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When added together, there are currently 1000 federal advisory committees with over 60,000 participants. In one U.S. city of more than one million people there are over 700 citizens serving on advisory boards. Yet, this form of citizen participation receives scant attention in the public administration literature (Lavertu & Weimer, 2010). We use the foil of the 2008 recession to reduce the gap in our knowledge. Advisory boards offer the potential for giving citizens power since they provide direct input into decision-making. Results from interviews of 25 citizen advisory board members suggest this does occur. However, the way in which the board leverages its power is novel. The experiences of citizen advisory board members can inform attempts to increase the legitimacy of participation, especially during fiscal stress.

Citizen participation in local government processes is touted as an effective means to enhance responsiveness and accountability. The topic has received considerable attention in the normative literature, yet there is persistent evidence that citizen participation occurs infrequently and has little influence on decision making. This study compares the perspectives of three different groups of stakeholders: elected officials, administrators, and citizens. Examination of the perspectives of these three groups of actors is important because it provides insight into the relationships between the groups and expectations regarding how input is used and how it influences decisions. Attention to these items can make participation more valuable and can inform other governments as they ponder how to align the priorities of different actors in their budgeting processes.

The purpose of the study is to assess the usability and acceptability of FallCheck, a Web app that allows users to complete home-hazard assessments within their own home, with a group of people at risk of falling and their carers.

This mixed method study used an online survey followed by semi-structured telephone interviews to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. A Think-Aloud study was used to test usability of the Web app through structured tasks.

Findings showed that FallCheck was easy to use with few usability issues. The Web app was deemed appropriate to use by people at risk of falling (young or old) or by carers if appropriate. The depth of knowledge provision and breadth of content was acceptable, and many participants reported subsequently making changes to their home environment to reduce their risk of falling. Overall, the majority of participants reported feelings of improved confidence and safety with an increased awareness of fall risks and a reduction in fear of falling at home.

FallCheck has good acceptability and usability with people at risk of falling and their carers and has the potential to improve access to home-hazard assessment and affect behavioural change regarding fall risk hazards and behaviour.

This study describes successful use of an app that may be helpful in identifying home-hazards and making changes to reduce risk of falls, particularly in the absence of occupational therapy intervention and has the potential for integration into falls care pathways.

A growing stream of consumer research has examined the intersection of family dynamics, consumption practices and the marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to make sense of the complex nature of family for senior families (adult children and their elderly parents) who employ the use of elder care services and facilities.

This research analyses data gathered from in-depth interviews with adult siblings and their elderly parents through the lens of assemblage theory.

This paper advances a conceptulisation of the family as an evolving assemblage of components, including individual members; material possessions and home(s); shared values, goals, memories and practices; prominent familial attributes of love and care; and marketplace resources. Three features of the assemblage come to the fore in senior families: the fluid meaning of independence for the elderly parent, the evolution of shared family practices and the trajectory of the assemblage that is a function of its history and future.

This research focuses on a stage of family life that has been under-theorised; applies assemblage theory to the family collective, demonstrating that a family can be conceptualised as an ever-evolving assemblage of human and non-human components, and this is a useful lens for understanding how senior families “do” family; and argues for a broader notion of family – one that is not household-centric or focused on families with young children, that encompasses members and materiality and that foregrounds the dynamic, evolving nature of family life.

Purpose: To describe the importance of exemplary literacy teacher preparation today, the changing landscape of teacher preparation accreditation and the recently revised and launched International Literacy Association (ILA) National Recognition programs.

Design: In this chapter, the authors examine the current context of literacy teacher preparation in the United States, including the changing landscape of national accreditation, national recognition, and certification requirements. Next, the authors provide a brief overview of the ILA Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals 2017 (Standards 2017) (International Literacy Association (ILA), 2018) and consider how Standards 2017 may inform literacy teacher preparation programs, state standards, and certification. Then, the authors discuss how the role of reading/literacy specialist in Standards 2017 is being applied in the ILA National Recognition program. To close the chapter, the authors share guiding questions and two case studies from exemplary literacy preparation programs – West Virginia University and the University of Texas at San Antonio – in an effort to provide practical examples of program innovation and improvement in these challenging times in literacy teacher preparation.

