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With the arrival of Romanticism, a new imaginary about North/South identities emerged that was to achieve rapid success and considerable validity for decades. The Mediterranean-classicist hegemony sees the cultural and political power, held by the South for many centuries, transferred to the German-Romantic world. This paper analyzes Madame de Staël’s opinions on the matter, which were favorable to the Nordic culture that established a series of simple antitheses on the two identities, thus facilitating their transformation into clichés and their rapid dissemination. They were likewise ideologically exploited by the most conservative Romanticism, a defender of literary nationalism and of a Christian and monarchical literature.

Keywords: Madame de Staël, Madame de Staël, Romantic topics, tópicos románticos, identidades Norte/Sur, North/South identities, Clasicismo, Classicism, Romanticism, Romanticismo

This study reports a systematic review and meta-analyses of the construct social presence in online higher education settings. The research objectives are to: 1) determine the overall impact of scale-based measures of social presence on student learning outcomes, and 2) determine the overall impact of scale-based measures of social presence on student satisfaction outcomes. A thorough examination of the research literature from 1995 to 2022 was conducted, employing a three-stage screening process to identify 53 studies suitable for inclusion in the meta-analyses. Utilizing a random effects model for analysis, the study investigated the two outcome measures with subgroup analysis. The results affirm that social presence has a moderate effect on both student satisfaction and learning outcomes, with no evidence of publication bias identified. In conducting a subgroup analysis to help explain some of the heterogeneity, significant effects were found for mode of delivery and for the scale-based instrument used. The paper concludes by advocating for enhanced rigour in research design to facilitate empirically validated investigations into improving social presence in online learning environments.

Keywords: evidence synthesis, synthèse de données, enseignement supérieur, higher education, online learning, apprentissage en ligne, revue systématique, systematic review, meta-analysis, méta-analyse, conception de cours, course design, enseignement, teaching, technologie, technology, présence sociale, social presence

In 2018, responding to pressure from local governments and advocacy groups, British Columbia launched a provincial effort to build a universal $10/day child care system. As part of this effort, grants were issued to municipalities to support the development of municipal child care plans. In this paper, we conduct a plan evaluation analysis of 48 child care plans created by B.C. municipalities to characterize this emerging form of planning and understand initial strengths and areas for improvement. Our findings highlight common strategies for child care expansion, as well as areas for improvement in identifying and addressing current inequities. We conclude with lessons for other jurisdictions across Canada where local-level planning will be involved in facilitating child care expansion.

Keywords: garde d'enfants, plan evaluation, Colombie-Britannique, British Columbia, social planning, évaluation de plans, aménagement social, care, soin, child care

Centered around concerns of climate change, energy security, and the need for low-cost clean electricity, many jurisdictions that have access to maritime areas are developing offshore wind energy. The province of Nova Scotia, Canada – home to some of the strongest offshore wind resources in the world – is one such place. Yet before development, governments need to listen, understand, and respond to the views of a diverse set of stakeholders, and affected publics. Using online and in-person open house comments, this exploratory study was conducted to determine the level and type of socio-political acceptance during the initial planning stages of offshore wind energy in Nova Scotia. Content analysis revealed that many people who participated in these consultations were initially ambivalent/unclear (with more opposed than supportive) – with regard to offshore wind energy. Consultees most opposed were Indigenous peoples/representatives, members of the general public, and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Thematic analysis identified six main themes, with the most referenced being concerns around biodiversity impacts and general environmental concerns. We close the paper with a discussion of the broader implications of our work, including relevance to future research, planning, and policy.

Keywords: offshore wind energy, énergie éolienne en mer, planification, planning, acceptabilité sociale, social acceptance, Canada, Canada

This study aimed to establish the effects of a model of learning situations drawn from play (LSDP) on the progression of certain skills and knowledge related to the emergence of writing in 5-year-old children enrolled in preschool education. Quasi-experimental research design adopting a pre-test-intervention-post-test design was conducted with 363 children divided into two groups. The teachers of the experimental group applied the LSDP model during the experimental phase, while the teachers of the control group opted for direct and school-type teaching of the prerequisites of reading and writing. This study has shown that an LSDP model produces better results regarding the development of knowledge and skills related to the emergence of writing than school-based teaching. The results indicate that this model is particularly efficient for the development of the functional aspect of written language and that it is at least as efficient for conventional and sound aspects as direct teaching. Further, age and play skills are positively associated with the progression of the emergence of writing, while participants’ sex is not, regardless of the pedagogical model.

