455 research outputs found
Innovation 2.0: Grantmaking to Transform America's Education Systems
As social and technological forces reshape the environment, the educational landscape is being similarly transfigured as parents, employers, policymakers and students grow impatient with incremental efforts to reform a broken system. Too often such efforts have proven both slow and inadequate to the evolving needs of learners: Innovations have been inequitably distributed, promising solutions have been difficult to implement at scale. Yet the signs of widespread change are real, and there is little doubt that transformation has begun
An Analysis of the Questions on University Teaching Surveys and the Universities that Use Them: The Australian Experience
This paper is the first attempt to perform an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in all Australian Universities by investigating how they compare across Universities. We categorize the questions on each university’s QTS into one of 18 types and then define a proximity measure between the surveys. We then use an agglomerative cluster analysis to establish groupings of these institutions on the basis of the similarity of their QTSs as well as groupings of question types by their frequency of use. In addition, we also determine if the form of the survey is related to the responses recorded by the Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) that is administered to all graduates of Australian Universities. This was done by the use of regression analysis to establish if the form of the questionnaire is related to the overall good teaching scores earned by the universities from the CEQ.Tertiary Education; University Rankings; CEQ
A Systematic Analysis of Quality of Teaching Surveys
All tertiary institutions in Australia use the same Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) however for the internal evaluation of teaching they use their own surveys. This paper performs an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in Australian Universities. We classify the questions within the QTS surveys. This classification is used to explore how different universities’ surveys are similar to each other. We find that some universities use a QTS that is quite distinct from other universities. We also investigate whether there is a particular pattern to the types of questions used in the surveys. We find that there are some question types that are employed widely in a typical survey and others that are All tertiary institutions in Australia use the same Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) however for the internal evaluation of teaching they use their own surveys. This paper performs an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in Australian Universities. We classify the questions within the QTS surveys. This classification is used to explore how different universities’ surveys are similar to each other. We find that some universities use a QTS that is quite distinct from other universities. We also investigate whether there is a particular pattern to the types of questions used in the surveys. We find that there are some question types that are employed widely in a typical survey and others that are All tertiary institutions in Australia use the same Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) however for the internal evaluation of teaching they use their own surveys. This paper performs an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in Australian Universities. We classify the questions within the QTS surveys. This classification is used to explore how different universities’ surveys are similar to each other. We find that some universities use a QTS that is quite distinct from other universities. We also investigate whether there is a particular pattern to the types of questions used in the surveys. We find that there are some question types that are employed widely in a typical survey and others that are not. This analysis can be used by universities to determine how their surveys compare to their peer institutions and other institutions across Australia.
Measuring Student Experience: Relationships between Teaching Quality Instruments (TQI) and Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ)
How to... get started with theory in education
This paper, on using theory in health professions education research, is the second in a series that aims to support novice researchers within clinical education, particularly those undertaking their first qualitative study. Diving into the world of education theory can be challenging and uncomfortable for clinician-educators. Nonetheless, theory is an essential ingredient in high-quality research, shaping everything from research questions to study design, analysis and, ultimately, the interpretation of findings. We hope that this paper, introducing different levels of theory and examples of how to use theory, will shed light on how theory can be used in research, and that it will help you in getting to grips with using theory in your own work.Peer reviewe
Diversity and vulnerability in Prisons in the context of the Equality Act 2010: the experiences of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME)and Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs) in a Northern Jail
This article details findings from a pilot study that was funded by the universities of Newcastle, Northumbria and Liverpool John Moores. The study was undertaken in an English Northern prison by members of the North East Regional Race Crime and Justice Research Network (NERRCJRN) and was approved by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The study arose out of concerns by practitioner members of the NERRCJRN that following the passing of the Equality Act (2010) there had been a dilution of focus on ‘race’ equality. The Equality Act (2010) shifted the emphasis from an Equality Duty that was focused on distinct protected characteristics of race, disability, gender to one that is all inclusive. The concern was that the positive focus on 'race' which had been growing in recent years, particularly in prisons, would be compromised. The aims of the pilot project were to explore the experiences of BAME national and Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs) in this prison (which is a Category B adult male prison) to find out how the specific needs of these prisoners are being met and to explore how the prison is responding to and managing prisoner vulnerability in relation to 'race', post the 2010 Ac
How to ... be reflexive when conducting qualitative research
