Developing generic skills for tertiary students in an online learning environment

Increasingly, higher education institutions are being asked by industry, government and funding bodies to produce graduates with versatile generic skills as well as subject knowledge and expertise. This is causing a major reappraisal of higher education institutions purpose, learning outcomes and research activities. Many institutions are experiencing problems in implementing effective teaching and learning strategies to promote the development of these skills. The study sought to investigate ways of developing students\u27 generic skills through the design and implementation of a learning environment that incorporated three key learning principles - authenticity, self-regulation and reflection. These were integrated into a course design methodology that focused on creating appropriate learning tasks for the given course objectives. The development of learning resources and supports was considered only after key learning tasks had been established for the given context. Using this instructional strategy, a learning environment was created using both face-to- face and online delivery, and tested with a class of final year higher education students. Eleven generic skills were identified as being important for these students. These included - time management, learning-to-learn, self-assessment, leadership, collaboration, communication, peer-assessment, research, analysis/ synthesis, problem solving and task management. A range of data was collected and analysed by triangulating various qualitative and quantitative research methodologies that provided a rich representation of how the students engaged with the learning activities. Results showed that the design of the learning environment was effective in promoting the development of these generic skills, and that the authentic activities were instrumental in motivating students. Once motivated, students then actively engaged with self-directed and reflective activities, which helped construct knowledge and promote generic skill development. The major implication of the study is that generic skill development and deep approaches to learning can be achieved without having to take extra time to specifically teach these skills. Developing generic skills becomes a natural consequence of students actively engaging with learning tasks that are authentic, student-centred and reflective. Using this approach to teaching and learning, course coordinators need to consider which generic skills should be targeted at different year levels to cover the necessary skills

eHealth in Chronic Diseases

This book provides a review of the management of chronic diseases (evaluation and treatment) through eHealth. Studies that examine how eHealth can help to prevent, evaluate, or treat chronic diseases and their outcomes are included

Supporting exploratory browsing with visualization of social interaction history

This thesis is concerned with the design, development, and evaluation of information visualization tools for supporting exploratory browsing. Information retrieval (IR) systems currently do not support browsing well. Responding to user queries, IR systems typically compute relevance scores of documents and then present the document surrogates to users in order of relevance. Other systems such as email clients and discussion forums simply arrange messages in reverse chronological order. Using these systems, people cannot gain an overview of a collection easily, nor do they receive adequate support for finding potentially useful items in the collection. This thesis explores the feasibility of using social interaction history to improve exploratory browsing. Social interaction history refers to traces of interaction among users in an information space, such as discussions that happen in the blogosphere or online newspapers through the commenting facility. The basic hypothesis of this work is that social interaction history can serve as a good indicator of the potential value of information items. Therefore, visualization of social interaction history would offer navigational cues for finding potentially valuable information items in a collection. To test this basic hypothesis, I conducted three studies. First, I ran statistical analysis of a social media data set. The results showed that there were positive relationships between traces of social interaction and the degree of interestingness of web articles. Second, I conducted a feasibility study to collect initial feedback about the potential of social interaction history to support information exploration. Comments from the participants were in line with the research hypothesis. Finally, I conducted a summative evaluation to measure how well visualization of social interaction history can improve exploratory browsing. The results showed that visualization of social interaction history was able to help users find interesting articles, to reduce wasted effort, and to increase user satisfaction with the visualization tool

Building on Progress - Expanding the Research Infrastructure for the Social, Economic, and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 1

The publication provides a comprehensive compendium of the current state of Germany's research infrastructure in the social, economic, and behavioural sciences. In addition, the book presents detailed discussions of the current needs of empirical researchers in these fields and opportunities for future development. The book contains 68 advisory reports by more than 100 internationally recognized authors from a wide range of fields and recommendations by the German Data Forum (RatSWD) on how to improve the research infrastructure so as to create conditions ideal for making Germany's social, economic, and behavioral sciences more innovative and internationally competitive. The German Data Forum (RatSWD) has discussed the broad spectrum of issues covered by these advisory reports extensively, and has developed general recommendations on how to expand the research infrastructure to meet the needs of scholars in the social and economic sciences

