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In this chapter, we discuss the Change Laboratory as an intervention-research methodology in higher education. We trace its theoretical origins in dialectical materialism and activity theory, consider the recommendations made by its main proponents and discuss its use in a range of higher education settings. We suggest that the Change Laboratory offers considerable potential for higher education research, though tensions between Change Laboratory design recommendations and typical higher education contexts require consideration.

The European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching (EFFECT, 2015–2019) (EFFECT, 2019), a project co-financed by the European Commission, through its Erasmus+ programme, has been exploring effective methods for university teachers’ development at the European level, including pedagogical staff development “modules” to support inclusivity and citizenship in teaching and learning practice. Throughout the project and in this chapter, the authors have taken “inclusivity” to convey an attitude and appreciation for principles which inform “inclusion” as a practice – in the context of reflective and reflexive practice the words become largely interchangeable.

The way academic staff teach is of critical importance in any reform designed to enhance inclusion and citizenship in higher education. Conveying these values-related topics in an academic context hardly lends itself to a traditional pedagogical training model. Promoting inclusion means stimulating discussion, challenging stereotypes and unconscious biases, as well as improving educational and social frameworks. The Change Laboratory methodology (Engeström, 2001) was chosen for the pedagogical staff development workshops under EFFECT, with a view to engaging teaching staff in a deeper reflection about the topics and about their teaching practice. Change Laboratory is an intervention-research methodology that aims at reconceptualizing activity: it intends to provoke authentic reactions, responses and disagreements among the participants and provides opportunity for them to work together to reimagine their activities and to identify “concrete” solutions that address persisting issues in their practice. The theory takes a broad conceptualization of “activity” and “practice,” which is not specific to the education sector or the “classroom.” The Change Laboratory is a methodology designed to support the “expansive learning cycle” described by Engeström and as such can be understood as a theory of change which the EFFECT project team applied to a pan-European higher education learning and teaching context.

In 2017, the project team designed and implemented four physical, face-to-face pedagogical staff development workshops on inclusivity and citizenship skills based on this methodology, attended by over 100 participants from across Europe. In 2018, the workshop model was adapted to a virtual learning environment and three online sessions on inclusivity and citizenship skills for higher education teaching staff were offered.

The pedagogical staff development workshops enabled participants to use open reflective questions to provoke discussion about the challenges faced in their own learning and teaching contexts, think about their pedagogical practices and identify their unconscious biases. Most of the participants rated the workshops as very good and innovative, and considered the methodology an effective vehicle for promoting meaningful open discussion.

In this chapter, the authors reflect on the design, implementation and lessons learnt from the pedagogical staff development workshops on inclusivity and citizenship skills. The authors propose a set of recommendations for individual teaching staff and institutional leadership to consider when addressing continuous professional development for inclusivity and citizenship.

Education needs to be viewed in a holistic manner; it does not end when one simply acquires a degree or a job. Education creates human beings, shapes them into what they are and influences their behavior and attitude toward life. It contributes to creating a long-lasting effect on people’s mind and attitude. Developing a curriculum is not an easy task as it involves various dimensions of life, and one of them is to inculcate the idea of inclusivity and multiculturalism in the minds of young learners and help them to become effective leaders in the future. The process of teaching, delivery of lessons, assessment, evaluation and various pedagogical approaches needs to be aligned to deliver multicultural education. Society’s values, beliefs and goals should be translated into a curriculum that is relevant and connects students to society. Humanizing education to instill values that supports inclusivity and equality should be built around the cultural context synthesizing opinions and facts derived from the work of researchers and academics. This book aims to review research work conducted by academics across the world. Authors argue how social justice education and inclusion should be an inherent part of the curriculum. Strategies and tools are suggested that can strengthen the learning abilities of students and create an attitude of appreciation toward inclusivity. Case studies and interventions that have been effective are cited from Africa to the USA and UK, which can help create an intentional design of a classroom environment supporting multiculturalism. The book illustrates the importance of appropriate curriculum development involving all stakeholders and the integration of multicultural education in the curriculum. Concepts such as Ubuntu and academic freedom toward leadership development have also been stressed in this book.

This contribution investigates methodological questions concerning Change Laboratory interventions. It contemplates the research questions: To what extent the Change Laboratory can be situated within the panorama of qualitative inquiry? If so, to what extent can the methods and strategies of inquiry help improve a Change Laboratory intervention?

To answer the first question, this paper makes an overview on key terms of qualitative research; subsequently, it presents the characterising features of the Change Laboratory. Then, it takes a historical perspective and compares the Change Laboratory firstly against action research, and secondly with design experiments. To answer the second section, it examines a case study of Change Laboratory with teachers that the first author facilitated. Next, it displays how trustworthiness was ensured through a thick description and member checks.

The paper argues that the Change Laboratory is a strategy of inquiry; it aligns with the characteristics of qualitative research, and it follows the agenda of a participative paradigm. Furthermore, the methods and strategies of inquiry such as thick descriptions and member checks, not only can improve rigour and validity of the intervention but also strengthen the outcomes of the Change Laboratory itself.

The Change Laboratory is well defined as a formative method, but not fully understood as an investigative method. Although scholars discussed methodological issues of Cultural Historical Activity Theory in diverse articles, the relationship between the Change Laboratory and qualitative inquiry has remained unclear.

Healthcare environments are highly complex and full of variation and inefficiency. However, variation and inefficiency can be measured and improved, providing better quality care at a lower cost. This study aims to report the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in a haematology laboratory in a university hospital in Egypt.

