A Flexible Component-Based ePortfolio

Author(s):  
S. J. Cotterill ◽  
J. F. Aiton ◽  
P. M. Bradley ◽  
G. R. Hammond ◽  
A. M. McDonald ◽  
...  

This chapter provides case studies of embedding the ePortfolio in the curricula of two medical schools in the UK, one of which is outcomes based, while the other uses a series of patient scenarios to inform the teaching of clinical skills within a curriculum that emphasises the scientific basis of medicine. These case studies describe the implementation, evaluation, and process of embedding the portfolio within the respective curricula. They also illustrate the flexibility of a component-based ePortfolio to serve different pedagogic requirements. Research and evaluation issues are discussed, including an action-research approach with “fine-tuning” of technical features and pedagogy during the evaluation phase.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Marshalsey ◽  
Madeleine Sclater

This paper investigates the widespread integration of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) within specialist Communication Design studio education in the UK and Australia. The impetus for this paper has grown from the challenges facing day-to-day design studio education and the recognition that the use of technology in higher education today has increased dramatically. Conventional design studio facilities are being reconfigured into blended studio-based classroom learning spaces (often generically termed as ‘studio’). This study compares the lived experiences of students interacting with technology within two differing international studio settings. The two case studies used a Participatory Action Research approach and employed sensory affect as a lens through which learning within studio education was investigated using Participatory Design practice-led methods. The study finds that the Australian participants working within a TEL classroom-based environment faced significant obstacles to engagement and that their UK counterparts, who were situated within a conventional studio environment, much less so. This paper aims to support Communication Design students as they engage with studio education via the proposed transferable methodological framework – the Methods Process Model.


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1048-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Lanza Queiroz ◽  
Laís Santos de Magalhães Cardoso ◽  
Léo Heller ◽  
Sandy Cairncross

The Brazilian Ministry of Health proposed a research study involving municipal professional staff conducting both epidemiological and water quality surveillance to facilitate the integration of the data which they collected. It aimed to improve the intersectoral collaboration and health promotion activities in the municipalities, especially regarding drinking-water quality. We then conducted a study using the action-research approach. At its evaluation phase, a technique which we called ‘the tree analogy’ was applied in order to identify both possibilities and challenges related to the proposed interlinkage. Results showed that integrating the two data collection systems cannot be attained without prior institutional adjustments. It suggests therefore the necessity to unravel issues that go beyond the selection and the interrelation of indicators and compatibility of software, to include political, administrative and personal matters. The evaluation process led those involved to re-think their practice by sharing experiences encountered in everyday practice, and formulating constructive criticisms. All this inevitably unleashes a process of empowerment. From this perspective, we have certainly gathered some fruit from the Tree, but not necessarily the most visible.


2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Gibbon

This paper analyses the health analysis cycle as an empowering approach to development. It discusses what the terms power and empowerment within the development discourse mean. It considers the factors that contribute to empowerment and those that hinder it. The study involved the use of a participatory action research approach in a community setting. The relationships between women's socio-economic circumstances, their ethnicity or caste and the process of empowerment are introduced through the use of case studies. The health analysis cycle is described in an annexe to this paper.


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G Wastell ◽  
Tom McMaster ◽  
Peter Kawalek

The imperatives on contemporary organizations to adapt to an increasingly uncertain and turbulent environment are intense. The pace of change is at least as great in the public as the private sector, with technology being integral to the UK government's modernization agenda. Resilience refers to the ability of individuals and organizations to cope with change through a continuous process of renewal. Much research on resilience is uncritical, normative and written from a detached perspective that emphasizes the agency of senior management. In contrast, this paper provides an ethnographically based account of resilience at the middle level of a large, public sector bureaucracy. Finding itself under increasing pressure to move away from its traditional, technically oriented role, the IS function sought to reinvent itself as a strategic driver of business transformation. The development of a business process reengineering methodology was seen as the key to operationalizing this new role. Although innovation in IS methodology can be problematic, here it was brought off successfully. This was attributed to several factors, including the adoption of a participative action research approach and the commitment of IS management. Above all, the sense of crisis prevailing at the outset of the initiative was decisive. Crises present a major challenge to organizational sense-making; here, a resilient ‘discourse of renewal’ was kindled with the impending threat interpreted positively as a proactive opportunity to develop the new strategic identity. The paper concludes with some critical reflections on the limits of managerial agency and the notion of resilience as a designable capacity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juanjuan Wu ◽  
Bo Ra Joo ◽  
Ahmad Saquib Sina ◽  
Sanga Song ◽  
Claire Haesung Whang

