We want to reconsider and explore the epistemology of student engagement in higher education as part of a democratic and sustainable education, going beyond neo-liberal groundings. In our exploration, we mainly draw on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and his co-writers Felix Guattari and Claire Parnet. In contemporary educational systems, teachers are often urged to work with student engagement in various forms due to the connection between academic success and student engagement. Student engagement is being perceived as an important factor (...) in quality measurements – a trend which can be connected to the neoliberal marketization focusing on performance, individualization, competition, goal-rationality and linear progression. This neo-liberal agenda produces new demands on education, changing students’ and teachers’ possibilities to act and become within higher education. In addition, some theories are prioritized which lead to narrowed and limited epistemologies for higher education and accordingly student engagement. Deleuze’s way of thinking challenge linearity and dualistic views of subject/object and process/product when emphasizing becoming, appreciating multiplicities and the unpredictable; what has not yet come into being. When ”doing” Deleuze in teacher education, we have considered ‘pedagogical relations’ to involve both human and non-human relations - assemblages that are both intercorporeal and entangled. Such assemblages open, according to Deleuze, for a rhizomatic thinking about learning where events are created that bear possibilities for all actors involved to become-multiple-others for a while. These processes of becoming runs through on-going affective, entangled and moving relationships and modes of existence. Although our exploration is mainly philosophical, we will connect our exploration to an ongoing project at our university. This attempt to reconsider the epistemology of student engagement, challenges structures, power-relations and epistemological pre-assumptions in higher education by creating disruptions, openings and lines of flight? (shrink)

The field of Neuroscience has experienced a growing interest in recent decades, which has led to an exponential growth in the amount of related information made available online as well as the market for Neuroscience-related courses. While this type of knowledge can be greatly beneficial to people working in science, health and education, it can also benefit individuals in other areas. For example, neuroscience knowledge can help people from all fields better understand and critique information about new discoveries or products, (...) and even make better education- and health-related decisions. Online platforms are fertile ground for the creation and spread of fake information, including misrepresentations of scientific knowledge or new discoveries. These types of false information, once spread, can be difficult to tear down and may have widespread negative effects. For example, even scientists are less likely to access retractions of peer-reviewed articles than the original discredited articles. In this study we surveyed general knowledge about neuroscience and the brain among volunteers in Brazil, Latin America’s largest country. We were interested in evaluating the prevalence of neuromyths in this region, and test whether knowledge/neuromyth endorsement differs by age, region, and/or profession. To that end, we created a 30-item survey that was anonymously answered online by 1128 individuals. While younger people generally responded more accurately than people 60 and older, people in the North responded significantly worse than those in the South and Southeast. Most interestingly, people in the biological sciences consistently responded best, but people in the health sciences responded no better than people in the exact sciences or humanities. Furthermore, years of schooling did not correlate with performance, suggesting that quantity may surpass quality when it comes to extension or graduate-level course offerings. We discuss how our findings can help guide efforts toward improving access to quality information and training in the region. (shrink)

The study examines how truth-tellers and truth-telling can be cultivated in the context of post-truth politics in the U.S. Following Foucault, it is not concerned with examining the problem of truth, with the philosophical question of how truth is determined, but with the problem of truth-tellers or truth-telling as a practical activity of self-improvement. To this end, the study traces the emergence and nature of post-truth politics in the U.S. and analyzes its relation to patterns of fascist propaganda and the (...) psychological appeal of authoritarian leaders through a psycho-social perspective. To counter the nature and ubiquity of post-truth politics, the unrelenting flow of lies, disinformation, and conspiracy theories disseminated by the far-right news and information ecosystem, the author argues that educators can help students recognize truth-tellers and become truth-tellers themselves by employing certain pedagogical strategies, informed by Foucault’s analysis of parrhesia, that can equip them to criticize and resist post-truth propaganda and demagogues. (shrink)

In two different occasions in the twentieth century John Dewey and Maxine Greene stressed the point that educators should attend to ‘what the known demands of us’. Following this dictum, from a critical perspective and with a constructive pedagogical spirit, in this paper we portray a new paradigm for values education that addresses the major challenges to the sustainable futures of young people in the third decade of the twenty first century as well as proposing transformative and empowering educational strategies. (...) Employing the terminology of sustainability in its wider sense, we begin with a widely acknowledged diagnosis of the five major global risks – interconnected and interdependent – that endanger the sustainable future of humanity and nature: environmental, political, social, health, and cultural. We then move to suggest a constructive solution, proposing three conceptual pillars for repairing the world and laying foundation for a thriving sustainable future: (a) Ecohumanism as the paradigm for values education – merging the humanist concern for human dignity, social justice and democracy with the ecological concern for climate stability, biodiversity and environmental sustainability; (b) education of democratic personality and for democratic culture that is holistic and transformative; and (c) a threefold notion of activist pedagogy that addresses the element of cultivating personal agency, empowering political literacy and agency, and engaging students in experiential, holistic, and active teaching-learning experiences. (shrink)

Many people no longer trust mainstream science. It seems reasonable to assume that this unfortunate state of affairs - which...

