scholarly journals Self-Access Environments as Self-Enriching Complex Dynamic Ecosocial Systems

2018 ◽  
pp. 102-115
Author(s):  
Garold Murray
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Data Informed

The central argument of this paper is that self-access centres transformed into social learning spaces have the potential to become self-enriching complex dynamic ecosocial systems. As such, they can support the emergence of a wide variety of affordances for language learning. While complex dynamic systems cannot be created and the process of emergence cannot be engineered, research suggests that both can be facilitated. To illustrate these points, I draw on the findings of three studies carried out in a social learning space at Okayama University in Japan: a five-year ethnography, a multiple-case study, and a narrative inquiry. I begin by describing the social learning space, outlining the studies and providing an overview of the theoretical orientations which guided the interpretation of the data. Informed by these bodies of theory and results from the studies, I then discuss why it is important to have a social learning space with the potential to become a complex dynamic ecosocial system. The paper concludes with an exploration of how educators might go about facilitating the emergence of self-enriching complex dynamic ecosocial systems.

scholarly journals Autonomy and Complexity in Social Learning Space Management

2017 ◽  
pp. 183-193
Author(s):  
Garold Murray
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Space Management ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
The Impact

Over the past four decades, learner autonomy in language learning has been quietly moving across what might be viewed as three paradigms in applied linguistics. When learner autonomy was introduced in the late 1970s, language classrooms were largely teacher-dominated. At that time, learner autonomy offered a much-needed focus on learners as individuals capable of accepting responsibility for all aspects of their learning. Later, as Vygotsky’s (1978, 1986) neo-constructivist theories became known, learning came to be seen as being socially mediated; and the field of applied linguistics experienced ‘a social turn’. Now it is widely recognized that learner autonomy develops more through interdependence rather than independence. Currently in the field of applied linguistics, ecology and complexity thinking are becoming more widespread. This article explores the impact that this theoretical shift might have on the work being carried out in social learning spaces. By drawing on themes arising from an ethnography, a multiple case study, and a narrative inquiry investigating a social learning space, this article looks at how managers might facilitate the emergence of affordances for learning by fostering conditions for complex emergence. It begins by situating the research within the literature, and providing an overview of pertinent aspects of theories of complex dynamic systems and space and place. Then, illustrating the points with themes and anecdotes from the three studies, suggestions are made as to how learning space managers might support the emergence of affordances for learning through attention to distributed control, neighbour interactions, reciprocity, randomness, and physical design features of the learning space.

scholarly journals Social Language Learning Spaces: Globalization Glocalized

2017 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
Garold Murray ◽  
Mariko Uzuka ◽  
Naomi Fujishima
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Japanese Society ◽  
Theoretical Orientation ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
The Social ◽  
National University ◽  
Local Students

In this era of globalization, Japanese universities will have to accommodate an increasing number of local students wishing to learn foreign languages and they will also have to welcome more international students to their campuses. While universities will undoubtedly take steps to ensure that both groups have positive educational and intercultural experiences, we contend that it is also incumbent upon them to implement measures designed to facilitate the adaptation of international students to Japanese society. In this article, we examine the role social learning spaces can play in helping universities respond to these challenges. We argue that these facilities can make an invaluable contribution by supporting language learning and cross-cultural acclimatization for both international and Japanese students. The term social learning spaces refers to places where students can come together in an informal or quasi-formal environment in order to learn from and with each other. To illustrate our points, we draw on the data from a five-year ethnographic inquiry carried out at one such facility on the campus of a large national university. After describing the social learning space, outlining the study, and tracing the theoretical orientation guiding the interpretation of the data, we focus on the benefits social learning spaces can afford international students wishing to improve their language skills and adapt to Japanese society. To conclude, we reflect on how social learning spaces can support the process of glocalization by making local universities more globalized places.

Reflection on Learner-Led Study Abroad Events in a SAC from Three Perspectives: A Learner, an Administrative Staff Member, and an Advisor

Relay Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Mizuki Shibata ◽  
Chihiro Hayashi ◽  
Yuri Imamura
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Support System ◽  
Staff Member ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Multiple Reflections ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Japanese University ◽  
Staff Members

This paper reports on a case study of learner-led study-abroad events in the language learning space at a Japanese University. We present multiple reflections on the events from different perspectives: the event organizer (student), an administrative staff member, and a learning advisor working at the center. We also introduce the support system that a group of administrative staff members and learning advisors are in charge of helping learners to hold their events. Moreover, throughout our reflections, several factors that made the learner-led study-abroad events sustainable and successful are demonstrated.

Music Therapy Intervention with Autistic Children

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-95
Author(s):  
Zuzana Vlachová
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Qualitative Empirical Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Therapy Interventions ◽  
Therapy Intervention

The paper presents a qualitative empirical research project, research design and research methods used in the preparation of a dissertation which deals with music therapy interventions in children with autism. The reason for examining this issue is a considerable lack of research activity in this area, and thus also a lack of relevant results on which clinical practice could rely. The results of future investigations should bring answers to the question of how children with autism receive and experience music therapy intervention and also what the effect of music therapy intervention in the social interaction of children is; research will be directed to a deeper understanding of this influence and its characteristics using the multiple case study design.

scholarly journals Guarantee of the social rights of children with chronic conditions: reinventing care towards civil rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (suppl 4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Silva Tavares ◽  
Kênia Lara Silva ◽  
Regina Garcia de Lima ◽  
Elysângela Dittz Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Public Health Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Children With Chronic Conditions

