Scholars in Action


Book Description

In Scholars in Action, an international group of 40 authors open up new perspectives on the eighteenth-century culture of knowledge, with a particular focus on scholars and their various practices.







Essential Actions for Academic Writing


Book Description

Essential Actions for Academic Writers is a writing textbook for all novice academic students, undergraduate or graduate, to help them understand how to write effectively throughout their academic and professional careers. While these novice writers may use English as a second or additional language, this book is also intended for students who have done little writing in their prior education or who are not yet confident in their academic writing. Essential Actions combines genre research, proven pedagogical practices, and short readings to help students develop their rhetorical flexibility by exploring and practicing the key actions that will appear in academic assignments, such as explaining, summarizing, synthesizing, and arguing. Part I introduces students to rhetorical situation, genre, register, source use, and a framework for understanding how to approach any new writing task. The genre approach recognizes that all writing responds to a context that includes the writer's identity, the reader's expectations, the purpose of the text, and the conventions that shape it. Part II explores each essential action and provides examples of the genres and language that support it. Part III leads students in combining the actions in different genres and contexts, culminating in the project of writing a personal statement for a university or scholarship application.




Identity in Action


Book Description

"Colleges today are filled with talk about identity and identity politics. But Glanzer shifts the conversation in Identity in Action by focusing on something one rarely hears anyone mention--the idea of identity excellence. In various professions, identity excellence means becoming an excellent accountant, biologist, historian, social worker, or teacher. But professors rarely go farther to talk the identities that really matter to students. What does it mean to be: an excellent friend? a good neighbor? a steward of one's body, possessions, or the environment? And what about social identities? How does Christianity impact: how I think about race? or gender? or citizenship? Students are often unaware of how to resolve conflicts between these identities on their own. Identity in Action, empowers readers to be excellent--and think deeply about the "why" questions of life in a practical, theologically informed manner. With personal stories and expert research, Glanzer explains how students can untangle the confusion and integrate their core identities with excellence."--




Knowledge in Action


Book Description

University-Community engagement is an important part of a nation's social and economic development. An increasing focus on how knowledge is exchanged has encouraged many universities to consider their relationship and engagement with local communities. More than ever, universities are developing strategies for engaging with business, industry, government, and community, and recognise the role that they can play in the exchange of knowledge. With authorship drawn from community partners and un...




CLIL in Action


Book Description

This volume explores the current position of CLIL on the three main fronts where it is attracting particular attention in specialized literature, namely, implementation, research, and teacher training. To this end, it presents evidence from national and international research projects, governmentally-financed pedagogical initiatives, grassroots experiences and investigations, and inter-institutional training programs which offer insights into how CLIL is working in action on the afore-mentioned three levels. The opening section of the book (â oeCLIL in action: Practical considerationsâ ) provides a window into how CLIL implementation is unravelling at the grassroots level vis-à-vis key aspects for CLIL development, such as the design of materials, the use of ICT, and the importance of extramural exposure. The second part (â oeThe effects of CLIL on language learning: Research-based evidenceâ ) explores some key areas for future research, showcasing how engaging in research as a device that drives reflection is the best possible way to continue moving the CLIL agenda forward. Finally, in the third part (â oePreparing teachers for CLIL: Practical proposalsâ ), the interface of research and pedagogy is discussed, as the former informs the latter in a clear instantiation of what Coyle (2011) terms â oeevidence-based practiceâ in setting necessary teacher training actions in place. As such, the volume addresses three burning issues in the CLIL scenario through practical and research-based proposals of tried-and-true CLIL development. If all three strands â " implementation, research, and training â " dovetail and progress in harmony, a solid template will be built for the future and the CLIL agenda will be pushed forward. By pooling together the insights of a set of researchers, teacher trainers, policy makers, and grassroots practitioners, this volume will contribute to this much-needed endeavour.










The Unexpected in Action


Book Description

The book is a true knowledge-enhancing project, dealing with the forms of rationality at work in social life, which are so many, varied and complex. Published already in Spanish and Italian, it analyses the role played by rationality through the lens of social theories in order to propose a problematic interpretation of human action. Since there is nothing more practical than a good theory when seeking to understand our society, the book reflects on the theoretical approaches that provide useful categories by means of which to understand and interpret individual, organizational, and institutional action. It proposes an analysis of a wide variety of classics by eminent European and Anglo-American thinkers, such as Dahrendorf, Mannheim, Marx, Popper, Weber, Habermas, Luhmann, Machiavelli, Pareto, Ardigò, Cesareo, Parsons, Schütz, Alexander, Bauman, Beck, Sennett, Antiseri, Boudon, Sen, Simon, to shed light on the relationship between rationality, difficulties in thinking and extra-rationality. Finally, the reasons for unexpected action are investigated as well as the strategic role played by ethics, rationality and skills in postmodern societies on the basis of the contributions of Nussbaum and Piketty.




Academic-Practitioner Relationships


Book Description

While executives are keen to harness organizational knowledge and improve business performance, the topic of how academics can produce rigorous and relevant theory in working relationships with practitioners is a much contested topic. Many aspects of this knowledge co-creation can create tensions, and the ways in which research is conducted and published can affect practitioner acceptance, as well as its consequent uptake and use in different contexts. Expertly compiled by Jean Bartunek and Jane McKenzie, with contributions from global thinkers in the field, this book offers a concise and up-to-date review of the essential analysis and action underlying scholarly engagement with the world of business. It discusses the sorts of capabilities academics need to collaborate effectively with practitioners and illustrates good practice through international case studies drawn from acknowledged centres of excellence. These show how to negotiate different constituencies with different priorities, values, and practices to work together to produce research of rigor and relevance. It will be a key reference and resource for all researchers who are engaged with practitioners, and an invaluable tool for training academics to develop research with impact.