In diesem Open-Access-Sammelband setzen sich Autor*innen aus unterschiedlichsten Disziplinen mit der Auswirkung einer digitalisierten Öffentlichkeit für die Politische Bildung auseinander. Sie erörtern, wie sich die Formen digitaler politischer Kommunikation auswirken, wie der Politikunterricht mit der veränderten Ausgangslage umgehen könnte und welche Kompetenzen Schüler*innen benötigen, um in der digitalen Öffentlichkeit selbstbestimmt und -ermächtigt politisch teilzuhaben. Die Komplexität und die Interdependenzen digitaler Kommunikation verlangen nach einer multiperspektivischen und transdisziplinären Perspektive, der dieser Band verpflichtet ist.

The aim of this article is to reconsider and explore the ontoepistemology of student engagement in higher education as part of a democratic education, going beyond neo-liberal groundings. This is urgent as the concept of student engagement seems to be taken for granted and used uncritically in higher education. In addition, higher education is affected by, and under pressure from, different global and societal forces, which raises questions about the purpose of education. In our exploration, we mainly draw on the (...) philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and his co-writers Felix Guattari and Claire Parnet, but also Karen Barad and writers who are inspired by these theories. We present four arguments on which we elaborate: Rethinking power relations, Questioning linearity and how to use goals, Appreciating pedagogical relationships as multiple voices and becoming-multiple-others, and Considering assemblages, rhizomes and lines in student engagement. These arguments open up, as we argue, the poss... (shrink)

In the article, Thomas More’s vision of citizen education is a starting point for the analysis of the role of East European dissident thought and practice in addressing the present crisis of social agency posed by the legacy of postmodern philosophy and the surge of post-truth politics. The article argues that engaging with the experience of Eastern Europe in the last decades of the twentieth century offers a useful way of approaching the question of political action in relation to social (...) dreaming and an important context to address the postmodern deconstruction of the subject. The way the thought and practice of East European dissidence both resonates with and questions the main principles of postmodern theory makes it particularly relevant for the current historical and political momentum and can be seen as an important contribution to the debates belonging to the ethico-political turn. (shrink)

The use of narrative – in this case a fictional dialogue – has been a time-honoured way of exploring ideas and most importantly indispensable for learning, at least since the time of the Sophists. Indeed, the dialogues of Plato exemplify this thesis because the qualities and characteristics of philosophy and philosophising are revealed through their lives. Extending on this premise, we would argue that we learn to understand both the unity and complexity of philosophy – particularly in education and educational (...) research – not by formal philosophical arguments, necessary as they are in some contexts, but by narratives that are relevant, narratives that make the actions of one or more characters intelligible and justifiable. As a result, this article uses a narrative approach for the dual purpose of exhibiting the relevance of philosophy intelligibly exhibited through the examples of the characters put forward, but at the same time characters we our... (shrink)

This conceptual paper argues for the reconfiguring of Intercultural Communication Education (ICE) through a dialogical engagement with Istina (Truth) and Pravda (Truth in Justice). The paper argues that the field of ICE is predominantly characterised by normative conceptualisations of truth (e.g., characterised by fixed or ‘objective’ interpretations of language and culture) or hyper-relativist post-truth conceptualisations (e.g., non-essentialist approaches to ICE). This conceptual paper, therefore, addresses the following research question: To what extent can a dialogical approach to truth address and redress (...) epistemic power imbalances in ICE? Through engaging with Russian language and the dialogical approach of Mikhail Bakhtin a non-normative approach for ICE is proposed. The paper conceptually argues in moving beyond the binary of normative and post-truth interpretations in ICE through dialogism. The paper serves at an important juncture amidst calls that the field of ICE is characterised by epistemic violence and epistemic power imbalances. The proposed dialogical approach to truth in ICE aims to redress epistemic imbalances in arguing for a form of non-normative dialogical ethics. (shrink)

