Open Access Journals at Aalborg University
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Investigating Factors that Influence Faculty Learning in Service Learning
Get PDFService-learning integrates community service with academic instruction, focusing on critical, reflective thinking and personal and civic responsibility. Faculty members engaged in service-learning often report significant professional and personal growth. However, understanding what specifically influences faculty learning in these settings is less explored. This research investigates the factors impacting faculty learning through service-learning, aiming to enhance educational strategies within engineering education. The study is taken up in a private university in India. The research question addressed in this study is - What are the factors that influence faculty learning in service-learning? This study aims to identify key elements that enable faculty learning. The target participants are the faculty who teach service-learning courses with community immersion experience. Qualitative study is used to collect the data. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews focusing on faculty experiences and perceptions. Thematic analysis of interviews with 20 faculty members who have participated in service-learning programs is carried out. The study identified several key factors influencing faculty learning in service-learning contexts. Service-learning contributes to faculty research opportunities, career advancement and enhanced teaching methodologies. Faculty reported that the scope of validating their experience in service-learning. This was by submitting articles in the conferences and journals of engineering education. Direct interactions with the community enhance faculty empathy towards societal issues. It was motivating them to integrate social responsibility into their teaching methods. Service-learning encourages faculty adopt various roles. They become innovators and problem solvers. They apply design thinking to real-world problems. Support from educational institutions helps faculty engagement and effectiveness in service-learning. The results indicate that service-learning influences faculty learning. The learning aspects are inculcating professional growth, enhancing empathetic understanding and encouraging innovative teaching approaches
Longevity and Biodegradability Assessment of Biobased Lighting Fixture Design for Interiors
Get PDFBiobased materials are often associated with fast degradation due to their inherent biodegradability, limiting their adoption in long-term applications. This study explores the dual potential of biobased composites, particularly bacterial cellulose-based materials, through the case of lighting fixture design in interior spaces. While these materials naturally degrade under specific environmental conditions, their lifespan can be extended significantly through thoughtful design and controlled usage. The research involves a four stage methodology to focus on developing and testing composite materials by combining bacterial cellulose biofilms with various biobased agents to enhance light transmission and durability. The study then evaluates the performance of these composites in terms of illuminance quality and biodegradation in interior use and composting, comparing them to one of the conventional lighting fixture materials, polypropylene plastic. The results have shown that this study challenges the perception of biobased materials as inherently fast-degrading due to maintenance requirements, by demonstrating their capacity for longevity when utilized in stable indoor environments. The findings contribute to biodesign discourse by showcasing how biobased composites can balance biodegradability and extended usability, offering innovative pathways for a variety of ecological design applications
Making Mends: Visibly Mending the Circular Economy
Get PDFThis paper introduces the Making Mends Workshop, a workshop format centering on the practice of visible mending as a means to explore broader notions of repair and care in the context of the Circular Economy. The workshop is structured into three parts: a reflective exercise that encourages participants to consider the practical and conceptual meanings of mending, a brief lecture and practice session that provides basic knowledge and skills of visible mending, followed by the participants repairing a personal item. Findings suggest the potential impacts of the visible mending workshop as a catalyst for fostering user agency through skill acquisition and meaning-making. The workshop highlights visible mending as a communal repair practice supporting the Circular Economy by extending product life and preserving material and emotional value. The notion of Mending for Others was identified as a valuable addition to communal repair, where repair strategies benefit from social interactions that involve sharing knowledge and skills, care, and joy, ultimately leading to durable repairs
Novel methodology for the selection and evaluation of R-strategies to support product design for circular economy
Get PDFEU legislation demands manufactures to improve their product’s circularity. The 9R Framework organizes strategies of a circular economy in a hierarchical manner based on their respective effectiveness in promoting circularity. Manufacturers need to determine which of these strategies can be implemented for their products and how well a certain design meets the requirements of these strategies. Therefore, a methodology is proposed allowing to identify feasible R-strategies that are appropriate for a specific type of product. In the next step, the methodology evaluates how the unique characteristics of a particular component allow for the application of these strategies. This methodology is applied to a case study of a vehicle door, considering and comparing the circularity readiness of various design variants. A set of specific Circularity-indicators (C-indicators) for each strategy is used for this purpose. This methodology enables comparisons among different design options, highlighting their impact on the product and material recyclability. Ultimately, the methodology helps to identify challenges in a targeted manner that guide designers in creating products that effectively support beneficial R-strategies
From Clicks to Circular Behavior: A Smart City Mobile Application Leveraging AI and Gamification
Get PDFCreative research methods for engagement with nature, positive activism and the aesthetics of degrowth
Get PDFThe Wicked Problems of Durability: Rebound Effects and Textile Illiteracy in Circular Policy
Get PDFThis paper takes its starting point from the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles which proposes that:
“Increased durability will enable consumers to use clothing for longer and at the same time support circular business models such as reuse, renting and repair, take-back services and second-hand retail, in a way that creates cost-saving opportunities to citizens” (European Commission, 2022).
While this statement positions durability as a cornerstone of circularity, and assumes that increasing product lifespan will naturally align with economic, environmental, and social benefits. This paper challenges that assumption by investigating the rebound effects and 'wicked problems' associated with durability as a driver for circular business models. By applying Rittel and Webber’s (Rittel & Webber, 1973) framework, the analysis addresses multiple levels of root problems that complicate this narrative. Empirical data from two ongoing studies will be presented to illustrate how gaps in textile literacy—both in industry and among consumers—undermine the technocratic assessments underpinning EU strategies. These studies highlight how the erosion of textile knowledge over recent decades has left terms like "durability" and "circularity" poorly understood and misapplied. The concluding argument of this paper is that this lack of historical and practical textile knowledge within EU policy-making constitutes a rebound effect in itself. Without a deeper, more nuanced understanding of what durability and circularity entail and how they can be practiced, the strategy risks failing to achieve its intended positive impacts.