Crowdsourcing and Self-Instruction: Turning the Production of Teaching Materials Into a Learning Objective

This article describes a lesson plan that harnessed students’ abilities to generate new teaching material by constructing country timelines. This involved crowdsourcing, or the reliance upon task inputs from a large number of people to acquire information. The plan was motivated by an approach that conceives of learning as deriving from the joint activity of individuals with shared tools, and was geared toward promoting self-instruction alongside traditional lectures and exams. By relying on independent research and individual contributions to create a new teaching resource, the course facilitated strategic reading and peer learning and promoted a research-active learning environment. The experience encourages instructors to consider ways to use distributed learning in the classroom to make students both the producers and consumers of innovative content.     

Environmental Policy As Learning: A New View of an Old Landscape

Environmental policy in the United States has always been characterized by high levels of political conflict. At the same time, however, policy makers have shown a capacity to learn from their own and others' experience. This article examines U.S. environmental policy since 1970 as a learning process and, more specifically, as an effort to develop three kinds of capacities for policy learning. The first decade and a half may be seen in terms of technical learning, characterized by a high degree of technical and legal proficiency, but also narrow problem definitions, institutional fragmentation, and adversarial relations among actors. In the 1980s, growing recognition of deficiencies in technical learning led to a search for new goals, strategies, and policy instruments, in what may be termed conceptual learning . By the early 1990s, policy makers also recognized a need for a new set of capacities at social learning, reflecting trends in European environmental policy, international interest in the concept of sustainability, and dissatisfaction with the U.S. experience. Social learning stresses communication and interaction among actors. Most industrial nations, including the United States, are working to develop and integrate capacities for all three kinds of learning. Efforts to integrate capacities for conceptual and social learning in the United States have had mixed success, however, because the institutional and legal framework for environmental policy still is founded on technical learning.     

Towards ‘reinventing government’: the changing perspectives of democratic governance for development

Good governance has now become a passion as all governments and regimes appropriate and/or misappropriate the term for development or populist reasons. However, democratic good governance is the catalyst for development. The idea of reinventing government is necessary in order to confront the dynamics and challenges of development in the era of globalisation. This is the main thrust of this review article. The article reviews three major books, the focus of which provides analytical insight towards reinventing government for achieving the MDGs and other development agenda. The books argue that to redesign and reinvent governments for development, attributes of democratic good governance must be articulated, localised and contextualised based on individual country's historical–political experiences and socio‐economic capabilities. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From Active Learning to Taking Action: Incorporating Political Context Into Project-Based,Interdisciplinary, International Service Learning Courses

Educational approaches that enable students to actively and directly participate in “real-world” projects are increasingly recognized as valuable pedagogical tools and, as such, being incorporated into university curriculums worldwide. Though not traditionally associated with political science courses, project-based international service learning presents a tremendous opportunity to bring classroom concepts and theories to life, provide an active approach to addressing international challenges, and assist students in the development of the hands-on, problem-solving, team-based, critical-thinking skills that are increasingly important to employers across all sectors. This article seeks to encourage political science faculty to incorporate international service learning—and/or project-based approaches—into their educational offerings. Through examination of the course Global Synthesis in Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies at California Polytechnic State University, we have identified multiple factors that can help promote successful execution of project-based international service learning as a pedagogical tool, and provide additional suggestions for faculty interested in adopting specific aspects of these educational approaches, and/or in doing so closer to home.     

Designing long-term policy: rethinking transition management

Long-term policy is enjoying something of a come-back in connection with sustainable development. The current revival tries to avoid the pitfalls of an earlier generation of positivistic long-range planning and control approaches. Instead, this new generation of policy design emphasises reflexive governance concepts. These aim at inducing and navigating complex processes of socio-technical change by means of deliberation, probing and learning. A practical expression of this move that is attracting growing international attention amongst researchers and practitioners is the policy of ‘Transition Management’ (TM) in the Netherlands. This article takes stock of TM implementation experience to date and discusses the critical issues it raises for long-term policy design. The article provides a framework and synthesis for this Special Issue, which comprises articles that address a range of those issues in more depth. We highlight three critical issues: the politics of societal learning, contextual embedding of policy design and dynamics of the design process itself. This leads us to propose a view on policy design as a contested process of social innovation. Our conclusion considers implications for continued work on designing transition management in practice as well as the reflexive capacities of democratic politics.     

