The volume was developed to address conceptual, relational and formational questions around the phenomena of creativity and spirituality from a multidisciplinary perspective. We acknowledge the complexity of each phenomenon, and the need for multiple perspectives, in a number of ways. First, different chapters are written from psychological, theological or philosophical perspectives. Second, multiple research perspectives are considered across empirical and phenomenological methods of inquiry. Finally, multiple associations between creativity and spirituality are evaluated. From such multiple perspectives the theme of this volume emerges. Both creativity and spirituality are important for individual and societal flourishing but we know little about fostering both in the 21st century. Some ways of fostering them are psychologically harmful and need to be avoided. New ways of protecting people as they engage in creative and spiritual endeavours are needed. In particular, formal training in both creativity and spirituality within the sphere of higher education should be developed in the light of current research. However, new research that integrates multiple perspectives and examines creativity and spirituality together is needed for training that avoids harm and promotes individual and social flourishing. The book will be valuable for educators in all disciplines of higher education because it justifies and explicates training in creativity and spirituality within all areas of higher education. Further, it discusses how such training might best be included within andragogical practice. The book will be useful for researchers of creativity and spirituality because it gives an overview of contemporary research issues and findings, and proposes a new philosophical? theological perspective for integrative research in these areas. Students in fields of creativity, theology and spirituality will use the book as a synthesis of contemporary theories and research relating to both creativity and spirituality and for direction in post?graduate research. More broadly, Christians and others who appreciate the creative and performing arts will find much to challenge their thinking and deepen their awareness of spirituality within human creativity.

As adult learners and educators pioneer the use of technology in the new century, attention has been focused on developing strategic approaches to effectively integrate adult learning and technology in different learning environments. Integrating Adult Learning and Technologies for Effective Education: Strategic Approaches provides innovative instructional approaches as well as relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area of adult learning and technology. This compelling body of research aids professionals in improving instructional training strategies to educate traditional and non-traditional students in today's information age.

This path-breaking book addresses the economics of knowledge in universities and, in particular, asks how the changing structure of university research funding influences research behaviour. The author considers the relationship between the allocation of funds and university scientific research productivity and examines different aspects of European Union funding of university research. In particular, the impact of possible unintended consequences of university policies and priorities are studied. The author introduces an economic and historical approach to university research behaviour that allows one to evaluate the indirect consequences of the new 'competitive approach' to university behaviour and funding. Moreover, the book presents empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that tighter linkages between university and industry, which aim to increase the transfer of knowledge, may produce unintended negative effects. This book will be of use to scholars of the economics of innovation and the economics of knowledge.

Web 2.0-Based E-Learning: Applying Social Informatics for Tertiary Teaching provides a useful and valuable reference to the latest advances in the area of educational technology and e-learning. This innovative book offers an excellent resource for any practitioner, researcher, or academician with an interest in the use of the Web for providing meaningful learning experiences.

Global challenges, in a chaotic context, are ever in play, emerging and receding in time. At the present moment, the global challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in several years of mass-scale challenges and lost learning and socialization from K-12 to higher education for many. The pandemic has been a high consequence and continuing event. Universities and colleges have been under unprecedented budgetary strain. Despite all the immense and irreparable human losses, humanity is moving forward with lessons from the past several years. The Handbook of Research on Revisioning and Reconstructing Higher Education After Global Crises explores how global higher education will recover from the global pandemic at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, and how they will re-establish their relevance for teaching and learning, research and innovation, and social contributions. Covering topics such as campus life, online library services, and Indigenous students, this major reference work is an essential resource for educators and administrators of higher education, government officials, students of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

This work explores the philosophical positions of five postmodern thinkers--Lyotard, Rorty, Schrag, Foucault, and Derrida--to show how their critiques imply that scholars are unduly limited by the belief that inquiry is fundamentally about gaining knowledge of phenomena that are assumed to exist prior to and independent of inquiry, and to persist essentially unchanged by inquiry. The author argues that there are good reasons why this constraint is both unnecessary and undesirable, and he resituates the disciplines within a more flexible foundation that would expand what counts as legitimate inquiry. This foundation would emphasize the inquirer as a cause of reality, not just an observer who aims to accurately describe and explain phenomena. Mourad proposes an intellectual and organizational form which he calls post-disciplinary research programs. These dynamic programs would be composed of scholars from diverse disciplines who collaborate to juxtapose disparate disciplinary concepts in order to create contexts for post-disciplinary inquries.

The major challenges facing higher education are often framed in terms of preparing students for life-long learning. Society's 21st century needs require civic-minded individuals who have the intellectual and personal capabilities to constructively engage political, ethnic, and religious differences, work effectively, and live together with many different kinds of people in a more global society. In this volume, Robert J. Thompson aims to influence the current conversation about the purposes and practices of higher education. Beyond Reason and Tolerance adopts a developmental science basis to inform the transformations in undergraduate educational practices that are necessary to empower students to act globally and constructively engage difference. It synthesizes current scholarship regarding the nature and development of three core capacities deemed essential: A personal epistemology that reflects a sophisticated understanding of knowledge, beliefs, and ways of thinking; empathy and the capacity to understand the mental states of others; and an integrated identity that includes values, commitments, and a sense of agency for civic and social responsibility. Beyond Reason and Tolerance argues that to foster the development of these capabilities, colleges and universities must recommit to providing a formative liberal education and adopt a developmental model of undergraduate education as a process of intellectual and personal growth, involving empathy as well as reasoning, values as well as knowledge, and identity as well as competencies. Thompson focuses on emerging adulthood as an especially dynamic time of reorganization and development of the brain that both influences, and is influenced by, the undergraduate experience. Advances in our understanding of human development and learning are synthesized with regard to the direct implications for undergraduate education practices.

Violence is rampant in America. It is ingrained in our history and our psychology, but what cultural similarities do high-violence areas share? It has been a question tackled by academics and members of the law community since the foundation of our country; and yet, are we any closer to an answer now than we were a hundred years ago? If we are closer, why has the crime rate steadily increased? Reason would conclude that in recognizing the cultural similarities of high-violence areas, we would be able to alter these similarities and deter criminal behaviors. Even so, the behaviors are not deterred. Crime has not lessened. Studies continue, but nothing changes. Should we therefore give up? Or should our hypotheses and conclusions merely change? Author Hassan Dibich says yes to the latter. "The Subculture of Violence" takes a close look at the psychological and cultural hypotheses of old. Dibich delves deeply into the science of homicide and how socioeconomic and even climactic conditions affect statistics. He looks closely at communities with a high number of newcomers and single parents. He goes so far as to disprove previous logic and call for fresh research. America is being swallowed by violence. It is time for new answers, as the old brought us no closer to peace.

Professional development of educators is an complex process through which teachers strive continuously for pedagogical improvement. In that sense, professional growth benefits learners and teachers while also promoting the quality of the schools, colleges, and academic departments where it takes place. Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education is an authoritative publication featuring the latest scholarly research on a wide range of professional advancement topics in STEM education with special emphasis on content, process, implementation, and impact, as well as on the implications for teachers, educators, and administrators. Highlighting comprehensive research across a broad scope of relevant issues including, but not limited to, teacher training, development models, and the implementation of leadership practices, this book is a seminal reference source for STEM professionals working in schools, colleges, and various science and mathematics departments at secondary and post-secondary institutions.