Academic libraries, apart from their main function, which is to provide information services to academic communities, may also perform a number of social roles in the broad meaning of the term. Accordingly, they now tend to serve as the third place offering inclusion and animation activities to academic as well as local communities (including…

Civic engagement is recognized as a critical process to address environmental and other societal issues. To examine the intersection between environmental education and civic engagement, as reported in the peer-reviewed literature, we undertook a systematic mixed studies review to identify environmental education program outcomes related to civic…

Online learning systems in developing countries such as Jordan face many challenges. Universities worldwide have dealt with obstacles in terms of continuing face-to-face education. An online learning system is an indispensable solution for all universities. However, students have not been adequately prepared to use online learning systems. This…

In most societies, some social identity groups hold a disproportionate amount of social, cultural, and economic power, while other groups hold little. In contemporary U.S. society, examples of this power are evident around issues of ability/disability, with able-bodied individuals wielding social dominance and people with disabilities experiencing…

Based on a sociocultural approach to adult learning and poststructural feminist theories, this study draws on interviews with 11 married Vietnamese women to explore the higher education learning experiences of Vietnamese immigrant women in Taiwan. On the basis of their husbands' permission and support, Vietnamese immigrant women embraced the…

Social capital is the use of informal networking to secure access to resources and opportunities. Often identified as an asset for offsetting deficiencies in societies, research on the phenomena is limited. This paper describes a qualitative study using focus groups with young adult Emeriti women representing three social-economic groups who were…

"Education Indicators in Focus" is a recurring series of briefs that highlight specific indicators in "OECD's Education at a Glance" that are of particular interest to policy makers and practitioners. They provide a detailed look into current issues in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, higher education, and adult…

This paper explores Indian women's views on arranged marriages in the United Kingdom. It is based on research carried out with 32 Indian women studying at a university in the South East of England, UK. The article draws on Wenger's social theory of learning to explore how Indian women's participation in communities of practice in higher education…

Efforts to enhance college going rates have employed a number of strategies, such as improving recruitment efforts and enhancing financial aid packages. Little effort, however, has been directed at looking at the social and human capital that might impact a residential community, and the subsequent influence this community might have on a…

This paper explores the social class-differentiated behaviours of access and traditional-entry students, based on a three-year constructivist grounded theory study with 45 undergraduates at an Irish university. The participant groups behaved significantly differently within the socio-relational realm, engaging in various forms of distancing…

This paper draws on a part of the doctoral research study that investigates the potential impacts of Internet cafe use on Turkish college students' social capital. In this study, Internet cafe usage was portrayed by the amount of time spent and the frequency of online activities engaged at the cafes. Social capital, on the other hand, was…

This paper draws on a part of the doctoral research study that investigates the potential impacts of Internet café use on Turkish college students' social capital. In this study, Internet café usage was portrayed by the amount of time spent and the frequency of online activities engaged at the cafés. Social capital, on the other hand, was…