The Design and Development of Educational Immersive Environments: From Theory to Classroom Deployment

Computer game technology is poised to make a significant impact on the way our youngsters will learn. Our youngsters are ‘Digital Natives’, immersed in digital technologies, especially computer games. They expect to utilize these technologies in learning contexts. This expectation, and our response as educators, may change classroom practice and inform curriculum developments. This chapter approaches these issues ‘head on’. Starting from a review of the current educational issues, an evaluation of educational theory and instructional design principles, a new theoretical approach to the construction of “Educational Immersive Environments” (EIEs) is proposed. Elements of this approach are applied to development of an EIE to support Literacy Education in UK Primary Schools. An evaluation of a trial within a UK Primary School is discussed. Conclusions from both the theoretical development and the evaluation suggest how future teacher-practitioners may embrace both the technology and our approach to develop their own learning resources.

A Service Model For Delivering Care Closer to Home.

Upton Surgery (Worcestershire) has developed a flexible and responsive service model that facilitates multi-agency support for adult patients with complex care needs experiencing an acute health crisis. The purpose of this service is to provide appropriate interventions that avoid unnecessary hospital admissions or, alternatively, provide support to facilitate early discharge from secondary care. Key aspects of this service are the collaborative and proactive identification of patients at risk, rapid creation and deployment of a reactive multi-agency team and follow-up of patients with an appropriate long-term care plan. A small team of dedicated staff (the Complex Care Team) are pivotal to coordinating and delivering this service. Key skills are sophisticated leadership and project management skills, and these have been used sensitively to challenge some traditional roles and boundaries in the interests of providing effective, holistic care for the patient. This is a practical example of early implementation of the principles underlying the Department of Health’s (DH) recent Best Practice Guidance, ‘Delivering Care Closer to Home’ (DH, July 2008) and may provide useful learning points for other general practice surgeries considering implementing similar models. This integrated case management approach has had enthusiastic endorsement from patients and carers. In addition to the enhanced quality of care and experience for the patient, this approach has delivered value for money. Secondary care costs have been reduced by preventing admissions and also by reducing excess bed-days. The savings achieved have justified the ongoing commitment to the service and the staff employed in the Complex Care Team. The success of this service model has been endorsed recently by the ‘Customer Care’ award by ‘Management in Practice’. The Surgery was also awarded the ‘Practice of the Year’ award for this and a number of other customer-focussed projects.

Position-specific Performance Indicators that Discriminate between Successful and Unsuccessful Teams in Elite Women’s Indoor Field Hockey: Implications for Coaching

The aim of this investigation was to establish median performance profiles for the six playing positions in elite women’s indoor hockey and then identify whether these position-specific profiles could discriminate between qualifying (top four), mid-table and relegated teams in the 2011-12 England Hockey premier league. Successful passing in relegated teams was significantly lower (p<0.008) than in mid-table and qualifying teams in four of the five outfield positions. Furthermore, the right backs of qualifying teams demonstrated significantly fewer (p<0.008) unsuccessful passes (x̃=15.5 ±CLs 15.0 and 10.0 respectively) and interceptions (x̃=4.0 ±CLs 4.0 and 3.0 respectively) than relegated teams (x̃=19.5 ±CLs 21.0 and 17.0; x̃=7.5 ±CLs 8.0 and 6.0 respectively). Finally, the right forwards of relegated teams demonstrated significantly fewer (p<0.008) successful interceptions (x̃=4.0 ±CLs 5.0 and 4.0 respectively) than qualifying teams (x̃=5.0 ±CLs 6.0 and 3.0 respectively) and significantly more (p<0.008) unsuccessful interceptions (x̃=5.5 ±CLs 6.0 and 4.0 respectively) than mid-table teams (x̃=3.0 ±CLs 3.0 and 2.0 respectively). Based on these findings, coaches should adapt tactical strategies and personnel deployment accordingly to enhance the likelihood of preparing a qualifying team. Research should build from these data to examine dribbling, pressing and patterns of play when outletting.