1. Interaction. The interactions learners have with each other build interpersonal skills, such as listening, politely interrupting, expressing ideas, raising questions, disagreeing, paraphrasing, negotiating, and asking for help. 2. Interdependence. Learners must depend on one another to accomplish a common objective. Each group member has specific tasks to complete, and successful completion of each member’s tasks results in attaining the overall group objective.

将“Cooperative Learning”融入课堂——浅谈英语素质教育

Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers

The global expansion of access to higher education has increased demand for information on academic quality and has led to the development of university ranking systems or league tables in many countries of the world. A recent UNESCO/CEPES conference on higher education indicators concluded that cross-national research on these ranking systems could make an important contribution to improving the international market for higher education. The comparison and analysis of national university ranking systems can help address a number of important policy questions. First, is there an emerging international consensus on the measurement of academic quality as reflected in these ranking systems? Second, what impact are the different ranking systems having on university and academic behavior in their respective countries? Finally, are there important public interests that are thus far not reflected in these rankings? If so, is there a needed and appropriate role for public policy in the development and distribution of university ranking systems and what might that role be? This paper explores these questions through a comparative analysis of university rankings in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US.

http://bcct.unam.mx/adriana/bibliografia%20parte%202/DILL,%20D..pdf

Academic quality, league tables, and public policy: A cross-national analysis of university ranking systems

This article is based on a keynote paper presented to the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), University College Dublin, 5-9 September 2005. The massification of education in European countries over the last 100 years has produced cultures and societies that have benefited greatly from state investment in education. To maintain this level of social and economic development that derives from high quality education requires continual state investment. With the rise of the New Right, neo-liberal agenda, there is an attempt to offload the cost of education, and indeed other public services such as housing, transport, care services etc., on to the individual. There is an increasing attempt to privatise public services, including education, so that citizens will have to buy them at market value rather than have them provided by the state. Europe is no exception to this trend of neo-liberalisation. Recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports, including one on higher education in Ireland, (2004), concentrate strongly on the role of education in servicing the economy to the neglect of its social and developmental responsibilities. The view that education is simply another market commodity has become normalised in policy and public discourses. Schools run purely as businesses are a growing phenomenon within and without Europe, and there is an increasing expectation in several countries that schools will supplement their income from private sources, even though they are within the state sector. In this article, the writer presents both a critique of the neo-liberal model of marketised education and a challenge to academics to work as public intellectuals both individually and with civil society organisations to develop a counter- hegemonic discourse to neo-liberalism for higher education.

/pdf/neo-liberalism-and-marketisation-the-implications-for-higher-2ga5r7qjfk.pdf

Neo-liberalism and marketisation : the implications for higher education

THE ninth annual report of the president and the treasurer of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, for the year ending September 30, 1914, shows a total endowment of 2,850,000l., a surplus of 249,000l., an annual income of 149,200l., and an annual expenditure of 143,200l. Of this 9400l. was spent in administration, 9400l. in educational inquiry, and 126,800l. in retiring allowances and pensions. During the year twenty-nine retiring allowances and fifteen widows pensions were granted, the average grant being 329l. 10s., The total number of allowances now in force is 332, the total number of widows' pensions 100, the general average grant being 319l. The total number of allowances granted since the beginning of the foundation is 595, the total expenditure for this purpose being 710,200l.

/pdf/the-carnegie-foundation-for-the-advancement-of-teaching-4bul5i3ivn.pdf

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

By almost any measure, higher education is a vital part of the U.S. economy and society. Yet there is concern that the sector is inefficient or ill equipped to adapt to a changing environment. The information revolution, an aging population, demographic shifts, and a declining fiscal base all present it with major challenges. "In Pursuit of Prestige" describes the results of a two-year study of higher education in the United States designed to shed light on these issues. This volume examines higher education as an industry. It focuses on how institutions serve four identifiable markets that generate revenues (student enrollment, research funding, public fiscal support, and private giving). They analyze higher educational institutions' investment, pricing, and marketing behaviors, and the nature of competition among schools. They review the industry's basic conditions and market structure, then define the three key dimensions--degree level, scope, and resource allocation--by which institutions map out strategies for competing for markets. The heart of the book is an analysis showing how these strategies are carried out based on site-visit data from 26 highly diverse colleges and universities. This broad sampling covers all geographic regions of the country and every type of institution from elite research universities to community colleges. The authors then consider what strategies are possible in particular markets and how they affect students and competing institutions. Their conclusion draws out the implications of strategy and competition for the various customers of the U.S. higher education industry. Groundbreaking and genuinely exploratory in methodology.

/pdf/in-pursuit-of-prestige-28fvrfao0a.pdf

In Pursuit of Prestige

Education for a New Era: Design and Implementation of K-12 Education Reform in Qatar. Monograph.

Summarizes the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region — Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — to address the human resource issues they each face as they prepare their countries for a place in the 21st century global economy. Together, these countries highlight the variety of challenges faced by countries in the region and responses to those challenges.

/pdf/facing-human-capital-challenges-of-the-21st-century-4m9oe33zbe.pdf

Facing Human Capital Challenges of the 21st Century: Education and Labor Market Initiatives in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates: Executive Summary

This title describes the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region - Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates - to address the human resource issues they each face as they prepare their countries for a place in the 21st century global economy. Together, these countries highlight the variety of challenges faced by countries in the region and responses to those challenges.

/pdf/facing-human-capital-challenges-of-the-21st-century-2q1uw3z755.pdf

Facing Human Capital Challenges of the 21st Century: Education and Labor Market Initiatives in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates

Describes the first phase (2001–2004) of Qatar’s bold K–12 education reform initiative, Education for a New Era, based on RAND’s experiences as part of this ambitious, multi-participant effort. RAND examined the existing Qatari education system, recommended options for building a world-class system, and supported implementation of the chosen option, which is based on internationally benchmarked curriculum standards and parental choice of schools.

/pdf/education-for-a-new-era-design-and-implementation-of-k-12-3ggi7l5nvw.pdf

Charles A. Goldman

Papers

In Pursuit of Prestige

Education for a New Era: Design and Implementation of K-12 Education Reform in Qatar. Monograph.

Facing Human Capital Challenges of the 21st Century: Education and Labor Market Initiatives in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates: Executive Summary

Facing Human Capital Challenges of the 21st Century: Education and Labor Market Initiatives in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates

Education for a New Era : Design and Implementation of K-12 Education Reform in Qatar