ABSTRACT This phenomenological study examines knowledge acquisition and the environmental practices of Shitlhelani community members in relation to the uses and benefits of electricity. Prior to the installation of electricity, the main source of fuel was wood which villagers gathered from the natural vegetation surrounding their village. ESKOM installed electricity to the village in 1985 and 1994, however deforestation of the surrounding area continued. This research study draws primarily on a qualitative research paradigm, using participant observation; semi-structured interviews and document analysis, to investigate the relationship between knowledge and the development of healthy environmental practices. The qualitative research paradigm allows insight into the social context and experiences of the Shitlhelani villagers in order to understand the complexities and diversity of their daily lives. The study’s main findings highlight the need to recognise and value the existence of social networks, and the importance of fostering collaborative learning within communities to achieve collective action. Developing social capital as a framework that supports the process of learning through interaction is necessary if the Shitlhelani villagers wish to develop their community educationally, socially, economically and environmentally.

This thesis investigates how rural and remote communities in northeast Thailand harness information and communication technologies (ICTs) for community development and develops a new model of ICT-based lifelong learning centre for local communities. The main research questions are: 1. How to adapt ICTs to fit rural communities? 2. How to integrate ICTs into their lifestyle? 3. How to use ICTs to forge stronger ties within and between local communities? 4. How to develop ICTs in community-based lifelong learning centre? The objective of this research is to develop a model of ICT in community-based lifelong learning centers (CLC) that is suitable for northeast Thailand, and to propose policies for implementing ICTs in CLCs. This study used qualitative methodologies to explore the problem. Data collection took place in Thailand between April, 2005 to March, 2006. The fieldwork covered two communities in Krainun Village, Katharawichai District and Khok Yai Community Forest, Wapi Pathum District, Mahasarakham Province. The data collection procedures included using surveys and questionnaires to develop the research agenda with the target groups while focus group techniques were used as the main data-gathering instrument to further investigate their needs and develop the CLC model. Interviews, observations, workshops and study trips were needed for additional data. A triangulation approach was used to analyse the data from surveys, interviews, observations and discussions. The basic data from the surveys were categorised into four aspects: geographical data, public utilities, social data, and economic data. Using the issues-based analysis methodology, the qualitative data from the focus groups were analysed and interpreted and triangulation was applied to difference data sources. The recorded materials were transcribed and issues related to the research questions were identified. The next step focused on developing the CLC model which applied Knowles’ program development model for adult education and training. This focus on process is a distinguishing feature of this research and comprises the ‘new’ characteristic in the model presented. The study showed that the rural communities grasped the benefits of ICTs and through concrete situations, realised that ICTs could meet their needs. ICT learning activities using a hands-on practical approach motivated them to adapt and integrate ICT in their daily life. They applied their experiences to acquire new knowledge and technology. Their CLCs were developed based on a similar model of their understanding of, and motivation to use, ICT. The model of CLC in both communities is based on their needs, including the concept of establishing a CLC, CLC objectives, CLC management, implementation and evaluation.

Formation of voluntary collective action provides a synergy whereby communities can accomplish environmental management improvement. To study this formative process, I asked four research questions:. How does group learning happen and how is it distributed among individuals in a collective?. How does voluntary collective action form, particularly around environmental issues?. What is the relationship between these first two questions?. What themes emerge that might inform communities or environmental managers who wish to promote voluntary collective action in communities?To answer these questions, I conducted a five-year case study of one community during which I observed the teaching and learning process and the formation of voluntary collective action arrangements. Data include over 5000 emails, minutes from 135 community meetings, observations of meetings and community gatherings, documents (bylaws, policies, guidelines, covenants), and 46 personal interviews with community members. I describe the community learning process through four characteristics: a setting in everyday life; a shared and constructed perspective among learners; a context where process is more important than product; and roles that are non-hierarchal and flexible. I propose the term co-facilitated community learning for this learning process, and provide evidence that it played a critical role in the development of voluntary collective agreements. I describe the typical chronology whereby voluntary collective action arrangements were formed in the case study community, and list the major environmental collective action arrangements developed. Many arrangements negotiated and approved by the case study community address significant environmental problems that have proven intransigent to other forms of management such as regulation and financial markets.I name collective action competence as the link between collective awareness and collective behavior change, and define it as the readiness of a group of people to behave towards a common goal based on a collective awareness, and a collective set of skills and experiences.Four themes emerge that might inform those who wish to promote voluntary collective action in communities to improve environmental management: (1) use of consensus-type governance, (2) reducing costs of cooperation, (3) use of normative pressures, and (4) good information communication and reinforcement. / Dissertation

