As PhD students and sessional lecturers, we undertook a collaborative narrative study to explore our pedagogical and curricular approaches to decolonizing a community development course offered in our College of Education. We gathered our conversations, reflective journals, and notes, then wove together the narratives thematically using a…

Every country of the world including Nigeria needs to imbibe the idea of innovative technology in a bid to sustain cities and communities with a view to raising the standards of living of the citizens and attending to the many challenges facing cities and communities. These challenges make it extremely difficult or impossible to fix socio-economic…

The Laedza Batanani Project has been regarded as the pioneering experiment that paved the way for other prominent African Theatre for Development (TFD) projects such as Kamiriithu in Kenya, Murewa in Zimbabwe, Kumba in Cameroon and Marotholi Travelling Theatre in Lesotho. Laedza Batanani (1974-6) aimed at awakening the creative potential of…

Learning to read and write is a fundamental right. Yet official figures by the National Bureau of Statistics indicate that 38% of African adults are illiterate. This study ascertained the level of literacy of Igbo-Ora community and the effects on community development. Mixed methods of survey were applied. A questionnaire of 32 items was used to…

Stories contain the wisdom of the world, teaching cultural values. Story builds community, celebrates cultural diversity, and preserves cultural identity. Where truth has been suppressed, story is an instrument of epiphany. Storytelling builds literacy skills, and develops metaphorical understanding. A storytelling center in Canada had been a…

Introduction: Our paper describes three examples of how public libraries in at-risk-neighbourhoods have worked with social innovations in order to develop and strengthen their services for minority groups. The libraries were chosen because they are frontrunners in the field of cultural diversity and social inclusion in Denmark. Method: The…

This beginning paper attempts to explicate the myth of autonomy and individuality and the impact of this myth upon people in Western society. Focusing upon the work of the Dutch philosopher Gerrit Manenschijn, the authors briefly explore: (1) the history of autonomy as a myth as well as (2) how the West's monomythical culture shapes human…

Asserting that exploration of the role of higher education in community building is not unique to the United States, describes examples of collaborative efforts involving universities and communities working together in the United States, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, and Mexico. (EV)

The studies described in this paper were undertaken to evaluate the usefulness of information-exchange techniques for promoting the quality of life within given regions of a society. The first analysis describes the investigation of projects to enhance the functions of small businesses, joint regional planning, health care, education,…

This paper discusses building smart communities (i.e., communities that provide an advanced communication and information infrastructure and that enable residents and organizations to make good and independent use of these technologies) that benefit blind and visually impaired persons. The first section summarizes ways that the potential of smart…

In the early 1990s, a restructuring of the health services system of Alberta (Canada) amalgamated public health units and hospital districts into 17 Regional Health Authorities. Many of the regions have pursued community grant initiatives in addition to their regular funding, and it seemed that there would be value in comparing the experiences of…

In this research report we share results of a study of an adaptation of Lesson Study, a form of professional development typically used in Japanese elementary schools, with secondary mathematics teachers in the United States. We draw on Wenger's (1998) concept of "communities of practice" and Grossman, Wineberg, and Woolworth's (2001)…

There was a notable transition in the nature, content, and administration of rural policies in many developed nations in the 1980s and 1990s. These changes concerned issues of governance and institutional framework, the definition of "development," and policy goals and content. A key question, however, concerns the extent to which shifts…

The fluctuating effects of media can be observed by a data collection technique which reveals patterns of audience response similar to those which C.G. Jung observed in his analyses on word association and dreaming. The technique is known as Continuous Response Movement (CRM). A typical CRM training session automates the audience feedback process…

The pedagogical triangle of teacher, learner, and subject matter has in its center a fourth element: the communication system. Each feature of the pedagogical triangle, and the communication system as well, relies on a very important cultural component. Problems occur when communication processes in a classroom are fragmented and related to…