Professional development online : showcasing good practice to support open, distance and flexible learning

Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA) is an online professional development initiative to support pedagogically-appropriate teaching with technology by showcasing examples of good practice in e-learning. The site aims to increase appreciation of e-learning possibilities for teaching staff through an easy-to-access, just-in-time resource. This paper describes the site and introduces the modular evaluation approach which is being implemented to examine it from different stakeholder perspectives. It then focuses on the first evaluation module which investigates how users perceive and engage with DELTA. The paper provides the initial evaluation findings which will contribute to the ongoing improvement of DELTA as a professional development resource that supports open, distance and flexible learning.

Investigative interviewers' perceptions of the value of different training Tasks on their adherence to open-ended questions with children

Prior research has highlighted the considerable difficulties investigative interviewers have in adhering to open-ended questions in child abuse interviews. Although improvements in interviewing can be achieved by providing training that incorporates multiple practice opportunities and feedback, currently little is known about the way in which these elements are best administered. The current study extends debate and research on this issue by examining the perceptions of 15 trainee interviewers (police as well as social workers) regarding the relative value of various practical training exercises experienced in a recent training program. The findings indicated that although practice in interviewing was deemed essential, not all tasks were perceived to be equally beneficial. The two most favoured exercises were (a) simulated interviews involving trained actors playing the role of the child, and (b) self-evaluation of a transcribed interview using an objective coding protocol. A summary of the participants' perceptions is provided along with a discussion of the implications for trainers and researchers.

Physical environmental conditions, spawning and early-life stages of an estuarine fish : climate change implications for recruitment in intermittently open estuaries

Significant variation in the egg and larval survival and juvenile recruitment of estuarine fishes has been linked to fluctuating environmental conditions. This present study compared the distribution and abundance of black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) eggs and yolk-sac larvae between two microtidal estuaries of different flow regimes, where the riverine flow into the Glenelg estuary was around eight times the flow volume into the Hopkins estuary. Samples were collected monthly from September to November at sites along each estuary where vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen (DO) were measured, and vertically stratified sampling of black bream eggs and yolk-sac larvae was conducted using a Schindler sampler. Salt wedge formation was apparent in both estuaries, with significant de-oxygenation of deeper, saline waters. Eggs occurred in a wide range of DO levels but yolk-sac larvae were less common at the lowest levels. Most eggs and yolk-sac larvae were collected in salinities greater than 10. Results suggested that egg mortality was higher in the Hopkins than the Glenelg estuary, which may be associated with the hypoxic conditions characteristic of low-flow conditions. The results have significant implications in terms of climate change that is predicted to lead to warmer, drier conditions in south-eastern Australia, potentially increasing stratification and subsequent hypoxic zones.

Clinical risk managment and the ethics of open disclosure : part 2 : implications for the nursing profession

Patient safety experts and other authorities have strongly postulated the open disclosure of errors and adverse events to patients and their nominated support persons as an essential component of effective clinical risk management in health care. Commentators also contend that ‘when things go wrong’, openly disclosing such events to the patient is simply ‘the right thing to do’. Important questions about the ethics of open disclosure remain, however. Is openly disclosing errors and adverse events to patients necessarily ‘the right thing to do’? Do hospital authorities and health care professionals always have an overriding duty to openly communicate with patients and their families when thing go wrong? If patients do not suffer any material harm when a mistake is made, should they or their nominated support persons still be told? Are there overriding moral considerations that might justify non-disclosure in certain circumstances? Despite the obvious importance of these issues and their possible implications for the nursing profession, they have not been comprehensively explored in the nursing literature. An important aim of this article (the second of a two-part discussion) is to contribute to the positive project of redressing this oversight.

Clinical risk management and the ethics of open disclosure : part 1 : benefits and risks to patient safety

Patient safety experts and other authorities have strongly postulated the open disclosure of errors and adverse events to patients as an essential component of effective clinical risk management in health care. Commentators also contend that ‘when things go wrong’, openly disclosing such events to the patient and his or her nominated support person is simply ‘the right thing to do’. Despite the obvious importance of the issue of open disclosure and its possible implications for the nursing profession, it has not been comprehensively addressed in the nursing literature. A key aim of this article (the first of a two-part discussion) is to contribute to the positive project of redressing this oversight by providing a brief overview of what open disclosure is and what its intended purpose, aims, and rationale are. Consideration is also given to the risks and benefits of open disclosure as a public policy and whether it will succeed in achieving the anticipated outcomes envisaged. In a second article (to be presented as Part II), the ethics of open disclosure and its possible implications for the nursing profession are explored.

An examination of the limitations in investigative interviewer's use of open-ended questions

Best-practice guidelines in the area of investigative interviewing of children specify the importance of using open-ended questions. However, use of open-ended questions per se does not maximise interview outcome; open-ended questions can vary markedly in quality. The aim of this study was to identify the nature of investigative interviewers' limitations when using open-ended questions, and to compare how representative these limitations are in three distinct interview paradigms. These interview paradigms include: (a) interviews in which trained actors played the role of a 5-6-year-old child; (b) interviews where 5-6-year-old children recalled an innocuous event that was staged in their school; and (c) actual field interviews where child witnesses aged 5 to 7 years recalled an abusive event. Overall, several common problems that would restrict children's opportunity to provide elaborate and accurate narrative accounts of events were identified and described. Our identification of these problems (using a dichotomous rating scale) was found to be consistent with an independent expert, and their presence was not limited to those interviewers who used a low frequency of open-ended questions. The implications of the findings for researchers and trainers in the area of investigative interviewing of children are discussed.

Features of public open spaces and physical activity among children : findings from the CLAN study

Objective : To examine associations between features of public open spaces, and children's physical activity.
Participants : 163 children aged 8–9 years and 334 adolescents aged 13–15 years from Melbourne, Australia participated in 2004.
Methods : A Geographic Information System was used to identify all public open spaces (POS) within 800 m of participants' homes and their closest POS. The features of all POS identified were audited in 2004/5. Accelerometers measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) after school and on weekends. Linear regression analyses examined associations between features of the closest POS and participants' MVPA.
Results : Most participants had a POS within 800 m of their home. The presence of playgrounds was positively associated with younger boys' weekend MVPA (B = 24.9 min/day; p ≤ 0.05), and lighting along paths was inversely associated with weekend MVPA (B = − 54.9 min/day; p ≤ 0.05). The number of recreational facilities was inversely associated with younger girls' MVPA after school (B = − 2.6 min/day; p ≤ 0.05) and on the weekend (B = − 8.7 min/day; p ≤ 0.05). The presence of trees providing shade (5.8 min/day, p ≤ 0.01) and signage regarding dogs (B = 6.8 min/day, p ≤ 0.05) were positively associated with adolescent girls' MVPA after school.
Conclusion : Certain features of POS were associated with participants' MVPA, although mixed associations were evident. Further research is required to clarify these complex relationships.