Since 1984, when the fourth Labour Government was elected to office, there have been major changes in the structures of society in Aoteroa/New Zealand. A wide range of reviews and reforms of economic and social policy have been undertaken, and not surprisingly the structures and policies of adult education have come under scrutiny and been subject to major changes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the politics of policy formation over a six-year period. Using official and unofficial reports and other documents, the paper seeks to identify some of the key changes in adult education policy that have taken place in recent years and to locate them within the context of the contradictory pressures operating upon and within government and the field of adult education.

This thesis investigates how rural and remote communities in northeast Thailand harness information and communication technologies (ICTs) for community development and develops a new model of ICT-based lifelong learning centre for local communities. The main research questions are: 1. How to adapt ICTs to fit rural communities? 2. How to integrate ICTs into their lifestyle? 3. How to use ICTs to forge stronger ties within and between local communities? 4. How to develop ICTs in community-based lifelong learning centre? The objective of this research is to develop a model of ICT in community-based lifelong learning centers (CLC) that is suitable for northeast Thailand, and to propose policies for implementing ICTs in CLCs. This study used qualitative methodologies to explore the problem. Data collection took place in Thailand between April, 2005 to March, 2006. The fieldwork covered two communities in Krainun Village, Katharawichai District and Khok Yai Community Forest, Wapi Pathum District, Mahasarakham Province. The data collection procedures included using surveys and questionnaires to develop the research agenda with the target groups while focus group techniques were used as the main data-gathering instrument to further investigate their needs and develop the CLC model. Interviews, observations, workshops and study trips were needed for additional data. A triangulation approach was used to analyse the data from surveys, interviews, observations and discussions. The basic data from the surveys were categorised into four aspects: geographical data, public utilities, social data, and economic data. Using the issues-based analysis methodology, the qualitative data from the focus groups were analysed and interpreted and triangulation was applied to difference data sources. The recorded materials were transcribed and issues related to the research questions were identified. The next step focused on developing the CLC model which applied Knowles’ program development model for adult education and training. This focus on process is a distinguishing feature of this research and comprises the ‘new’ characteristic in the model presented. The study showed that the rural communities grasped the benefits of ICTs and through concrete situations, realised that ICTs could meet their needs. ICT learning activities using a hands-on practical approach motivated them to adapt and integrate ICT in their daily life. They applied their experiences to acquire new knowledge and technology. Their CLCs were developed based on a similar model of their understanding of, and motivation to use, ICT. The model of CLC in both communities is based on their needs, including the concept of establishing a CLC, CLC objectives, CLC management, implementation and evaluation.

No

Community renewal is a dominant theme in American society today. It has been said that public administration could and should be a leader in the community renewal movement, yet for the most part the field of public administration fails to "get" community. This study advances and explores a concept of community learning as part of a broader effort to better understand what a community perspective means for public administration theory and practice. The contributions of this study are two-fold. First, a concept of community learning is drawn from a variety of literature streams that share an ethos of collaborative pragmatism. Community learning occurs when the knowledge created in the integrative "community process" is fed-forward and embedded at the level of community structure. Furthermore, a "learning community" is found where the community learning process is institutionalized at the level of community structure. While community learning is a term being used to some degree in the field of community development, a concept of how communities might learn has yet to be offered. Thus, the conceptualization offered here seeks to fill this gap in the literature. This study also explores the community learning concept empirically in the context of an action research project in Wytheville, Virginia. Here participants worked with a Virginia Tech research team to better understand their community and develop a unified "vision" for the community's future. The study revealed that the collective or collaborative learning of the "community process" can occur over time and also in the form of punctuated group "a-ha" moments. In either case, the learning process is one where new knowledge is created in the form of new or altered shared meaning or new ideas. This learning was fed-forward to the community level to become community learning in three ways: 1) as the learning took place in the community field, meaning the participants of the learning process represented the different institutions that make up community structure; 2) through the integrative medium of local media outlets; and 3) through formal and informal processes of knowledge transfer from the group to community level, where the community level was represented by a citizens committee. As communities institutionalize learning processes they can be said to be "learning communities." Evidence from the Wytheville study provides insights into how this might happen. The implications for the practice of a "new public service" are explored as well as future areas of research relevant to the community learning approach. The study concludes by suggesting what a community perspective for public administration might mean as community learning is a concept based in this perspective. / Ph. D.

