Background: Recent transitions in long-term care in the Netherlands have major consequences for community- dwelling older adults. A new paradigm expects them to manage and arrange their own care and support as much as possible. Technology can support this shift. A study has been conducted to explore the needs of community- dwelling frail older adults with regard to an online platform. An existing platform was subsequently modified, based upon these needs, resulting in an online community care platform (OCC-platform) comprising of care, health, and communication functions. The purpose of this platform was to support frail older adults in their independence and functioning, by stimulating self-care and providing reliable information, products and services. Methods: The study used a User-Centred Design. The development processes involved the following steps: Step 1) Identification of the User Requirements. To assess the user requirements, direct observations (N = 3) and interviews (N = 14) were performed. Step 2) Modification of an Existing Online Platform. Based upon Step 1, available online platforms were explored to determine whether an existing useful product was available. Two companies collaborated in modifying such a platform; Step 3) Testing the Modified Platform. A total of 73 older adults were invited to test a prototype of the OCC-platform during 6 months, which comprised of two phases: (1) a training phase; and (2) a testing phase. Results: An iterative process of modifications resulted in an interactive software concept on a Standard PC, containing 11 Functions. The Functions of ‘contacts’, ‘services’ and ‘messaging’, were by far, the most frequently used. The use was at its highest during the first 2 weeks of the testing and then its use steadily declined. The vast majority of the subjects (94%) were positive about the usability of the platform. Only a minority of the subjects (27%) indicated that the platform had added value for them. Conclusion: The overall prospect was that an OCC-platform can contribute to the social participation and the self-management competencies of frail older adults, together with their social cohesion in the community. In order to validate these prospects, further research is needed on the characteristics and the impact of online platforms.
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Background: Due to demographic transitions and budget restraints, it is now necessary to search for comprehensive new strategies, in order to constitute a sustainable healthcare system. Recently, various online care platforms for community-dwelling older adults were introduced in several European countries. These platforms have aimed at solidifying social cohesion in the community, so as to support the older adults in coordinating or managing their care and to enhance the self-reliance of these older adults. Consequently, these platforms might contribute to a more sustainable healthcare system. The main research question of this study was twofold: Which online care platforms for older adults are available in the Netherlands and what are their characteristics? Methods: The researchers have performed a scoping review of the online care platforms in the Netherlands, according to the six steps of Arksey & O’Malley (2005), which were as follows: (1) Identifying the research question; (2) Identifying any relevant studies; (3) Selecting the studies; (4) Charting the data; (5) Collating, summarising and reporting on the results; together with (6) consultations with the relevant stakeholders. The study searched for evidence in online scientific databases (Phase 1) and on the Internet (Phase 2). The relevant studies that were published between February 2012 and October 2017 were included. Results: The review resulted in an overview of 21 care platforms, for which 3 types were identified: (1) Community Care Platforms; (2) Care Network Platforms; and (3) System Integrator Platforms. Conclusion: This typology of platforms can guide users – for instance, older adults, care professionals, informal caregivers and municipalities, in choosing a suitable care platform, i.e. the typology gives users insight into the functionalities, goals and target groups which allows them to choose a platform that matches their needs. As far as the authors know, no studies have previously reported on the effects of the online care platforms for older adults in the Netherlands, so further research is required on their impacts and on their benefits.
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Over the past few decades, education systems, especially in higher education, have been redefined. Such reforms inevitably require reconsideration of operational notions and definitions of quality, along with a number of related concepts. This reconsideration aligns with the core of higher education reforms: improving efficacy and compatibility with emerging social demands while adapting to competitiveness and accountability trends. As primary players in the teaching and learning process, online tutors have a protagonistic role and, therefore, must be equipped with a suitable set of competencies and attributes in addition to content knowledge. This quantitative research aims to analyze the perceptions of 250 online tutors working in European higher education institutions, distributed in 5 knowledge areas: Business, Education, Humanities, Sciences and Health. This descriptive and exploratory nonexperimental study reveals the technological and pedagogical skills and competencies that online tutors consider fundamental for effective online teaching and proposes professional development actions to ensure quality online teaching.
