Cultural Capital, Learning and ICT in a Southern Italian University (original) (raw)
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Tapio Varis gives a speech in relation to the use and progress of e-learning in the European education system. He begins by expressing a need for the combination of new technologies and traditional working methods at university, despite the existence of theses new technologies in our everyday lives. He argues that this is important at a national and global level. However, professor Varis also argues that cultural identities and traditions must be maintained with the use of the new technologies in the European educational sphere, and yet unifying European educational standard. He continues by discussing the lack of e-learning not only at university level but also in the education system as a whole, and questions whether secondary education is providing students with the necessary skills required for today's society. As a consequence there also needs to be greater support for teachers and professors in order to deliver these changes. He concludes by saying that universities should lead the way in educating the new technologies as the providers of information at a national and local level, as e-learning has become the only method of sharing knowledge in modern society. Keywords e-learning, cultural identity, pedagogical philosophy, higher education, european progress Tapio Varis * Speech given within the framework of UNESCO Chair's International Workshop of e-Learning 'A Social Perspective of e-Learning in Higher Education: University and Development in the Information Age', held in Barcelona (29 May 2004).
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International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2004
Tapio Varis gives a speech in relation to the use and progress of e-learning in the European education system. He begins by expressing a need for the combination of new technologies and traditional working methods at university, despite the existence of theses new technologies in our everyday lives. He argues that this is important at a national and global level. However, professor Varis also argues that cultural identities and traditions must be maintained with the use of the new technologies in the European educational sphere, and yet unifying European educational standard. He continues by discussing the lack of e-learning not only at university level but also in the education system as a whole, and questions whether secondary education is providing students with the necessary skills required for today's society. As a consequence there also needs to be greater support for teachers and professors in order to deliver these changes. He concludes by saying that universities should lead the way in educating the new technologies as the providers of information at a national and local level, as e-learning has become the only method of sharing knowledge in modern society. Keywords e-learning, cultural identity, pedagogical philosophy, higher education, european progress Tapio Varis * Speech given within the framework of UNESCO Chair's International Workshop of e-Learning 'A Social Perspective of e-Learning in Higher Education: University and Development in the Information Age', held in Barcelona (29 May 2004).
Perspectiva social de l’e-learning en el marc del sistema educatiu nacional
International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2004
Tapio Varis gives a speech in relation to the use and progress of e-learning in the European education system. He begins by expressing a need for the combination of new technologies and traditional working methods at university, despite the existence of theses new technologies in our everyday lives. He argues that this is important at a national and global level. However, professor Varis also argues that cultural identities and traditions must be maintained with the use of the new technologies in the European educational sphere, and yet unifying European educational standard. He continues by discussing the lack of e-learning not only at university level but also in the education system as a whole, and questions whether secondary education is providing students with the necessary skills required for today's society. As a consequence there also needs to be greater support for teachers and professors in order to deliver these changes. He concludes by saying that universities should lead the way in educating the new technologies as the providers of information at a national and local level, as e-learning has become the only method of sharing knowledge in modern society. Keywords e-learning, cultural identity, pedagogical philosophy, higher education, european progress Tapio Varis * Speech given within the framework of UNESCO Chair's International Workshop of e-Learning 'A Social Perspective of e-Learning in Higher Education: University and Development in the Information Age', held in Barcelona (29 May 2004).
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E-LEARNING, INTERCULTURAL DIMENSION AND DIFFERENCES
All across Europe, schools and universities have been setting up new training methods in order for students to develop intercultural skills and competence. In multilingual societies the pedagogical assumptions of e-learning environments need to be made explicit. World Wide Web, with the rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies in Romania, has caused changes in the way teaching and learning is viewed, increasing the diversity of the beneficiary population. Romania is a country with a multicultural and multilingual society. In these societies the implicit pedagogical assumptions of e-learning environments need to be made explicit. Two different cultural dimensions of educational practices are more specifically concerned/targeted: the pedagogical culture and the values, beliefs, attitudes, theories and models involved; and the digital culture and the emerging transformations related to knowledge and pedagogical modelling. This article focuses on examining the various effects of cultural factors regarding the e-learning process in Romania. An e-learning environment is one where the educational practices are based on information and communication technology. There can be a combination of online and offline, solitary and group learning. As Internet culture existing in cyberspace is not geographically tied, learning through e-learning is no longer bound by location (school, training center) or time, but is actually dependent on technology. Examining the relationship between culture and language we discover that they are closely linked to the issue of national identity. After the Dutchman Geert Hofstede, researcher of corporate culture, national culture is the software of the mind, specific and learned patterns of thought and behaviour, relatively clear limiting potential answers to basic questions of existence, sets the example, modus operandi for survival, and it is necessary for us to be successful persons Overviews of cultural considerations (linguistic, national and individual aspects) can help build and implement effective elearning. After examining the sociolinguistic distribution will explore the learning process in terms of culture-dependent characteristics, and possible ways of customization. The development of intercultural abilities can lead the way to an enhanced experience of learning. Considering that ensuring equal opportunities is important to know what to do with e-learning software - acquired abroad or produced locally - by introducing a limited market (the speakers of Hungarian / Rromani). Finally, the paper analyses the e-learning platforms offered by the major Romanian Universities and the way they respond to the needs of Hungarian and Rromani minorities, taking in account their cultural and pedagogical peculiarity. The aimed scope of this paper is to submit to the universities and to the Ministry of National Education some solutions to increase the access of Hungarian and Rromani minorities to on-line learning higher education.
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The world we live in has no virtual borders; the transfer of information and know-how is done in no time through internet. Yet, political and social events we face everyday show that, despite communication and knowledge transfer across nations, people have cultural boundaries inherited. Culture governs people's ways of thinking, learning and behaving. In this global society, people are facing an import of abroad ideas, instruments and values. Therefore, we question the efficiency of adopting foreign cultural patterns, ways of thinking and learning just as they are delivered. We question the efficiency of e-learning platforms created without taking into account the particularity of Romanian cultural background. A research about designing a fit e-learning platform performed in 2010 and 2011 on a representative sample of students in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies guided us to the conclusion that cultural dimensions matter also in this area.
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