Aprendizaje y servicio: estudio del grado de satisfacción de estudiantes universitarios

El aprendizaje y servicio es una metodología pedagógica que fomenta el aprendizaje de los estudiantes mediante su participación activa en experiencias asociadas al servicio comunitario. Esta metodología permite al estudiante involucrarse directamente con aquellos a quienes ofrece un servicio, adaptándose a sus necesidades y a una realidad que a menudo es muy diferente de la que vive en el aula. En esto radica uno de sus mayores impactos. Además, este tipo de prácticas contribuye a despertar en los alumnos su interés por la acción colectiva, su formación ciudadana, etc. La investigación que se presenta ha consistido en un estudio diagnóstico- comprensivo con 39 estudiantes, donde a partir del modelo de satisfacción con el que se ha trabajado se han analizado cuatro dimensiones clave (conocimiento e intención atribuida, valoración de la utilidad atribuida, valoración del proceso y proyección social). Estas dimensiones nos han conducido a reflexionar sobre elementos claves del aprendizaje y servicio (aprendizajes ciudadanos, aprendizajes personales, aprendizajes curriculares, procesos de reflexión, etc.). La muestra del estudio ha estado formada por 39 estudiantes y la principal técnica de análisis de la información recogida ha sido el análisis de contenido, mediante la triangulación de técnicas (cuestionario, entrevista y grupos de discusión) e informantes (estudiantes, profesores, coordinadores y miembros de entidades). El análisis de la información muestra un alto grado de satisfacción de los alumnos participantes. La dimensión que ha influido más en este resultado ha sido la valoración de la utilidad atribuida; en concreto, la percepción que tienen los alumnos sobre la adquisición de unos aprendizajes conceptuales, personales y ciudadanos. Atendiendo a lo anterior, cabe señalar que la relación generada entre profesores, entidades y estudiantes, así como la posibilidad de vincular la teoría con la práctica han condicionado los resultados. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Service learning projects promote student learning through active participation in community service. Thus, the service learning method enables students to engage directly with the people to whom they offer their services and requires them to adapt to other peoples' needs and to a reality that is often very different from the classroom. This is one of the major ways in which service learning has an impact. In addition, service learning helps to awaken students' interest in collective action, citizenship, etc. A comprehensive diagnostic study of 39 students was conducted to analyse four key dimensions (attributed knowledge and intentionality, evaluation of usefulness, evaluation of the process and social impact) on the basis of the chosen satisfaction model. The four dimensions led to reflection on key elements of learning and community service (learning about citizenship, learning about oneself, learning of a curriculum, processes of reflection, etc.). The main data analysis technique was content analysis, involving the triangulation of various techniques (questionnaires, interviews and discussion groups) and informants (students, teachers, coordinators and members of other organisations). Data analysis showed a high degree of satisfaction among the participating students. The dimension that most influenced the results was assessment of the attributed value, more specifically the students' perception of their acquisition of conceptual, personal and citizenship knowledge. It should be cautioned that the results were swayed by the relationship generated among teachers, students and institutions and the possibility of linking theory with practice.

Quality time: exploring meaningful mandatory community involvement programs in secondary schools /

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of 5 stakeholder groups—students, parents, community organization representatives, guidance counsellors, and secondary school principals—in dealing with a mandatory secondary school graduation requirement in Ontario. The requirement is that students must complete 40 hours of eligible community involvement activities during their high school years in order to graduate. Ten stakeholders were interviewed regarding the nature of the community involvement program, what makes it work, and suggestions for improvement. The study found that although this program has the potential to provide a meaningful experience for students, and students are seen to gain from their experience in multiple ways, it depends substantially on the commitment of students, educators, and community organizations to make it worthwhile. Stakeholders recommended changes to the current program, which included making it a more structured process that would increase the consistency ofhow this program is implemented, finding ways to curb cheating and to reduce the administrative burden on schools, having more support from the Ontario provincial government and Ontario Ministry of Education and Training in the promotion and communication of this program, and developing partnerships between community organizations and schools to enrich the application of this program. This study concludes with a recommendation that the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training consider introducing Service-Learning, a curriculum-based experiential service and learning process, as an enhancement to the current community involvement program.

