Evolution of Various Library Instruction Strategies: Using Student Feedback to Create and Enhance Online Active Learning Assignments

This case study traces the evolution of library assignments for biological science students from paper-based workbooks in a blended (hands-on) workshop to blended learning workshops using online assignments to online active learning modules which are stand-alone without any face-to-face instruction. As the assignments evolved to adapt to online learning supporting materials in the form of PDFs (portable document format), screen captures and screencasting were embedded into the questions as teaching moments to replace face-to-face instruction. Many aspects of the evolution of the assignment were based on student feedback from evaluations, input from senior lab demonstrators and teaching assistants, and statistical analysis of the students’ performance on the assignment. Advantages and disadvantages of paper-based and online assignments are discussed. An important factor for successful online learning may be the ability to get assistance.

Scaling-up an efficacious school-based physical activity intervention: study protocol for the 'Internet-based professional learning to help teachers support activity in youth' (iPLAY) cluster randomized controlled trial and scale-up implementation evaluat

BACKGROUND: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insufficiently active. Schools are ideally placed to promote physical activity; however, many do not provide children with sufficient in-school activity or ensure they have the skills and motivation to be active beyond the school setting. The aim of this project is to modify, scale up and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention previously shown to be efficacious in improving children's physical activity, fundamental movement skills and cardiorespiratory fitness. The 'Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers support Activity in Youth' (iPLAY) study will focus largely on online delivery to enhance translational capacity.

METHODS/DESIGN: The intervention will be implemented at school and teacher levels, and will include six components: (i) quality physical education and school sport, (ii) classroom movement breaks, (iii) physically active homework, (iv) active playgrounds, (v) community physical activity links and (vi) parent/caregiver engagement. Experienced physical education teachers will deliver professional learning workshops and follow-up, individualized mentoring to primary teachers (i.e., Kindergarten - Year 6). These activities will be supported by online learning and resources. Teachers will then deliver the iPLAY intervention components in their schools. We will evaluate iPLAY in two complementary studies in primary schools across New South Wales (NSW), Australia. A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), involving a representative sample of 20 schools within NSW (1:1 allocation at the school level to intervention and attention control conditions), will assess effectiveness and cost-effectiveness at 12 and 24 months. Students' cardiorespiratory fitness will be the primary outcome in this trial. Key secondary outcomes will include students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (via accelerometers), fundamental movement skill proficiency, enjoyment of physical education and sport, cognitive control, performance on standardized tests of numeracy and literacy, and cost-effectiveness. A scale-up implementation study guided by the RE-AIM framework will evaluate the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the intervention when delivered in 160 primary schools in urban and regional areas of NSW.

DISCUSSION: This project will provide the evidence and a framework for government to guide physical activity promotion throughout NSW primary schools and a potential model for adoption in other states and countries.

Exploring how adults who work with young children conceptualise sustainability and describe their practice initiatives

The development of early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) practices with young children from birth to eight years is an emerging area in academic and professional literature. ECEfS practices reflect growing awareness of the imperative for twenty-first century societies to respond to the pressures of unsustainable patterns of living. This article contributes to the growing area of ECEfS research by exploring sustainability conceptualisations and practice initiatives as reported by early childhood teachers, educators, pre-service educators and parents in Tasmania. We do this by analysing data collected from participants who attended ECEfS professional learning workshops, entitled Living and learning about sustainability in the early years. Findings show that environmental (nature/natural) aspects of sustainability dominate these adults' practice initiatives and understandings. While many of the reported educational initiatives are to be celebrated, the authors contend that there is much work to be done to extend thinking and practice beyond the natural/environmental dimension in order to embrace holistic notions of sustainability incorporating social, economic and political dimensions.

Programa Bairro-Escola de Nova Iguaçu: diretrizes e caracterísiticas desta política educacional na gestão e organização curricular da Rede Municipal de Ensino

Esta pesquisa é fundamentada e metodologicamente construída objetivando descrever e analisar o que e como é o Programa Bairro-Escola de Nova Iguaçu, implementado como política educacional, em 2006, para organização curricular da Rede Municipal de Ensino. O foco deste estudo qualitativo está centrado na identificação das principais diretrizes e características produzidas por essa política curricular no/para o desenvolvimento da gestão democrática e na melhoria da prática educativa. Para tanto, a metodologia utilizada para a elaboração deste trabalho foi a abordagem qualitativa, a investigação teórica de eixos temáticos e o estudo de caso do significado do Programa Bairro-Escola para os sujeitos que o vivenciam em Nova Iguaçu, abordando especificamente quais são as principais características que o Programa tem produzido, até então, na gestão macro e micro educacional, na prática educativa e na relação entre ambas as práticas, sob a ótica dos sujeitos que o vivenciam no seu cotidiano de desenvolvimento. Para tanto, este estudo de caso de cunho descritivo-analítico utilizou como campo de investigação duas escolas municipais (situadas em bairros geograficamente distantes) como amostragem e a Secretaria Municipal de Educação de Nova Iguaçu para a obtenção, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas (realizadas no segundo semestre de 2011), de informações que "respondessem" aos objetivos desta pesquisa. No entanto, os sujeitos escolhidos para serem entrevistados foram: (um) representante da Secretaria Municipal de Educação de Nova Iguaçu, (dois) diretores, (dois) coordenadores, (dois) orientadores, (dois) professores, (dois) estagiários, (dois) agentes comunitários, (dois) pais de alunos e (dois) alunos, os quais relataram nas entrevistas que o Programa Bairro-Escola iguaçuano, apesar de ser uma política educacional ainda recente, tem contribuído para a melhoria da prática educativa, na medida em que as oportunidades educativas foram ampliadas com a implantação do Horário Integral através das oficinas fixas de aprendizagem, esporte, cultura, informática, entre outras experiências socioeducativas desenvolvidas no âmbito escolar ou em ambientes parceiros nas comunidades do entorno das escolas. E na gestão educacional através da conquista da implementação do conselho escolar, o qual tem possibilitado uma gestão mais participativa e mais autônoma nas escolas. Mas expuseram também que, para um "melhor rendimento", o Bairro-Escola, aqui, ainda carece de variados recursos infraestruturais (recursos de natureza física, humana ou pedagógica) e de mais estratégias que dinamizem a gestão mais participativa, o envolvimento comunitário e o reconhecimento do Programa.

