Strategies for impact: enabling e‐learning project initiatives

The purpose of this study was to compare college of agriculture teachingfaculty members' perceptions of the quality of on-campus and off-campus courses. The population included 262 faculty members with teaching responsibilities or with teaching experience in the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. All members of the population were surveyed and the response rate was 54.2%. Overall, college of agriculture teaching faculty perceived off-campus courses to be of lower quality than their on-campus counterparts. On a positive note, faculty perceived the difference between on- and off-campus courses on user-basedand value-basedfactors to be small. From a Total Quality Management perspective, user-based and value-basedfactors are most important. Faculty perceivedgreater disparities between on-campus and off-campus courses on manufacturing- and transcendent-based quality factors. Efforts to enhance offcampus course quality should be focused on the manufacturingfactor. Quality is enhanced on all factors by systematic analysis and improvement of workprocesses (Gilbert et al., 1993). In order to improve the process of delivering instruction off-campus, on-going faculty developmentprograms thatprovide hands-on experience are needed. Faculty should also have technical support and instructional design support available as they develop courses for off-campus delivery.

Action research has been positioned by many as a relevant approach for exploring new pedagogical practices within the educational context. However, there are various understandings of what action research is, and it is crucial to comprehend the nature of these differences and, most importantly, the consequences of different practices before assessing the relevance of action research. In this chapter, I aim to discuss the following two research questions: (1) What choices can one face in the planning and execution of an action research project? (2) What can be the consequences of the choices made? In addressing this issue, I use knowledge about the need for the development of new pedagogical practices in physical education as a case. Specifically, the following questions are posed as a basis for discussion: (1) Why should teachers conduct action research? (2) Who participates in the research process? (3) What purpose is the research oriented towards? (4) How is the action research process practiced? (5) Are there incentives for carrying out the project? Although identifying “the best action research practice” is not possible I argue, based on the literature, for action research practices that enable teachers to develop their local practices while sharing knowledge with a broader audience. Furthermore, the need for action research that involves systematic processes of thinking, planning, acting, evaluating, and reflecting (Lewin, 1946), and a duration that allows teachers to genuinely master the new practices is emphasized. Finally, the importance of making action research a collective endeavor where various voices, including those of teachers, students, and researchers, contribute to and support the process is highlighted.

The road construction industry is inherently complex due to the involvement of numerous parties, including the government, contractors, consultants, stakeholders, and regulators. In Kenya, road projects have been facing challenges, resulting in delays, increased costs, and subpar quality. The study was anchored on theory of constraints and supported by Stakeholder Theory, Resource Based View Theory and Regulation Theory. The purpose of the study was to examine the mediating role of community participation in the link between project planning and road project performance in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid counties. The study adopted positivism philosophy. The study applied a descriptive survey research design that was cross sectional in nature. The study adopted purposive sampling technique where primary data was collected using a questionnaire from 198 respondents. The study respondents were the contracted company’s project managers, county public works officers and the local community leaders who are most advantageously placed and in the best position to provide the information required. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics which included correlation and multiple regressions. The study results revealed that strong positive correlation (R=0.648) between project planning and performance of road projects; strong positive and statistically significant correlation (R=0.718) between project planning, community participation and performance of road projects; and that 51% (R2=0.510) of variation in and performance of road projects is explained by the project planning, community participation. Further, community participation partially mediates the relationship between project planning and performance of road projects. The study recommends the development of comprehensive and workable project designs that take into account the one-of-a-kind conditions that are typical of arid and semi-arid regions. There is a need for greater investment in training and development efforts that target project planners and engineers, with the purpose of expanding their knowledge and understanding of the design and execution of road projects within arid and semi-arid regions. Establishment of project planning frameworks that are especially adapted to the contextual needs of arid and semi-arid settings is an absolute necessity if one wants to successfully handle the one-of-a-kind difficulties that are offered by arid and semi-arid environments.