An actor‐oriented approach for strengthening research and development capabilities in natural resource systems

This article is concerned with strengthening research and development capabilities in natural resource systems, especially systems oriented towards reducing rural poverty. It reviews current planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME) literature and identifies five major areas of concern: (1) the lack of systematic and usable methods for qualitative assessment; (2) the narrow focus of current activities; (3) the failure to address the political nature of evaluations; (4) the lack of integration of PME methods with the practice of research and development; (5) the need for methods that facilitate flexibility, learning and replanning in process projects. Major new approaches for PME in process projects are reviewed and some gaps are identified. The article develops an ‘actor oriented approach’ for strengthening research and development (R&D) capabilities in natural resource systems. This holistic approach identifies major actors in an overall R&D system and concentrates on the determinants of flows of information between actors. Two major tools are presented: an actor linkage matrix and a determinants' diagram. The use of these tools is illustrated with a retrospective case study from the Kavango region of Namibia, and the potential strengths and weaknesses of the approach are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation and policy learning: The learners' perspective

This article examines how evaluation induces policy learning – a question largely neglected by the scholarly literature on evaluation and policy learning. Following a learner's perspective, the article attempts to ascertain who the learners are, and what, and how, learners actually learn from evaluations. In so doing, it focuses on what different types of learners actually learn within the context of the evaluation framework (the set of administrative structures defining the evaluation goals and process). Taking the empirical case of three EU programme evaluations, the patterns of policy learning emanating from them are examined. The findings are that only two types of actors involved in the evaluation are actually learning (programme units and external evaluators), that learners learn different things (programme overview, small‐scale programme adjustments, policy change and evaluation methods) and that different learners are in control of different aspects of the evaluation (learning objectives and processes) according to the evaluation framework established by the European Commission.     

DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING PRACTICES AND VALUES IN NORTH–SOUTH CITY PARTNERSHIPS: TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MUTUALITY

This article addresses twinning between local governments in North and South, contributing to the past decade's discourse on institutional twinning in this journal. Local governments have increasingly become recognised as relevant actors in international development cooperation through city‐to‐city cooperation structures, which have been praised as an effective mechanism for local government capacity building. This article discusses the learning practices and the extent to which new knowledge is valued and adopted by twinning participants in both North and South and moreover whether learning benefits are mutual. In a study of three partnerships between Dutch municipalities and partner cities in Peru, South Africa and Nicaragua, 36 participants were interviewed. The findings reveal that learning in city‐to‐city partnerships is not mutual between North and South and that the benefits of ‘shared learning’—a rhetoric commonly used in the twinning discourse—are limited. Instead, other opportunities for mutuality arise for Northern municipalities from political and strategic benefits, such as staff loyalty and motivation. Mutuality in twinning hence deserves a broader interpretation than learning alone so that twinning benefits can be identified and maximised for both North and South, keeping cities interested and motivated. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why cooperate with others? Demystifying China's trilateral aid cooperation

This article examines China's motivations for trilateral aid cooperation in the context of its seemingly assertive diplomacy in recent years. Previously known for its preference for bilateral aid delivery, China, however, is increasingly conducting trilateral cooperation with western donor states and UN agencies. By employing constructivism and cognitive learning theories, this paper focuses on two perspectives: China's calculation of national interests and international engagement, and is structured around two case studies: UNDP's advisory role for China on development cooperation, and China–US trilateral aid cooperation. It argues that strategically, China is putting growing emphasis on its identity as a growing great power in the development sector, using trilateral cooperation to build its global image. Technically, China's four-decade long external engagement has promoted changes in its ideas about aid cooperation, thus reinforcing its desire for cognitive learning to improve its aid performance.     

