Uncertainty,story-telling and transformative learning: An instructor’s experience of TEFI’s Walking Workshop in Nepal

ABSTRACT

This article recounts three stories from TEFI’s walking workshop in Nepal: the construction of a road through what was once a trekking path; a dance-floor encounter at a Himalayan party; and the arrival of one participant, fatigued by jet lag and disoriented by the new surroundings. These stories of confusion, discomfort and fear are linked by one common theme: the potential of uncertainty to foster deep reflection and nuanced conclusions. The premise that uncertainty is to be valued and even cultivated has been explored in educational theory, spiritual traditions, and research on transformative learning. These sources affirm the role of uncertainty in the process of knowledge creation. However, accepting this role can be challenging for educators because it requires they assume a new identity, one which they may perceive as being at odds with their status as “teacher” the identity of learner. One way for the educator to address this challenge may be through recounting their own stories of uncertainty. Stories of being immersed in unfamiliar situations that challenge, confuse and even frighten – stories, in other words of being a tourist – can foster reflection on an intellectual, emotional and spiritual level, engaging the “whole” person, and thus initiating the educator/learner’s transformative journey.     

Bayesian MCMC Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci in a Half-sib Design: a Graphical Model Perspective

Graphical models provide a powerful and flexible approach to the analysis of complex problems in genetics. While task-specific software may be extremely efficient for any particular analysis, it is often difficult to adapt to new computational challenges. By viewing these genetic applications in a more general framework, many problems can be handled by essentially the same software. This is advantageous in an area where fast methodological development is essential. Once a method has been fully developed and tested, problem-specific software may then be required. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the potential use of a graphical model approach to genetic analyses by taking a very simple and well-understood problem by way of example.     

高等学校师资队伍建设问题的几点思考

普通高校师资队伍建设是一项系统工程,同时又是学校党政“一把手工程”。作者从教育人事管理工作的实践与现实角度出发,指出加强师资队伍建设,培养跨世纪学科、教学带头人是时代赋予的重任,选拔与培养途径的改革与完善是加强师资队伍建设的重要内容。本文提出了稳定骨干教师队伍,促进学科带头人脱颖而出的措施,从而在动态平衡中求得师资队伍的稳定和优化     

旋转推铅球教与学的要素

旋转推铅是推铅球的方法之一.要学会这种方法,在教与学的过程中必须掌握:扭转推球、控制转动惯量给人体平衡造成的干扰、射体重心向圆心移动、旋转与投掷之间的衔接等技术要素.     

Problem-solving in teaching/learning packages for Technology

In the project Technology in Secondary Education: Problem-solving in Teaching/learning Packages, two experiments regarding a construction problem and an explanation problem were conducted, in which two variants of a teching/learning package (strongly structuredvs. weakly structured) were compared. Only with the strongly structured instructional variant of the package for the explanation problem did the pupils come to a quick solution of the problem. In both experiments, the factors that influenced the problem-solving processes of the pupils were investigated. The results are of importance for curriculum developers and the authors of teaching/learning packages for Technology but further research into the factors influencing the problem solving process of pupils is necessary.     

Organizational resources enabling service responsiveness: Evidence from Greece

This article examines the implementation of relationship marketing strategy based on a sample of business-to-business firms operating in Greece. Organizational resources, including a focus on learning and flexibility/adaptation in strategic planning, are demonstrated to be antecedents of effective relationship marketing strategies. The possession of these resources lead to superior customer performance (as measured by customer satisfaction and loyalty) and, ultimately, superior financial performance (as measured by profit levels, profit margin, and ROI). Our results provide support for the development of organizational resources that foster and enable relationship marketing in business-to-business environments since such resources are linked with improved firm performance.     

Developing Technological Stance: Children's Learning in Technology Education

Following a review of current research in children's learning in technology education, and an examination of the kinds of knowledge demanded in contemporary technology education programs in elementary schools, I argue that what is needed in early technology education programs is the scaffolding of what I am calling technological stance. This construct acknowledges the socio-cultural character of technology as a human endeavor. In contrast to programs which are oriented to application of conceptual and procedural knowledge or to programs in which knowledge is generated through interpretation of interactions with materials and tools, programs which support technological stance position learners as critical inquirers into both tool-related and discursive practices of technology.     

Enhancing Practicing Primary School Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Technology

This paper describes the frameworks and cognitive tools that have been developed to enhance practising teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in primary school technology education. The frameworks evolved from our research that firstly examined existing teaching practices, secondly enhanced formative interactions and thirdly enhanced summative assessment strategies. The evidence gained over the three years demonstrated how the effective use of frameworks could be utilised to enhance teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). How we see learning is of prime importance in examining the development of teacher pedagogical content knowledge. A sociocultural view of learning is taken where human mental processes are situated within their historical, cultural and institutional setting. In the research project we strongly emphasised the need for teachers to build a knowledge base for teaching technology. Critical aspects identified as enhancing PCK included: negotiated intervention, planning frameworks, reflection on case studies, workshops and support in classrooms, appropriate resources, teacher agreement meetings, portfolios of student work and summative profiles. The increased PCK resulted in: enhanced teacher knowledge about technology including the nature of technology, areas of technology and specific technological knowledge, changed pedagogical approaches, enhanced teacher student interaction, refinement of appropriate learning outcomes, critical decision making, improved teacher confidence, and enhanced student learning. Seven characteristics or features of pedagogical content knowledge that we believe are important for effective teaching and learning in technology are presented. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

商业银行拓展助学贷款的现实条件与策略

本文在介绍开展教育助学贷款现实条件的基础上,着重就商业银行拓展教育助学贷款活动中的经营策略问题,作了一些初步探讨。     

利用少量标签训练集的半监督OLTV算法的设计

目前,大多数半监督学习算法都要使用大量的带标签训练样例集,当只有一个带标签训练样例时许多方法便不再适用。因此,基于两个充分视图工作的OLTV算法被提出来了。本文实现了此算法,并对充分视图的构建进行了讨论。对于特定的数据集,首先对它进行属性划分,得到两个充分视图;然后再执行OLTV算法,这样由一个初始标签训练样例便可以得到两个新的标签样例。最后在公共数据集上的实验验证了所提出算法的有效性。