In the midst of continuous health professions curriculum reforms, critical questions arise about the extent to which conceptual ideas are actually put into practice. Curricula are often not implemented as intended. An under-explored aspect that might play a role is governance. In light of major curriculum changes, we explored educators' perspectives of the role of governance in the process of translating curriculum goals and concepts into institutionalized curriculum change at micro-level (teacher-student). In three Dutch medical schools, 19 educators with a dual role (teacher and coordinator) were interviewed between March and May 2018, using the rich pictures method. We employed qualitative content analysis with inductive coding. Data collection occurred concurrently with data analysis. Different governance processes were mentioned, each with its own effects on the curriculum and organizational responses. In Institute 1, participants described an unclear governance structure, resulting in implementation chaos in which an abstract educational concept could not be fully realized. In Institute 2, participants described a top-down and strict governance structure contributing to relatively successful implementation of the educational concept. However it also led to demotivation of educators, who started rebelling to recover their perceived loss of freedom. In Institute 3, participants described a relatively fragmentized process granting a lot of freedom, which contributed to contentment and motivation but did not fully produce the intended changes. Our paper empirically illustrates the importance of governance in curriculum change. To advance curriculum change processes and improve their desired outcomes it seems important to define and explicate both hard and soft governance processes.
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What’s online video today, fifteen years into its exponential growth? In the age of the smart phone, video accompanies, informs, moves, and distracts us. What started off with amateur prosumers on YouTube has spread to virtually all communication apps: say it with moving images. Are you addicted yet? Look into that tiny camera, talk and move the phone, show us around, and prove the others out there that you exist!With this third reader the Video Vortex community — initiated in 2007 by the Instituteof Network Cultures — proves that it is still alive and kicking. No matter its changes, the network is still driven by its original mission to develop a critical vocabulary for this rapidly spreading visual culture: what are the specific characteristics of online video in terms of aesthetics and political economy of image production and distribution, and how do they compare to film and television? Who is the Andre Bazin of the YouTube age? Honestly, why can’t we name a single online video critic? Can we face the fact that hardly anyone is using the internet? What are you going to do with that 4K camera in your smartphone? Have we updated Marshall McLuhan’s hot and cold media for our digital era yet? Who dares? We see the Woman with a Smartphone Camera in action, but who will be our Vertov and lead the avant-garde? Who stops us? Let us radically confront the technological presence as it is and forget the pathetic regression to past formats: radical acceptance of the beautiful mess called the net.
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Social enterprises are the organizations founded, owned, and/or managed by the social entrepreneur(s). Their organizations can take different (sometimes multiple) legal forms, such as foundations, cooperatives, or limited liability companies. Some countries introduced separate organizational forms to do justice to the dual mission of social enterprises, such as low-profit limited liability company (L3Cs), benefit corporation (B-Corps), and community interest company (CICs) (Ebrahim et al. 2014). This is to create an enabling environment for social enterprises in which they can operate.The next section (section “The Drivers of Social Entrepreneurship”) explains the drivers for social entrepreneurship and the reason for the current interest in the phenomenon. This is followed by a conceptualization of the multidimensional concept of social entrepreneurship and its subconcepts in section “Social Entrepreneurship and Its Subconcepts.” Subsequently, section “Contributing to Sustainable Development Goals” explains how social enterprises contribute to the sustainable development goals by solving societal problems and scaling for impact. It further goes into detail about the role of the social entrepreneur in this process. The conclusion is drawn in section “Conclusion,” which is followed by an agenda for future directions, specified for each of the subconcepts of social entrepreneurship in section “Future Directions.”
The project is a field study for several diverse hotel chains, including individual properties operated under the Marriott brand, Postillion Hotels. Each brand has unique values, missions, and visions. Therefore, this integration will lead to the development of company-specific sustainability strategies and processes. The study will use the model of levers of control to provide such tailor-made solutions and determine if a generic approach can be developed to match a corporate sustainability strategy with a corporate strategy and develop a supporting management control system for operationalizing the sustainability strategy. Research question: How can a hotel brand formulate and implement a sustainability strategy with a supporting management control system that not only complies with the new CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) legislation but also emphasizes the creation of substantial value in financial and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) aspects, based on double materiality, in line with the organization's corporate values and beliefs? Objective The aim is to develop a validated method, including tools, that hotels can use to create a sustainability strategy in line with the CSRD guidelines. This strategy should create value for the organization, the environment, and society, while aligning with the hotel's values and beliefs. Merely being compliant with the CSRD is not enough for hotels. Instead, they should view the implementation of the CSRD as an opportunity to stand out in terms of sustainability. By creating value in areas such as environment, safety, and governance, or through the six capitals (financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural) that align with the UN-SDGs, and explicitly taking both an inside-out and an outside in perspective (double materiality), hotels can significantly enhance their sustainability reputation.
The climate change and depletion of the world’s raw materials are commonly acknowledged as the biggest societal challenges. Decreasing the energy use and the related use of fossil fuels and fossil based materials is imperative for the future. Currently 40% of the total European energy consumption and about 45% of the CO2 emissions are related to building construction and utilization (EC, 2015). Almost half of this energy is embodied in materials. Developing sustainable materials to find replacement for traditional building materials is therefore an increasingly important issue. Mycelium biocomposites have a high potential to replace the traditional fossil based building materials. Mycelium is the ‘root network’ of mushrooms, which acts as a natural glue to bind biomass. Mycelium grows through the biomass, which functions simultaneously as a growth substrate and a biocomposite matrix. Different organic residual streams such as straw, sawdust or other agricultural waste can be used as substrate, therefore mycelium biocomposites are totally natural, non-toxic, biological materials which can be grown locally and can be composted after usage (Jones et al., 2018). In the “Building On Mycelium” project Avans University of Applied Sciences, HZ University of Applied Sciences, University of Utrecht and the industrial partners will investigate how the locally available organic waste streams can be used to produce mycelium biocomposites with properties, which make them suitable for the building industry. In this project the focus will be on studying the use of the biocomposite as raw materials for the manufacturing of furniture or interior panels (insulation or acoustic).
The latest IPCC Report (2022) provided by the UN shows us that, to guarantee a safe future for upcoming generations, we must change how we lead our lives on several levels. However, the increasing urgency to act and behave in a way that is not damaging the climate is bringing many psychological concerns to young generations. Worldwide reports are demonstrating how the issue of eco-anxiety is increasing daily, and how young people are feeling more hopeless than ever. Climate change has become a climate crisis, and individuals are experiencing pressure and fear incessantly (Marks et al., 2021). We, as Climate Streamers, have often found ourselves in this situation as well, but rather than freezing, we decided to take this challenge and think of solutions. Therefore, with the support of Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Performatory community, the BUas Startup Support Team, and outside mentors, we created Climate Streamers Foundation: a new youth-led non-profit organisation and a movement working towards a more inclusive and less polarised climate action. By working with leisure elements and a positive and appreciative approach, we want to give back hope, voice and power to the youth and inspire each other genuinely and sustainably. The purpose of this application is to allow us to elaborate a feasibility study concerning our MVP (minimum viable product), the card game, and boost the overall concept. We intend to implement the researched data to improve the design and sales management. The card game aims to stimulate appreciative conversations by giving space to players to express their opinions and personal stories and it is designed so everyone can play it, regardless of background and knowledge. After giving 200 games in production, we launched the card game in July 2022.
