Dementia care in the acute hospital setting: issues and strategies

This report identifies a range of strategies to improve the outcomes for people with dementia. Executive summary: Australia is facing a huge healthcare challenge with an ever increasing demand for appropriate acute care services for people with dementia. Yet, people with dementia still struggle to get the care they need in the acute care setting. People with dementia experience unacceptably worse clinical outcomes, longer lengths of stay as well as a higher likelihood for readmission compared to people without dementia at a high cost to the health care system.1 With good care, the costs of dementia care in hospital may be the same but the outcomes for people with dementia would be improved leading to a more efficient use of health care spending. Alzheimer’s Australia held a Dementia Care in Hospitals Symposium in Sydney on the 29th of April 2014, where the most recent Australian research in dementia care in hospitals was presented and discussed by leading researchers and experts. This included latest findings on current dementia care as well as interventions and strategies to improve the quality of care. This report provides a summary of the issues and strategies that were discussed at this Symposium. To improve outcomes for people with dementia in the acute hospital setting, this report outlines urgent issues that need to be addressed. These include: • Better identification of cognitive impairment in our hospitals • Increased training for all staff including how to communicate with a person with dementia and how to respond to behavioural and psychological symptoms • More extensive and systematic involvement of carers as partners in the health care of people with dementia • Creation of appropriate physical hospital environments to reduce confusion and distress of people with dementia. This report also identifies a range of strategies to improve the outcomes for people with dementia including: 1. Identify and manage dementia at hospital admission and plan for discharge from the outset 2. Involve family carers in the care and support of patients 3. Train staff to better understand dementia and communicate more effectively with people with dementia 4. Use alternatives, such as psychosocial interventions, to the use of antipsychotic medication and sedatives 5. Adapt the hospital physical environment to reduce distractions and help orientate patients with dementia 6. Reduce avoidable hospital admissions. While there are already some successful programs in place that improve acute care for people with dementia, more needs to be done. Sustained commitment and leadership from policy makers, senior management and healthcare professionals is essential if we are to achieve the cultural change that is required to improve the outcomes for people with dementia in the acute hospital setting

The Creative Processes of the NSW Public Schools Drama Company

This dissertation reports on my investigation into the creative processes of the NSW Public Schools Drama Company in Australia, the highest tier of an auditioned, co-curricular drama program for school students aged 11 – 18 years. The study observes the production of three scripted plays over two years. It uses case study methodology, a qualitative, phenomenological approach and grounded theory data analysis. The research findings demonstrate that the creative processes of the Drama Company are based on the formation of an environment that encourages creative risk-taking, and the use of creative constraints which stimulate and guide it. In this context the ensemble is able to utilise elements of group creativity so that the interaction between group members can produce "emergents", creative solutions which are greater than the sum of individual contributions. The findings are expressed in a nested, three layer model. The outer shape is the context of the Drama Company and its creative climate. Within that, the second shape is the boundaries that stimulate the work. The innermost space within these shapes is the rehearsal processes which augment the group creativity of the ensemble. The research highlights the significance of the context for creative work, the power of creative constraints to stimulate invention and guide the process, and the potency of group creativity in developing creative solutions. It also extends theories of group creativity to include the corporeal body of the actor and the physical environment. The research findings demonstrate ways to enhance the creativity of drama ensembles in general and the production of scripted work in particular

Curriculum change and teachers’ responses: a NSW case study

This thesis reports on the findings of a study into NSW Arts teachers’ perceptions of curriculum change in the Arts in the Australian context. From 2015 Australian schools began to engage with a national curriculum in the Arts. There are considerable implications for both practice and policy. Teachers’ willingness to adopt a new curriculum and adapt to change is a mitigating factor. This research focussed on NSW drama, music and visual arts teachers’ perceptions of curriculum change from the state curriculum they currently teach, to the incoming Australian arts curriculum. Research was qualitative and employed a case study approach (G. Thomas, 2010) including the use of in-depth interview and document analysis. The opinions of the case study participants in this particular study reflect some and oppose other views expressed in consultation reports, which reflect the wide consultation conducted by the Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) during the development of the Australian arts curriculum. The thesis investigates the teachers’ understanding of curriculum change in their particular Arts discipline area through the lens of six influences on Arts education raised by Elliot Eisner in his seminal paper, “Arts education policy?” (2000). It argues that outside forces within the school, pre-specified outcomes and testing impact the teacher’s capacity to teach the Arts. Teachers’ backgrounds and personal interest in the artform, accompanied by ongoing skills and knowledge development, contribute to teacher competence to teach the Arts. The thesis concludes that the teachers were positive and excited about the new curriculum, identifying similarities to their current state syllabus and potential to change practice through the Australian arts curriculum. These findings provide a benchmark of NSW teachers’ responses to the incoming Australian Curriculum in the Arts

Business graduate employability – where are we going wrong?