Among the papers in this issue that I found particularly engaging is Vallenga et al.’s (2008) report of their longitudinal action research project (pp. 261–272). The aim was to increase awareness of the decisions healthcare workers made about interventions that reduced risk for people with epilepsy and intellectual disability who were residents in a long stay institution. Risk management in such circumstances involves really tricky decision-making. Taking risks can involve exposing an individual to dangerous situations: on the other hand, measures that are overly protective can impose restrictions that are experienced by the individual as being detrimental to quality of life. The purpose of the research was to engage healthcare workers by utilizing the cyclical, reflective processes of action research to generate change in decision-making, care planning and delivery. There already was a desire for change within the healthcare worker team – an important prerequisite for undertaking successful action research! During the research, which was conducted in the Netherlands, nurses and nursing assistants gained understanding about the analysis and evaluation inherent in decision-making about the risks to which residents were exposed. At the beginning of the research there was a lack of consensus about the extent to which residents should be protected by interventions: however, utilizing the cycles of action research, reflection, discussions and questions were generated. Decision-making about risk often involved uncertainty because a positive outcome was never a guarantee. Interesting questions were posed about risk management vs. risk elimination, about dignity associated with risk taking and about the impact on people with disabilities. In questioning the preconditions of nurses’ decision-making, the researchers enabled a shift from a problem-based approach to acknowledgement of the possibilities for individual residents. During the 22-month period over which the research was conducted, care-giving became more client-centred, and with decisions made in the context of a resident’s individual situation. Healthcare workers began to be less reactive when incidents occurred, instead considering risk minimization measures that were suited to a resident’s wishes. Emphasis shifted to client autonomy and self-determination by gaining an understanding through dialogue of client wishes and preferences. Engaging healthcare workers in the reflective processes that characterize action research created change to practice. Importantly, the changes in the approach to decision-making about risk management were sustained, as demonstrated by an evaluation 6 months after completion of the research. For me, what is clearly demonstrated in this paper is the building of relationships between people that underpins the action research process. To do this requires the development of an environment that facilitates collaborative learning where responsive processes are established with improved abilities to improve decision-making through the sharing of information, communication and understanding.

This study explores how teachers in two primary schools in London interpreted and perceived their engagement in action research as a professional learning experience. The study also explored the factors that teachers perceive to impact upon their engagement in wider professional learning experiences in primary schools. This study is timely as there are few examples of research that have investigated whole-school teacher engagement in action research. As teacher engagement in research continues to be promoted at a national level, there remains a lack of qualitative research on the impact of engagement in collaborative action research on teachers within a primary school. This study is also timely because it has investigated theories of workplace learning in relation to conceptions of teacher learning experiences within a school. The extent to which the learning environments in schools afford formal and informal opportunities for teacher learning is presented as a factor for consideration. The study took a case study approach to investigating teacher perceptions of engagement in action research. Questionnaires with twenty-four teachers and interviews with twelve teachers across both schools resulted in qualitative data which was explored and interpreted for emerging trends. Data analysis was influenced by a constructivist interpretation of grounded theory to provide deeper understandings of patterns that emerged in relation to perceptions of action research and experiences of workplace learning. This study identified that there is a complex patchwork of influences that impact upon teacher engagement in professional learning, and that significant factors in this engagement include the expansiveness of the institutional learning environments and individual dispositions to learning. These factors influence individual teacher learning experiences in different ways. A model for teacher learning is presented in this study that reflects the key factors that need to be taken into consideration when planning for formal and informal teacher professional learning activities in primary schools.

Standard Guideline C/I ASCE 38-02 provides a basis for which design professionals can define the level of effort to be used for underground investigations at the various stages of planning and design of pipeline projects. This paper's goal is to characterize the use of 38-02 in the pipeline planning process. Also provided are three case histories that illustrate the use of subsurface utility information during the planning process.

Sharing a well-written care plan allows individuals, carers, emergency care providers and primary care teams to access information about managing patients’ problems in line with their wishes. It allows the documentation and sharing of information from conversations with patients, relatives and carers. There are multiple formats for patient care plans, but this article will focus on care planning for patients with frailty or in end of life care. A care plan is only as good as the conversation that informs it. A good care plan requires clear documentation and effective sharing of the information with easy access for all care givers.

