a "knowledge problem" in society, whereby knowledge is naturally dispersed throughout society in such a way that attempts to concentrate it into a single planner or planning board are, at best, inefficient and, at worst, impossible. Just as with economies, attempting to centralize the governance of educational institutions necessarily overlooks the essential role of local and personal knowledge (teachers reacting to the particularities of their student demographic, schools revising their practices in response to local conditions, and so forth) in educational endeavors. (Contains 30 footnotes.)
A Yearning for Wholeness: Spirituality in Educational Philosophy
Author: Hurley, Angela
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Philosophy,Altruism,Popular Culture,Intimacy,Religious Factors,Spiritual Development,Activism,Definitions,Logical Thinking,Religion,Learning Experience

Numerous popular figures currently espouse the importance of spirituality. Some prominent voices, such as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, and Eckhart Tolle, advocate a more spiritual existence, warning that the earth and humanity are engaged in a seismic change. The shift of spiritual leaders from fringe to fairly mainline attention is intriguing and perhaps represents a reevaluation of the separation constructed during modernity that relegated the religious, spiritual, and the emotive to an inferior status--that is, as being subjective and the stuff of non-intellectuals. Andrew Harvey, an Oxford-educated academic, provides somewhat of a bridge between the popular culture and academia in spiritual matters. Advocating for spirituality that will lead to sacred activism, Harvey proposes not just connecting with, but embodying, the often-identified major elements of spirituality: compassion and love. Much like Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, Harvey stresses the importance of living the divine Love. Harvey's philosophy is raising important problems and giving a solution that has historically been a part of many world religions and of selected philosophic thought. However, because of the ways in which religion has been conceptualized, especially during modernity, Harvey's definitions of the spiritual and the sacred seem a bit odd and inappropriate, especially for academic settings. But that is the problem that the author is attempting to raise in this essay: people are out of practice in being able to talk about the sacred, or the spiritual, and that may be a reason why many individuals report a state of imbalance in their lives, institutions, and in the general culture. Therefore, after examining the effects of the separation of faith and reason during modernity, the author will note the possible benefits of encouraging the inclusion of spirituality in the learning experiences of individuals, giving examples from the work of recent advocates. (Contains 26 footnotes.)
Memory, Reality, and Ethnography in a Colombian War Zone: Towards a Social Phenomenology of Collective Remembrance
Author: Haymes, Stephen Nathan
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Memory,Indigenous Populations,Foreign Countries,Phenomenology,War,Philosophy,Guidelines,Moral Values,Correlation,Ethnography,American Indians,Violence,Land Settlement,Civil Rights,International Organizations

This paper considers phenomenology as a philosophical framework from which to understand the moral experience of collective memory. As a philosophical approach to human reality, phenomenology contributes insight into the connection between the experiential grounding of collective memory and the reality of the social world. The inspiration for exploring these connections is related to the author's ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in Colombia, South America, which began in 2007 and continues to the present. As part of this research, the author has had extended visits to Afrodescendent rainforest peasant river communities in the Cacarica, Jiguaminando, and Curvarado river basin areas of the Atrato River on the northwestern region of Pacific coast, near the Colombia-Panama border. In 1997, the paramilitaries and government forces violently displaced these communities. Since the time of their forced removal, members of these communities, in an act of civil resistance, have returned and reclaimed their collectively titled ancestral territories now encompassed in the war zone. They have returned to their territories, declaring their land as humanitarian zones that are accompanied and protected by the &quot;Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz,&quot; the &quot;Inter-American Court of Human Rights&quot; (IACHR), and the &quot;United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights&quot; (UNHCHR). (Contains 33 footnotes.)
Democratic Visions/Pluralist Critiques: One Essential Conversation for 21st-Century Philosophy of Education
Author: Narey, Daniel C.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Philosophy,Democracy,Differences,Criticism,Conflict,Political Attitudes

