A New Approach Model in Post Graduate Training of Local Government Officers

In 2013-15 there was a new type of post graduate training elaborated and piloted in Hungary at the Institute of Executive Training and Continuing Education (VTKI) within the National University of Public Service (NKE). Although the pilot financed by the State Administration Reform Operative Program (ÁROP) had not lacked the previously established attempts to include interactivity in the training, it was the first to observe and apply the actual principles of the European Union 2020 expressed in the threefold criteria of economic growth: smartness, sustainability and inclusiveness. All of them are represented by a pillar of the program like e-learning, class training and field training with the inclusion of local society. According to the objectives of the program there were at least 10 thousand attendees from the civil service sphere set as project indicators, so it has been a large scale training program that took place in 2014 in Hungary. The following article shows the innovations included in this new approach model of post graduate training civil servants.

Profile of planning: A study of a three-year project on the implementation of collaborative library media programs

The implementation of collaborative planning and teaching models in ten flexibly scheduled elementary and middle school library media centers was studied to determine which factors facilitated the collaborative planning process and to learn what occurs when library media specialists (LMSs) and classroom teachers (CTs) plan together. In this qualitative study, 61 principals, CTs, and LMSs were interviewed on a range of topics including the principal's role, school climate, the value of team planning, the importance of information literacy instruction, and the ideal learning environment. Other data sources were observations, videotapes of planning sessions, and documents. This three-year school reform effort was funded by the Library Power Project to improve library programs, to encourage collaborative planning, and to increase curricular integration of information literacy skills instruction. ^ The findings included a description of typical planning sessions and the identification of several major factors which impacted the success of collaborative planning: the individuals involved, school climate, time for planning, the organization of the school, the facility and collection, and training. Of these factors, the characteristics and actions of the people involved were most critical to the implementation of the innovation. The LMS was the pivotal player and, in the views of CTs, principals, and LMSs themselves, must be knowledgeable about curriculum, the library collection, and instructional design and delivery; must be open and welcoming to CTs and use good interpersonal skills; and must be committed to information literacy instruction and willing to act as a change agent. The support of the principal was vital; in schools with successful programs, the principal served as an advocate for collaborative planning and information literacy instruction, provided financial support for the library program including clerical staff, and arranged for LMSs and CTs to have time during the school day to plan together. ^ CTs involved in positive planning partnerships with LMSs were flexible, were open to change, used a variety of instructional materials, expected students to be actively involved in their own learning, and were willing to team teach with LMSs. Most CTs planning with LMSs made lesson plans in advance and preferred to plan with others. Also, most CTs in this study planned with grade level or departmental groups, which expedited the delivery of information literacy instruction and the effective use of planning time. ^ Implications of the findings of this research project were discussed for individual schools, for school districts, and for colleges and universities training LMSs, CTs, and administrators. Suggestions for additional research were also included. ^

Web-Based Training for Native American Tribes

The authors describe a project undertaken at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University in which the internet is used to present Native American tribes in Arizona with customer service training. It discusses why the project was instigated looks at its development and funding, and highlights the educational and technological challenges that had to be overcome. This is the second in a series of articles on the uses of the internet in educating non-university student constituencies interested in hospitality management.'

Training National Park Service Concession Specialists

In recent years, the Internet has become the medium of choice in distance education, and a prominent delivery tool in many hospitality management programs. When students cannot be educated on site, web-based education has proven to be the next best thing to in-person instruction. The authors describe a project in which the Internet is used to educate National Park Service concession specialists, exploring the reasons the project was instigated, its development and funding, and educational challenges and solutions. Such web-based instruction can be used as a means to attract outside grants and revenues for hospitality management programs.

