Today's Knowledge Society Research Articles

Building cooperative learning competence in resistant pupils: strategies for teachers

ABSTRACT Although cooperation has been declared a key competence in today's knowledge society, international pedagogical literature shows that cooperative learning is a complex and long-term task. While many research studies have found benefits of incorporating cooperative learning in the classroom, it is not uncommon for teachers to experience that some students show resistance to teamwork. This study analyses the ‘building’ of Cooperative Learning Competence in resistant pupils. Methodologically, it is a longitudinal case study in a rural classroom with only 8 students, two of them with clear attitudes of resistance to working cooperatively, who are the focus of this study. The data collection tools included the teacher's diary, anecdotal notes, individual and group semi-structured interviews, team's work plans and session diaries, narrative records and field notes. The results show how resistant pupils learn to cooperate, and the mechanisms used by this teacher in order to involve them in the cooperative classroom structure. In the conclusions, some suggestions for action are provided so that teachers can overcome those resistances.

Engineering Education goes Lifelong Learning: Modularized Technical Vocational Education and Training Program for the Automotive Sector

Continuing technical vocational education and training (TVET) and professional development of the entire automotive sector towards implementing Industry 4.0 and 5.0 tools, methods and technologies has become an essential component of today's knowledge society. The principle of lifelong learning permeates all areas of professional and private life and has manifested itself as an essential component of today's knowledge society. Especially the automotive sector is challenged to successfully master the green and digital transformation. This needs engineers with expertise to actively shape the dual transformation. In this context, continuing education and training on a postgraduate level is indispensable. This paper illustrates continuing technical vocational education and training at Graz University of Technology, managed by the Life Long Learning organizational unit. As an example, a course concept is described in more detail on the basis of the university course Automotive Mechatronics. The aim of this paper is to present a successful TVET program and to show how postgraduate education over the lifespan can succeed sustainably for engineering professionals in the automotive sector.

The Educational Role of the Academic Library

The dynamic flow of information and rapidly developing technologies have a significant impact on today's knowledge society. Following the trends in technology and user behavior, libraries as part of this community are also changing. They are transforming the way they gather information, their architectural environment, and the services they offer. Thus, from guardians of knowledge, they are becoming centers of learning. Their passivity remains in the past and they are on the path of active communication with readers, combined with digitization. The subject of the article is the academic library of the University of Economics - Varna, and the topic of research is the direction of transition as a result of the changing environment. The aim is to trace the opportunities and services that the institution provides to its readers and the prospects for development.

ІННОВАЦІЙНІСТЬ УПРАВЛІНСЬКИХ ЗАХОДІВ ТА МАРКЕТИНГОВОГО ІНСТРУМЕНТАРІЮ ЗЕЛЕНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ В ДІДЖИТАЛІЗОВАНОМУ СУСПІЛЬСТВІ ЗНАНЬ

Risks and challenges associated with the development of Industry 4.0 lead to the transition to the principles of a green economy (circular economy), while the rapid digitalization of society, growing demand for valuable natural resources, especially – for different types of energy, and the threat of global climate changes necessitate the implementation of eco-consciousness and effective green marketing tools in business management. The purpose of the study is to analyze the green economy, marketing, and eco-management measures & tools in terms of their innovativeness and in the context of the rapid development of the modern digitalized society – the knowledge society. The practical significance of the paper lies in the fact that trends in global CO2 concentrations and average global temperatures were predicted with the ISAM model (ISAM Integrated Impacts of Climate Change) for the period up to 2100. According to the modeling results, it was found that without significant human efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, global temperatures will rise above the critical value by almost 3.5°C, while the introduction of green technologies and the latest marketing eco-strategies, as well as limiting the carbon footprint can improve the situation and help to achieve the goals of climate neutrality (under this scenario, the global temperature will increase by only 0.75°C). In the study it has been determined that innovative marketing eco-tools play an important role in ensuring business profitability and shaping its positive smart image. One of the main reasons for the need to introduce environmental innovations in the field of management and marketing at enterprises is that production activities and inefficient use of natural resources pose significant pressure on the environment. This leads not only to environmental degradation but also to increased resource costs, the need to pay high environmental fines for the damage, etc. If such problems accumulate, businesses become inefficient and unable to generate stable profits, so they cannot be competitive and successful in today's digitalized knowledge society.

Information: A Historical Companion ed. by Ann Blair et al. (review).

