New Forms of Employment

Societal and economic developments, such as the need for increased flexibility by both employers and workers, have resulted in the emergence of new forms of employment across Europe. These have transformed the traditional one-to-one relationship between employer and employee. They are also characterised by unconventional work patterns and places of work, or by the irregular provision of work. However, little is known about these ‘new forms of employment’, their distinctive features and the implications they have for working conditions and the labour market. To fill this knowledge gap, Eurofound conducted a Europe-wide mapping exercise to identify the emerging trends. This resulted in the categorisation of nine broad types of new employment forms. On the basis of this, the available literature and data were analysed; 66 case studies were also conducted and analysed to illustrate how these new employment forms operate in Member States and their effects on working conditions and the labour market

Introduction to Development Engineering

This open access textbook introduces the emerging field of Development Engineering and its constituent theories, methods, and applications. It is both a teaching text for students and a resource for researchers and practitioners engaged in the design and scaling of technologies for low-resource communities. The scope is broad, ranging from the development of mobile applications for low-literacy users to hardware and software solutions for providing electricity and water in remote settings. It is also highly interdisciplinary, drawing on methods and theory from the social sciences as well as engineering and the natural sciences. The opening section reviews the history of “technology-for-development” research, and presents a framework that formalizes this body of work and begins its transformation into an academic discipline. It identifies common challenges in development and explains the book’s iterative approach of “innovation, implementation, evaluation, adaptation.” Each of the next six thematic sections focuses on a different sector: energy and environment; market performance; education and labor; water, sanitation and health; digital governance; and connectivity. These thematic sections contain case studies from landmark research that directly integrates engineering innovation with technically rigorous methods from the social sciences. Each case study describes the design, evaluation, and/or scaling of a technology in the field and follows a single form, with common elements and discussion questions, to create continuity and pedagogical consistency. Together, they highlight successful solutions to development challenges, while also analyzing the rarely discussed failures. The book concludes by reiterating the core principles of development engineering illustrated in the case studies, highlighting common challenges that engineers and scientists will face in designing technology interventions that sustainably accelerate economic development. Development Engineering provides, for the first time, a coherent intellectual framework for attacking the challenges of poverty and global climate change through the design of better technologies. It offers the rigorous discipline needed to channel the energy of a new generation of scientists and engineers toward advancing social justice and improved living conditions in low-resource communities around the world

Student and instructor perceptions of using ATutor as the learning content management system for learning at a distance in Thailand

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine students' and instructors' perceptions of using ATutor as the learning content management system (LCMS) in e-learning courses at a distance university in Thailand. The population was composed of all 222 graduate students (census) and 10 instructors from an agricultural college at a major university in Thailand. Survey and focus group interview were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient were used to analyze data provided by respondents.Findings and Conclusions: Gender, age, comfort of using computer and ATutor, time spent online, place and frequency accessing ATutor, internet access and connection had significant and positive correlation to students' perception of using ATutor. E-mail student, chat, forum, and group forum participated, ATutor satisfaction, online teaching experience, role in teaching, support from the university, and workshop attended had significant positive correlation to instructors' perception of using ATutor. The overall mean scores of students' perception of the usefulness, ease of use, interaction and communication, e-learning andragogical design, online learning, and self-directed learning ranged from 6.84 to 7.49 out of 10, and standard deviations ranged from 1.47 to 1.95. The overall mean scores of Instructors' perception of the usefulness, ease of use, interaction and communication, and teaching online by using ATutor ranged from 5.70 to 7.40 out of 10, and standard deviations ranged from 1.35 to 2.00. All six student perception variables and all four instructor perception variables had positive and significant correlation. The most important feature for students was content navigation and for instructors was announcement. Both students and instructors reported that poll was the least important feature. Most students and instructors indicated that no features should be added or removed from ATutor. ATutor supports self-directed learning because it enhances students ability to set an appropriate pace for learning and get assistance from various resources. In this context, ATutor detracted from self-directed learning due to course schedule and technological problems. Students and instructors encourage the university to adopt ATutor for all distance learning courses

Introduction to Development Engineering

This open access textbook introduces the emerging field of Development Engineering and its constituent theories, methods, and applications. It is both a teaching text for students and a resource for researchers and practitioners engaged in the design and scaling of technologies for low-resource communities. The scope is broad, ranging from the development of mobile applications for low-literacy users to hardware and software solutions for providing electricity and water in remote settings. It is also highly interdisciplinary, drawing on methods and theory from the social sciences as well as engineering and the natural sciences. The opening section reviews the history of “technology-for-development” research, and presents a framework that formalizes this body of work and begins its transformation into an academic discipline. It identifies common challenges in development and explains the book’s iterative approach of “innovation, implementation, evaluation, adaptation.” Each of the next six thematic sections focuses on a different sector: energy and environment; market performance; education and labor; water, sanitation and health; digital governance; and connectivity. These thematic sections contain case studies from landmark research that directly integrates engineering innovation with technically rigorous methods from the social sciences. Each case study describes the design, evaluation, and/or scaling of a technology in the field and follows a single form, with common elements and discussion questions, to create continuity and pedagogical consistency. Together, they highlight successful solutions to development challenges, while also analyzing the rarely discussed failures. The book concludes by reiterating the core principles of development engineering illustrated in the case studies, highlighting common challenges that engineers and scientists will face in designing technology interventions that sustainably accelerate economic development. Development Engineering provides, for the first time, a coherent intellectual framework for attacking the challenges of poverty and global climate change through the design of better technologies. It offers the rigorous discipline needed to channel the energy of a new generation of scientists and engineers toward advancing social justice and improved living conditions in low-resource communities around the world

Trade and Global Value Chains Initiative: Mid-Term Evaluation Report

The Trade and Global Value Chains Initiative seeks to test whether investments in social upgrading (better working conditions and access to better work) can lead to business and development gains, and also ensure that better skilled, younger workers enter the sector and work more productively. Previous research indicated that companies do not invest in social upgrading because they lack both sufficient incentive to act on their own and convincing evidence of the benefits. Investment with other stakeholders in social upgrading could deliver business benefits and help to ensure the longer-term profitability and sustainability of corporate supply chains. A catalytic fund is the delivery mechanism (a modified challenge fund with technical advice provided to grantees), making public funds available to successful coalition applicants and leveraging private sector investment. The aim is to facilitate corporate behavioural change, benefitting workers/smallholders (social upgrading) and suppliers and retailers (economic upgrading). The TGVCI focuses on Ready Made Garments, Bangladesh, and horticulture in South Africa and Kenya. This report presents the Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the TGVCI conducted by the Evaluation Management Unit (EMU). Twenty projects have been funded in two rounds. The Round 1 projects are nearing completion and Round 2 projects are still on-going. This slightly delayed implementation means that the evidence available and the analysis feasible at this stage are necessarily limited. The projects do nevertheless allow reasonable conclusions to be drawn on relevance, effectiveness and plausible impacts, provide initial findings on cost-effectiveness and indications on sustainability