scholarly journals MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Devers
Keyword(s):  
Global South ◽  
Open Education ◽  
World Community ◽  
The Road ◽  
University Of Houston ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The World ◽  
Eye Opening ◽  
The University

This timely and eye-opening book from Ke Zhang, Curt Bonk, Tom Reeves, and Tom Reynolds, MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South (Zhang, Bonk, Reeves, & Reynolds, 2020), provides 28 chapters that describe the challenges, successes, and opportunities of MOOCs and open education from the perspective of 68 authors from 47 countries in the Global South (http://moocsbook.com). Before those chapters, a detailed preface from the four editors lays out the journey that the world community took to get to this point in the metaphor of a wanderer who makes his or her path by pushing ahead and exploring the road in front. In addition, an insightful foreword is provided by Mimi Miyoung Lee from the University of Houston who had previously co-edited an award-winning book with Bonk, Reeves, and Reynolds; namely, MOOCs and Open Education Around the World (Bonk, Lee, Reeves, & Reynolds, 2015). Thus, consider the current book Part 2 of what is likely to become a many act play in the world of MOOCs and open education. With the foreword and preface, there are 30 pieces in total (Note: the front matter is available for free from: http://moocsbook.com/MOOCs_Open-Ed_Global-South-frontmatter_2020_Zhang_Bonk_Reeves_Reynolds.pdf).

Comedy in the Holocaust: the Theresienstadt Cabaret

1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (48) ◽  
pp. 299-308
Author(s):  
Roy Kift
Keyword(s):  
Concentration Camp ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Opera Singers ◽  
The University ◽  
Stage Play ◽  
The Military

The concentration camp in Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic was unique, in that it was used by the Nazis as a ‘flagship’ ghetto to deceive the world about the real fate of the Jews. It contained an extraordinarily high proportion of VIPs – so-called Prominenten, well-known international personalities from the worlds of academia, medicine, politics, and the military, as well as leading composers, musicians, opera singers, actors, and cabarettists, most of whom were eventually murdered in Auschwitz. The author, Roy Kift, who first presented this paper at a conference on ‘The Shoah and Performance’ at the University of Glasgow in September 1995, is a free-lance dramatist who has been living in Germany since 1981, where he has written award-winning plays for stage and radio, and a prizewinning opera libretto, as well as directing for stage, television, and radio. His new stage play, Camp Comedy, set in Theresienstadt, was inspired by this paper, and includes original cabaret material: it centres on the nightmare dilemma encountered by Kurt Gerron in making the Nazi propaganda film, The Fuhrer Gives the Jews a Town. Roy Kift has contributed regular reports on contemporary German theatre to a number of magazines, including NTQ. His article on the GRIPS Theater in Berlin appeared in TQ39 (1981) and an article on Peter Zadek in NTQ4 (1985).

THE NINA VANCE ALLEY THEATRE PAPERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LIBRARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

2008 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
Tammy Ravas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
University Of Houston ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
Artistic Director

The University of Houston (UH) Libraries' Special Collections possesses several groups of papers and other items related to theatre and the performing arts, one of which is the Nina Vance Alley Theatre Papers. These items were donated to Special Collections in 2000. What follows is a brief biography of Nina Vance and history of the Alley as well as some highlights of items contained within this collection. Nina Vance was the Alley's first artistic director, from 1947 until her death in 1980. Along with Margo Jones and Zelda Fichandler, she helped shape the American regional-theatre movement in the later twentieth century. During her tenure at the Alley she directed 102 plays, produced 245 shows, and was awarded major grants, including significant funding from the Ford Foundation. Despite Vance's achievements in these areas, as well as in establishing the Alley as a respected theatre in the United States and across the world, few works of scholarship exist on her career. This could be partially due to the fact that many primary sources on the Alley Theatre and its founder, such as those found at the UH Libraries' Special Collections, have not been well publicized.

scholarly journals DISTANCE LEARNING : CONNECTING WITH STUDENTS IN THE COVID-19 ERA

2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (04) ◽  
pp. 74-80
Author(s):  
Rouba YAHIA
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Road Ecology ◽  
Traffic Crashes ◽  
Suitable Alternative ◽  
The Road ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The University ◽  
Mother Earth

Mother Earth is terribly sick today, and what has muddied the waters is the unwelcomed visit of the one-eyed novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). It is another symptom of the serious diseases the planet is suffering from. It is like a heavy disaster that has ravaged everything in its path, killing thousands and thousands of people and causing countless of harmful effects; some of them are terribly damaging and detrimental while others are more or less considered as blessings in disguise. It is spreading day after day like a wildfire in every nook and corner of the world with no possible curative vaccine so far. Nonetheless, and regardless the pains, I feel that there is always something good in every bad situation even if may not seem like for a lot of people as the quote goes” Every day may not be good, but there is something good in everyday”. It is so obvious that with the current pandemic many positive and unexpected things are floating over the surface. Examples of these blessings include “reduction in air pollution 20-30% in many cases in major cities around the world” (Airborne Nitrogen Dioxide Plummets Over China, 2020). Currently, the skies are bluer, the environment is cleaner and even people seem to be more responsible than any time before. In addition, we notice the perceptible decline in the number of traffic crashes as “Fraser Shilling, director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California at Davis, found that highway accidents—including those involving an injury or fatality—fell by half after the state’s shelter-in-place order on 19 March”. (Shilling F, 2020). Moreover, People have understood that health is better than any other wealth because it is the most precious gift one can own. Furthermore, we have learnt to keep going in sadness and sorrow as Roy T. Bennett explains, “Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end”. (Bennett, 2020). Besides, for us as learners and educators, the priceless gift of this pandemic is distance learning, which is another suitable alternative to bridge the distance with the learners and assure the continuity of their education as an urgent response to the actual health emergency. If the virus has succeeded to shut schools and quarantine people all over the globe, it surely won’t prevent learners to seek knowledge.