Undergraduate interprofessional education using high-fidelity paediatric simulation

BACKGROUND: High-fidelity simulation is becoming increasingly important in the delivery of teaching and learning to health care professionals within a safe environment. Its use in an interprofessional context and at undergraduate level has the potential to facilitate the learning of good communication and teamworking, in addition to clinical knowledge and skills.

METHODS: Interprofessional teaching and learning workshops using high-fidelity paediatric simulation were developed and delivered to undergraduate medical and nursing students at Queen's University Belfast. Learning outcomes common to both professions, and essential in the clinical management of sick children, included basic competencies, communication and teamworking skills. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation was undertaken using published questionnaires.

RESULTS: Quantitative results - the 32-item questionnaire was analysed for reliability using spss. Responses were positive for both groups of students across four domains - acquisition of knowledge and skills, communication and teamworking, professional identity and role awareness, and attitudes to shared learning. Qualitative results - thematic content analysis was used to analyse open-ended responses. Students from both groups commented that an interprofessional education (IPE) approach to paediatric simulation improved clinical and practice-based skills, and provided a safe learning environment. Students commented that there should be more interprofessional and simulation learning opportunities.

DISCUSSION: High-fidelity paediatric simulation, used in an interprofessional context, has the potential to meet the requirements of undergraduate medical and nursing curricula. Further research is needed into the long-term benefits for patient care, and its generalisability to other areas within health care teaching and learning.

Experiencing indigenous East African dance songs : reflections from North West University (South Africa)

After democracy (1994) the doors of teaching and learning in music opened widely to include local indigenous music and culture in South Africa. Since 2005, African music has been a vibrant aspect of the music curriculum within the School of Music, North West University, South Africa. Globally tertiary music educators are challenged to include informal pedagogy of indigenous musics within the formal context of university courses. University music courses in South Africa are still predisposed towards ‘western’ music pedagogies. In October 2012, the School of Music invited a visiting expert in African music and dance to offer onsite teaching and learning of Ugandan dance songs to tertiary students. The initiative to include Ugandan music as part of the teaching and learning workshops on African music at the School of Music was funded by the South African Music Rights Organization. The School of Music has an ongoing policy to invite and include culture bearers to share their skills and expertise with students and academics. Such sharing provides culture bearers the opportunity to transmit much needed skills, which are not often offered by academics. UNESCO (2012) identifies scarce knowledge and skills as intangible heritage.

Estratégias midiáticas na aprendizagem do tema DST/AIDS: ações em rede para reduzir vulnerabilidades de adolescentes e jovens da comunidade de Mãe Luiza, Natal-RN

Youngsters and teenagers are still a very vulnerable group of DST/AIDS. In order to combat this vulnerability the community intervention project being developed in Mãe Luiza neighborhood in the city of Natal-RN, entitled Strengthening Community Action Network for Prevention in HIV/AIDS: knowledge and Intervene emerged, popularly known as Project Viva Mãe Luiza. The project develops workshops of educomunication whose approach involves the DST/AIDS subject with the following media: video, photography, and theater playbook. This research integrates the activities of the project and has as main objective to investigate how strategies and practices of media communication developed in Project Viva Mãe Luiza through workshops of educomunication, assisted learning for the prevention of DST/AIDS and contributed to the reduction of vulnerability to DST/AIDS among adolescents and young participants of the project residents of Mãe Luiza community. The methodological basis was based on intervention research, with the technique of gathering daily field data, literature and documentary, in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation. The qualitative analysis was based on the monitoring of video workshops, photography, theater and primer, respectively, crossed by transverse to the prevention of DST/AIDS, conducted between June 2012 and December 2013 issues. Interviews with eight multipliers, aiming to understand their perceptions of vulnerability, prevention, multiplication and use of media that were part of the project were conducted. The analyzes show that learning workshops educomunication community health repercussions both in the development of individual skills in communication as changing perceptions about the vulnerabilities to which they are exposed, the awareness about prevention at the individual and differentiated actions multiplication in the community

