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Current research on millennials primarily focuses on their behavior within an academic or workplace setting. This study expands on previous analysis by exploring how millennials respond to community leadership efforts, particularly cohort leadership programs. Participant outcomes from University of Minnesota Extension’s County Bridging Leadership Program revealed that millennials—particularly those without a four-year degree—experienced significantly higher gains in several skill areas relevant to community development than non- millennials. Recruiting more millennials to participate in community leadership programs is critical not only to keep younger people in rural communities but also to strengthen future community vitality.

A recent study of the Minnesota Agriculture and Rural Leadership (MARL) program set out to determine the relationship between andragogical program design and increased levels of emotional intelligence (EI). Members of two cohorts in the MARL leadership development program received different levels of focused effort, peer coaching, individual action plans, disorienting dilemmas, self-reflection, and training in the area of emotional intelligence. We examined four years of data, including participants’ results on the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) before and after undergoing leadership development training, as well as their individual reflections on the EI components of their training. The intention is that this research will encourage practices that seek to increase emotional intelligence in leaders.

As our communities strive to support community change efforts for survival and vitality, the importance of social capital has become evident in leadership development. Many researchers and practitioners realize that tapping into the inherent power of relationships and social networks is crucial. This paper provides an overview of the design and evaluation of Bridging Brown County, a countywide community leadership development program that was explicitly designed to build social capital as well as human capital. By integrating social and human capital constructs into the program design, impacts have been measured in domains of other community capitals. The results of the impact study provide insight into developing and measuring the success of community leadership programs.

The aim of the study is to explore perceptions of the impact of assessment feedback by international undergraduate nursing students. Research to date indicates that summative assessment feedback may impact significantly on student achievement but if it is undertaken sub optimally or does not provide students with the opportunity to engage with the process and reflexively respond, it can also be exceptionally damaging to the learning experience.

A scoping exercise of overall student feedback experience was initially collated via the adoption of an Interpretive Phenomenological Approach (IPA). Participants were recruited via purposive sampling and the LEGO® Serious Play® method was used to collect data. Analysis with Quirkos software was used to examine the salience as well as commonality of findings as an integral part of a recognised five-step thematic analytical approach.

Feedback was perceived, by students, as significantly impacting factor in relation to their overall progression, attainment and retention rates. Themes generated from the findings evidenced student perceptions that summative feedback is a positive driver and source of motivation for academic success and progression. It was perceived that levels of attainment were related to the clarity, quality and individualised nature of feedback that students received and that this was perceived to be evident in their final grades. These were accompanied by perceptions that feedback clarity also determined the potential of breaking down perceived student barriers to learning, their perceived capacity for effective assignment planning and preparation and the likelihood of them having any positive collective or individual interpersonal relationships with their tutors. Summarised, students perceived that feedback ought to lead to student empowerment in managing their studies and as such it ought to be clear, straightforward and non-ambiguous.

The methodological design of the study means that generalisability from its findings was never intended or possible. However, there may be the potential transferability of findings to similar institutions and contexts of nurse education with students who have similar demographic profiling. The study was also a means of providing an insight into the lived experience of students which could be used in the prospective adaptation of feedback mechanisms for staff at a local level within Higher Education.

The study reveals the perceived impact of gamification as a mechanism of summative assessment as conveyed by a designated group of students. Whilst specific recommendations for change can only be made within the context specificity of the research, there may be aspects of the findings which are potentially transferable to other similar contexts of Higher Education delivery whose pedagogical approaches mirror those in operation at the institution where the research was undertaken. It became apparent that the standardisation of feedback approaches offered many opportunities to improve existing systems. The issue of monitoring workloads is also of significance in terms of the level and degree of summative assessment and feedback that academic staff can undertake.

The study revealed the perceived magnitude of assessment feedback on progression, attainment and retention rates, alongside the perceived need for a universal feedback template and the opportunity to provide audio-video feedback. This study adds to existing knowledge in the field of pedagogic practice about both the execution of LEGO® Serious Play® as a research methodology and why the perceptions of feedback as articulated and illuminated by a group of contemporary nursing students ought to matter in the context of Higher Education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the author’s experiences as a school teacher and a lesbian. It considers the culture and discourses of power in the school and the ethical implications of telling the author’s story. Utilizing autoethnography as a method of inquiry, it draws on a critical incident to explore the incompatibility of the author’s private and professional identities, and reflect on the impact of homophobic and heteronormative discursive practices in the workplace, on health, well-being and identity.

This research is grounded in an interpretivist philosophy. It utilizes writing about the self as a method of inquiry.

This research examines the incompatibility of the author’s private and professional identities and offers insight into the steps that those in positions of power will take to protect and perpetuate the heteronormative discourse of rural life.

This research presents the perspective of only one lesbian teacher in a rural context. Consequently, generalizations are inappropriate and recommendations are difficult. Whilst the absence of clear ethical regulation presents an infinite number of possibilities for autoethnographers, the silence that surrounds the prescription of the ethics of autoethnography leaves those of us at the beginnings of our research careers without clear guidance.