The effects of participation in an Internet -based project on the development of global knowledge, global mindedness, and global pedagogy among preservice social studies teachers

In order to prepare younger generations to live in a world characterized by interconnectedness, developing global and international perspectives for future teachers has been recommended by the National Council for the Social Studies and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that participation in the International Communication and Negotiation Simulation (ICONS), an Internet-based communication project has on preservice social studies teachers' global knowledge, global mindedness, and global teaching strategies. ^ The study was conducted at a public university in South Florida. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was employed. Two groups of preservice social studies teachers were chosen as participants: a control group composed of 14 preservice teachers who enrolled in a global education class in the summer semester of 1998 and an experimental group that included nine preservice teachers who took the same class in the fall semester of 1998. The summer class was conducted in a traditional format, which included lectures, classroom discussions, and student presentations. The fall class incorporated a five-week Internet-based communication project. The Global Mindedness Scale (Hett, 1993) and an adapted Test of Global Knowledge (ETS, 1981) were administered upon the completion of the class. ^ Contrasting case studies were utilized to investigate the impact of participation in the ICONS on the development of preservice teachers' global pedagogy. Four preservice teachers, two selected from each group were observed and interviewed to explore how they were infusing global perspectives into social studies curriculum and instruction during a 10-week student teaching internship in the spring semester of 1999. ^ This study had three major findings. First, preservice social studies teachers from the experimental group on average scored significantly higher than those from the control group on the global knowledge test. Second, no significant difference was found between the two groups in their mean scores on the Global Mindedness Scale. Third, all four selected preservice social studies teachers were infusing global perspectives into United States and world history curriculum and instruction during their student teaching internship. Using multiple resources was the common pedagogy. The two who participated in the ICONS were more aware of using the communication feature of the Internet and the web sites that reflect more international perspectives to facilitate teaching about the world. ^ Recommendations were made for further research and for preservice studies teacher education program development. ^

Evaluation of a One-Day Meditech Magic Training Program for Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses in a long term care program

Background: An evaluation was completed on the One-Day Meditech Magic Training Program for Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) developed for the Long Term Care (LTC) Program. Methods: Both a literature review and consultation with stakeholders were completed to determine possible evaluation methods, expected outcomes, and ways to measure the effectiveness of the education program. A pretest/posttest design and questionnaire were chosen as the evaluation tools for this project. Results: No significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest total scores indicating that learners retained information from the orientation session (Z = -1.820, p = 0.069). Additional Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank tests were performed on the individual sections of the tests and revealed a significant decrease in the posttest scores for entering a Diagnostic Imaging requisition (Z = -1.975, p = 0.048). No other significant findings were present. Questionnaires were also analyzed revealing that most participants were pleased with the Meditech documentation education they received and did not indicate barriers that would affect electronic documentation. Conclusions: Further testing is required to ensure reliability and validity of the evaluation tools. Finally, caution is needed due to a small sample size. However, problematic documentation tasks were identified during the evaluation, and as a result both the training session and support materials will be improved as a result of this project.

2003 Habitat Maps derived from Grey Nurse Shark (GNS) Project of Wolf Rock, Double Island Point, Queensland, Australia

Surveying habitats critical to the survival of grey nurse sharks in South-East Queensland has mapped critical habitats, gathered species inventories and developed protocols for ecological monitoring of critical habitats in southern Queensland. This information has assisted stakeholders with habitat definition and effective management. In 2002 members of UniDive applied successfully for World Wide Fund for Nature, Threatened Species Network funds to map the critical Grey Nurse Shark Habitats in south east Queensland. UniDive members used the funding to survey, from the boats of local dive operators, Wolf Rock at Double Island Point, Gotham, Cherub's Cave, Henderson's Rock and China Wall at North Moreton and Flat Rock at Point Look Out during 2002 and 2003. These sites are situated along the south east Queensland coast and are known to be key Grey Nurse Shark aggregation sites. During the project UniDive members were trained in mapping and survey techniques that include identification of fish, invertebrates and substrate types. Training was conducted by experts from the University of Queensland (Centre of Marine Studies, Biophysical Remote Sensing) and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service who are also UniDive members. The monitoring methods (see methods) are based upon results of the UniDive Coastcare project from 2002, the international established Reef Check program and research conducted by Biophysical Remote Sensing and the Centre of Marine Studies. Habitats were mapped using a combination of towed GPS photo transects, aerial photography, bathymetry surveys and expert knowledge. This data provides georeferenced information regarding the major features of each of Sites mapped including Wolf Rock

Global Mental Health: Five Areas for Value-Driven Training Innovation.

