Da der Transfer und das Management von Wissen für den Erfolg global agierender Automobilunternehmen von immer größerer Bedeutung werden, stellt sich auch die Frage nach deren kulturellen und kommunikativen Bedingungen im Verhältnis verschiedener Standorte, insbesondere im Verhältnis von "Konzernmutter" und "Auslandstochter". Die Autoren beleuchten einige Aspekte dieser für einen gelungenen Wissensaustausch notwendigen Voraussetzungen am Beispiel der Betriebe des tschechischen Skoda-Unternehmens und der deutschen Volkswagen-Zentrale in Wolfsburg. Ihre empirische Analyse auf der Grundlage von leitfadengestützten Interviews zeigt, dass eine alltäglich gelebte "Kultur des Austauschs" weder angeordnet werden kann, noch sich aus funktionalen Kooperationserfordernissen von selbst ergibt. Sie betrachten vor allem drei erfolgskritische Bereiche für Wissensaustauschprozesse im organisationalen Alltag: Die Bedeutung von Face-to-Face-Kommunikationen, die Einbettung in konzernweit verknüpfte Funktionsbereiche sowie die Art und Weise des unternehmenskulturellen Wandels selbst. Die Autoren ziehen daraus abschließend Konsequenzen zur Genese und Steuerbarkeit einer "Kultur des Austauschs" von Wissen. (ICI2)
Da der Transfer und das Management von Wissen für den Erfolg global agierender Automobilunternehmen von immer größerer Bedeutung werden, stellt sich auch die Frage nach deren kulturellen und kommunikativen Bedingungen im Verhältnis verschiedener Standorte, insbesondere im Verhältnis von "Konzernmutter" und "Auslandstochter". Die Autoren beleuchten einige Aspekte dieser für einen gelungenen Wissensaustausch notwendigen Voraussetzungen am Beispiel der Betriebe des tschechischen Skoda-Unternehmens und der deutschen Volkswagen-Zentrale in Wolfsburg. Ihre empirische Analyse auf der Grundlage von leitfadengestützten Interviews zeigt, dass eine alltäglich gelebte "Kultur des Austauschs" weder angeordnet werden kann, noch sich aus funktionalen Kooperationserfordernissen von selbst ergibt. Sie betrachten vor allem drei erfolgskritische Bereiche für Wissensaustauschprozesse im organisationalen Alltag: Die Bedeutung von Face-to-Face-Kommunikationen, die Einbettung in konzernweit verknüpfte Funktionsbereiche sowie die Art und Weise des unternehmenskulturellen Wandels selbst. Die Autoren ziehen daraus abschließend Konsequenzen zur Genese und Steuerbarkeit einer "Kultur des Austauschs" von Wissen. (ICI2).
The first step in this comparison process is to gain a clear understanding of the term "professionallearning community." Ubiquitously used in current educational literature, there is an inherent need todefine a professional learning community's essential components (DuFour 2004). For the purposes ofthis piece, the concept of 'professional learning community' has four defining characteristics. Theseessential attributes are:(1) Supportive and collaborative conditions(2) Commitment to continuous improvement(3) Results orientation(4) Shared mission, vision, values and goalsWhile definitions that are more elaborate exist, narrowing the essential characteristics that this piecewill examine in light of the Constructivist Design Conference will allow subsequent reflections to bemore applicable to one's own professional development. Through the comparison of these two models,it is our intention to provide a framework for understanding other professional experiences.
The term Professional Learning Community is commonplace, and it holds many meanings andsuggestions. For the purpose of this essay, however, we discuss a specific Professional LearningCommunity (PLC) that was established in a high school, fifteen months prior to the application of asurvey instrument to evaluate participants' perceptions on the initiative. The PLC that we evaluate inthis article had a set of very specific goals: To create a department within a high school wherecollaboration would become a norm and not a rarity, and to encourage collaboration that would includedesigning formative and summative assessments, collecting, comparing, and disaggregating studentdata to enhance classroom practices and meet students' needs. Most importantly, maximizing studentachievement is the long-term goal for this endeavor (Elbousty & Bratt, 2009).
