ABSTRACT
The social distancing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic have inadvertently changed the activities of teaching and learning- with an unprecedented push to online courses. Educational institutions in developed countries have quickly adapted to the situation by developing their digital platforms to support e-learning. Whereas those in developing countries, particularly Vietnam, found it challenging to respond to the significant increase in online instruction because of lack of equipment and technology gap. This paper aims to examine a blending approach which combines visual technologies and social interactions to support fulltime remote education. Qualitative method was employed with the use of thematic analysis to examine respondents' perspectives of their daily online learning. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews of 05 lecturers and 10 undergraduate students in site construction management discipline as they are among groups experiencing seriously negative effects on quality of knowledge exchange which requires amount of time practice on-site or field-laboratory. Activity Theory was employed to guide the data analysis. Four main themes were found in related to "using interactive tools", "developing a learning support community", "defining responsibilities of educators and students" and "governing activities of educators and students" to meet learning objectives within online courses. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
[...]with the pandemic, additional health protection measures are required on job sites, and the social dimensions must be taken into consideration more than usual, which means that project costs and turnaround times must be reviewed. The first paper on Prioritizing risks with composition of probabilistic preferences and weighting of FMEA criteria for fast decision-making in complex scenarios by Fábio Henrique de Souza, Luiz Octávio Gavião, Annibal Parracho Sant'Anna and Gilson B.A. Lima aims to develop a risk prioritization process using failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) in association with composition of probabilistic preferences (CPPs) and weighting the risk analysis criteria. The last paper of the Special Issue, Energy Justice Issues in renewable energy mega projects: implications for a socioeconomic evaluation of megaprojects by Shankar Sankaran, Stewart Clegg, Nathalie Drouin and Ralf Müller, focuses on stakeholder issues created by large-scale solar and wind farms being built to keep pace with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 focused on clean affordable energy.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic did not only impact all spheres of life but came abruptly to redefine our understanding of the urban-scape. With changing user-values and user-needs, there is a renewed realisation of the importance of the human-scape and how human capital, social issues, and liveability considerations will progressively lead urban development discussions. The urban-scape risk is far more complex and fragile than previously anticipated, with the future of the city centre dependent on our ability to successfully manage the transition from an urban-scape to a human-scape. This research employed a narrative review methodology to reflect on COVID-19 trends that will shape future city centres, based on expert contributions pertaining to (1) the community sector, (2) the public sector, and (3) the private sector within the Sydney Metropolitan area of Australia. The research highlighted the changing human-scape needs and associated impacts of (1) changing movement patterns, (2) changing social infrastructure, and (3) increasing multifunctionality, which will be crucial factors in shaping attractive (future) city centres. The research contributes to the notion that future city centres will embrace and prioritise the human-scape in a response to ‘build back better’, and accordingly, identified how the human-scape can be articulated in broader spatial planning approaches to create attractive future city centres.