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This chapter explores the use of Lesson Study (LS) as a strategy for co-constructing pedagogical knowledge and draws on data from a series of interviews with student teachers. Sixteen student teachers, undertaking a postgraduate teacher training program in higher education in England, engaged in LS as an official assessment of their ability to jointly plan, deliver, and evaluate a lesson. LS is thus seen to promote an intense collaborative working relationship between participating student teachers that engenders fresh opportunities for learning. It is argued, then, that this approach can challenge the prevalent model of individually led professional development by facilitating a space for the co-construction of pedagogical knowledge. LS is also explored for its potential to bridge the theory-practice divide by enabling participant student teachers to generate theory from practice.

This paper aims to present a conceptual framework of how software teams can leverage the implicit information of implemented acceptance tests to cater to the needs of decision makers. The research questions on this framework were how business stakeholders can receive project status information in an intuitive way and how this framework can guarantee the traceability of tests to requirements.

The conceptual framework delineates the design of an acceptance test framework in three aspects: how the requirements model reflects the evolving states of requirement maturity over a project, how the acceptance test model becomes synchronized with the requirements model without a traceability matrix and how the acceptance test model communicates business value to the decision makers.

In an industrial case study, the presented framework yielded the positive effects of intuitive understanding by business stakeholders, high test coverage of requirements and distinctly reduced manual quality assurance (QA) work by automated testing for browsers and mobile devices.

The presented framework can help to convince business stakeholders to approve the budget for building a testing framework because it delivers them value as a status reporting tool.

This paper is the first to describe a step-by-step approach to solving a critical problem that IT departments frequently face. The solution consists in a new way of transforming the perception of a technical framework into a reporting tool for business information by intuitive design. The idea of mapping hierarchically corresponding abstraction layers can be transferred to other engineering domains.

Many scholars and practitioners consider development to be as much an institutional and organizational phenomenon as it is an economic one. Among other elements, civil society is a key determinant of a country’s level of social capital. Important links appear to exist between a robust associational milieu and the effective operation of democracy. However, the role of civil society organizations in human development has only recently gained attention.

This paper examines children's development of digital literacy, resilience and citizenship in the online environment, addressing active engagement and participation via cartoon videos. Previous research has emphasised the positive role of cartoons in different educational contexts, as important agents of attracting children's attention and interest with opportunities to engage in contextual and collaborative learning.

The work describes the design and an initial pilot study of the animated cartoon video series, with a group of 30 children in an S1 class, at a secondary school in Scotland as part of workshop addressing digital resilience themes. Children worked individually and in teams in a series of interactive activities, which were evaluated by means of a short questionnaire survey.

The majority of the children enjoyed the cartoon videos which addressed a story of cyberbullying and, in teams, they chose different copying strategies. Children's verbalisations included expressions of positive feelings when connecting online, linked to socialising, creative and playful activities and they expressed a preference towards speaking to their parents and friends rather than their teachers when dealing with online challenges.

Children not only enjoyed watching the cartoon story but had an interest to learn more about how other children deal with the pressures and challenges of the online world, how to manage their own digital footprint and, particularly, how easy it is to spread personal information online.

Cartoon animations present an opportunity to act as a basis for encouraging children to exchange ideas and engage in dialogue in class and at home by means of creating a point of reference which creates an environment, where pressure is taken away from the “self”. The cartoon character can be the focal point for discussion on issues that may be difficult to address directly and on a personal level because of insecurity or fear.

Both teachers and parents have a responsibility to offer support and advice to children and ensure their online safety and resilience. Engaging with children in open further dialogue via fun and interactive cartoon-based activities may help to further explore and understand their perspectives.

The work addresses everyday life issues encountered online and aims to offer educators and parents an engaging and fun series of activities, harnessing the advantages of cartoon video animation as a didactical resource that can utilised as a supplementary learning tool inside the classroom and at home.