Search results

1 – 8 of 8
Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Aida Guerra

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the challenges engineering education currently faces. Engineering education needs to revise and change its curriculum to…

2322

Abstract

Purpose

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the challenges engineering education currently faces. Engineering education needs to revise and change its curriculum to integrate ESD principles and knowledge. Problem based learning (PBL) has been one of the main learning pedagogies used to integrate sustainability in engineering education. However, there is a lack of understanding of the relation between ESD and PBL principles and the ways in which they can be integrated and practised in the engineering curricula. This paper aims to investigate the relation between PBL and ESD and the ways in which they are integrated and practised in the engineering curricula.

Design/methodology/approach

The study starts with a review of the literature concerning ESD and PBL theories where relations between both are defined. The literature review is followed by an empirical work in which the PBL and ESD relations are investigated in relation to the PBL engineering curricula. The empirical work involves two engineering master programmes from Aalborg University, Denmark, while documentary analysis and interviews are used as methods for data collection.

Findings

The results show that even though PBL and ESD share common learning principles, their practice presents limitations that challenge the full integration of sustainability, namely, the crowded, strict and academic-centred curriculum, the struggle to balance different contexts with professional, interdisciplinary and collaborative knowledge and the tacit presence of sustainability.

Originality/value

The existence of a PBL curriculum at institutional level, such as at Aalborg University, enables investigation of how the PBL and ESD principles are practised, highlighting the limitations and potentials of integrating sustainability in the engineering curriculum.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 May 2024

Aida Guerra, Juebei Chen, Xiangyun Du, Helle Nielsen and Lone Kørnøv

The integration of ESD is a complex problem. It calls for an innovative, student-centred curriculum, as well as professional learning and agency, by which university teachers feel…

Abstract

Purpose

The integration of ESD is a complex problem. It calls for an innovative, student-centred curriculum, as well as professional learning and agency, by which university teachers feel empowered to change their practice and direct their peers and institutions towards ESD. This study aims to explore what university teachers consider to be the most important attitudes in supporting their agency to deliver Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) via a Problem Based Learning (PBL) programme.

Design/methodology/approach

This study presents a theoretical framework for professional agency comprising three domains: intrapersonal, action and environmental. A Q methodology is adopted to explore university teachers’ perceptions of the most important environmental factors in supporting their ability to deliver ESD via a problem-based learning (PBL) programme. Twenty-eight participants from six Southeast Asian universities took part in a PBL-based professional development programme designed to improve teachers’ ESD- and PBL-based skills and competencies.

Findings

The results indicate that the participants were confident in their ability to implement PBL and saw PBL as an approach suitable for addressing current educational, professional and societal challenges. This study offers a series of recommendations to help university teachers develop their ESD and PBL practices.

Originality/value

Although the literature on human agency is extensive, research surrounding teachers’ professional agency in the context of ESD and PBL in higher education is lacking. The present study addresses this gap by capturing individual teachers’ beliefs, perceptions and views and by using Q methodology to examine the subjectivity of study participants.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 25 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 September 2019

María Ángeles Rubio Gil and María Victoria Sanagustín-Fons

Due to the recovery of the quality of life coming from a real estate boom and due to the extensive possibilities for leisure and work, the young generation in Spain looks with…

Abstract

Due to the recovery of the quality of life coming from a real estate boom and due to the extensive possibilities for leisure and work, the young generation in Spain looks with more optimism into the future as did generations before. Still, Spain is a nation with low employment prospects. This puts many professionals in a difficult position, having to sacrifice family relations for a better job. Another problem is the rate of university degrees, which is over the European average. Therefore, Generation Z has higher goals for their lives than previous generations. One of the traditional problems is that young people get high marks in their professional degrees but have a lack of employability skills and are therefore not always success in their first apprenticeship contract with companies. Generation Z has social skill problems with respect to empathy, communication and conflict management. Due to their digital style of life, they have substituted the gregarious relationships leisure for the bedroom culture of social networks.

Details

Generations Z in Europe
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-491-1

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Feminist Activists on Brexit: From the Political to the Personal
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-421-9

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2017

Aida Terron, Josep M. Comelles and Enrique Perdiguero-Gil

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution and characteristics of health education in schools in Spain during the dictatorship of General Franco (1939-1975).

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution and characteristics of health education in schools in Spain during the dictatorship of General Franco (1939-1975).

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis of two kinds of sources has been performed. First, the reports from international organizations on health education in schools published in the 1950s and 1960s. Second, journals, books and official documents published by public health and education organizations in Franco’s Spain.

