Key performance indicators of cooperative planning processes: Case study results from German sport science and physical activity promotion projects

Objective The aim of this study was to map the phases and individual steps of the cooperative planning process, a specific participatory approach frequently used in German sports and physical activity promotion, and to explore facilitators, barriers, and challenges experienced by those leading its implementation in selected projects. Background More than half of the global population is not physically active enough. Therefore, the demand for more effective physical activity programs is growing. Participatory-based interventions, using the cooperative planning process, offer the potential to plan new programs that match population group and setting characteristics. This approach was extensively applied in German sports and physical activity fields, serving as a mechanism to develop and implement specific measures to change the population’s behaviour. We analysed four German empirical projects promoting sports and physical activity to identify how the approach was adapted to each project, which phases were considered, and which key performance indicators enhanced (facilitators), exacerbated (barriers), or challenged the process. Methods This study used a mixed-methods approach, including a systematic analysis of documents (n = 10) and in-depth, semi-structured interviews (n = 4) with the empirical projects’ scientific members. Results The cooperative planning process was shaped across its phases by several facilitators, challenges, and barriers. Diverse assessment procedures and recruitment tools can facilitate preparation of the process, while moderation requires particular attention during the development phase. Identifying a champion in the transition subphase and providing ongoing scientific counselling can assure the implementation of an action plan with tailored measures for sports and physical activity promotion. Conclusions This study contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of the cooperative planning approach and, therefore, flexibility in sports and physical activity promotion projects. Many preparation actions, several challenges in the planning process, and a critical transition in implementation responsibilities should be considered by future projects intending to adopt the approach.

Modelling and Simulation of Distributed UAV Swarm Cooperative Planning and Perception

As an emerging topic, the swarm of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been attracting great attention. Due to the indeterminacy of sensors, distributed cooperative swarms have been considered to be efficient and robust but challenging to design and test. To facilitate the development of distributed swarms, it has been proposed to utilise a simulation platform for cooperative UAVs using imperfect perception. However, the existing simulation platforms cannot satisfy this demand due to a few reasons. First, they are designed for a specific purpose, and their functionalities are difficult to extend. Second, the existing platforms lack compatibility to be applied to different types of scenarios. Third, the modelling of these platforms is too simplified to simulate flight motion dynamic and noisy communication accurately, which may cause a difference in performance between the simulation and real-world application. To address the mentioned issues, this paper models the problem and proposes a simulation platform for distributed swarm cooperative perception, which addresses software engineering concerns and provides a set of extendable functionalities of a cooperative swarm, including communication, estimation, perception fusion, and path planning. The applicability of the proposed platform is verified by simulations with the real-world application. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system is viable.

Co-creating physical activity interventions: a mixed methods evaluation approach

Background Co-creation strategies, such as cooperative planning, are promising as a means to ensure that physical activity interventions address real-world problems and are tailored to the target group. This has already been validated in diverse settings. However, questions targeting the transferability of cooperative planning to new settings and the key factors influencing its success or failure remain unclear. At the same time, co-creation processes are complex, and evaluation can be challenging. Following calls for detailed reporting, this paper describes the programme activities, the underlying logic, and methodological design of a study that aims to evaluate the transfer of cooperative planning to new settings and to explore the associated key determinants. Methods Cooperative planning was utilized as a strategy to target physical activity promotion in three real-world German settings in the nursing care and automotive mechatronics sectors. This involved researchers working alongside stakeholders from practice and policy to conjointly develop new interventions to promote physical activity in physically demanding jobs. A pragmatic approach is used to evaluate both the transferability and key determinants of this strategy. We developed a logic model for this co-creation process that describes the underlying assumptions and guides the evaluation. The evaluation outcomes of this study include planning meetings, newly developed interventions, and the determinants that are likely to affect cooperative planning. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected using questionnaires, documents, and interviews. The quantitative data will be analysed descriptively, while the qualitative data will mainly be analysed using qualitative content analysis, split by settings. Subsequently, data triangulation will be used to integrate the quantitative and qualitative findings, which will then be compared across all three settings. Discussion The study findings will contribute to a better understanding of co-creation strategies, their transferability, and key determinants. The practical implications can include a checklist for assessing key determinants and a guideline for transferring cooperative planning into new settings to benefit more people. Ultimately, this study will help to advance co-creation strategies and may be relevant for researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers targeting physical activity promotion in various contexts. Trial registration: Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/r6xnt/ (retrospectively registered).

The school library and e-learning platforms

The teacher-librarian should be the most effective weapon for collaborative teaching and learning within a school. Teacher-librarians do struggle to find time to effectively plan for the cooperative teaching and learning activities. Often school libraries run their own website as they struggle to offer a digital 24/7 library service for its users. The school library website makes it easier for the teacher-librarian to manage the information delivery but isolates the content. The teacher-librarian managed website is often not an effective tool for cooperative planning and teaching. This paper will look at how the teacher-librarian can use e-learning platforms to deliver a digital 24/7 library service, and in addition, offer a great collaborative space for effective cooperative planning and teaching. This paper will focus on examples of practice in two schools. The first school is a New South Wales government high school and uses Moodle as the e-learning platform. The second school is an international K-12 private school and uses StudyWiz as the e-learning platform.