The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative operationalization of amenities that does not privilege certain kinds of natural resources and climatic conditions and that can be used for assessing the quality of life in small towns. The amenity inventory presented here extends previous literature by including a broad range of amenities…

Significant shifts are occurring in higher education pedagogy, research methodology, and community development, ones that value civic engagement and experiential learning as bridges to holistic education and sustainable social change. Engaged scholarship through university-community partnerships can result in providing a well-rounded education for…

While universities can play a major role in advancing research-based community development, academic discourses of rigor, quality and ethics often conflict with the participatory and collaborative approaches required by community development principles. While experienced academics often have difficulty negotiating these issues, they present…

Action-oriented research is a methodological approach for doing collaborative research with practitioners and community partners that can inform practice, programs, community development, and policy while contributing to the scientific knowledge base. This article discusses how family scholars can use action-oriented research to work together with…

High school, undergraduate, and graduate students conducted ethnographic research on the quality of older adults' environments through service learning and community development projects. Students gained understanding of elders' daily experiences as well as knowledge of research methods. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

Designed to provide basic guidelines and examples that can be used by community colleges for organizing and conducting community impact studies, this booklet describes the experiences of Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC), Eastfield College (EC), and Valencia Community College (VCC) in conducting their impact studies. Introductory material…

This newsletter describes development projects that utilize varied media, including microcomputers, videotape, and print materials, and discusses development communications issues. Specific articles are as follows: "Microcomputers for Education in the Developing World" (Kurt D. Moses); "Social Marketing: Two Views, Two…

The proceedings of the 1979 Lifelong Learning Research Conference held at the University of Maryland are reported in this document. Focusing upon non-formal adult education, the papers presented deal with environmental/leisure education issues, adult/continuing education concerns, community development, international education, volunteerism, and…

This book presents a fresh view of action research as a methodology uniquely suited to researching the processes of innovation and change. Drawing on twenty-five years' experience of leading or facilitating action research projects, Bridget Somekh argues that action research can be a powerful systematic intervention, which goes beyond describing,…

Asserts that, although research can be a powerful resource in guiding and fueling grass-roots social change, the community-based research enterprise often is contentious. Recommends collaborative research studies in which the researchers and practitioners work together from the project's inception. (CFR)

This report of the proceedings of the Third Annual Lifelong Learning Research Conference held at the University of Maryland, February 6-7, 1981, contains abstracts of forty-eight papers, three symposium papers, and the plenary address. The conference focus was on nonformal adult education. Papers deal with environmental/leisure education issues,…

An award winning program, the Teacher-Research Institute of the Maryland Writing Project at Towson State University, is described, along with six other state college programs that received special commendations by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Towson State University won AASCU's G. Theodore Mitau Award for…

The study documents what happened in 10 rural communities when a federal educational funding program (Experimental Schools) in 1972 provided 5-year grants for demonstration projects designed both to improve the school system and, through the schools, to address a variety of community needs. The study employs two strategies to document the ways in…

A perspective on the state of reservation development is provided in this document, which reports the results of a study conducted among 25 Indian reservations to determine the degree of integration between CETA Indian manpower plans and the Overall Economic Development Plans. An introductory chapter provides a history of the study and identifies…

One in a series of studies of lifelong learning, this paper discusses the cultural and educational needs of selected urban and rural communities in Senegal and Ghana, emphasizing grassroots initiative and the community's analysis of its own needs. Information is drawn in part from surveys, public meetings, and interviews in three communities:…