Abstract/Notes: In Appalachian Ohio, a grassroots group of citizens across industry sectors have convened to use community assets to create solutions impacting multiple parts of the community system, thus attempting to solve complex rural problems in innovative ways. One intermediary organization, Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C), has implemented community and career connected learning programs as a way to solve problems threatening rural community viability through engaging multiple community stakeholders including the community’s youth. Using an exploratory mixed-methods approach, this study investigated the contributions of stakeholders and the impact to community systems of one community and career connected learning program: high school internships. This study conceptualizes the place-based, cross-sector, bidirectional interactions facilitated by community and career connected learning as a learning ecosystem. Further, this study uses Social Return on Investment (SROI) to quantify impact within the learning ecosystem to communicate and maximize change. This study found for every $1 invested in high school internships, between $13.07–$15.37 of value to social and economic systems is created. The ability to explore career fields through experience in order to eliminate career paths not of interest to them and then to be able to clearly define next steps in career paths that were of interest to them were outcomes valued most by students as stakeholders. Host site stakeholders reported the most valuable impacts to economic and social systems were, respectively, development of a workforce with basic skills and the personal satisfaction of being able to watch a young person in their community grow and develop through the internship period and beyond. For community supporting stakeholders, the most valuable impacts were the increased connection between schools and businesses in the community as well as the potential to reduce outmigration. Repeatedly, participants drew attention to long- term impacts of their contributions to the learning ecosystem as “an investment in the future” of the community, a perspective which matches this study’s SROI measurement framework.

Language: English

Published: Athens, Ohio, 2022

Abstract/Notes: Virtual preschool seems to contradict the Montessori Method, a hands-on, sensorial-based early childhood curriculum. However, many virtual Montessori schools, borne out of the temporary need for isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, seek to continue this new implementation of Montessori education permanently. This qualitative study examined how eight preschool teachers in one US-based virtual Montessori program described how they made sense of implementing the Montessori curriculum in an online setting, how they understood the academic and social experiences of their preschool students, and what advantages and disadvantages they perceived for children in the enactment of Montessori education in the virtual format. Using a thematic analysis, this study found that teachers described many adaptations to Montessori education in the virtual format, including to the materials and to the class structure. They felt that their offerings generally met the academic and social needs of their students, while staying as true to the Montessori Method as possible. Teachers found various advantages in the enactment of virtual Montessori school, including the potential to reach children and families who would otherwise not have access to Montessori education in their local communities. Teachers also found various disadvantages, including the uncertainty of the future of the program, and the interference of the screen in a child’s path towards deep concentration, and did not feel that virtual Montessori preschool was an adequate stand-alone replacement for in-person Montessori preschool. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of other virtual Montessori preschools, on the experiences of children completing a full three-year cycle in the virtual Montessori Children’s House program, and on the academic and social readiness of children emerging from virtual Montessori preschool programs for both in-person Montessori and traditional elementary school.

Language: English

Published: Linköping, Sweden, 2022

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 0277-9064

Language: English

ISSN: 0277-9064

Language: English

ISSN: 0277-9064

Language: Dutch

Language: Dutch

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Presentation by Betty Litsey

Language: English