5 research outputs found
Improving Emergency Plans through Public Engagement
Emergency plans are fundamental for the speedy and effective response in disaster situations. Plans are often constructed by teams of experts, who apply their knowledge to define response procedures, but lack part of location-specific knowledge that can be very relevant to make decisions during responses. Such knowledge is, however, in the minds of people who use those spaces every day, but are not involved in the planning processes. In this paper, we advocate for citizens' involvement in emergency plan elaboration via Public Participation, a mechanism long time used in other areas of e-government. We define a process for the elicitation of citizen's knowledge via public participation, and present the results of a study on its potential impact, where individuals used different collaborative tools to volunteer knowledge to be used in emergency plan improvement.Penadés Gramage, MC.; Vivacqua, AS.; Borges, M.; Canos Cerda, JH. (2011). Improving Emergency Plans through Public Engagement. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/1133
Digital writing technologies in higher education : theory, research, and practice
This open access book serves as a comprehensive guide to digital writing technology, featuring contributions from over 20 renowned researchers from various disciplines around the world. The book is designed to provide a state-of-the-art synthesis of the developments in digital writing in higher education, making it an essential resource for anyone interested in this rapidly evolving field.
In the first part of the book, the authors offer an overview of the impact that digitalization has had on writing, covering more than 25 key technological innovations and their implications for writing practices and pedagogical uses. Drawing on these chapters, the second part of the book explores the theoretical underpinnings of digital writing technology such as writing and learning, writing quality, formulation support, writing and thinking, and writing processes. The authors provide insightful analysis on the impact of these developments and offer valuable insights into the future of writing. Overall, this book provides a cohesive and consistent theoretical view of the new realities of digital writing, complementing existing literature on the digitalization of writing. It is an essential resource for scholars, educators, and practitioners interested in the intersection of technology and writing
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An action research approach to develop a framework for the development of dot-com ventures for SMEs
This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel UniversityInternet adoption and e-business has been of particular interest amongst researchers and practitioners, however, most of the studies focus on large organisations and only recently there has been a shift of interest to e-commerce/business adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with little or no reference to dot-com initiatives. It is well documented that SMEs have significant and different challenges in comparison to large organisations in the brick and mortar domain.
Therefore, investments in the e-business domain (such as dot-com start-ups) present even more challenges to SMEs. Consequently, this research offers an in-depth study of the start-up process of a dot-com company by examining the stages, phases, and components that are key for this process.
The empirical contexts of this research are three projects with three different SMEs that have actively participated in the creation of a new dot-com venture. These were analysed using an action research approach with interpretative and qualitative analysis. The main component of the action research approach covers a longitudinal study (2 years) divided in four cycles, followed by two case studies used for the evaluation of the findings of this research. These results of all research cycles, which in turn, can be considered the contributions to theory and practice of this research, can be seen in two ways: the development of a start-up framework for SMEs, and a Business Information Database (BID) that supports the implementation of the framework. The framework is designed to visualise, from a strategic perspective, the stages that an organisation have to go through in order to initiate a new dot-com venture. Is proved that organisations have, directly or indirectly, followed specific steps related to the phases described in the framework. Hence new entrepreneurs can use the phases of the framework to facilitate and ease their start-up process looking at the main features of each phase. The BID was constructed under two premises: a) to structure the main documents and corresponding building blocks used in industry and in the proposed framework, such as the Strategic Plan, Business Model, Business Plan, and Business Case, and b) to identify the relationships among the building blocks of all the aforementioned documents. The BID and related documents can be used to identify how a particular piece of information (e.g. building block) affects other aspects of the dot-com initiative. The BID can be also be used as an independent artefact to assist organisations through the structure of the business documents in the start-up process, even if the organisation is not following a specific framework. Hence the BID itself can assist entrepreneurs to start-up firm without the need to have an overarching framework. Last but not least, practical recommendations are offered to practitioners and stakeholders interested in developing new ventures within the dot-com domain
IPADS IN THE SECOND LANGAUGE CLASSROOM: AN EXAMINATION OF IPAD USE BY TEACHERS THROUGH TPACK AND TEACHER PERCEPTION LENSES.
Research indicates a need for teacher education programs which include embedded computer assisted language learning (CALL) to support teachersâ technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of how to employ technology in classroom settings. Researchers also indicate a need to better understand the knowledge-base of language teacher education (LTE), including a teacherâs possible 40 year career through ever changing technology.
This mixed-method case study examines the use of iPads by four teachers, who represent maximum variation in their teaching and technology experience, in two mostly homogenous schools. The study looks specifically at how teachersâ perceptions of 1) teaching, 2) technology, 3) using technology and 4) their students shape the way they use iPads with English language learners. It also examines what supports facilitate the use of iPads for instructional purposes in second language classrooms.
I focus on the use of iPads in a one-to-one implementation in a technologically embedded context because iPads are a relatively new innovation in classrooms, with the potential of changing instruction. Such changes may contribute to the challenges and benefits of being an effective teacher in the English language teaching (ELT) classroom. Research on the use of iPads in classrooms has been previously limited to mostly suggestions for use and has given little guidance in how this disruption will assist and challenge teachers.
TPACK is used as a powerful construct based in a reconceptualization of the language teacher education (LTE) knowledge-base, indicating influences of context, teachers and their perceptions, identity and agency and activities in the classroom. These factors suggest ways which classroom technology and teacher, student, administrative and contextual influences may mediate the activities of teaching and learning in the classroom.
The data show a correlation between teachersâ practices with iPads and their previous experiences using technology in the classroom. Teacher groupings demonstrated differences in teaching based on their experience using technology and teaching. Schools showed differences only in terms of some choices made by the administration. Studentsâ effects on the use of iPads is minimal, except for instances of how student behavior affected the classroom