Developing a Gameful Approach as a Tool for Innovation and Teaching Quality in Higher Education

This paper introduces the results of applying a gameful approach based on six playful activities as a tool to improve the learning process in higher education. A total of 850 students from different courses of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain) were involved in the study. The strategy was evaluated through a participant observation (active and passive) and mixed-methods surveys answered by the students. Results point out that most participants responded positively to the activities proposed. The reported levels of motivation and engagement also indicate the capabilities of this strategy as a method to enhance the learning experience of students. Despite these positive outcomes, challenges like the impact on working practices of teachers or the long-term engagement of gameful approaches requires additional research.

Smart Working and villages regeneration: towards new resilient practices at the time of Covid-19

The paper addresses the issue of agile work (smart working) and sustainable development as an innovative response to the (social, cultural, labor) restrictions imposed by Covid-19. With the Serrone Farm Hospitality project we intended to promote a model of social sustainability in a small village in Lazio to understand how the use of agile working practices and the active participation of the subject to informal and non-formal activities can allow the creation of regenerative poles in small villages, that is a container of social and working practices activities, sharing of skills and common participation to the economic, cultural and social design for the revitalization of the territory. Smart Working e rigenerazione dei borghi: verso nuove pratiche resilienti ai tempi del Covid-19. Il contributo affronta il tema del lavoro agile (smart working) e dello sviluppo sostenibile come risposta innovativa alle restrizioni (sociali, culturali, lavorative) imposte dal Covid-19. Con il progetto Serrone Farm Hospitality si è inteso infatti promuovere un modello di social sustainability in un piccolo borgo del Lazio per comprendere quanto il ricorso alle pratiche di lavoro agile e la partecipazione attiva del soggetto alle attività informali e non formali possano consentire la creazione di poli rigenerativi nei piccoli borghi, ovvero un contenitore di attività di pratiche sociali e lavorative, di condivisione delle skills e di partecipazione comune al disegno economico, culturale e sociale per il rilancio del territorio.

Could COVID-19 Boost Greece’s Village Revival?

In the last decades, Greek villages, especially in mountainous and remote areas, are gradually depopulated and suffer from youth out-migration, school closures and unemployment. During this COVID-19 outbreak, there is an increasing trend of villages as destinations for domestic tourism for short holidays or longer stays. At the same time, this pandemic leads to a significant increase of remote working practices. This article explores the prospect for the revival of traditional villages via an Albergo Diffuso (AD) model with adjustments for both visitors and temporary distance-working residents. We analyze the AD concept as it has been employed in Italy, make minor adjustments to it, and investigate the applicability of such a model in order to overturn the current depopulation of rural and mountain villages in Greece and improve the wellbeing of the local communities. To this end, we present a comprehensive SWOT analysis and discuss the findings. Our approach lays the groundwork for further research that is required to successfully implement AD in mountainous villages.

SAGE advice and political decision-making: ‘Following the science’ in times of epistemic uncertainty

This article presents a preliminary analysis of the advice provided by the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) held between 22 January and 23 March 2020 in response to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. Drawing on the published minutes of the group’s meetings, the article examines what was known and not known, the assumptions and working practices that shaped their work, and how this knowledge was reflected in the decisions made by the government. In doing so, the article critically examines what it means for policy making to be ‘led by the science’ when the best available science is provisional and uncertain. Using ideas of ‘externality’ and ‘evidential significance’, the article argues that the apparent desire for high levels of certainty by both scientists and political decision-makers made early action impossible as the data needed were not, and could not be, available in time. This leads to an argument for changes to the institutions that provide scientific advice based on sociologically informed expectations of science in which expert judgement plays a more significant role.

Sharing Knowledge Between Academia and The Industry

Audiovisual translation and accessibility research have huge potential to transform and improve the work of practitioners in these areas. However, research publications are not necessarily designed to address the practical implications of research, or to be accessible to practitioners outside academia. This special issue is for practitioners, and it aims to demonstrate how research can be useful to them. The research projects presented in the articles serve practical purposes in a variety of ways, from proposing analytical models to aid in selecting translation strategies, to exploring developments in working practices. Vibrant collaboration between all stakeholders in AVT and accessibility could bring benefits to both research and practice. This introduction discusses some of the challenges involved in making such exchanges happen and examines how those challenges could be overcome.

