Some 70 years after its development in Frankfurt, Germany, critical theory retains its ability to disrupt and hallenge the status quo. In the process, it elicits highlycharged emotions of all types—fierce loyalty from its roponents, vehement hostility from its detractors. Such vibrantly polar reactions indicate at the very least that critical theory still matters. We can be against critical theory or for it, but, especially at the present historical uncture, we cannot be without it.

Rethinking Critical Theory and Qualitative Research

Recent calls for educational reform highlight ongoing concerns about the ability of current curricula to equip aspiring health care professionals with the skills for success. Whereas a wide range of proposed solutions attempt to address apparent deficiencies in current educational models, a growing body of literature consistently points to the need to rethink the traditional in-class, lecturebased course model. One such proposal is the flipped classroom, in which content is offloaded for students to learn on their own, and class time is dedicated to engaging students in student-centered learning activities, like problem-based learning and inquiry-oriented strategies. In 2012, the authors flipped a required first-year pharmaceutics course at the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy. They offloaded all lectures to self-paced online videos and used class time to engage students in active learning exercises. In this article, the authors describe the philosophy and methodology used to redesign the Basic Pharmaceutics II course and outline the research they conducted to investigate the resulting outcomes. This article is intended to serve as a guide to instructors and educational programs seeking to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative and practical strategies to transform students’ learning experience. As class attendance, students’ learning, and the perceived value of this model all increased following participation in the flipped classroom, the authors conclude that this approach warrants careful consideration as educators aim to enhance learning, improve outcomes, and fully equip students to address 21st-century health care needs.

https://em.osumc.edu/education/journalclub/the_flipped_classroom.pdf

The Flipped Classroom: A Course Redesign to Foster Learning and Engagement in a Health Professions School

This is a Second Edition of a book first co authored for 2003. The book offers students conceptual frameworks for thinking through a range of key issues which have arisen over two decades of speculation on the cultural implications of new media .

/pdf/new-media-a-critical-introduction-4b1kzudd14.pdf

New Media: A Critical Introduction

A pioneering attempt to relate the theory of literary fiction to a more general theory of fiction, using fictions of apocalypse as a model. This pioneering exploration of the relationship of fiction to age-old conceptions of chaos and crisis offers many new insights into some of the most unyielding philosophical and aesthetic enigmas. Examining the works of a wide range of writers from Plato to William Burroughs, Kermode demonstrates how writers have persistently imposed their \"fictions\" upon the face of eternity and how these have reflected the apocalyptic spirit.

Frank Kermode and the Invented World@@@The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction

Taking the biomediated body to be a historically specific mode of organization of material forces, invested by capital into being, as well as elaborated through various technoscientific discourses, the article traces these investments and the discursive productions of the biomediated body, linking it to an ongoing reconfiguration of governance and economy.

The Affective Turn : Political Economy, Biomedia and Bodies

A century that began with modernism sweeping across Europe is ending with a resurgence of religious beliefs and practices throughout the world. Wherever one looks today, from headlines about political turmoil in the Middle East to pop music and videos, once cannot escape the pivotal role of religion in shaping selves, societies, and cultures. This book attempts to provide a revitalized, self-aware vocabulary with which this religious diversity can be accurately described and responsibly discussed. Scholars working in a variety of traditions demonstrate through their contributions that even our most basic terms for understanding religion are not neutral but carry specific historical and conceptual freight. Each of the essays in this text provides a concise history of a critical term, explores the issues raised by the term, and puts the term to use in an analysis of a religious work, practice, or event. The topics move across: Judaism; Christianity; Hinduism; Buddhism; Islam; and Native American and Mayan religions. Contributors explore terms ranging from experience, territory, and image, to God, sacrifice, and transgression.

Critical terms for religious studies

We live in a moment of unprecedented complexity, an era in which change occurs faster than our ability to comprehend it. With "The Moment of Complexity", Mark C. Taylor offers a map for the unfamiliar terrain opening in our midst, unfolding an original philosophy of our time through a remarkable synthesis of science and culture. According to Taylor, complexity is not just a breakthrough scientific concept but the defining quality of the post-Cold War era. The flux of digital currents swirling around us, he argues, has created a new network culture with its own distinctive logic and dynamic. Drawing on resources from information theory and evolutionary biology, Taylor explains the operation of complex adaptive systems in natural, social and cultural processes. To appreciate the significance of emerging network culture, he claims, it is necessary not only to understand contemporary scientific and technological transformations, but also to explore the subtle influences of art, architecture, philosophy, religion and education. "The Moment of Complexity" is a remarkable work of cultural analysis on a scale rarely seen today. To follow its trajectory is to learn how we arrived at this critical moment in our culture, and to know where we might head in the 21st century.

The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture

Erring: A Postmodern A/theology

Imagologies: Media Philosophy is no ordinary book. Provocative, irritating and stimulating, this is a work to be engaged, questioned and pondered. As the web of telecommunications technology spreads across the globe, the site of economic development, social change, and political struggle shifts to the realm of media and communications. In this remarkable book, Mark Taylor and Esa Saarinen challenge readers to rethink politics, economics, education, religion, architecture, and even thinking itself. When the world is wired, nothing remains the same. To explore the new electronic frontier with Taylor and Saarinen is to see the world anew. A revolutionary period needs a revolutionary book. Get a head start of the 21st Century: Read Imagologies: Media Philosophy

Mark C. Taylor

Papers

Critical terms for religious studies

The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture

Erring: A Postmodern A/theology

Imagologies: Media Philosophy

Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities