Education Commons^™

Exploring Reading Habits And Academic Success In Rural Kenya, Florence Mugambi

Florence N. Mugambi

Radical Academia: Beyond The Audit Culture Treadmill, Rowan Cahill, Terry Irving

Rowan Cahill

The pathos of radical academia: notes on the impact of neo-liberalism on the universities, especially the audit culture, the production-model, casualization, academic scholarship, academic writing, peer reviewing, and open access. The authors suggest ways scholars can be radical within, and outside, of neoliberal academia. Part I, 'Missing in Action' appeared as an Academia.edu session in May 2015, where it attracted many comments. Part II, 'What Can Be Done?' is the authors' response to these comments. The whole piece was posted on the Cahill/Irving blog 'Radical Sydney/Radical History' on 22 October 2015.

A Living Tradition, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Discussion of the seminal work by R. W. Connell and T. H. Irving 'Class Structure in Australian History' (Longman Cheshire, 1980, 1992), and of the tradition of Marxist and class analysis in Australian intellectual life.

Words For Pam, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Words spoken by Rowan Cahill at the funeral of his wife, Pam Cahill, 24 June 2015.

Learning From Degree-Seeking Older Adult Students In A University Library, Marilia Antunez, Mary Aagard, Jaime Sand

Marilia Y. Antunez, MLS, MA

No abstract provided.

Missing In Action?, Rowan Cahill, Terry Irving

Rowan Cahill

The changing character of intellectual production: how university radicals have become vassals of global billion-dollar scholarly publishing empires; the necessity for radical scholars to break from this model; and the possibility of connecting with activism outside the university as one way of doing this.

Student Created Websites: Demonstration Of Information Literacy Skills, Sarah Beckman, Cheryl Sorge, Tabitha Bane

Sarah J. Beckman

Senior students are held accountable for learning outcomes in a junior level informatics course. Design skills were applied in the creation of websites used for classroom presentations on select leadership topics. These websites were used as educational tools in the practice setting. Two websites will be featured.

Millinnals Educated And Empowered With Technology, Sarah Beckman, Cheryl Sorge, Tabitha Bane

Sarah J. Beckman

How do faculty meet the “net generation” learning needs? The challenge of engaging students was accomplished in this senior leadership course using a variety of strategies. Course requirements included a classroom presentation, multimedia applications, and a quality improvement project completed in a 90 hour practicum. Student-developed websites will be featured and evaluated for design, flow, evidence-based information, credibility, currency, and relevancy to practice. Learning outcomes will be assessed using undergraduate curriculum foundations. Participants will be invited to share strategies that were successful for them in engaging the net generation in meaningful coursework.

Work In Progress - Synthesizing Design, Engineering, And Entrepreneurship Through A Mobile Application Development Course, Mark L. Chang

Mark L. Chang

In this paper, we describe our experiences in designing and delivering a course that blends together design, engineering, and entrepreneurship through the use of mobile devices. The significance of this work is in advocating for and demonstrating the motivational and educational benefits of using a mobile platform, and describing how to utilize the mobile marketplace to provide an authentic, real-world experience across these three domains.

A Blank Slate: Creating A New Senior Engineering Capstone Experience, Mark L. Chang, Jessica Townsend

Mark L. Chang

This paper presents some of the challenges, successes, and experiences in designing a new senior engineering capstone program at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Senior capstone design programs in engineering colleges have evolved over many years and are often modified and reinvented to keep up with the needs of both students and external constituencies. Harvey Mudd College’s Clinic program is one of the largest and longest-running capstone programs in the country that relies heavily on industry sponsors to provide real world problems and funding to execute the projects. For many reasons, and in no small way because of …

Work In Progress - Impact Of Early Design Instruction On Capstone Experiences, Mark L. Chang, Jessica Townsend

Mark L. Chang

In the Olin College curriculum, students have significant, early, and continuous exposure to user-oriented design principles. As a result, our students have a very user-centered approach to problem solving that has affected our yearlong, industry-sponsored capstone in several ways. We have reflected on five years of capstone engagements in order to learn how our program has changed because of the design emphasis in our curriculum. The significance of our work is to inform the many departments that are already undertaking design-centric curriculum reform on how they may modify their capstone experiences to best take advantage of new student understanding, and …

A Blank Slate: Creating A New Senior Engineering Capstone Experience, Mark L. Chang, Jessica Townsend