PurposeThe authors conducted an action research study with the aim of understanding current commercial offerings in modular designs in virtual environments and to explore modularity development based on consumer input for the purpose of personalizing three-dimensional (3D) virtual fashion stores.Design/methodology/approachThrough five phases of diagnosing, action planning, action taking, evaluating and specifying learning, the authors attempted to diagnose the current commercial offerings of modular designs in virtual spaces and to identify the right type and the number of modules and modular options for personalizing 3D virtual stores based on consumers' actual designs and focus group input. The authors then further conceptualized modules to serve as an example for developing modularity in 3D virtual reality (VR) stores.FindingsIn the diagnosing phase, the authors investigated the modularity structure of cocreating a retail store in two popular virtual worlds: Second Life and The Sims 4. In the evaluation phase, the authors identified modules and modular options for personalizing 3D virtual stores based on a content analysis of consumers' post-design focus group discussions. In the last phase (specifying learning), the authors conceptualized a total of nine modules and 38 modular options for personalizing 3D virtual stores, including style, price point, product category, color, presence of avatar, virtual product try-on, music, product recommendation and product customization.Originality/valueThe significance of this study lies in the pioneering methodological work of identifying, creating and visualizing 3D VR modular store options based on consumer input and in improving the authors’ understanding of current commercial offerings. This study also enriches design theories on cocreation systems. The authors’ suggested modules for personalizing 3D virtual stores could inspire future evidence-based designs to be readily used by VR retailers as well extend the application of mass customization theory from the realm of product development to retail environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Lydia Novi Yanti

This research is conducted in order to assess the effect of competency, motivation, and communication on employee’s performance (case studies at Dinas Pekerjaan Umum dan Penataan Ruang West Bandung Regency) partially and simultaneously. There are many factors that affect the employee’s performance, but this research is only limited to the factors of competency, motivation, and communication. The researcher used primary and secondary data. The research approach used is quantitative approach which the samples are 55 civil servants which is assessed by 5 Heads of Fields and 2 Heads Sub-Division. Before analyzing, all research validity and reliability instruments are examined. After the data are valid and reliable then analyzed by using classical assumption test, partial test (t test), and simultaneous test (F test) helping by IBM SPSS version 23 software. The result of analysis showed that competency, motivation, and communication variables are affected positively significantly and partially to the employee’s performance. Competency, motivation, and communication variables simultaneously affected positively and significantly about 54,3% and the rest is about 45,7% affected by other variable that is not observed in this research.  


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-101
Author(s):  
Brian Moore ◽  
Joris van Wijk

Case studies in the Netherlands and the UK of asylum applicants excluded or under consideration of exclusion pursuant to Article 1Fa of the Refugee Convention reveal that some applicants falsely implicated themselves in serious crimes or behaviours in order to enhance their refugee claim. This may have serious consequences for the excluded persons themselves, as well as for national governments dealing with them. For this reason we suggest immigration authorities could consider forewarning asylum applicants i.e. before their interview, about the existence, purpose and possible consequences of exclusion on the basis of Article 1F.


Author(s):  
Andy Lord

This chapter points to the ‘pluralization of the lifeworld’ involved in globalization as a key context for changing dissenting spiritualities through the twentieth century. These have included a remarkable upsurge in Spirit-movements that fall under categories such as Pentecostal, charismatic, neo-charismatic, ‘renewalist’, and indigenous Churches. Spirit language is not only adaptive to globalized settings, but brings with it eschatological assumptions. New spiritualities emerge to disrupt existing assumptions with prophetic and often critical voices that condemn aspects of the existing culture, state, and church life. This chapter outlines this process of disruption of the mainstream in case studies drawn from the USA, the UK, India, Africa, and Indonesia, where charismaticized Christianity has emerged and grown strongly in often quite resistant broader cultures.


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