World Of Learners Research Articles

Knowledge and social justice in English school music education: reflections on the report ‘Questioning the gap in music literacy’ (McQueen 2020)

ABSTRACT This article explores some of the intersections and relationships between ‘knowledge' and ‘social justice' particularly as manifest in the context of English school music education. It takes as its starting point the tensions resulting from different understandings of these terms as revealed in the Society for Music Analysis's (SMA) report ‘Questioning the gap in music literacy’ (McQueen 2020). Drawing on neo-traditionalist, social realist and constructivist perspectives, different conceptions of musical knowledge and its relationship to social justice are briefly examined. Drawing on the work of John Rawls and Nancy Fraser, the argument is made that socially just approaches to music education are enhanced by going beyond distributive and redistributive paradigms to embrace issues around respect, recognition, and participatory parity. Inter alia, the article examines the challenges resulting from an identity politics approach to social justice, particularly its tendency towards reifying cultural identity and knowledge. The article concludes by suggesting that the tensions around musical knowledge and social justice revealed in the SMA Report might be ameliorated through dialogical approaches to pedagogy that recognise the centrality---but not exclusivity---of the learner's world in endowing meaning on musical knowledge and understanding.

Ethics education seen through the lens of Habermas’s conception of practical reason: the Québec Education Program

This paper examines the Québec Education Program (QEP), particularly the new course in ethics and religious culture (ERC), in the light of Habermas’s conception of the moral and ethical uses of practical reason. Habermas’s discursive theory of morality is used to assess the program’s understanding of what it means to be competent in moral matters. Specifically, the paper considers whether or not the program limits the exercise of practical reason to its purely pragmatic form, and the extent to which the program takes into account the intersection between the subjective and social world of learners. The Québec program serves as a context for thinking about the level(s) of practical reason an ethics education program ought to cultivate in learners.

Allies in Learning: Critical-Reflective Practice On-line with Allied Mental Health Practitioners

This paper is a reflection in action using personal examples of student feedback to guide teaching. In 2003, a post-graduate course was developed at Victoria University in New Zealand for occupational therapists and social workers employed in the mental health services. The aim of the programme is to provide opportunities for on-the-job learning while recruiting and retaining a skilled allied mental health workforce. The programme is publicly funded for students as part of a national workforce development strategy for mental health professionals. In this article, I reflect upon my first year as co-ordinator of the programme in 2007–2008. Due to my background as a social worker and my familiarity with social work theories of practice, I focus on my theories of teaching from a social work perspective while returning to reflect on themes for the student cohort as a whole. The programme is delivered using distance methods supported by nine days of on-site learning throughout the academic year. A problem-based learning (PBL) approach delivered on the Internet platform, ‘Blackboard’, enables students to study from their workplaces. The conceptual model of teaching evolved is a process of ‘creative attunement’ to the learner's world. I conclude by providing examples of the key elements of my teaching/learning model as a ‘work in progress’.

First principles of CS instruction

Much attention has been paid in recent years to finding more flexible and less prescriptive approaches to the design of instruction than those put forward during the latter part of the twentieth century. A view of instruction as causal and largely behaviouristic has given way to one that is guided and primarily constructivist. In his current research, David Merrill outlines five fundamental principles of instruction which have broad implications for teaching computer science (CS). These five principles are: 1) solving real-world problems, 2) activating existing knowledge to build new knowledge, 3) demonstrating new knowledge to the learner, 4) allowing learners to apply new knowledge, and 5) integrating knowledge into the learner's world. The following paper describes these principles and discusses how they related to instruction in CS.

The trauma of organizational change

Looks beneath the surface of much of the rhetoric and “ought to be”s of organizational change ‐ a world of learners and change masters ‐ to a “real” perceived and experienced world where managers are struggling with ‐ what for them are ‐ the experienced traumas of change. This is a world where individual managers are attempting to survive the trauma which is more usually associated with disasters or catastrophes, and even abuse. Sets out to clarify the meaning of such terms as trauma, catastrophe, abuse, victim and survivor and their significance in the context of organizational change. Urges the instigators, initiators, implementors and facilitators of change in organizations to face up to and consider the implications of managers’ experienced trauma. Although not arguing against the need for organizations to embark on significant and continuing change attempts, prompts a calculation of the real costs of such changes in terms of their short‐ and long‐term consequences.

Enriching the distance language learning experience through telematics and multimedia: a case study

Distance learning can be a lonely business. Distance language learning even more so. Context and communication can be substantially diminished, or completely lost, in the distance learner's world. For the distance language learner this can mean an impoverished learning environment in which (s)he will often founder.

The who-what-why of mentor teacher/graduate student relationships.

The experiences in the mentor teacher/graduate student relationship have validated Clark's comment about teachers. That is, "teachers are learners as well as teachers..." The mentors have expressed that they learned a great deal about teaching and about themselves during the teaching practicum experience. Having the evaluation form available which outlined the expected behaviors of a mentor, provides enough guidance to free up their time to teach and serve as mentors. The graduate students have expressed both positive and negative comments about their teaching practicum experience. However, they also concurred with the need and usefulness of specific behaviors for mentors. The primary purpose of the mentor teacher/graduate student relationship is to facilitate the learning of how to teach. The author's definition of "teaching" in nursing education is congruent with Schweer and Gebbie's definition of teaching. That is, teaching is the facilitating or arranging of experiences within the learner's world in a way that helps him find meaning and purpose. Teaching is the act of communicating in a variety of ways with the individual or group, or both, at the actual point of the learner's experiences so that he can reach his unique potential.