Reflexivity can be a complex concept to grasp when entering the world of qualitative research. In this article, we aim to encourage new qualitative researchers to become reflexive as they develop their critical research skills, differentiating between the familiar concept of reflection and reflective practice and that of reflexivity. Although reflection is, to all intents and purposes, a goal‐oriented action with the aim of improving practice, reflexivity is a continual process of engaging with and articulating the place of the researcher and the context of the research. It also involves challenging and articulating social and cultural influences and dynamics that affect this context. As a hallmark of high‐quality qualitative research, reflexivity is not only an individual process but one that needs to be considered a collective process within a research team, and communicated throughout the research process. In keeping with our previous articles in this series, we have illustrated the theoretical concept of reflexivity using practical examples of published researchPeer reviewe
Nunca han visitado, no han vivido Ecoturismo comunitario: una Alternativa Sostenible y Constitucional de desarrollo en la zona de Intag
Durante mi estudio en Ecuador y a través de todas mis clases, conversaciones, y experiencias, han habido muchos temas nuevos e interesantes. Aunque todas me han enseñado mucho, la experiencia que me impactó más fue mi semana en Intag. Durante toda mi vida siempre tuve una fascinación con el bosque nublado con la combinación de palabras más mística y romántica. La verdad es que antes de llegar en Intag la mi primera vez, no sabía nada sobre el poder de la belleza de los bosques, la naturaleza, y también sobre la lucha en contra de la minería. A través de mis estudios de la economía, ciencias políticas, y medio ambiente, he aprendido sobre la destrucción de la minería pero nunca he entendido el nivel actualmente. Fue durante la charla que Polivio Pérez y Marcia Ramírez, dos de los líderes de la resistencia en Junín, nos dieron que encontré el tema que evoca un pasión real y profundo: la lucha y búsqueda de justicia a través del reconocimiento de los derechos humanos. La minería es una violación directamente de la Constitución ecuatoriana y de los derechos humanos. La historia de la región de Intag, las historias de la incansable lucha de las personas valientes de Intag y Junín por sus derechos, la tierra, y el futuro de sus familias, y la belleza única fue mi inspiración y motivación para hacer un estudio de las realidades de ecoturismo en Intag como una alternativa a la destrucción provocado por la minería.
En Intag hay una vida sostenible que ha funcionado por generaciones, y por eso, las alternativas no son como alternativas, pero son más las actividades principales y naturales de las familias. Para decir que el ecoturismo directo e indirecto es una alternativa es decir que la destrucción del ambiente es una actividad principal. Esto no es correcto, no es justo, y es una contradicción con la necesitada que hay que denunciarlo
Developing a new Governance Approval Process to support federated discovery and meta-analysis of data across the UK through the CO-CONNECT project
Objectives
To develop a new approval process for federated data custodians to install and support a new platform which enables researchers to run from one website, instantaneous, aggregate-level queries to determine the number of patients in each dataset which meet their research criteria.
To agree security controls across data custodians which protect patient confidentiality whilst also providing this new automated capability for researchers and reducing the burden on each data custodian to manually provide the information.
Approach
The COVID - Curated and Open aNalysis aNd rEsearCh plaTform (CO-CONNECT) has integrated a Cohort Discovery Tool into the Health Data Research (HDR) UK Innovation Gateway website and is connecting >50 different federated datasets. The underpinning architecture is novel, without precedent at such a scale in the UK. We found that although each data custodian recognised the benefits of the platform, many were unclear of the process to formally approve this new model. We have worked across data custodians to co-develop the required new processes and document the security controls.
Results
We found vast differences in technical knowledge and infrastructures across different data custodians, especially across small research groups hosting data on consented research cohorts verses larger organisations who host and manage routinely collected data. A model for approvals evolved for these 2 separate groups:
Consented research cohorts: a 2-stage process of a pre-assessment for the need for a DPIA and/or completed DPIA. All returned a positive outcome which deemed no personal identifiable information was being used.
Unconsented population level data: 4 different documents were required each being approved by different committees within each data custodian: DPIA, Data Access Application, Security Risk Assessment, Disclosure Control Assessment.
As the model was novel to many data custodians, we developed many different explainer videos and detailed step by step instructions.
Conclusion
We recommend a new approvals process for new technologies/models is developed to support initiatives which are not covered by the traditional data access request process. Increased investment in teams which approve data governance and IT security applications which have been overwhelmed by the increased demand for their services to review COVID-19 related projects would be welcomed
Morphological and genomic shifts in mole-rat 'queens' increase fecundity but reduce skeletal integrity.
In some mammals and many social insects, highly cooperative societies are characterized by reproductive division of labor, in which breeders and nonbreeders become behaviorally and morphologically distinct. While differences in behavior and growth between breeders and nonbreeders have been extensively described, little is known of their molecular underpinnings. Here, we investigate the consequences of breeding for skeletal morphology and gene regulation in highly cooperative Damaraland mole-rats. By experimentally assigning breeding 'queen' status versus nonbreeder status to age-matched littermates, we confirm that queens experience vertebral growth that likely confers advantages to fecundity. However, they also upregulate bone resorption pathways and show reductions in femoral mass, which predicts increased vulnerability to fracture. Together, our results show that, as in eusocial insects, reproductive division of labor in mole-rats leads to gene regulatory rewiring and extensive morphological plasticity. However, in mole-rats, concentrated reproduction is also accompanied by costs to bone strength
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