Increasing resilience to natural hazards through crowd-sourcing in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

In this project we aim to demonstrate how volcanic environments exposed to multiple hazards tend to be characterised by a lack of relevant data available both in real time and over the longer term (e.g. months to years). This can be at least partially addressed by actively involving citizens, communities, scientists and other key stakeholders in the collection, analysis and sharing of observations, samples and measurements of changes in the environment. Such community monitoring and co-production of knowledge over time can also build trusting relationships and resilience (Stone et al. 2014). There are more than 100 institutions worldwide that monitor volcanoes and other natural hazards, contribute to early warning systems and are embedded in communities. They have a key role in building resilience alongside civil protection/emergency management agencies. In this report, we propose that such institutions are involved in big data initiatives and related research projects. In particular, we suggest that tools for crowd-sourcing may be of particular value. Citizen science, community monitoring and analysis of social media can build resilience by supporting: a) coordination and collaboration between scientists, authorities and citizens, b) decision-making by institutions and individuals, c) anticipation of natural hazards by monitoring institutions, authorities and citizens, d) capacity building of institutions and communities, and e) knowledge co-production. We propose a mobile phone app with a supporting website as an appropriate crowd-sourcing tool for St Vincent and the Grenadines. The monitoring institution is the key contact for users and leads on the required specifications based on local knowledge and experience. Remote support is provided from the UK on technical issues, research integration, data management, validation and evaluation. It is intended that the app facilitates building of long-term relationships between scientists, communities and authorities. Real-time contributions and analysis of social media support early warning, real-time awareness and real-time feedback enhancing the response of scientists and authorities. The app has potential to facilitate, for example, discussions on new or revised hazards maps, multiple hazard analysis and could contribute to real-time risk monitoring. Such an approach can be scaled up to facilitate regional use – and is transferable to other countries. Challenges of such an approach include data validation and quality assurance, redundancy in the system, motivating volunteers, managing expectations and ensuring safety. A combination of recruiting a core group of known and reliable users, training workshops, a code of conduct for users, identifying information influx thresholds beyond which external support might be needed, and continuing evaluation of both the data and the process will help to address these issues. The app is duplicated on the website in case mobile phone networks are down. Development of such approaches would fit well within research programmes on building resilience. Ideally such research should be interdisciplinary in acknowledgement of the diversity and complexity of topics that this embraces. There may be funding inequality between national monitoring institutions and international research institutions but these and other in-country institutions can help drive innovation and research if they are fully involved in problem-definition and research design. New innovations arising from increasing resolution (temporal and spatial) of EO products should lead to useful near-real time products from research and operational services. The app and website can ensure such diverse products from multiple sources are accessible to communities, scientists and authorities (as appropriate). Other innovations such as machine learning and data mining of time-series data collected by monitoring institutions may lead to new insights into physical processes which can support timely decision-making by scientists in particular (e.g. increasing alert levels)

Understanding citizen science and environmental monitoring: final report on behalf of UK Environmental Observation Framework

Citizen science can broadly be defined as the involvement of volunteers in science. Over the past decade there has been a rapid increase in the number of citizen science initiatives. The breadth of environmental-based citizen science is immense. Citizen scientists have surveyed for and monitored a broad range of taxa, and also contributed data on weather and habitats reflecting an increase in engagement with a diverse range of observational science. Citizen science has taken many varied approaches from citizen-led (co-created) projects with local community groups to, more commonly, scientist-led mass participation initiatives that are open to all sectors of society. Citizen science provides an indispensable means of combining environmental research with environmental education and wildlife recording. Here we provide a synthesis of extant citizen science projects using a novel cross-cutting approach to objectively assess understanding of citizen science and environmental monitoring including: 1. Brief overview of knowledge on the motivations of volunteers. 2. Semi-systematic review of environmental citizen science projects in order to understand the variety of extant citizen science projects. 3. Collation of detailed case studies on a selection of projects to complement the semi-systematic review. 4. Structured interviews with users of citizen science and environmental monitoring data focussing on policy, in order to more fully understand how citizen science can fit into policy needs. 5. Review of technology in citizen science and an exploration of future opportunities

Disrupting and democratising higher education provision or entrenching academic elitism: towards a model of MOOCs adoption at African universities

Published ArticleChallenges of broadening access, escalating cost, maintaining desirable quality and enhancing meaningful learning experiences in African higher education (HE) have spurred debates on how to restructure higher education delivery to meet the diverse needs of heterogeneous learners and adapt pedagogical models to the educational realities of lowincome African countries. In view of these complexities, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been advanced by Western Consortia, universities and online platform providers as panaceas for disrupting/transforming existing education models African universities. MOOCs have been touted as disruptive innovations with the potential to create new niche markets for HE courses, disrupt traditional models of instruction and content delivery and create new revenue streams for higher education. Yet academic elitism which manifests in the exclusive selection of top American universities to develop, host and deliver MOOCs, MOOC providers’ use of university brand and reputation as benchmarks for charging recruitment fees on headhunters recruiting MOOC graduates and their complex business models involving the sale of students’ big data (e.g. learning analytics) for profit seem to be inconsistent with claims about philanthropic and egalitarian drive of MOOCs. Drawing on disruptive innovation theory and a review of mainstream literature on MOOCs adoption in American and African tertiary sectors, this study argues that behind the MOOC rhetoric of disrupting and democratizing higher education lies the projection of top academic brands on the marketing pedestal, financial piggybacking on the hype and politics of academic exclusion