Findings: The authors discuss the current context of teacher preparation today, the ILA Standards 2017 with specific attention to the reading/literacy specialist role and standards.

Practical Implications: ILA National Recognition program involve reflection, self-study, on-site visits by peers to support and inspire ongoing literacy teacher preparation program quality and improvement.

The aim of this paper is to discuss a selection of policy strategies, regional initiatives and market approaches to uncover the realities of twenty-first-century building energy performance. A position that market-based approaches, human influence and policy interventions are part of an ecosystem of building energy performance is presented.

An exploratory search of secondary sources spanning the last three decades was conducted. Both peer-reviewed and grey literature were included to capture a broader understanding of the discourse in literature. Research questions guided the literature search, and a data extraction tool was designed to categorise the literature. The primary limitation of this study is that only a few applications could be discussed in a condensed format.

Several challenges about the current status quo of building energy performance were identified and summarised as follows. (1) Inconsistencies in measurement and verification protocols, (2) Impacts of market approaches, (3) National policy priorities that are at variance with regional targets and (4) Ambiguous reporting on environmental impacts of energy efficiency (EE) technologies.

The practical implications of the findings in this paper for practice and research are that as part of the building energy performance ecosystem, national responses through government interventions must become adaptive to keep up with the fast-paced energy sector and social trends. Simultaneously, before market-based approaches overcome the messiness of socio-economic dynamics, institutional conditions and cultural nuances, they ought to transparently address environmental impacts and the infringement of several SDGs before they can become viable solutions to building energy performance.

This paper presents building energy performance as an ecosystem comprising human influence, market-based approaches and policy interventions which form interdependent parts of the whole. However, evidence in the literature shows that these aspects are usually investigated separately. By presenting them as an ecosystem, this paper contributes to the discourse by advocating the need to re-align building energy performance to socio-economic-political dynamics and contextually viable solutions.

Dynamic features of eTextbooks, such as taking interactive quizzes and sharing notes can make the practice of reading a textbook more supportive and engaging than before. While promising, challenges exist regarding the integration of eTextbooks in higher education, such as cost, usability, and lack of instructor development. There is a need for a more informed understanding of how instructors and learners are integrating eTextbooks to revolutionize learning spaces, in order to formulate next steps of action on a university level. While studies exist regarding universities with eTextbook initiatives, there is little empirical data concerning universities that offer eTextbooks without a focussed initiative. This paper aims to fill this gap.

In this paper, the results of a university-wide student survey are shared, which provide insight into factors such as the selection and use of eTextbooks, access, and beliefs regarding eTextbook use and learning.

Generally, we found that in a university setting without an eTextbook initiative, eTextbook use is relatively low and their features are not being effectively utilized by students or instructors. In any university that offers eTextbooks, instructor development is critical.

Findings from this survey guide the instructional design of instructor development. The findings also identify pertinent issues that any university is likely to face when considering an eTextbook initiative, such as raising student awareness, working with publishers, and providing effective technical and pedagogical support.

In this paper the authors seek to develop a measure that can identify those customers who might best be described as rebate prone, and to link rebate proneness to behavioral usage of rebate offers, intentions to use rebate offers in the future, attitudes towards using rebates as a way to try new products, and finally, the tendency to complete the rebate transaction.

In study 1, college students enrolled in marketing classes at two large state universities were asked to complete a brief online survey regarding their attitudes towards rebates as a promotional tool as well as shopping behaviors and attitudes towards shopping. Study 2 replicated study 1 using a mall intercept approach.

Confirmatory factor analyses of the measure of rebate proneness demonstrated substantial psychometric validity and yielded acceptable levels of internal consistency. In both studies, rebate proneness was significantly and positively related to behavioral, intentional and attitudinal approaches to rebate usage. Rebate prone shoppers viewed rebates as a substantive incentive for trying new products.

These results are preliminary yet provide an important foundation to explore a measurable propensity towards product and brand specific rebate usage.

The promising theoretical framework of consumptive delay provides a managerial opportunity to segment consumers on the basis of measurable psychological and behavioral tendencies. Rebate usage is but one of a number of strategies that can create and or maintain brand loyalty. The ability to identify and provide incentives to incent rebate prone shoppers has widespread implications including the enhancement of the lifetime value of the customer.