Participation has become so central to adult education for community development that even the World Bank supports participatory programming. This article analyses how participation is conceptualised in "Training for Transformation" (TfT), a Freirean-inspired curriculum used in international community development settings. TfT seeks to…

Community development research suggests that positive partnerships and connections between groups can result in stronger, more resilient and productive communities. Despite community connections featuring increasingly at a curriculum level in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, research is only beginning to explore the nuanced processes…

In this article, a qualitative case study approach was used to explore the changes that community-campus collaborations stimulate. The authors document the "processes of interaction" (Spaapen & van Drooge, 2011) through which collaborations seek to contribute to positive social change, highlighting the outputs, outcomes, and…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the role a rural community college plays in the development of its community, using a holistic, community-based lens that considered college and community context, interactions and results to answer the question: "How does the rural community college impact the development of the…

This article presents findings from a case study of an adult literacy program. The author conducted this IRB-approved study as part of a three-year, research-based, community-engagement project that partnered the literacy program with a writing center at a large public research university. The author argues that the participatory methods afforded…

In this paper, four qualitative case studies capture the complex interplay between the social and structural relations that shape community - academic partnerships. Collaborations begin as relationships among people. They are sustained by institutional structures that recognize and support these relationships. Productive collaborations centralize…

Preparing students as 21st century learners is a key reform in education. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills developed a framework that identifies outcomes needed for successful implementation of rigorous standards. The Dual Language (DL) program was identified as a structure for reform with systems and practices which can be used to prepare…

Introduction: Our paper describes three examples of how public libraries in at-risk-neighbourhoods have worked with social innovations in order to develop and strengthen their services for minority groups. The libraries were chosen because they are frontrunners in the field of cultural diversity and social inclusion in Denmark. Method: The…

Linking between schools in the United Kingdom and schools in sub-Saharan Africa has been a feature of the educational landscape for more than twenty years, but became a government priority between 2000 and 2010. Whilst the interest in Ireland was less, both countries resourced linking programmes primarily as a means of raising awareness of…

This book assembles over 50 papers from the 7th Triennial European Research Conference of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA), which was held from the 4th to the 7th of September 2013 at Humboldt-University in Berlin. The title of the conference was "Changing Configurations of Adult Education in Transitional…

This article advances a conceptualization of the rural-urban interface that is centred on a historically and spatially informed politics of place situated within local-global connections. The research is a case study of an inter-municipal development plan called Alberta's Industrial Heartland. Located near the City of Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada,…

Community visioning is based upon principles that maximize group participation in a creative problem-solving process. The process itself is structured to solicit and use the full range of interests and expertise within a given community to develop an implementation plan that specifically addresses the needs of the community and that fosters change…

In 2009 AONTAS commissioned a piece of research to examine the outcomes and impact of community education in relation to the three aims that the Government has defined for it: enhancing learning; fostering empowerment, and contributing to civic society. In part, the research also responds to a need to measure the wider benefits of learning (such…

This paper examines the quality and development of relations between organisations and the ways in which these are informed by incidental learning experiences in two projects. The paper conceptualizes instances of inter-organisational learning (IOL) applying theories such as principal-agent, prisoners' dilemma and women's place in community…

At a time when many regions are grappling with economic challenges and universities are struggling to demonstrate their public value, the question of how regions and universities might partner effectively begs to be addressed. This qualitative case study examines the engagement of six land-grant institutions in regions not proximate to their…