Purpose: While there is significant existing literature on learner analysis in instructional design and separately in cultural issues in education, these two areas are rarely examined in tandem. This paper aims to bring these two areas together. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses qualitative methods within the context of a case study.…

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), launched by the Kettering Foundation in 1980, provides an opportunity for the engaged university to foster public deliberation with its students and alumni, as well as leaders in the communities where it operates. NIFI publishes three issue books per year on topics of national importance. These…

Across the U.S.A, everyday citizens, civic leaders, policy makers, and educators are experimenting with inclusive, deliberative approaches to addressing social, economic, and political issues. Some academics and civic leaders describe this renewal in citizen engagement as a movement, a significant, transformative shift in the way we interact with…

The social model of disability has been a useful tool to shift the focus of disability as individual deficit to disability as a social construction in an oppressive society. However, a theory of political action is needed to create transformative change. This article develops resistance as a unifying political construct and tool for action. Four…

This text suggests a way of framing academic work and outlines a design for a preparatory event based on this understanding. It conceives academic work as "practical activity" and potential "praxis" in emergence by focusing on four issues: how can I do this work (tactical stance), what can I accomplish and achieve in it…

Updated for the first time since 2005, this indispensable volume includes revised interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights along with key intellectual freedom guidelines and policies, including: (1) A new chapter, "Interactivity and the Internet," and other fresh material on intellectual freedom and privacy in online social…

In this paper the authors focus on the consequences of economies and cultures of speculation in the field of education. Education is one of the arenas where the logics of speculation are being played out. It is argued that the major shifts in educational policy over the past decades in Sweden derive from what Ian Baucom aptly called…

The establishment of the National University of Ireland (NUI) in 1908 brought an end to a protracted dispute over the "Irish university question" which had dominated the Irish political agenda at least since the 1850s. The central issue throughout this entire period was the provision of acceptable university education for lay Catholics,…

This article discusses the role and experience of queer youth and allies in the Fair Wisconsin campaign that fought against the marriage amendment to that state's constitution. It illustrates how LGBT and ally youth involvement can be incorporated into other organizations. Following an explanation of the campaign, are narratives of two…

At the end of a presidential campaign in which education received some attention but never emerged as a top-tier issue, analysts were trying to look beyond the week's election to the K-12 issues awaiting the next president and gauge where they might fit as a new administration prepares to grapple with a global economic crisis. While education…

Is ethical leadership possible in the politics of this era? Had the question no specific time frame, the answer might be yes, or at least yes and no. In the 21st century, the idea that people can expect ethical leadership in American politics is to believe that hope triumphs over experience. The purpose of politics is no longer to do what is right…

The focus of the paper is on the transformative effect on student learning and engagement that results from using contemporary Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and directed reflection to engage in spatial learning about the politics (literally) surrounding the student. I report on the pedagogical advantages of using spatial analysis…

Whenever a second language is the object of learning, identity (or sense of self) is at stake, and the question of what community and what speech community one belongs to, strives to belong to, or is afraid to belong to raises complex issues. As stated by Zarate, Bhimji, and Reese (2005): "A bicultural identity is not necessarily a homogeneous or…

Judgments and justifications for different forms of civic involvement and their associations with organized and civic behavior were examined in 312 middle-class primarily White adolescents (M = 17.01 years). Adolescents applied moral, conventional, and personal criteria to distinguish involvement in community service, standard political, social…

Internet technology has provided people with unprecedented abilities to filter the information they encounter, leading many scholars to fear that people will be exposed to less diversity of perspectives and fragment into homogeneous interest groups. Exposure to a wide range of topics and perspectives about political information in particular is…