Efficacy of Online Training for Improving Camp Staff Competency

Preparing competent staff is a critical issue within the camp community. This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of an online course for improving staff competency in camp healthcare practices among college-aged camp staff and a comparison group (N = 55). We hypothesized that working in camp would increase competency test scores due to opportunities for staff to experientially apply knowledge learned online. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyse the cross-level effects of a between-individuals factor (assignment to experimental or comparison group) and within-individual effects of time (pre-test, post-test #1, and post-test #2) on online course test scores. At post-test #2, the difference in average test scores between groups was ~30 points, with the treatment group scoring lower on average than the comparison group. Factors that may have influenced these findings are explored, including fatigue and the limited durability of online learning. Recommendations for research and practice are discussed

Mentoring the Mentors: Implementation and Evaluation of Four Fogarty-Sponsored Mentoring Training Workshops in Low-and Middle-Income Countries.

A growing body of evidence highlights the importance of competent mentoring in academic research. We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of four regional 2-day intensive workshops to train mid- and senior-level investigators conducting public health, clinical, and basic science research across multiple academic institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) on tools and techniques of effective mentoring. Sponsored by the Fogarty International Center, workshops included didactic presentations, interactive discussions, and small-group problem-based learning and were conducted in Lima, Peru; Mombasa, Kenya; Bangalore, India; and Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2013 to 2016. Mid- or senior-level faculty from multiple academic institutions within each region applied and were selected. Thirty faculty from 12 South America-based institutions, 29 faculty from eight East Africa-based institutions, 37 faculty from 14 South Asia-based institutions, and 36 faculty from 13 Africa-based institutions participated, with diverse representation across disciplines, gender, and academic rank. Discussions and evaluations revealed important comparisons and contrasts in the practice of mentoring, and specific barriers and facilitators to mentoring within each cultural and regional context. Specific regional issues related to hierarchy, the post-colonial legacy, and diversity arose as challenges to mentoring in different parts of the world. Common barriers included a lack of a culture of mentoring, time constraints, lack of formal training, and a lack of recognition for mentoring. These workshops provided valuable training, were among the first of their kind, were well-attended, rated highly, and provided concepts and a structure for the development and strengthening of formal mentoring programs across LMIC institutions

Creating, Doing, and Sustaining OER: Lessons from Six Open Educational Resource Projects

The development of free-to-use open educational resources (OER) has generated a dynamic field of widespread interest and study regarding methods for creating and sustaining OER. To help foster a thriving OER movement with potential for knowledge-sharing across program, organizational and national boundaries, the Institute for Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), developed and conducted case study research programs in collaboration with six OER projects from around the world. Embodying a range of challenges and opportunities among a diverse set of OER projects, the case studies intended to track, analyze and share key developments in the creation, use and reuse of OER. The specific cases include: CurriculumNet, Curriki, Free High School Science Texts (FHSST), Training Commons, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), and Teachers' Domain

Theorising the value of collage in exploring educational leadership

This article contributes to theorising the value of collage as a methodological approach. It begins with a discussion of the methodological difficulties of exploring hidden meanings and individual experience through the research process. The illuminative potential of arts-based methodologies in qualitative research is then investigated. The article makes the case for the specific advantages of using collage to explore the experience of leadership, through a discussion of two collage-based studies. It proposes a variant of the ‘think aloud’ process, used in conjunction with collage, as a route to producing deep understandings of the multiple ways in which leadership is experienced and understood as a social process. The argument is made that collage enables the accessing and sharing of profound levels of experience not accessible through words alone, and considers the impact of the physicality of collage on its potential to release these profound insights. A five-stage process for the analysis of collage is then set out. The article concludes by offering a theory of the value of collage as a methodological approach to exploring experiences of leadership, through use of the concepts of physicality, wholeness and participant agency.Peer reviewe

The new blueprint : Moving towards university knowledge city

All knowledge is a form of tradition, whether ingrained in its structure, content, or the value that people attribute to it. Civilized societies have great traditions of knowledge, and the post modern era which discovered print and digitalization gives leverage to the value of those traditions not only in transforming them into intellectual assets but also the means by which they can systematically improve the way society live, work and continue to change in creative and dynamic ways. Cities-their infrastructure, economies and culture are all being transformed by knowledge. The university is a micro knowledge city, and it needs to develop a larger blue print to sustain its growth as a knowledge city. The university must be aware of the importance to capture knowledge assets within the micro-culture and practice of its academic, professional, pastoral, social and cultural services; the sharing of those knowledge assets; and the transformation of those knowledge assets to leverage life experiences of citizens in the campus knowledge-city, and beyond

Critical issues in library management : organizing for leadership and decision-making

Papers from the thirty-fifth Allerton Institute. [October 24-26, 1993]Includes bibliographical references

The Hindi language film Swades: We, the People: A different kind of journey to the East.

