This case study examines, Al Bawsala, a nongovernmental organization and a female cyber social activist, Amira Yahyaoui, in the aftermath of Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution through the lens of adult education. The theoretical frameworks of conscientization and third space are employed to describe Yahyaoui's development of the watchdog political organization, Al Bawsala, for the purpose of democratic learning and popular education in Tunisia. Through interviews with Yahyaoui as well as content analysis of social media platforms used by Al Bawsala, the findings suggest popular education praxis of conscientization and third space are operative and central to Tunisia's relatively nonviolent path toward democratization after the Arab Spring. The authors further suggest that Al Bawsala's work is one approach for moving forward in a postrevolution context, and that adult education is central to that process.
Cultivating interdisciplinary connections between freshman and capstone students epitomizes a novel pedagogical approach to deepen student understanding of the learning process in a Community College environment. Within such a context, this article focuses on the outcomes of a two-semester collaborative effort that aims to establish and strengthen interactions between students at opposite ends of the academic spectrum. The work discussed focuses on an initiative in which capstone students in their culminating college class are supported in using their educational experiences to guide their first-year peers as they make the transition to college life. After discussing the creation and implementation of scaffolded collaborative assignments in which capstone students peer-reviewed freshman students work, the paper analyzes the impact of the research on student understanding of the learning process, the outcomes of self-reflection activities, student integration of knowledge and skills from diverse sources and the quality of their work in the peer-review endeavor.
Writing, a critical pedagogical tool, cultivates student learning and fosters deeper understanding of the material. When frequent, low -stakes (informal) writing activities help students write more freely, engage with the material and thus become active learners. Looking at students who are at opposite ends of a community college spectrum, this article compares and contrasts students' writing skills using low-stakes assignments, including peer-reviewing of each other's work, in a capstone course and in a First-Year Seminar in terms of organization, clarity in communication and content analysis. The data generated from this study stem from an interdisciplinary collaboration among three instructors from Humanities, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, with the goal of creating a network between students in First-Year Seminars and students in the capstone course. Research methods in this context included assigning common readings to students in different classes on the theme of Women in STEM. It also included a peer review component: students reviewed each other's assignments and instructors visited each other's class to lead a discussion on the paucity of women in the fields of sciences or as Nobel Prize winner, with the additional aim of improving women's interest in STEM courses.
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