OBJECTIVE: In the field of global mental health, there is a need for identifying core values and competencies to guide training programs in professional practice as well as in academia. This paper presents the results of interdisciplinary discussions fostered during an annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture to develop recommendations for value-driven innovation in global mental health training. METHODS: Participants (n = 48), who registered for a dedicated workshop on global mental health training advertised in conference proceedings, included both established faculty and current students engaged in learning, practice, and research. They proffered recommendations in five areas of training curriculum: values, competencies, training experiences, resources, and evaluation. RESULTS: Priority values included humility, ethical awareness of power differentials, collaborative action, and "deep accountability" when working in low-resource settings in low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries. Competencies included flexibility and tolerating ambiguity when working across diverse settings, the ability to systematically evaluate personal biases, historical and linguistic proficiency, and evaluation skills across a range of stakeholders. Training experiences included didactics, language training, self-awareness, and supervision in immersive activities related to professional or academic work. Resources included connections with diverse faculty such as social scientists and mentors in addition to medical practitioners, institutional commitment through protected time and funding, and sustainable collaborations with partners in low resource settings. Finally, evaluation skills built upon community-based participatory methods, 360-degree feedback from partners in low-resource settings, and observed structured clinical evaluations (OSCEs) with people of different cultural backgrounds. CONCLUSIONS: Global mental health training, as envisioned in this workshop, exemplifies an ethos of working through power differentials across clinical, professional, and social contexts in order to form longstanding collaborations. If incorporated into the ACGME/ABPN Psychiatry Milestone Project, such recommendations will improve training gained through international experiences as well as the everyday training of mental health professionals, global health practitioners, and social scientists.

A Group-Enhanced Sprint Interval Training Program for Amateur Athletes

Sprint interval training (SIT) can elicit improvements in aerobic and anaerobic capacity. While variations in SIT protocols have been investigated, the influence of social processes cannot be overlooked. As research supports the use of groups to influence individual cognitions and behaviours, the current project assessed the effectiveness of a group-based intervention with participants conducting SIT. Specifically, 53 amateur athletes (age, 21.9 ± 2.9 years; 53% females) took part in a 4-week training program (3 sessions per week, 30-s “all-out” efforts with 4 min active recovery, repeated 4–6 times per session), and were assigned to “true group”, aggregate, or individual conditions. Results indicated no significant differences between groups for the physiological measures. With regards to training improvements from baseline for all participants— regardless of condition — significant main effects for time were identified for maximal oxygen uptake (2.5–2.8 mL·kg−1·min−1, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.03), time-trial performance (14–32 s, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.37), and anaerobic power (1.1–1.7 k·h−1, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.66). With regards to the psychological measures, significant main effects between groups were found for motivation (p = 0.033, η2 = 0.13), task self-efficacy (p = 0.018, η2 = 0.15), and scheduling self-efficacy (p = 0.003, η2 = 0.22). The true group experienced greater improvements in motivation than the individual condition, but the aggregate and individual conditions demonstrated greater increases in task and scheduling self-efficacy. Though the SIT paradigm employed induced training improvements similar to previous work, the group intervention was not able to further these improvements

D6.6 – Summary, Analysis, Road-mapping and Production of Training materials

This deliverable summarizes, validates and explains the purpose and concept behind the RAGE knowledge and innovation management platform as a self-sustainable Ecosystem, supporting innovation processes in the Applied Gaming (AG) industry. The Ecosystem portal will be developed with particular consideration of the demand and requirements of small and medium sized game developing companies, education providers and related stakeholders like AG researchers and AG end-users. The innovation potential of the new platform underlies the following factors: a huge, mostly entire collection of community specific knowledge (e.g., content like media objects, software components and best practices), a structured approach of knowledge access, search and browse, collaboration tools as well as social network analysis tools to foster efficient knowledge creation and transformation processes into marketable technology assets. The deliverable provides an overview of the current status and the remaining work to come, preceding the final version in month 48 of the RAGE project.