Democracy is often theorized as a form of political association grounded in shared meanings, common experiences, and convergent interests among the associated individuals. Because differences and divergences seem to stand in the way of commonality and consensus, the coexistence of a plurality of meanings, experiences, interests, languages, discourse communities, etc., is often seen as an obstacle to democratic progress. Against the grain of mainstream political thought, Sharon Todd has argued that the aims of democratic education would be better served if one were to start from a view of political life grounded in an "ontology of plurality"--a philosophical standpoint from which divergence and conflict are seen as manifestations of human uniqueness, not simply as failures of communication or understanding. Todd's work draws heavily upon the Continental tradition of political thought, particularly engaging with the writings of poststructuralist and postphenomenological philosophers. In this paper, the author attempts to provoke some productive discord by reading Todd against the background of pragmatist political thought, for which Dewey's vision of democracy-as-community remains the central figure. He then borrows from Colin Koopman's contemporary reinterpretation of the pragmatist tradition to offer a version of political pragmatism that is consonant with Todd's radical pluralism. His primary argument is that pluralist critiques--critiques in the name of "difference"--are essential to the vitality of democracy. The corollary to this argument is that democracy is emptied of vitality when it becomes merely a vision of communication without conflict, participation without dissent, community without strife--in other words, an abstract ideal with no referent among present or historical forms of political life. (Contains 26 footnotes.)
Developing a Democratic View of Academic Subject Matters: John Dewey, William Chandler Bagley, and Boyd Henry Bode
Author: Watras, Joseph
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Philosophy,Educational Theories,Democracy,Intellectual Disciplines

In the first half of the twentieth century, the ideal of democracy influenced the conceptions people had of the academic subject matters. A common criticism was that abstract academic subjects served aristocratic societies. Although most theorists considered the academic subjects to be important, they had differing views on the conception of democracy, the nature of the academic subjects, and the ways those studies served democracy. For example, John Dewey and William Bagley argued that knowledge of the academic subjects could enlarge the experiences of students, but they offered contrasting interpretations as to the ways this happened. Boyd Bode drew many of his ideas from both of these theorists; however, he combined their views in ways that corrected some of the problems he found in each of their views. The author points out that the task of education was for people to realize the problems. Teachers could not impose a view on students because indoctrination contradicted the democratic spirit. The best that teachers could do was to help the students reconstruct experiences for themselves. Given this opportunity, the students would choose democracy. At least, this was the faith that Bode believed was essential to fulfill the promise that education and democracy offered. (Contains 29 footnotes.)
Predictive Role of Personality Traits on Internet Addiction
Author: Celik, Serkan
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Personality Traits,Addictive Behavior,Distance Education,Internet,Path Analysis,Predictor Variables,Programming,Computers,College Students,Conventional Instruction

Aiming to develop a model seeking to investigate the direct effects of personality types on internet addiction, this study was set and tested on tertiary level students receiving education within two learning modes: face to face and distance education. The participants of the study, selected through maximum variety method within purposive sampling, included 210 students enrolled on face-to-face and distance education programs of computer programming department. In addition to a personal data form aiming to obtain information on demographic features of the participants, a personality inventory and an Internet addiction scale were utilized to gather data. As an analysis model concurrently exerting both the mediation and direct effects, path analysis with observed variables was utilized in the current study to test the developed model. The findings revealed that while the most powerful predictor variable of internet addiction was conscientiousness, openness to experience was found as the weakest independent variable predictor. Additionally the developed model was observed as valid for both face to face and distance education students. (Contains 6 tables and 2 figures.)
Web-Based Adaptive Testing System (WATS) for Classifying Students Academic Ability
Author: Lee, Jaemu
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Ability,Academic Support Services,Adaptive Testing,Computer Assisted Testing,Item Response Theory,Internet,Student Evaluation,Teachers,Students,Underachievement

Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) has been highlighted as a promising assessment method to fulfill two testing purposes: estimating student academic ability and classifying student academic level. In this paper, assessment for we introduced the Web-based Adaptive Testing System (WATS) developed to support a cost effective assessment for classifying students' ability into different academic levels. Instead of using a traditional paper and pencil test, the WATS is expected to serve as an alternate method to promptly diagnosis and identify underachieving students through Web-based testing. The WATS can also help provide students with appropriate learning contents and necessary academic support in time. In this paper, theoretical background and structure of WATS, item construction process based upon item response theory, and user interfaces of WATS were discussed. (Contains 10 figures.)
Development of Interactive Multimedia Courseware (e-CRAFT) for Craft Education
Author: Osman, Salyani
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Tests,Teaching Methods,Instructional Design,Foreign Countries,Handicrafts,Feedback (Response),Courseware,Novices,Learning Modules,Expertise,Web Based Instruction,Interaction,Multimedia Materials,Pilot Projects,Instructional Effectiveness,Program Effectiveness,Learning Theories,Coaching (Performance),Delivery Systems,Apprenticeships

The way of teaching and learning traditional crafts have always used traditional apprenticeship learning methods where the expert facilitates transfer of practice skill sets to novices. As a craft has been taught in conventional approach, the students and experts have been facing several problems especially when expert needs to teach a group of students. An appropriate mapping of craft education and Information and Communication Technologies using Multimedia technology for instance, has the potential in transforming traditional craft learning into more flexible environment. This paper reports on a research project on development of an interactive multimedia courseware package for teaching and learning traditional craft called e-CRAFT. The e-CRAFT is specially designed for songket weaving course taught to certificate and diploma students from Fakulti Seni Kraf Tenunan in their first year study at Institut Kraf Negara, Malaysia (National Craft Institute). The courseware was developed in a web-based environment and overall development process was based on the Dick and Carey's process model and conceptual Instructional Design framework. It is made up of eight learning modules: Introduction, Materials &amp; Tools, Knowing Motifs, Learn How to Weave, Quizzes &amp; Test, Online Discussion, Glossary and Help module. In order to test whether the courseware is suitable in terms of usability, pilot testing was done to a sample of 10 students. The results from pilot test received positive feedback which signifies the courseware is considered acceptable for effectiveness study and help for further improve of the e-CRAFT courseware. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)
Integrating LMSs in the Educational Process: Greek Teachers' Initial Perceptions about LAMS
Author: Papadakis, Spyros
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Action Research,Participatory Research,Management Systems,Teaching Methods,Electronic Learning,Urban Areas,Teacher Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Educational Technology,Computer Uses in Education,Distance Education,Blended Learning,Workshops,Teacher Education,Teacher Collaboration,Technology Integration

E-learning with the use of Learning Management Systems, has been increasingly adopted in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education with the expectation to increase students' motivation and infuse activity-centred learning strategies with various educational benefits. This study has investigated the initial perceptions of Greek teachers about the integration of LAMS, a Learning Activity Management System, in the educational praxis. Through a multifaceted research method, involving a small scale participatory action research, the research team attempted to investigate the preconditions required to integrate LAMS in the everyday lesson. Two tutorial workshops were organized with the participation of 46 educators from geographically diverse urban areas, from K-12 to Tertiary Education. Results indicated that teachers have developed a positive attitude towards LAMS and the use of collaborative online tools during the educational process. Although teachers have certain objections on integrating LMSs, which stem mainly from the current status of the Greek educational system, they accept relative advantages of integrating online collaborative approaches over the traditional face-to-face approach. Well-organized and carefully implemented tutorial workshops can spark teachers' interest and bring about change in the educational process. Small scale interventions such as these can prove to foster dialogue among teachers of various backgrounds and set the foundations to create online communities of practice for innovative teachers. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)
ODL Students' Perceived Computer Literacy Competencies, Expectations of Support Intention to Use and Perseverance
Author: Esterhuizen, Hendrik D.
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Persistence,Computer Literacy,Educational Technology,Foreign Countries,Technology Integration,Training,Structural Equation Models,Higher Education,Distance Education,Teacher Education,Teacher Qualifications,Student Teachers,Student Surveys,Computer Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Measures (Individuals),Internet,Self Esteem,Trust (Psychology),Models