The Impact of Teaching Presence in Intensive Online Courses on Perceived Learning and Sense of Community: A Mixed Methods Study

This mixed methods concurrent triangulation design study was predicated upon two models that advocated a connection between teaching presence and perceived learning: the Community of Inquiry Model of Online Learning developed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000); and the Online Interaction Learning Model by Benbunan-Fich, Hiltz, and Harasim (2005). The objective was to learn how teaching presence impacted students’ perceptions of learning and sense of community in intensive online distance education courses developed and taught by instructors at a regional comprehensive university. In the quantitative phase online surveys collected relevant data from participating students (N = 397) and selected instructional faculty (N = 32) during the second week of a three-week Winter Term. Student information included: demographics such as age, gender, employment status, and distance from campus; perceptions of teaching presence; sense of community; perceived learning; course length; and course type. The students claimed having positive relationships between teaching presence, perceived learning, and sense of community. The instructors showed similar positive relationships with no significant differences when the student and instructor data were compared. The qualitative phase consisted of interviews with 12 instructors who had completed the online survey and replied to all of the open-response questions. The two phases were integrated using a matrix generation, and the analysis allowed for conclusions regarding teaching presence, perceived learning, and sense of community. The findings were equivocal with regard to satisfaction with course length and the relative importance of the teaching presence components. A model was provided depicting relationships between and among teaching presence components, perceived learning, and sense of community in intensive online courses.

Understanding Research Fatigue in the Context of Community-University Relations

Community research fatigue has been understudied within the context of community-university relationships and knowledge production. Community-based research (CBR), often occurring within a limited geography and population, increases the possibility that community members feel exhausted or over-whelmed by university research —particularly when they do not see tangible results from research activities. Prompted by informal stories of research fatigue from community members, a small graduate student team sought to understand the extent to which community members experienced research fatigue, and what factors contributed to or relieved feelings of research fatigue. In order to explore these dimensions of research fatigue, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 participants, including community members (n = 9), staff and faculty (n = 10), and students (n = 2). The objective of the research was to identify university practices that contribute to research fatigue and how to address the issue at the university level. Qualitative data analysis revealed several important actionable findings: the structure and conduct of community-based research, structured reciprocity and impact, and the role of trust in research. This study’s findings are used to assess the quality of Clark University’s research relationship with its adjacent community. Recommendations are offered; such as to improve partnerships, the impact of CBR, and to develop clear principles of practice.

Best Practices: Lessons Learned by a South Florida Non-Profit Community Based Organization while Designing and Implementing a Career Exploration Evidence Informed Framework in Urban Communities

All A’s was designed to support of the agency’s family strengthening initiatives in South Florida. All A’s uses evidence informed strategies poised to be an inclusive curriculum that teaches self-determination and adaptive behavior skills. The framework incorporates problem based learning and adult learning theory and follows the Universal Design for Learning. Since 2012, the agency has served over 8500 youth and 4,000 adults using the framework. The framework addresses educational underachievement and career readiness in at risk populations. It is used to enhance participants AWARENESS of setting SMART goals to achieve future goals and career aspirations. Participants are provided with ACCESS to resources and opportunities for creating and implementing an ACTION plan as they pursue and ACHIEVE their goals. All A’s promotes protective factors and expose youth to career pathways in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related fields. Youth participate in college tours, job site visits, job shadowing, high school visits, online college and career preparation assistance, service learning projects, STEM projects, and the Winning Futures© mentoring program. Adults are assisted with résumé development; learn job search strategies, interview techniques, job shadowing experiences, computer and financial literacy programs. Adults and youth are also given the opportunity to complete industry-recognized certifications in high demand industries (food service, general labor, and construction), and test preparation for the General Educational Development Test.

Cooperative or collaborative learning: Is there a difference in university students’ perceptions?

