Common Language of Sustainability for Built Environment Professionals—The Quintuple Helix Model for Higher Education

One of the repeating themes around the provision of the knowledge and skills needed for delivering sustainable communities is the idea of a “common language” for all built environment professionals. This suggestion has been repeated regularly with each new political and professional review within and between different sectors responsible for the delivery of sustainable communities. There have been multiple efforts to address academic limitations, industry fragmentation and promote more interdisciplinary working and sector collaboration. This research explored the role of skills for sustainable communities, particularly within the higher education (HE) sector, and the responses to support the development of a “common language of sustainability” that can be shared between different sectors, professional disciplines and stakeholders. As an interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners working with the HE sector in the North East of England, we evaluate the progression of sector collaboration to develop a quintuple helix model for HE. We use this as a suitable framework for systematically “mapping” out the mixed sector (academic, public, business, community and environmental organisations) inputs and influences into a representative sample of HE degree modules that are delivered from foundation and undergraduate to postgraduate levels, including examples of part-time and distance-learning modules. We developed a cascade of models which demonstrate increasing levels of collaboration and their potential positive impact on the effectiveness of education on sustainable communities. The methodological assessments of modules were followed by semi-structured group reflective analysis undertaken through a series of online workshops (recorded during the Covid19 lockdown) to set out a collective understanding of the generic skills needed for the delivery of sustainable communities. These generic skills for sustainable communities are presented as a pedagogical progression model of teaching activities and learning outcomes applied to the levels within HE. We propose sustainability education principles and progressions with the hope that they can have an impact on the design or review of current degree modules and programmes. The paper informs future sustainability research to be grounded in holism and systems thinking; better understanding of values, ethics, influencing and political impact; and procedural authenticity

Evaluation of a newly developed flipped-classroom course on interprofessional practice in health care for medical students

Interprofessional education is expected to promote collaborative practice and should therefore be included in health professionals’ curricula. Reports on interprofessional curricular development and its evaluation are rare. We therefore undertook a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a new, mandatory course on interprofessional collaboration for medical students during their third year of the Bachelor of Medicine study programme. The newly developed and implemented course spans over six weeks and was designed in a hybrid, flipped-classroom format. It incorporates experience- and case-based learning as well as interactions with other health professionals. Each student completes an eLearning and a clinical workshadowing individually before attending the – due to the pandemic – virtual live lectures. To assess quality and usefulness of teaching-learning formats and course structure to learn about interprofessional collaboration and to develop interprofessional competencies and identity, a quantitative and qualitative evaluation was performed with more than 280 medical students and 26 nurse educators from teaching hospitals using online surveys (open & closed-ended format). Data were analyzed descriptively and using content analysis processes. Students appreciated the flipped-classroom concept, the real-world case-based learning scenarios with interprofessional lecturer teams, and the possibility of an experience-based learning opportunity in the clinical setting including interaction with students and professionals from other health professions. Interprofessional identity did not change during the course. Evaluation data showed that the course is a promising approach for teaching-learning interprofessional competencies to medical students. The evaluation revealed three factors that determined the success of this course, namely, a flipped-classroom concept, the individual workshadowing of medical students with another health professional, mainly nurses, and live sessions with interprofessional teaching-learning teams. The course structure and teaching-learning methods showed potential and could serve as a template for interprofessional course development in other institutions and on other course topics

How to establish a bioinformatics postgraduate degree programme—a case study from South Africa

The Research Unit in Bioinformatics at Rhodes University (RUBi), South Africa, offers a Masters of Science in Bioinformatics.Growing demand for bioinformatics qualifications results in applications from across Africa.Courses aim to bridge gaps in the diverse backgrounds of students who range from biologists with no prior computing exposure to computer scientists with no biology background. The programme is evenly split between coursework and research, with diverse modules from a range of departments coveringmathematics, statistics, computer science and biology, with emphasis on application to bioinformatics research. The early focus on research helps bring students up to speed with working as a researcher. We measure success of the programme by the high rate of subsequent entry to PhD study: 10 of 14 students who completed in the years 2011-2013