‘twinning’ as a method of sustainable institutional capacity building

‘Twinning’ is the distinctive method employed during the last two decades by the Swedish International Development Co‐operation Agency (Sida) to promote institutional capacity building in development co‐operation. This article reports on a study undertaken to provide evidence which would help Sida to make judgements about the efficacy of the twinning model as a basis for sustainable capacity building, and to explore ways of enhancing the method. The study indicates that the twinning method has potential advantages over other modes of development co‐operation, particularly that it offers enhanced possibilities for organizational learning and sustainable capacity building. However, the study suggests that this potential is not being fully exploited. Twinning arrangements have produced major benefits in professional/technical upgrading, but there is less evidence of outcomes at the level of sustainable institutional capacity building. Contrary to Sida's expectations of its distinctive advantages, in operation, twinning tends to become a rather routine process, viewed by developing country partners as an unexceptional way of delivering aid which presents few fundamental challenges and provides essentially the same benefits as alternative methods. It appears that institutional development and organizational learning are generally not issues of major significance for partner organizations in twinning arrangements. Even at the individual level the focus is on training rather than learning, which results in the usual emphasis on formal off‐job training rather than seeking opportunities for learning from work. The article presents ideas on how the current twinning approach might be renovated, and considers how agencies such as Sida might enhance their development co‐operation in the realm of governance by moving beyond twinning. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Active Learning in Large Graduate Classes: Reflections on an “Attaining Citizenship” Simulation

Abstract

This article details a role-playing “citizenship simulation” used in a large graduate seminar offered by the Masters of International Relations (IR) faculty at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While recognizing the need for a more systematic analysis of the relationship between class size and active learning strategies, this article offers an anecdotal reflection on the challenges faced when employing active learning in an IR course with growing enrollment numbers. We describe and analyze a simulation used in the graduate course to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of structuring large IR classrooms to include participatory group activities such as simulations. We also hope the simulation provides instructors with an effective sample design for simulations in their own larger courses.     

Citizenship values and asset accumulation: the case of Argentine migrants

Using diverse conceptualisations of citizenship, this article analyses the effect of the accumulation of civic and political assets on the transformation of citizenship values among Argentine migrants to Spain and returnees. Focusing on the transnational spaces, this article analyses important civic and political capabilities accumulated by a group of migrants and explores the impact of the assets accumulated in the transnational context. This research uses data drawn from 19 Argentine immigrants to Barcelona and 30 Argentine returnees from the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. Findings indicate that the migratory experience generated gains in the civic and political capabilities of this group of migrants and returnees and that living in Spain promoted the development of a more responsible, analytical and, in some cases, active citizenship. As holders of ‘multiple-perspectives’, interviewees were in a privileged position to critically analyse both the sending and receiving societies. Moreover, respondents implemented a number of practices acquired in the host society, in their home society, although this transfer generally remained at an individual level.     

Making User‐boards a School in Democracy? Studying Swedish Local Governments

In its final report, a Swedish Government Commission has argued that representative democracy should be complemented by a high degree of local participation. The Commission argues that user‐boards and citizen panels, for instance, are tools for vitalising democracy by educating people about democratic principles. This argument rests on two assumptions: (a) about the effects of participation in terms of a learning process at the individual level, and (b) about certain specific organisational circumstances that facilitate the learning processes. However, despite having long been evident in democratic theory, the assumptions lack empirical support. Thus, each of the Commission's assumptions poses an interesting empirical challenge: First, does local participation give rise to an individual democratic learning process? Second, does the link between local participation and representative democracy co‐vary with the individual learning process? This article presents results from a process‐oriented comparative study of two Swedish municipalities that introduced user‐boards in the school sector. The article shows that participation in user‐boards gives rise to various degrees of learning processes about democracy for individuals. It also shows that a relation between local governments and user‐boards, characterised by dialogue and cooperation, increases the possibility that participation in user‐boards will give rise to these learning processes.     

