Teacher Activities in Adaptation of Innovative Study Methods at University

The emergence of various types of educational innovations affect and change not only students learning methods but also teachers' competences and activities. Innovative study methods (ISM) are characterised by novelty to their implementers. Adoption of innovations as well as innovative study methods are faster and better when they are close from cultural-, social-, and value-based perspectives (i.e., when they are adapted). The teacher should have the appropriate competences to adapt, modify educational innovations, as well as study methods according to the students while at the same time not departing from the study program aims and study subject (module) results. The chapter aims to find answers to the research questions: What are the peculiarities of teachers' activities in adapting innovative study methods? How does the adaptation of an innovative study method affect other elements of the pedagogical system course? What are the possible variations in the process of innovative study method adaptation?

Innovation for Economic Resilience and Sustainability: A case study of Sambalpuri Ikat Handloom Cluster of Bargarh in India

Employing more than three million people, handloom weaving is one of the largest economic activities after agriculture. It constitutes 15% of the cloth production in India and 95% of the global handmade fabric. However, the return on investment in the sector remains low and the industry is under constant threats from power-loom and other substitutes. Nonetheless, the Sambalpuri Ikat is an unrivalled example, which has flourished over the years because of a series of innovations diffused by the weavers without compromising on the traditional Ikat artistry. Predominantly consisting of micro-enterprises, this cluster demonstrates that technological innovations have enhanced the income of the weavers by more than 300%, and ensured better occupational health and gender equity. The cluster ecosystem has enabled the adoption of innovations in more than 8,000 units, over 13 years. This article highlights learning from the Bargarh Sambalpuri Ikat Handloom cluster on how a traditional cluster could maintain its growth trajectory despite being threatened by several shocks and challenges.

Efficiency Analysis as a Tool for Revealing Best Practices and Innovations: The Case of the Sheep Meat Sector in Europe

The slow adoption of innovations is a key challenge that the European sheep sector faces for its sustainability. The future of the sector lies on the adoption of best practices, modern technologies and innovations that can improve its resilience and mitigate its dependence on public support. In this study, the concept of technical efficiency was used to reveal the most efficient sheep meat farms and to identify the best practices and farm innovations that could potentially be adopted by other farms of similar production systems. Data Envelopment Analysis was applied to farm accounting data from 458 sheep meat farms of intensive, semi-intensive and extensive systems from France, Spain and the UK, and the structural and economic characteristics of the most efficient farms were analyzed. These best farmers were indicated through a survey, which was conducted within the Innovation for Sustainable Sheep and Goat Production in the Europe (iSAGE) Horizon 2020 project, the management and production practices and innovations that improve their economic performance and make them better than their peers.

Innovations in Health Care—A Conceptual Framework

Innovations are the source of all human development and improvement of quality of life. At the same time, they challenge existing standards, solutions and societal patterns. In health care in particular, innovations enable us to treat previously incurable diseases or to make better use of scarce resources. However, they also make existing health care technologies obsolete, force specialists to learn completely new methods and require high investments. Consequently, in this paper we develop a conceptual framework model for the development, adoption and diffusion of innovations in health care. We analyse barriers and promoters of innovations, in particular meta-stability, costs, innovative ability and leadership and apply the framework to three innovations: personalized medicine, digital health, and implants. We conclude that strategic innovation management in healthcare is a prerequisite of the rapid development and adoption of innovations and the improvement of quality of life of the (aging) population.

The current influential factors in adoption of innovations in university libraries of Pakistan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the salient factors in adoption of innovations in university libraries of Pakistan. The topic is important because academic libraries need to be innovative for meeting the new vision/mission of higher education. A previous study conducted by the same researchers concluded an inappreciable state of a large majority of university libraries in Pakistan (Awais and Ameen, 2018). It is, therefore, necessary to examine and investigate the ground realities and important factors influencing in the local context.Design/methodology/approachQualitative design is used to explore the important influencing factors. Data are collected through conducting a series of semi-structured interviews from 15 academic library leaders belonging to traditional and 15 with a better status of innovations.FindingsMajor factors like behavioral issues of library staff, lack of trainings, lack of budget and leadership skills are causing hindrance in leading to adopt new trends and innovations. Vision of higher authorities, library team with new skillsets, funding by the Higher Education Commission, etc. favor adoption of innovations. All leaders of the academic libraries need to have a positive strong attitude, vision and planning to overcome the barriers in the path of adoption of innovations to survive and thrive.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted in local context of Pakistan. Only viewpoints of librarians at top level are taken. Viewpoints of higher authorities, library staff and users are not taken for this study. Similarly, viewpoints of only 30 library leaders are taken, which is also a limitation of this study.Practical implicationsTraditional-type library leaders can overcome the barriers by going through the findings and conclusion. They can get ideas from the discussion of innovative-type library leaders.Social implicationsUniversity libraries can be improved by the help of policy makers and higher authorities. Eventually, users would get better learning, teaching and social environment.Originality/valueThe study is conducted in a local context of Pakistan. It may provide a guideline for some future planning and development of university libraries. The research will be also useful in creating awareness among professionals of other developing countries.

