75 research outputs found
Environmental NGOs in China - partners in environmental governance
No full textThis paper is a snapshot of the potential of Chinese environmental NGOs1 to effectively address environmental problems and needs, alone and in partnership with others. As environmental NGOs have only be on stage for the last ten years or so and as they undergo dynamic changes, a thoroughly conducted scientific analysis about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks is not possible yet. However, as the author has more than six years working experience with different Chinese environmental NGOs across the country, some empiric findings can be given, and some trends and tendencies be predicted. The paper starts with a look at the history of NGOs in China with a specific focus on environmental NGOs, followed by problems and chances caused by the present legal status of the groups. It then describes the main working areas of Chinese environmental NGOs, illustrating them by giving some representative examples. After a brief analysis, the paper proposes current trends and tendencies about the development of China’s environmental NGOs. The main trend is that Chinese NGOs, independently on their origin (grass root, semistate organizations or Government-organized non-profit environmental organizations) will gain more respect and influence in both environmental awareness raising and as competent partners in policy formulation and law enforcement, if the State institutions concerned will involve them in planning and developing processes in an early stage and assist them in their capacity building. --
Pushing beyond the comfort zone: Bridging the gap between technology and pedagogy
No full textThe use of online pedagogy within universities is increasing. However, this expansion is not accompanied by an associated increase in investment in lecturers' pedagogy to assist them in the transition. At present, lecturers lack the tools to describe or illustrate the meaning they try to make of this transition between online pedagogy and technology. This paper describes the changing relationship between pedagogy and technology that a group of academic staff demonstrated in a one year Action Research project. Diagrams, produced by the lecturers, demonstrated a tension between the two continua of pedagogy and technology. This way of representing their views is presented as a potential tool for assisting lecturers to construct meaning as they continue to adopt technology in their online teaching, while also providing a benchmark for their online pedagogy in order to ensure quality teaching in higher education
The cognitive and social processes of university students' online learning
No full textOnline learning courses in higher education have increased steadily in popularity in recent years, with many higher education students and educators wondering about their direct value in terms of social and cognitive gains. This study reports on a careful examination of educational processes in an exclusively online asynchronous discussion of a university course in three consecutive years. The researcher used NVivo software as a tool for the qualitative analysis and as a way to establish performance profiles. The study first establishes a framework to identify social and cognitive aspects of online learning based on three models of interaction and then refines the framework to better understand these processes of interaction. The themes that emerged as social processes were categorised as affective, cohesive or interactive. The cognitive processes were categorised into five types of interaction: sharing/comparing information, experiencing cognitive conflict, negotiating meaning, testing/modifying and applying knowledge. This paper focuses on the type of social and cognitive processes that learners experience in a semester long asynchronous discussion environment. The qualitative and quantitative analyses (performance profile) derived from the frequency of responses suggest that students tend to use more lower-level cognitive processes and fewer higher-level cognitive processes in spite of the fact that the course was designed to maximise the opportunities to establish higher-level learning in a socially interactive community of learners. However, the data revealed that when the higher-level cognitive processes were achieved, these were powerful and significant for a small but passionate number of learners
How the Secularization of Religious Houses Transformed the Libraries of Europe, 16th-19th Centuries
No full textThe closure of religious houses, in varying circumstances, affected all of Europe at some point between the sixteenth and nineteenth century. At different times and in different countries the consequences were widely varied, in some cases preserving medieval and early modern collections intact, in others abandoning books to their fate, or transferring them piecemeal into new ownership to serve different cultural purposes. Integral preservation or dispersal may each be viewed in positive or negative terms. For religious and political history there are many, and bigger, factors involved, and the effects of secularization worked on many things beside libraries and books. None the less, by focusing on books and libraries through these changes a particular narrative emerges of great cultural importance. It is the most important book-historical story for the survival and accessibility of Europe's heritage of the written word, one that interacts with major historical themes and still connects with future issues for the continuing role of books and libraries in the European heritage.
A conference held in Oxford in 2012 brought together thirty experts in different aspects of this process or with knowledge of its impact in different countries and at different periods. The result was to bring together and share for the first time the similar and different experiences of different European countries, from Portugal and Spain in the west to Poland and Ukraine in the east, from Finland and Sweden in the north to Naples in the south, with ramifications stretching to North and South America. While reading this volume of collected essays, the reader may notice a disparity in the evidence that each author has been able to bring to bear upon their subject. Provenance research is well advanced in some territories, less so in others. In the decade since the conference and this publication, there have been some attempts to bridge certain gaps. But in general, there has been little new work in the years since the conference took place. The editors anticipate that this publication will stimulate further research, bridging some of the gaps visible in the evidence presented in this volume. Multiple avenues for further investigation open up, indeed, in historical and cultural studies, such as the impact of the secularization on nonreligious libraries, and the change in attitude with respect to certain disciplines and even to erudition itself
How the Secularization of Religious Houses Transformed the Libraries of Europe, 16th–19th Centuries', Proceedings of the Conference held in Oxford 22-24 March 2012
No full textThe closure of religious houses, in varying circumstances, affected all of Europe at some point between the sixteenth and nineteenth century. At different times and in different countries the consequences were widely varied, in some cases preserving medieval and early modern collections intact, in others abandoning books to their fate, or transferring them piecemeal into new ownership to serve different cultural purposes. Integral preservation or dispersal may each be viewed in positive or negative terms. For religious and political history there are many, and bigger, factors involved, and the effects of secularization worked on many things beside libraries and books. None the less, by focusing on books and libraries through these changes a particular narrative emerges of great cultural importance. It is the most important book-historical story for the survival and accessibility of Europe's heritage of the written word, one that interacts with major historical themes and still connects with future issues for the continuing role of books and libraries in the European heritage.
