Community-based research (CBR) is an increasingly familiar approach to addressing social challenges. Nonetheless, the role it plays in attaining community impact is unclear and largely unstudied. Here the authors discuss an emerging framework aimed toward fostering community impact through university and community civic engagement. They describe…

E-learning development for enterprises is still in its infancy in that scholars are still working on identifying the critical success factors for e-learning in organizational contexts. This study presents a framework considering how organizational factors affect the quality and service of e-learning systems and how these factors influence…

This paper presents low-cost experiments for a control systems laboratory module that is worth one and a third credits. The experiments are organized around the microcontroller-based control of a permanent magnet dc motor. The experimental setups were built in-house. Except for the operating system, the software used is primarily freeware or free…

The "System Strategic Plan for the California Community Colleges" provides a comprehensive road map for restoring student access and improving student success. The Plan addresses the major demographic, economic and educational challenges that California will face over the coming decades. It presents clear system goals, specific…

Data-driven decision making has become increasingly important in education. Policymakers require educators to use data to inform practice. Although the policy emphasis is growing, what has not increased is attention to building human capacity around data use. Educators need to gain data literacy skills to inform practice. Although some…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the implementation of the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes (WNHSS) at national, local and school levels, using a systems approach drawing on the Ottawa Charter. Design/methodology/approach: The approach takes the form of a single-case study using data from a documentary analysis, interviews…

The May/June 2009 issue of "Facilities Manager" introduced APPA readers to the Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG)--today's most comprehensive Internet-based depository of resources contributing to a systems approach for everything of a building nature. The emphasis in that article was on Operations and Maintenance (O&M) issues and procedures. In…

This article describes the use of problem-based learning to teach students about the scope and consequences of urban poverty through an innovative cross-curricular project. We illustrate the process, goals, and tasks of the Community Assessment Project, which incorporates community-level assessment, collection and analysis of public data, and…

This study's goal was to analyze various teaching approaches within the context of natural science lessons, especially in biology. The main focus of the paper lies on the effectiveness of different teaching methods in promoting systems thinking in the field of Education for Sustainable Development. The following methods were incorporated into the…

Steve Nelson, chief IT strategist for the Oregon Department of Education needed a new e-mail service that would provide security and privacy to users and found what he was looking for with Google Apps Education Edition. The Kentucky Department of Education wanted an improved capability to provide e-mail services to the more than 700,000 students,…

This study examines the perceptions of public school principals in New Orleans, Louisiana during the period of extensive decentralization in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Using the frameworks of systems theory and chaos/complexity theories, iterative interviews with 10 school principals form the core data which examines leaders' experiences…

This article provides a behavioral systems approach to improve operational performance in health and human service organizations. This article provides six performance truths that are relevant to any organization and a case study from a community mental health network of agencies. A comprehensive analysis, as described here, will help health and…

Aim: To investigate whether speech therapy using a speech systems approach to controlling breath support, phonation, and speech rate can increase the speech intelligibility of children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy (CP). Method: Sixteen children with dysarthria and CP participated in a modified time series design. Group characteristics were…

While the past two decades have seen significant expansion and harmonisation of quality assurance mechanisms in higher education, there is limited evidence of positive effects on the quality of core processes of teaching and learning. The paradox of the separation of assurance from improvement is explored. A shift in focus from surveillance to…

Decision-systems theory (DST) was developed from in-depth interviews with farming families and provides an interpretation of the processes farming families use in making strategic decisions in regard to the family members, the farm and the businesses the farming family run. Understanding the nature and justifications used for different decisions…