Intergroup Dialogue

Intergroup Dialogue PDF Author: David Louis Schoem
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 9780472067824
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Book Description
A study of the role of communication in the creation of a more just society

Patching Development

Patching Development PDF Author: Rajesh Veeraraghavan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197567819
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Diving into an original and unusually positive case study from India, Patching Development shows how development programs can be designed to work. How can development programs deliver benefits to marginalized citizens in ways that expand their rights and freedoms? Political will and good policy design are critical but often insufficient due to resistance from entrenched local power systems. In Patching Development, Rajesh Veeraraghavan presents an ethnography of one of the largest development programs in the world, the Indian National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), and examines NREGA's implementation in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He finds that the local system of power is extremely difficult to transform, not because of inertia, but because of coercive counter strategy from actors at the last mile and their ability to exploit information asymmetries. Upper-level NREGA bureaucrats in Andhra Pradesh do not possess the capacity to change the power axis through direct confrontation with local elites, but instead have relied on a continuous series of responses that react to local implementation and information, a process of patching development. Patching development is a top-down, fine-grained, iterative socio-technical process that makes local information about implementation visible through technology and enlists participation from marginalized citizens through social audits. These processes are neither neat nor orderly and have led to a contentious sphere where the exercise of power over documents, institutions and technology is intricate, fluid and highly situated. A highly original account with global significance, this book casts new light on the challenges and benefits of using information and technology in novel ways to implement development programs.

Excellent Sheep

Excellent Sheep PDF Author: William Deresiewicz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147670273X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
A groundbreaking manifesto about what our nation’s top schools should be—but aren’t—providing: “The ex-Yale professor effectively skewers elite colleges, their brainy but soulless students (those ‘sheep’), pushy parents, and admissions mayhem” (People). As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively and how to find a sense of purpose. Now he argues that elite colleges are turning out conformists without a compass. Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to “practical” subjects like economics, students are losing the ability to think independently. It is essential, says Deresiewicz, that college be a time for self-discovery when students can establish their own values and measures of success in order to forge their own paths. He features quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and offering clear solutions on how to fix it. “Excellent Sheep is likely to make…a lasting mark….He takes aim at just about the entirety of upper-middle-class life in America….Mr. Deresiewicz’s book is packed full of what he wants more of in American life: passionate weirdness” (The New York Times).

Empires of Ideas

Empires of Ideas PDF Author: William C. Kirby
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674737717
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 505

Book Description
The United States is the global leader in higher education, but this was not always the case and may not remain so. William Kirby examines sources of—and threats to—US higher education supremacy and charts the rise of Chinese competitors. Yet Chinese institutions also face problems, including a state that challenges the commitment to free inquiry.

The University of Michigan in China

The University of Michigan in China PDF Author: David Ward
Publisher: Michigan Publishing Services
ISBN: 9781607854272
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The friendship between the University of Michigan and China spans more than a century and a half. Through years of peace and years of war; through political turmoil and the shifting winds of public opinion; since the first years of U-M's Ann Arbor campus and the last years of China's Qing Dynasty, the University and China have been partners. This book tells the story of twenty remarkable individuals, the country they transformed, and the University that helped them do it. There are many "firsts" in this book-first Chinese students at U-M, first female college president of China-and there are many "fathers" of disciplines: Wu Dayou, father of physics in China; Zheng Zuoxin, father of Chinese ornithology; Zeng Chengkui, father of marine botany. While much has been written about these leaders and scholars in both English and Chinese, nowhere else is their collective story told or their shared bond with the University of Michigan celebrated. The University of Michigan in China celebrates this nearly 200-year-old legacy.

Humans Are Underrated

Humans Are Underrated PDF Author: Geoff Colvin
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698153650
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
As technology races ahead, what will people do better than computers? What hope will there be for us when computers can drive cars better than humans, predict Supreme Court decisions better than legal experts, identify faces, scurry helpfully around offices and factories, even perform some surgeries, all faster, more reliably, and less expensively than people? It’s easy to imagine a nightmare scenario in which computers simply take over most of the tasks that people now get paid to do. While we’ll still need high-level decision makers and computer developers, those tasks won’t keep most working-age people employed or allow their living standard to rise. The unavoidable question—will millions of people lose out, unable to best the machine?—is increasingly dominating business, education, economics, and policy. The bestselling author of Talent Is Overrated explains how the skills the economy values are changing in historic ways. The abilities that will prove most essential to our success are no longer the technical, classroom-taught left-brain skills that economic advances have demanded from workers in the past. Instead, our greatest advantage lies in what we humans are most powerfully driven to do for and with one another, arising from our deepest, most essentially human abilities—empathy, creativity, social sensitivity, storytelling, humor, building relationships, and expressing ourselves with greater power than logic can ever achieve. This is how we create durable value that is not easily replicated by technology—because we’re hardwired to want it from humans. These high-value skills create tremendous competitive advantage—more devoted customers, stronger cultures, breakthrough ideas, and more effective teams. And while many of us regard these abilities as innate traits—“he’s a real people person,” “she’s naturally creative”—it turns out they can all be developed. They’re already being developed in a range of far-sighted organizations, such as: • the Cleveland Clinic, which emphasizes empathy training of doctors and all employees to improve patient outcomes and lower medical costs; • the U.S. Army, which has revolutionized its training to focus on human interaction, leading to stronger teams and greater success in real-world missions; • Stanford Business School, which has overhauled its curriculum to teach interpersonal skills through human-to-human experiences. As technology advances, we shouldn’t focus on beating computers at what they do—we’ll lose that contest. Instead, we must develop our most essential human abilities and teach our kids to value not just technology but also the richness of interpersonal experience. They will be the most valuable people in our world because of it. Colvin proves that to a far greater degree than most of us ever imagined, we already have what it takes to be great.

