Sustainable Transportation: An Overview and Fusion for the Last Decade

This paper reviews transportation sustainability from theoretical and experiential approaches collected from previous journal papers and books published on the latest ten years. Application of sustainable policies was faced many problems and limitations. This study assigns the available literature researches related to theoretical and applied sustainability in transportation and road construction fields in addition to self-organized steps. Also, the transport sustainability issues, aspects, visions, challenges, and benefits have been presented. Finally, it discusses the future theoretical and experiential research approaches that can connect the current long-winded literature on transportation sustainability which may generate a number of probable future research directions.

MUREs - a new member of the URE-CURE family of research opportunities for undergrads

Undergraduate research experiences are important for the development of scientific identity, appreciation of authentic research, and to improve persistence towards science careers. We identified a gap in experiential research opportunities for undergraduate Biology students who were seeking a formal yet small-scale research experience that was unique to their own interests and career aspirations. These opportunities may be especially worthwhile for STEM students aspiring to non-research scientific careers (i.e., medicine, dentistry, forensics, communication) and underrepresented STEM students. Here, we reflect on the use of small-scale, individualized undergraduate research experiences that are based on established methods (MURE). These experiences have helped to fill this gap and create problem-centred learning opportunities for undergraduate students that are as unique as the students themselves.

Online Education during Covid-19: A Safe and Effective Way of Learning Research Techniques from a Mentor

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed social mechanisms of our world causing many countries to impose either partial or complete lockdowns. Consequently, many people have resorted to online platforms for undertaking their daily business activities and jobs. Similarly, there is also an increasing trend of online education followed by both teachers and students around the world. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to explore how a mentee learnt research techniques from a mentor through online platforms. Although researchers have studied the challenges and opportunities of online education during the pandemic, this research will explore how the mentee learnt research techniques from the mentor through emails, WhatsApp interaction, and Microsoft Word track changes feature. In this paper, we have used experiential research methodology for carrying out research. Employing qualitative method of data analysis, we have found out that the feedback and suggestions provided by a mentor to a mentee’s research work through the online platforms have been very safe and effective in improving the mentee’s research skills. Moreover, purposively selected chunks from the mentee’s six revised drafts have been discussed to demonstrate how online education facilitates practical learning during the pandemic. Finally, we are of the view that online platforms may be used as effective pedagogical tools because these facilitate learners to read their mentor’s feedback and suggestions as many times as they desire to improve their performance.

A Tripartite Knowledge Translation Program: Innovative Patient-Centered Approach to Clinical Research Participation for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Background. Knowledge translation (KT) models that represent an individual’s perspective are a sign of effective KT. Some common challenges in KT include participant engagement, organization of the team, and time demands of the participants. We implemented a unique tripartite KT program to (1) share current research, (2) inform persons living with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) about the clinical research process, and (3) invite pwMS to immediately participate in clinical research. The primary aim was to determine participants’ perspectives on the value and acceptability of an experiential research program offered at a patient and family educational conference. Methods. A team of researchers identified factors that would impact the logistics of hosting an experiential research program at a conference and designed a unique tripartite KT program. The local multiple sclerosis (MS) society was engaged to select an appropriate location and invite stakeholders to the conference. A survey to determine participants’ perspectives on the value and acceptability of the experiential research program was developed and analyzed. Results. 65 pwMS attended the conference, and 44 (67.7%) participated in the on-site experiential research program. 72.7% of the participants completed the survey, of which 93.8% stated that they strongly agree or agree with the following statements: “Did you feel like participating in research today was a valuable experience to you?” and “Did you feel like you were contributing to MS research?” 100% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed when asked “would you like to see more research activities taking place at these kinds of events?” Conclusions. This paper describes the logistics and challenges of conducting an experiential KT program, which proved to be rewarding for pwMS. The majority of pwMS attending the conference agreed to participate in the on-site experiential research program and an overwhelming majority of participants felt the experience was valuable.

Designing food experiences for well-being: a framework advancing design thinking research from a customer experience perspective

Purpose Literature from across design studies and innovation management, as well as food marketing research evidence, is examined to highlight the interdisciplinary and experiential research approaches to food consumption and well-being. This conceptual paper aims to address the need to expand the food industry’s goals by considering its contributions to the consumer’s overall food well-being. Food experience design (FED) seeks to understand how food professionals can design healthy and pleasurable food experiences aimed at enhancing people’s food well-being. FED does so by proposing a holistic and integrative framework. Design/methodology/approach This approach examines design thinking by conducting an analysis of the multidisciplinary literature. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by advancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of food design thinking through the lenses of experiential theory and consumer well-being. Findings This review paper clarifies the scope of FED scholarship and offers a call for collective efforts to establish a focused body of knowledge that leads food marketing professionals and scholars to adopt an experiential perspective to food consumption and production focused on experiential pleasure of food as a driving force for consumer’s well-being. Research limitations/implications The review paper addresses the need to expand the food industry’s goals by considering its contributions to the consumer’s overall food well-being. FED seeks to understand how food professionals can design healthy and pleasurable food experiences aimed at enhancing people’s food well-being. FED does so by proposing a holistic and integrative framework. Practical implications This research provides designers with the operative tools to create innovative food experiences and increase the food well-being of consumers. Toward that end, designers need to extend their skills and evolve their language and competencies to create valuable dialogues with other stakeholders involved. Collaboration requires many other premises. This paper contributes to the discussion by identifying and clarifying them. Originality/value This research highlights the imperative to take multidisciplinary, transformative and experiential approaches to researching food innovation strategies from a consumer’s well-being perspective.