Housing has been a basic need for living since ages. In Ethiopia, the concerns of sustainability do not seem to be incorporated as a significant determining factor in the architectural design process. The country lacks knowledge and expertise of design and construction of sustainable housing projects and is not much in practice. There are multiple and contradictory set of issues that are affecting sustainable planning and design of housing projects which makes sustainability a minor concern for the upcoming housing projects in Ethiopia. Neither much attention has been paid and nor any initiative has been taken to adopt any alternative performance optimization techniques in design and construction to make sustainable buildings. Thereby, this paper examines gaps in the existing design and construction schemes to achieve the envisaged goals of sustainable environment, thereby contributing to overall socioeconomic development. To overcome the crisis that construction industry faces nowadays, two aspects that need attention are firstly finding measures to optimize sustainability performance in design and construction of housings and secondly devising methods to achieve sustainability and optimization by assimilation of various parameters from the beginning like architecture design, construction techniques and material selection to achieve better results. The current research paper examines a housing project in context to sustainable design approach to optimize performance in housings by assimilation of selected parameters within the frame work of sustainability, underlining the concept and benefits of sustainable buildings. The research aims to devise solutions that will contribute to the user well-being and protection of our environment.KeywordsOptimizationSustainable housingPerformanceIntegrationImplementation

I: Lewin, then and now.- Approach as a description of the nature of scientific activity: Some reflections and suggestions.- Kurt Lewin and American psychology: An ambivalent relationship.- Lewin's sphere of influence from Berlin.- The man in transition: Kurt Lewin and his times.- Kurt Lewin's influence on social emotional climate research in Germany and the United States.- Theoretical positions of Kurt Lewin and Egon Brunswick - controversial or complementary points of view?.- Lewin and current developmental theory.- Lewin and social science: A theoretical note.- II: Practical Theory.- A. Therapy-mental health-interpersonal relations.- Kurt Lewin's influence on the field of mental health.- Understanding enrichment and therapy in marriage: The legacy of Kurt Lewin.- Lewinian theory in clinical practice.- Kurt Lewin: Intergroup relations and applications in current action research.- Application of Lewin's life space concept to the individual and group-as-a-whole systems in group psychotherapy.- B. Education.- Action research as a guiding principle in an educational curriculum: The Lincoln University Master's Program in Human Services.- Kurt Lewin's influence on business education.- Children in cooperation and competition: The role of entitlement and deservedness.- Participants as consultants to themselves.- C. Organizational and human resources development.- The quality circle phenomenon.- Using graduate students as consultants to teach action research to residence hall staff.- Teaching force field analysis: A suggested training design.- Utilizing Lewinian principles for an institutional planning process within a medical school.- Organizational processes in a University department: A report of an action research and organizational development project.- D. Community psychology and community action.- Environmental psychology and action research: Lewin's legacy.- Community action research in North Philadelphia.- Report of an action research project: The Hunting Park community leaders survey - problems and prospects for park preservation.- A practical theory for optimal intergroup-initiated encounters: The Arab-Jewish case.- E. Research lines.- Support, reference, and gatekeeping functions within the interpersonal field: Lewin contributions.- A continuation of Lewinian research in the study of cooperation and competition.- New paradigm research.- A neo-Lewinian action research method.- The effects of affirmative action on minority persons: Research in the Lewinian tradition.

The mission of this project is to provide a defensible technical basis report in support of the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR). This technical basis report will also be used to resolve technical issues associated with the nuclear criticality safety issue. The strategy presented in this project plan includes an integrated programmatic and organizational approach. The scope of this project plan includes the provision of a criticality technical basis supporting document (CTBSD) to support the FSAR as well as for resolution of the nuclear criticality safety issue. Specifically, the CTBSD provides the requisite technical analysis to support the FSAR hazard and accident analysis as well as for the determination of the required FSAR limits and controls. The scope of The CTBSD will provide a baseline for understanding waste partitioning and distribution phenomena and mechanistics for current operational activities inclusive of single-shell tanks, double-shell tanks, double-contained receiver tanks, and miscellaneous underground storage tanks.. Although the FSAR does not include future operational activities, the waste partitioning and distribution phenomena and mechanistics work scope identified in this project plan provide a sound technical basis as a point of departure to support independent safety analyses for future activities. The CTBSD also provides the technical basis for resolution of the technical issues associated with the nuclear criticality safety issue. In addition to the CTBSD, additional documentation will be required to fully resolve U.S. Department of Energy-Headquarters administrative and programmatic issues. The strategy and activities defined in this project plan provide a CTBSD for the FSAR and for accelerated resolution of the safety issue in FY 1996. On April 30, 1992, a plant review committee reviewed the Final Safety Analysis Reports for the single-shell, double-shell, and aging waste tanks in light of the conclusions of the inadequate waste characterization with respect to fissile material. The review indicated that the conclusion in the FSARS, that a criticality is not credible, cannot be supported for a full range of potential tank constituents. Therefore, a USQ was declared. Development of a credible scenario leading to a criticality proved to be extremely difficult, given the paucity of data on the quantity and distribution of fissile material in the tanks. The objective of this project plan is to develop a strategy and technical approach to provide a CTBSD for the FSAR and for resolution of the nuclear criticality safety issue pertaining to tank farm waste storage and transfer operations. The strategy and technical approach identified in this project plan include definition of administrative and technical tasks. Technical analyses will include mechanistic studies, historical data review, and additional limited neutronics analysis. Completion of these studies will be documented in a CTBSD to support the existing criticality technical basis. The CTBSD will be incorporated in the criticality portion of the FSAR.

