Knowledge as Culture

Culture must not be seen as something that merely reflects an organization’s social reality: rather, it is an integral part of the process by which that reality is constructed. Knowledge management initiatives, per se, are not culture change projects; but, if culture stands in the way of what an organization needs to do, they must somehow impact

From the Book Page to the Big Screen: An Exploration of Literature-to-Film Adaptions and Their Use in the Classroom

Many classic titles of children’s literature have been adapted into feature film presentations. Although often regarded as a mere form of entertainment, movies can and should be incorporated into the elementary classroom as supplementary material to be paired with their corresponding works of literature. The four examples provided include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. Each of these four works originated as a book that was later recreated into a film format with varying degrees of accuracy to the original story. Through a close examination of the author, theme, classroom application, and film connection, a greater appreciation is gained for the integration of film in the language arts classroom

A potential library for primary MFL pedagogy: the case of Young Pathfinders

As readers of this journal will know very well, 2010 will see all KS2 (ages 7-11) pupils in England entitled to learn a modern foreign language in normal curriculum time. This development of the commitment to primary language learning should provide an excellent opportunity and experience for pupils, whilst at the same time requiring some radical changes for many teachers, schools and much of the wider language learning community. Recent research has indicated general trends suggesting an increase in primary languages already, in anticipation of this development and even beforehand. One of the most recent studies indicates that 43% of primary children currently learn a foreign language at KS2, either in class or as an extra-curricular activity, although the extent of this learning varies considerably (Driscoll, Jones and Macrory, 2004). It has also been suggested (Muijs et al, 2005) that there are certain aspects of the process that will be particularly demanding if the challenge of providing this entitlement are to be met

Youthworx media: youth media and social enterprise as intervention and innovation

This research explores the impact of Youthworx, a community-based cross-sector response to the problem of youth marginalisation and social exclusion. Preface Youthworx is a successful model of a practical, community-based, cross-sector response to the problem of youth marginalisation and social exclusion. It combines professional expertise, networks and material resources across social service delivery agencies (Salvation Army and Youth Development Australia (YDA)), youth-run community media (SYN Media), an educational provider (North Melbourne Institute of Technology TAFE (NMIT)) and research organisations (the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI), at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research (SISR)). Media training and production is used to build capacity to re-engage with learning, education and employment. After some years in development between 2008, when Youthworx effectively began operations, and 2013, the program has provided open access multimedia workshops, accredited training and, more recently, paid traineeships for more than 400 youth disconnected from formal learning, with experience of homelessness, juvenile justice or alcohol and drug abuse. Participants broadcast and distribute their works through SYN Media, local festivals and screenings, as well as online. They also make commissioned creative products for external clients and not-for-profit organisations. Research undertaken by Swinburne University’s SISR between 2005 and 2013 explored impact of Youthworx on these young people and the broader lessons for debates on social innovation, community media and creative economies, informal learning, opportunity and enterprise. The integrated R&D is a unique element of Youthworx, allowing documentation, analysis and capacity-building. It combined longitudinal on-site research, a comparative study of best practices across parallel international youth media initiatives, and mobilisation of established academic and industry networks. Although our findings to date have appeared in a range of publications, this document offers the first comprehensive report on the project. It discusses the development of Youthworx and the results of the 2008-13 period. The presented findings draw on a qualitative fieldwork at Youthworx and semistructured follow-up interviews with a group of Youthworx graduates who participated in the program between 2009-2011. In combination, this material is used to document and explore the specific institutional structure and cultural context in which Youthworx’s media training and production took place, the ways in which young people experienced, engaged with and valued the project, as well as the project’s social outcomes. The longitudinal account of Youthworx presented here integrates and summarises multiple voices, including industry partners, service organisations, practitioners, researchers and, importantly, young people themselves. It reflects arguments developed across the team, including material previously published

Digital Storytelling and History Lines: Community Engagement in a Master-Planned Development

The introduction of new media and information and communication technology enables a greater variety of formats and content beyond conventional texts in the application and discourse of public history projects. Multimedia and personalised content requires public historians and cultural community developers to grasp new skills and methods to make representations of and contributions to a collective community memory visible. This paper explores the challenge of broadening and reinvigorating the traditional role of the public historian working with communities via the facilitation, curation and mediation of digital content in order to foster creative expression in a residential urban development. It seeks to better understand the role of locally produced and locally relevant content, such as personal and community images and narratives, in the establishment of meaningful social networks of urban residents. The paper discusses the use of digital storytelling and outlines the development of a new community engagement application we call History Lines

Supporting Story Synthesis: Bridging the Gap between Visual Analytics and Storytelling

Visual analytics usually deals with complex data and uses sophisticated algorithmic, visual, and interactive techniques. Findings of the analysis often need to be communicated to an audience that lacks visual analytics expertise. This requires analysis outcomes to be presented in simpler ways than that are typically used in visual analytics systems. However, not only analytical visualizations may be too complex for target audience but also the information that needs to be presented. Hence, there exists a gap on the path from obtaining analysis findings to communicating them, which involves two aspects: information and display complexity. We propose a general framework where data analysis and result presentation are linked by story synthesis, in which the analyst creates and organizes story contents. Differently, from the previous research, where analytic findings are represented by stored display states, we treat findings as data constructs. In story synthesis, findings are selected, assembled, and arranged in views using meaningful layouts that take into account the structure of information and inherent properties of its components. We propose a workflow for applying the proposed framework in designing visual analytics systems and demonstrate the generality of the approach by applying it to two domains, social media, and movement analysis

Different applications of concept maps in Higher Education

Purpose: The aim of this work is to show different applications of concept maps in higher education, concretely in qualifications of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Design/methodology/approach: Different methodologies have been used depending on the application of concept maps: as evaluation tool, as knowledge organizing tool, and as meaningful learning tool. Findings: Students consider the concept maps useful principally to select key ideas, to achieve a comprehensive view of the lesson, and to bring up the subject. Moreover, concept maps promote the meaningful and active learning, help students to understand, follow-up, and learn subjects with a high load of contents. Research limitations/implications: The most important limitation is the use of the concept maps in subjects with a high number of students. Practical implications: The realization of concept maps allows the student to develop generic competences. Originality/value: The originality of this work is to show how a same tool can be used in different subjects of different qualifications.Peer Reviewe