The Langkawi Global Geopark: local community’s perspectives on public education

The study reported in this paper represents one of the first attempts at exploring the perspectives of the local communities on the designation of Langkawi Island in Malaysia as a UNESCO Global Geopark. It is premised on the widely acknowledged assertion that the local communities constitute an important group of stakeholders in the planning and implementation of development activities. Hence, the communities living in the geopark areas in Langkawi are considered important stakeholders who play a crucial role in the development of heritage tourism in Langkawi Global Geopark. This paper examines their views on their appreciation of the geopark as heritage, the interpretation of their shared values, the benefits and opportunities afforded by the geopark, and the extent of their involvement in the implementation of geopark activities. The findings point to the need for more support for public education programmes, and awareness initiatives aimed not only at ensuring community engagement with the development of Langkawi Geopark but also at generating stewardship actions from the community.     

The impact of mobile augmented reality in geography education: achievements,cognitive loads and views of university students

Augmented reality (AR) technology is commonly used in education. AR offers a combination of the virtual and real world; thus, it can help students in learning abstract and complex subjects. The purpose of the current study was to determine the impact of mobile AR technology on achievement, cognitive load levels and views of 95 first-year university students (40 in the experimental group and 55 in the control group) enrolled in a geography course in the social sciences education department of the education faculty of a university in Turkey. A sequential explanatory design, a mixed method type of research, was used. The data were collected using an achievement test, a cognitive load scale, and a semi-structured interview form. The results of the study showed that AR increases students’ achievement and decreases their cognitive load levels, and the students’ views about AR technology were positive. Consequently, it can be stated that mobile AR technology is a useful tool for teaching geography, especially geomorphology topics.     

Review

Saddam's Secrets: The Hunt for Iraq's Hidden Weapons, Tim Trevan The Greatest Threat: Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the Crisis of Global Security, Richard Butler     

Building the nation in Timor-Leste and its implications for the country's democratic development

This article contributes to the discussion of the international democratisation of the so-called ‘post-conflict’ or ‘fragile’ countries by addressing one of the most important but least studied issues in the literature—the relationship between democracy and nation-building. It does so by analysing the major socio-political aspects of the democratic nation-state-building process in Timor-Leste in the post-1999 period. It argues that contemporary international democratisation policies and practices prioritise the ‘stateness’ problem, conceptualised by reference to a set of organisational, procedural and functional concerns. Little attention is, however, paid to the ‘nationness’ question. As the experience in Timor-Leste indicates, it is the national ideas that determine the structural and operational parameters of democratisation, which is, after all, a process of socio-political transformation by which political power and wealth are redistributed amongst a variety of competing societal interests.