Learning teams in higher education executing a collaborative assignment are not always effective. To remedy this, there is a need to determine and understand the variables that influence team effectiveness. This study aimed at developing a conceptual framework, based on research in various contexts on team effectiveness and specifically team and task awareness. Core aspects of the framework were tested to establish its value for future experiments on influencing team effectiveness. Results confirmed the importance of shared mental models, and to some extent mutual performance monitoring for learning teams to become effective, but also of interpersonal trust as being conditional for building adequate shared mental models. Apart from the importance of team and task awareness for team effectiveness it showed that learning teams in higher education tend to be pragmatic by focusing primarily on task aspects of performance and not team aspects. Further steps have to be taken to validate this conceptual framework on team effectiveness.
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Een van de zaken die mij opvallen is dat zaken zo snel veranderen dat de context van onze acties verdampt. Voordat we ‘de klus geklaard hebben’ is het waarom van onze actie al weer weg of verandert. De context verandert onder onze handen in this digital age.. Wat doet dat met ons?
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Educators in professional higher education experience difficulties addressing students’ self-awareness in their courses. The topic is often dismissed by students as ‘vague’ or ‘irrelevant’. This is detrimental for learning since knowing who you are and who you want to be is crucial: it guides behaviour and helps to feel balanced and in control. Support is needed to trigger students’ self-awareness and to make this process less demanding. In this paper we present guidelines for interactive triggers supporting students in developing their self-awareness. We asked students to discuss self-made photos in small groups and offered them three paper prototypes of triggers to work with. Questionnaire results and analysis of students’ discussions resulted in insights on how these triggers provoke distinct interaction and support self-awareness. Insights in advantages and disadvantages of the triggers can be used to design and implement innovative interactive systems that engage students in the process of developing self-awareness.
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Introduction: The contemporary scientific literature indicates that numeracy is a multifaceted concept. The ongoing societal and technological transformations underscore the imperative to re-evaluate the attributes characterizing a numerate individual and the strategic initiatives that policymakers should devise and implement to ensure that individuals are not marginalized from participation in public and private domains due to their lack of numeracy proficiency. Numerous empirical investigations on numeracy consistently affirm its pivotal role in enabling individuals to engage autonomously across diverse contexts within their daily lives. However, numeracy’s fundamental role has often been neglected in our societies. The present study scrutinizes the overarching challenges associated with numeracy, particularly emphasizing the challenges regarding healthcare, finance, and the critical utilization and interpretation of data awareness. Methods: A two-phase research framework was adopted to address this inquiry. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to discern the prevalent challenges regarding numeracy awareness. Subsequently, two illustrative case studies were undertaken in Slovenia and Spain to contrast and deliberate upon the insights derived from the literature review. Qualitative research methods were employed to engage in a nuanced exploration of the gathered data. Results: This empirical analysis deduced guidelines aimed at enhancing awareness and ameliorating some of these challenges. Discussion and Conclusion: We conclude that making visible the awareness that adults already have about numeracy in aspects of their lives, such as finance, health, or the use and critical interpretation of data, can give policymakers and curriculum developers clues to design effective numeracy programs to address the multifaceted challenges confronting contemporary society, both in the immediate and foreseeable future.
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This paper describes a project to explore the possibilities of virtual worlds in educating Green IT. In the project a virtual world has been created with various assignments which are meant to create awareness on sustainability aspects of IT. The world (and the assignments) will be incorporated in a course for first-year IT students. In order to measure the effects of the course, a questionnaire has been developed which can be used before and after the course to measure the attitude towards green IT.
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Does pervasive technology have a role to play in supporting the communication of busy couples? Especially when they are already living together and already have a high degree of awareness of each other's rhythms of daily life, their whereabouts and needs? A two week long field study of an awareness system allowed eight working couples to automatically exchange place, activity and calendar information as well as messages and photos. Data analysis provides both qualitative and quantitative evidence which suggest strongly that such a system can provide support for availability, coordination, reassurance and affection for this group. Findings which inform the design of such systems are: the need for transitions in places instead of location information to support coordination, the two tracks of daily communication of busy parents (reassurance and emergency) and usability barriers in current mobile applications which prevent this group from engaging in photo sharing. The contexts and unexpected uses that participants found in the system are described in detail.