An inventory of biophilic design attributes within child life play spaces

A review of the literature in architecture and interior design revealed health benefits from exposure to natural conditions. This was not particularly surprising given work related to biophilic theory, which posits an innate human affiliation to nature. The positive effects of interaction with our environment were also found in literature related to child development which revealed the importance of nature and play for enriching children's development. This project intended to quantify the variety of biophilic design attributes present within existing play spaces that are used to support children's health and well-being in healthcare settings within Child Life, a program that aims to help children and their families cope with the healthcare experience. The project used photography to document 24 inpatient play spaces in North Carolina health care facilities that employ Child Life. Features of the spaces identified in the photographs were recorded using a Biophilic Interior Design Matrix, which was developed to inventory the range of biophilia through design elements and their subset attributes (Kellert, 2008) to provide a quantitative score. It was developed and pre-tested in order to use the instrument to quantify the play room attributes and used inter-rater reliability testing to further define the instrument's accuracy and dependability. The results from the matrix was an average total biophilic attribute score of 21.5 out of 52 total points or a 41% average inclusion with a statistical range of 25. The average for all of the room's element sub-scores was averaged among each other with a 3.7 score of attribute inclusion per element among all of the play rooms. The element with the highest presence was Natural Shapes and Forms, the representation or simulation of the natural world, and the lowest was Place-Based Relationships, connecting culture with ecology and the geographical context. These results offer initial findings as to what levels the biophilia attributes are found in the interior, and specifically in Child Life play spaces. An online survey of the eight Child Life facilities staff was conducted regarding their play space preferences, where they use these rooms to work with hospitalized children. The four open-ended question's responses showed the most common topic was a desire for a spacious environment with 54% of play rooms either requesting more space or appreciating a large space. The human desire for spaciousness was found to be greatly desired in interior play rooms for its ability to help patients move throughout the space easily and have access to choices of activities alongside of other patients. Secondly, around 30% specifically wanted or appreciated having nature-based design features. Also, the surveys resounded with support for the play space as a tool used by Child Life in its endeavors for supporting their pediatric patients and its effectiveness. The survey results were incorporated with the matrix findings to create 24 case studies of the play spaces. The lowest effectiveness ratings from the survey responses were found in spaces scoring on the lowest end of the matrix results and further support a link between an environment with a higher variety of biophilic attributes and an effective Child Life play space. These case studies showed that biophilic features were found in varying amounts and some were specifically indicated as being desirable. Further research on the individual attributes and wider application of the matrix may add to this initial quantification of biophilia. The matrix is easily adapted for additional applications and was aimed at assisting interior designers with aiding biophilia incorporation. The case studies provide support for future biophilia design decisions, as well as informing additional research involving Child Life play spaces

Designing Arguments for Academic, Public, and Professional Audiences

This college-level textbook guides students through five different types of arguments: evaluations, responses, persuasive rhetorical arguments, proposals, and practical professional development arguments. Students are introduced to rhetorical concepts and strategies to enable them to more effectively appeal to different types of audiences. Students will gain practice in audience-based reasoning, basing their reasons and evidence on the assumptions, beliefs, and values of their readers.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1040/thumbnail.jp

De-Sign Environment Landscape City Atti

La VI Conferenza Internazionale sul Disegno, De_Sign Environment Landscape City_Genova 2020 tratta di: Rilievo e Rappresentazione dell’Architettura e dell’Ambiente; Il Disegno per il paesaggio; Disegni per il Progetto: tracce - visioni e pre-visioni; I margini i segni della memoria e la città in progress; Cultura visiva e comunicazione dall’idea al progetto; Le emergenze architettoniche; Il colore e l’ambiente; Percezione e identità territoriale; Patrimonio iconografico culturale paesaggistico: arte, letteratura e ricadute progettuali; Segni e Disegni per il Design e Rappresentazione avanzata. Federico Babina, architetto e graphic designer presenta ARCHIVISION, e Eduardo Carazo Lefort, Docente dell’Università di Valladolid e Targa d’Oro dell’Unione Italiana Disegno la Lectio Magistralis. The VI International Conference on Drawing, De_Sign Environment Landscape City_Genoa 2020, deals with: Survey and Representation of Architecture and the Environment; Drawing for the landscape; De-signs for the Project: traces-visions and previews; Margins, signs of memory and the city in progress; Visual culture and communication from idea to project; Architectural emergencies; The color and the environment; Perception and territorial identity; Landscape cultural iconographic heritage: art, literature and design implications; Signs and Drawings for Design and Advanced Representation. Federico Babina, architect and graphic designer presents ARCHIVISION, and Professor Eduardo Carazo Lefort-University of Valladolid and Gold Plate of the Italian Design Union presents his Lectio Magistralis