Customer centred community application design: Introduction of the means‐end chain framework for product design of community applications

Abstract

This paper discusses the application of the means‐end chain (MEC) framework for investigating customers cognitive”; structure regarding community applications. It is argued that the understanding of customers cognition is crucial for the development of sustainable communities. MEC analysis is seen as a mean to support the community design tasks, especially concept development. The MEC analysis within concept development helps to improve the success rate of a newly designed community by the early integration of customer needs and benefits. Based on theoretical considerations about the MEC framework and its limitations a case study regarding an information community is illustrated. Data was collected conducting individual laddering interviews online at a major information portal in Germany. Dividing answers into attributes, consequences, and values and using content analysis hierarchical value maps (HVM) for both, messaging applications and information ‐portals, were constructed. To support concept development of a new information community, as a distribution platform for content, the findings of both HVMs were considered. Examples illustrate, that the MEC analysis helps to create a community concept that is focused on the targeted customers. It is supporting the creative process of finding community functions and features that are fitting or can be linked to the existing cognitive structures.     

Feedback consistencies and inconsistencies: eight mentors’ observations on one preservice teacher’s lesson

Mentors play a key role in developing preservice teachers for their chosen careers, and providing feedback appears as a significant relational interaction between the mentor and mentee that assists in guiding the mentee’s practices. But what are mentors’ perspectives on providing feedback to their mentees? In this case study, eight mentors viewed a professional video-recorded science lesson facilitated by a final-year preservice teacher during practicum for the purposes of providing oral feedback in a simulated mentor–mentee discussion. Findings showed that mentors’ feedback was variable in both their positive feedback and constructive criticisms and, in one case, the feedback was contrasting in nature. Implications are discussed, including preservice teachers receiving feedback from more than one mentor and universities researching the design of valid and reliable tools to guide mentors’ oral feedback     

‘Parents don’t want their children to speak their home language’: how do educators negotiate partnerships with Chinese parents regarding their children’s use of home language and English in early childhood settings?

This study investigated five Australian early childhood educators’ negotiation of the complex terrain of working in partnership with Chinese parents regarding their children’s language usage in early childhood settings. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore educators’ views on children’s language usage in early childhood settings, their perception of Chinese parents’ language expectations and their strategies in resolving the tension between parental expectation and educator views on children’s language usage under the current regulatory frameworks. Educators reported that many Chinese parents expected their children to use only English in early childhood settings. Such a practice would not align with educators’ views of permitting children to use languages freely. The educators developed different strategies to address the tension between their desire to achieve positive outcomes for children and their need to work in partnership with families. Implications for the further preparation of educators are discussed.     

The Impact of School Development Plans in Primary Schools∗

In the U.K., in common with a growing number of countries, school development planning has been embraced with enthusiasm by practitioners and policy makers. Both groups have responded to the potential benefits of an improvement process which can integrate educational, financial and human resource needs and set and monitor the achievement of measurable goals. This paper describes the outcomes of a thirty‐two month research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council which studied the impact of development planning in nine primary schools. It draws out the implications for practitioners and policy makers and explores some methodological issues arising from the study. The paper concludes by identifying further research priorities.

     

Educational experiences with environmental farm plans in a case‐study setting

Abstract

One of the higher agricultural education tools being used in Canada is environmental farm plans (EFPs) in a case‐study setting. Initiated in Ontario in the early 1990's, EFPs were developed by farmers in response to growing threats of public intervention to enforce compliance with environmental standards. All farming activities are assessed for their risk of environmental damage within the scope of an integrated stewardship plan for air, soil, water, wildlife habitat and wildlife resources. The Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) at the University of Guelph uses EFPs as a case‐study method of teaching theoretical, practical and experimental aspects of conservation and stewardship. Small groups of students work under the supervision of OAC multi‐disciplinary team staff in close co‐operation with farmers to develop an EFP for a specific farm. The emphasis is on applying the principles of systemic learning pioneered at the University of Western Sydney at Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia. Systemic learning seeks to combine learning for knowing (theoretical knowledge), learning for doing (practical knowledge) and learning from devising new ways of solving problems and addressing issues (experiential knowledge, or learning for being). Oral presentations and written reports by the student groups are used for assessment, as well as for case‐study discussions to enrich the learning process.