A Heuristic Approach to Use Behavioral Models to Design for Change

PMD is a method to design for sustainable behavior change within organizations concerning the introduction of innovation. An earlier evaluation of PMD among users and a use case resulted in the need for refinements. In this paper, the authors describe the refined version of PMD and validate this in another case, in which a solution based on the interaction elements resulting from the PMD method was created for a company. Based on data acquired, they designed models of current and requested behavior. They selected the right interaction elements to facilitate the target audience in a change of behavior. After implementing the solution at the pre-fab concrete company, the authors observed a change in behavior among users, growing towards the behavior required to reach the set business objectives. The research allowed for the creation, evaluation, and validation of the PMD method itself in a real-life situation and showed that it is possible, at least in the use case in this research, to design for a required behavior change to increase adoption of innovations in organizations.

Análisis de la adopción de innovaciones agrícolas en productores de quinua de Cabana, Puno Perú

The main objective of the research was to characterize the innovation network and estimate an innovation adoption rate to evaluate its relationship with income generation in quinoa producers in Cabana. The characterization of the innovation network has been carried out using the social network analysis methodology (SNA), the innovation adoption index (IAI) has been obtained through an ordinal measurement scale and the return of the level of adoption of innovations on Producers' income has been estimated using the two-stage least squares methodology (TSLS) through the data obtained in a survey of 268 producers. The weak articulation of social capital has been evidenced in Cabana quinoa producers; however, the network of customers and input suppliers is well defined. Most of the producers stand out for their innovations in the productive component, the main weakness is related to the scarce innovation in the administration component. For each level of innovation adopted, a return of 49.09% on the income of the producer has been estimated, showing that the adoption of innovations has a greater impact on the generation of economic income compared to the years of schooling that only reaches 7.8%.

Agricultural extension for promoting citrus fruit growers’ innovation and profitability in Mexico

The citrus fruit grower has hardly adopted innovations, resulting in reduced income and profitability. This study aims to apply andragogic training and extension techniques to a group of 150 citrus fruit growers from five different communities in Veracruz, Mexico, to improve the adoption of social and technological innovations, their income, and profitability. The percentage of adoption of innovations (PAI) was calculated using the equation: PAI = n/N × 100, where n was the number of innovations adopted by the grower and N the total number of innovations available in the technological package. Two previous surveys, social and technological, were conducted in 2012 and revealed a significant lack of coordination in innovation networks, mainly in deep relationships, and little use of technological innovations. After the andragogic training and extension, better coordination was achieved, reflected in numerous and robust links, more nodes, and higher density, especially at the level of trust, contributing to consolidating social networks for 2014. The most adopted technological category was fertilization management. A survey was conducted in 2016 to quantify the permanence of the adoption of innovations. We conclude that social and technological intervention through andragogic training and extension improved the yield of orchards by more than 50 %, increased the income of citrus fruit growers 4.5 times, and consolidated workgroups and the permanence of innovations.

Latin America food exports to Gulf will expand further

Significance The GCC imports around 85% of the food its member countries consume domestically, and the share of Latin American products as a proportion of the GCC’s total food imports has increased from 10% in 2015 to almost 14% in 2019. Impacts Pandemic-induced adoption of innovations such as e-commerce will provide opportunities to expand food exports. Post-pandemic recovery in tourism may eventually boost the GCC’s need for food imports. Growth in other markets will be crucial to help reduce LAC’s dependence on key markets such as China and the United States.