Action research (AR) prides itself on being a field of both theoretical and practical inquiry. Its scholarly identity rests heavily on framing participants as engaged, subjective, and participatory beings who learn and change through research processes. Yet, action research struggles to be considered a rigorous methodological field of inquiry and certainly there have been those who have raised questions about its validity as a research method. Where action research is used, qualifications and justifications abound as people struggle to have their research heard over other disciplines and techniques that claim more validity or appropriateness of methods. As a community development practitioner, I have employed AR approaches in the design and application of projects. As an academic, I have had the opportunity to design and facilitate meetings using participatory action research methods for data collection and to develop ground-up interventions with primary health care professionals. Therefore, I was eager to read about AR theoretical developments and to examine this text for its core purpose: as a to guide research and practice. The handbook boasts 32 chapters covering theory, practices, exemplars, and skills which I reviewed with particular attention to where, how, and why I would use the content and whether it offered what a research handbook should—practical assistance in design, application, analysis, and synthesis for AR. Overall, the handbook does provide extensive examples about research projects and process. In future editions though, I would like to see more attention to complementary methods that can be employed in AR and attention to methods for the analysis of data generated via action research approaches. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903268

The study considers the Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) project, which was a land formalization case in a sovereignty-contested area conducted by de jure Myanmar state, de facto Karen Nation Union (KNU), and an international developer. The DSEZ project planning comprised deep-sea Ports, 250 sq. kms of industrial estate zone, and the two-lane 148 km road linking Dawei in Myanmar and Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand as its main features. Recent studies of Myanmar land institutions in sovereignty-contested areas have mainly discussed the factor of "inter-legality," the integration of non-state land laws, as the solution for land disputes between the central state and armed ethnic political groups. However, the real-world case in this study indicated a second factor, "organized social processes," working in correspondence with the first factor. This research paper explores how the two factors were used together the integration of customary land practice into statutory property institutions, influencing changes in the structure and process of land formalization practices, and illustrates the unclear property institutions of sovereignty-contested frontiers. This research paper is a single case study that benefited from the researcher's five years of work experience in the DSEZ project's design, planning, and land acquisition. The obtained information comprises the project's land formalization documentation, published land laws which were checked with the project manager using the triangulation method, and local newspaper clippings. The study concludes that inter-legality and organized social processes should be used together in practice planning to form more context-oriented land formalization practices, employing collective community memory to reduce institutional inertia. Furthermore, the mutually-agreed standards can help avoid direct power contestation between the de jure and de facto.

<JATS1:p>This book facilitates the completion of action research studies by providing a series of tasks that guide action researchers from the beginning of a project and selecting a topic for study, to completion of the project and editing final reports. All too often, students and practicing professionals in professional development schools are overwhelmed by the thought of doing an action research project and resort to using quasi-experimental designs. A Toolkit for Action Research puts an end to both, with the result being a life-long learning and reflection tool for teachers. This workbook can be used alone, or in conjunction with traditional action research texts, such as Daniel Tomal's Action Research for Educators.</JATS1:p>

Ongoing environmental change requires that managers develop strategies capable of achieving multiple objectives in an uncertain future. Active adaptive management (AAM) offers a robust approach to reducing uncertainty while also considering diverse stakeholder perspectives. Important features of AAM include recognition of learning as a management objective, integration of monitoring throughout all aspects of project design and implementation, and use of experimental design in project planning. These features facilitate collaborator engagement and adaptive management based on credible inferences about treatment effects. AAM is not research: the primary goal in AAM is to meet management objectives, one of which is to learn about tradeoffs among alternative management approaches. We outline a pragmatic method to enhance the value of monitoring by incorporating experimental design principles into project planning, including a checklist of key questions for decisionmakers and stakeholders, and illustrate these concepts with an example from the Helena National Forest, Montana, USA.

Anatomy of decision making in project planning teams