Adult learners in the workplace: online learning and communities of practice

Seven in-employment postgraduate Master's level students in an e-learning unit participated in this research, designed to identify tensions between participation in a community of learning that was part of their studies, and participation in the communities of practice that they were engaged in at their workplaces. It was hypothesised that participation in both these forms of community in their different contexts may enhance each other, or could potentially have a disrupting effect on each. The research employed an interviewing technique. The students' perceptions of the impact of participation in the one form of community on their participation in the other was mixed, with some suggesting that it was enhancing, and others suggesting the contrary, or that there was no impact. The findings indicate that the enhancing effect of participation in communities of learning relevant to a learner's workplace community of practice occur when the learning tasks are designed to enable negotiation of tasks and collaboration with learners who have similar workplace issues.

Sustainability in online communities of practice : the case study of a group of Secondary School Educators in Victoria

This paper reports on Information Technology (IT) secondary school educators in Victoria and their involvement in an online community of practice. It examined the social effects of the online mailing list technology on their participation and factors that influenced their collaboration with other colleagues. In mapping these elements, the motivations of educators and the effects on online communities of practice can be distilled and then used to build and sustain other architectures of participation. It was found that mailing list subscribers seem to trade a currency of support, thoughts, ideas and answers, which helped them in their day-to-day teaching. Online communities of practice provide a convenient way to keep up professional networks while continuing to stay abreast with subject specific knowledge and skills. The findings of this case study may be generalised to other educational mailing lists to guide designers and managers and inspire educators to join and ultimately benefit from these text based online environments.

Exploring online communities of practice for biology teachers in Botswana

This study, which sought to determine the potential of an online community of practice among biology teachers in Botswana, has identified teacher level, school level and systemic influences as shaping the process and outcome of an online intervention into a teacher professional development programme run by the University of Botswana.

Scope of practice of occupational therapists working in Victorian community health settings

Background/aim: Current health policy places emphasis on community-based health care and it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of people receiving care in community settings. This study aimed to examine the profile and scope of practice of occupational therapists working in Victorian community health settings and the amount and type of health promotion activity incorporated into their role.
Method:  An anonymous postal questionnaire was sent to 205 community-based Victorian occupational therapists. One hundred and one (49.3% response rate) questionnaires were returned, with 72 respondents (35.1%) meeting study inclusion criteria. A descriptive research design was used to address study aims.
Results:  Results indicate that the majority of community health occupational therapists are experienced practitioners, have a varied scope of practice and report a high level of job satisfaction. Compared with previous studies, there is an increase in new graduate occupational therapists starting their career in community health settings, a greater number of part-time workers and a diversification of clinical and non-clinical roles. Barriers to practice that exist include high demand for service, limited funding and time spent on administrative tasks. Although health promotion was regarded as an important role of community health workers, a large number of therapists were not involved in this activity because of limited knowledge and clinical work taking priority.
Conclusion: Study findings have implications for occupational therapy training, and there is a clear need for input at policy level to address the significant resource allocation issues raised.

Nutrition screening of older people in a community general practice, using the MNA-SF

Background: Objective The study aimed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition risk in a population of older people (aged 75 years and over) attending a community general practice and identify characteristics of those classified as malnourished or at risk of malnutrition.

Design Cross-sectional study of nutritional risk screen conducted over a six month period.

Participants and setting Patients attending a general practice clinic in Victoria, Australia, who attended for the “75 plus” health assessment check.

Measurements The Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA®-SF) was included as part of the health assessment. Information was collected on living situation, co-morbidities, independence with meal preparation and eating, number of medications. Height and weight was measured and MNA®-SF score recorded.

Results Two hundred and twenty five patients attending a general practice for a health assessment with a mean age of 81.3(4.3)(SD) years, 52% female and 34% living alone. Only one patient was categorised by the MNA®-SF as malnourished, with an additional 16% classified as at risk of malnutrition. The mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of the at-risk group was significantly lower than the well-nourished group (23.6 ± 0.8 (SEM) vs 27.4 ± 0.3; p=0.0001). However, 34% of the at-risk group had a BMI of 25 or more with only 13% in the underweight category.

Conclusion In this population of older adults attending their general practitioner for an annual health assessment, one in six were identified as being at nutritional risk which is an additional risk factor for a severe health issue. Importantly, one third of the at-risk group had a BMI in the overweight or obese category, highlighting that older people can be at nutritional risk although they may be overweight or obese.

Scope of practice in forensic nursing

1. There is significant role variation, across the Western world, in relation to how forensic nurses practice. 2. The authors conducted a pilot survey of forensic nurses in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom to examine forensic nursing practice, role definition, and role boundaries. 3. Issues arising from the data include the visibility of forensic nurses, the client group, forensic-specific education, and role development.

