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Our world is increasingly driven by data. Medical, economic and political decisions are made based on automated analysis of ever-growing volumes of data, be they patient treatment decisions generated from rule models or stock trading decisions made by micro-trading tools. Scientific discovery is now all but impossible without data-intensive infrastructures, which have transformed both how science is done and what science is done. The Learning Health System (LHS) community has taken up the challenge of bringing the complex relationship between clinical research and practice into this brave new world. At the heart of the LHS vision is the notion of routine capture, transformation and dissemination of data and knowledge, with various use cases, such as clinical studies, quality improvement initiatives and decision support, constructed on top of specific routes that the data is taking through the system. In order to stop this increased data volume and analytical complexity from obfuscating the research process, it is essential to establish trust in the system through implementing reproducibility and auditability throughout the workflow. Data provenance technologies can automatically capture the trace of the research task and resulting data, thereby facilitating reproducible research. While some computational domains, such as bioinformatics, have embraced the technology through provenance-enabled execution middlewares, disciplines based on distributed, heterogeneous software, such as medical research, are only starting on the road to adoption, motivated by the institutional pressures to improve transparency and reproducibility. Guided by the experiences of the TRANSFoRm project, we present the opportunities that data provenance offers to the Learning Health System community. We illustrate how provenance can facilitate documenting 21 CFR part 11 compliance for FDA submissions and provide auditability for decisions made by the decision support tools and discuss the transformational effect of routine provenance capture on data privacy, study reporting and publishing medical research.

In an increasingly digital world there is a considerable and growing divide between those who are considered to be digitally literate and those who are not. In addition, among those who are digitally literate, there is a divide between those capable of engaging with technology end products and applications as competent users and those capable of developing software themselves; between users and creators. As technology becomes more pervasive in our society it has impacts in most aspects of life, including education, health, culture and work. In terms of the workplace impact it is clear that the currently reported skills deficits, gaps and mismatches are generating significant demand for skilled information technology workers across many sectors and the ability to meet this demand can have substantial impact on economic development. Developing appropriate technological skills and competence among young people has been the focus of many government, industry-led and voluntary schemes and has given rise to a diverse set of initiatives around Europe. However, little has been published on the attainment of knowledge, skill, competence and evidence of learning outcomes through these initiatives. This research has focused on the efforts to support development of coding capability among young people through the CoderDojo voluntary initiative and sought to identify the skills which are potentially transferable in an education and workplace context. CoderDojo is a global movement of free, volunteer-led, community based programming clubs for young people between the ages of seven and seventeen. The movement was founded by James Whelton and Bill Liao, an entrepreneur and philanthropist. From the first Dojo founded in Cork in Ireland in 2011, the movement has grown significantly and by May 2015 there were over 675 verified Dojos in 57 countries globally [1]. Through a review of the extant literature and the development of a potential skills acquisition template, this research seeks to identify and evaluate the knowledge, skills and competence that may be developed by participants in the CoderDojo movement. Before seeking to identify the skills that might be attained through programming activities, consideration of the broad themes and language of digital skills attainment is presented. The actual skills that are attained are considered in relation to the context within which the learning takes place. A research instrument is developed in association with project collaborators in the CoderDojo volunteer coding movement. The findings from the research are analysed and some preliminary recommendations are considered.

This book uses international case studies to present insights on the policies, actors, and institutions that are critical to successful transit-oriented development (TOD). TOD has many potential benefits for cities and regions, and is considered a critical element in reshaping sprawling car-dependent urban regions into denser regions built around transit corridors. However, it is not a magic bullet solution for metropolitan transportation problems: challenges persist, such as displacement of local residents and regulatory barriers. How has TOD been successfully implemented? How can we integrate the positive aspects of TOD while minimizing its negative impacts? This book presents a study conducted at the University of Amsterdam, exploring 11 international case studies, including a meta-analysis, rough set analysis and policy transfer workshops. The authors discuss the findings and present solutions to persistent challenges to transit-oriented development. Additional literature on eTOD (equitable TOD) strategies, as a fundamental component of planning for regional transportation, shows that these approaches can result in more collaborative processes, community-led development that minimizes the negative impacts of transportation infrastructure. As our Dutch colleagues stated, TOD can be considered a policy concept that can be used as a story to unite people.

