E-Learning for Teachers and Trainers : Innovative Practices, Skills and Competences

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Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

Communicating the library as a learning environment

Lack of commonly used vocabulary about informal learning environments hinders precise communication about what is observed, assessed, and understood about the relation of space to learning. This study empirically extends taxonomies of terms and phrases that describe such relationships through content analysis of descriptions of completed library projects, concluding that focus and collaboration are most prevalent terms and highlight how space affords learning.   Study results will benefit practitioners and researchers to specify designs to improve library spaces, advocate for the value the library environment offers educational experiences, evaluate return on investments in renovation and construction, and contribute research toward understanding the relationships between learning and space

Building capacity in climate change policy analysis and negotiation: methods and technologies

Capacity building is often cited as the reason “we cannot just pour money into developing countries” and why so many development projects fail because their design does not address local conditions. It is therefore a key technical and political concept in international development. Some of the poorest countries in the world are also some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Their vulnerability is in part due to a lack of capacity to plan and anticipate the effects of climate change on crops, water resources, urban electricity demand etc. What capacities do these countries lack to deal with climate change? How will they cope? What steps can they take to reduce their vulnerability? This innovative and high-profile research project was part of a larger project (called C3D) and conducted with non-governmental organisations in Senegal, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The research involved several participatory workshops and a questionnaire to all three research centres

On the treatment of uncertainty in Innovation Projects

The treatment of uncertainty in innovation projects is a critical aspect that must be addressed to improve project outcomes. This thesis focuses on identifying, measuring, and managing uncertainty in innovation projects, specifically emphasizing perspectives from innovation, risk management, and decision-making. The problematic aspects identified in the literature review include long incubation periods, standardized rules and procedures, non-existent market and market unfamiliarity, fuzziness in the fuzzy front end, team-based dynamic shifting capability, and selecting the right project leader. The research gap identified in the existing literature is the absence of a unified framework or toolbox that comprehensively addresses uncertainty in innovation projects. This thesis aims to fill this gap by proposing a unified toolbox to treat uncertainty effectively. The analytical direction of the research involves identifying the areas of uncertainty, measuring the impact on project outcomes, and developing a toolbox to manage and mitigate those. The research methodology adopted for this study is a qualitative case study approach, utilizing a multiple case study design. Two European Union projects – RESPONDRONE and ASSISTANCE, are selected for conducting a case study analysis. Thematic analysis is employed to derive meaningful insights and patterns from the data gathered during research. From the thematic analysis of the selected cases, five key themes are identified that significantly impact the uncertainty treatment of radical innovation projects. The key themes are- technology and innovation, communication and collaboration, adaptive project management, stakeholder engagement, and risk management. Each theme significantly impacts uncertainty treatment in the four critical areas of uncertainty- market, technological, organizational, and resource. These observations steer the study to see the treatment of uncertainty in innovation projects through the lens of existing literature. An impact assessment flowchart is developed, and a unified toolbox is proposed for better uncertainty treatment by putting things into different perspectives. This thesis concludes that the uncertainty paradigm in radical innovation projects is complex and nuanced. Rather than trying to pinpoint every aspect of it, a better approach for a project team is to understand the common areas of uncertainty generation, measure the impact of an unexpected event as soon as possible and equip themselves with a unified toolbox that can provide them the flexibility to use any tools necessary based on the context of the uncertainty

Improving irrigation project planning and implementation processes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Diagnosis and recommendations

Irrigation programs / Planning / Financing / Financial institutions / Irrigation management / Operations / Maintenance / Privatization / Cost recovery

Solving Colorado's Health Professionals Shortage: Initial Lessons Learned From the Health Professions Initiative Evaluation

Gives an overview of the trust's 2005-08 Health Professions Initiative to address expected shortages in all healthcare professions, its impact so far, and the strategies grantees are implementing to help strengthen the training infrastructure

Learning in an age of digital networks

The final years of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty first century have been marked by the rapid rise of digital and networked technologies. Some have even called it a paradigm shift and suggested that it will lead to a dramatic change in the way young people learn (Tapscott and Williams, 2010). As with all commentary on new technologies we should beware of being carried away with the excitement of the new. There is a recurrent innovation cycle beginning with over excitement followed by disappointment and once the reaction has set in against the new it is followed by a move away to yet another new technology, often before a proper assessment and evaluation of the previous cycle can take place. Equally we must be careful not to ignore the profound changes that are taking place and how they may affect universities and learning in society more generally. A recent description by a UK based think tank Demos characterized the kind of university that is emerging from the engagement with new digital and networked technologies as the 'edgeless university' (Bradwell, 2009). The term edgeless is borrowed from work on the city that suggests edgeless cities have the function of cities without being organized in their classic form. In the same way the Demos pamphlet suggests that the university retains an identifiable function but the functions of the university are no longer confined to a single institution nor are they confined to higher education institutions more broadly. Over a decade ago Brown and Duguid (2000) identified the core functions of universities as the capacity to grant degrees, to accredit students and to provide the warrant that guaranteed the credentials obtained by the students from the university. They also suggested that the introduction of what were then new technologies would lead to an increased focus on these core functions. The core role remains in the edgeless university but the boundaries to these may alter. This article tries to provide a way of thinking about new technologies that manages to balance these two conflicting needs. It identifies some current ways of thinking about the changes taking place in universities that are related to digital and networked technologies and to assess their impact. It then goes on to suggest the kinds of choices we may have to make in relation to new technologies at a variety of levels, the personal, the institutional and in terms of society in general. The edgeless university is associated with broad technological change but whether such change is inevitable is still an issue that needs to be discussed