Um estudo da autonomia no contexto da metodologia das oficinas de aprendizagem

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

Um estudo da autonomia no contexto da metodologia das oficinas de aprendizagem

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

The effectiveness of workshops as managerial learning opportunities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of workshops as a learning tool for small business owner‐managers (SBO‐Ms). It aims to concentrate on workshops delivered over 18 months from January 2007 to July 2008 as part of several publicly‐funded small business development programmes in two Australian local government areas (LGAs). Design/methodology/approach Effectiveness is measured in terms of meeting the overarching learning needs and expectations of participants in the context of the programme goals. The paper analyses data gathered from workshop participants either post‐workshop, in later focus groups or through a questionnaire as well as additional feedback from participants and the organisers' reflections. The thematic analysis is organised through an analogy of “going shopping”, where the SBO‐M shopper is buying “learning” when they attend a workshop. Findings Understanding motivation to participate or the “what's in it for me” is important as SBO‐Ms tend to be reluctant, resist or fail to engage with externally sponsored business support initiatives. Workshops were valued for the “space” they create to reflect on practice. For many SBO‐Ms, content “comes alive” with discussion while networking helps reduce the isolation SBO‐Ms can feel. Practical implications The shopping analogy suggests workshops must cater for purposeful shoppers as well as browsers, while interaction with others in the workshop is critical to realising the value of workshops. Originality/value Knowing whether, and how, workshops deliver learning can help to better target and refine these types of support initiatives to ensure they provide positive outcomes for individuals, organisations and economies.

e-Math Workshops : a forum for exchanging experiences of mathematics e-learning at university level

We report here about a series of international workshops on e-learning of mathematics at university level, which have been jointly organized by the three publicly funded open universities in the Iberian Peninsula and which have taken place annually since 2009. The history, achievements and prospects for the future of this initiative will be addressed.

The Impact of Experiential Learning in Enhancing Palliative Care Knowledge and Skills among Nurses

Nurses working in community settings are increasingly required to care for people with chronic, life limiting conditions. Innovative educational programs are required to ensure nurses are equipped to deal with this challenging area of practice. The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) started in 2003 as an initiative of the Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing. The overall aim of PEPA is to improve the quality, availability and access to palliative care for people who are dying, and their families, by improving the skills and expertise of health practitioners, and enhancing collaboration between primary and specialist palliative care services. PEPA provides nurses with an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in the palliative approach to care through funded clinical workforce placements or workshops.

Embedding university perspectives in university teaching and learning : lessons learnt and possibilities for reforming/decolonising curriculum

Embedding Indigenous knowledge in the curriculum continues to challenge traditional western perspectives on Indigenous epistemologies and cultures. This paper will initially discuss experiences of embedding Indigenous perspectives in the curriculum at an Australian university. The project was inspired by the Reconciliation Statement which ensured funding through Teaching and Learning Large Grants. Its successful outcomes included the creation of identified positions for Indigenous academics within faculties, creation of a resource hub of relevant teaching materials and consistent documentation and awareness of Indigenous perspectives through interviews and workshops. The paper concludes by critically interrogating the methodology used to conceptualise Indigenous knowledge in embedding Indigenous perspectives in a university curriculum. This paper argues for a thorough curriculum reform if a degree of decolonisation of the western constructed Indigenous knowledge and its living systems are desired.

PEPA workshops for allied health professionals : outcomes and directions for the future

The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) started in 2003 as an initiative of the Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing. The overall aim of PEPA is to improve the quality, availability and access to palliative care for people who are dying, and their families, by providing high quality learning experiences for primary care providers, including allied health professionals. As part of the program, an allied health workshop program has been developed following an extensive review of the literature and in consultation with experts in the field. The PEPA allied health workshops are offered across all states/territories.

Two Thai teachers' perceptions of cooperative learning

Over the past decade, the need for educational reform in Thailand has become increasingly apparent. The strong tradition of teacher-directed instruction has been the major teaching and learning style in Thai education. Recent policy changes have focused on expanding education opportunities, the implementation of compulsory education and also on more student-centered pedagogies (Carter, 2006). A suggested way of bringing about the changes necessary to improve the standard of education in primary schools and retention rates is to incorporate cooperative learning into Thai primary school classrooms. The action research in this study proceeded in four stages. There were pre-implementation interviews of teachers, teacher preparation, implementation of program, and post-implementation evaluation. This study focused on the two Thai teachers' perceptions about the benefits of cooperative learning and the roles of the teachers in cooperative learning classroom. The study found that the two teachers had constructed different levels of perceptions about the benefits of cooperative learning and the roles of the teacher. These findings indicated that Thai teachers who are relatively inexperienced, lacking in confidence and with little or no experience with group work strategies such as peer tutoring need alternative, less intense professional development programs conducted over a period of a semester than the professional development program implemented in this study. In addition to being conducted over a longer period of time, the findings also indicate that alternative teacher professional programs need to provide additional workshops to improve their understanding of cooperative learning and the teachers' roles.