Abstract
Community engagement projects create an avenue for university students and faculty to interact with local communities. These endeavors place together groups with different worldviews, cultures, and languages. Service-Learning (sl) has acquired novelty in academic circles; however, there has been limited research analyzing what happens with intercultural communication. This article attempts to fill this gap by asking how intercultural communication is shaped through sl. Research was conducted on a community engagement project in the Andean paramo of Chugchilán, Ecuador involving faculty, students, and members of the indigenous community. For the analysis, a blended design of transcendental phenomenology and sl methodology was used to analyze how participants perceive and make sense of their experience. From a linguistic perspective, we used both bilingualism and diglossia to analyze intercultural communication during the sl experience. The findings show that sl is a valid methodology that can increase intercultural communication while developing cultural competency between participants of the project. Finally, the study considers the revitalization of indigenous languages to be a fundamental step for a global intercultural world.

Drawing on first-hand accounts of action research in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, The Heart of Community Engagement illustrates the transformative learning journeys of exemplary catalysts for community-based change. Practitioners' stories of community engagement for social justice in the Global South elucidate the moments of insight and transformation that deepened their practice: how to deal with uncertainty, recognize their own blind spots, become aware of what is emergent and possible in the moment, and weave an inclusive bond of love, respect, and purpose. Each successive narrative adds a deeper level of understanding of the inner practice of community engagement. The stories illuminate the reflective, or inner, practice of the outside change agent, whether a planner, designer, participatory action researcher, or community development practitioner. From a shantytown in South Africa, to a rural community in India, or an informal settlement in peri-urban Mexico, the stories focus attention on the greatest leverage point for change that we, as engaged practitioners, have: our own self-awareness. By the end of the book, the practitioners are not only aware of their own conditioned beliefs and assumptions, but have opened their minds and hearts to the complex and dynamic patterns of emergent change that is possible. This book serves as a much-needed reader of practice stories to help instructors and students find the words, concepts, and examples to talk about their own subjective experience of community engagement practice. The book applies some of the leading-edge concepts from organizational development and leadership studies to the fields of planning, design, and community engagement practice. Key concepts include the deep dive of sensing the social field, seeing the whole, and presencing the emergent future. The book also provides a creative bridge between participatory action research and design thinking: user-based design, rapid prototyping, and learning from doing

Understanding how floodplain communities of the Brazilian Amazon respond to the impacts of extreme flooding induced by hydroclimatic variability and how learning supports these responses are the dual focus of this thesis. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (2014) demonstrates that rural communities in developing countries are among those most impacted by extreme climatic events, which are likely to increase in frequency and intensity in the near future. However, the community-based adaptations (CBA) literature indicates that rural communities have coped with climate variability by using a range of local assets, especially when governments have failed to provide proper assistance. My study followed a qualitative approach, employing semi-structured interviews with community members and institutional agents, participant observation, participatory mapping exercises, and validation workshops. Findings demonstrate that the repeated occurrence of extreme floods between 2009 and 2015 resulted in severe impacts, including some that had never been experienced by the local communities, such as the complete loss of perennials. Utilizing the sustainable livelihoods and resilience lenses, I investigated the locally-devised short-term and long-term responses to these impacts. Results revealed a wide range of responses, some of which I placed in a newly-proposed category of annual responses. Data about the capacity to absorb impacts without responding and about transformative responses were also provided. I also found that much of the learning that was foundational to the responses was instrumental in nature. The learning outcomes for individual participants resulted in proposing two new learning domains –introspective and emancipatory learning. Transformative outcomes were revealed for some participants who found that the intensity and repetition of extreme flooding drove them to leave the floodplain for upland or urban areas. Findings also revealed a wide array of learning domains ...