Reviewed by: Information: A Historical Companion ed. by Ann Blair et al. Marc Kosciejew (bio) Information: A Historical Companion Edited by Ann Blair, Paul Duguid, Anja Silvia Goeing, and Anthony Grafton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021. Pp. 904. In Information: A Historical Companion, historians Ann Blair, Paul Duguid, Anja Silvia Goeing, and Anthony Grafton, as editors, situate the phenomenon of information at the center of historical focus. Illuminating the variegated ways in which information has shaped and been shaped by societies from antiquity to the present, they show how new kinds of information challenges—sociocultural, managerial, organizational, political, and economic—at different times and places often necessitated new approaches to, technologies for, and understandings of, information. Compiling interdisciplinary contributions from distinguished historians and theorists, the book outlines a continuous, information-focused historical landscape and narrative of this complex phenomenon. The scale and scope of coverage is ambitious. The sociocultural settings are global, and historical eras are extensive. The book covers the ancient Roman Empire; the medieval Islamic world; early modern East Asia and Europe; the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Industrial Revolution; the British Empire and other nineteenth-century colonial powers; the two World Wars; twentieth-century globalization; and today's late-capitalist knowledge society. The technologies examined, meanwhile, are heterogeneous in kind and myriad in format, ranging from early writing tools and scrolls, codices, and books to more recent innovations, from computers and digital devices to algorithms and artificial intelligence. Moreover, the associated or required technological infrastructures enabling information creation, transmission, and storage presented are also broad, including postal services, telegraph cables, radios, televisions, computers, internet connections, and wireless communications. By tracing information's trajectory, this book is noteworthy for encapsulating the complex history of an already complicated phenomenon within the confines of one, albeit hefty, tome of over 900 pages. To this end, it simultaneously functions as an in-depth scholarly volume and a utilitarian reference tool. Arranged into two main parts of long chapters and short entries, the book achieves both continuity and diversity in approach and analysis. Although the long chapters and short entries can stand alone, together, they paint a rich portrait of information's longue durée, technological inventions, instantiations, processes, and wide reach from assorted angles. Comprised of thirteen long chapters, the book's first part builds a chronological narrative of information's history, from the premodern and early modern periods to the twentieth century and today. Each chapter supplies detailed overviews of, and interesting insights about, information within its particular sociocultural and historical purview, then concluding [End Page 1276] with substantial further-reading lists of resources germane to the topic. Every chapter makes references to other chapters, establishing connections between topics and facilitating dialog between contributors. Additionally, the editors have marked specific words with an asterisk on first mention within the chapters, facilitating convenient cross-referencing with a detailed glossary, placed near the book's end, which defines terms and clarifies their usage within the book. Containing 101 short entries, the book's second part concentrates on specific issues of special importance to the history of information. Alphabetically arranged, the entries extend the conversations from the preceding chapters by directing attention to or narrowing focus on specific aspects, topics, or themes. They also showcase further reading lists and draw connections between each other and the chapters by featuring "see also" cross references. The editors supply a user-oriented navigation aid at the beginning of the book in the form of two lists, the first an alphabetical list and the second a thematic list organized by concepts, formats, genres, objects, people, practices, processes, systems, and technologies. Through these internal cross-references, connections, and dialogs within and between the chapters and entries, the editors construct a seemingly unwieldly history. As a topic, technology traverses most chapters and entries, and even serves as the main theme or focus of multiple entries. This book should therefore appeal to historians of technology and specifically attract scholars and students interested in the intersections between technology, information, and history. Its interdisciplinary approach might also introduce some historians to ideas and literature beyond their disciplinary concentrations and, in turn, help them forge new or previously unknown or unexpected relationships between their work...