The Making of the University of Michigan, 1817-1992

The Making of the University of Michigan, 1817-1992 PDF Author: Howard Henry Peckham
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 442

Book Description
A comprehensive history of one of the nation's most prominent universities

Teaching College Writing to Diverse Student Populations

Teaching College Writing to Diverse Student Populations PDF Author: Dana Ferris
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472033379
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
Statistical and anecdotal evidence documents that even states with relatively little ethnic or cultural diversity are beginning to notice and ask questions about long-term resident immigrants in their classes. As shifts in student population become more widespread, there is an even greater need for second language specialists, composition specialists, program administrators, and developers in colleges and universities to understand and adapt to the needs of the changing student audience(s). This book is designed as an introduction to the topic of diverse second language student audiences in U.S. post-secondary education. It is appropriate for those interested in working with students in academic settings, especially those students who are transitioning from secondary to post-secondary education. It provides a coherent synthesis and summary not only of the scope and nature of the changes but of their practical implications for program administration, course design, and classroom instruction, particularly for writing courses. For pre-service teachers and those new(er) to the field of working with L2 student writers, it offers an accessible and focused look at the “audience” issues with many practical suggestions. For teacher-educators and administrators, it offers a resource that can inform their own decision-making.

Developing Writers in Higher Education

Developing Writers in Higher Education PDF Author: Anne Ruggles Gere
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472037382
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
For undergraduates following any course of study, it is essential to develop the ability to write effectively. Yet the processes by which students become more capable and ready to meet the challenges of writing for employers, the wider public, and their own purposes remain largely invisible. Developing Writers in Higher Education shows how learning to write for various purposes in multiple disciplines leads college students to new levels of competence. This volume draws on an in-depth study of the writing and experiences of 169 University of Michigan undergraduates, using statistical analysis of 322 surveys, qualitative analysis of 131 interviews, use of corpus linguistics on 94 electronic portfolios and 2,406 pieces of student writing, and case studies of individual students to trace the multiple paths taken by student writers. Topics include student writers’ interaction with feedback; perceptions of genre; the role of disciplinary writing; generality and certainty in student writing; students’ concepts of voice and style; students’ understanding of multimodal and digital writing; high school’s influence on college writers; and writing development after college. The digital edition offers samples of student writing, electronic portfolios produced by student writers, transcripts of interviews with students, and explanations of some of the analysis conducted by the contributors. This is an important book for researchers and graduate students in multiple fields. Those in writing studies get an overview of other longitudinal studies as well as key questions currently circulating. For linguists, it demonstrates how corpus linguistics can inform writing studies. Scholars in higher education will gain a new perspective on college student development. The book also adds to current understandings of sociocultural theories of literacy and offers prospective teachers insights into how students learn to write. Finally, for high school teachers, this volume will answer questions about college writing. Companion Website Click here to access the Developing Writers project and its findings at the interactive companion website. Project Data Access the data from the project through this tutorial.

Higher Education in Transition

Higher Education in Transition PDF Author: John Brubacher
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351515764
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 613

Book Description
At a time when our colleges and universities face momentous questions of new growth and direction, the republication of Higher Education in Transition is more timely than ever. Beginning with colonial times, the authors trace the development of our college and university system chronologically, in terms of men and institutions. They bring into focus such major areas of concern as curriculum, administration, academic freedom, and student life. They tell their story with a sharp eye for the human values at stake and the issues that will be with us in the future.One gets a sense not only of temporal sequence by centuries and decades but also of unity and continuity by a review of major themes and topics. Rudy's new chapters update developments in higher education during the last twenty years. Higher Education in Transition continues to have significance not only for those who work in higher education, but for everyone interested in American ideas, traditions, and social and intellectual history.