The evolution of an online community - a case study

This article reflects findings from a long term case study of an online community of practice established through a network for the professional education of teachers in Ontario, Canada. The Education Network of Ontario/Réseau éducatif de l'Ontario (ENO/REO) was created in 1992–1993 to support and connect teachers from kindergarten to grade 12 in the province of Ontario. Its mandate was to ensure that all teachers had free access to the Internet and to each other and to encourage the development of skills in the area of information and communication technology with the ultimate goal of using those skills to improve classroom practice. The study investigated whether information technology had the potential to connect teachers to each other in order to build the capacity to create networks where professional learning could take place in a cost-efficient and flexible time and/or place. It was found that participants were early adopters who enjoyed innovation, that online networkswere supportive for learning but hard to maintain over time, and though they supported the integration of technology in the classroom, other barriers within schools could challenge this effect.

Girls challenging patriarchy through multimodal design and participation in online communities of practice.

This paper examines adolescent girls' multimodal design that challenges/resists patriarchy. Acts of uploading and multimodal design are discussed in terms of Bulter's theorisation of discursive performativity. The author suggests the girls employ a form of 'linguistic agency' or 'discursive agency' that allows them to make use of a wide range of multimodal design practices often unavailable in print dominated middle years classrooms. The girls in the study were involved in a set of relationships over time, both inside and outside of school in virtual and real time communities of practice. As a result, they engaged with particular areas of curricular knowledge differently than boys. The findings suggest that within online communities of practice, new contexts emerge where adolescent girls can contest the discourses of patriarchal power.

Security and ethical issues in the virtual world of Second Life

In recent times, Virtual Worlds such as Second Life have generated substantial publicity due to the participation of Fortune 500 companies, and other public and private organisations. As practitioners continue to discuss how organisations could derive business value from Virtual Worlds, new security and ethical issues in Virtual Worlds have emerged to challenge Virtual World users and stakeholders. This paper discusses privacy, intellectual property and a host of other security and ethical issues in Virtual Worlds. It contributes to practice and research by (i) providing insight into emerging security and ethical issues in Virtual Worlds, (ii) analysing the implication of these issues, within and beyond Virtual Worlds, and (iii) raising awareness on security and ethics among Virtual World users and stakeholders.

Engaging rural communities in health care through a paramedic expanded scope of practice

Introduction: This article explores how community engagement by paramedics in an expanded scope role contributes to both primary health care and to an overall improved emergency response capacity in rural communities. Understanding how expanded scope paramedics (ESP) can strengthen community healthcare collaborations is an important need in rural areas where low workforce numbers necessitate innovation.

Methods: Four examples of Australian rural ESP roles were studied in Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria to gather information on consistent elements that could inform a paramedic expanded scope model. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and organisational documents. Thematic analysis within and across cases found community engagement was a key element in the varied roles. This article relies heavily on data from the Victorian and Tasmanian case studies because community engagement was a particularly strong aspect of these cases.

Results: The ESP in the case studies increased interactions between ambulance services and rural communities with an overall benefit to health care through: increasing community response capacity; linking communities more closely to ambulance services; and increasing health promotion and illness prevention work at the community level. Leadership, management and communication skills are important for paramedics to successfully undertake expanded scope roles.

Conclusion: ESP in rural locations can improve health care beyond direct clinical skill by active community engagement that expands the capacity of other community members and strengthens links between services and communities. As health services look to gain maximum efficiency from the health workforce, understanding the intensification of effort that can be gained from practitioner and community coalitions provides important future directions.

Zones of practice : embodiment and creative arts research

This article presents the trans-disciplinary encounters with and perspectives on embodiment of three creative-arts practitioners within the Deakin University research project Flows & Catchments. The project explores how creative arts participate in community and the possibility of well-being. We discuss our preparations for creative work exhibited at the 2012 Lake Bolac Festival un regional Western Victoria, Australia

Advancing community engagement practice for strategic urban planning : learning from allied and remote disciplines

Urban planning has the potential to draw on allied and remote disciplines to improve community consultation processes for strategic planning projects. Urban design and landscape architecture have quantitative and qualitative methods which can be utilised to visualise different options of urban intensification which may fit within communities’ expectations of change. Furthermore political science has long used scientifically established psychometric techniques to collect data from broad sections of the population, analysing demographic profiles of communities and understanding their perceptions and attitudes. By appropriating quantitative and qualitative methods from other disciplines, urban planning policies can be developed which may reflect communities’ aspirations of amenity and neighbourhood character. The aim of this paper is to assist local government urban planners with their community engagement practice in order to form policies which are acceptable to the affected communities. The paper draws on Victoria as a case study of community engagement practice, examines research methods from allied and remote disciplines and proposes a community engagement framework which introduces rigour within the community engagement process.

Leaning towards collegiality: narratives of university communities of practice

This study explored the relationship between professional learning, community, narrative and identity in strategic communities established to enhance teaching and learning at three Australian universities. It adds to the field by proposing an adaptive model for understanding and fostering future communities of practice in higher education.

A fundamental rethink of practice learning in social work education

A common response to the need to place increasing numbers of social work students in field education or practice learning placements has been to broaden the range of organisations in which placements are sought. While this strategy has provided many beneficial learning opportunities for students, it has not been sufficient in tackling ongoing difficulties in locating work-integrated learning opportunities for social work students. We argue that new approaches to finding placement opportunities will require a fundamental rethink as to how student placements are understood. This paper introduces an innovative project which started with a consideration of learning opportunities and built a structure to facilitate these, rather than rely on organisational availability to host students on placements.