The analysis of motion picture depictions of leadership, as noted by numerous scholars of leadership education, lends itself well as a tool for conveying core values of leadership. The colorful, surprising, and emotional world of Indian musical films also has something to offer international scholars of leadership. In the motion picture Swades: We, the People (Gowariker, 2004) the path and purpose of servant-leadership is illustrated through an Indian-born US resident, Mohan Barghava, who embarks on his own journey to the East –back to India– and a metaphysical journey to his servant heart. The protagonist’s story in Swades was inspired by the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a leader who is regarded as an archetypal servant-leader. This film review offers readers the opportunity to look beyond national boundaries and discover servant-leadership through the cinematic eye of foreign film: the contemporary cinema of India known as Bollywood

SCEL scoping exercise: early learning and childcare sector in Scotland

In 2013, in response to Teaching Scotland's Future (Donaldson, 2010), at the Scottish Learning Festival, The Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL) was launched as an independent body supporting the leadership development of teachers and early year practitioners who hold the Childhood Practice Award. In order for SCEL to ‘support leadership development at all levels for education practitioners across Scotland’ (SCEL, online) an initial scoping exercise of the educational leadership development needs of the staff who meet the Standard for Childhood Practice Revised (SSSC, 2015) in the Early Years sector, now referred to as the Early Learning and Childcare sector (ELC) (Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014) 1, was commissioned in May 2015. This scoping exercise seeks to consider any adaptations and enhancements required to SCEL’s Framework for Educational Leadership (FEL), which is an online resource launched in September 2015 at the Scottish Learning Festival, to meet the needs of the Early Learning and Childcare workforce. The commissioning of the scoping exercise is an acknowledgement of the ongoing professionalisation and upskilling of the ELC workforce and demonstrates SCEL’s commitment to the incorporation of the ELC sector at the foundation stage of the FEL’s development. Further, SCEL is committed to cross sector involvement and acknowledges the important and crucial role of ELC in the lifelong learning agenda. This scoping exercise therefore is intended to identify issues which need to be addressed in order to meet the needs of this specific group and to identify gaps in SCEL’s work plans. Additionally, advice with regards SCEL’s communication of, and the ELC sector’s awareness of, how to access SCEL’s emerging role will be highlighted. As part of this exercise current provision is examined and where appropriate consideration will be given to the recommendations of the ELC aspect of the recent Independent Review of the Scottish Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Workforce and Out of School Care (OSC) Workforce carried out by Prof Iram Siraj (2015)2 . The intention of this exercise is to ensure that the programmes, support and resources provided by SCEL meet the needs of early years practitioners who hold a Childhood Practice Award in order that their educational leadership development needs are addressed at each stage of SCEL’s development

A retrospective analysis of longitudinal changes in bone mineral content in cystic fibrosis

Background: We aimed to describe the longitudinal changes in bone mineral content and influencing factors, in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods: One hundred children (50 females) had dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) performed. Of these, 48 and 24 children had two to three scans, respectively over 10 years of follow-up. DXA data were expressed as lumbar spine bone mineral content standard deviation score (LSBMCSDS) adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity and bone area. Markers of disease, anthropometry and bone biochemistry were collected retrospectively. Results: Baseline LSBMCSDS was >0.5 SDS in 13% children, between −0.5; 0.5 SDS, in 50% and ≤−0.5 in the remainder. Seventy-eight percent of the children who had baseline LSBMCSDS >−0.5, and 35% of the children with poor baseline (LSBMCSDS<−0.5), showed decreasing values in subsequent assessments. However, mean LS BMC SDS did not show a significant decline in subsequent assessments (−0.51; −0.64; −0.56; p=0.178). Lower forced expiratory volume in 1 s percent (FEV1%) low body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI SDS) and vitamin D were associated with reduction in BMC. Conclusions: Bone mineral content as assessed by DXA is sub-optimal and decreases with time in most children with CF and this study has highlighted parameters that can be addressed to improve bone health