Findings

Health education in schools evolved in three stages under Franco’s dictatorship. In the first stage (1939-1953), Spanish schools maintained an outdated “school health” approach in the teaching programmes. In the second stage (1953-1965), the agreements with the USA in 1953 ended Spanish isolation, and the regime sought to follow the recommendations of international organizations. Efforts were made to “import” the WHO/UNESCO version of health education in schools but it failed to materialize. A programme that sought to enhance citizen participation and to acknowledge their idiosyncrasies was unlikely to prosper in a dictatorship. However, the less threatening food and nutrition education programme, encouraged by the FAO/UNICEF, did succeed. In the last stage (1965-1975), the Spanish education system entered a period of modernization in which the contents and methods of health education in schools were reformed in order to introduce the less conflictive aspects of the international recommendations.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the tensions between the aspirations to follow international programmes and the recommendations on health education in schools and the difficulties of implementing such schemes under a dictatorship.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. 46 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 February 2022

Francesco Caputo, Fabio Fiano, Teresa Riso, Marco Romano and Adnane Maalaoui

Recognising the increasing relevance of digital platforms in socio-economic dynamics, the paper aims at investigating in which ways digital platforms can influence the economic…

1414

Abstract

Purpose

Recognising the increasing relevance of digital platforms in socio-economic dynamics, the paper aims at investigating in which ways digital platforms can influence the economic performances of Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) actively engaged in foreign countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts the interpretative lens provided by the exploration–exploitation dichotomy within current studies in knowledge management for defining knowledge-based factors able to influence the economic performance of Italian SMEs in foreign countries. An explorative study on secondary data related to 746 Italian SMEs is conducted for testing via structural equation modelling (SEM) the positive relationships between (1) SME's investment in information and communication technologies (ICT), (2) number of languages available for the SME's website and (3) number of languages available for SME's social pages and SME's return on sales (ROS) in foreign countries.

Findings

The results underline the key role of exploitation factors in terms of influence on SME's performance in foreign countries.

Originality/value

The paper enriches current studies about international marketing providing preliminary evidence about the key role of exploitation factors in influencing SME's performance in foreign countries.

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2015

Esther MengYoke Tan and Dion Hoe-Lian Goh

Research has shown that when presenting large amounts of social media information on small devices, design should consider multiple contexts which include user preferences, time…

1596

Abstract

Purpose

Research has shown that when presenting large amounts of social media information on small devices, design should consider multiple contexts which include user preferences, time, location, environment and so on. It should also take into account the purpose of use, for example, the kind of tasks undertaken by users. However, little research has been done on the organization of social media information by multiple context and tasks. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Using tourism as a domain, the authors conducted a user evaluation study with a prototype to investigate users’ preferred ways of organizing different types of social media information based on multiple contexts.

Findings

In this paper, the authors present a sequence of context types for organizing four types of social media information (recommendations, events, friends and media elements). The study revealed that users preferred to view recommendations by location and environment context, events by location and temporal context, contacts by location and identity context and finally, list of media elements by environment and identity context.

Research limitations/implications

There may be different sequences of context types for organizing social media information in domains other than tourism. Researchers are encouraged to analyze users’ needs in other domains so as to find their preferred ways of organizing social media information.

Practical implications

This paper includes implications for the design and development of user interface, in particular, for mobile applications presenting large amount of social media information.

Originality/value

It presents a new way of organizing social media information using multiple context types and with consideration of users’ needs.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 67 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2019

Gading Ekapuja Aurizki, Ferry Efendi and Retno Indarwati

The purpose of this paper is to analyze factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among elderly who live in a post-earthquake area.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among elderly who live in a post-earthquake area.

Design/methodology/approach

This was a cross-sectional study involving 152 elder people who survived the disaster and were selected conveniently. The study was conducted in two worst-affected districts of Lombok Utara regency. PTSD was diagnosed using a modified version of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale version 5 (CAPS-5). The demographic data were assessed using a self-developed questionnaire consisting of 13 items. All data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, χ2 test and binary logistic regression with p<0.05.

Findings

Out of the 152 elder people, 91 (59.9 percent) suffered PTSD. Intrusion symptoms were the most common symptoms experienced by the respondents (94.1 percent). The factors associated with the PTSD in the elderly after the earthquake were having chronic illnesses (OR=2.490; 95% CI=1.151–5.385), public health center utilization (OR=2.200; 95% CI=1.068–4.535) and occupational status before the disaster (OR=2.726; 95% CI=1.296–5.730). These findings highlight that individual factors and access to health care services remain an important aspect of stress identification among the elderly following the disaster event.

Social implications

Elder people constitute a vulnerable group that is often forgotten and neglected during post-disaster recovery, though they have potentially higher psychosocial distress than younger age groups. This study was conducted to raise awareness about mental health problems suffered by the elderly.

Originality/value

This is the first study to apply CAPS-5 to assess PTSD among Indonesian elderly people following a natural disaster. This paper also provides insights that can be used by governments and other relevant parties to address PTSD problems suffered by many elderly people in a post-disaster area.

Details

Working with Older People, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-3666

Keywords

1 – 8 of 8