The hypothesis that the same educational objective, raised as cooperative or collaborative learning in university teaching does not affect students’ perceptions of the learning model, leads this study. It analyses the reflections of two students groups of engineering that shared the same educational goals implemented through two different methodological active learning strategies: Simulation as cooperative learning strategy and Problem-based Learning as a collaborative one. The different number of participants per group (eighty-five and sixty-five, respectively) as well as the use of two active learning strategies, either collaborative or cooperative, did not show differences in the results from a qualitative perspective.

Weigh2go: A Peripatetic Level 1 Weight Management Service

The aim of this intervention is to increase the accessibility of appropriate evidence based support to people who are clinically obese to enable them to make lifestyle changes that will lead to weight loss. Objectives1. Identify patients whose lifestyle put them at risk of obesity and poor health outcomes and provide them with advice and support along with signposting to specific services and activities. 2. Identify patients who are overweight or obese and offer them a structured multi-component programme of support for them to loose weight. 3. Through the use of software collect data to monitor outcomes at individual and practice levels.

Factors associated with use of community mental health services by schizophrenia patients using multilevel analysis

BACKGROUND Persons with schizophrenia and related disorders may be particularly sensitive to a number of determinants of service use, including those related with illness, socio-demographic characteristics and organizational factors. The objective of this study is to identify factors associated with outpatient contacts at community mental health services of patients with schizophrenia or related disorders. METHODS This cross-sectional study analyzed 1097 patients. The main outcome measure was the total number of outpatient consultations during one year. Independent variables were related to socio-demographic, clinical and use of service factors. Data were collected from clinical records. RESULTS The multilevel linear regression model explained 46.35% of the variance. Patients with significantly more contacts with ambulatory services were not working and were receiving welfare benefits (p = 0.02), had no formal education (p = 0.02), had a global level of severity of two or three (four being the most severe) (p < 0.001), with one or more inpatient admissions (p < 0.001), and in contact with both types of professional (nurses and psychiatrists) (p < 0.001). The patients with the fewest ambulatory contacts were those with diagnoses of persistent delusional disorders (p = 0.04) and those who were attended by four of the 13 psychiatrists (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS As expected, the variables that explained the use of community service could be viewed as proxies for severity of illness. The most surprising finding, however, was that a group of four psychiatrists was also independently associated with use of ambulatory services by patients with schizophrenia or related disorders. More research is needed to carefully examine how professional support networks interact to affect use of mental health.

El ocio terapéutico y educativo en los centros penitenciarios. Aprenentatge i Servei en el Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners

El Aprendizaje y Servicio (APS) es una propuesta educativa que combina procesos de aprendizaje y de servicio a la comunidad en un solo proyecto. El Aprenentatge i Servei en el Centre Penitenciari de Lledoners nace de la voluntad de estudiantes y docentes de la Facultad de Educación Social y Trabajo Social Pere Tarrés (URL) y del Grupo 33, una Plataforma Ciudadana de Sensibilización y Movilización, formada por más de 7.000 personas de todos los sectores de la sociedad civil, que trabaja para conseguir la reinserción real de las personas privadas de libertad. El proyecto pretende hacer frente al actual modelo de prisiones de Cataluña y promover cambios hacia un modelo rehabilitador.

Extending Learning Objects by Means of Social Networking

Learning objects have been the promise of providing people with high quality learning resources. Initiatives such as MIT Open-CourseWare, MERLOT and others have shown the real possibilities of creating and sharing knowledge through Internet. Thousands of educational resources are available through learning object repositories. We indeed live in an age of content abundance, and content can be considered as infrastructure for building adaptive and personalized learning paths, promoting both formal and informal learning. Nevertheless, although most educational institutions are adopting a more open approach, publishing huge amounts of educational resources, the reality is that these resources are barely used in other educational contexts. This paradox can be partly explained by the dificulties in adapting such resources with respect to language, e-learning standards and specifications and, finally, granularity. Furthermore, if we want our learners to use and take advantage of learning object repositories, we need to provide them with additional services than just browsing and searching for resources. Social networks can be a first step towards creating an open social community of learning around a topic or a subject. In this paper we discuss and analyze the process of using a learning object repository and building a social network on the top of it, with respect to the information architecture needed to capture and store the interaction between learners and resources in form of learning object metadata.