Connecting the dots to build the future teaching and learning

This paper outlines a seven-point strategy to devise a system of continuous improvement of teacher quality and, through it, the quality of education as a whole. Education is one of the single most important initiatives that can be undertaken to improve the quality of life, financial security and economic potential of a given population. There is no disputing the benefits of a strong education system. The challenge is in the design and implementation of such a system, and creating the political will to see the system through. For such a program to be implemented, teacher quality and the quality of education as a whole must be considered a national priority. Educational and political leaders must support these initiatives publicly, place them on their policy agenda and establish a blue ribbon commission to develop a strategy to significantly and measurably improve teacher quality. The blue ribbon commission will audit the various policies and programs that influence teacher quality. By mapping these programs and their coherence, the commission will identify opportunities to increase their effectiveness and yield greater and more synergistic harmonious results. These changes can form the basis for a strategy that is sequenced and calibrated to deal with specific entry points, concerns and constraints for the region in question. The steps necessary to promote teacher professionalism may differ where there are serious shortages of teacher candidates or where chronic absenteeism is rampant, or where there is a dearth or glut of technology and infrastructure. This determination will also highlight what role the private sector or civil society can play in the education development in the region. Making teaching an attractive profession is crucial to the strategy, to ensure a constant flow of qualified applicants who can capitalize on their initial training, and take full advantage of continuous learning throughout their careers. Clear career trajectories and incentives tied to performance, as well as a system to accurately measure performance outcomes will provide a pathway to teacher professionalism. The quest for professionalism must begin at the institutions charged with teacher preparation. The blue ribbon commission should include incentives and support for these institutions, providing the support necessary to review and improve their programs to ensure the best results. Innovating the preparation of teachers is integral to the strategy. Rapidly changing societies require versatile teachers to equip their students with a dynamic array of tools to face a dynamic world. Teacher professional development must take into account this need, ensuring that the pre-service education programs align with professional standards, are goal-oriented, and include holistic, integrated and innovative projects. Technology and collaborative projects will also serve a crucial role in the pre-service education of teacher candidates, as well as the life-long development of teachers. The core of good education is a skilled and versatile teaching staff. In order to effect significant improvements to the quality of education, a cohesive strategy is required so that we can combine what we know already into an efficient system which can be implemented worldwide at the scale necessary to succeed. The dots need to be connected. Connecting the dots to build the future teaching and learning (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314878979_Connecting_the_dots_to_build_the_future_teaching_and_learning [accessed Jan 29 2018]

University education and creativity: an assessment from the student’s perspective

Problem Statement: Universities are the institutions responsible for carrying out scientific research and raising highly qualified human power. Highly qualified human power are intellectuals equipped with knowledge andskills that lead to creative, inquiring and productive attitudes. The basic problem statement of this research is determined as: "What are the assessmentsof university students about creavity in university education?” Purpose of Study: The research aims to find out the perceptions, assessments, comments, expectations and suggestions of a group of fourth year university students. Methods: Designed as a qualitative research, aphenomenological methodology is followed in order to analyze the participants’ assessments through focus group interview. Findings and Results: Study provides findings related to the meaning and evaluation of creativity as well as creative and uncreative practices, perceived effect on student’s creativity potential and suggestions for university education as it is perceived by university students. Meaning of creativity is defined as a kind of imagination, thinking differently, completing what is lacking and being different than what is common. Factors influencing creativity are professors, environment, society, lifestyle, families, friends, traditional way of life, trial, books, films, acitivity groups, economic conditions, place of birth, different places, people, learning, observation, fashion, growing up in a small town, social media. The students think meeting with professionals from the sector, lessons to be more interesting, no attendance, obligation to lessons, attending hobby activity clubs, having more free time, no memorization, more practice, more contact with professors andencouragement by professors would enrich their creativity potential. Conclusions and Recommendations: The results indicate that students find their university education mostly as uncreative and experienced limited number of creative practices during their education and think that university education did not contribute to their creativity potential in general.No sponso

The Hershey Company 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

This report describes how we are working with our stakeholders on the issues of greatest importance to them and our company. A common thread running through this report -- linking our efforts, programs and performance -- is engagement with key stakeholders both internally and externally. Unless otherwise noted, this report covers our performance on our priority issues and our progress toward our goals and targets in the 2014 calendar year, which is also our fiscal year. We report on the operations of The Hershey Company, including Hershey's wholly owned operations and joint-venture operations over which our company exercises operating control. While we have provided information regarding our joint ventures and co-manufacturers, we report progress on goals/targets and profile and performance indicators only for our wholly owned facilitie

Teaching English Language Arts: Implementing a Project-Based Learning Approach

Teaching English Language Arts: Implementing a Project-Based Learning Approach Abstract This portfolio includes four projects that are woven together to explore topics in teaching literature and composition using a project-based learning pedagogy. The first project, “Literature & Social Cognition: Why Read Fiction?” sets the groundwork for the importance of literature in academia through a brief analysis of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The second project, “Grappling with Consumerism by Tapping into Freud’s Uncanny: Using Coraline for a PBL Approach” explores Coraline through the critical lenses of the uncanny and Marxism to guide students through a variety of texts including Coraline to explore consumerism through a project-based learning approach. The third project, “Leadership in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: A PBL Teaching Unit” is the beginning of a longer PBL unit that focuses on understanding Shakespearean language and writing style through close reading and dramatic performances. The fourth and final project, “Our Vision of Leadership – Multimodal Composition” is the culminating unit for the previous project which explores how to create and polish a video using iMovie. Keywords: project-based learning, PBL, English Language Arts, student-centered pedagogy, middle school English, multimodal compositio