The world population has changed spectacularly in the last decades. The growth in life expectancy is forcing a restructure in our policies and, obviously, education. For 2050, there will be 2.000 sixty plus year olds. That is more than 20% of the world population. Besides, discrimination for ageing and, sometimes, abandonment and abuse of elderly…

The article proposes and illustrates a methodological framework that aligns with the action-research models and utopian methodology in particular, although it represents a more substantial leap forward, especially regarding the distributed nature of decision making in the different processes of research/intervention, and its multiple and…

The purpose of the present work is to rethink, in the university context, the concept of genius, related to the high intellectual abilities associated with intelligence; also, to connect the idea of entrepreneurial competences, such as leadership or social commitment. The hypothesis is that a university genius is defined by his high creative…

The paper presents a successful educational practice that, inspired by the "dialogic learning" methodological principles, is implemented through a "learning community." Theoretical bases are introduced, along with some defining traits of didactic practice. The focus is on the 'La Paz' "learning community" case, as a…

The concepts of hybridity and governance have been an important line of research in the context of social companies and public institutions. The purpose of this paper is to explore these notions in the framework of hybrid communities of social innovation by showing the importance of intangible capital in the improvement of functional skills,…

In the last decades, many higher education institutions have developed practices of internationalization of curricula aiming at developing intercultural competences among the non-mobile majority of students. Some of them have developed service-learning activities focusing on working with underserved communities from different cultures. This…

In language learning today, students from different geographical locations are able to interact online in a more authentic environment, share their views with their partners, create profiles as well as build online communities enjoying common interests. With this in mind, this paper examines and reports on a study about how students from two…

This article describes a collaborative action research process in pre-school and primary education in Spain during a four-year period (2006-2010). The aim was the need to promote a level of reflection among the participants as to their teaching practice. The methodology used was a technologically mediated action research process. The results are…

In this article, we present initial findings of an exploratory-pilot research study that focuses on "service learning" as a framework to examine "real learning" and identity changes of university students participating in a community based educational activity known as "La Clase Mágica." Student's reports and…

Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC) for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning…

The Cultural Immersion Projects at Indiana University offer teacher education majors the opportunity to be placed in culturally-diverse settings, where full-time student teaching, required community participation, ongoing reflection, and academic reporting combine to provide experiences that go well beyond the common foci of conventional student…

This volume, the first in a series of three, contains the reports of four European experiments that were part of a process of cooperative monitoring of a project on adult education and community development. The theme of these experiments is "participation of women and men in decisions affecting their daily lives over a wide range of local…

This chapter describes a community development project in Siete Pilas (Spain), a village whose economy is based primarily on small family farms and unskilled labor. The project grew out of the Sierra Education Program, which in 1980 sent adult-education teachers to five villages in the Sierra de Ronda region. The goal was to stimulate a socially…

Presents profiles of the Parent-Teacher Action Research projects of seven schools in the national reform network, the League of Schools Reaching Out, and one in Spain. Each school is carrying out a family and community involvement project, and each has an action research team to collect information on program effects. (SLD)

Providing a cross-cultural perspective on governmental involvement in the provision of day care services, this study explores early childhood programs in five countries. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction, Chapter 2 describes state supported child care in Denmark. Chapter 3 describes playgroups in England. Chapter 4 concerns state and municipal…