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the experiences of families in the exercise of the rights of children with chronic conditions in public health, education and social assistance institutions. Method: ethnographic multiple case study, with qualitative approach, following the theoretical approach of Boaventura Santos. Experiences of the families of these children in a city were studied through interviews with family members, managers and professionals from social institutions (35), participant observations in social spaces (13) and creation of eco-maps (3). Critical Discourse Analysis was performed. Results: the offer of services is lower than the demand, and exclusion processes persist. Given the hegemony of neoliberal and normality ideologies, meetings between family members and professionals revealed obstacles to civil rights; however, when these ideologies were challenged, the realization of their rights was enhanced. Final considerations: the care to promote civil rights requires family members, managers and professionals to develop subjectivities that overcome neoliberal and normality ideologies, recognizing these children as subjects of law.

scholarly journals Classroom assemblage: the vibrant setting of the schooling process

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Paula Cristina Lameu
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Social Realm ◽  
Schooling Process ◽  
Matter Energy

Some scholars and researchers have been claiming we are in a New Materialist and Posthumanist era. It means that for the ones who are researching in Social Sciences, the focus is not only the human as the centre and the cause of what happens in the social realm. For human, nonhuman and inhuman are attributed the same importance in research once all of them are components of reality, inserted in nature.Reality is regarded as complex, not simple straightforward isolated cause and effect processes. This is how the classroom is supposed to be observed in educational research: not only teaching and learning, but these two processes and policy making, and identity construction, and emotional flows, and curriculum, and schooling, and…, and…The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the complexity of the classroom environment regarded as an assemblage. The hypothesis is that all the components of the assemblage are equally vital, although some components are more vibratory than others. The theory of Vitalism from Driesch (1914) and the Vital Materialism from Bennett (2010a, 2010b) are used as the theoretical tools for analysis. Assemblage Ethnography (YOUDELL, 2015; YOUDELL and MCGIMPSEY, 2015) is the methodology of data collection. A multiple case study was developed in three different schools in United Kingdom: one Primary, one Secondary and one Post-secondary. The results suggest that teacher and students are the components who most influence on the classroom assemblage composition, decomposition and recomposition orienting the flows of matter-energy once they are change-creating agents.

scholarly journals Purchasing in service triads: the influence of contracting on contract management

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1188-1204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manda Broekhuis ◽  
Kirstin Scholten
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relational Structures ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
The Social ◽  
Source Data ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Formal Contract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate purchasing practices in service triads by exploring the link between ex ante contracting and ex post contract management and how these practices influence the satisfaction of buyers and suppliers (in concessionary arrangements) with their relationship in terms of meeting the needs of the buyer’s customers. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth exploratory multiple case study was carried out in a shop-in-shop context. Multi-method and multi-source data collection included interviews, documents and the contracts between buyer and supplier, providing evidence of the formal and relational structures in both the contracting and contract management stages. Findings The case findings provide evidence that behavioural standards established in a social contract are important prerequisites for the establishment and subsequent management of a formal contract. Second, this study shows that, when outsourcing core services in a service triad, a combination of performance-oriented and behavioural-oriented contract terms, covering a mix of topics related to both the customer-experience and to buyer-supplier-oriented aspects, contribute to aligning the buyer’s, suppliers’ and customers’ interests. The main findings are presented in a causal model and formulated as propositions. Originality/value This paper is one of the first studies to explore how core services are outsourced in a service triad. It provides evidence that the social contract between buyer and supplier influences the establishment of the formal contract as well as contract management, and a mix of contract topics, some related to the customers’ experience and others purely buyer-supplier oriented, contribute to the alignment of buyer’s, suppliers’ and customers’ interests.

Mediatization of conflict in the social media era: A case study of Sino-Indian border crisis in 2017

Journalism ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 146488491987032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shixin Ivy Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Actor Networks

Inspired by the concepts of Arrested War and actor–network theory, this study has traced and analyzed four main actors in the wars and conflicts in the social media age: social media platform, the mainstream news organizations, online users, and social media content. These four human and nonhuman actors associate, interact, and negotiate with each other in the social media network surrounding specific issues. Based on the case study of Sino-Indian border crisis in 2017, the central argument is that social media is playing an enabling role in contemporary wars and conflicts. Both professional media outlets and web users employ the functionalities of social media platforms to set, counter-set, or expand the public agenda. Social media platform embodies a web of technological and human complexities with different actors, factors, interests, and relations. These actor-networks and the macro social-political context are influential in the mediatization of conflict in the social media era.

scholarly journals Analysis of Sustainability in Hospital Laundry: The Social, Environmental, and Economic (Cost) Risks

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Catia Lopes ◽  
Annibal Scavarda ◽  
Mauricio de Carvalho ◽  
Guilherme Vaccaro ◽  
André Korzenowski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Cost ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Sustainable Operations ◽  
Chemical Hazards ◽  
Physical Injuries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Social Environmental

Personal and physical injuries are two of the most relevant costs to hospitals. Hospital laundries are sources of these costs due to the physical and health risks present in the clothes and the activities performed. Energy and environmental risk and infrastructure issues also incur operational costs to these organizations and to the health system. This research analyzes the social, environmental, and economic risk in the hospital laundry process, through a multiple-case-study design. Data collection methods include interviews regarding three hospital laundry services in Brazil. The processes of these laundry services have a high consumption of resources (water and energy) and a substantial generation of solid and liquid wastes. Cost reduction actions include pooled laundry services and material substitution. There are also social and environmental risks, the most frequent being ergonomic, biological, and chemical hazards, and injures from sharp devices inadequately disposed. Hospital laundries need more sustainable operations, not only in the infrastructure, but also mostly in the awareness of leaders and teams about the importance of their engagements to resource management and waste reduction in laundry. It is opportune to convince professionals and users about changing habits that do not prioritize sustainability, especially its social and environmental aspects.

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