Effects of Community of Practice and Knowledge Translation Strategies on Nurse Practitioners\u27 Knowledge and Practice Behavior

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that interactive CE activities will have the most effect in terms of knowledge and practice. Using technology to provide interactivity via computer-based applications is as effective an educational strategy as traditional education formats. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the effectiveness and satisfaction of educational activities provided within an online community of practice(CoP) on nurse practitioner (NP) knowledge and practice behavior. The online interactive website combined certified continuing education, professional forum, Ask-the-Experts, national guideline links, patient education tools, and professional resources. A Two-Group Control Group design was used. Study participants were assessed on knowledge and practice behavior prior to and after the six month study. Results: A sample of 66 NPs was randomly assigned to an online education only control group (n=33) or a CoP group (n=33). NPs in both groups had similar pretest knowledge assessment scores: 46% (control) vs. 49% (CoP), and pretest clinical vignette scores: 51%(control) vs. 57% (CoP). After the intervention, there was no significant increase in the posttest scores of the CoP group at 6 months compared with the posttest scores of the control group (knowledge assessment: 67% vs. 60%, p =.17; clinical vignettes: 67% vs. 74%, p =.28). Conclusions: The pilot test did not demonstrate that the intervention (CoP access) had a more positive effect on knowledge or clinical performance than access to online CE activities alone. It did however confirm the effectiveness of online education in improving knowledge

Supporting Organisational Critical Activities From Web Sites: An Evaluation Methodology Development

quot; Organisational critical activities quot; (OCAs) are activities which must be conducted by the organisation constantly in order to be successful in the industry. They are recognised as being essential to short, medium, and long-term success in that industry, have been significantly resourced and receive regular senior management monitoring and direction. Although these activities are extremely important, some empirical studies have shown that they are not well supported by organisations, particularly in the area of Web support. This thesis develops an evaluation methodology called the quot;organisational critical activity Web support evaluation methodology quot; (OCAWSEM) which can be utilised to elicit OCAs from organisations, evaluate whether an organisation acutes; OCAs are being supported by its Web site, and provide guidance on how the organisation can improve its Web site. To develop the OCAWSEM, this thesis reviews the relevant literature and proposes a prototype OCAWSEM. A new iterative case design (ICD) approach has been used in order to further develop the prototype, and then to test the improved OCAWSEM. The selected field cases were eight universities in New Zealand. In total, 43 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior teams, middle level managers, and Web teams. A systematic review of these universitiesacute Web sites was performed from the provideracutes, rather than the useracutes perspective. The outcome shows that the Developed OCAWSEM is a valid and reliable methodology for the evaluation of the support for OCAs from Web sites in the universities in New Zealand. This thesis provides useful lessons, drawn from the development and testing processes, as the basis from which to develop more specific OCAWSEMs for use in other organisational and industry contexts. Both practitioners and academicians can gain a deeper understanding of the notion of OCAs, better elicit OCAs from management, conduct Web site evaluations, and discuss the support of the Web sites for the OCAs

A Methodology for Evaluating Whether Web Sites Support Their Organizational Critical Activities

Organizational critical activities (OCAs) are activities which must receive constant management attention in order for that organization to be successful in its industry. Some empirical studies have shown that all of these activities may not be well supported by organizations’ websites. This research attempts to develop the evaluation methodology which can be used to assess how well an organization’s website supports the organization’s OCAs if the OCAs are identified. Based on a review of relevant literature, a prototype was proposed, and then evolved and tested through eight case studies in New Zealand universities. In total, more than two thousands web pages were evaluated and 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The final methodology includes five operational stages and seven forms. The results of final case were presented in order to show how the methodology can be utilized in the website evaluation. Some implications and future research are also provided

A metatheory integrating social, biological and technological factors in information behavior research

A metatheory is presented and diagrammed as an integrated conceptual framework for information seeking and use. It represents the symbiotic relationship between users and the technological environment. Receiving and adapting to information is achieved through each user’s biological satisficing procedures defined by group information practices, namely, noticing information, appraising it and evaluating it. Information use is achieved through optimizing procedures, namely, activating goal-setting intentions, constructing a plan and executing it through acting upon the technological environment to attain one’s goals. Evidence is given by listing a variety of information seeking behaviors that others have identified in their review of the literature, then showing how each element fits within the model, as well as by analyzing the interpretive discourse of college students while engaged in carrying out assigned information tasks. Each discourse segment in the samples was categorized as either an affective, cognitive or sensorimotor procedure carried out by the user, and transcribed as a string or sequence. This code sequence was then compared with the sequence produced when the model’s mapping is followed. Every discourse sample inspected contained the six categories specified by the model. The metatheory is suitable for providing a common framework for discussing various areas of information behavior research

Achieving success in collaborative research: the role of virtual research environments

Due to various challenges and opportunities such as globalisation of research agenda and advancements in information and communication technologies, research collaborations (both international and national) have become popular during the last decade more than ever before. Within this context, the concept of Virtual Research Environments is an emerging concept looking at addressing the complex challenges associated with conducting collaborative research. The research reported within this paper investigated how the success factors of collaborative research can be achieved by deploying a Virtual Research Environment

