Models for Learning (Mod4L) Final Report: Representing Learning Designs

The Mod4L Models of Practice project is part of the JISC-funded Design for Learning Programme. It ran from 1 May – 31 December 2006. The philosophy underlying the project was that a general split is evident in the e-learning community between development of e-learning tools, services and standards, and research into how teachers can use these most effectively, and is impeding uptake of new tools and methods by teachers. To help overcome this barrier and bridge the gap, a need is felt for practitioner-focused resources which describe a range of learning designs and offer guidance on how these may be chosen and applied, how they can support effective practice in design for learning, and how they can support the development of effective tools, standards and systems with a learning design capability (see, for example, Griffiths and Blat 2005, JISC 2006). Practice models, it was suggested, were such a resource. The aim of the project was to: develop a range of practice models that could be used by practitioners in real life contexts and have a high impact on improving teaching and learning practice. We worked with two definitions of practice models. Practice models are: 1. generic approaches to the structuring and orchestration of learning activities. They express elements of pedagogic principle and allow practitioners to make informed choices (JISC 2006) However, however effective a learning design may be, it can only be shared with others through a representation. The issue of representation of learning designs is, then, central to the concept of sharing and reuse at the heart of JISC’s Design for Learning programme. Thus practice models should be both representations of effective practice, and effective representations of practice. Hence we arrived at the project working definition of practice models as: 2. Common, but decontextualised, learning designs that are represented in a way that is usable by practitioners (teachers, managers, etc).(Mod4L working definition, Falconer & Littlejohn 2006). A learning design is defined as the outcome of the process of designing, planning and orchestrating learning activities as part of a learning session or programme (JISC 2006). Practice models have many potential uses: they describe a range of learning designs that are found to be effective, and offer guidance on their use; they support sharing, reuse and adaptation of learning designs by teachers, and also the development of tools, standards and systems for planning, editing and running the designs. The project took a practitioner-centred approach, working in close collaboration with a focus group of 12 teachers recruited across a range of disciplines and from both FE and HE. Focus group members are listed in Appendix 1. Information was gathered from the focus group through two face to face workshops, and through their contributions to discussions on the project wiki. This was supplemented by an activity at a JISC pedagogy experts meeting in October 2006, and a part workshop at ALT-C in September 2006. The project interim report of August 2006 contained the outcomes of the first workshop (Falconer and Littlejohn, 2006). The current report refines the discussion of issues of representing learning designs for sharing and reuse evidenced in the interim report and highlights problems with the concept of practice models (section 2), characterises the requirements teachers have of effective representations (section 3), evaluates a number of types of representation against these requirements (section 4), explores the more technically focused role of sequencing representations and controlled vocabularies (sections 5 & 6), documents some generic learning designs (section 8.2) and suggests ways forward for bridging the gap between teachers and developers (section 2.6). All quotations are taken from the Mod4L wiki unless otherwise stated

Nursing Students\u27 Self-Efficacy and Attitude: Examining the Influence ofthe Omaha System In Nurse Managed Centers

Self-efficacy, or confidence, as an outcome behavior has been identified as influencing nursing job satisfaction and retention. Clinical learning environments and teaching strategies that build and support perceived self-efficacy are critical aspects of preparing new nurses for their entry and continuing role as professional nurses in today\u27s information-intensive data-management healthcare environment. The purpose of this pre-test post-test study is to measure, using the C-scale (Grundy, 1992), nursing students\u27 self-efficacy to perform patient assessment in Nurse Managed Centers (NMC) after one semester of using the Omaha System documentation framework. Nursing students\u27 attitudes of preparation for using Standardized Nursing Languages (SNL) in the future was also examined. Bandura\u27s (1977, 19986) theoretical model of self-efficacy provided the conceptual framework. Students\u27 overall self-efficacy scores increased significantly over the 12 week study. Use of the Omaha System \u27prepared a little\u27 to \u27very prepared\u27 90% of student nurses for future use of SNL. Continued use of the Omaha System documentation framework in Nurse Managed Center clinicals as a tool for understanding SNL is recommended.

Behavior change interventions: the potential of ontologies for advancing science and practice

A central goal of behavioral medicine is the creation of evidence-based interventions for promoting behavior change. Scientific knowledge about behavior change could be more effectively accumulated using "ontologies." In information science, an ontology is a systematic method for articulating a "controlled vocabulary" of agreed-upon terms and their inter-relationships. It involves three core elements: (1) a controlled vocabulary specifying and defining existing classes; (2) specification of the inter-relationships between classes; and (3) codification in a computer-readable format to enable knowledge generation, organization, reuse, integration, and analysis. This paper introduces ontologies, provides a review of current efforts to create ontologies related to behavior change interventions and suggests future work. This paper was written by behavioral medicine and information science experts and was developed in partnership between the Society of Behavioral Medicine's Technology Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Theories and Techniques of Behavior Change Interventions SIG. In recent years significant progress has been made in the foundational work needed to develop ontologies of behavior change. Ontologies of behavior change could facilitate a transformation of behavioral science from a field in which data from different experiments are siloed into one in which data across experiments could be compared and/or integrated. This could facilitate new approaches to hypothesis generation and knowledge discovery in behavioral science

Global partnerships to strengthen the evidence base for nursing

There is a growing emphasis on building the evidence base as governments, health systems, practitioners, and consumers, nationally and globally, search for ways to improve health care outcomes and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of health services. Nurses and midwives constitute the largest group of health service providers in the majority of health systems around the globe. The WHO Global Advisory Group on Nursing and Midwifery recommended that WHO should form strategic alliances with partners to identify uniform core indicators and build a solid body of evidence to inform national health policies, particularly in the area of cost-effective nursing and midwifery services such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Creating an international digital library has the potential to make a significant impact on global health