Variable scope for popularization of specialized terminology

This paper responds to the call often voiced in today's knowledge society for popularization of specialized knowledge within a field relevant to us all, viz. medicine. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to explore the popularization potential of specialized terminology within this field. Whereas many previous studies of popularization within different LSP fields have been preoccupied with the actual linguistic strategies employed in the mediation of specialized knowledge to non-expert audiences, the present study explores whether subcategories of terms associated with medicinal products exhibit different degrees of popularization potential, i.e. whether there are differences in the degree to which terminological subcategories in this field lend themselves to popularization.
 Empirically, the investigation is based on a corpus of two derivationally related text types: The specialized pharmaceutical genre named Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) and the patient-oriented counterpart, the so-called Patient Information Leaflet (PIL), which contains user-relevant information, recontextualized from the SmPC, about the medicinal product in question. The PILs are legally required to be written in a lay-friendly register.
 We identified four categories of specialized terms from the SmPCs that are recontextualized in the PILs: a) terms for medical disorders, b) biochemical and microbiological terms, c) terms for medicinal products or the active substances of these, and d) terms for so-called excipients (carrier substances in the drug).
 Using the so-called ‘coupled-pairs’ methodology known from Translation Studies, whereby lexical items with a medico-pharmaceutical content in the PILs were traced back to their origin in a specialized SmPC term, we identified patterns of popularization strategies that differed markedly between the four categories of terms: Terms for medical disorders are either replaced with established core-vocabulary equivalents, or their constituent Greek/Latin morphemes or words are translated more or less directly into English. Biochemical/microbiological terms and terms for medicinal products/active substances, on the other hand, are not actually replaced by such reformulations, but are in virtually all cases retained in the PILs and accompanied by a definition. Excipients, it turned out, are in effect not popularized at all, but transferred directly from the SmPC without any kind of reformulation or explanation.
 We argue that these different types of strategy, i.e. a) replacement by a core-vocabulary equivalent or translation, b) definition and c) direct transfer, represent a scale of popularization, with replacement strategies representing the top degree and direct transfer the lowest degree. Since the findings show a very clear correspondence between the different types/degrees of popularization and the terminological subcategories, we conclude that this overlap indicates clear differences in popularization potential: When a given category of terms is consistently popularized by means of one type of strategy rather than others, this must be taken as indicative of what the category in question allows.
 We also venture explanations for the observed divergences in popularization potential. Thus, in the medical-disorder category of terms, etymology turned out to a key factor, since the Greek/Latin origin of most of these terms makes for easy translatability (in the ordinary, i.e. interlingual, sense of the word). This is because the original Greek/Latin constituent morphemes/words of these terms represent a wholly non-specialized vocabulary that is easily translated into core English lexis. In the biochemical/microbiological category and the medicinal-products/active-substances category, this etymologically based translatability is absent, and so the only other popularization strategy available appears to be definition. Definitions using terms understandable to the lay reader are, however, possible in these two categories, since the salient parts of the definitions turned out to consist in references to bodily functions or diseases for which lay terms exist, or for which the medical term is typically known to the average lay reader. The absence of explanatory definitions in the excipients category, on the other hand, is in all likelihood due, not to the impossibility of defining such terms (since any specialized term is definable), but to the impossibility of providing definitions based on concepts known to the lay reader. Excipient terms denote substances that are only definable by reference to their chemical composition and to their location within a specialized taxonomy of chemical substances and compounds – a taxonomy, in other words, which is bound to be beyond the chemical knowledge of most lay readers.
 With medico-pharmaceutical terminology as a case in point, the implications of the paper’s findings are that popularization is not equally possible across terminological categories. Hence popularization may at best be able to only partially bridge the knowledge divide, or asymmetry, between experts and non-experts.
 The investigation is here limited to a particular field of LSP terminology, i.e. medicine, and a particular language, i.e. English. Even so, theoretically, the paper may be seen as representing a first step towards creating a taxonomy of popularization strategies that may be further explored and refined in future studies encompassing other specialized domains and other languages than English.

BASES21 - Um Modelo para a Autoavaliação de Habilidades do Século XXI no Contexto do Ensino de Computação na Educação Básica

In today's knowledge society, knowing how to interpret, search, communicate and share new information are key skills for a successful citizen. Such skills, known as 21st century skills, include critical thinking, teamwork, communication, among others. Currently, there are several proposals on how to integrate the learning of these skills in basic education, including through the teaching of computing. Yet, based on the hypothesis that teaching computing can contribute to the learning of 21st century skills, there is few systematically evidence available to support this claim. One reason for this absence is the lack of 21st century skills assessment models. Thus, the objective of this article is to develop and evaluate a model for the assessment of 21st century skills in the context of teaching computing in basic education. Based on the results of a mapping study, the bASES21 model is systematically developed as well as its measurement instrument, a self-assessment questionnaire. An initial assessment in terms of reliability and validity of the measurement instrument, based on 148 responses from students in basic education, indicate a high internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.958). Results regarding the validity of the instrument were inconclusive. Even although some skills demonstrate internal correlation, an improvement opportunity is the possible re-classification of items based on a more detailed analysis with a larger sample. Thus, the bASES21 model represents a first step supporting the assessment of 21st century skills, aiming at the systematic improvement of teaching computing in basic education.