George Orwell and Education uses Orwell's life and works to address current educational questions. His early life, political awakening and artistic development are key elements in the book's presentation of Orwell himself as a learner, and as someone whose ideas continue to speak to contemporary debates about human interdependency. The focus of the book is on critical issues in education, including the idea of universality, the status of young people and the nature of learning. Orwell's efforts to conceptualise, and artistically realise his own experience, create a platform for exploring current educational issues in their philosophical and political contexts. This book will encourage a reimagining of, and stimulate debate about an idea of education that is less individualistic, pays greater attention to human mutuality, is politically engaged and ultimately more sustainable. The book will appeal to researchers, scholars and post-graduate students in the fields of literature in education, pedagogy, educational philosophy, literary theory, citizenship and youth and community

Management of real time information systems is gaining importance in all sectors and facets of human life. Varying from their applications in aviation, military, government, space technology, earth science, robotics, human cognitive, life support systems, disasters and emergencies, they emerge in diversified forms and natures. This paper identifies various contexts in the decision making processes of community livelihood; contextualizes the relevant information for taking time-critical decision, conceptualizes appropriate decision making methods, tools, and technologies for proper implementation, and manages an appropriate decision support system focusing knowledge acquisition and learning. Along this perspective, the paper establishes a decision support system framework in the aspect of early warning system in reaching out to grass roots community people at their own language, sign, and interpretation; provides knowledge support during disaster management, especially during post-disaster; provides information support in agriculture related matters, focusing pest control, and pre and post harvesting issues; provides emergency health assistance support during road accidents, or emergency health cases, or epidemic breakouts; and finally provides collaborative learning to improve e-governance at community level.

This book bridges the gap between Education for Sustainable Development and community development and examines the contributions of critical environmental education as a theoretical framework to the policy, research, and practice of Education for Sustainable Development. The book investigates what Education for Sustainable Development really means when it happens from the perspectives of a marginalized individual at the very bottom of society in a local community, where there is no such educational institution, no policy or no curriculum to support the effort, but there is the necessity of learning and empowerment for changing the situation. In particular, drawing on the experience of the Indigenous Ainu fisherman, it critically examines the theoretical foundation of Education for Sustainable Development, critical environmental education, investigating methodologically and epistemologically the relevance and efficacy of critical environmental education to socially critical approaches to Education for Sustainable Development in a community development context. And this investigation leads to develop a praxis framework for socially critical Education for Sustainable Development in a community development context so that both fields would be mutually supportive to strengthen the practices. .

Sociopolitical analyses of religion evidence the increasing prominence of religious communities across the world. However, existing work on religion–consumption interaction focuses mostly on the personal effects of religion and examines how religion and religious ideologies influence individual decision making, choice, and purchase and shopping behaviors. In this study, we focus on the collective experiences of religion and unpack the multiple ways consumption shapes and is shaped by a communal religious ethos. Through an ethnographic study of a Turkish-based Islamic community, we show that consumption plays important roles in attracting individuals to the community, socializing them to the communal ethos, and drawing symbolic boundaries between the community members and outsiders. We also discuss how the communal religious ethos shapes consumption practices and brand relationships of members and influences the marketplace dynamics.

"How do educators and activists in today's struggles for change use historical materials from earlier periods of organizing for political education? How do they create and engage with independent and often informal archives and debates? How do they ultimately connect this historical knowledge with contemporary struggles? Reflections on Knowledge, Learning and Social Movements aims to advance the understanding of relationships between learning, knowledge production, history and social change. In four sections, this unique collection explores: - Engagement with activist/movement archives - Learning and teaching militant histories - Lessons from liberatory and anti-imperialist struggles - Learning from student, youth and education struggles. Six chapters foreground insights from the breadth and diversity of South Africa's rich progressive social movements; while others explore connections between ideas and practices of historical and contemporary struggles in other parts of the world including Argentina, Iran, Britain, Palestine, and the US. Beside its great relevance to scholars and students of Education, Sociology, and History, this innovative title will be of particular interest to adult educators, labour educators, archivists, community workers and others concerned with education for social change" --

