Higher Education Institution–Community Partnerships: Measuring the Performance of Sustainability Science Initiatives

The enterprise of sustainability science extends beyond the academy to address pressing environmental issues through collaboration. It coincides with trends in higher education institutions (HEIs) towards an expanded mission for addressing societal challenges as well as greater accountability. In this paper, we aim to establish an instrument for assessing the performance of sustainability science initiatives in HEIs. The performance of three HEI–community partnerships for sustainability science in Ontario, Canada (the Brock-Lincoln Living Lab, the Excellence in Environmental Stewardship Initiative, and Niagara Adapts) were examined using the HEI–Community Partnership Performance Index (HCPPI). Our preliminary results suggest that the HCPPI is a reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer tool for accurately assessing the performance of HEI–community partnerships for sustainability science. Incorporating systemic performance assessments into HEI–community partnerships promotes accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement. It also serves as a vital feedback mechanism by fostering reflection, adaptation, and learning—critical components to sustainability science.

Fostering learning capacities for meaningful, healthy and efficient studying in undergraduate medical education: evaluation of a longitudinal learning workshop

Background Academic studies place high demands on the development of learning capacities. Beyond learning techniques, knowledge about the effect of the learning environment, as well as the ability for self-regulation, self-determination and self-care play a major role in the development of learning skills. A longitudinal learning workshop was developed aiming to support academic learning life. The study at hand describes and evaluates this intervention. Methods Students participated in a seven-week program fostering reflection and training on physical, physiological, psychological and mental dimensions of learning. Fifty evaluations of medical students reflecting the workshop underwent qualitative analysis of open-ended questions concerning changes students experienced in their learning life. In addition, general satisfaction was measured quantitatively. Results Qualitative results revealed an impact on five core dimensions of students´ learning life: knowledge gained about the process of learning, enhanced awareness of intrapersonal learning processes, getting easier into action, experience of change and raised skills of regulating one´s learning behavior. Students evaluate the workshop as helpful, supportive and as a source of guidance. Quantitative results demonstrated good overall satisfaction with the intervention. Conclusions Educating knowledge about learning how to learn and providing skill training of how to regulate physiology, psychology and mentality should be taken into account in order to support the multidimensional learning life of students. Using a holistic, anthropologically grounded approach could be considered to enhance healthy, meaningful and efficient ways of learning. This learning workshop seems to be a useful and transferable tool to support students’ development of learning capacities.

Between tragedy, romance, comedy and satire: narratives of axiological progress in public relations

PurposeOver recent years, public relations (PR) research has diversified in themes and theories. As a result, PR presents itself today as a multi-paradigmatic discipline with competing ideas of progress that mainly circle around questions of ontology and epistemology, i.e. around defining appropriate object and knowledge in PR research.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual article highlights a third crucial question underlying the debate drawing on a narrative approach: The question of axiology, hence, the normative question how PR research shall develop to contribute to societal progress.FindingsThe article presents a model, which describes how normative visions of progress in different PR paradigms – functional, co-creational, social-reflective and critical-cultural – manifest in each distinct combinations of four narrative plots – tragedy, romance, comedy and satire.Originality/valueThese findings complement the current debate on disciplinary progress in PR research by fostering reflection and debate on paradigm development and cross-paradigmatic tensions and exchange from an explicit axiological perspective.

Digital Companion Choice to Support Teachers’ Stress Self-Management: A systematic approach through taxonomy creation (Preprint)

BACKGROUND There are thousands of digital companions (DC) designed for emotional wellbeing and stress, including interactive websites, wearables and smartphone apps. Although public evaluation frameworks and ratings exist, they do not facilitate DC choice based on contextual or individual information such as occupation or personal management strategies. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to establish a process of creating a taxonomy to support systematic choice of DCs for teachers’ stress self-management. METHODS We employed a 4-step study design. In step 1, we identified the dimension of stress self-management and strategic classifications. In step 2 we identified the dimension of digital techniques and conceptual descriptions. In step 3 we created six criteria for inclusion of DCs. In step 4 we used the taxonomy framework created by steps 1 and 2 and populated it with DCs for stress self-management as identified in step 3. RESULTS First, in the dimension of stress self-management we identified 4 classes of strategies: educational, physiological, cognitive and social. Second, in the digital techniques dimension we derived 4 conceptual descriptions of DCs’ mechanisms of action: fostering reflection, suggesting treatment, peer-to-peer support and entertainment. Third, we created 6 criteria for DC inclusion in the taxonomy: suitability, availability, evaluation, security, validity and cost. Using the taxonomy framework and criteria, we populated it with DCs for stress management ahead of presentation to teachers in a stress study workshop. CONCLUSIONS We believe elements of our approach will generalise as principles for the creation of taxonomies for other occupations or conditions. Taxonomies such as this could be a valuable resource for individuals understanding what DC could be of help in their personal context.

