Education Commons^™

Educating The Under Empowered For Tolerance Of Satire And Participation In Young Democracies, Judith Puncochar, Don Faust

Conference Presentations

Drawing from experiences in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United States, a relationship appears to exist between tolerance for satire, freedom of expression, and academic freedom in higher education. Empowering the under empowered for participation in vibrant democracies and rational public discourse seems to coincide with an increasing tolerance for satire. We posit vibrant democracies must contain educational elements essential to empower the under empowered for democratic participation, in particular, to provide new democratic citizens with an understanding of the role of satire to cultivate rational public discourse in new democracies. New Southeast Asian democracies need growing evidence of dynamic strivings …

Collaboration Opportunities With The Society To Enhance Indonesian Citizenry By Furthering Higher Education With The Liberal Arts (Seiche), Judith Puncochar, Don Faust

Conference Presentations

The Society for the Enhancement of Indonesian Citizenry through Higher Education (SEICHE) is an Indonesian organization analogous to The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in the United States. SEICHE and ASHE use similar organizational structures and promote scholarly research and debate about issues and possibilities in the advancement of higher education. SEICHE was launched on November 22, 2014, in Bandung, Indonesia, with representatives from seven universities and one non-profit organization. The SEICHE vision is to help achieve international recognition of Indonesia’s higher education system, accomplished principally through collaboration and engagement with research in curriculum, instruction, service, and …

White Paper: Furthering Indonesian Higher Education Through The Liberal Arts, A Chaedar Alwasilah Phd, Judith Puncochar

Other

Mata Kuliah Dasar Umum (MKDU) is a nationally mandated series of general education courses for first-year undergraduates in Indonesian public and private colleges and universities. This white paper contains information on the general state of the MKDU in Indonesian higher education and offers several recommendations for improvements to the MKDU. Recommendations are theory-based and research-driven from Indonesian faculty focus groups, university student surveys, and educational peer-reviewed research. An urgent need for change in Indonesian higher education exists, particularly for training lecturers to teach with student-centered lessons and higher-level reasoning strategies and for infusing the Liberal Arts and associated learning outcomes …

Promoting Citizenship Education With Structured Controversy In Indonesian Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Indonesian democracy is rich in traditions, religions, cultures, and ethnic languages. To keep the nation unified with diversity, Indonesia must prepare its citizens with skills of perspective taking, constructive debate, and evidence-based reasoning to engage in a robust democracy. Historically, a rigorous study of the Liberal Arts held promise for creating a strong democracy and a well-educated citizenry. Currently, politicization of the term “Liberal Arts” attracts unjustifiable criticism and diverts attention away from a serious comprehensive study of literature, science, the arts, history, and mathematics. Narrowness in education of students toward technical and professional degrees appears not to align with …

Some Observations On Scientific Epistemology With Applications To Conflict Resolution And Constructive Controversy, Judith Puncochar, Don Faust

Other Presentations

An overview, by Judy and Don (published in 2013 in the BULLETIN OF SYMBOLIC LOGIC):

Explorationism is a perspective wherein all of our knowledge is (so far) less than certain, and naturally would come equipped with a base logic entailing machinery for representing and processing evidential knowledge. One such base logic is Evidence Logic, which strives to deal with the phenomenon of the gradational presence of both confirmatory and refutatory evidence. From this perspective, we will address questions surrounding sociological problem areas that we see as deeply infused with substantial epistemological factors. By defining a framework as any theory, …

Enhancing Indonesian Citizenry Through The Liberal Arts In Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Indonesian democracy needs an informed, educated citizenry with skills of perspective taking, debate, and evidence-based reasoning. A rigorous study of the Liberal Arts holds promise for honing a strong Indonesian democracy and a well-educated citizenry. Students who study the Liberal Arts are more likely to develop skills of civic engagement, moral and ethical reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving, and lifelong learning. Educators who learn how to structure and encourage academic controversy as part of the expected university Liberal Arts classroom experience are more likely to deliver opportunities for students to practice perspective taking, deal with difficult ethical conflicts, and hone …

Creating A National Society For The Enhancement Of Indonesian Citizenry: Furthering The Liberal Arts In Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Three processes come to mind when we think about launching a national society for the enhancement of the Indonesian citizenry by furthering the study of Liberal Arts in higher education. The first is Excitement. People who work with the Liberal Arts experience a shared excitement. Students are genuinely excited to hone critical thinking, decision-making, leadership, and speaking skills engendered through classroom study of the Liberal Arts. Lecturers are genuinely interested in learning how to teach with a student-centered Liberal Arts focus. The second process is Cooperation. Humans in all occupations cooperate and learn interactively and collaboratively together. A …

Furthering Liberal Arts In Indonesian Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

The study of Liberal Arts is absent in Indonesian higher education. A strong participatory democracy may require skills engendered by a rigorous study of the liberal arts. When I arrived in Indonesia in August 2014, I found a vibrant Indonesian democracy and smart, eager-to-learn university students who were unsatisfied with MKDU (General Education) classes. A strong democracy requires skills engendered by a rigorous study of Liberal Arts. Restructuring the MKDU classes as Liberal Arts classes using active, student-centered instruction should lead to higher levels of critical thinking in college students, higher quality of teachers in local schools, and better citizenship …

Foreword To The International Edition, Don Faust, Judith Puncochar

Book Sections/Chapters

This book is an important collection of essays on the rich mosaic of contemporary challenges faced by Indonesia. A. Chaedar Alwasilah, Ph.D., is a professor of education at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (Indonesian University of Education) and a social philosopher in the tradition of such as Josef Popper-Lynkeus (1838-1921) of Austria. Both the Indonesian and non-Indonesian reader will find amply witnessed in these essays the importance of his work and will relish and benefit from a resulting essential interaction of close observation, local wisdom, and help for Indonesia. Professor Alwasilah’s embeddedness, as an Indonesian himself, shines through in each essay …

Full-Year Sabbatical Award 2014-2015: Furthering Liberal Arts In Indonesian Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Awards

A rigorous study of the liberal arts with student-centered andragogy is absent in Indonesian higher education. A strong participatory democracy, such as the Indonesian democracy, may require skills engendered by the study of liberal arts and associated opportunities for students to practice skills for dialogue, constructive debate, and potential problem analysis. My sabbatical application postulates that the study of liberal arts in Indonesia will lead to higher levels of critical thinking in college students, higher quality of teachers in local schools, and better citizenship in Indonesia and the world. The Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) invited me to work as a …