The use of New Technologies as a Tool for the Promotion of Health Education

Abstract New technologies in today's knowledge society and information technologies (ICT) have become a sign of progress, improvement and quality that determine our lives and have an essential role in health education as it relates to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the symptoms of disease. This article will explore some of the technological advances in the field of health. They have greatly contributed to some very significant changes in the configuration of standard health services. We analyze some of the major benefits and savings achieved through the use of technologies in the area of health, like increased efficiency and quality of patient care, reduced administrative and operational costs, improved primary health care and optimized access to health care. In addition, we present some of the drawbacks to the use of new technologies in the field of health as found in the literature, such as the risk of misdiagnosis due to possible software errors, and therefore the issue of ethical responsibility.

650 Jahre Universität Wien—Aufbruch ins neue Jahrhundert ed. by Friedrich Stadler

Reviewed by: 650 Jahre Universität Wien—Aufbruch ins neue Jahrhundert ed. by Friedrich Stadler Janek Wasserman Friedrich Stadler, ed., 650 Jahre Universität Wien—Aufb ruch ins neue Jahrhundert. 4 vols. Vienna: V&Runipress, 2015. 2131 pp. This sprawling, encyclopedic study of the University of Vienna during the "long twentieth century"—between 1848 and the present—offers an impressive account of the university and its development. Drawing on a trove of recent research, the editors have presented a multifaceted picture of the institution, both within its walls and in its interactions with the broader world. With over a hundred contributors and two thousand pages, the work will serve as the primary reference text on the subject for some time. Divided into four major parts, 650 Jahre examines the university as a site of research and instruction and as a locus of academic politics inflected by social, cultural, and political trends. The first volume, "Universität, Forschung und Lehre," traces the evolution of the university as an institution of higher education, using Kant's Streit der Fakultäten and Bourdieu's Homo Academicus to explore themes of autonomy and academic freedom. A meditation as much on contemporary university politics as on history, the volume offers insights for debates about the role of the university in today's knowledge society. The second volume, "Universität—Politik—Gesellschaft," situates the university in a dynamic relationship with its social, political, and economic contexts. The first half of the volume places the university within the turbulent political events of the twentieth century, especially between 1914 and 1945. A collection of twenty-seven biographical portraits offers case studies of university figures in their myriad academic and political involvements. The second half connects the university with social and economic developments through quantitative researches into questions of inclusion and social mobility. The third volume, "Reichweiten und Außensichten," offers images of the university from national, transnational, and international perspectives. Moving beyond traditional, internalist descriptions of the university, it provides [End Page 154] an innovative interpretation by deploying cultural and social lenses that raise questions about the university's supposed political neutrality and its promotion of social mobility. The final volume, "Reflexive Innensichten," consists of a collection of disciplinary histories, told by academics active within those departments, faculties, and institutes. Given the length of this work, a series of more general observations and selective analyses must suffice. The biographical sketches of Volume 2 and the disciplinary studies of Volume 4 will receive little attention. Although the former evince the invaluable archival research done in recent years, they contribute little to the work's argument. Likewise the disciplinary histories will primarily interest practitioners and aficionados of those fields. While the multivolume set contains a diverse array of contributions, its structure, ordering, and coherence leave something to be desired. The first volume presents significant new information about the university's intellectual and organizational development. Thematically, however, the volume divides into two complementary, yet not fully integrated parts—one that focuses on theoretical and philosophical questions about the meaning of the university, one that delves into the historical particularities of the University of Vienna itself. The lead essay by Nemeth and Stadler, which examines the concepts of education and instruction, autonomy and state intervention, and pure and applied research stands as a powerful example of the first direction. The subsequent essay of Dahms and Stadler, which tracks the internal transformations of the philosophical faculty, represents the second tendency. While the theoretical essays orient the discussion, the historical essays do not always take up those themes. Feichtinger's essay engages in a compelling historical treatment of the "verletzte Autonomie" of science at the university before 1938, yet Svatek's chapter on Raumforschung maintains an internalist focus that is probably best suited to another volume. The second volume contains some of 650 Jahre's richest material, yet its imposing size and unusual structure make it less efficacious. Given the short length of the third volume and its eclecticism, reorganization may have helped. Ash's virtuoso exploration of the university at moments of political upheaval is really a book unto itself, dwarfing all other contributions in the second volume. After the oddly placed biographical...