In Scotland, current policy aims to produce work ready young people with relevant enterprise and employment skills. However, many are caught in a repetitive cycle of short term work placements with large numbers of young people still not at work or in education. Accordingly, this study was concerned with social capital in respect of young people’s outcomes from engaging with a youth work project, that was designed to encourage enterprise and employability skills. Using qualitative data drawn from a single site case study, this research develops an understanding of the extent to which different forms of social capital influenced young people’s outcomes. The thesis sets out a theoretical position that draws from Archer’s understanding of critical realism and social capital theory based on the works of Putnam, Coleman and Bourdieu. This approach suggests that the complex interactions between social structures, identities, material resources and cultural forms, enable or inhibit the emergence of social capital practices. An action research approach was applied and empirical work was based on observations and reflections of young people participating in an enterprise challenge. Data were collected via questionnaires, professional discussions and the observations and analysis of relevant documents. Overall findings illustrate the emergence of bonding, bridging and linking social capital in addition to identity, economic and cultural capital developments. However, changes within social structure were the hardest to detect. Whilst there are indicators of young people’s improved outcomes, findings suggest that conditioned socio-cultural stereotypes in respect of gender and class may be limiting opportunities. Shared reflexive practices and linking social capital may however provide opportunities to disrupt, and create new pathways, but should be treated with caution. Youth workers can develop and extend the reach of young people’s social capital practices and the thesis concludes by presenting a set of general recommendations that might serve to facilitate change.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2007. / Advisors: Judith L. Irvin, Sande Milton, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

Adult education and training centres, known as Public Adult Learning Centres were managed by the Department of Basic Education until 31st March 2015. On the 1st April 2015, Public Adult Learning Centres were transferred to the Department of Higher Education and Training and changed to Community Learning Centres (CLCs). The educators were not trained, coached or prepared for the transition. This inquiry explores transition through management change: the experiences of Community Learning Centre educators from basic education to Higher Education. This study was conducted by employing the qualitative approach using an interpretive paradigm and multiple case study design. Kurt Lewin’s (1951) three stage theory was used as theoretical framework to assist me in bringing theory and practice together to understand the educators’ experiences from their individual meaning and understanding of the transition. The data collection strategies, namely, in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews with educators and centre managers were employed. Document analysis was also used to probe the opinions and views of the educators and centre managers. The sample comprised multiple case studies of four CLCs in the Tshwane South District. The main purpose of the study was to find out how educators and centre managers of CLCs understand, respond and manage the transitioning through management change from the Department of Basic Education to the Department of Higher Education and Training and to highlight the views and opinions of educators and centre managers regarding the transition. The study attempted to further assist educators, centre managers, Community Education and Training College principal and the Department of Higher Education and Training to effectively implement and manage the implemented change or transition under study as well as any transition that may be effected in future. The study found that educators and centre managers are battling to deal with the transitioning through management change in Community Learning Centres. Educators and centre managers are confused, depressed and fear the loss of their jobs due to the introduction of hard skills learning areas as they are not trained to offer those skills. In the light of the findings, the study recommends that Community Education and Training Colleges and the Department of Higher Education and Training should address and support CLCs with physical and financial resources for them to be effective and functional. Educators and centre managers’ challenges and concerns should be addressed accordingly to eliminate fears and reduce animosity amongst staff members. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Early Childhood Education / MEd / Unrestricted