Public intellectuals today must be understood in relation to the concept of ‘viral modernity’, characterised by viral and open media and technologies of post-truth that reveal the dramatic transformations of the ‘public’, its forms and its future possibilities. The history, status and role of the public intellectual are constituted by both the network of law in liberal society and above all the primacy of the concept of freedom of expression. The task of public intellectuals was to define, analyse and protect (...) these rights by speaking truth to power. Both Wittgenstein and Foucault as exemplary intellectuals distinguished themselves by problematising truth and showing that truth-telling is an aspect of self-transformation and the intellectual form of life. (shrink)

Education has a responsibility to respond to the threat of deteriorating democracies. The post-truth era is marked by an erosion of trust in public institutions and extreme polarisation. This paper begins with an examination of the ways by which current literacy and media literacy education is not simply outmoded, but also limited by a grounding in neoliberal conceptions of rationality and individualism. Offering a counterpoint to the status quo, and foregrounding the significance of affect, I work with Levinas’s conception of (...) ethics to illustrate the tensions between affective reactionism and non-intentional affectivity, enjoyment and its disruption as a premise for intersubjectivity, and contrasting manifestations of anger. I conclude the paper with a proposal for literacy education that comprises intentional focus on relationality, responsibility, and affect. (shrink)

A key aspect of teaching ‘development’ is understanding the conundrums and tensions between balance and imbalance with constructs of global and...

For a long time, one of the most important tasks for education in liberal democracies has been to foster the next generation in core democratic values in order to prepare them for future political responsibilities. In spite of this, general trust in the liberal democratic system is in rapid decline. In this paper, the tension between the ambitions of liberal-democratic educational systems and contemporary challenges to central democratic ideas is approached by reconsidering Hannah Arendt’s critique of political education. This will (...) be done informed by her analysis of the tension between the concepts of state and nation. By showing how education, depending on its role as a tool of the state or the nation, may be a fundamental requirement for the establishment of a common world or the most effective tool for its destruction, the paper argues for the need to understand Arendt’s educational thinking in light of her wider political analysis. Rather than downplaying the provocative aspects of her critique, the paper argues for the need to use it as a starting point for thinking again how education may become an emancipatory undertaking capable of disarming contemporary threats to human plurality and freedom. (shrink)

Education in the post-truth era: Reflections on the role of learning in sustainability and democracy This paper revisits the field of (Higher) Education for Sustainable Development in a post-truth era. It reflects on the current debate regarding the role of education in sustainability from a Deweyan perspective. This approach leads towards a renewed interpretation of individual sustainability competences in societal context influenced by post-truth characteristics and super wicked problems. The Deweyan perspective with focus on personal flourishing and the role of (...) education in democracy, provides guiding principles to frame individual sustainability competences in the current post-truth context, thereby highlighting the importance of critical inquiry. The paper recommends to revisit the connection between education and sustainability from a personal and societal perspective, thereby taking into account the current context of higher education, influenced by neoliberalism, economic efficiency and managerialism. (shrink)

The increased distribution of fake news on internet and social media raises concerns for democratic processes. Sometimes, argumentation in deceptive information is built on numbers, which gives reason to include mathematics when working with fake news in education. In this paper, I suggest a tool to facilitate students’ critical thinking related to numbers, or other mathematical representations, presented in the media. It may not be straight forward, or even possible, to judge the validity of presented numbers, or whether numbers are (...) used with the intention to deceive. Complex topics are associated with uncertainty, which implies that numbers may be questionable without hidden intentions, and that evaluating a number’s relevance may be quite challenging. The developed tool consists of a set of questions to help reflecting on the validity of numbers, which again is developed into categories reflecting degrees of validity and whether the mathematical representation has a deceptive role. The categories are illustrated with examples from the media and from a classroom situation in teacher education to indicate how the tool can help raise critical questions. The developed categories are based on academic literature on fake news, typographies of uncertainty and on critical mathematics education. (shrink)

In this article, we entangle with Aaron Kuntz’s book The Responsible Methodologist, extending the conversation beyond research into the realms of teaching, learning, and daily lived practices as twenty-first century academics. Kuntz advocates for parrhesiastic living and inquiry, defined as truth-telling and intervention toward ends of disrupting normative practices of knowing and being and enacting socially just ends. We grapple with three philosophical ∼ theroetical propositions made by Kuntz: entangled knowing ∼ being; citizenship; and logics of extraction. Utilizing examples from (...) our own lived experiences, pedagogy, and inquiry, we open a series of philosophical and theoretical dialogues around these three topics to better understand their possibilities and limitations, grappling, and debating how they are jumping off points for living more parrhesiastically. (shrink)