TOOLS FOR INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Information technology and information literacy are becoming increasingly important in today's knowledge society. Many studies have shown that students from elementary school to graduate school do not have enough information literacy and skills in IT, therefore, there is a need for effective pedagogical approach that will develop these skills. One of the important step in this direction is the possibility of combining a collaborative teaching approach with inquiry-based learning to develop information literacy of elementary school students and IT skills. Based on existing theoretical framework, we believe that modern teaching technology should be used in early childhood. Children of primary school age explore and learn about the environment by using queries, and computer technologies offer available way to extend the domain and range of this request. A great number of interactive games and educational software packages have been implemented over the last decade for primary schools. However, a large number of software packages are not focused on inquiry-based learning. Examples of existing and hypothetical apps to research in early childhood presented in this article. Problems and future research directions are also identified and discussed. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2414-0325.2017.3.4354

FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE AS A PART OF THE COMMUNICATION CAPITAL OF MANAGERIAL STAFF

Education and training have become the cornerstone for the development of today's knowledge society and economy. The goal of the European Union (EU) is a challenging one—to become the most competitive, active, and dynamic knowledge-based economy worldwide, featuring sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs. The purpose of this article was to identify genres and foreign language competencies used by managerial staff in everyday work situations at C1 level. The article addresses the communication capital, made up of language competence, communication competence, and intercultural competence necessary for managers working at any level of the organizations. A linguistic language methodology was employed to determine language competence of managerial staff. Following the primary need analysis, an interview containing open-ended questions with managerial staff was performed. Having analyzed the responses, a questionnaire for the managerial staff was developed. To make the survey respondent-friendly, a genre approach (genre as a text type) was selected and respondents described their competence while referring to individual genres. After investigating the responses, a list of language competencies required for managerial staff was developed. It was found that managers are faced with fifteen genres in their everyday work situations, which require fifty five foreign language competencies (“can do” statements) at C1 level. The competencies required for managerial staff can serve as guidelines for language teachers and course designers. On one hand, they can be used to underpin the fundamental lexical, structural, and functional syllabus of the course. On the other hand, the competencies required help to determine the teaching methodology applied in the course delivery. Thus, students in business and management will be able to acquire the skills that are transferable in nature and can be employed in a wide range of managerial situations.

스마트기기에 대한 태도적 양가성, 긍정적 마음과 사용자 만족 간의 관계

지식정보화 시대에 스마트기기의 역할이 더욱 증대되고 있다. 그러나 다른 한편으로 심각한 역기능도 있다. 때문에 스마트기기에 대한 태도나 감정이 다양하다. 이러한 관점에서 본 연구는 스마트기기에 대한 태도적 양가성과 긍정적 마음이 소비자 만족에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 분석하는 데 그 목적이 있다. 연구의 목적을 달성하기 위해 가설을 설정하고, 국내 대학생을 대상으로 조사한 설문자료를 회귀분석 하여 가설을 검증하였다. 분석결과에 따르면 첫째, 태도적 양가성은 소비자 만족에 부정적 영향을 미친다. 둘째, 긍정적 마음은 소비자 만족에 긍정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 시사점은 스마트기기에 대한 소비자 만족의 이해의 폭을 넓히고, 이를 증대하기 위한 방향을 제시하였다는 점이다. Smart devices are playing an increasing important role in today's knowledge society. On the other hand, its adverse effects are creating social problems as well. Thus, users have diverse attitude toward smart devices. In this regard, this study is aimed at examining the impact of attitudinal ambivalence and positive mind for the smart technology on consumer satisfaction. In order to achieve the research objective, we formulated research hypotheses. Then we conducted a questionnaire survey using college students to test hypotheses, and analyzed collected data using regression analysis. The results of our analysis indicated two key findings. First, it was found that attitudinal ambivalence had a negative effect on consumer satisfaction. Second, positive mind was found to have a positive effect on consumer satisfaction. Our findings are expected to make an academic contribution by enhancing our understanding of what leads to consumer satisfaction with smart devices.