浅析学习设计为导向的教学设计

现今高等教育,偏重内容导向发展的模式,导致忽视了对教学环节与具体教学环节的追踪、辅导;增加学习者认知负荷;不能动态调整学习策略。针对以上问题,寻找能够在教学者、学习者、资源与学习环境之间形成互动的解决方案。学习设计理念强调要关注教学设计过程,重视活动内容与活动顺序的设计,为我们解决上述问题,提供了重要思路。     

Semiotising the student perception of learning outcomes in British higher education

This article presents a semiotic analysis of the student perception of learning outcomes in British higher education. It centres on three annotated images in Frank Furedi’s article “The Unhappiness Principles”, published in Times Higher Education in 2012. Drawing upon Peircean semiosis and iconicity, it provides a rhetoric-infused interpretation of the word–image complementarity exhibited in student participants’ written commentaries on the three images. This leads to a dialectical view of formative and summative assessment, in which process and product create each other through the same continuum of learning and teaching. In highlighting intellectualism as central to the ethnography of university life, this article argues that learner autonomy and the potential for transformation is deemed essential to the student experience in higher education.     

学习型社会挑战我国传统学习文化

构建学习型社会在我国的许多城市已经成为热潮.但是,这项工作会遇到我国传统学习文化的一系列挑战.如果我们不能克服文化方面的障碍,学习型社会就可能会走样,甚至成为"政绩工程"或"形象工程".本文从传统学习文化的功利主义、被动学习、个体学习几方面分析了传统学习文化对学习型社会所造成的障碍,并指出只有克服这些障碍,学习型社会才可能在我国扎根和健康成长.     

国学研究的跨文化理念与方法

国学与国学研究是两个不同层面上的问题。国学虽是近代产生的概念,但其内涵却可以涵盖中国古代的学术文化,它主要属于价值层面,是"德性的学问"。国学研究才是近代学术发展的产物,它将国学视为研究对象,主要属于知识层面,是"文献的学问"。国学研究应该暂时搁置价值争端,提倡一种"学无中西"的跨文化理念与方法,以便更好地弘扬中国传统国学。     

Developing sustainable institutions: Lessons from cross-case analysis of 24 agricultural extension programmes

The building or reform of agricultural extension institutions has received considerable attention over the past 15 years, promoted principally by the World Bank and its training and visit (T&V) approach. Many of these institutional development projects have now been completed, allowing cross-case analysis of the experiences and outcomes. Given the relatively similar objectives and institutional improvement strategies adopted, and the dissimilarities in the eventual performance and institutional vitality of the target organizations, these experiences provide a useful set of cases in which to examine the dynamics of institutions performance and sustainability. This article examines 24 completed extension development projects in the light of an institutional sustainability framework that defines sustainability as the ability of an institution to produce outputs that are sufficiently in demand for enough inputs to be supplied to continue production at a steady or growing rate. Findings from the application of the framework highlight the importance of internal and external stakeholder support, the importance of early success in generating support, the need for both organizational action and learning in varying degrees depending on the situation, and the need to have a coherent strategy that matches the institution's internal capabilities and external environment.     

Responsibility and the Deliberative Citizen: Theorizing the Acceptance of Individual and Citizenship Responsibilities

The responsibilities of citizenship have, in recent years, become a central concern in political and policy debates. Nevertheless, the practical meanings of such responsibilities have remained opaque. This article examines these meanings by asking what theories of citizenship have to say about how people engage with, and accept, their responsibilities. An examination of how the liberal, communitarian, republican and deliberative democratic theories explain the way citizens engage with their responsibilities shows that only deliberative democratic theory provides a nuanced range of concepts that may explain the acceptance of responsibility. In specific, Habermas's deliberative democratic theory is underpinned by a model of how the individual may develop a range of mental capacities to accept the extensive responsibilities associated with the deliberative citizen. By explaining how the individual grapples with her personal responsibilities, this approach also explains how she can deal with her responsibilities as a citizen. Four discourses through which people accept their responsibilities are thereby identified. These include egotistical, conformist, reformist and reflexive discourses. These discourses are explored by drawing on interviews with groups for whom the privatization of responsibility may have particular meanings. Using these interviews, this paper explores how people accept their personal responsibilities, thereby unfolding the discourses people use to deal with their citizenship responsibilities. In particular, by accepting the deliberative democratic contention that the individual already has the capacities to act as the deliberative citizen, it is possible to come to a view of just how people accept both their personal and citizenship responsibilities.