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Adaptive governance describes the purposeful collective actions to resist, adapt, or transform when faced with shocks. As governments are reluctant to intervene in informal settlements, community based organisations (CBOs) self-organize and take he lead. This study explores under what conditions CBOs in Mathare informal settlement, Nairobi initiate and sustain resilience activities during Covid-19. Study findings show that CBOs engage in multiple resilience activities, varying from maladaptive and unsustainable to adaptive, and transformative. Two conditions enable CBOs to initiate resilience activities: bonding within the community and coordination with other actors. To sustain these activities over 2.5 years of Covid-19, CBOs also require leadership, resources, organisational capacity, and network capacity. The same conditions appear to enable CBOs to engage in transformative activities. How-ever, CBOs cannot transform urban systems on their own. An additional condition, not met in Mathare, is that governments, NGOs, and donor agencies facilitate, support, and build community capacities. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Adaptive governance by community-based organisations: Community resilience initiatives during Covid‐19 in Mathare, Nairobi. which has been published in final form at doi/10.1002/sd.2682. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions
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De afgelopen negen maanden zijn met elkaar gegroeid naar blended, hybride en online onderwijs met ook zo’n 30% op campus. Digitaal kan er veel meer dan we dachten, maar we missen de ‘chemie en het kletsen’ in de klas, blijkt uit ons onderzoek. Men zegt: ‘Voor echt goed onderwijs moet je elkaar zien, elkaar ontmoeten'. In deze interactieve workshop vinden we woorden voor wat we dan missen op het gebied van ‘community in de klas’ en verkennen hoe we dat toch kunnen verkrijgen. Na afloop van de workshop hebben deelnemers een idee of en hoe je community kan creëren in de (post) corona klas.
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The Spring of 2020 brought many disruptions to our professional and personal lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced worldwide mid-semester campus closures; pivoting of traditional, face-to-face classes to remote teaching and learning; and postponements or cancellations of conferences, workshops, and other professional development events. One example of the breakdown of scheduled opportunities for us as honors colleagues to gather in-person to enhance our practices and strengthen our community was the cancellation of the 2020 International Conference on Talent Development and Honors Education in Groningen, the Netherlands, originally slated for June 10-12 but moved to June 16-18, 2021. Immediately following the 2020 conference, we (the authors) had planned to offer the fifth Honors International Faculty Institute (HIFI), an international and highly interactive occasion for honors and talent development teachers, researchers, and leaders to engage in presentations, experiential activities, place-as-text explorations, collaborative group work, reflective exercises, and showcases designed to improve teaching, learning, and programming in honors. Suddenly, the coronavirus upended our world, and we had to reimagine the institute that we had previously organized four times alternately at Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) and Texas Christian University (USA). Putting aside the disappointment of the moment and recognizing the value of coming up with an alternative to HIFI that would ensure the safety and health of our honors colleagues, we decided to create a fully online version with free registration to encourage participation and create resources accessible to all members of our international community. We wanted to highlight the challenges of how all of us unexpectedly had to pivot to remote teaching and learning as the global pandemic intensified, but we also wanted to share information, experiences, and models that could open new avenues for operationalizing online honors education more generally beyond the COVID-19 crisis. We wanted, in other words, to explore how honors pedagogy could (and maybe should) be adapted to the increasingly online world of primary, secondary, and higher education. Thus, HIFLO 2020 was born! HIFLO stands for Honours International Faculty Learning Online.
