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Matthias Pfüller outlines the historical development of central and peripheral regions in the former GDR and former West Germany. Both qualities are found to be relatively persistent. Still, there have been successful attempts at bringing centre and periphery closer together, such as the FRG „educational offensive“ in the 1960s and similar efforts in the GDR. Since the 1990s, however, Germany’s inner dissimilarities have not been further reduced, but are rather on the increase. The author dou…
The author discusses the way in which scientific knowledge and results of research are made public. He questions Gordon Shepherd’s assertion that scientists themselves are best qualified for a transmission of their results to the interested public, and rather makes a case for the expert as a mediator. In order to do so, he identifies the characteristics of science versus expertise, and defines the expert as one who, in addition to the knowledge required, also possesses communicative skill, disc…
Striving for quality is at the core of pedagogical professionalism. Therefore the science of further education has to intervene in the quality discussion in two ways: Firstly, it must develop criteria by which systems of quality assurance can be compared and by which their appropriateness for the sector of further education can be evaluated. Secondly, it must inquire yet more persistently into the specifics of pedagogical quality and find out what further education science can contribute toward…
Prof. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Hans-Olaf Henkel ist seit Juli 2001 Präsident der Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz und lehrt seit November 2000 Internationales Management an der Universität Mannheim. Zuvor war er fünf Jahre Präsident des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Industrie (BDI). Nach seiner Tätigkeit als Chef von IBM Deutschland und Präsident von IBM Europa ist er nun Mitglied im Aufsichtsrat der IBM Deutschland GmbH. Im Gespräch mit Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Nuissl spricht Hans-Olaf Henk…
Marion Seevers ist Leiterin der Referatsgruppe Weiterbildung und außerschulische Berufsbildung beim Senator für Wissenschaft und Bildung in Bremen. Das Gespräch mit ihr und dem stellvertretende Direktor des DIE Klaus Meisel moderiert Dr. Peter Brandt. Marion Seevers sieht eine Mitverantwortung der öffentlichen Hand, wenn es darum geht, Qualität in der Weiterbildung zu sichern, und plädiert für länderübergreifende Qualitätsstandards.
Why have we lately seen a renaissance of the concept of „region“ in the social sciences? The author explores changing perspectives on this concept against a background of technical and social development. While the electronic media allow networking as a form of cooperation that is motivated by functional aspects and exceeds regional boundaries, cooperation within the physical boundaries of a region is facilitated by ease of personal contacts, shared facilities and common institutions. Both tend…
The author looks at two forms of learning in virtual environments: learning with hypermedia and learning by confrontation with virtual objects and „persons“ (simulations). For hypermedia, research has found a rather wide discrepancy between media-specific learning potential and actual outcome, which, especially for beginners, tends to be rather small. - Many empirical studies on learning in simulated reality have shown that simulations can indeed be conducive to learning, but that this is not a…
The author outlines European and German activities and initiatives in the European Year of Languages. In order to bring these initiatives to fruition, it will be necessary to establish the usefulness of language knowledge in the minds of all European citizens. The author’s argument in favour of familiarity with more than one foreign language as a culturally enriching experience culminates in the promise that „monolinguality is curable“.
Urbanising processes have built up city regions. The borders of large cities can not be identified any longer. The hinterland has increasingly attracted population and companies. Without control, this kind of settlement development causes financial problems to the large cities as well as environmental and structural problems. Although cities and their hinterland are closely linked and although there are clearly visible problems, there is still an evident lack of visions for developing city regi…
Klaus Luther, Diplom-Volkswirt, ist Leiter der Unterabteilung „Allgemeine Bildung, Lebenslanges Lernen“ im Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Zuvor war er Assistent am Institut für Regionalforschung an der Universität Kiel, wissenschaftlich koordinierender Sekretär der Enquete-Kommission „Zukünftige Bildungspolitik – Bildung 2000“, Consultant bei der OECD und lange Jahre in der Fraktion der SPD zuständig für Bildungsfragen. Mit Prof. Ekkehard Nuissl spricht Klaus Luther über das Progr…