A conference held in Oxford in 2012 brought together thirty experts in different aspects of this process or with knowledge of its impact in different countries and at different periods. The result was to bring together and share for the first time the similar and different experiences of different European countries, from Portugal and Spain in the west to Poland and Ukraine in the east, from Finland and Sweden in the north to Naples in the south, with ramifications stretching to North and South America. While reading this volume of collected essays, the reader may notice a disparity in the evidence that each author has been able to bring to bear upon their subject. Provenance research is well advanced in some territories, less so in others. In the decade since the conference and this publication, there have been some attempts to bridge certain gaps. But in general, there has been little new work in the years since the conference took place. The editors anticipate that this publication will stimulate further research, bridging some of the gaps visible in the evidence presented in this volume. Multiple avenues for further investigation open up, indeed, in historical and cultural studies, such as the impact of the secularization on nonreligious libraries, and the change in attitude with respect to certain disciplines and even to erudition itself
The Linguistic Construction of Power along the Concepts of Race, Class and Speciesism in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
No full textHarry Potter (HP) is arguably the favourite children’s book series of a whole generation of now young adults. But it is not only a children’s story about a magical world – it contains highly political themes like power, race, class and fascism. As it can be fruitful to take a look at how certain topics are presented to readers at a young age, I will try to open up a new, linguistic perspective on the construction of power in HP by employing methods of a literary linguistic analysis. A close look at how power relations are constructed linguistically is necessary since language is an important means to reproduce, enforce and create power. Or as Dumbledore says: “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it” (Harry Potter, 01:34:57-01:35:08). In order to answer the question of how power is constructed along the concepts of race, class and speciesism in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the analysis will be structured as follows: First, the literary linguistic analysis of the construction of power will be presented, touching brieflyupon the theoretical background of the methods used for analysis along the way. Then, the findings will be discussed from an intersectional perspective.In the end, I will provide a summary of the linguistic features primarily contributing to the construction of power hierarchies in the novel. The analysis mainly focuses on the second novel of the series because issues of racial or class differences begin to play a central role there. When the Chamber ofSecrets has been opened, racially motivated attacks on students begin, and the topic of power structures moves to the centre of the story
Sofortresonanzen DDR Fernsehen 37. Woche 1984 (SFR 37/84)
No full textZuschauerbeteiligung und Fernsehverhalten. Themen: Sehbeteiligung und Bewertung der Sendungen in der Woche vor der Befragung; Zusatzfragen: Gefallen der Sendung ´Ein Kessel Buntes´ und der Moderatorin Dorit Gäbler; Erfüllung der Erwartungen an die Sendung; Verhältnis von Rock und Schlager in der Sendung ´Bong´; Rezeption der neuen Serie ´Neumann - zweimal klingeln´ und Gründe dafür; Sympathie für handelnde Personen; Serie als liebevoll gestaltete Alltagsgeschichte; Realitätsgehalt der Serie; Gesamteindruck; Akzeptanz von Randthemen (Träumen) in der Sendung ´Urania´; aktuelle Programmkenntnis. Demographie: Haushaltsgröße; Alter; Geschlecht; Schulbildung; Tätigkeit; Weiterbildung; Neuerertätigkeit; Parteimitgliedschaft; Ehrenamt; Empfangsbedingungen
Sofortresonanzen DDR Fernsehen 37. Woche 1984 (SFR 37/84)
No full textZuschauerbeteiligung und Fernsehverhalten.
Themen: Sehbeteiligung und Bewertung der Sendungen in der Woche vor der Befragung;
Zusatzfragen: Gefallen der Sendung ´Ein Kessel Buntes´ und der Moderatorin Dorit Gäbler; Erfüllung der Erwartungen an die Sendung; Verhältnis von Rock und Schlager in der Sendung ´Bong´; Rezeption der neuen Serie ´Neumann - zweimal klingeln´ und Gründe dafür; Sympathie für handelnde Personen; Serie als liebevoll gestaltete Alltagsgeschichte; Realitätsgehalt der Serie; Gesamteindruck; Akzeptanz von Randthemen (Träumen) in der Sendung ´Urania´; aktuelle Programmkenntnis.
Demographie: Haushaltsgröße; Alter; Geschlecht; Schulbildung; Tätigkeit; Weiterbildung; Neuerertätigkeit; Parteimitgliedschaft; Ehrenamt; Empfangsbedingungen
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