2nd Global Conference
The Idea of Education
Friday 4th July - Saturday 5th July 2003
Mansfield College, Oxford
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Session 1: Education
in Practice
Chair: Seth Agbo
Being Out There: Outdoor Place for Learning Architecture
Paramita Atmodiwirjo and Yandi
Andri Yatmo
Department of Architecture, University of Indonesia
There has been an increased understanding on the important role of learning outside the classroom. The place for learning has been redefined in such a way that learning can take place anywhere beyond the ‘traditional classroom’. Learning outside the classroom has been a common practice in many educational institutions, and this includes learning in natural outdoor space as well as learning within the communities. In common, the process in these learning situations offers direct experience with the environments.
This paper will describe a case study in undergraduate architectural design studio, in which the majority of the learning processes occur in outdoor space. The approach in this studio makes use of learning in outdoor spaces as a part of the process in developing students’ understanding of space. The climatic condition in our country allows for plenty opportunities for learning outdoor. Learning in outdoor space offers the students opportunities for direct experience of space and place, the sharpening and activation of body senses and sensitivity towards the environments. It also gives opportunities for direct creation of space and place, through the possibilities to build 1:1 models and structures, and to conduct activities of creating something and doing something to the environment. The ‘emptiness’ of outdoor space provides freedom from the physical, built, tangible, and anything within the limits or boundaries, and offers a chance for learning to create something out of nothing.
The case study demonstrates that the learning activities in outdoor spaces, together with the learning activities in ‘traditional design studio’, becomes an important part within the whole learning process. It illustrates the role of natural, outdoor space particularly in architectural education, and the relevance of this approach for educational process in general.
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Conference Paper - 
Comparative Time in Service of Faculty Job Satisfaction
at Higher Education Level: China and Taiwan
Leafy Tu
Argosy University, Sarasota, Florida, USA
The study examined the time in service differences of job satisfaction between Taiwan and China higher education faculty. Data of job satisfaction was obtained from 194 Taiwanese faculty members and 211 Chinese faculty members employed at college levels in one city. The overall job satisfaction of the full-time Taiwanese faculty was not statistically significantly different in terms of time in service (F= 0.537, P= 0.709). Full-time Taiwanese faculty with 16-20 years teaching experience tended to be the most satisfied group (M=15.80) and full-time Taiwanese faculty with 21 years or more teaching experience faculty were the least satisfied group (M=11.67), but no significantly so, in the study. As compared with Taiwan, the overall job satisfaction on time in service of the full-time Chinese faculty was a statistically significantly different (F=3.017, P= 0.019) after educational reforms and Chinese faculty with 21 years or more teaching experience were significantly higher than the rest of four groups. Explanations for these findings are offered here.
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Paper -
A Reflection of Quality: Instrumental Reason, Quality
Audits and the Knowledge Economy
Gillian Howie
Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool
The discourse of the ‘knowledge economy’
retains two functional characteristics of education, as both an intrinsic
and an extrinsic good. Education is considered both to be a publicly directed
activity with the extrinsic purpose of creating a growth economy, which
it achieves by distributing and inculcating skills required by the ‘new
global economy’, and as a positional good benefiting the individual
by guaranteeing economic rewards. Rather than concentrating on the contradictions
of the funding argument, as presented in the White Paper, here I would
like to consider whether auditors function in much the same way as Smith’s
‘Hidden Hand’, bringing together individual and social interest.
This paper explores how successful auditors contribute to a managerial
culture by ‘suggesting’ processes of measuring quality. My
contention is that these processes actually reproduce discriminatory practices
by introducing particular pedagogical practices. Although the concepts
of social justice and discrimination are contested, both imply that there
are normatively unacceptable ways of identifying things and people. I
suggest that students are now educated within a system that promotes a
form of thought antithetical to the recognition of ‘otherness’:
a prerequisite for any substantial thought about diversity. From the above
I conclude that the performance culture subjects truth and ethics to the
demands of the market and requires a reappraisal of the political role
and function of higher education.
Tea
Funding Challenges for a South African University
: A Case Study
By Herman Rhode and Kirti
Menon
University of Cape Town and Academic Advisor to the University of the
North
The higher education environment both internationally and nationally is on a major transformation trajectory to cope with the need to broaden access, manage knowledge strategically and operate in cost-effective ways to deal with the reduced resources available for the sector. South African higher education is embarking on a major restructuring exercise aimed at shifting the system from an apartheid-defined landscape to one that is equitable, responsive and improves access.
The National Department of Education in South Africa recognises in new plans that funding of higher education is a strategic lever to overcome the inequities of the past. Current policy formulations like the new funding formula, the student loan scheme (NSFAS), etc and financial data of the institution will be examined with a view to extrapolating the intended and unintended consequences of these for the University of the North. Johnstone, (1986, 1992, 1993,2000) has argued for a cost sharing or revenue diversification model in recognition that in response to the increase in access to higher education, government budgets have been strained. The onus has shifted from the state to the institution, the learner and the necessity to source alternative income streams.
The paper presents arguments for an alternative costing model that could ensure the financial viability of a university situated in a peri-urban area and targeted for a merger with a medical institution in 2004. Additional problems that confront the institution are ill-prepared students, a lower income group market segment and under-utilisation of the plant. The reliance on student loan schemes and government funding has placed pressure on the institution to seek other income streams.
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Paper -
Pedagogy First: The Role of Technology in the Classroom
Denton Anthony and Lars K. Hallstrom
Department of Business Administration, St. Francis Xavier University,
Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Technology has increasingly become part of the educational and teaching experience in Canadian universities. As a result, there has been an expansion of research and investigation into the roles that technology can, will, and should play in undergraduate education. Primarily research on technology and teaching has traditionally been student oriented, focusing on a variety of questions such as the relationship(s) between demographic variables, technology use, software vs. hardware, and student performance (Clawson, Choate & Rockeymore 1998; Acadia University 2001; McCarty & Robinson 1997). While this research is still centred around students and learning, it takes a different approach. Rather than focus solely on student opinions, this research begins by recognizing the intent behind the use of technology by faculty: to transmit information and facilitate learning in students.
This research starts from a simple assumption, that faculty and students have pre-conceived models of the purposes of technology in the classroom. However, what has not yet been addressed is whether these models coincide, or are even compatible. Thus, the primary goal of this research is to: (1) uncover students perceptions on the role technology should play in the classroom, (2) identify any factors that may predict positive student evaluations of technology in the classroom, (3) determine the role technology plays in creating an interactive forum within the classroom and, (4) determine effective methods of learning by generating compatible models.
To generate answers for our research objectives a two-stage research approach was adopted. The initial stage consisted of collecting data using self- selecting focus groups comprised of first and second year undergraduate students from two different academic disciplines. The exploratory stage was followed by quantitative analysis using a different sample group consisting again of self-selecting undergraduate students primarily in their first and second years of post secondary education.
This study contributes to our understanding of the relationship between technology and education by comparing student and faculty understandings of technology in the classroom, and is expected to provide insight into ways that these understandings can be brought closer together.