Course Description In this course, we will explore the question of the actual and potential connections between democracy and education. Our focus of attention will be placed on a critical examination of democratic theory and its implications for the civic education roles and contributions of teachers, adult educators, community development practitioners, and community organizers. We will survey and deal critically with a range of competing conceptions of democracy, variously described as classical, republican, liberal, radical, marxist, neomarxist, pragmatist, feminist, populist, pluralist, postmodern, and/or participatory. Using narrative inquiry as a means for illuminating and interpreting contemporary practice, we will analyze the implications of different conceptions of democracy for the practical work of civic education.

Democracy and education.

How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

The knowledge-creating company

What computers still can’t do: a critique of artificial reason

Thematic analysis (TA), as a qualitative analytic method, is widely used in health care, psychology, and beyond. However, scant details are often given to demonstrate the process of data analysis, ...

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Applying Thematic Analysis to Education: A Hybrid Approach to Interpreting Data in Practitioner Research:

Background Qualitative approaches, alone or in mixed methods, are prominent within implementation science. However, traditional qualitative approaches are resource intensive, which has led to the development of rapid qualitative approaches. Published rapid approaches are often inductive in nature and rely on transcripts of interviews. We describe a deductive rapid analysis approach using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) that uses notes and audio recordings. This paper compares our rapid versus traditional deductive CFIR approach. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted for two cohorts of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Diffusion of Excellence (DoE). The CFIR guided data collection and analysis. In cohort A, we used our traditional CFIR-based deductive analysis approach (directed content analysis), where two analysts completed independent in-depth manual coding of interview transcripts using qualitative software. In cohort B, we used our new rapid CFIR-based deductive analysis approach (directed content analysis), where the primary analyst wrote detailed notes during interviews and immediately "coded" notes into a MS Excel CFIR construct by facility matrix; a secondary analyst then listened to audio recordings and edited the matrix. We tracked time for our traditional and rapid deductive CFIR approaches using a spreadsheet and captured transcription costs from invoices. We retrospectively compared our approaches in terms of effectiveness and rigor. Results Cohorts A and B were similar in terms of the amount of data collected. However, our rapid deductive CFIR approach required 409.5 analyst hours compared to 683 h during the traditional deductive CFIR approach. The rapid deductive approach eliminated $7250 in transcription costs. The facility-level analysis phase provided the greatest savings: 14 h/facility for the traditional analysis versus 3.92 h/facility for the rapid analysis. Data interpretation required the same number of hours for both approaches. Conclusion Our rapid deductive CFIR approach was less time intensive and eliminated transcription costs, yet effective in meeting evaluation objectives and establishing rigor. Researchers should consider the following when employing our approach: (1) team expertise in the CFIR and qualitative methods, (2) level of detail needed to meet project aims, (3) mode of data to analyze, and (4) advantages and disadvantages of using the CFIR.

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Rapid versus traditional qualitative analysis using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)

Deep and insightful interactions with the data are a prerequisite for qualitative data interpretation, in particular, in the generation of grounded theory. The researcher must also employ imaginati...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1609406918786362

Ensuring Rigor in Qualitative Data Analysis: A Design Research Approach to Coding Combining NVivo With Traditional Material Methods

A ‘University Design School’ may in itself appear a contradictory expression, as traditionally the university model of education has been far removed from the design school approach. As the Irish N...

Towards a University Design School. Restoring the value of tacit knowledge through assessment

A design research framework to inform policy in Irish higher education

The research work is focused on a Masters by research entitled ‘The Role of Practice Oriented Learning in Design & Creativity in an Irish Technological University’. The research sits within the context of the discipline of design within the emerging Technological University (TU). The project began with the development of a contextual timeline. This timeline captures and illustrates the development of the Irish Educational System from the emergence of Regional Technical Colleges through to the developing Technological Universities. Education in the higher sector in Ireland is inextricably linked to economic progress and throughout the timeline, a clear mirroring of economic drivers, influences and impacts can be witnessed on the technology sector education. The challenge for the next stage is in retaining the effective social and cultural values associated with technical education in Ireland whilst creating a future response to global competitiveness. The gap in the knowledge identified in the research to date is in the means of achieving this.

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Timeline from the Foundation of Regional Technical Colleges in Ireland to the Emergence of Technological Universities

Ireland is a country with a small and emergent design research community. Relative to other countries, the practice of design itself in Ireland is a recent development with the first formal design courses materialising in the mid-1970s. Without historical legacy and sustained coordinated support from design specific state development agencies, the progress of this nascent Irish design sector has been fragmented and unfocused. Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) a yearlong government backed initiative sought to address this lack of coherence in tandem with increasing the visibility and profile of Irish design. This article reflects on the historical context Irish design research and practice sits within and explores the early success of the ITERATIONS Design Research and Practice review as one of a series of initiatives launched as part of ID2015. It makes the case for robust dialogue and advocacy in addressing the needs of an emergent community of practice.

Carmel Maher

Papers

Ensuring Rigor in Qualitative Data Analysis: A Design Research Approach to Coding Combining NVivo With Traditional Material Methods

Towards a University Design School. Restoring the value of tacit knowledge through assessment

A design research framework to inform policy in Irish higher education

Timeline from the Foundation of Regional Technical Colleges in Ireland to the Emergence of Technological Universities

Beautiful nerds: growing a rigorous design research dialogue in the Irish context