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Bij de Hogeschool van Amsterdam is een nieuwe aanpak ontwikkeld voor studenten pedagogiek in de afstudeerfase. De basis wordt gevormd door wekelijkse online meetings met relatief kleine groepen in een online leer-ontmoetingsruimte (afstudeercafé). De chat is 24/7 beschikbaar waardoor laagdrempelig contact met medestudenten en docenten mogelijk is. Studenten krijgen verschillende keuzemogelijkheden, waardoor zoveel mogelijk maatwerk wordt geleverd om een zo optimaal mogelijke mix te kunnen realiseren per student van online en aanvullend fysieke bijeenkomsten. De vragen die centraal staan zijn: is het online mogelijk om betrokkenheid te creëren? Wat hebben docenten nodig om in een online leer-ontmoetingsruimte hun studenten te begeleiden? Uit de resultaten blijkt dat betrokkenheid online goed gerealiseerd kan worden. Studenten helpen en ondersteunen elkaar en delen kennis en ervaringen via een laagdrempelige chat. De tijd- en plaatsonafhankelijke begeleiding wordt als flexibel, inclusief en efficiënt ervaren. Docenten hebben een open, verbindende en actieve houding nodig in een rol als online coach. Door een deel van de docenten wordt deze rol als lastig ervaren. Studenten geven aan dat het combineren van de studie met persoonlijke omstandigheden, zoals een baan, gezin, ziekte, psychische problematiek, functiebeperking of mantelzorg, door de flexibele vorm beter mogelijk is. De werkwijze kan een aanvulling vormen op bestaande manieren om studenten toegankelijk en inclusief onderwijs te bieden.
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Social media and sharing economy platforms do not only disrupt industries. They also bypass democratic institutions. That’s not without risk, because the dominant Silicon Valley based online platforms are designed to create shareholder value, not to strengthen society or democracy. Which is unfortunate, because online platforms – if designed to that purpose – can be uniquely power full tools for organising our networked society.In Amsterdam over 90 neighbourhood networks use online platforms for self organisation. This development accelerated from 2010 on. The networks aim at strengthening social ties and local initiatives and are increasingly involved in some way of democratic innovation. This study is a deep dive into this urban bottom-up-movement. It puts the phenomena of online neighbourhood platforms in a broader societal and economical context. It points at the importance of user owned platforms and data. And it draws conclusions on how society and specifically municipal management can bring this movement to a next level. Ultimately with the potential of growing into an alternative for the Silicon Valley owned online platform ecosystem.
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This paper theorizes the spiritual processes of community entrepreneuring as navigating tensions that arise when community-based enterprises (CBEs) emerge within communities and generate socio-economic inequality. Grounded on an ethnographic study of a dairy CBE in rural Malawi, findings reveal that intra-community tensions revolve around the occurrence of ‘bad events’ – mysterious tragedies that, among their multiple meanings, are also framed as witchcraft. Community members prepare for, frame, cope and build collective sustenance from ‘bad events’ by intertwining witchcraft and mundane socio-material practices. Together, these practices reflect the mystery and the ambiguity that surround ‘bad events’ and prevent intra-community tensions from overtly erupting. Through witchcraft, intra-community tensions are channelled, amplified and tamed cyclically as this process first destabilizes community social order and then restabilizes it after partial compensation for socio-economic inequality. Generalizing beyond witchcraft, this spiritual view of community entrepreneuring enriches our understanding of entrepreneuring – meant as organization-creation process in an already organized world – in the context of communities. Furthermore, it sheds light on the dynamics of socio-economic inequality surrounding CBEs, and on how spirituality helps community members to cope with inequality and its effects.
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The coronavirus created a new reality: a digital revolution has transformed education at universities around the world within a couple of weeks. In most European countries, the governments obliged universities to cancel face-to-face education because of the high health risks involved. This shift was needed because of the risk of infection with COVID-19. Arguments that were given to cancel face-to-face education were the age of the students, the international body of students and a large amount of traffic involved. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most honors educators would agree that honors education thrives on face-to-face encounters. Creating a committed community is one of the main pillars of honors teaching (Wolfensberger, 2012). In this article, we describe how the honors program of the Human Geography and Spatial Planning department of Utrecht University, a research university in the Netherlands, has adapted to the current pandemic to meet the needs of the honors students. The aim of this article is to explain how the digitalization of education, due to the coronavirus, has led to an adapted honors course with a focus on wellbeing and creating community.
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