Designing Actor Training Process In The E-Learning Environment

The present study presents the investigations and the research carried out in order to build a developed and professional role-model in e-learning system of study activities specific to the praxis of the actor’s craft in vocational high schools that are engaged in the drama classroom. Our hypothesis has been engaged in demonstrating that a solid based research that follows scientific procedures can and could generate impressive results. Using these researched based results the drama teacher can implement the right procedures in the classroom and by doing so he can impact the positive outcomes concerning the student-subjects abilities and professional skills. The methodology combines two types of scientific investigation means: analytical research method and the experiential research method. The following research reveals the organizational systems of the practical activities in eleaning system. For a better measurement of the results of the implemented experiential research a series of documents have been subjected to an objective analysis: structured and semi-structured interviews with the student-subjects. In the final section of the study we endeavor to state the following conclusion: in order for the developed construct of learning to have an impact on its involved parties, the drama teacher has to find creative and organized approaches, to use all the logistic and technological present means and to explore all known archived sources in actor training methods that are available to him.

Visualizing the potential for transit-oriented development: Insights from an open and interactive planning support tool in Flanders, Belgium

This paper reports on the development trajectory of an empirical tool for transit-oriented development planning in Flanders, Belgium. The tool, StationsRadar, draws on a branch of empirical railway station assessment tools that aim to support transit-oriented development planning processes by visualizing the performance of station locations for a range of transport (‘node’) and land use (‘place’) accessibility indicators. At the root of this paper lies the observation that, while the vast majority of reviewed studies highlight the relevance of the developed tools for planning practice, little work is undertaken to systematically verify that claim. Against this backdrop, we invoke an experiential research strategy as recently proposed in the field of planning research; we organize a series of experiential workshops in which we probe the tool’s added value for regional planning in Flanders. In the process, we specifically work towards a qualitative appraisal of tool ‘usability’ and discuss how our findings bear relevance to the well-rehearsed practice of developing empirical transit-oriented development support tools. Additionally, we elaborate on and illustrate the ramifications of our findings in terms of the subsequent/iterative technical revision of the tool. We conclude this paper by putting forward three major usability recommendations pertaining to: interactive and diversified data visualizations, actor-mobilizing momentum in light of data transparency, and the integration of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ data in light of crowdsourcing aspirations. We reflect on the broader technical and methodological challenges that come with implementing these in practice.

Investigating the evolution of undergraduate medical students’ perception and performance in relation to an innovative curriculum-based research module: a convergent mixed methods study launching the 8A-Model

Embedding an experiential research curriculum into medical programs is still not widely adopted. This study investigated, using convergent mixed methods design, the journey of medical students in relation to a research module. The students’ perception of the experience was qualitatively explored using thematic analysis. The students’ performance data were quantitatively analyzed using multi-repeated ANOVA.The exploration generated four themes: 1-Attend-Acquire, 2-Accumulate-Assimilate, 3-Apply-Appreciate, and 4-Articulate-Affect. Quantitatively, two distinct clusters of mean Grade Point Average were revealed (p<0.01). Joint display analysis enabled integrating the qualitative and quantitative findings, generating the 8A-Model. The students start appreciating the experience upon conducting their research.

Cross-Cultural and Multicultural Narrative Inquiry

There is a need to move from a policy curricular perspective to a pragmatic orientation of the curriculum so that issues of teaching and learning may sharpen into focus in relation to learning interactions between teachers and students. An experiential perspective on the curriculum through narrative inquiry would contribute significantly to the existing literature. Further work highlighting students’ and teachers’ lives serves to underscore natural overlaps between cross-cultural and multicultural vantages on research in education. Narrative inquiry work in the areas of multicultural curriculum and cross-cultural curriculum are seminal for supporting a vision emphasizing experience. Data drawn from experiential research that combines multicultural curriculum and cross-cultural curriculum may inform policy and practice from a contextualized vantage. Narrative inquiries that adopt multicultural and cross-cultural lenses represent tremendous potential for extending educator professional development and enhancing understanding of students’ school experiences.

The Global Futures Lab

This chapter critiques the politics behind the representations of the future conjectured by contemporary creative industries and offers a counter-model based in specific forms of ‘cultural determinism’. It argues that the vast majority of creative speculations were and still are a mere representation of the fears and dreams of a restricted part of the global community, and are defined by a distinguishable style of Hollywoodesque sci-fi imaginary or the taste of the dominating design establishment. Drawing on the empirical experiential research undertaken by the Global Futures Lab—which invites international students to reflect upon their personal idea of future—this chapter advocates the need for more pluralist perspectives and localized visions in which traditions and belief shape alternative and hyper-contextual future realities.