Rhetorically savvy course descriptions, because they speak to multiple audiences, stand as a demonstration of your teaching excellence. The well-crafted description acts as a snapshot that attests to your ability to attract students and teach your disciplinary ways of knowing beyond your disciplinary context. Whether your context is the job market…[Read more]

In this presentation, I outline and reposition the entangled histories of certain objects, technologies, and rhetoric, to show how consumption and consumer identity are reflected in their combination and that each category is never far from the other two.

A narrated iteration of a recent presentation. I consider this an interim version as I…[Read more]

This essay shows that physicians of early Āyurveda adopted a pragmatic approach to the challenges dharma imposed on them. While the concept and its importance is generally accepted in the medical compendia, various passages stress the fact that good health is an indispensable precondition to pursue dharma and other goals of life. In the interests…[Read more]

article + 6 photographs from the Manuscriptistan Project

Abstract: The causes of suffering are a central topic in Buddhism as well as in Ayurveda. The Pāli Canon and other early Buddhist texts like the Milindapañha mention eight specific causes resulting in disease or suffering at several places. In contrast, early Ayurveda, as presented in the Carakasaṃhitā, knows a threefold causal complex of dise…[Read more]

As educators, we are all familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy and the way it progressively maps the cognitive activities involved in learning and constructing knowledge. Too often, however, we educators who work in writing-focused curricula ask our students to work in the higher-order cognitive domains of analysis and creation without necessarily giving…[Read more]

Teaching the fundamentals of writing composition shouldn’t be boring. It should be active, engaging, and EMPOWERING! Most students, whether they consciously articulate it or not, want to vanquish their writing anxiety. They want to develop confidence in their ability to compose and revise strong prose that will help them thrive in coursework and…[Read more]

In courses that end in summative final exams or capstone projects, it can be challenging to get students to pull back and identify the learning that they’ve done across an entire unit or semester rather than only focus on the learning they’ve undertaken most recently. As part of our larger sequence of active-learning-based lesson plans designed to…[Read more]

Dr Farra “Our models are out reality. But our models are not reality!” That coincides with the immortal philosopher Kant who argue we do not perceive the real world – but “representations” of the real world. Similarly, Bargh – from unconscious research – emphasizes mental categories and norms/stereotypes. Jung emphasizes symbols – which he argues…[Read more]

This paper focuses on two elements of the Passover Seder ritual and their connection to Piagetian education theory. After outlining Piaget’s theory of genetic epistemology and its implications for education theory, it focuses on Sigel’s distancing theory, which touts question asking as a tool for presenting information to students. This paper arg…[Read more]

According to the medical tradition, the temperament of bodies came from the balance of their primary qualities – hot, cold, dry, and moist. However, physicians associated additional sensory properties with temperament in the field of pharmacology. These sensations included taste, color, and odor, which allow an appraisal of the constitution and a…[Read more]

According to the medical tradition, the temperament of bodies came from the balance of their primary qualities – hot, cold, dry, and moist. However, physicians associated additional sensory properties with temperament in the field of pharmacology. These sensations included taste, color, and odor, which allow an appraisal of the constitution and a…[Read more]

1963.11.22-12:30 * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

South African universities’ use of digital technologies in learning has increased in recent years. Given that
social exposure, the context and pedagogic uses of technology influence learning expectations and
learner involvement, it is important to understand students’ experiences of the use of different
technological tools. This article emp…[Read more]

Alfonso X was king of “Castilla, León, Sevilla, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, and el Algarbe.” As evidenced by his title, he came to have possession of various kingdoms in Iberia. He was born in Toledo in 1221 and died in Seville in 1284, at 63 years of age. He is called the Learned King because he was an author, poet, musician, and historian, and becaus…[Read more]

Globally, student support mechanisms focus almost exclusively on academically ‘under-performing’
students, especially as insofar as academic development practices are concerned. This article makes a
case for a shift in approach. Using the context of one country, South Africa, we sought to better
understand the strengths that academically…[Read more]

Pre-service mathematics teachers’ (PMTs) subject competency continues to engage scholars and researchers.
Understanding level of knowledge of concepts that PMTs bring to their learning in university is crucial to
developing their teacher knowledge. This article examines genetic decomposition of schemas PMTs in one
university in South Africa b…[Read more]

From 40 years of experience it is clear that spirituality has become entangled in abstractions: powers, perfection, supernatural, unreal, limitless knowledge, crystal ball perceptions, etc.
Dr Stephen Farra agreed with that – and went one better. Dr Farra stated “Our models are out reality. But our models are not reality. That coincides with the…[Read more]