Darion McCloud as Dave the Potter

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne Johnson
Keyword(s):  
World Community ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The World ◽  
Visual Reference

Johnson investigates the recent award-winning children’s book by Hill and Collier about Dave the Potter, in particular, the illustrated representation within it of the figure of Dave the Potter. A noted children’s author herself, Johnson interviews the model for the depicted character of David Drake, Darion McCloud. The interview is used as the springboard into making observations about Bryan Collier’s collages—such as the embedded visual reference in a major spread of the book to Tom Feelings’s Soul Looks Back in Wonder, also a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. Along with the racial significance of the brown hues used by Collier, this piece analyzes Collier’s illustration of a tree as a symbol of what McCloud refers to as the world community.

Personal and Community Connection: Introduction to the Special Issue on Personal Digital Archiving 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Melody Condron
Keyword(s):  
Guest Editor ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Single Track ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Digital Archiving ◽  
University Of Houston ◽  
Hands On ◽  
The World ◽  
Information Professionals ◽  
The University

AbstractOn April 23–25, 2018, the University of Houston hosted the annual Personal Digital Archiving (PDA) Conference in Houston, Texas. The conference is a focused, single-track event that brings together information professionals, students, and non-academics. Though small, the conference commonly attracts attendees from around the world to discuss topics focused on the intersection of personal archiving and technology. The three-day event was comprised of two full days of presentations to all attendees. Over 140 attendees from five countries were in attendance. Two keynotes, nineteen sessions with question and answer panels, seven posters, and six lightning talks were presented. A third day offered two hands-on workshops and a tour of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center. In this introduction, the Chair of the Conference Planning Committee and Guest Editor of this issue, Melody Condron, discusses highlights of the conference, as well as themes and discussion that tie into the papers presented in this issue.

Ivan Potekhin—Man, Scientist, and Friend of Africa

1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-447
Author(s):  
George Skorov
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Socialist Revolution ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Great Loss ◽  
World Community ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
The University

I was attending a conference sponsored by the University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam when the sad news of the death of Professor Potekhin came through. The world community of Africanists has suffered a great loss. The people of Africa have lost one of their most devoted friends.Ivan Potekhin was born of a family of farmers in a small village in Siberia in 1903. No one can say what the destiny of this young Siberian peasant would have been had it not been for the Socialist revolution in Russia in October 1917. He was pulled into the revolutionary whirl and fought with arms to promote its ideals. This period in his life had a decisive role in shaping his political outlook and determining his future. From this time on, the idea of liberating man from political and social injustice became his creed. He devoted all his life to this.

scholarly journals Awake and Dreaming by K. Pearson

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlene Slobodian
Keyword(s):  
Peer Group ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Young Mother ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Low Pay

Pearson, Kit. Awake and Dreaming. Toronto: Puffin Classics, 2013. Print.Recently published in a new edition by Puffin Classics, Awake and Dreaming feels just as relevant to lonely children as it did when it was first published in 1996. One of Canada’s favourite authors of junior fiction, Pearson’s award-winning tale of a lonely girl, Theo, will wrench at the heartstrings of readers of all ages.Nine-year-old Theo longs to be part of a large family, with brothers and sisters to play with, living a stable life that does not involve moving from apartment to apartment. Her young mother works long hours for low pay, and is focused on her own problems and wants, neglectful, at times, of Theo’s desire to be cared for. Theo uses books as an escape from her dreary and lonely life, daydreaming during school of the kind of large, caring family she reads about in library books.Shortly after Theo and her mother move to their new Vancouver neighbourhood, her mother, Rae, runs into an old friend and they begin to date. Soon Theo is shuttled onto a ferry to Victoria to live with an aunt she barely remembers, until Rae and her boyfriend can “get used to living with each other” and she can return to her mother. While on the ferry, Theo meets her perfect idea of a family, and they welcome her into her home. She lives a wonderful, stable life for a few months, before she starts to be ignored again, this time by the only people whom she thought truly cared about her. A sharp return to her old life leaves her feeling miserable and more lonely than ever. Was her dream family just that, a dream? Will she ever find them again? Who was that strange woman staring at her on the ferry? Readers will have to finish the book to discover the startling and intricate tale behind Theo’s unusual circumstances.Awake and Dreaming is similar in tone to some of Pearson’s other works, which tend to feature lonely and, at times, frightened children, who are forced to confront the harsh realities of the world in which they live. Although this book was published almost twenty years ago, the majority of the content is still relevant and applicable to children growing up across Canada  today. Though the magic in the plot twist is dubious even for those die-hard believers in magic, the message of hope and of Theo’s desperation to belong to her peer group are strongly enforced throughout the novel. A new introduction written by Kenneth Oppel, as well as a character list, author profile, and discussion questions are included in this edition, making it a useful addition to classrooms, libraries, and book clubs.Reviewer: Carlene SlobodianRecommended: 3 stars out of 4Carlene Slobodian is an MLIS candidate at the University of Alberta with a lifelong passion for children’s literature. When not devouring books, she can be found knitting, cooking, or discovering new kinds of tea to sample.