Evaluation Framework EFI for Measuring the Impact of Learning, Education and Training

This article introduces the Evaluation Framework EFI for the Impact Measurement of learning, education and training: The Evaluation Framework for Impact Measurement was developed for specifying the evaluation phase and its objectives and tasks within the IDEAL Reference Model for the introduction and optimization of quality development within learning, education and training. First, a description of the Evaluation Framework for Impact Measurement will be provided, followed by a brief overview of the IDEAL Reference Model. Finally, an example for the implementation of the Evaluation Framework for Impact Measurement within the ARISTOTELE project is presented.

The +Contigo Project in the Voice of Eight-Grade Students

The +Contigo Project is a longitudinal research project based on a multilevel network intervention aimed at promoting mental health and well-being and preventing suicidal behaviors. Students participate in social skills training sessions on the stigma of mental disorders, adolescence, self-esteem, problem-solving skills, and wellbeing. Problem statement: To identify the qualitative impact of the +Contigo Project. Objectives: To identify the importance of the project for students, the problem situations which it helped to solve, and its impact on an individual level. Research methods: Content analysis (Bardin, 2009) with a posteriori categorical identification. Semi-structured interview guide with 5 questions. A convenience sample of 16 students, from three schools of one school cluster in the Center Region of Portugal, was used. The ethical aspects of parental consent, voluntary participation and data confidentiality were addressed. Findings: Fourteen categories emerged from the data analysis. The answers to Question 4 'How was this project important to you?' were particularly relevant. Students mentioned that it improved their self-esteem by increasing self-confidence and interpersonal skills, and that it increased their reflection and awareness on problems with which they learned how to cope during the sessions. Conclusions: All interviewees considered that the +Contigo project helped them to solve problems, improve their interpersonal skills and cope with the adolescence period. Students improved their self-esteem and self-knowledge, and were able to apply what they had learned in the sessions in their daily lives. We concluded that the project had a positive impact on the students' mental health.

Promotion and diffusion of tha career Bachelor and Licenciature of Mathematics Teaching in rural areas of Costa Rica project: effects and results

This article describes the purpose and activities of the project Promoting Mathematics Education in Rural Areas of Costa Rica. The activity has focused on two objectives. First, supporting and monitoring students who have expressed interest in studying a mathematics teacher. To achieve this, it has been working with students who have an ideal profile for the career, mainly from rural areas. The second objective is to conduct training workshops for high school in-service teachers, to strengthen and improve their knowledge in the area of mathematics. Among the results of the project, it can be highlighted a significant increase in the enrollment of students in the career of Mathematics Education in 2010 and 2011, and the training processes in the field of Real Functions of Real Variable and Geometry at different regional areas mostly rural as Aguirre, Sarapiquí, Coto, Buenos Aires, Limón, Cañas, Pérez Zeledón, Nicoya, Los Santos, Turrialba, Puriscal, Desamparados, San Carlos, Puntarenas, Limón, Liberia, Santa Cruz y Upala.

Student digital experience tracker 2016: results from the pilot project

Building on funded work on the experiences of today’s digital students http://bit.ly/jiscdigistudent (2014-2015) and feedback from stakeholders, Jisc piloted a tracker tool with 24 education providers in Higher education (HE) and Further Education (FE) and skills. The aim of the tracker is to provide a snapshot of learners’ digital experiences at a training provider, college or university so that education providers can better understand this aspect of the learning experience. This survey report highlights key findings from the tracker pilot.

Student Digital Experience Tracker Case Study: Key Training

Student Digital Experience Tracker Case Study: Key Training describing their experiences of the Tracker pilot.