Heartland Community College

About: Heartland Community College is a education organization based out in Normal, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Foreign language & Interlibrary loan. The organization has 13 authors who have published 19 publications receiving 281 citations.

The African Imagination: Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora

Abstract: F. Abiola Irele. The African Imagination: Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. xviii + 296 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. No price reported. Paper. Abiola Irele's critical examination of African literature is an interesting collection of essays written from 1981 to 1994. Published in 2001, these essays come across as a nice way to review some of the essential literary and cultural events that have influenced contemporary African literature. In other words, Irele is not breaking new ground, but rather refreshing one's memories. His intellectual insights, as always, are well worth the reading time. In the preface and again in chapter 1, Irele informs us of his purpose in putting together The African Imagination. The work responds to two ways of looking at African literature. The first is to challenge the view of the African experience, both on the African continent and in the New World, as a collective experience, a type of cultural monolith. This position, he notes, has been taken by Europeans such as Janheinz Jahn and by those Africans who garner their literary experience from the negritude movement or who have at least been influenced by this Francophone phenomenon. The other cultural monolith he notes is the Black Aesthetic movement of the 1960s found primarily in the United States. A second group that Irele challenges comprises the contemporary literary critics of the 1980s and 1990s who have grown out of structuralism, deconstruction, and Marxism. These critics, he explains, are more interested in literature as a form of sociological development than of aesthetic expression. He does not ignore or deny these other positions, he comments, but he will not pursue them for their own sake. He has decided, rather, "to explore the terrain of African literature in the widest acceptance of the term and to arrive at a sense of its possible boundaries" on both the African continent and in the New World (4). Further, he maintains that the term "African imagination" is more appropriate than "African literature" because it allows for a "wider scope of expression of Africans and people of African descent, which arises out of . . . historical circumstances" (7). Chapter 2 addresses the issues of orality and literacy and their relation to the two interpretations of African literature, Western and African. Irele allows Ruth Finnegan, Jack Goody, and Walter J. Ong to state the European view of the orality-literacy connection, while the African perspective is conveyed by D. O. Fagunwa, Thomas Mofolo, J. P. Clark-Bekederemo, and Irele himself. This discussion sheds light on the cultural complexity of literature, especially on the African continent with its hundreds of languages. Often the critics that Irele questions in the preface, especially structuralists and poststructuralists, lose sight of this complexity because of their own redefined cultural perspectives. …

Universal Design for Early Childhood Education: Ensuring Access and Equity for All

Abstract: This article introduces the framework of Universal Design for Early Childhood Education (UDECE). The goal of the framework is to synthesize best practices within the field of early childhood education and special education, providing a template to support access and equity for all children. The UDECE framework includes examination of issues of access, the provision of high quality educational practices, and issues of accountability for success and equity. By placing the needs of all children at the core, UDECE extends philosophies embracing full inclusion into pathways through which this goal can be supported.

Beyond the Classroom: An Exploratory Study of Out-Of-Class Learning in Sociology

Abstract: In this article, we report on a study about the experiences of graduating sociology majors with out-of-class learning opportunities (OOCLO). Research questions included the following: (1) What is the nature of participation in out-of-class learning for our sociology majors? (2) What barriers do students see to engaging in such experiences? (3) What supports for involvement do students recognize? (4) What are students' overall attitudes about OOCLO? (5) What variables are associated with participation in OOCLO? All students from one medium-sized, public, Midwestern university who were enrolled in the required sociology senior experience course in one academic year were given the self-administered questionnaire. Results indicate most students participate most frequently in OOCLO that involve low student initiative, effort, and commitment. Lack of time is reported as a critical barrier to participation. Factors viewed as key supports for participation include convenient/spare time, useful and interesting act...

College students' beliefs in the ten-percent myth

Abstract: A widespread misconception that has not been studied in previous research on misconceptions is the claim that most people use only about 10% of their potential brain power. We hypothesized that psychology majors would be less likely to believe in this ten-percent myth than would control students with no training in psychology. The hypothesis was not supported, but psychology majors were more optimistic than control students in their beliefs regarding how much brain power people are capable of using. The sources of the students' beliefs in the ten-percent myth were also investigated. It is suggested that direct treatment of misconceptions might be necessary to dispel them and that future research might explore the sources of students' misconceptions.

Achebe, Head, Marechera: On Power and Change in Africa

Abstract: Concentrating on issues of power and change, this analysis of texts by Chinua Achbe, Bessie Head and Dambudzi Marechera teases out each author's view of how colonialism affected Africa, the contributions of Africans to their malaise, and how many reacted in creative, progressive, pragmatic ways.