Automatically assembling a full census of an academic field

The composition of the scientific workforce shapes the direction of scientific research, directly through the selection of questions to investigate, and indirectly through its influence on the training of future scientists. In most fields, however, complete census information is difficult to obtain, complicating efforts to study workforce dynamics and the effects of policy. This is particularly true in computer science, which lacks a single, all-encompassing directory or professional organization. A full census of computer science would serve many purposes, not the least of which is a better understanding of the trends and causes of unequal representation in computing. Previous academic census efforts have relied on narrow or biased samples, or on professional society membership rolls. A full census can be constructed directly from online departmental faculty directories, but doing so by hand is prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. Here, we introduce a topical web crawler for automating the collection of faculty information from web-based department rosters, and demonstrate the resulting system on the 205 PhD-granting computer science departments in the U.S. and Canada. This method constructs a complete census of the field within a few minutes, and achieves over 99% precision and recall. We conclude by comparing the resulting 2017 census to a hand-curated 2011 census to quantify turnover and retention in computer science, in general and for female faculty in particular, demonstrating the types of analysis made possible by automated census construction.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

ADOLESCENTS' CONSTRUCTIVELY RESPONSIVE READING STRATEGY USE IN A CRITICAL INTERNET READING TASK

The goal of this study was to examine types and patterns of reading strategies that proficient adolescent readers used while reading on the Internet. Informed by research related to reading comprehension, intertextuality, and new literacies, I drew upon the model of Constructively Responsive Reading that had evolved from print reading to Internet reading (Afflerbach & Cho, 2009; Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995). The model offered an analytical tool to construct descriptions of the complexity of use of the four general types of strategies in Internet contexts: Realizing and Constructing Potential Texts to Read, Identifying and Learning Text Content, Monitoring, and Evaluation. Seven highly proficient adolescent readers (Mean Age = 17.5) individually performed Internet reading, with a goal to create a critical question about their self- selected controversial topic across two 45-minute sessions: Open Website Searching and Focused Website Learning. I used multiple sources to triangulate complementary data to infer participants' Internet reading strategy use. Participants' think-aloud verbal reports were synchronized with their reader-computer interactions recorded in the computer. These real-time strategy data were complemented by other contextual data (e.g., pre-/post-reading interviews, participant-generated critical questions). I integrated these data into Internet Reading Strategy Matrices of the individual participants, which were analyzed, both qualitatively and quantitatively. During the entire course of data analysis, I constantly referenced the model of Constructively Responsive Reading with the four strategy categories. My data analyses afforded detailed descriptions of diverse constructively responsive reading strategies in Internet contexts and dynamic patterns of such reading strategy use. Grounded-analysis of data resulted in the identification of an array of reading strategies and many instances of strategy interplay among the four strategy categories. Chi-squared analysis of aggregated strategy data revealed the goal-directed nature of strategy use, as participants' use of these four types of strategies was associated with two different session tasks. Also, analysis of the processing chains visualizing the flow of strategy use indicated differences in the performances of Internet reading strategy use among the participants and their distinctive modes of Internet reading. Overall, my study supported the theoretical model of Constructively Responsive Reading, with empirical data that described diversity and patterns of constructively responsive reading strategies in Internet contexts. The complexity of Internet reading was discussed with regard to constructively responsive reading that coordinates different roles and functions of the four general types of strategies

The Impact Of Technology Trust On The Acceptance Of Mobile Banking Technology Within Nigeria

With advancement in the use of information technology seen as a key factor in economic development, developed countries are increasingly reviewing traditional systems, in various sectors such as education, health, transport and finance, and identifying how they may be improved or replaced with automated systems. In this study, the authors examine the role of technology trust in the acceptance of mobile banking in Nigeria as the country attempts to transition into a cashless economy. For Nigeria, like many other countries, its economic growth is linked, at least in part, to its improvement in information technology infrastructure, as well as establishing secure, convenient and reliable payments systems. Utilising the Technology Acceptance Model, this study investigates causal relationships between technology trust and other factors influencing user’s intention to adopt technology; focusing on the impact of seven factors contributing to technology trust. Data from 1725 respondents was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and the results showed that confidentiality, integrity, authentication, access control, best business practices and non-repudiation significantly influenced technology trust. Technology trust showed a direct significant influence on perceived ease of use and usefulness, a direct influence on intention to use as well as an indirect influence on intention to use through its impact on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness showed significant influence on consumer’s intention to adopt the technology. With mobile banking being a key driver of Nigeria’s cashless economy goals, this study provides quantitative knowledge regarding technology trust and adoption behaviour in Nigeria as well as significant insight on areas where policy makers and mobile banking vendors can focus strategies engineered to improve trust in mobile banking and increase user adoption of their technology

How should we measure online learning activity?

The proliferation of Web-based learning objects makes finding and evaluating resources a considerable hurdle for learners to overcome. While established learning analytics methods provide feedback that can aid learner evaluation of learning resources, the adequacy and reliability of these methods is questioned. Because engagement with online learning is different from other Web activity, it is important to establish pedagogically relevant measures that can aid the development of distinct, automated analysis systems. Content analysis is often used to examine online discussion in educational settings, but these instruments are rarely compared with each other which leads to uncertainty regarding their validity and reliability. In this study, participation in Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) comment forums was evaluated using four different analytical approaches: the Digital Artefacts for Learning Engagement (DiAL-e) framework, Bloom's Taxonomy, Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) and Community of Inquiry (CoI). Results from this study indicate that different approaches to measuring cognitive activity are closely correlated and are distinct from typical interaction measures. This suggests that computational approaches to pedagogical analysis may provide useful insights into learning processes

Probing the Landscape: Toward a Systematic Taxonomy of Online Peer Assessment Systems in Education

We present the research framework for a taxonomy of online educational peer-assessment systems. This framework enables researchers in technology-supported peer assessment to understand the current landscape of technologies supporting student peer review and assessment, specifically, its affordances and constraints. The framework helps identify the major themes in existing and potential research and formulate an agenda for future studies. It also informs educators and system design practitioners about use cases and design options