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Metropolitan Cebu, the third largest agglomeration in the Philippines with a population of approximately 3 million, faces significant challenges in managing domestic wastewater and solid waste. This mismanagement has led to the pollution of its water bodies, including the Mahiga Creek and the Butuanon River, the latter of which was declared dead in 1992 and can no longer support flora and fauna. Between 2017 and 2025, seven international River Challenge Climate Cafes were conducted by Dutch universities of Applied Sciences and Filipino universities . During these events, teams of young professionals assessed the upstream, midstream, and downstream stretches of Metro Cebu's rivers and evaluated the vulnerability of 12 urban poor communities living along these rivers. The primary aim of these rapid appraisals was to raise awareness among community members, local governments, and students, as well as to build capacity. Throughout the process, there was a shift from merely gathering data on pollution levels to engaging the community, identifying risks, and finding feasible solutions to mitigate these risks. Various methods were employed to measure water quality, river width, river discharge, flood heights, ecology, plastic waste pollution, and residents' perceptions. The results were shared online via Climatescan.org with the global climate adaptation community. The findings demonstrate that river challenges are effective tools for creating context-rich learning environments for students, with more than 250 participants. The River Challenge Climate Cafe enable young professionals, primarily with technical backgrounds, to gain firsthand field experience, exposure to environmental degradation, severe pollution, and vulnerable communities, thereby enhancing their environmental awareness. Additionally, the river scan challenge proves to be a valuable tool for increasing awareness of river pollution and promoting rehabilitation effortsHow to cite: Heikoop, R., Boogaard, F., Abrenica, B., Fornis, R., Borgonia, K., Ledesma, D., Nasara, J., Boer, E., and Oudendammer, T.: Enhancing Environmental Awareness Through River Challenges: A Case Study of Metropolitan Cebu, Philippines , 12th International Conference on Urban Climate, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 7–11 Jul 2025, ICUC12-1052, https://doi.org/10.5194/icuc12-1052, 2025.
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The diverse European landscape of climate consciousness is shaped by political values, financial constraints, and country-specific point of view. The aim of the study was to unravel age-specific ecological awareness, forms of engagement, and perceptions, contributing to a nuanced understanding of climate dynamics.Selected regions: Germany (Rheinisches Revier), the Netherlands (Amsterdam Metropolitan Area), and Poland (Upper Silesia/Metropolis GZM) present different states regarding recycling/Circular Economy principles, and different environments.The research design incorporates an inductive qualitative approach to investigate environmental awareness and attitudes toward ecologically friendly behaviors. Six FGIs (Focus Group Interviews) were conducted across three European regions, involving participants from diverse age groups (20–39 years and 40–60 years) in each region.The study shows that ecological awareness varies between countries and generations, reflecting distinctive environmental strategies shaped by cultural and developmental factors. Participants in each region and age group exhibit diverse levels of engagement in sustainable activities, and highlight issues such as the need for tailored strategies, concerns related to eco-labelling, greenwashing, and inadequate waste treatment, as well as information gaps.These variations in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors across age groups and regions underscore the need for tailored strategies and regional policies. Transparency in waste management, eco-labelling, and sustainable transportation alternatives should be prioritized. Educational initiatives addressing information gaps, especially regarding lifestyle choices, are crucial. Collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches are essential for fostering positive change and a sustainable future across the European Union. Transparent communication, regulatory measures, and accessible eco-friendly options encourage widespread adoption of pro-environmental behaviors.
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In the course of our supervisory work over the years, we have noticed that qualitative research tends to evoke a lot of questions and worries, so-called frequently asked questions (FAQs). This series of four articles intends to provide novice researchers with practical guidance for conducting high-quality qualitative research in primary care. By ‘novice’ we mean Master’s students and junior researchers, as well as experienced quantitative researchers who are engaging in qualitative research for the first time. This series addresses their questions and provides researchers, readers, reviewers and editors with references to criteria and tools for judging the quality of qualitative research papers. This second article addresses FAQs about context, research questions and designs. Qualitative research takes into account the natural contexts in which individuals or groups function to provide an in-depth understanding of real-world problems. The research questions are generally broad and open to unexpected findings. The choice of a qualitative design primarily depends on the nature of the research problem, the research question(s) and the scientific knowledge one seeks. Ethnography, phenomenology and grounded theory are considered to represent the ‘big three’ qualitative approaches. Theory guides the researcher through the research process by providing a ‘lens’ to look at the phenomenon under study. Since qualitative researchers and the participants of their studies interact in a social process, researchers influence the research process. The first article described the key features of qualitative research, the third article will focus on sampling, data collection and analysis, while the last article focuses on trustworthiness and publishing.
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The international classroom is presumably a far more effective learning environment for the acquisition of intercultural competence when students receive adequate training to make the most of their intercultural encounters. This paper provides a summary of the intercultural training taught to first-year students of an international programme in The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of the paper is to investigate how the students respond to this intercultural training as well as what signs of intercultural awareness they show after completing the course. The findings were obtained via qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews, observations and student homework assignments. Overall, students evaluate the training positively. Furthermore, students show some awareness of the necessary ingredients for effective intercultural communication in the international classroom as well as of the challenging nature of this communication due to cultural diversity. Finally, this paper provides recommendations from the facilitators on stimulating intercultural learning in the international classroom.
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