The potential of service-learning to foster democratic thinking is often unrealized. The absence of political learning in service-learning has been a subject of particular concern. Drawing on student reflections, pre- and post-test surveys and the perspectives of two faculty members and a community organizer, this article examines the ways in which a year-long, interdisciplinary voter engagement service-learning partnership between a community-based organization and a public university promoted democratic thinking and democratic action. The project helped students understand issues of inequality situated in voting rights, race and class; strengthened relationships between the community and university; and contributed to voter participation. Students came to see organizations, activism and public policy as important antidotes to political inequality. We argue that partnerships with advocacy groups to support political change constitute an important aspect of educating for democracy; these collaborative endeavors challenge views of politics that negate the importance of government, political participation and collective action.Keywords: democratic thinking, voting, organizational partnerships, inequality
Smallholder farmers around the globe are facing unstable productivity due to changing climate and weather patterns. The ways in which the private sector supports these farmers to build resilience to climate change and/or engage in efforts to mitigate climate change can have significant impact on the ability for farmers to make a living, the security of supply of smallholder crops, and the reputation of the private sector actors drawing loyalty of end consumers and investors. As part of an effort to better engage the private sector in climate smart agriculture activities the Learning Community for Supply Chain Resilience, funded by USAID's Feed the Future program and in support of the Alliance for Resilient Coffee (ARC), interviewed 18 coffee companies to better understand how they think about climate risk and climate smart agriculture, the types of activities in which they engage, and the types of climate information they use and/or need1. The results of this study are supplemented by results from a case study of Ugandan coffee companies, illustrating how their use of and need for climate information differs at the national level. The results give insight into the types of information that private sector companies are looking for to be able to design and implement effective climate smart agriculture programs. It also yields some insight on information and tools that would facilitate sector-level strategies. While all of the companies interviewed are engaged in sustainable agriculture activities, there is confusion in the sector about the definition of "climate smart agriculture" and which activities fall under that category rather than the broader "sustainability" category. Companies that worked closely with farmers, tended to not separate efforts into climate or sustainability efforts, but rather focused on holistic programs to increase productivity and make farming a viable option for today's farmers and an attractive option for the next generation. Companies in the study used a variety of types of climate information depending on their needs, which were seen to have more relation to their distance to smallholder farmers rather than position in the supply chain as a trader or roaster. The proximity to farm level along with results on drivers for decision-making, motivations for investing in climate smart practices (focus on security of supply or brand reputation) and influencers (integration of sustainability staff with procurement/sourcing or strong company values) all informed our categorization of different types of companies. For this paper, we are using three categories of (i) "direct service providers" (those providing integrated services to smallholder farmers), (ii) "collaborators" (those working with direct service providers to support work with smallholder farmers), and (iii) "catalysts" those working at global, sector or policy level on climate issues with a light touch at the farm level. These categories are intended to serve as general guideposts as the Alliance for Resilient Coffee and other partners develop and tailor tools and analyses for different audiences. Companies working closest to smallholder farmers (direct service providers) had the most access to and need for detailed farm-level data, and are looking for more local information to supplement their knowledge, such as changing local weather patterns, site-specific good agricultural practices (GAPs) and recommendations for adaptation practices for particular climate hazards. Those working with the direct service providers (the collaborators) depend on the direct service providers for information to shape their program design and implementation. These companies often work in collaborations at a slightly higher level, looking to area-specific climate maps and case studies on successful programming to inform a broader strategy. Those furthest from the farm level, (the catalysts) rely on secondary sources of information from sector groups, such as backbone organizations and trade groups, as well as suppliers and desk research to answer particular questions and develop strategy. Although differing depending on their role in the supply chain, there were several types of information that many of the companies were interested in using and felt were missing to make decisions about climate smart activities. These included (i) quality, site-specific information for improved diagnostics, (ii) information to help measure and manage climate risk and (iii) information related to specific, practical technologies to build resilience. There was also a common call from all companies for easier access to quality, digestible information and fewer long, academic papers that are hard to find the time to read. One of the key findings of this study is that in order to successfully approach companies and tailor tools and resources to their needs, tool/resource developers need to understand the role of climate smart agriculture within their business model and sustainability strategy, their motivations for investing in climate smart agriculture and the types of tools and resources that would most benefit them. This study is a deep dive into the drivers for climate investments by a subset of global coffee companies and as such not a comprehensive, definitive picture of the state of the entire industry. However, through conversations with the first mover companies, it is clear that climate change is a recognized and present issue with all companies regardless of position in the value chain. There was no reticence or denial of the severity of the threat nor a lack of recognition of the potential impact to companies' bottom line from climate change among those interviewed. There was rather an almost universal engagement and enthusiasm that the sector – companies, farmers, government, donors, research, NGOs – must tackle this threat together and act fast. There was a sense of urgency and even impatience from some that the strategies and programs must be better coordinated, informed by credible science and rigorously practical for farmers' realities. With access to the right information in the right format, coffee companies will be more likely to utilize tools and resources to make informed decisions in the face of climate change.