Using Organization Theory to Explore the Changing Role of Medical Libraries

This historical research review uses organization theory to describe and interpret the evolution of American hospitals, medical libraries, and the role of the professional librarian. Various organization theories are applied to explain changes in hospitals and medical libraries over time. The interaction between the organization and the environment as described in organization theory shaped the emergence of today\u27s information services. For readers unfamiliar with health sciences libraries, the study will provide a glimpse into the social forces that framed the development of this type of special library

Critical discourse analysis : an alternative but vital route to understanding how nurses' caring behaviour is translated in text-based interprofessional online learning in higher education

Paper presented at ProPEL international conference 2014, 24-27 June, Stirling, Scotland. ABSTRACT Aim: to demonstrate Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis as an alternative but vital route to the understanding of translation of nursing caring behaviour in asynchronous text-based interprofessional online learning within higher education. Background: Positive asynchronous text-based online learning experience indicating nursing caring behaviours were reported in only a small number of studies about homogeneous nursing groups. In addition, these positive findings seemed to be eroded by nurses’ dominance in interprofessional learning situations. The dominance which might be a result of professional boundaries is a critical barrier to interprofessional education, where little is yet understood about the phenomenon. Design: A study which employed Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis was used to seek understanding of the translation of nursing caring behaviour in text-based interprofessional online learning within higher education. Data Source: The main findings based on Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis of a text-based discussion is used to demonstrate the usefulness of the methodology. The asynchronous online discussions for analysis was produced by 9 students who were undertaking an interprofessional online learning module at master’s level in a University in North England Findings: By using Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, understanding of the semiotic categories corresponding to genres, discourses and styles is gained. However, it is through appreciating on how these 3 categories relate to social practices and social events has helped in making explicit the dialectical relations between semiosis and its other elements. In doing so, how nurses’ caring behaviours in interprofessional learning were translated in an asynchronous text-based learning environment can be explained. Conclusions: Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis was useful in explaining how nursing caring attributes could result in the interprofessional learning space being used as an alternate platform for nurses and allied healthcare professionals to co-construct the power-relations. It is critical to appreciate that the analysis was based on the researcher’s emic position. Owing to the fact that tacit knowledge of the research in the power-relations which entangled in the social order and practices in healthcare is required in the analysis, the strength of an emic position could become a limitation. This is particularly perceived amongst researchers who hold a strong view for an etic perspective in discourse analytic work. In this regard, research exploring issues of interprofessional education should consider triangulating the critical discourse methodology with other qualitative theoretical frameworks

The Use Of Portrayals For Assessing Nursing Students’ Oral Skill

Sequence of pictures, maps and diagrams can be used to assess speaking. We can use pictures for testing the production of significant phoneme contrast, while a portrayal of a scene or an incident can be used for examining the total oral skills. This article is a descriptive study that the data is collcted from seconder data which is obtained by library reference. The discussion focuses on the use of portrayals for description, narration and procedure. The aim of this paper is to figure out the use of portrayals for assessing students’ oral skill in Poltekkes Kemenkes Semarang Prodi Tegal. Based on the elaboration, portrayals enable the students to explore their imagination, particularly portrayals of a nurse or a doctor handling patient or something around hospital. These erase the obstacles of the tester in assessing the nursing students’ oral skills. The students’ knowledge such as the vocabularies and the expressions related to Asuhan Keperawatan or called a sequence step caring patient come out when assessment. Furthermore, the tester is able to capture score based on their performanc

Versioning Vocabularies in a Linked Data World

Submitted for and presented to the IFLA 2014 satellite meeting on Linked Open Data in Paris, France, August, 2014.Policies regarding change management in open or public vocabularies used in the context of Linked Open Data have lagged behind those driving other web-based communities of practice. A fresh emphasis on vocabulary management and maintenance has begun to emerge, as the reliance on potentially volatile vocabularies, and the implications of their ongoing growth and change, has begun to permeate the conversation. Particularly in libraries, where management of commonly used vocabularies has long been a community-wide activity, management of vocabularies has been seen as the realm of larger institutions and organizations. This centralized control has been workable (if slow to evolve to incorporate new needs) so long as data distribution has also been centralized, but this pattern of distribution has become more questionable as a transition to the more open world of linked data begins to demonstrate the inflexibility of traditional practices. As more attention shifts to new vocabulary standards and usages outside libraries, researchers and innovative organizations have sought to take advantage of this boom in interest, but unlike librarians, they have little experience in implementation over time. Merging the technology of the Semantic Web with the information management experience of libraries seems a reasonable strategy, but better understanding by all of where practices must change is critical

Discourse of 'transformational leadership' in infection control

The article explores the impact of the 'transformational leadership' style in the role of modern matron with regards to infection control practices. Policy and guidance on the modern matron role suggest that it is distinctive in its combination of management and clinical components, and in its reliance on transformational leadership. Senior nurses are therefore expected to motivate staff by creating high expectations, modelling appropriate behaviour, and providing personal attention to followers by giving respect and responsibility. In this article, we draw on policy documents and interview data to explore the potential impact of this new management style on infection control practices. Combining the techniques of discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, we identify examples where matrons appear to disassociate themselves from the role of `an empowered manager' who has control over human and financial resources to resolve problems in infection control efficiently