CRITICAL EXPERIENCES DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SELF-TRACKING TECHNOLOGY

Emerging technologies have brought several new ways to track, measure and evaluate own activity. Well-being, nutrition, physical training, mood, and sleep are a few of the various measures that can be self-tracked by different technological solutions. At the same time, people are becoming more interested in themselves and their own well-being, and constant tracking of own activities is getting more and more popular both on individual level as well as in general healthcare. This study examines critical experiences that occur during the implementation phase of the innovation-decision process and their influence to adopting or rejecting a self-tracking technology. The study is qualitative in nature and empirically based on thematic analysis of ten semi-structured interviews used together with the critical incident technique. The theoretical basis of the study comes from two well-established technology acceptance models: unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) and innovation-decision process. The results reveal the experiences and factors that are important for users in terms of deciding whether to adopt or reject a self-tracking technology during the initial phase of implementation. The results are also reflected to UTAUT2 and the innovation-decision process

Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

The realities of the 21st-century learner require that schools and educators fundamentally change their practice. "Educators must produce college- and career-ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face. And, they must facilitate learning through means that align with the defining attributes of this generation of learners."Today, we know more than ever about how students learn, acknowledging that the process isn't the same for every student and doesn't remain the same for each individual, depending upon maturation and the content being learned. We know that students want to progress at a pace that allows them to master new concepts and skills, to access a variety of resources, to receive timely feedback on their progress, to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways and to get direction, support and feedback from—as well as collaborate with—experts, teachers, tutors and other students.The result is a growing demand for student-centered, transformative digital learning using competency education as an underpinning.iNACOL released this paper to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use and integrate as they being their journey toward student-centered learning, as well as how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals and strategic plans.Educators can use this report to optimize student learning and promote innovation in their own student-centered learning environments. The report will help school leaders understand the complex technologies needed to optimize personalized learning and how to use data and analytics to improve practices, and can assist technology leaders in re-engineering systems to support the key nuances of student-centered learning

Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) [CFDA 84.418P]

Over the past two decades, New York State (NYS) has been actively and collaboratively engaged in systems change across three primary domains: 1) to develop a comprehensive employment system to reduce barriers to work and improve employment outcomes of individuals with disabilities; 2) to enhance the post-school adult outcomes of youth with disabilities, by collaboratively advancing evidence-based secondary transition practices at the regional, school district and individual student levels; and, 3) to support the return-to-work efforts of individuals with disabilities who receive Social Security Administration (SSA) disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). These domains have been supported by numerous federal and state initiatives including: the US Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS)-sponsored Transition Systems Change grant; the SSA-sponsored State Partnership Initiative (NYWORKS); two Youth Transition Demonstrations (YTD); the Benefits Offset National Demonstration (BOND); and, three cycles of funding for the National Work Incentives Support Center (WISC); the US Department of Labor (DOL)-sponsored Work Incentive Grant, Disability Program Navigator Initiative, and Disability Employment Initiative; three rounds of funding from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) for Medicaid Infrastructure Grants (MIG, NY Makes Work Pay); the NYS Education Department (NYSED) sponsored Model Transition Program (MTP); and three multi-year cycles of the statewide Transition Coordination Site network. Most recently, NYS has sponsored the Statewide Transition Services Professional Development Support Center (PDSC); the NYS Developmental Disability Planning Council (DDPC)-sponsored Transition Technical Assistance Support Program (T-TASP), NYS Work Incentives Support Center (NYS WISC), and NYS Partners in Policy Making (PIP); the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH)-sponsored Career Development Initiative; and others. The growing statewide and gubernatorial emphasis on employment for New Yorkers with disabilities developed over the past two decades stemming from these initiatives, supported by service innovations and shared vision across state agencies and employment stakeholders, establishes a strong foundation for implementing and sustaining a research demonstration to “Promote the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income” (PROMISE). The NYS PROMISE will build upon NYS’ past successes and significantly support NYS in removing systems, policy and practice barriers for transition-age youth who receive SSI and their families. The NYS OMH through the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH), with their management partners the New York Employment Support System (NYESS) Statewide Coordinating Council (SCC) and Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute, along with the proposed research demonstration site community, join the NYS Governor’s Office in designing and implementing a series of statewide strategic service interventions to support the transition and employment preparation of youth ages 14-16 who receive SSI