This research specifically addresses a dearth of research examining the experiences of the rural lesbian (or gay) teacher in the UK. Headteachers of rural schools must ensure that their schools are inclusive and welcoming environments for teachers, and their equalities policies are living documents that are not simply cast aside in the face of rural parent power. Young people in the countryside deserve access to the full pool of teaching talent and should have access to the diverse role models that their urban and suburban counterparts are beginning to enjoy.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of common parameters in existing tools that provide guidance to carry out Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) and proposes a new taxonomy, a catalogue of parameters, for the definition of the goal and scope (G&S) in WBLCA.

A content analysis approach is used to identify, code and analyze parameters in existing WBLCA tools. Finally, a catalogue of parameters is organized into a new taxonomy.

In total, 650 distinct parameter names related to the definition of G&S from 16 WBLCAs tools available in North America, Europe and Australia are identified. Building on the analysis of existing taxonomies, a new taxonomy of 54 parameters is proposed in order to describe the G&S of WBLCA.

The analysis of parameters in WBLCA tools does not include Green Building Rating Systems and is only limited to tools available in English.

This research is crucial in life cycle assessment (LCA) method harmonization and to serve as a stepping stone to the identification and categorization of parameters that could contribute to WBLCA comparison necessary to meet current global carbon goals.

The proposed taxonomy enables architecture, engineering and construction practitioners to contribute to current WBLCA practice.

A study of common parameters in existing tools contributes to identifying the type of data that is required to describe buildings and contribute to build a standardized framework for LCA reporting, which would facilitate consistency across future studies and can serve as a checklist for practitioners when conducting the G&S stage of WBLCA.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion that social constructionist approaches to learning, which a building with the hands provides, is a “technique that leverages the potential of the hand-mind dynamic” as historically reported in the extant published literature.

The use of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) method in the context of transformative learning in Higher Education was used to drive a Situational analysis with sixteen postgraduate nursing students, from African learning contexts. This methodological approach was used to specifically explore their identity as learners and then to facilitate processes of critical introspection on social constructivist learning opportunities.

Students’ perceived LSP permitted a deeper level of critical introspection on their transformative learning journeys than alternative approaches, such as written discourse or extended narratives, could have provided. They also perceived that a major benefit of using the LSP method was that it enabled them to understand and articulate their stories more easily than if they verbally reported them first.

The sampling the authors used was purposive and reflective of the Nigerian background of our research participants, who study at the University of Sunderland.

LSP was perceived as an effective vehicle for the facilitation of reflection and self-awareness, which consequently contribute to students’ capacities to function at a metacognitive level. This has the potential to contribute to authentic transformative learning. Academic learning at postgraduate level hinged on the capacity of students to develop a pragmatic and working knowledge of what acknowledging their epistemic cognition entailed.

The methodological approach implemented in this paper provides a unique means of harnessing a now common gamification technique in pedagogic practice.

Feminist leadership and administrative praxis include areas overlooked or devalued by traditional leadership. In this chapter, the authors explore how academic administrators in the United States who self-identify as “feminist” integrate their feminist values into daily praxis, decisions, and implementation – or revision – of institutional policies. The goals of this study are to identify how feminist values inform praxis and how feminist administrators’ praxis produce successful changes. Through in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews with feminist administrators in higher education, the authors find commonalities in feminist values, in how those values shape administrators’ interactions, and how they inform initiatives and policies on which administrators have worked. Feminist administrators rely on values such as transparency, collaboration, inclusivity, empowering others, and being mindful of power and personal biases. These values informed their interactions with faculty, staff, and students as well as formal policies and initiatives, which were infused with feminist principles in their efforts to make academe more just.

This paper aims to determine the nutritional profile of popular takeaway meals in the UK. Fast food has a poor nutritional profile; research has focused on the major catering chains, with limited data on takeaway food from independent establishments.

Random samples of takeaway meals were purchased from small, independent takeaway establishments. Multiple samples of 27 different takeaway meals, from Indian, Chinese, kebab, pizza and English-style establishments (n = 489), were analysed for portion size, energy, protein, carbohydrate, total fat, salt and total sugars.

Takeaway meals were inconsistent with UK dietary recommendations; pizzas revealed the highest energy content, and Chinese meals were lowest in total fat. However, there was a high degree of variability between and within categories, but the majority of meals were excessive for portion size, energy, macronutrients and salt.

The present study focused on energy, macronutrients, salt and total sugars. Future research should analyse the quality of fat and carbohydrates and micronutrients to provide a more detailed nutritional profile of takeaway food.

The nutritional variability between establishments suggests that recipe reformulation should be explored in an attempt to improve the nutritional quality of takeaway foods. In addition, portion size reduction could favour both the consumer and the industry.

Takeaway outlets do not provide nutritional information; due to the excessive nutritional profiles, regular intake may increase the risk of non-communicable disease. Therefore, there is a pressing need for this provision to help consumers make conscious food choices.

This is the first study to analyse energy and macronutrient content of independent takeaway meals in the UK.