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

PERCEPTIONS OF CREATIVE LEADERSHIP IN MULTIGENERATIONAL NONPROFIT PRIVATE EDUCATION TEAMS

The challenges that are encountered in private schools are in constant flux. Teachers and administrators are tasked with leading and guiding future generations in tumultuous times. A leader’s creativity has a significant influence on the diverse teams that are engaging school-age children. Creative leadership is lacking in academic research in comparison to more established leadership theories. The lack of research is excessively apparent in the multigenerational nonprofit private education sector. In this qualitative study, two Seventh-Day Adventist private school educational teams in southeastern California were engaged in focus group interviews. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of creative leadership tenets on multigenerational private education teams. There were 16 participants from two focus groups representing two 501(c)(3) nonprofit private education organizations. The data yielded three themes: affiliation endears, experience galvanizes, and public management polarizes. The findings showed that creative leadership endears, galvanizes, and can also polarize multigenerational nonprofit private education teams. The findings further showed that creative leadership is viable leadership theory and style for positively impacting multigenerational teams in private education. Future research could expand the literature pool by investigating creative leadership in additional nonprofit, denominational, and regional locales

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

The sustainability perspective of corporate entrepreneurship: Sustainable venturing at the intersection of established corporations and corporate start-ups

The topic of sustainability has found its way into the corporate entrepreneurship activities of large corporations. The Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship (SCE) strand is still in its infancy. Since most large corporations engage in corporate entrepreneurship and are exploring new business models inside and outside corporate boundaries, several questions arise from different viewpoints. First, from corporate perspective researchers and business leaders wonder which internal modes of SCE activities have emerged in business practice and how large corporations explore sustainable value propositions. Second, from entrepreneur and investor perspective, the question emerges which factors influence the likelihood of corporate ventures, such as spin-offs from corporations, raising venture capital to scale sustainable business models. Therefore, to further develop the field of SCE, this cumulative dissertation presents three research papers analysing sustainable corporate entrepreneurship at the intersection of corporations and start-ups

Enterprise education and its relationship to enterprising behaviours: a conceptual and methodological investigation

Enterprise education is defined by some educators as a distinctive approach to teaching with the aims of improving motivation to learning and enhancing the development of enterprising behaviours in young people (e.g. Bridges, 1992; Gibb, 1993; Harris, 1993a). However, after two decades of development, there remains a lack of empirical support to demonstrate its effectiveness, or otherwise, in achieving its aims. This is due to the problem of conceptual confusion with the political rhetoric of business imperatives and a lack of a unitary definition. Furthermore, there is a problem of finding an appropriate methodology to investigate the holistic nature of the phenomenon. In order to investigate the effectiveness of enterprise education, therefore, the problem of conceptual confusion needs to be addressed before the key concepts can be operationlised and a potential methodology explored. The Durham University Business School's model of enterprising teaching is chosen for this purpose since the relationship between 'enterprising teaching' and the development of 'enterprising behaviours' was clearly laid out in Gibb's paper (1993) and has been shared by many other models of enterprise education. Hence, the objective of this thesis is to explore the meaning of 'enterprising teaching modes' and 'enterprising behaviours' among teachers with the main focus on seeking firstly, operational definitions of the two key concepts; and secondly, an appropriate methodology to measure these concepts. An exploratory study based upon the discourse interview research method was chosen for its strength of investigating the key concepts in depth. Findings from the ten intensive case studies suggest that the DUBS' concepts were not naturally associated with political rhetoric. 'Enterprising teaching modes' were perceived to be effective in promoting a deeper level of learning, although some modes were found to be value- laden and ambiguous. When these problematic modes were removed, the concept potentially constituted an adequate construct for distinguishing an enterprising teaching tendency from a didactic one. 'Enterprising behaviours' were also perceived to constitute a unique behavioural construct. A behavioural rating methodology was demonstrated to be an appropriate measurement instrument for both concepts. Inferences were also made which suggest that enterprising teaching modes might cause the development of enterprising behaviours in students. The current research results have arguably provided a solid conceptual and methodological foundation for further empirical investigation to follow