scholarly journals Roadmap of shifting to online education during COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-197
Author(s):  
Ozcan Asilkan ◽  
Elton Domnori
Keyword(s):  
Online Education ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Road ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
The World ◽  
Keywords Education ◽  
The University

After the widespread of the corona virus disease 2019 corona virus pandemic, most educational institutions stopped conventional in-class teaching all over the world. The Metropolitan University of Tirana (UMT) in Albania took a rapid decision for shifting to online education by estimating that the pandemic might continue longer than expected, which could create difficulties to gain the time lost. Considering these circumstances, UMT immediately formed a specialised team to prepare the roadmap for starting online education. This team evaluated the existing online platforms and prepared a guideline to be followed for a smooth shift. As a consequence, the university shifted to online education with more than 80% of the students’ attendance from the earliest days. This study presents the road map that was developed rapidly and applied effectively for a quick but smooth shift to online education.   Keywords: Education, shift to online education, coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, Albania.

The Ritual of Devol Māduā: Problematizing Dharma in the Ethnic Conflicts of Sri Lanka

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Jamil Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
World Community ◽  
Problematic Relationship ◽  
The World ◽  
The University

Western consciousness of Sri Lanka tends to be limited to bracketing the secessionist ‘Tamil Tigers’ among the ‘terrorist threats’ facing the world community. In truth, tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities of Sri Lanka go back two millennia, and Syed Jamil Ahmed argues here that the conflict is reflected in the myths of origin of both communities and the rituals through which they are still re-enacted. He believes that one of these, the ritual of Devol Māduā, offers a possible resolution to the problematic relationship between religious and moral law, or dharma, and the pragmatics of statecraft in Sri Lanka. After examining the historical context of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and the myths of origin associated with the three key deities in the ritual, he offers an episode-by-episode description of the event, and goes on to suggest that the function of the ritual in Sinhalese–Buddhist society is revealing in terms of the dialectics of pacifism and violence that Buddhism faces in Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. Syed Jamil Ahmed is a director and designer based in Bangladesh, where he is Associate Professor at the Department of Theatre and Music in the University of Dhaka. In 2001–2 he was a visiting faculty member at King Alfred's College, Winchester. He wrote on ‘Decoding Myths in the Nepalese Festival of Indra Jātrā’ in NTQ 74, and his full-length publications – Acinpakhi Infinity: Indigenous Theatre in Bangladesh (Dhaka University Press, 2000) and In Praise of Niranjan: Islam, Theatre, and Bangladesh (Dhaka: Pathak Samabesh, 2001) – catalogue the wide variety of indigenous theatre forms in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals A Day with Yayah by N. Campbell

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Thorne
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Her Family ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Full Page ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The World ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The University

Campbell, Nicola. A Day with Yayah. Illustrated by Julie Flett. Tradewind Books, 2017. A Day with Yayah is a story that portrays a close relationship between a grandmother and her grandchildren. In A Day with Yayah, an Indigenous family makes a trip to British Columbia’s Nicola Valley to collect wild herbs and mushrooms. Along the way, the grandmother, Yayah, takes the opportunity to teach her grandchildren their language and to pass down her knowledge of edible plants and herbs. Yayah and her family are         Nle?képmx (Interior Salish peoples), who are often referred to as People of the Creeks. Campbell draws on her own background for this story, having grown up in the same valley where the story is set. Illustrator and award winning Cree-Métis artist, Julie Flett, provides stunning, brightly coloured full-page illustrations. Flett’s detailed drawings complement the narrative, and her folk-style characters, with their jubilant expressions and bright clothing, emphasize the importance of knowledge transfer from one generation to the next. Over the years, the language of the Interior Salisham people has become endangered and Campbell introduces her readers to twelve words in the Salish language. These words appear within the dialogue of the story several times, giving children the chance to identify and connect with these words. The glossary at the end of the book is a very helpful addition and aids readers with pronouncing and translating the terms that are used throughout the story. The phrasing of the sentences and the inclusion of Salish words makes this a more appropriate read-aloud to younger readers, but it would also be suitable for independent reading for students in elementary school. This book is highly recommended for both school and public libraries.  Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Lydia Thorne Lydia Thorne is a Public Services Librarian at the University of Alberta. She obtained a BA and an MA degree in English Literature before deciding to pursue her MLIS. Lydia’s favourite part about reading is that it allows her to travel all over the world - without ever having to leave her chair.

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