617 research outputs found
An Interview with Cass R. Sunstein: Author of The World According to Star Wars
No full textThe guest editors of special issue 12, Jason W. Ellis and Sean Scanlan, interview Cass R. Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard, where he is founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy. He is the author of many books, including the bestseller Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler). His 2016 book The World According to Star Wars attempts to understand the Star Wars universe in ten chapters through the lenses of Sunstein’s academic interests, namely: culture, sociology, psychology, behavioral science, and political science. The book is both personal and theoretical, practical and academic. It takes accurate measure of the genesis of the movies, the movies themselves, and briefly, but trenchantly, it examines concepts such as reputational cascades and speculates on what Star Wars can teach viewers about constitutional disputes
Interview with Andrew Knox Cass
No full textInterview with Andrew Knox Cass, Author and STEM Teacher at the Energy and Environment Department. Polytechnic Institute, Aalborg. Denmark.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/digital-proximities_archive/1009/thumbnail.jp
Implications of the Improvement of Teaching Quality for Professional Development (PD) of Academics at the Colleges of Applied Sciences (CASs) in the Sultanate of Oman
No full textThe Oman Accreditation Council (OAC), which is called later the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA), designed a higher education institution (HEI) Quality Assurance (QA) framework for Omani public and private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), starting with a quality audit process in 2008. The Colleges of Applied Sciences (CASs), as a public HEI, are required to ensure the quality of all services and activities to meet particular national standards (specified in the framework) in order to gain a HEI and programme certificate. In line with a quality audit scope, the quality of the fields of PD and related teaching quality should be ensured and enhanced by the promotion and contribution of the former field to the maintenance and improvement of the latter one.
The chief purpose of this study was to identify the uptake and implications of the growing requirement to improve teaching quality and the PD of academics at the CASs in the Sultanate of Oman especially in the context of the application of the QA framework. The study focused on examining the academics’ participation in professional development programmes (PDPs) and current perceptions of PD with respect to the improvement of teaching quality improvement at these colleges. The current study also dealt with a reorganization and prioritization of academics’ PD needs, barriers to effective PD, and factors to enhance PD of academics regarding teaching quality improvement in the colleges.
Based on the purpose and research objectives, the current study adopted both positivist (quantitative) and interpretive (qualitative) research paradigms. Because the study perused quantitative and qualitative data regarding certain variables, it chose a mixed-research design. The researcher designed survey questionnaire to collect quantitative data and a semi-structured interview and a focus group discussion to probe and interpret quantitative findings. After fulfillment of the validity and reliability measurements, a self-completion questionnaire was distributed to a stratified random sample of academics (170) over the six CASs. A total of 150 questionnaires (out of 170) were completed and returned and the response-rate reached 88.2%. The quantitative data was analyzed by appropriate analysis using the Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS), while the qualitative data was analyzed by appropriate qualitative analysis.
The findings of the study showed that the level of academics’ participation in PDPs to improve teaching quality in the last two years in the CASs seems to be unsatisfactorily low. The current perceptions of the PD situations in the colleges, relating to teaching quality improvement, signified a shortage in the number of available PDPs and/or a discouragement of academics’ participation in these programmes in the last two years. The study also revealed all the 22 PD needs of academics regarding the improvement of teaching quality are significantly demanded by participants; the higher rated needs focused on a development of ‘student centred’ skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Furthermore, the study illustrated that the highest significant perceived barriers to effective PD in the CASs, as related to teaching quality improvement, focus on a lack of a clear institutional PD policy and a lack of appropriately systematic PD plans. The study also revealed all 10 perceived factors to enhance PD regarding teaching quality improvement are very important. The most significant factors represented and stressed particular problematic issues (the high rated barriers) and a reduction of a heavy workload to enhance academics’ participation in PD regarding the improvement of teaching quality.
Conclusions drawn from the discussion of the findings of study include a lack of a clear PD policy at national and institutional levels and absence of a particular authority/unit concerning PD issues in Omani HEIs. The two problematic issues resulted in a lack of systematic and realistic PD plans in the CASs, involving a lack of academics’ involvement in PD plans, a misconnection of academics’ PD needs to PD, inappropriate facilities and resources allocation, and inappropriate evaluation processes of PD. In addition, the conclusions also include that PD of academics regarding the improvement of teaching quality in the colleges requires more attention and focus to manage particular significant issues perceived by participants as both barriers and potential facilitators relating to PD of academics.
