Editor's Note, April 2004
Elizabeth Haller
Instructor, Central Michigan University
E-mail: editoraee@hotmail.com
For those of you fortunate enough to have enjoyed Spring Break, I welcome you back to the reality of classes and another issue of Academic Exchange Extra. Enjoy this month's submissions, and as you do, consider offering us a piece of your work for publication. The school year is closely approaching its end for some, so we look forward to your submissions now that you may find yourself with a bit more time to contribute your thoughts on various pedagogical issues. Please review our Call for Papers on this site for more details on submission requirements. If you are unsure whether your contribution would be suitable under the terms of our Call for Papers, please send along an inquiry, and I will be happy to respond forthwith.
With this issue, Lynne Fukuda returns with another entry for her monthly column, "The View From Here." Fukuda's article, "A Mermaid in Los Angeles" is the first of two articles discussing Fukuda's experience of being on campus at USC. As background for her two articles, Fukuda states, "Our Ed.D program for Educational Leadership at USC-Hawaii was done partially in the tradition of distance learning for more than 15 years. Although very costly, professors from USC were flown in from L.A. and taught their classes in Honolulu at Hickam Air Force Base; when I attended, the classes were held in a converted airplane hangar. Our classes were held on Friday nights and all day Saturday. We would then spend a summer in LA for our residency. I spent two summers in LA and enjoyed myself immensely. To an island girl, living in LA was a great change and [entirely different from merely visiting the area]. After the riots, it seemed that the city had opened up, and the people were more cheerful, confident and accepting of different cultures. It had the sadness of poverty and other things big cities attract, but in obtaining my education at USC, I also learned much about the harsh world beyond the gates of my school and beyond the waters of my islands."
We start this issue off with a featured article by Dan
Lukiv. This I the first of seven in a symposium that Mr. Lukiv has
generously decided to share with AEE. According to Mr. Lukiv,
"This symposium of seven parts discusses: two phenomenological studies
that explored lived school experiences that had encouraged two people
to become creative writers (part one and part two); the abstract versus
concrete sides of phenomenology (part two); bracketing out bias and bracketing
in possibilities (defined in part three); the implicit nature of interview
data and poetry (part four); the need for educators and researchers to
use tact (part five); and the precepts of something I call Theory from
Phenomenology (defined in part seven). I have tried to avoid abstract
language as much as possible to make the work accessible to readers unfamiliar
with phenomenological inquiry.
Part One: For Those Who Teach Creative Writing--Study
I of VI
Part Two: Phenomenology: The Abstract and the Concrete
Part Three: Bracketing and Phenomenology
Part Four: How is Qualitative Interview Data Like a
Poem?
Part Five: Tact, for the Researcher and the Educator
Part Six: For Those Who Teach Creative Writing--Study
II of VI
Part Seven: Theory from Phenomenology"
Our second feature this month is an article by Marcy
Koontz titled, "Developing
a Networking Strategy: The Virtual 
Design Database." Koontz
notes that her article "documents the development and implementation
of the Virtual Design Database project - a student
oriented career networking/informational interviewing project - within
two sophomore level courses. The main goal of this virtual project is
for students to make connections with professionals working in a particular
position or company, which is of interest to them, and share the collected
information, via the web-based database, with other current students,
alumni and participating professionals. Future development plans include
a section in which students can post their resumes, as well as a section
in which participating professionals can post job openings within their
respective companies making this project a more dynamic academic/industry
collaboration in career networking."
Our final feature contributor to this month's issue is Marlene De Beer. De Beer's article, titled "The Influence of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Developing Social Cohesion Through Education: A South African Perspective." De Beer provides that the "main focus and purpose of this article is to give a descriptive and explorative overview of the influence of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's (non-denominational) Transcendental Meditation (TM) and Consciousness Based Education (CBE) and how these have been adapted by dedicated and committed small groups of individuals in South Africa (SA) to develop social cohesion and to meet educational challenges. I start by providing a methodological, theoretical and philosophical framework for this article and continue with conceptual clarifications on social cohesion before presenting Maharishi's CBE, TM and the SA case study initiative. I focus on the educational challenges, the CBE technology and techniques to address these challenges and some research results and the effects of Maharishi's CBE. I also integrate and provide detail of the SA case study initiatives as appropriate."
On a final note, if you are interested in joining our editorial staff, positions are available. Please e-mail me for more details.
As always, do not forget to check out Grist for the Mill for possible submission ideas.
Enjoy!
Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.
- Web Editor
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