Reconstructing Undergraduate Education

This book is designed to introduce professors and administrators in higher education to the philosophical, theoretical, and research support for using a constructivist perspective on learning to guide the reconstruction of undergraduate education. It presents an original framework for systematically linking educational philosophy and learning theories to their implications for teaching practice. In this volume, Innes summarizes the sources he found most useful in developing his own set of teaching principles and course development process, and makes an argument for a particular perspective on learning--transactional constructivism--which is consistent with the philosophy of John Dewey and supported by current theory and research in learning science. Transactional constructivism, a combined approach, builds on the strengths of two competing views: psychological constructivism and the sociocultural perspective. Reconstructing Undergraduate Education: Using Learning Science to Design Effective Courses: *overviews the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of the teaching model that is the focus of the volume; *presents a summary of Dewey's educational philosophy and connects his work to current theory and research in learning science; *examines psychological constructivism, one of the basic positions within the range of learning theories that takes a constructivist perspective; *offers a case study example of a course designed and taught from this perspective; *reviews the sociocultural and the transactional constructivist perspectives; *explores the quality of dialogue and disciplinary discourse in the classroom--an issue that is critical to the success of models derived from a transactional constructivist perspective on learning; and *explores broader issues related to reform in higher education. This volume is a vital resource for all professionals involved in undergraduate education.

This book is designed to introduce professors and administrators in higher education to the philosophical, theoretical, and research support for using a constructivist perspective on learning to guide the reconstruction of undergraduate education. It presents an original framework for systematically linking educational philosophy and learning theories to their implications for teaching practice. In this volume, Innes summarizes the sources he found most useful in developing his own set of teaching principles and course development process, and makes an argument for a particular perspective on learning--transactional constructivism--which is consistent with the philosophy of John Dewey and supported by current theory and research in learning science. Transactional constructivism, a combined approach, builds on the strengths of two competing views: psychological constructivism and the sociocultural perspective. Reconstructing Undergraduate Education: Using Learning Science to Design Effective Courses: *overviews the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of the teaching model that is the focus of the volume; *presents a summary of Dewey's educational philosophy and connects his work to current theory and research in learning science; *examines psychological constructivism, one of the basic positions within the range of learning theories that takes a constructivist perspective; *offers a case study example of a course designed and taught from this perspective; *reviews the sociocultural and the transactional constructivist perspectives; *explores the quality of dialogue and disciplinary discourse in the classroom--an issue that is critical to the success of models derived from a transactional constructivist perspective on learning; and *explores broader issues related to reform in higher education. This volume is a vital resource for all professionals involved in undergraduate education.

Detailed study of transformations in the teaching and research priorities of universities worldwide, examining how these changes correspond to globally institutionalized understandings of reality.

The Civil War transformed American life. Not only did thousands of men die on battlefields and millions of slaves become free; cultural institutions reshaped themselves in the context of the war and its aftermath. The first book to examine the Civil War's immediate and long-term impact on higher education, Reconstructing the Campus begins by tracing college communities' responses to the secession crisis and the outbreak of war. Students made supplies for the armies or left campus to fight. Professors joined the war effort or struggled to keep colleges open. The Union and Confederacy even took over some campuses for military use. Then moving beyond 1865, the book explores the war's long-term effects on colleges. Michael David Cohen argues that the Civil War and the political and social conditions the war created prompted major reforms, including the establishment of a new federal role in education. Reminded by the war of the importance of a well-trained military, Congress began providing resources to colleges that offered military courses and other practical curricula. Congress also, as part of a general expansion of the federal bureaucracy that accompanied the war, created the Department of Education to collect and publish data on education. For the first time, the U.S. government both influenced curricula and monitored institutions. The war posed special challenges to Southern colleges. Often bereft of students and sometimes physically damaged, they needed to rebuild. Some took the opportunity to redesign themselves into the first Southern universities. They also admitted new types of students, including the poor, women, and, sometimes, formerly enslaved blacks. Thus, while the Civil War did great harm, it also stimulated growth, helping, especially in the South, to create our modern system of higher education.

Transformation and Empowerment through Education challenges the normalisation of Western discourses as the optimal choice for empowering education. The book aims to reconstruct our relationship with education and employs contemporary theories in order to understand some of the most persistent phenomena in contemporary education and its role in our lives. Written by professionals with experience of a wide range of academic and institutional conventions and traditions, and from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, this book effectively presents a global perspective on educational practices, both inside and outside the classroom. The range of topics covered includes equity, access, inclusivity, social justice, leadership and the internationalisation of teaching. This book, based on empirical studies using key methodologies, is ideal for academics and postgraduate researchers interested in critical pedagogy, educational studies and educational linguistics, as well as educators and policymakers around the world.

One of the leading historians of education in the United States here develops a powerful interpretation of the uses of history in educational reform and of the relations among democracy, education, and the capitalist state. Michael Katz discusses the reshaping of American education from three perspectives. First is the perspective of history: How did American education take shape? The second is that of reform: What can a historian say about recent criticisms and proposals for improvement? The third is that of historiography: What drives the politics of educational history? Katz shows how the reconstruction of America’s educational past can be used as a framework for thinking about current reform. Contemporary concepts such as public education, institutional structures such as the multiversity, and modern organizational forms such as bureaucracy all originated as solutions to problems of public policy. The petrifaction of these historical products—which are neither inevitable nor immutable—has become, Katz maintains, one of the mighty obstacles to change. The book’s central questions are as much ethical and political as they are practical. How do we assess the relative importance of efficiency and responsiveness in educational institutions? Whom do we really want institutions to serve? Are we prepared to alter institutions and policies that contradict fundamental political principles? Why have some reform strategies consistently failed? On what models should institutions be based? Should schools and universities be further assimilated to the marketplace and the state? Katz’s iconoclastic treatment of these issues, vividly and clearly written, will be of interest to both specialists and general readers. Like his earlier classic, The Irony of Early School Reform (1968), this book will set a fresh agenda for debate in the field.

"Higher education as we know it today is on the verge of a major transformation. We'll be forced to re-examine our ways in light of rapid changes in demographics, costs, lifelong and distance learning, and even in the way we best ..."--Publisher's website.