Based on identified conclusions, particular implications for policy and practice to enhance PD to improve teaching quality were set at three levels: governmental, institutional, and individual. Moreover, achievements of the current study according to the research questions were identified and contributions of the study to the fields of PD, teaching quality, and the context of QA and quality audit in HE were addressed. Based on the findings and conclusions, particular directions and recommended issues were suggested to be studied by further research to benefit the enhancement of PD and related teaching quality improvement
Joyce Carol Oates\u27s Foxfire : Butchness, Agency, and the Transgressive Feminist Subject
No full textPart of the Session titled Feminist Futures in Fictio
A common conception of justice underlies Pacific churches’ message on climate change
No full textThis article presents an overview of the role mainstream churches can play in mitigating the climate change crisis in the Pacific and their role in facilitating climate induced migration. It builds on earlier work by the author (Cass, 2018; 2020) with a focus on Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea. Both Catholic and Protestant churches share a concern for the future of the planet based on the principles of economic, social and climate justice, which complement moral and ecumenical imperatives. The article examines what message the churches convey through the media and the theology that underlines them
Stephen S. Gardner and Cass Anthony Collins Jr.
No full textInscribed on back: Camp Lee, VA. Oct -- Commissioned as the youngest second lieutenants at the recent graduation at the Quartermaster School, Camp Lee, Va. were Stephen S. Gardner of 168 Main Street, Wakefield Mass., and Cass Anthony Collins Jr. of 2211 Wabash Street, Detroit, Michigan. Lauded for outstanding work by Brig. General H.L. Whittaker, Q.M. School Commandant, the two officers are among eight men who were commissioned under 21 years of age, in a record graduating class of 1199 officer candidates.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/gartin_photo/1014/thumbnail.jp
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On freedom /
No full textFrom New York Times bestselling author Cass Sunstein, a brisk, provocative book that shows what freedom really means--and requires--todayIn this pathbreaking book, New York Times bestselling author Cass Sunstein asks us to rethink freedom. He shows that freedom of choice isn't nearly enough. To be free, we must also be able to navigate life. People often need something like a GPS device to help them get where they want to go--whether the issue involves health, money, jobs, children, or relationships. In both rich and poor countries, citizens often have no idea how to get to their desired destination. That is why they are unfree. People also face serious problems of self-control, as many of them make decisions today that can make their lives worse tomorrow. And in some cases, we would be just as happy with other choices, whether a different partner, career, or place to live--which raises the difficult question of which outcome best promotes our well-being. Accessible and lively, and drawing on perspectives from the humanities, religion, and the arts, as well as social science and the law, On Freedom explores a crucial dimension of the human condition that philosophers and economists have long missed--and shows what it would take to make freedom real
The historical Tualatin River Basin
No full textby Penny L. Cass, Scientific and Technical Communication, J. Ronald Miner, Ph.D., Department of Bioresource Engineering, Oregon State University.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 57-59).Done under a grant from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English
The life of Mary
No full textBeing a woman in the 19th century meant mental restriction from society, even with radical parents like William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Born at the bloodiest time in French history, Mary Shelley was famous before she had produced her most famous work at age 19. Her novel Frankenstein earned Mary Shelley a permanent member of the intellectual circle surrounding Mary and her husband, the poet Percy Shelley. Mary’s own biography reads like a dramatic play with many travels, interactions with other thinkers, and personal tragedy. Her tumultuous marriage ended off the coast of Italy when Percy drowned alongside a comrade while sailing home. Their bodies washed ashore and a veil was lifted from Mary Wollstonecraft’s purpose as an author. She was finally free to shape her own destiny instead of chasing behind her wildly romantic and infamous husband. Mary lived in the shadow of her husband but was given the opportunity to thrive after his passing when she was only 23. In this project I will be taking a critical look at the biographies published about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her life publishing and creating as a woman. Perspectives differ when compiling a complete history of her life and I will be assessing these discrepancies and the manners in which her life is compared to her formidable husband while comparing critical scholars’ perspectives throughout this paper. (Author abstract)Cass, A. (2015) The life of Mary. Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.ed
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The Chinese academy of social sciences: shaping the reforms, academia and china (CASS)(1977-2003)
No full textThis socio-political analysis of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) sheds new light on the link between China’s educational reforms and the ideological control exerted by the Party-state. It explores the dynamics of the ways in which the academic community has carved out and utilised the spaces between the academic and Party leadership and the free will of the individual. By differentiating between various forms of power, the author shows how knowledge produced at CASS is influenced not only as a direct result of top-down decisions-making but also unintentionally through organizational networks that interlock both leaders and led in the institutions they helped shape. Administrative tools and symbolic representation in official ceremony are shown to be indispensable for an adequate understanding of the generation of knowledge at CASS. With financial support of the International Institute for Asian Studies (www.iias.nl)
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