Continuous Improvement in Education

In recent years, 'continuous improvement' has become a popular catchphrase in the field of education. However, while continuous improvement has become commonplace and well-documented in other industries, such as healthcare and manufacturing, little is known about how this work has manifested itself in education.This white paper attempts to map the landscape of this terrain by identifying and describing organizations engaged in continuous improvement, and by highlighting commonalities and differences among them. The findings classify three types of organizations engaged in continuous improvement: those focused on instructional improvement at the classroom level; those concentrating on system-wide improvement; and those addressing collective impact. Each type is described in turn and illustrated by an organizational case study. Through the analysis, six common themes that characterize all three types of organizations (e.g., leadership and strategy, communication and engagement, organizational infrastructure, methodology, data collection and analysis, and building capacity) are enumerated. This white paper makes four concluding observations. First, the three case studies provide evidence of organizations conducting continuous improvement work in the field of education, albeit at different levels and in different ways. Second, entry points to continuous improvement work are not mutually exclusive, but are nested and, hence, mutually informative and comparative. Third, continuous improvement is not synonymous with improving all organizational processes simultaneously; rather, research and learning cycles are iterative and gradual in nature. Fourth, despite being both iterative and gradual, it is imperative that improvement work is planned and undertaken in a rigorous, thoughtful, and transparent fashion

Towards guidelines for building a business case and gathering evidence of software reference architectures in industry

Background: Software reference architectures are becoming widely adopted by organizations that need to support the design and maintenance of software applications of a shared domain. For organizations that plan to adopt this architecture-centric approach, it becomes fundamental to know the return on investment and to understand how software reference architectures are designed, maintained, and used. Unfortunately, there is little evidence-based support to help organizations with these challenges. Methods: We have conducted action research in an industry-academia collaboration between the GESSI research group and everis, a multinational IT consulting firm based in Spain. Results: The results from such collaboration are being packaged in order to create guidelines that could be used in similar contexts as the one of everis. The main result of this paper is the construction of empirically-grounded guidelines that support organizations to decide on the adoption of software reference architectures and to gather evidence to improve RA-related practices. Conclusions: The created guidelines could be used by other organizations outside of our industry-academia collaboration. With this goal in mind, we describe the guidelines in detail for their use.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

SOCIOCULTURAL AND ECONOMIC VALUES – ORGANIC FOOD CONSUMPTION IN FAIRS AND SUPERMARKETS IN CAMPINAS, SP. BRAZIL

This scientific research was meant to encompass the meaning of economic and sociocultural consumption and its relationship to human values such as: environmental respect, commitment to health principles, solidarity among rural and urban social groups, and economic aspects (prices etc.)

Funding Media, Strengthening Democracy: Grantmaking for the 21st Century

Despite the pervasiveness of media, the amount of philanthropic dollars in support of public interest media remains minuscule and, therefore largely ineffective. The report, based on a survey of the the funding sector, calls on philanthropists to embrace a practice of transparency and information sharing via technology, to determine how existing funds are being used and how they can best be leveraged to increase philanthropic impact within the media field

(WP 2018-04) Economics and Economic Methodology in a Core-Periphery Economic World

This paper uses a core-periphery distinction to characterize contemporary economics, economic methodology, and also today’s world economy. First, it applies the distinction to the organization of contemporary economics through an examination of the problem of explaining economics’ relations to and boundaries with other disciplines. Second, it argues that economics’ core-periphery organization is replicated in a similar organization of the use and practice of contemporary economic methodology in economics Third, it draws on the use of the core-periphery thinking in economics itself and the uneven development of the world economy to provide possible foundations for economics and economic methodology being organized in core-periphery terms. Fourth, the paper briefly discusses three as a potential countervailing forces operating on the development of contemporary economics that might work against its core-periphery organization

Practising sustainable waste management: a case study on a zero waste community in Bandung, Indonesia : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This study explores how men and women understand and practice a zero waste lifestyle at the household level in the Zero Waste Community YPBB Bandung City. In particular, this study examines the perception, attitude and behaviour, the progress, and the barriers men and women experience related to practicing their zero waste lifestyles within their daily life. In order to achieve the aim of this study and to gain a deeper understanding of the daily practice in their everyday lives, this study has adopted a qualitative research. Working along with the Zero Waste community Yayasan Pengembangan Biosains dan Bioteknologi (YPBB) Bandung or The Foundation of Development in Bioscience and Biotechnology as the case study had been conducted in Bandung city, Indonesia. The findings reveal that YPBB zero waste lifestyle is perceived as a philosophy and visionary concept. Adopting a zero waste lifestyle concept into daily life may bring about difficulty for participants. The results showed that men and women participants had different ways of perceiving zero waste lifestyles practices, such as, composting, consumption patterns, and carrying a zero waste kit. Power structures in the household and gender stereotypes in society also play a role in households. These structures are affected by the patriarchal system embedded in Bandung City. This study builds on understanding of the participants' realities as reflected through zero waste, and gender and development lenses. Acknowledging the roles of men and women within zero waste programmes will lead to a gender sensitive in sustainable waste management. To achieve zero waste goals, this study suggests the importance of education to broaden the mindset of society about the role of equality as it relates to men and women in the household

Economic Activity and Institutions

This paper is one of two working papers concerning the waste management sector transition project run from MERIT under the direction of René Kemp. This paper examines some of the numerous meanings and interpretations associated with the words “institution” and “institutions” and the different levels at which the two notions are employed. Institutionalism, institutionalization, institutional change and related terms are discussed followed by an examination of the links between “institutionalism” and the discipline of economics. The analytical, policy and political implications of the institutionalist approach are discussed and ways in which the institutionalist approach may be applied to changes in the economy during transitions are explored.Institutions, Institutional Analysis, Scale, Policy