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Pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face many challenges to achieving their educational potential, including difficulties with social interaction, communication, flexibility of thought and anxiety management. Handheld interactive technologies such as iDevices (iPods, iPhones and iPads) could offer a non‐stigmatising tool that could be used to complement or replace existing support strategies. This study aims to investigate how iDevices could be used by teaching assistants (TAs) to support pupils with ASD in a mainstream secondary school.

The project used an action research approach. Six TAs used the iDevices and selected applications (apps) in their work with pupils with ASD. The TAs commented on how the iDevices supported their role and the usefulness of different apps and features by using daily diary sheets. The apps supported pupils in the following ways: curriculum support, visual structure, organisation, communication, social interaction, anxiety reduction, relaxation, reward, and motivation.

A thematic analysis of the diary sheets showed that the most frequent uses of the iDevices were to develop communication, practise key skills, increase independence and to offer alternative activities. Quantitative analysis showed that TAs considered the iDevices to be very useful or useful on the overwhelming majority of occasions.

Future considerations of implementing interactive technological interventions in schools include the provision of training, IT support and individual planning to ensure iDevices are best utilised to address individual pupil needs.

The paper shows some of the ways that TAs can use this increasingly popular technology to support ASD pupils in mainstream schools.

The authors suggest strategies for addressing and combating these attempts at racelighting.

The authors of this article– five anti-racist educators working in various educational settings in SLC– employ the Critical Race Theory counter-story methodology (Delgado and Stefancic, 1993) to confront resistance to educational equity in Utah. They do so by first providing a historical context of race and education in Utah before presenting four short counterstories addressing the racelighting efforts of students, fellow educators and administrators when confronted with the complexities of racial injustice.

These counterstories are particularly important in light of the recent increase in color-evasive and whitewashed messaging used to attack CRT and to deny the existence of racism in the SLC school system in K-post-secondary education, and in the U.S. as a whole.

These stories are set in a unique environment, yet they hold national relevance. The racial and religious demographics in Utah shed light on the foundational ethos of the country – white, Christian supremacy. They reveal what is at stake in defending it and some of the key mechanisms of that defense.

The DIT-ACHIEV Model recognises that tourism is an important source of revenue, investment and employment throughout Ireland. It is particularly important in rural regions, given the unique selling point provided by the beauty and character of rural Ireland that must be managed correctly and in a sustainable manner to ensure its success and longevity. Tourism's impacts (direct and indirect) on areas such as the environment, transport, regional planning, business and trade mean that policies and plans must be coordinated and integrated to avoid one area of policy pressurising or hindering the success of another.

The main thrust of this chapter is on learnings from piloting the Model, which is an indicators-based tool for evaluating the state of tourism in a destination. In developing appropriate methodologies, a variety of innovative research approaches have been tested and the resultant efforts to reach appropriate and valid results in each instance are the focus of this chapter. All of the research tools require local participation in varying degrees from volunteers, residents, students, businesses, organisations, etc. In some instances, these processes have proven to be highly successful; in others, more challenging. One of the key outcomes of developing the methodologies is increased learning in the area of local agency empowerment/facilitation. These are lessons that can be transferred in a practical and real way to any local-level tourism research project.

Maria Amoamo is a post-doctoral fellow in Te Tumu, the School of Māori Pacific and Indigenous Studies at University of Otago in New Zealand. Maria's research interests include the representation of indigenous, cultural and heritage tourism. Her PhD thesis examined the issue of identity in relation to Māori regional tourism within a post-colonial framework. She is currently examining the economic value of identity in relation to determining ‘what is the profile of Māori tourism in Dunedin?’ Maria is also examining the issue of social vulnerability and resilience of Pacific Island communities in relation to tourism.

Presents 31 abstracts, edited by Johanthan Morris and Mike Reed, from the 2003 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, held at Cardiff Business School in September 2003. The conference theme was “The end of management? managerial pasts, presents and futures”. Contributions covered, for example, the changing HR role, managing Kaizen, contradiction in organizational life, organizational archetypes, changing managerial work and gendering first‐time management roles. Case examples come from areas such as Mexico, South Africa, Australia, the USA, Canada and Turkey.

This section of the Field Guide presents an alternative paradigm for case study research, stakeholder participatory research. Such research takes an alternative viewpoint from that of researcher as owner of the research process, or researcher as disinterested creator of knowledge for general consumption. Instead, the four chapters here present an alternative view on who should own the research process and who should benefit from the knowledge that research generates. In answer to both of these questions, stakeholder participatory research has a singular answer: the local community-based stakeholder should own and benefit from case study research.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the community’s view of power outages and their effect on sustainable community development. This research has three aims. This project will first investigate how a blackout affects a community’s ability to live sustainably.

A survey questionnaire was developed that included 22 factors from the literature. The questionnaire was distributed to diversified segments of society from different regions of Pakistan and examined critical factors affecting sustainable community development. A total of 349 (77%) responses were received.

The study results confirm that power failure negatively affects the sustainable life of a community. This study found that the reduced production of large manufacturing, decrease leisure and comfort, reduced public administrative efficiency, loss of educational opportunities and increased use of traditional energy sources are the most important factors for sustainable community development. Findings also suggest that policymakers and practitioners in public organizations need to ensure that projects are completed in a timely manner to meet growing community needs.

The purpose of this research is to address knowledge gaps related to power outages and sustainable community development. The major impact of power disruptions on communities was previously disregarded in development discourse. Participants in these discussions recognize communities as genuine stakeholders and acknowledge that power outages can have a substantial impact on their economic and social development. However, previous studies have neglected to address this phenomenon.