This paper reports on disadvantaged South African practising teachers' perceptions on computer literacy competencies while studying to improve their teaching qualifications. During the process of developing a learning technology integration framework for the School of Continuing Teacher Education at North-West University, South Africa, an initial exploratory survey identified issues and themes for systemic inquiry, in order to provide substance to the integration framework. The purposive sample related to a criterion-based selection of N=338 teacher-students attending supplementary computer literacy training sessions. Queues from the Technology Acceptance Model supplemented the questions intended to investigate enablers and barriers to learning technology adoption. The pragmatic approach was towards discovering which possible interventions could be introduced to enable adoption of technology in interaction and learning. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling produce a suggested parsimonious model relating to self-confidence, trust and perseverance in acquiring computer literacy. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)
Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Corrective Feedback and the Correct Use of Prepositions: Is It Really Effective?
Author: Hosseini, Seyyed Behrooz
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accuracy,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Synchronous Communication,Feedback (Response),Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Pretests Posttests,Computer Mediated Communication,Internet,Statistical Analysis,Adult Students,Measures (Individuals),Form Classes (Languages)

An area that has recently attracted increasing attention is providing feedback on learners' writing accuracy through the Internet. However, research in this area has largely focused on synchronous communication, i.e., chatting, with fewer studies assessing asynchronous technologies, i.e., e-mailing. Therefore, this study investigates the effectiveness of asynchronous computer-mediated corrective feedback-explicit and implicit, on increasing the correct use of prepositions. Forty-five Iranian elementary EFL learners at the ILI in Tehran were randomly assigned to two experimental groups, receiving explicit and implicit corrective feedback respectively, and one control group receiving no corrective feedback. Each group included 15 participants. After the treatment, a post-test was administered to assess the probable increase in the correct use of prepositions for the experimental groups compared to the control group. Analysis of the results through a one-way ANOVA revealed that the experimental group 1 who received explicit corrective feedback significantly outperformed the experimental group 2 and the control group. The experimental group 2 who received implicit corrective feedback showed no significant improvement over the experimental group 1 and the control group. Although the findings support the current view on feedback through technology, due to the scarcity of research, more investigation is merited as there is much to gain regarding this burgeoning field. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)
ICT Implementation Challenges and Strategies for ODL Institutions: The ZOU's National Centre Academic Staff Experiences
Author: Nenge, Richard Tafara
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Faculty,Educational Technology,Open Universities,Foreign Countries,Computer Software,Fundamental Concepts,Expertise,Workshops,Information Technology,Questionnaires,Qualitative Research,Distance Education,Program Implementation

This study highlighted some of the major challenges that Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) academic staff experiences in connection with Information Communication Technology (ICT) implementation. It employed a qualitative paradigm rooted in a case study research design focusing on ZOU Academic Staff at the selected Faculties. It purposively sampled 20 ZOU Academic Staff members comprising two Deans, six Chairpersons and 12 Programme Leaders. Seventeen managed to participate willingly by filling in the in-depth questionnaire. The study cited lack of literature as one of its limitations. Data were gathered and analyzed thematically. The study found out lack of training and expertise in ICT by ZOU Academic staff of the studied Faculties topping among ICT implementation challenges. The study concluded that training and development of personnel is a fundamental concept that keeps staff abreast with evolving technological changes. The study recommended the need for ZOU to mount regular academic staff focused training workshops that equip them with functional knowledge on computers and computer software applications. It also recommended the need for ZOU to carry out Faculty wide research in the same area using either quantitative or triangulation methodologies. (Contains 6 tables.)