A Social Platform for Fostering Ethical Education through Role-Playing

Nowadays the complexity of knowledge, the specialization of labor and the pervasiveness of ICT in human activity, lead individuals to frequently make complex decisions with ethical implications. The educational system has a fundamental role in preparing specialized human capital in every discipline, however, it also faces the challenge of educating individuals with ethical discernment capabilities and behavior. In this book chapter, we describe the design, implementation and validation of EthicApp-RP, a social platform aimed at higher education settings, for fostering reflection and moral reasoning around ethical cases through a role-playing activity. We present an application of EthicApp-RP involving a cohort of undergraduate business students (N = 85), based on a case in which students play political and public leadership roles in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. The results indicate that students and teachers acknowledge the learning environment’s capacity to stimulate reflection and argumentation around ethical issues, while providing all students with equal opportunities for participation. In addition, the tool offers high technical and pedagogical usability, based on the Systems Usability Scale and the Pedagogically Meaningful Learning Questionnaire. EthicApp-RP can contribute to the improvement of ethics education, especially in scientific and technological disciplines, wherein students are quantitatively inclined by nature, in spite that ethics, a humanistic subject often foreign to them, must live at the core of their preparation.

Feedback in Reflective Journals Fosters Reflection Skills of Student Teachers

The main goal of this study was to test whether feedback from a lecturer and tutor on an initial reflective journal entry fosters reflection quality in a subsequent journal entry and reflection skills in student teachers. To address these questions, we, a team of educators and psychologists, conducted a field experiment during the practical semester. Student teachers ( N = 54; 40 female) wrote two reflective journals about their own classroom teachings on an online-platform and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) reflective journaling with feedback (experimental condition, n = 27) or (b) reflective journaling without feedback (control condition, n = 27). Feedback in reflective journaling fostered reflection quality in the subsequent journal entry and conceptual knowledge about reflection. These findings indicate that feedback in reflective journal-keeping exerts a powerful influence in fostering reflection in student teachers during their practical semester.

Exploring student teachers’ reflection skills: Evidence from journal tasks

The article addresses the issue of developing reflection skills of Polish foreign language student teachers in the context of university training. Although the importance of fostering reflection in student teachers has been widely acknowledged, the complexity of the construct and difficulties to operationalize reflection in research calls for new studies, to which the present paper aims to contribute. The paper discusses the study in progress whose main aims were to explore the potential of journal tasks as techniques stimulating trainees’ reflection and to investigate the nature of reflection demonstrated in students’ journals. The results of the analysis of students’ texts revealed different ways that the students adopted to approach the journal task. Three perspectives from which the students developed their narration were identified: teacher-focused, learner-focused and the one that focusses on external factors. Additionally, the analysis led to the identification of three types of writing, named in the study as Theorising, Describing and Discussing. The findings point to the effectiveness of journal tasks in stimulating students’ thinking about their practicum experiences. They also stress the significance of fostering novice teachers’ reflection skills as a way of socializing students into new roles they will play in their future professional communities.

Conceptualising a visual representation model for MOOC-based blended learning designs

This article reports on a study about how massive open online course (MOOC)-based blended learning designs can be visually represented to facilitate their comprehension and sharing. We carried out an iterative co-creation process with different stakeholders to conceptualise a visual learning design representation model within the context of blending MOOCs with face-to-face courses. The data analysed was derived from questionnaires and the generated representations. Results indicate that the representation enabled educators to easily visualise the overall structure of the learning designs and the relationships between the different design elements, providing a context for fostering reflection and decision-making during the planning of MOOC-based blended learning designs.

Future Pathways in Implementing the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model in Spain and Portugal (Rutas futuras en la Implementación del modelo de enseñanza de la responsabilidad personal y social en España y Portugal)

Throughout the last two decades, researchers in Spain and Portugal have utilised the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) to generate responsibility outcomes in Physical Education (PE) and further understand TPSR application. In order to move the field forward in these contexts, projections as to future of TPSR and guidelines for researchers are needed. The purpose of this article is to provide insights for expanding our knowledge of TPSR in Spain and Portugal. Although research on TPSR has provided useful insights on the processes and outcomes associated with TPSR-based programming, research exploring life skills transfer processes is needed. Further, an understanding of the broader socio-cultural forces that exist in schools and their influence on TPSR could provide valuable insight. Finally, few investigations have included young children. Moving forward, these insights may help expand future research by fostering reflection about TPSR in Spain and Portugal. Resumen. A lo largo de las dos últimas décadas, los investigadores en España y Portugal han utilizado el Responsabilidad personal y social en la enseñanza (TPSR) para generar resultados de responsabilidad en educación física (PE) y comprender mejor la aplicación del TPSR. Para avanzar el campo en estos contextos, se necesitan proyecciones sobre el futuro del TPSR y las pautas para los investigadores. El propósito de este artículo es proporcionar información para ampliar nuestro conocimiento del TPSR en España y Portugal. Aunque la investigación sobre el TPSR ha proporcionado información útil sobre los procesos y resultados asociados con las intervenciones basadas en TPSR, es necesaria investigación que explore los procesos de transferencia de habilidades para la vida. Además, una comprensión de las fuerzas socioculturales más amplias que existen en las escuelas y su influencia en la programación de TPSR podría proporcionar información valiosa. Finalmente, pocas investigaciones han incluido niños pequeños. En el futuro, estas ideas pueden ayudar a expandir la investigación al fomentar una reflexión sobre TPSR en España y Portugal.