با شیوع ویروس کرونا، جهان شاهد اتفاقات جدیدی شد که تاکنون مشابه آن را ندیده بود. آثار پاندمی کرونا بی‌شک تا سال‌ها با بشر باقی خواهد ماند. رسانه‌های اجتماعی در جریان این همه‌گیری به‌شدت مورد استقبال کاربران قرار گرفتند. این توجه تنها از سوی افراد نبود و دولت‌ها و سازمان‌های مختلف هم توجه ویژه‌ای به این رسانه‌ها داشتند. این افزایش اهمیت رسانه‌ها، لزوم بررسی نقش رسانه‌های اجتماعی در جریان همه‌گیری را بسیار پراهمیت می‌کند. در نقد و بررسی تأثیرات رسانه‌، تکنوپولی (...) از کلان‌ترین نظریات موجود است. این نظریه، کنترل فرهنگ و تفکر توسط تکنولوژی جهان امروز را پیش‌بینی می‌کند و ابزار مناسب برای بررسی نقش رسانه‌ها را در اختیار ما می‌گذارد. در این مقاله، کوشیده‌ایم تا با استفاده از روش تحلیلی-انتقادی و استفاده از نظریة تکنوپولی نقش رسانه‌های اجتماعی را در دوران پاندمی کرونا مورد نقد و بررسی قرار دهیم. در ابتدا، نظریۀ تکنوپولی تبیین شده، سپس نقش و تأثیرات رسانه‌های ‌اجتماعی در دوران پاندمی کرونا با استفاده از این نظریه مورد نقد و بررسی قرار می‌گیرد. یافته‌های پژوهش، حاکی از آن است که نیل پستمن در نظریۀ تکنوپولی بسیاری از آثار منفی رسانه‌ها که اکنون با آن رو‌به‌رو هستیم را پیش‌بینی کرده بود و می‌توانیم این آثار را با توجه به‌نقد پستمن کاهش دهیم؛ همان‌طورکه پستمن احتمال می‌داد، امکان داد و ستد با تکنولوژی و رسانه وجود دارد. در موارد گوناگون، بشر موفق شده است تا تکنولوژی را به‌خدمت درآورد و از آن در جهت کمک برای رفع مشکلات پاندمی کرونا استفاده کند. (shrink)

حباب معرفتی و اتاق بازتاب دو پدیده دوران پسا-حقیقت هستند که در آن‌ها دانش علمی انکار می‌شود. تای نوین معتقد است این پدیده‌ها دانش علمی را با طرد و بی‌اعتمادی به آن انکار می‌کنند. هدف از پژوهش حاضر این است که راه‌کاری برای تمیز میان دانش علمی و دانش درون این جوامع به دست آورده تا امکان خروج از آن‌ها میسر شود. به این منظور، با استفاده از روش تحلیلی-توصیفی ابتدا به تبیین این دو پدیده و بررسی راه‌کار ارائه‌شده برای (...) خروج از آن‌ها پرداخته و ایرادات این راه‌کارها را نمایان می‌سازیم. سپس نظریه نظام‌مندی دانش علمی هوینینگن-هون معرفی خواهد شد که بر اساس آن یک در موضوع مشترک، دانش علمی در ابعاد توصیف، توضیح، پیش‌بینی، دفاع از ادعاهای دانش، گفتمان انتقادی، پیوند معرفتی، ایده‌آل کامل بودن، تولید دانش و بازنمایی دانش، نظام‌مندتر از دانش روزمره است. مطابق این نظریه، نظام‌مندی به این معنا است که دانش علمی تصادفی، دلخواهانه، بدون برنامه، بدون نظم و ترتیب نبوده و روشمند (متدولوژیک) است. در بخش پایانی به بحث و بررسی استفاده از نظریه نظام‌مندی در پدیده‌های ذکرشده می‌پردازیم. نتایج پژوهش حاضر نشان می‌دهد نظریه نظام‌مندی بدون آن‌که به دام ایرادات راه‌کار نوین بیافتد، قادر است به عامل معرفتی کمک کند میان دانش علمی و دانش روزمره تمیز داده و امکان خروج از آن‌ها را پدید می‌آورد. (shrink)

The role of affection in the mass production of information and the post-truth phenomenon has returned a bias to the analysis of emotions, under which they appear as a key agent in disinformation systems, or as a distorting element that must be eliminated in order to have an "objective" access to the truth through the strict use of reason. In this work we will defend that both positions incur in problematic approaches, and that both are based on premises that deserve (...) a review. From this critical exercise, we will suggest a transversal proposal of minimums from which to carry out the analysis of emotions in the study of post-truth. (shrink)