Soft skills requirements in e-complaint project team to support facilities management at Malaysian polytechnics

PurposeIn the context of the study, soft skill means identifying efficient and effective approaches for improving operation and maintenance (O&M) processes in facilities management and extending the management of building facilities and infrastructure. Applying the concept of soft skill to the O&M processes of facilities management at polytechnics in Malaysia, the paper aims to identify problems with conventional working practices in this area and to recommend potential solutions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews evidence that conventional working methods generate significant problems related to paper-based forms, improper database management and flawed decision-making processes.FindingsThe paper finds that the application of the concept of soft skill reveals the need for more sophisticated management solutions in the O&M processes of facilities management.Originality/valueThe concept of soft skill will guide future improvements and developments in maintenance management systems (MMS) to fulfil requirements in this area.

Cracking IT: Negotiating Working-Class Gender Capital through Group Enterprises in India

Digital work is often associated with higher levels of earning and increased social mobility. Working in the digital economy will not benefit all women equally or act as an enabler of broader social change. The article draws attention to the intersection of gender and class in work in the information technology (IT) sector of India, where women have increased their visibility and participation. Through a gender capital approach and intersectional analyses, the article points to the incontrovertible impact of class and gender when women from low-income backgrounds engage in IT-based group enterprises in the state of Kerala. A central insight from the study is the need to disaggregate types of IT work as women’s experiences in IT are shaped by the simultaneity of working practices, intersectional inequalities and gendered behaviours, often with limits to gender capital and spill-over impact on broader gender and social relations.

Radiation Protection in Interventional Radiology/Cardiology—Is State-of-the-Art Equipment Used?

Interventional radiology/cardiology is one of the fields with the highest radiation doses for workers. For this reason, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) published new recommendations in 2018 to shield staff from radiation. This study sets out to establish the extent to which these recommendations are observed in Germany. For the study, areas were selected which are known to have relatively high radiation exposure along with good conditions for radiological protection—interventional cardiology, radiology and vascular surgery. The study was advertised with the aid of an information flyer which was distributed via organisations including the German Cardiac Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie- Herz- und Kreislaufforschung e. V.). Everyone who participated in our study received a questionnaire to record their occupational medical history, dosimetry, working practices, existing interventional installations and personal protective equipment. The results were compared with international recommendations, especially those of the ICRP, based on state-of-the-art equipment. A total of 104 respondents from eight German clinics took part in the survey. Four participants had been medically diagnosed with cataracts. None of the participants had previously worn an additional dosimeter over their apron to determine partial-body doses. The interventional installations recommended by the ICRP have not been fitted in all examination rooms and, where they have been put in place, they are not always used consistently. Just 31 participants (36.6%) stated that they “always” wore protective lead glasses or a visor. This study revealed considerable deficits in radiological protection—especially in connection with shielding measures and dosimetric practices pertaining to the head and neck—during a range of interventions. Examination rooms without the recommended interventional installations should be upgraded in the future. According to the principle of dose minimization, there is considerable potential for improving radiation protection. Temporary measurements should be taken over the apron to determine the organ-specific equivalent dose to the lens of the eye and the head.

Contradictory regimes of practice: Constructs and discourses in an open prison

Using concepts from Kelly and Foucault, analysis of interviews in the mid-1990s with staff in an English open prison explores how contrasting discourses are reconciled. Two superficially antagonistic discursive formations within prison practice are described: a discourse of discipline/control and an ethic of reform and reclaiming “spoiled” criminals for good and productive life. While rhetorically at odds, they are reconciled in the working practices of prison staff, with discipline as a necessary precondition for reform. The open prisons stand for the rehabilitative ethic and the staff are proud of their work, but by the 1990s prison policy had begun to dissociate itself from promises of reform, in response to research conclusions that residential care was ineffective. This case study shows how discourses survive when they are disowned by their “owners.” The research has wider implications for an understanding of hierarchical relationships between discourses and construct-sets that prescribe different practices.