A Systematic Review of the Literature on Living Labs in Higher Education Institutions:Potentials and Constraints

Living labs (LLs) have emerged as an interface for higher education institutions to collaborate with companies, citizens, non-profit and government organizations to address a variety of problems around social challenges and sustainable development. In this systematic literature review, we summarize the existing knowledge on how universities shape and manage the LLs they are associated with and how they align with their core missions of education and research and—in particular—their social missions. Following PRISMA guidelines for a systematic literature review (SLR), we analyzed journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters published between 2008 and 2020, capturing 93 university-governed LL experiences from across the world. Our findings show that LLs are developing from bottom-up initiatives, often at the fringe of higher education institutions, towards more self-standing entities implementing strategies to undertake social outreach activities. LLs require their host universities to intensify the relationships with their stakeholders and work on capacity building and focus on inter- and transdisciplinary research methodologies. Finally, our literature review points to the need for further research on the hybrid governance approaches displayed by LLs, particularly looking at the roles and responsibilities of academics involved in managing LL initiatives

E-government and digital inclusion

LEFIS organized a meeting in July 2007 in Jaca (Spain) to discuss the status and the perspectives of e-Government especially applied to the legal aspects of society. As it is known the potential benefits of e-Government are numerous and they include greater efficiency, improved public services, enhanced engagement with citizens. Yet progress has been relatively slow, particularly when compared with other sectors such as e-Commerce. From the presentations of some experiences focused in particular on digital divide, e-Participation, form of government, role of citizens, planning methodology in proposing solutions for citizens, the book highlights some problems and solutions to help overcome barriers

Challenges of rapid migration to fully virtual education in the age of the Corona virus pandemic: experiences from across the world

The social disruption caused by the sudden eruption of the Corona Virus pandemic has shaken the whole world, influencing all levels of education immensely. Notwithstanding there was a lack of preparedness for this global public health emergency which continues to affect all aspects of work and life. The problem is, naturally, multifaceted, fast evolving and complex, affecting everyone, threatening our well-being, the global economy, the environment and all societal and cultural norms and our everyday activities. In a recent UNESCO report it is noted that nearly a billion and a quarter (which is 67,7 % of the total number) of learners have been affected by the Corona Virus pandemic worldwide. The education sector at all levels has been one of the hardest hit sectors particularly as the academic/school year was in full swing. The impact of the pandemic is widespread, representing a health hazard worldwide. Being such, it profoundly affects society as a whole, and its members that are, in particular, i) individuals (the learners, their parents, educators, support staff), ii) schools, training organisations, pedagogical institutions and education systems, iii) quickly transformed policies, methods and pedagogies to serve the newly appeared needs of the latter. Lengthy developments of such scale usually take years of consultation, strategic planning and implementation. In addition to raising awareness across the population of the dangers of the virus transmission and instigating total lockdown, it has been necessary to develop mechanisms for continuing the delivery of education as well as demanding mechanisms for assuring the quality of the educational experience and educational results. There is often scepticism about securing quality standards in such a fast moving situation. Often in the recent past, the perception was that courses and degrees leading to an award are inferior if the course modules (and sometimes its assessment components) were wholly online. Over the last three decades most Higher Education institutions developed both considerable infrastructure and knowhow enabling distance mode delivery schools (Primary and Secondary) had hardly any necessary infrastructure nor adequate knowhow for enabling virtual education. In addition, community education and various training providers were mainly delivered face-to-face and that had to either stop altogether or rapidly convert materials, exercises and tests for online delivery and testing. A high degree of flexibility and commitment was demanded of all involved and particularly from the educators, who undertook to produce new educational materials in order to provide online support to pupils and students. Apart from the delivery mode of education, which is serving for certificated programmes, it is essential to ensure that learners’ needs are thoroughly and continuously addressed and are efficiently supported throughout the Coronavirus or any other future lockdown. The latter can be originated by various causes and reasons that vary in nature, such as natural or socioeconomical. Readiness, thus, in addition to preparedness, is the primary key question and solution when it comes to quality education for any lockdown. In most countries, the compulsory primary and secondary education sectors have been facing a more difficult challenge than that faced by Higher Education. The poor or in many cases non-existent technological infrastructure and low technological expertise of the teachers, instructors and parents, make the delivery of virtual education difficult or even impossible. The latter, coupled with phenomena such as social exclusion and digital divide where thousands of households do not have adequate access to broadband Internet, Wi-Fi infrastructure and personal computers hamper the promising and strenuous virtual solutions. The shockwaves of the sudden demands on all sectors of society and on individuals required rapid decisions and actions. We will not attempt to answer the question “Why was the world unprepared for the onslaught of the Coronavirus pandemic” but need to ascertain the level of preparedness and readiness particularly of the education sector, to effect the required rapid transition. We aimed to identify the challenges, and problems faced by the educators and their institutions. Through first-hand experiences we also identify best practices and solutions reached. Thus we constructed a questionnaire to gather our own responses but also experiences from colleagues and members of our environment, family, friends, and colleagues. This paper reports the first-hand experiences and knowledge of 33 co-authors from 27 institutions and from 13 different countries from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The communication technologies and development platforms used are identified; the challenges faced as well as solutions and best practices are reported. The findings are consolidated into the four areas explored i.e. Development Platforms, Communications Technologies, Challenges/Problems and Solutions/Best Practices. The conclusion summarises the findings into emerging themes and similarities. Reflections on the lasting impact of the effect of Coronavirus on education, limitations of study, and indications of future work complete the paper

Reflecting upon the Greek state-school teacher’s changing role in the 21st century: an ‘ecosystemic’ approach

AbstractIn the 21st-century globalized context, education systems world-wide are challenged to respond to increasingly rapid and often unpredictable demands of the globalized society in an interdependent way towards achieving common education goals on a transnational level. In this globalized space, the Greek state-school teacher’s role evolves and changes towards thinking and acting both locally and globally, as an active participant of the global ‘ecosystem’. The purpose of this article is to reflect upon the Greek state-school teacher’s changing role in the 21st century taking into consideration the global educational context in conjunction with the changing state-school context in Greece as well as the characteristics, challenges and changes of the teacher’s role internationally identified, both conceptual and practical, through an ‘ecosystemic’ approach

Energy Transition and Climate Change in Decision-making Processes

There is a growing concern about the climate; numerous voices stress that, in order to overcome the climate crisis, the transition to a low-carbon society is the most reasonable path to follow. In this type of society, individuals would be characterized by making mindful efforts to drastically decrease carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, and promote benign energy sources. In order to facilitate this transition, a social perspective in addition to technological, political and economic aspects must be integrated into the relevant decision-making processes. This is necessary because the public can strongly affect actions aimed at driving profound changes in traditional energy systems. To contribute to the effort of promoting energy transition, the Editors of this book invited scholars and practitioners conducting research in the areas of climate change and the energy transition to submit their work. This book includes studies that establish a valuable source of information which can be used to enhance decision-making processes which, in turn, can turn the energy transition into reality. Hopefully, efforts such as this collection of knowledge can help economies make a step towards a secure and sustainable energy future in which renewables will have replaced the centuries-long human dependence on fossil fuels