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Graduate Courses
I teach graduate courses for students in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, East Asian languages and Cultures, and Gender Studies.
H552 Comparative Education II
This class builds upon materials introduced in H551, Comparative Education I. H551 introduces the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological debates and challenges that have animated scholarship and practice in the field. In H552 we continue to explore different perspectives in comparative education by focusing on readings that primarily address comparative methodology, including the questions, what is a case and what is a case for. A prominent theme in our reading is globalization, what it means and how it is influencing our intellectual and social landscapes, our research approaches, how we borrow and lend educational ideas, and the way we are connected to each other. We explore comparative methodology primarily by reading and evaluating case study monographs. The monographs we will read have been chosen to represent: 1) different methodologies and interpretations of what “case studies” are; 2) different “genres” of comparative education; and 3) different approaches to how particular kinds of comparative scholarship might shape policy.
Syllabus
Examples of PowerPoint slides used in class:
Presentation 1: The “Keys” to H552 Comparative Education II
Presentation 2: Keys to the why, what and how of comparative education
H637/G701 Seminar on Gender, Education, and Development
This course is for graduate students interested in engaging in multi-disciplinary analysis of relationships among gender, education, the ethics of cross-cultural and international research, global and international learning, and the politics and practice of international development. The course welcomes reflective and sustained thinking about the relationship between gender and educational theory and practice in a diversity of contexts. Through readings, discussions, and guest lecturers we will explore our own relationships to educational practice and research, and the relationships among education, schooling, international development, and gender relations in different regions and countries. We will read and discuss relevant studies in anthropology, economics, history, and sociology, as well as interdisciplinary scholarship in the fields of education, development and gender studies. We will critically evaluate these studies (and our own experiences) in order to build a comprehensive understanding of current debates and policies concerning gender and education around the world, with a particular emphasis on the structures and challenges that have come to be labeled as “development.” To promote a common analytical vocabulary for seminar participants we will discuss contrasting theoretical perspectives on gender, education, and development, including still dominant modernization frameworks as well as culturalist and feminists frameworks of critical and post-colonial theorists. We will also examine how our understandings of gender affect our research questions and methodologies and the gender frameworks used by governments, NGOs and international organizations. Basic gender and development theories include Women in Development (WID), Gender and Development (GAD), and capabilities theorists, such as Martha Nussbaum. A unifying theme throughout the semester will be consideration of the ethics of doing research.
Syllabus
Examples of PowerPoint Slides used in class:
Presentation 1: The Place of Theory in this Class and Our Thinking: Critical Social Theory and Gender, Education and Development.
Presentation 2: Feminism, Gender, Development: What do the key terms mean and so what?
H637 Advanced Comparative Methodology
“Thinking without comparison is unthinkable. And, in the absence of comparison, so is all scientific thought and scientific research.” (Guy Swanson)
“[In] scientific work, we find that new theories are understood only by the graduate students, whose intellectual identities are then wholly transformed…. In contrast, the senior professors are burdened with such connectional inertia that when they encounter new ideas there is no apparent effect, other than an occasional vague irritation.” (A General Theory of Love Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon.)
This seminar builds upon materials and theoretical, conceptual, and methodological debates and challenges introduced in our comparative education course sequence, EDUC H551 and H552. Our primary purpose is to focus on comparative methodology and its relevance to. We will do so by looking at how comparative methodology has been practiced in the social science disciplines (with occasional guest lecturers from IU faculty in the College and School of Education) and by considering, in particular, “what is/are a case/data,” how we collect/select them for comparison, and (ultimately) what this knowledge can tell us about improving education. Seminar participants will be encouraged to reflect broadly on how they are setting their research approaches and goals and how they are building their scholarly trajectories and (collaborative) networks and to what end. One of the important themes of debate in this semester’s seminar will be how “the global politics of borrowing and lending” influences our field’s practice of comparison. Requirements include a significant research/review project and presentation of weekly class readings.
Syllabus
Doctoral Student Mentoring
Undergraduate Education
My most recent involvement with undergraduate education includes a course on “Challenges of World Class Schooling in Japan and China” (E497/F401) that I offered in 2009. This course is followed by a study tour to China and Japan, funded by EASC’s Freeman Foundation Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative II grant.
While seriously reflecting on the goals and conditions for teacher preparation at liberal arts colleges in the United States, I co-edited the book Taking Teaching Seriously: How Liberal Arts Colleges Prepare Teachers to Meet Today's Educational Challenges in Schools (Paradigm Publishers).
I am also leading a collaborative project with other IU and Chinese colleagues, entitled “Developing National Student Engagement Surveys for Chinese Secondary and Higher Education: Effective Practice for an Era of Mass Schooling.” The project includes implementation of IU-developed surveys that measure student engagement in China's diverse institutions of higher education. (More information)
E497/F401 Challenges of World Class Schooling in Japan and China
This course and study tour are designed to introduce educational challenges and reform in contemporary China and Japan, from a comparative perspective. One of the important themes throughout the semester will be considering similarities and differences between the two educational systems. A brief examination of the culture, geography, and educational legacies in China and Japan, as well as worldwide processes of educational globalization, will set the stage for our exploration of the extraordinary experiences of China and Japan in creating 21st century schools to meet the needs of their changing societies and of global challenges. As we study important cultural and educational issues we will continue to draw explicit comparisons between the educational practices, achievements, and problems of these two great East Asian societies. Throughout the course students will be working on joint presentations and research projects. Final research projects will be completed and presented in Beijing as part of the course’s culminating study tour, a two week trip (May 11-24) to Japan and China that will enable students to visit schools, speak to educators, students, and policy makers, and to observe directly the nature and content of schools in both societies.
Syllabus
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