This research identifies the implementation of the Broadband Learning Center (BLC) program of the Surabaya government as a facility for community learning on Information Communication Technology (ICT). BLC is one of the crucial developments in building Smart Community as the main actor in Surabaya Smart City establishment. In the Surabaya context, BLC is one of the foundations in establishing a smart city which is an integration of three main dimensions, namely BLC as ICT facilities, community as the actor in smart city development, and the Surabaya government. The study applied a qualitative method with a descriptive research type — data collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and documentation studies. Interviews were conducted to 22 informants, which consisted of one BLC coordinator in government institution, one representation of BLC coordinator from community, and eight facilitators in five parts of the city areas which provided BLC facilities, and 12 representations of community groups as the users that consisted of adolescent and youth, women, and senior community. The observation was being held in BLC spots, while community learning activities occurred. The BLC remarkably facilitates community learning and education in dealing with ICT. The study indicates that the program performs ICT community learning which establishes community ability to understand and to use information from digital sources. However, it has been challenged by the conception of digital literation in boosting smart community active participation, which should enable the community to connect and interact with, also utilize the information. A socio-technical learning approach can be pertinently implemented by linking social and technological factors in order to fit the learning process and targeted community and also widen its opportunity in achieving smart community sustainability.
Thai primary school teachers must be developed learning management skills for promoting students' creativity and innovation ability. This study developed a training curriculum to enhance teachers' learning management skills to promote students' creativity and innovation ability from using the professional learning community method and a training cycle "plan", "do", "check", and "reflect". There consisted three units of training curriculum, and the analytic scoring rubrics were used for collecting data. The results were (1) teachers' learning management skills were higher after implementing the curriculum at a statistical significance level of .01, and (2) students' creativity and innovation ability was higher after implementing the curriculum at the statistical significance level of .01.
This article presents two sequential case reports of how sixty schools in the London borough of Camden used action research in three phases of development of their local school system reform from a traditional Council-led, top down model of centrally based professional development and monitoring of schools, to one that is schools-led and 'bottom-up' in nature, but still in close partnership with its local council and community. The article uses a sociocultural lens through which to view this journey of self-reform tracking change through three evolutions of the sociocultural model as professional learning becomes situated in classrooms and between schools in Camden, as motivations to develop and change become increasingly intrinsic and less driven by fear of failure or the consequences of failure. Of critical importance is the feedback-rich context created by adoption of enquiry and coaching-based learning models at classroom, organisational and system levels. This both fuels and is fuelled by the strategic collaboration of headteachers and by system leadership also provided by middle leaders, whose increased cross-school agency builds improvement capacity and collaborative capital. But the article does not report on the action research alone. Unlike many accounts of action research for change, this account provides a narrative backdrop in which to locate both scientific and system developments. This is provided through three short vignettes which place the changes reported in a societal, political and community context without whose energetic actors (in the form of local political and community leaders and school governors) the local 'civic governance' so strongly behind these reforms, would not have existed. ; London Schools Excellence Fund (Greater London Authority)