Persistent gaps in certain non-technical skills in business graduates continue to impact on organisational performance and global competitiveness. Despite business school’s best efforts in developing non-technical skills, widely acknowledged as fundamental to graduate employability, there has been considerably less attention to measuring skill outcomes and even less on their subsequent transfer to the workplace. It appears stakeholders are assuming transfer occurs automatically in graduates, neglecting the influence of learning program, learner and workplace characteristics on this complex process and its potential impact on graduate employability. This paper unpacks the concept of transfer and proposes a model of graduate employability which incorporates the process. Measures for empirical analysis are discussed. Testing the model would indicate the extent to which transfer occurs and highlight collaborative strategies for employers, universities and graduates in nurturing learning and workplace environments in which transfer may flourish, taking us one step closer to the elusive ‘work-ready’ graduate

The “other” creatives : design and culture in Western Sydney

Western Sydney is an in-between place that is neither unified nor uniform and with constantly shifting borders; somewhere that is constantly in a state of transformation and becoming. Yet despite its vast and diverse geography, media representations tend to focus on the region's suburban aesthetic, and studies have shown that the area is recurrently portrayed as a cultural wasteland, the ugly “Other” Sydney characterised by social problems and neglect, where people are too focused on surviving to be “cultural” and referred to in shorthand as “Westies”. This stereotype has effectively operated as a brand that positioned Western Sydney as subservient to the rest of Sydney, affecting the social and economic interactions of people from the West. In recent times, some Western Sydney local councils have undertaken rebranding processes to make themselves more competitive, usually through celebrating demographic diversity, natural, sporting and recreation assets, and more recently, proximity to the new international airport. However, the region’s cultural assets—past, present, and emerging—have been overlooked, potentially hindering efforts to carve a more unique and authentic identity for the region, and limiting opportunities for locals and locales in the West. Following Melbourne and Sydney, Western Sydney is now Australia’s third-largest economy and is a key growth area, with new houses, jobs, and major projects in progress. Yet despite recent investigations into patterns of development and infrastructure growth, there have been few that explore Western Sydney-based creative industries in keeping with the studies conducted in areas surrounding other Australian cities. Instead, recurring discussions about Sydney’s creative scene tend to reinforce a stereotype, conceptualising creativity as a bohemian, inner city phenomenon with limited consideration given to creative industries situated in the apparently uncool outer suburbs, repeating a pattern of representation that situates the people of Western Sydney as outsiders. From the inside position of designer and Westie, this thesis explores how visual representations have helped to shape and sustain Western Sydney’s reputation as Other to Sydney and proposes how it could be repositioned through harnessing the cultural power of branding. Drawing from cultural studies, creative industries discourse, and branding practice, this thesis illuminates the connections between design and cultural agency in the West. In doing so, it contributes to the reconceptualization of Western Sydney’s identity during a time of unprecedented change and development

Dramatic Interventions: A multi-site case study analysis of student outcomes in the School Drama program

For the last two decades a growing body of research has articulated the transformative potential of learning in, about and through The Arts (for example: Bamford, 2006, 2009; Catterall, Dumais, & Hampden-Thompson, 2012; Deasy, 2002; DICE, 2010; Ewing, 2019, 2010a; Fiske, 1999; Fleming, Gibson, & Anderson, 2016; Winner & Cooper, 2000). In particular, it is clear that there can be a powerful relationship between drama-based pedagogy and the enhancement of student literacies (for example: Baldwin, 2012; Baldwin & Fleming, 2003; Ewing, 2019, 2010a, 2010b; Ewing & Simons, 2016, 2004; Gibson & Ewing, 2011; McNaughton, 1997; Miller & Saxton, 2004, 2009, 2016; Podlozny, 2000). At the same time there has been a need to equip educators with the knowledge, confidence and expertise in the use of drama as critical, quality pedagogy (Ewing, 2002, 2006). This dissertation reports on research that has examined the process and outcomes of one teacher professional learning program, the School Drama program. School Drama is a teacher professional learning program developed through a partnership between Sydney Theatre Company and The University of Sydney’s School of Education and Social Work. The program’s dual aims are to provide primary classroom teachers with the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to use drama-based pedagogy with quality children’s literature and to improve student literacy in a designated focus area such as confidence in oracy, creative/imaginative writing, descriptive language or inferential comprehension. Based on a co-mentoring professional learning model (Ewing, 2002, 2006), a teaching artist works alongside a primary classroom teacher to co-plan, co-teach and co-mentor each other during seven weekly in-class workshops over a term using quality children’s literature and process drama-based strategies. The School Drama program has been operating for ten years (from 2009 to 2019) reaching over 30,000 teachers and their students across Australia. While a growing body of research has explored aspects of the program, relatively little focus to date has centred on the student outcomes. This research aimed to investigate the impact of the program on students. An analysis of all data collected in 2017 from a range of participating schools, teachers and students provides a top-level overview of the program’s outcomes. A fine-grained analysis of three case study classrooms in diverse school contexts follows. A range of data was collected from students, the class teacher and the teaching artist/researcher including: student pre- and post-program literacy benchmarking tasks; student pre- and post-program surveys; student focus groups; teacher interviews; and teaching artist/researcher observations and journals. ii While the findings suggest positive shifts in student English and literacy outcomes in the selected focus area (inferential comprehension), particularly in less able male students, perhaps even more importantly there is strong evidence that quality drama-based pedagogy enhances student confidence, collaboration, imagination, engagement and connection to character. A model is proposed to explain how drama-based pedagogy enables more holistic outcomes for students

