The Whole of Community Engagement (WCE) initiative commenced in July 2014, led by the Office of Pro Vice Chancellor of Indigenous Leadership at Charles Darwin University (CDU). WCE aimed to build the aspiration, expectation and capacity of six remote and very remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory to participate and achieve in…

This paper explores the informal and social learning dimensions of activists as they learn skills and knowledge through participating in social action. In doing this I draw on Lave and Wenger's epistemology of situated learning and Bourdieu's theory of "habitus". I argue activists learn an array of community development skills in the…

Rural communities with populations of under 15,000 are the least resilient to negative economic shocks, but local initiatives can reduce the negative impact of rapid economic change. Data from a study of three rural Australian communities and one "community-of-common-purpose" were used to develop a model of how the informal learning…

A case study in a rural Australian township attempted to determine indicators verifying the existence of social capital. Social capital is provisionally defined as the networks, norms, and trust that constitute the capacity of individuals, workplaces, groups, organizations, and communities to strive for sustainable futures in a changing…

Rural areas around the world face problems stemming from the globalization of agricultural and other markets, the resulting competitiveness for existing and shifting markets, loss of population, and consequent decline of economic and social infrastructure. Rural communities need to develop the ability to manage change, and this requires engaging…

Research aimed to enhance rural women's access to communication and information technologies and to assess the impact of their technology use on their participation in small business development and community development. Over 200 women throughout Queensland (Australia) were involved. A trial electronic mailing list linking rural women to urban…

Social capital helps communities respond positively to change. Research into managing change through learning in communities and in small businesses, particularly farm businesses, has highlighted the importance of relationships between people and the formal and informal structure of communities to the quality of outcomes experienced by…

This book illustrates the benefits of integrating different approaches to community and regional development for rural Australia. The key theme is community capacity building through lifelong learning, seen as integration of formal, nonformal, and informal education and training at all levels. Other foci include the local-global context, issues…

In a competitive market training economy, vocational education and training (VET) and small business in Australia face a number of challenges. They need to qualify the extent of lifelong learning skills being used in the small firm workplace, define the range of learning partnerships both within VET and the wider informal learning community in…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…