Supporting Academy Football Coaches to Develop Psychological Attributes in Male Academy Players

The overarching purpose of this thesis was to support academy football coaches to better facilitate the psychological development of young players. To achieve this purpose, three empirical studies were conducted, each with a respective aim. Study one (Chapter 3) aimed to first identify the key psychological attributes to develop within young academy players. Building on study one, study two (Chapter 4) aimed to explore the coaching strategies that can facilitate the development of each psychological attribute, and also to examine the observable behaviours that indicate that the attribute is developed. Finally, study three (Chapter 5) aimed to apply the knowledge constructed in study one and two by designing, delivering, and evaluating a sport psychology coach education and support programme at a case study football academy. Study one (Chapter 3) interviewed nine academy coaches who worked within a category one football academy, with eight psychological attributes constructed from thematic analysis of the interviews: commitment to develop, confidence, coping with the demands of high-level sport, drive to achieve goals, emotional control, resilience, self-aware and reflective, and strong work ethic. The findings provide greater direction for the attributes to develop in academy players but also indicate that current frameworks may not fully capture the key psychological attributes players need to develop in order to successfully progress out of the academy. Study two (Chapter 4) interviewed twelve, category one and two, academy football coaches to explore the coaching strategies used to develop each of the eight psychological attributes identified in study one. Fifty-two coaching strategies were constructed across the attributes providing academy coaches with a catalogue of user-friendly strategies to support their players’ psychological development with. Study two also identified behaviours that indicated the successful development of each attribute, knowledge that can help coaches to observe, intervene, monitor, and assess the psychological development of their players. Study three (Chapter 5) involved the design, delivery, and evaluation of a 14-month coach education and support programme with a case study academy: Dock FC. Summary coach interviews indicated that the programme was well received and helped increase awareness and to some degree their application of strategies to support the psychological development of their players. An indirect approach to the programme was taken to reflect the landscape of psychological support in academies present at the time of the study. Summary player focus groups, along with the coach interviews and researcher reflections indicated that this approach worked well, offering a tangible approach for sport psychology practitioners to adopt, more readily, in football academy environments. The research within this thesis offers empirically informed knowledge which extends the extant literature significantly. The thesis provides novel information on: (a) the key psychological attributes to prioritise the development of in the modern-day academy football player; (b) coaching strategies to support the development empirically informed psychological attributes; (c) behavioural indicators of successful psychological development; and (d) the real-world application of supporting academy coaches to develop targeted psychological attributes in the modern-day academy football academy. The insights provided in this thesis may help improve the holistic development that young football players receive throughout their football academy journey.<br/

Oceanus.

v. 34, no. 2 (1991

Actions, attitudes and attributes: developing facilitation skills for problem-based learning

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN053785 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Managerial engagement with climate change in small and medium-sized enterprises

If the response to climate change is to include a transition to a low carbon economy, then the role of small businesses will be vital. As employers, innovators, polluters and carbon users, small businesses have significant combined impacts and opportunities. Within the framework of ecological modernisation, government policy has taken a largely voluntary approach to engaging small businesses with pro-environmental behaviour. Research has consistently found small businesses to be resistant to business greening and taken a predominantly positivist approach to identifying the barriers and drivers to behaviour and to measuring the effectiveness of different policy measures. In this study, the Schwartz Value System (SVS) is used within a qualitative research design to contribute new insight into how managers make sense of climate change. The thesis demonstrates the role of values in sensemaking and the need to engage with individuals within small businesses through the value-based frames they hold. In particular, this research shows that the win-win approach aimed at encouraging SMEs to save money, save the planet through voluntary engagement strategies over-simplifies managerial motivation. The managers in this study drawing on the self-enhancing value of Power most clearly reflected win-win ideas, except that they encapsulated the save money but not the save the planet message. Environmental protection, found within Universalism values, was only demonstrated by managers drawing on Achievement. In making sense of climate change, managers constructed their ideas using a mix of self enhancing, self-transcending, open and conservation values. To fully engage SME managers with climate change, policy makers need to take a more sophisticated approach to explicitly engaging individual with values