Keywords: Make-believe play, jeu de faire-semblant, émergence de l’écrit, Emergence of writing, situations d’apprentissage issues du jeu, Pedagogical approaches, approches pédagogiques, Preschool education, learning situations drawn from play, éducation préscolaire

During the COVID-19 pandemic, young children faced a shift to online education due to social isolation rules, resulting in increased time spent in front of digital screens. Even before the pandemic, the World Health Organization had recommended limiting screen time for young children as extended screen exposure was becoming more common with the increased prevalence of digital tools. This study aimed to examine the status of young children’s screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore the factors influencing it, encompassing child, parent, and environmental dynamics. Through a large-scale online survey, 1,346 parents with children aged 2 to 6 from all 81 provinces of Türkiye participated in the research. Hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that age, digital device ownership, parental screen time, and mediation strategies were positively associated with children’s screen time, while higher parental income, education, and engagement in dramatic play were negatively correlated. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions to achieve a healthier degree of screen usage among young children. Policymakers can play a role in raising awareness about limiting both parent and child screen time and promoting screen-free activities within the home environment, thereby contributing to improving the balance between screen usage and other activities among young children as society moves beyond the pandemic.

Keywords: screen time, parental mediation, young children, parent–child activities

The burgeoning market for wearable technologies with surveillance capabilities is reorienting our relationship with our bodies, privacy, and digital data. This expanding sector has prompted an exploration into how the surveillance of the individual body has been normalized more broadly in the fashion sphere through its visual communications practice. To this end, a multimodal critical discourse analysis following an adapted framework examined a series of photographic editorials and identified two overarching trends that characterize the representation of surveillance in female-focused fashion consumption contexts. Firstly, by adopting a visual style that uses analog aesthetics and obsolescent technology, contemporary surveillance’s obtrusive and expansive reality is obscured and replaced with hauntological nostalgia. Secondly, by framing the act of self-surveillance via screen technologies as erotically charged and potentially empowering, the body’s surveillance is celebrated rather than scrutinized. With close reference to two specific case studies, I demonstrate how these visual treatments can be interpreted as downplaying concerns about privacy and assisting in accelerating the collapse between public and private spheres. I argue that the fashion media’s aesthetic softening of surveillance has culturally foreshadowed an expansion of surveillance capitalism manifesting in the current interest in, and demand for, fashionable wearables.

Keywords: self-surveillance, fashion, photography, Surveillance Capitalism, wearables

This paper examines the wage implications of temporary migration for two cohorts of Italian Ph.D.s. Special attention is given to the duration of the international experience, its contribution to earned wages and the selectivity of returnees. Returnees are found to be a self-selected group whose unobservable characteristics are simultaneously associated with both higher wages and a higher propensity to migrate. Moreover, we find positive returns for those who stay longer and negative returns for those who come back sooner. The results are confirmed in several robustness and sensitivity checks.

Keywords: back movers, education, high-skilled migrants, international returnees, selectivity, self-selection, human capital, wage-premia

This bibliometric analysis explores the rapidly growing field of open education, offering insight into its nature and the wide range of academic topics it covers. This study applies co-citation and co-word analyses approach to critically review 402 publications from the Web of Science database. The aim is to identify emerging topics, seminal works, and dominant trends in the literature on open education. The co-citation analysis identifies key publications and thematic clusters that define the field, including discussions on pedagogical innovations, equity and accessibility, quality assurance, and the global impact of open educational practices (OEP). Co-word analysis, on the other hand, highlights the recurrent and emerging keywords within the literature, revealing focal points such as digital transformation in education, the role of massive open online courses (MOOCs), and the significance of open educational resources (OER) in fostering inclusive and equitable learning environments. This study stands out for its quantitative approach in mapping the current academic conditions of open education, offering insights into the dynamic interplay between technology, policy, and pedagogy. It emphasizes the need for a collaborative, inclusive approach to education, employing open educational resources and methods to fulfill the different needs of learners globally. Through this analysis, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of the current state and future directions of open education, advocating for policies and practices that support sustainable, accessible, and high-quality educational experiences.

Keywords: open education, bibliometric analysis, Web of Science, education policy

The purpose of this discussion is to assess the ability of the Documentary Hypothesis to provide a compelling reading of Genesis 37. Is the literary reconstruction of the J/E source divisions able to offer a compelling, internally consistent text? As a counter proposal, I consider the framework of coherence theory as a means of evaluating the central claim of documentarians that Genesis 37 lacks compositional cohesion and coherence. The method of this discussion takes the following course. First, I sketch out a brief overview of the various compositional approaches to Genesis 37 and its place in the Joseph story. Second, I consider the nature of narrative cohesion and coherence and how these concepts inform one’s reading of Genesis 37, arguing that the markers of cohesion embedded in the narrative provide a means of guiding the reader coherently through the twists and turns of the plot line. Third, I highlight several narrative links that cross proposed source boundaries, functioning as linguistic signals for cohesion, and that suggest literary coherence. Fourth, I re-assess the so-called Ishmaelite/Midianite problem that has served a central role in most source divisions of Genesis 37.

Keywords: Genesis 37, Documentary Hypothesis, (Neo-)Documentarian, J/E source, cohesion, coherence, narrative, narrative link, Joseph Story, Midian(ite), Ishmael(ite)