Creative media + the internet of things = media multiplicities

© 2018 ISAST. This paper proposes the term “media multiplicities” to describe contemporary media artworks that create multiples of “internet of things” devices. It discusses the properties that distinguish media multiplicities from other forms of media artwork, provides parameters for categorizing media multiplicities, and discusses aesthetic and creative factors in the production of media multiplicities

Crazy by design : brain research and adolescence : implications for classroom teaching, teacher learning and possibilities of teacher research

This research aims to influence teacher understandings of brain research and its implications for teaching adolescents by addressing the following issues: 1. What are the implications of changes in the adolescent brain for teaching and teachers and the adolescent learning environment? 2. How can teachers better accommodate knowledge of the brain into their understandings and pedagogical practices for adolescents? 3. What can the use of a teacher-as-researcher model contribute to teacher learning in understanding brain research and the adolescent learning environment? To address these questions, this research aimed to: 1. Design, implement and evaluate a teacher learning package that would fill a gap in teacher knowledge by strengthening teacher knowledge of current brain research and deepen teacher understanding of the connection between this research and the adolescent learning environment. 2. Support a team of teachers to use an action research methodology to apply brain-research-informed pedagogical practices, learning tools and ‘essential understandings’ of adolescents in mainstream adolescent educational learning environments to improve educational experience and success. 3. Develop a further teacher learning package that: i) Builds the capacity of teachers outside of my research, and leaders of teachers, to implement action research processes in their own context to improve practice. ii) Describes how teachers at Purple High School (PHS) worked as teacher researchers to use brain research to improve the educational experience and success of adolescent learners, and what they learned about action research as teacher learning. This research addresses these aims and questions by telling the story of three inter-related projects. It engaged with three areas: with neuroscience, with teacher-as-researcher and with the teacher-learning literature and research and built connections to teacher praxis

An interdisciplinary approach to enhance children’s listening, learning, and wellbeing in the classroom : The Listen to Learn for Life (L3) Assessment Framework

Introduction: Listening is the gateway to children learning in the mainstream classroom. However, modern classrooms are noisy and dynamic environments making listening challenging. It is therefore critical for researchers from speech and hearing, education, and health sciences to co-design and collaborate to realistically assess how children listen to learn in the classroom and to understand how listening can be improved to enhance children’s learning and wellbeing – an understanding which is currently lacking. Such highly interdisciplinary thinking demands a holistic classroom listening framework that can integrate a range of varied assessments and outcomes. Methods: An extensive review of literature into classroom listening was conducted but failed to identify a suitable framework. In this hypothesis and theory article we present a new framework that we have developed – the Listen to Learn for Life (L3) Assessment Framework. Results: The L3 Assessment Framework holistically incorporates frameworks from health, speech and hearing sciences, and education sectors. The framework accommodates a broad range of different factors that may affect listening, allowing for researchers to choose specific factors dependent on the context of use. Discussion: Selected examples of applying the framework are provided demonstrating how to assess children’s performance during different classroom activities as well as the effectiveness of a chosen intervention. For example, the framework can be used to assess the effectiveness of a wireless remote microphone intervention during group work activities for a child with autism. Conclusion: The L3 Assessment Framework provides a theoretical basis for the future development of research and practice as applied to listening in a classroom setting

Mind matters in mathematics and music

Mathematics and music in practice and performance, and in learning and teaching, share many characteristics, such as beauty and harmony, memory and intuition (as internal senses) and mind or intellect. These raise the principles of processing information in mathematics and music and, by implication, the role of an acquaintance with the essentials of perception, abstraction and affective connaturality in teacher education. This paper compares mathematics and music and considers the acquisition of knowledge and skills through the external and internal senses and emotions, utilizing the role of knowledge through multiple intelligences. In doing so it does not canvas the utilities of mathematics and music as fields of human endeavour so much as their role in the cultivation of serenity and knowledge in the cultured mind. This is a theoretical paper but it is based on nearly a century of teaching from the combined work of the two authors in the teaching of music and mathematics. The paper highlights the importance of inspiration in teaching, inspiration built on a thorough basis of the foundations of anthropology to include the emotions as well as the intellect. While teacher education programs rightly concern themselves with knowledge of the field of study, knowledge of pedagogy, they do not always consider the ability to inspire which is at the heart of managing and mentoring people