Jessica Townsend

This paper presents some of the challenges, successes, and experiences in designing a new senior engineering capstone program at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Senior capstone design programs in engineering colleges have evolved over many years and are often modified and reinvented to keep up with the needs of both students and external constituencies. Harvey Mudd College’s Clinic program is one of the largest and longest-running capstone programs in the country that relies heavily on industry sponsors to provide real world problems and funding to execute the projects. For many reasons, and in no small way because of …

The Search For Design In Electrical Engineering Education, David V. Kerns, Sherra E. Kerns, Mark Somerville, Gill Pratt, Jill Crisman

Sherra E. Kerns

The importance of "design" in engineering education is well established and a cornerstone of most new engineering curricula as well as accreditation criteria Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) programs view many elements of design in ways similar to other engineering disciplines. However, in some respects other disciplines within engineering, such as Mechanical Engineering (ME), view design in broader terms, and perhaps gain value that electrical and computer engineering educators may miss. This paper describes how design is typically viewed in ECE programs, bow it's viewed in other engineering areas, particularly ME, and suggests some new possibilities for enhancing design education …

The Search For Design In Electrical Engineering Education, David V. Kerns, Sherra E. Kerns, Mark Somerville, Gill Pratt, Jill Crisman

David V. Kerns

The importance of "design" in engineering education is well established and a cornerstone of most new engineering curricula as well as accreditation criteria Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) programs view many elements of design in ways similar to other engineering disciplines. However, in some respects other disciplines within engineering, such as Mechanical Engineering (ME), view design in broader terms, and perhaps gain value that electrical and computer engineering educators may miss. This paper describes how design is typically viewed in ECE programs, bow it's viewed in other engineering areas, particularly ME, and suggests some new possibilities for enhancing design education …

Virtual Arts: Visual Arts Education In The Virtual World Of Second Life., Lisa Jacka, Allan Ellis

Dr Lisa Jacka

Virtual worlds are emerging as the new frontier in the use of ICTs for the engagement of students in primary, secondary and tertiary education. In 2010 the use of the virtual world, Second Life, was trialled as a pedagogical tool in the training of Visual Art Education students studying at Southern Cross University. The students, physically located at three regional campuses, spent time in-world discussing concepts, visiting art sites, creating 2D and 3D art work and designing an exhibition space. This case study makes a comparison between traditional and mixed mode delivery and recommendations are proposed in relation to strategies …

Behind The Rhetoric, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

A contemporary critical account of changes taking place in the NSW state education system in the late 1990s-2001 under the leadership of Dr. Ken Boston, Director-General of Education and Training in NSW. The author argues that Boston's 'devolution' rhetoric masks a determined conservative and Rightist push to politically and ideologically centralise the education system and in the process emasculate teacher initiative, imagination, and enterprise.

Swilling At Mcideas, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

A personal/autobiographical contribution to a series 'What does it mean to be radical?' in which a number of activists working in a varitety of contexts reflected on being radical educators in the 1990s.

View From The Classroom, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Edited version of a speech given by Rowan Cahill to the Australian Education Network's 'Vision for the Future' Conference, Sydney, 18 October 1991.

Rationalising The Economic Metaphor, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Contemporary critique of the developing trend towards education institutions being run as businesses, and for students to be treated as economic units.

The Education System I'D Like To See, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Written and published in 1989, this is an Australian classroom teacher's view of the sort of education system he would like to see, a view at odds in many ways with then prevailing practices. The article was commissioned by the editor of 'Education', journal of the NSW Teachers Federation, the author a frequent contributor to the journal and a well known activist.

Abracadabra, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

An account of, and warning about, the increasing strength of Creationism in Australia, and its possible threat to the future teaching of Science in Australian schools.

Teachers And Writing, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Of historical interest:- Written at a time (1980) when the 'writing process' was interesting Australian school curriculum developers, the author argues that school teachers should be encouraged to write and to publish on education issues, and those delegated to actually teach students about 'writing' should themselves be active 'writers'.

The Decline Of History, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

The author addresses the contemporary (1970s) loss of confidence, and interest, in history as a subject amongst Australian secondary school students and educational administrators. He mounts a defence of the teaching of the subject in schools, and argues for its complexities. Strategies to increase the appeal of the subject and its perceived relevance are suggested.