Doctoral Education and Skills Development : an International and Historical Perspective. 'Educación doctoral y desarrollo de competencias : una perspectiva internacional e histórica'.

Monográfico con el título: 'Competencias docentes en la Educación Superior'. Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Audiobooks : improving fluency and instilling literary skills and education for development

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n. Resumen en espa??ol

Development of a student workbook in conjunction with the Communication Skills Training for Professionals and Paraprofessionals Program

This paper discusses Communication Skills Training for Professionals and Paraprofessionals (ComPro), a program that trains professionals and paraprofessionals to communicate more effectively with their hearing-impaired clientele. This study assesses the usefulness of the ComPro in-service program and student workbook.

The influence of siblings on the development of social skills in children who are deaf or hard of hearing

A study observing the influence of siblings or lack thereof, birth order and vocabulary skills on social skills of adolescent cochlear implant recipients using ratings from their parents.

Activities for social skills development in deaf children preparing to enter the mainstream

A sample of regular education teachers was surveyed to assess the social skills of recently mainstreamed students from oral deaf programs in their classrooms. In addition, a curriculum of social skills activities was developed to help prepare students from oral deaf schools to enter the mainstream.

Children's Vocabulary Development : The role of parental input, vocabulary composition and early communicative skills

The aim of this thesis is to examine the early vocabulary development of a sample of Swedish children in relation to parental input and early communicative skills. Three studies are situated in an overall description of early language development in children. The data analyzed in the thesis was collected within a larger project at Stockholm University (SPRINT- “Effects of enhanced parental input on young children’s vocabulary development and subsequent literacy development” [VR 2008-5094]). Data analysis was based on parental report via SECDI, the Swedish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, and audio recordings. One study examined parental verbal interaction characteristics in three groups of children with varying vocabulary size at 18 months. The stability of vocabulary development at 18 and 24 months was investigated in a larger study, with focus on children’s vocabulary composition and grammatical abilities. The third study examined interrelations among early gestures, receptive and productive vocabulary, and grammar measured with M3L, i.e. three longest utterances, from 12 to 30 months. Overall results of the thesis highlight the importance of early language development. Variability in different characteristics in parental input is associated with variability in child vocabulary size. Children with large early vocabularies exhibit the most stability in vocabulary composition and the earliest grammatical development. Children’s vocabulary composition may reflect individual stylistic variation. Use of early gestures is associated differentially with receptive and productive vocabulary. Results of the thesis have implications for parents, child- and healthcare personnel, as well as researchers and educational practitioners. The results underscore the importance of high quality in adult-child interaction, with rich input fine-tuned to children’s developmental levels and age, together with high awareness of early language development.

New directions for development banking in the Caribbean: financing to take advantage of unlimited supplies of labour skills and entrepreneurship

Includes bibliography

Latin American Economic Outlook 2015: Education, skills and innovation for development

The Latin American Economic Outlook analyses issues related to Latin America’s economic and social development. Since 2011, the report has been published in conjunction with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and has tied in with the economic theme of the annual Ibero-American Summit organised by the Ibero- American governments and Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). In 2013, CAF – development bank of Latin America (CAF) joined the team of authors. This edition focuses on education, skills and innovation as key inputs for more inclusive growth in the region. It provides in-depth analysis of Latin America’s education systems and the region’s capacity to increase enrolment in good-quality education, and looks at the development of skills training to improve economic competitiveness and labour-market integration. These inputs are analysed in association with innovation policies in the production system.

Structured training in intraosseous infusion to improve potentially life saving skills in pediatric emergencies - Results of an open prospective national quality development project over 3 years

BACKGROUND: Children in emergencies need peripheral intravenous (IV) access in order to receive drugs or fluids. The success of IV access is associated with the age of patients and fails in up to 50% of children younger than 6 years. In such situations, it is essential that physicians and paramedics have a tool and easily learnable skills with a high chance of success. According to international guidelines intraosseous (IO) access would be the next step after failed IV access. Our hypothesis was that the success rate in IO puncturing can be improved by standardizing the training; so we developed an IO workshop. METHODS: Twenty-eight hospitals and ambulance services participated in an evaluation process over 3 years. IO workshops and the distribution of standardized IO sets were coordinated by the study group of the University Hospital of Berne. Any attempted or successful IO punctures were evaluated with a standardized interview. RESULTS: We investigated 35 applications in 30 patients (a total of 49 punctures) between November 2001 and December 2004. IO puncture was not successful in 5 patients. The success rate depended neither on the occupation nor the experience of users. Attendance at a standardized IO workshop increased the overall success rate from 77% to 100%, which was statistically not significant (P = 0.074). CONCLUSIONS: Standardized training in IO puncturing seems to improve success more than previous experience and occupation of providers. However, we could not show a significant increase in success rate after this training. Larger supranational studies are needed to show a significant impact of teaching on rarely used emergency skills.

The new final Clinical Skills examination in human medicine in Switzerland: Essential steps of exam development, implementation and evaluation, and central insights from the perspective of the national Working Group

Objective: Since 2011, the new national final examination in human medicine has been implemented in Switzerland, with a structured clinical-practical part in the OSCE format. From the perspective of the national Working Group, the current article describes the essential steps in the development, implementation and evaluation of the Federal Licensing Examination Clinical Skills (FLE CS) as well as the applied quality assurance measures. Finally, central insights gained from the last years are presented. Methods: Based on the principles of action research, the FLE CS is in a constant state of further development. On the foundation of systematically documented experiences from previous years, in the Working Group, unresolved questions are discussed and resulting solution approaches are substantiated (planning), implemented in the examination (implementation) and subsequently evaluated (reflection). The presented results are the product of this iterative procedure. Results: The FLE CS is created by experts from all faculties and subject areas in a multistage process. The examination is administered in German and French on a decentralised basis and consists of twelve interdisciplinary stations per candidate. As important quality assurance measures, the national Review Board (content validation) and the meetings of the standardised patient trainers (standardisation) have proven worthwhile. The statistical analyses show good measurement reliability and support the construct validity of the examination. Among the central insights of the past years, it has been established that the consistent implementation of the principles of action research contributes to the successful further development of the examination. Conclusion: The centrally coordinated, collaborative-iterative process, incorporating experts from all faculties, makes a fundamental contribution to the quality of the FLE CS. The processes and insights presented here can be useful for others planning a similar undertaking. Keywords: national final examination, licensing examination, summative assessment, OSCE, action research