The University: An Agent of Social Change?

Can universities be agents of progressive social change? How would we know if a university was acting as an agent of social change? Drawing on four case studies, I raise a number of questions to problematize our understanding of the university as an agent of social change. I outline a number of contributing factors that appear to explain successful cases. I conclude by arguing the relevancy of these cases for larger, and more traditional, sociological projects.     

Challenges to Connecting Sociology and Service Learning

Service-learning programs are not free from challenges brought about by lack of financial support, lack of widespread commitment from professors, community agencies, and recipients of service, and lack of knowledge and insight in students directly involved in such programs. While service-learning initiatives and programs serve positive functions for organizations and individuals, rhetorical accolades for service learning can distort or omit the realities of program implementation and sustained delivery. This paper specifically explores the following challenges connected to service-learning programs: (1) pedagogical difficulties; (2) student limitations; (3) time constraints; and (4) community cooperation.     

合作学习与课堂参与性——通过合作学习促进英语课堂学生参与性的实验研究

鉴于英语教学重心向语言输出和运用能力的转移,学生在课堂上不再是被动的接受者.富兰克林说(1706-1790):告诉我,我会忘记;教给我,我可能记住;让我参与,我才能学会.因此,怎样让学生成为课堂的主体和积极的参与者成为教师关注的话题.本文通过实证研究调查了利用合作学习法提高英语课堂学生参与性的可能性和可行性,对比分析了实验班和控制班课堂参与状况,并对合作学习的实施提出了建设性的建议.     

浅析影响大学生英语自主学习能力的因素

本文对影响大学生英语自主学习能力的相关因素加以分析。     

试论清代两湖地区书院的刻书业及其兴盛原因

历代书院刻印的图书,在版本学上称为"书院本"。其版本价值较高,历来倍受文士学者重视。清代两湖地区的书院兴盛且日益官学化,书院刻书业比较发达,留下大量作品。究其原因,主要包括社会、政治、经济、文化和学术五个方面。     

浅析高校学生管理中的正当程序问题

高校在学生管理过程中侵害学生权益的事件时有发生,诱发高校与学生矛盾的一个主要因素是高校在学生管理工作中的程序瑕疵。在学校的管理工作中坚持正当程序原则,是使学校的管理行为公开、公正、公平的基本保证。在高校学生管理过程中适用正当程序是必然趋势。     

Attracting Micro‐Enterprises To Learning

Micro‐enterprises, i.e. firms with less than 10 employees, are traditionally the hardest to engage in learning; they are also least likely to participate in such measures as business advice and guidance provision and initiatives to support information communication technology (ICT) adoption. Through a community‐based initiative initially targeting parents (unemployed or employed) to participate in ICT, 30 micro‐enterprises were attracted to learning for the first time. These companies had carefully avoided similar initiatives taking place locally, which emphasized business success and growth; they had only participated in this ICT skills training because of their children. The paper takes a case study approach to evaluate the reasons for participation, explores barriers and implications for those organizing similar activities, and calls for a more holistic view of owners and managers of small firms as fathers, mothers, etc. rather than just as ‘entrepreneurs’.     

教学方法的多向度变革——《马克思主义基本原理概论》新教材教学法的研究与实践

为了创造性地贯彻《马克思主义基本原理概论》新教材的精神，课程组制定了“共性中创个性”的教学战略，在坚持共性、弘扬共性的基础上创造个性化教学特色，创造出了“坚持集体备课，鼓励多样化教学”的教学模式。     

Risk,trust and knowledge networks in farmers’ learning

This study reports on New Zealand dairy farmers’ access to and use of information as mediated through conditions of risk and trust within the context of their interpersonal social networks. We located participants’ reports of their information use within their perceived environments of trust and risk, following Giddens's [1990. The consequences of modernity. Polity Press, Stanford, CA] typology of trust and risk in pre-modernity and modernity. The research participants were constant users of interpersonal and print information from numerous sources, and monitored their incoming data in the light of strategic needs, reflecting their roles as both farming practitioners and business owners. Socio-spatial knowledge networks (SSKNs) combine individuals’ explanatory cognitive models of information acquisition and use with a micro-geographical analysis of their interpersonal networks. The participants showed characteristics of pre-modern, modern and even post-modern society in respect of their use of complex interactional forms, as well as a blending of individualistic and communitarian practices and concerns in their professional and personal lives.     

Can we rationally learn to coordinate?

In this paper we examine the issue whether individual rationality considerations are sufficient to guarantee that individuals will learn to coordinate. This question is central in any discussion of whether social phenomena (read: conventions) can be explained in terms of a purely individualistic approach. We argue that the positive answers to this general question that have been obtained in some recent work require assumptions which incorporate some convention. This conclusion may be seen as supporting the viewpoint of institutional individualism in contrast to psychological individualism.