The authors used case study research. Applying the define, measure, analyse, improve and control phases of the DMAIC methodology together with lean tools, the problem was identified, the process mapped, the causes analysed and improvements implemented.

Results show that LSS can be successfully implemented in challenging public sector healthcare settings. Management commitment, generating and implementing ideas from frontline staff, using a variety of quality tools and previous LSS training were all key to success. This is evidence that the LSS methodology is adaptable to any process, people or place.

There are no publications on LSS implementation in health care in Egypt. This study demonstrates the successful use of LSS in a university hospital (public sector) in a developing country, sharing insight into the facilitators and barriers in a real context with others in the healthcare field.

Laboratories typically consume 4‐5 times more energy than similarly‐sized commercial space. This paper adds to a growing dialogue about how to “green” a laboratory's design and operations.

The paper is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the background and theoretical issues. A case is made for sustainable laboratories, introduce the Harvard Green Campus Initiative's (HGCIs) study of potential energy reduction in Harvard's research laboratories and examine other issues including: behavioral change, technical change, and the required codes and suggested standards that influence laboratory design and operations. Next, a survey conducted through a partnership between HGCI, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and Laboratories for the twenty‐first century (Labs21) to clarify issues surrounding use of codes and standards in high‐performance laboratory design and maintenance is introduced.

Survey findings highlight the confusion among survey participants surrounding the applications and interpretations of current lab guidelines, codes and standards, particularly addressing sustainable performance. The findings suggest that confusion has financial, environmental, and human health consequences, and that more research is needed to define the operational risks to laboratory workers. Findings indicate that many energy efficient technologies and strategies are not routinely specified in lab design, perhaps in part due to confusion concerning the guidelines, standards and codes.

Although the survey sample size is too small to be statistically significant, it does provide valuable insight into the general confusion surrounding the applications and interpretations of current codes and guidelines, especially those addressing sustainable performance.

The practical implications of this research are many, including that there are many opportunities for technical and behavior improvements within modern university laboratories that yield great energy savings. This is critical as laboratories are one of the most energy‐intense building types on a university campus.

The critical originality of the paper is provided in the analysis of the obstacles to achieving the great potential energy savings that exist within the university laboratory context.

This purpose of this paper is to examine the application and outcomes of applying all of the seven lean flows to pathology laboratory remodelling as part of a lean rapid improvement event (RIE).

Longitudinal case study of a lean RIE linking emergency and pathology departments focusing on the systematic application of lean's seven flows to the physical environment.

Following the lean RIE, changes improving patient specimen, technician, supplies and information flows avoided 187 km and eight days of unnecessary walking each year.

The difficulty of making accurate comparisons between time periods in a health care setting is acknowledged.

This research provides evidence that applying lean design concepts in a laboratory can make substantial improvements, particularly if the expertise of the people working in the laboratory is trusted to determine the most appropriate changes. Significant amounts of time and motion were saved by just one, easily quantifiable change.

The laboratory staff is processing increased numbers of time-critical tests, yet report a calmer working environment, without any increase in the pace of work. Laboratory personnel also experienced satisfaction in exercising control over their work environment.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first comprehensive report applying lean flows to pathology laboratory remodelling and one of the few applications of Lean Systems Thinking between departments and between separate health services organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to operationalise and apply a three-level analysis of double stimulation in a Change Laboratory with teachers.

Within qualitative inquiry, this Change Laboratory intervention was conducted as case study, by way of an intensive analysis of an individual unit. The macro-level deals with the societal problem and the collective solution found to tackle it. An intermediate level looks at the Change Laboratory as a methodology able to boost expansive learning through chains of first and second stimuli. The micro-level analyses the participants’ interactions during the sessions and traces the terms connected to the first and second stimulus.

This analysis suggests that the conflicts of motives experienced by the participants at the micro level refer to the aggravated contradiction identified at the macro level. Conflicts of motives seem to be superior in number during the first block of sessions, when the first stimuli are analysed. The micro analysis indicates the 6th session as the turning point of the intervention, when the participants take the auxiliary stimulus and turn it into and effective and meaningful sign. The intermediate level helps to trace the third transition from the formation of the second stimulus to its implementation, reflection upon and further development and generalisation.

Vygotsky’s method of double stimulation is crucial to develop one’s agency and to explain how individuals deliberately influence events. Yet the literature is fragmented and made of brief accounts, and this paper for the first time inspects double stimulation on different levels within a Change Laboratory intervention with teachers.

The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceptions to changes to the learning environment of their undergraduate physics laboratories, in which their scientific inquiry processes were stimulated.

The activities students engaged in were redesigned to reflect a guided inquiry approach and to acknowledge modern-day advances in science and technology. Further, enhanced guidance was provided for laboratory instructors regarding the nature of scientific inquiry and how to structure students’ inquiry experiences during laboratory sessions. Students’ views were sought regarding their perceptions of the impact of the reforms on the laboratory learning environments, their thinking processes in those environments and their views regarding the reform’s value and appropriateness.

Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data suggested that students responded positively to the reforms implemented. Large effect sizes of between 0.70 and 1.20 suggested significant positive shifts in students’ perceptions of dimensions of their laboratory learning environments. In interviews, students expressed that they had engaged in the cognitive processes of scientific inquiry and suggested that the reforms had stimulated such “inquiry” thinking. However, their perceptions of the value and appropriateness of such inquiry-oriented laboratory learning environments were mixed.

Concerns persist in higher education in relation to the extent of students’ inquiry processes in undergraduate physics laboratories. Reforms to both the activities that students engage in and to instructional strategies are necessary. Raising awareness of the views expressed by students might help inform future reforms that accommodate those views to further enhance similar reforms.