Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture

Author: Henry Jenkins

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2009-06-05

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0262513625

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Many teens today who use the Internet are actively involved in participatory cultures—joining online communities (Facebook, message boards, game clans), producing creative work in new forms (digital sampling, modding, fan videomaking, fan fiction), working in teams to complete tasks and develop new knowledge (as in Wikipedia), and shaping the flow of media (as in blogging or podcasting). A growing body of scholarship suggests potential benefits of these activities, including opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, development of skills useful in the modern workplace, and a more empowered conception of citizenship. Some argue that young people pick up these key skills and competencies on their own by interacting with popular culture; but the problems of unequal access, lack of media transparency, and the breakdown of traditional forms of socialization and professional training suggest a role for policy and pedagogical intervention. This report aims to shift the conversation about the "digital divide" from questions about access to technology to questions about access to opportunities for involvement in participatory culture and how to provide all young people with the chance to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed. Fostering these skills, the authors argue, requires a systemic approach to media education; schools, afterschool programs, and parents all have distinctive roles to play. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning

Doctoral Students: Attrition, Retention Rates, Motivation, and Financial Constraints
Doctoral Students: Attrition, Retention Rates, Motivation, and Financial Constraints

Author: Theodore Robert Regis

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2019-10-22

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 1796063711

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For the past 40 years, American college and university administrators have registered record low retention and high attrition rates. Education experts and researchers have claimed the problems are embarrassing to the United States’ higher education institutions. Based on the problems, graduate school administrators are unable to graduate doctoral students at U.S. population growth rates. Currently, only 1% of Americans hold PhD degrees. Compared to other industrialized countries such as Japan, China, and Mexico, the rate is insignificant. The purpose of the mixed methods case study was to investigate if there was a relationship between motivation and retention rates at the doctoral level. The goal of the study was to determine if extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors and constraints were associated with persistence in a graduate doctoral program. Data were collected from 193 doctoral and graduate students for the quantitative study, while 20 doctoral and graduate students participated in a qualitative study followed by a thorough semi-structured interview. Inductive and deductive analyses were performed, transcribed, and opened, while axial coding provided emergent themes and sub-themes. The research showed a direct relationship between financial implications, attrition and retention rates, and motivation in doctoral level students. Many doctoral students believed the primary reason they were unable to pursue doctoral programs was based on financial hardship. Doctoral students who responded to the survey added that motivation was the second significant variable that helped them continue their studies.

The TESOL Research Training Journey
The TESOL Research Training Journey

Author: Shen Chen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-04-05

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1000370844

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Research training is challenging, and the attrition rate of doctoral students has been increasing in Canada, the UK, the USA and Australia. In their book, Chen and Le examine the reasons for these students becoming demotivated, particularly in the context of TESOL. There has been much investigation into research training issues in multiple contexts and multiple disciplines. Yet, the research training process in TESOL for international students has not been explored sufficiently, and their voices have not been heard. This book gives voice to the research trainees, allowing their experiences to be reflected and the implications discussed in order to help create more effective supervision models. By employing the qualitative approach and adopting critical incident as a new technique for data collection, Chen and Le attempt to gain insights into the research training process to reveal different research stages of research trainees—those undertaking PhD degrees—and to put forward a model of supervision to improve the innovation and quality of research. This book tackles the complex nature of research training. It is hoped that findings of this study can provide research supervisors and trainees with theoretical insights and practical references.

Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language
Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language

Author: Mary Hayes

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 0190611057

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The History of the English Language is a traditional course whose instructors are tasked with balancing various institutional, curricular, and student needs. Additionally, the course's prodigious subject poses challenges for new as well as veteran instructors. It encompasses a broad chronological, geographic, and disciplinary scope and, in the twenty-first-century classroom, has come to account for English's transformative relationship with the internet and social media. In Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language, experienced instructors explain the influences and ingenuity behind their successful teaching practices.