Age of Creative Insecurity: Student-Centered Learning

Education, like fresh rolls, goes stale. And in today's Knowledge Society, the problem is not getting new in. formation: it is developing new ways to learn, and to apply new knowledge. 1EDUCATION is an integral part of the American social process and tends to reflect society's basic characteristics. The success ethic is one of the most important of these characteristics. Very early in a student's life, the teacher is established as an authority figure.2 The teacher's power to influence the direction and possible outcome of a student's future has an impact at once reassuring and forbidding. Constant reinforcement of the teacher's importance leads, more often than not, to an unquestioning attitude on the part of the student. Students quickly realize that by pleasing the teacher, i.e., by doing the assigned work, they will receive good grades-a token of the teacher's pleasure and a welcome relief to their parents. Predictability in academic performance is rewarded.What then do we have? A social institution which has substituted means for ends. Grades are paramount, and education is only secondary. In this climate success becomes equated with conformity. Creative energies are stifled and our educational system becomes an agency for social control. Success based on the banal practicalities of yesterday deadens the spirit. To gain the independence, freedom and security required for creativity, the normal individual has to reject this concept of success. 3Our graduate students are caught in an out-of-synch phase. Bits and pieces of the old system of education have been replaced by innovative and often far-reaching programs, but the old philosophy remains. No new guiding spirit of sufficient strength to supplant the old ethic has yet been invoked. In 1967, Marshall McLuhan predicted that .. the very first casualty of the present-day school system may very well be the business of teacher-led instruction as we now know it. . . . Education will be more concerned with training the senses and perception than with stuffing brains. 4 Nevertheless, grades, the teacher as authority figure, and the success ethic remain as constant reminders of a system more concerned with the source of a statement than with its content.Doubts concerning the efficacy of traditional teaching methods have led to experimentation with other techniques. Frequently, emphasis is placed on student-centered teaching rather than instructor-centered methods. The assumption is that university learning based on the lecture method with questions and discussion is (1) insufficiently experimental, (2) too authoritarian, (3) too passive in the role in which it places students, (4) too detached from students' on-going lives, their hopes and involvements, the points where their psychic energy is most involved, and .( S) too impersonal. II In Participative Management in the College Classroom R. H. Killmann cites several studies which support the hypothesis that student-centered teaching is more effective in stimulating critical thinking among students.8Student-centered teaching results when students are allowed (1) to set classroom objectives, (2) to establish means of arriving at .these objectives, and (3) to evaluate progress toward attainment of these objectives. Before students can assume this novel role it is usually necessary to unfreeze traditional forms of response. Reducing the formal classroom structure, or unstructuring, is part of the change process. Methods to reduce the structure of the classroom environment have been developed in order to facilitate the generation of student involvement or participation in the education process. Within this pattern the instructor assists student activity but does not direct it. Participation will, in theory, increase student motivation and classroom performance will improve.This article is a study of participation in the classroom. It focuses on a course in library management and the effect the process of unstructuring has on efforts to encourage student-centered learning. …

Geo, audio, video, photo: how digital convergence in mobile devices facilitates participatory culture in libraries

Libraries are often hailed as the cultural and learning hub of their communities. To deepen community engagement and social inclusion, libraries are adopting new technologies to facilitate a participatory and learning culture. With market saturation of smartphones and tablets and their associated apps, new affordances for content creation, curation and sharing show great potential to enhance participatory culture. The typical smartphone or tablet now incorporates digital technologies such as geo-location, audio, video, photo and web technologies. Bringing these technologies into a single device has enabled the development of apps such as Instagram, HistoryPin and SoundCloud. It has also changed the way users engage with established social networks and photo-sharing sites. Users can now create and share content on an unprecedented scale from any accessible Wi-fi or mobile phone network. Libraries are embracing these technology-rich apps to interact with their customers in many different ways. Examples in this article examine how libraries are taking up opportunities enabled by the convergence of technologies into mobile devices in the participatory culture context – tapping into new communities, engaging with their stakeholders in meaningful ways, enhancing their social impact and transforming their essential roles in today's knowledge society.

Are African libraries active participants in today's knowledge and information society?

This paper highlights the concept 'knowledge and information society', reviews the status of libraries in Africa, and explores the challenges facing libraries in today's society. The study concludes that while some African libraries, and South African libraries in particular, are actively part of the knowledge and information society, the same cannot be said for most libraries in Africa.

The Design of Serious Games: a Pedagogical Experience in the Field of BA Design Studies

Academic programs in Design have always faced the challenge of providing the best education in a sphere so changing as Design discipline itself. This is especially true within the current renewal of curricula derived from the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and, to a much more general level, the adaptation of the discipline of Design to the new challenges posed by the Knowledge Society. In this context, we present the educational experience of a serious games design workshop, which has been conducted at the Universitat de Barcelona’s Design BA. This pedagogical activity emphasises on three aspects which we believe are fundamental to the current pedagogy of design: to give a more transverse view of this discipline, to value the role of Design as a means of innovation in today's Knowledge Society, and to rethink the social function of Design.

Formative Competence-Based-Assessment through blogs. A project carried out in six Catalan universities

Academic programs in Design have always faced the challenge of providing the best education in a sphere so changing as Design discipline itself. This is especially true within the current renewal of curricula derived from the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and, to a much more general level, the adaptation of the discipline of Design to the new challenges posed by the Knowledge Society. In this context, we present the educational experience of a serious games design workshop, which has been conducted at the University of Barcelona’s Design BA. This pedagogical activity emphazises on three aspects which we believe are fundamental to the current pedagogy of design: to give a more transverse view of this discipline; to value the role of Design as a means of innovation in today's Knowledge Society; and to rethink the social function of Design.

Los posgrados de comunicación y sus apuestas sociales de contenido. ¿Se están respondiendo a las demandas en el marco del espacio europeo de educación superior (EEES)?

La adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) ha brindado al conjunto de las Universidades españolas la oportunidad de incorporar a sus programas académicos nuevos ejes de contenidos que fortalezcan y promuevan demandas que la sociedad va requiriendo dada la propia dinámica de las estructuras políticas, sociales, culturales y económicas. En este sentido, si partimos de la premisa que la comunicación tiene un valor crucial como dinamizador y componente imprescindible en la actual Sociedad del Conocimiento, las facultades que abarcan dicha disciplina deberían responder en sus nuevos programas docentes a las tendencias que la sociedad solicita en su camino.Por ello, en este trabajo pretendemos identificar si este proceso se ha acometido en dos ámbitos que en los últimos años están acaparando enfoques de interés social dadas sus implicaciones de impacto social, medioambiental, político y económico como son la Cooperación Internacional para el desarrollo y la Responsabilidad Social y en concreto, en los posgrados ofertados en el conjunto de las Facultades de Ciencias de la Comunicación.

Using collaborative teaching and inquiry project-based learning to help primary school students develop information literacy and information skills

Information literacy and information technology (IT) skills have become increasingly important in today's knowledge society. Many studies have shown that students from primary school to postgraduate lack crucial information literacy and IT skills, hence there is a need for an effective pedagogical approach that will develop these skills. This study investigated the effect of combining a collaborative teaching approach with inquiry project-based learning (PjBL) on the development of primary students' information literacy and IT skills. Students in a Hong Kong primary school completed two inquiry-based group projects. A collaborative teaching approach involving three teachers in different subject areas (general studies, Chinese, and IT) and the school librarian was adopted in guiding students through the two projects. Results indicate that this program had a positive impact of on the development of different dimensions of the students' information literacy and IT skills.

Between reason and experience: essays in technology and modernity

The technologies, markets, and administrations of today's knowledge society are in crisis. We face recurring disasters in every domain: climate change, energy shortages, economic meltdown. The system is broken, despite everything the technocrats claim to know about science, technology, and economics. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that today powerful technologies have unforeseen effects that disrupt everyday life; the new masters of technology are not restrained by the lessons of experience, and accelerate change to the point where society is in constant turmoil. In Between Reason and Experience, leading philosopher of technology Andrew Feenberg makes a case for the interdependence of reasonscientific knowledge, technical rationalityand experience. Feenberg examines different aspects of the tangled relationship between technology and society from the perspective of critical theory of technology, an approach he has pioneered over the past twenty years. Feenberg points to two examples of democratic interventions into technology: the Internet (in which user initiative has influenced design) and the environmental movement (in which science coordinates with protest and policy). He examines methodological applications of critical theory of technology to the case of the French Minitel computing network and to the relationship between national culture and technology in Japan. Finally, Feenberg considers the philosophies of technology of Heidegger, Habermas, Latour, and Marcuse. The gradual extension of democracy into the technical sphere, Feenberg argues, is one of the great political transformations of our time. Inside Technology series