Guiding Transformation: How Medical Practices Can Become Patient-Centered Medical Homes

Describes in detail eight change concepts as a guide to transforming a practice into a patient-centered medical home, including engaged leadership, quality improvement strategy, continuous and team-based healing relationships, and enhanced access

Problematising upstream technology through speculative design: the case of quantified cats and dogs

There is growing interest in technology that quantifies aspects of our lives. This paper draws on critical practice and speculative design to explore, question and problematise the ultimate consequences of such technology using the quantification of companion animals (pets) as a case study. We apply the concept of ‘moving upstream’ to study such technology and use a qualitative research approach in which both pet owners, and animal behavioural experts, were presented with, and asked to discuss, speculative designs for pet quantification applications, the design of which were extrapolated from contemporary trends. Our findings indicate a strong desire among pet owners for technology that has little scientific justification, whilst our experts caution that the use of technology to augment human-animal communication has the potential to disimprove animal welfare, undermine human-animal bonds, and create human-human conflicts. Our discussion informs wider debates regarding quantification technology

Tracking Transfer of Reform Methodology from Science and Math College Courses to the Teaching Style of Beginning Teachers of Grades 5-12

The purpose of this study was to determine if reformed science and math courses at community colleges and the university were impacting education majors as they began a teaching career. The reformed courses, in contrast to typical lecture classes, implemented inquiry-based methods that emphasized deep understanding of fundamental science and math concepts. Trained evaluators, utilizing the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) gathered a total of 86 classroom observations to gauge the level of reform that beginning teachers (one to three years’ teaching experience) were implementing in grades 5-12. The pre-service experience of the beginning teachers varied from having had zero to four reform courses. Results indicated that teachers who had completed reform college courses instructed in a significantly more reformed manner. Furthermore, analysis of years of teaching experience revealed that, while both control and experimental groups achieved higher RTOP scores as they progressed from year to year, the experimental group significantly outpaced their counterparts

Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students' Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (Nellie Mae), in partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), has recently released a comprehensive analysis of competency-based education (CBE), an instructional approach that emphasizes what students learn and master rather than time spent in a classroom. The study, titled "Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education," examines the relationship between various competency-based practices and increased student learning capacity. Additionally, the study highlights the varying degrees of CBE practices in schools that have an existing reputation for implementation."Schools across the country are increasingly seeking ways to provide a competency-based education for students, yet many educators are not sure of where to begin or how they can implement this approach to learning," said Eve Goldberg, Director of Research at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. "The framework developed by AIR of learning skills, behaviors, and dispositions and the findings on specific practices can help educators strengthen their practices and gives them the tools to continuously improve their practice. We hope educators interested in making this shift will benefit from this analysis.""Looking Under the Hood" analyzes a variety of competency-based practices to examine how schools implement CBE and determine how it relates to students' learning capacities. Some notable findings include:Learning in contexts outside the classroom (for example, internships) positively relates to increasing students' learning capacitiesThe option for students to learn at a comfortable pace (for example, extra time to finish a topic or unit and the opportunity to retake an exam or re-do a final project) has a positive association with self-efficacy and increasing students' motivation to learnThe option for students to receive both instruction and assessment in a variety of formats, including collaborative group projects, helped students' intrinsic motivationEstablishing clear learning targets was positively related to increasing students' learning capacitiesOverall, the study finds that many students' experiences with CBE-aligned practices were positively associated with changes in learning capacities in several areas, most notably in students' intrinsic motivation for classroom work."Competency-based education varies tremendously from school to school and even across classrooms, so it can be hard to determine if it is working," said Erin Haynes, Senior Researcher at the American Institutes for Research. "This study examined specific CBE-aligned practices, giving us a more finely-honed view of how such practices are related to students' capacity to learn. We hope this research will help inform future efforts to implement competency-based methods across districts, schools and classrooms.