"How do educators and activists in today's struggles for change use historical materials from earlier periods of organizing for political education? How do they create and engage with independent and often informal archives and debates? How do they ultimately connect this historical knowledge with contemporary struggles? Reflections on Knowledge, Learning and Social Movements aims to advance the understanding of relationships between learning, knowledge production, history and social change. In four sections, this unique collection explores: Engagement with activist/movement archives; Learning and teaching militant histories; Lessons from liberatory and anti-imperialist struggles; Learning from student, youth and education struggles'six chapters foreground insights from the breadth and diversity of South Africa's rich progressive social movements; while others explore connections between ideas and practices of historical and contemporary struggles in other parts of the world including Argentina, Iran, Britain, Palestine, and the US. Besides its great relevance to scholars and students of Education, Sociology, and History, this innovative title will be of particular interest to adult educators, labour educators, archivists, community workers and others concerned with education for social change."--Provided by publisher.

The aim of the paper is to analyse how teenagers (age 14-15) talk about body and health after a finished work with a socio-scientific issue on the same theme. How can their discussions about body, health and science education be understood in terms of a constantly ongoing identity construction, especially in terms of gender, social class, ethnicity and "studentship"? Our aim is to show how these categories intersect and produce meaning in students' talk about a topic socio-scientific issue. The paper is departing from a social theory on learning, e.g. learning and identity construction are interdependent on each other; meaning is constructed in relation to a community. Sadler (2009) has emphasized socio-scientific issues as a way to open up for communities of practice where students' identities can be expressed and they can use appropriated discourses. In this paper we intend to problematize Sadler's theories and show the complexity of students' identity construction during school work. Even if they can engage in a common issue, they are doing it in completely different ways. We will use an intersectional perspective to get deeper understanding of the relations between science learning and students identity construction. The paper also intends to discuss what subject positions that are available when students discuss a topical, political issue in the science classroom.The article is mainly built on data from focus group discussions about knowledge and values concerning body and health. Focus group 1 consisted of four girls from "Suburban school", a monoethnic school in a suburban, middle class area with high educational level. Focus group 2 consisted of four boys from the same school. Focus group 3 consisted of six girls from "Urban school", located in a multiethnic urban area with low socio-economic status, low educational level and high degree of unemployment. Focus group 4 consisted of four boys from the same school. We analyse the discussions from a discourse psychological perspective, e.g. how the students ...

In Thorstein Veblen's ideal university, scientific researchers would be autonomous, & would have the goals of inquiry & the pursuit of truth. Veblen's The Higher Learning in America (1965) attributes the failure of the US to generate this university community of scholars to incorporation of business ethics & practices into university administration. Through his teaching positions in several top US universities in the first half of the century, Veblen noted that businessmen had assumed control of the faculty, policy, & curricula. Veblen abhorred religious support for university education, & he did not recognize the linkage between the Puritan work ethic & the Puritan belief that learning was an indirect means to salvation. Given this Puritan tradition, learning & research at the university would hardly be separable from religious goals, as evidenced by the organizational affinities among churches & universities, & the fact that they are both organized as nonprofit corporations. Thus, university researchers have assumed the businessman's practicality & utilitarianism, & present to society the search for solutions to both this- & other-worldly problems. Numerous examples of the twentieth-century affiliations among business, church, & university are cited. M. Pflum

Many people talk about the importance of music in school and learning, we all know about its effects on cognitive development for children and adults. Though despite these universally known facts, music education programs are increasingly underfunded in schools, private lessons are not accessible to most people, while our country is simultaneously suffering from an increase in academic retention and destructive societal conflicts. Music brings all people together and at its core is rhythm. It makes available a space for joy; to fully express love, build bonds and strengthen our individual spirits. When used intentionally, music heals and is a powerful agent for political change around the world. If we may develop our internal rhythm through these four principles: listening, communication, collaboration, and self-expression; an individual may embody the biological constructs of music, for their own social-emotional wellbeing.