Education Commons^™

A Professional Learning Community With An Arabian Twist, Christine Ann Roy

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This paper discusses how a western approach to a Professional Learning Community (PLC) can be implemented in an eastern setting, without taking out the essence of the culture. It is based on personal observations of how a community functions within a culture. This study seeks to explore the steps to implementing a structured PLC in which the already existing community produces empowered teachers who will be life-long learners. It describes the beginning stages of executing a PLC by enabling ordinary teachers to facilitate professional development meetings at a local, private school in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Ii International Colloquium On Languages, Cultures, Identity, In School And Society, International Colloquium

Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in School and Society

The influx of immigrants in countries worldwide, coupled with the challenges associated to the schooling of their children in host countries' schools, makes it more necessary than ever to broaden our knowledge of the linguistic, ethnic, and cultural realities derived from this phenomenon. This is the rationale for the present Colloquium, which revolves around the following topics:

• Individual, school, and societal bilingualism/multilingualism-related issues
• Multi/Transculturalism-related issues in families, schools, and society
• Impact of bi/multilingualism on individuals' and societies' language, culture, and identity
• Impact of multi/transculturalism on individuals' and societies' language, culture, and identity
• Language ideologies, policies, and practices
• Promotion, maintenance, and …

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Implications For Educational Justice, Magnus O. Bassey

Publications and Research

Educational justice is a major global challenge. In most underdeveloped countries, many students do not have access to education and in most advanced democracies, school attainment and success are still, to a large extent, dependent on a student’s social background. However, it has often been argued that social justice is an essential part of teachers’ work in a democracy. This article raises an important overriding question: how can we realize the goal of educational justice in the field of teaching? In this essay, I examine culturally responsive teaching as an educational practice and conclude that it is possible to realize …

2017 International Dance Festival, The University Of Maine Academic Affairs

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The International Dance Festival (IDF) is one of the popular annual events and showcase that adds global diversity to our UMaine campus community. This event provides both domestic and international students with an opportunity to teach, learn and share with one another through the art of dance. The International Dance Festival will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2017 at the Collins Center for the Arts at 2 pm and 7 pm. This event will be the 13th year in 2017.

Steps In Time: An Exploration Of Tap Dance Education, Sara Pecina

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Tap dance is an indigenous American art form that not only holds a valuable presence in the world of entertainment but also boasts an important historical background. From the slave quarters on plantations to Hollywood’s silver screen, the development of tap dance mirrors the story of American history. Tap dance must be preserved because of its cultural significance in American history; likewise, it is imperative for dancers to understand its development in order to appreciate the art and for today’s artists to continue the growth and presence of tap dance in America. However, many dance educators today focus solely on …

“Try Walking In Our Shoes”: Teaching Acculturation And Related Cultural Adjustment Processes Through Role-Play, Byron L. Zamboanga, Lindsay S. Ham, Cara C. Tomaso, Shannon Audley, Nnamdi Pole

Education and Child Study: Faculty Publications

In this article, we describe several role-playing exercises on acculturation and relevant cultural adjustment processes that we incorporated into Tomcho and Foel’s classroom activity on acculturation, and we report data that examine subsequent changes in students’ responses on pretest and posttest measures shortly after the activity and present qualitative themes derived from students’ reflections taken from an assignment at the end of the semester. We found no increases in students’ perceptions that role-playing can help them gain a better understanding of acculturation. However, there were increases in students’ awareness that acculturation is a real-world phenomenon, their understanding of how acculturation …

Interacting With Culture To Glorify God, Thomas White

Administrative Personnel Publications

No abstract provided.

Romantic Relationship Experiences From Late Adolescence To Young Adulthood: The Role Of Older Siblings In Mexican-Origin Families, Lorey A. Wheeler, Sarah E. Killoren, Shawn D. Whiteman, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Susan M. Mchale, Adriana J. Umana-Taylor

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Youth's experiences with romantic relationships during adolescence and young adulthood have far reaching implications for future relationships, health, and well-being; yet, although scholars have examined potential peer and parent influences, we know little about the role of siblings in youth's romantic relationships. Accordingly, this study examined the prospective longitudinal links between Mexican-origin older and younger siblings' romantic relationship experiences and variation by sibling structural and relationship characteristics (i.e., sibling age and gender similarity, younger siblings' modeling) and cultural values (i.e., younger siblings' familism values). Data from 246 Mexican-origin families with older (M = 20.65 years; SD = 1.57; 50% …

Change In Higher Education: Reflecting On Culture And Identities In Dit, Ann Conway

System and Institutional Design and Transformation

The case study is based on review of government policies and institutional strategy documents looking towards the future and determining how they are affecting the current situation in the Institution. The primary aim of the research was to identify drivers of change and mergers in higher education. This was conducted via analysis of interviews and observations at meetings and classes, and via use of discourse analysis of some policy and strategy documents. It was then reflected on how changes and mergers impact on cultures and professional academic identities. The interviewees were asked about their views on which factors bring about …

Embedding High Definition Videoconferencing In Higher Education To Create Global Graduates, Lon Appleby, Paul Dervan

Internationalization, Globalization and Exchange in Higher Education

Study abroad programmes designed to meet industry needs for graduates with inter-cultural skills and a global outlook have low participation rates in Canada and Ireland due mainly to financial barriers. Embedding the use of High Definition Interactive Videoconferencing (HD IVC) in higher education has the potential to create ‘Global Graduates’ with the skills sought by employers today. The ‘Global Class’ is a concept which has been developed at Durham College, Canada. Using HD IVC, students from different countries can participate in a ninety-minute class facilitated by Durham College and led by an invited thought leader with expertise in a specific …

Cell Culture Techniques Essential For Toxicity Testing Of Inhaled Materials And Nanomaterials In Vitro, Shahnaz Bakand

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Human tissue is bombarded by a huge range of chemicals. Our lungs are inhaling pollution from both stationary and mobile sources as well as inhaled nanoparticles (NPs) and therapeutic products designed to provide new and innovative medical solutions. Our challenge is to identify what exposures are putting us at risk and balance the risk against benefits that we may receive from these chemicals and new products. Advances inin vitrocell culture technology may provide some of the answers. Regulatory toxicologists and health and safety professionals need rapid and reliable information on hazard profiles of chemicals to be able to assess the …

How To Design Culturally Inclusive Online Learning Experiences, Casey Frechette, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Ludmila Layne

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper, we argue that adapting online courses for specific cultural groups takes time-intensive guesswork. Instead, instructional designers should employ the principles of universal design and social constructivism to build a course culture inclusive of all learners. Culture affects learners’ experiences in important, interconnected ways. Yet, it is equally difficult to predict culture’s effects on learning (Guild & Garger, 2016). These difficulties stem from the inherent complexity in human behavior. First, individuals may not reflect their cohort, especially when they belong to groups with conflicting values. Second, beliefs can influence one another in unforeseeable ways, and cultural values can …

Crafting Masculinities: Gender, Culture And Emotion At Work In The Surfboard Industry, Andrew T. Warren

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article examines the masculinities of male workers in the context of an emotionally rich form of labour: surfboard-making. Contributing to emerging research around the emotional and embodied dimensions of men's working lives, the article maps the cultural, emotional and embodied dimensions of work onto masculine identity construction. Combining cultural economy theory, emotional geographies and in-depth ethnographic methods, I reveal how surfboard-making has become a gendered form of work; how jobs rely on (and impact) the body and what surfboard-making means to workers outside of financial returns. Following a manual labour process, and informed by Western surfing subculture, commercial surfboard-making …