Afterschool Matters Occasional Paper Fall 2008

Youth Engagement and Quality of Experience in Afterschool ProgramsBy David J. Shernoff and Deborah Lowe Vandell Research on middle school participants’ engagement in afterschool programs shows that such programs often serve as developmental contexts for promoting “flow” experiences. Compared to when they are in other settings after school, participants in afterschool programs are more likely to experience high concentrated effort and intrinsic motivation, experiences consistent with Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow. Organized sports, arts enrichment, and academic enrichment activities were found to be particularly engaging program activities, in contrast to homework completion. The importance of high levels of engagement in promoting learning in afterschool programs leads to implications for practice and policy. 14 pages. Bringing in the Community: Partnerships and Quality Assurance in 21st Century Community Learning CentersBy Charles Smith and Laurie Van EgerenAs a matter of policy, 21st Century Community Learning Centers rely heavily on community organizations to provide a variety of instructional programs. In this way, 21st Century sites tap the depth and breadth of knowledge available in their communities to provide non-traditional learning experiences that can better meet young participants’ need for engagement and relevance than can a simple extension of school-day routine. However, the inclusion of multiple partners along with school-based site staff at any given 21st Century site means that the quality of instruction can be extremely uneven. How do school districts that receive 21st Century grants, and the coordinators of each of their sites, ensure high quality across a wide variety of offerings led by staff from many different organizations? 19 pages.https://repository.wellesley.edu/afterschoolmatters/1015/thumbnail.jp

Working Together to Build Beacon Centers in San Francisco: Evaluation Findings from 1998-2000

Since 1996, private and public funders in San Francisco have supported a city-wide Beacons Initiative. Eight Beacon Centers, located in public schools, serve 7500 youth and adults each year, providing a rich array of developmental activities in the non-school hours. This report looks at how the centers were created; it describes the centers' operation; and investigates the role of the initiative's "theory of change" in organizing and guiding the effort

WSU Research News, Spring/Summer 2013

A twenty page newsletter of the WSU Research News. The WSU Research News was published monthly beginning in June of 1968 and issued by the Office of Research Development. This newsletter was created to provide information to the WSU faculty about the availability of outside funds for research and educational programs, new developments that may affect availability of funds, and general information on research and educational activities at Wright State University.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/wsu_research_news/1207/thumbnail.jp

Pengaruh Personalized Ubiquitous Learning Dan Self Regulated Learning Terhadap Hasil Belajar Matematika SMP

Personalized u-Learning environments can enhance context-aware learning experiences and provide personalized learning opportunities. Personalized u-Learning supports interaction between authentic and digital learning resources. This study tested the learners' u-learning and Self Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies on mathematics learning outcomes in students of Frater Maumere Catholic Junior High School. The study used quasi-experimental design. The research design used is a non-equivalent control group design. The instruments to measure learning outcomes are objective tests and SRL questionnaires (OSLQ) adapted from Barnard to determine the SRL of the subjects studied. The data is then analyzed through the two-way ANOVA technique. The results of the study found several important findings: First, there was a significant difference in the mathematics learning outcomes of students who used the u-learning learning strategy with the e-Learning strategy. Second, there were significant differences in the learning outcomes of groups that had high SRL levels with low SRL levels. Third, there is an interaction of U-learning and e-learning strategies with high SRL and low SRL levels that affect learner learning outcomes.AbstrakLingkungan pembelajaran u-Learning yang dipersonalisasi dapat meningkatkan pengalaman belajar sadar konteks dan memberikan kesempatan belajar personal. Personalized u-Learning mendukung interaksi antara sumber belajar otentik dan digital. Penelitian ini menguji strategi u-learning dan Self Regulated Learning (SRL) pebelajar terhadap hasil belajar matematika pada siswa SMP Katolik Frater Maumere. Penelitian menggunakan kuasi eksperimen (quasi-eksperimental design). Rancangan penelitian yang dipakai adalah non-equivalent control group design. Instrumen untuk mengukur hasil belajar adalah tes objektif dan angket SRL (OSLQ) diadaptasi dari Barnard untuk mengetahui SRL subyek yang diteliti. Data tersebut kemudian dianalisis melalui teknik two-way ANOVA. Hasil penelitian menemukan beberapa temuan penting: Pertama, Ada perbedaan yang signifikan hasil belajar matematika peserta didik yang menggunakan strategi pembelajaran u-Learning dengan strategi e-Learning. Kedua, terdapat perbedaan signifikan dalam hasil belajar kelompok yang memiliki tingkat SRL tinggi dengan tingkat SRL rendah. Ketiga, ada interaksi strategi u-Learning dan e-Learning dengan tingkat SRL tinggi dan SRL rendah yang mempengaruhi hasil belajar pebelajar

Factors Influencing the Use of Ubiquitous Learning in Higher Education in Sichuan, China in the Aftermath of Covid-19 Pandemic

This research aims to investigate factors for adoption of ubiquitous learning (u-learning) in higher education in China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature and theoretical models for adoption of ubiquitous learning were examined to find the key factors that would influence ubiquitous learning adoption which include performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, intention to use and actual use. The research uses a quantitative, survey-based research design, employing online data collection. The study applied multistage sampling. First, a non-probability sampling method, judgmental sampling was used to draw a population of Chinese higher education students in Sichuan, China at three institutions: – Sichuan Normal University Fine Arts College, Sichuan University of Arts and Sciences Academy of Art and Design, and Dazhou Vocational and Technical College Art Department. Second, stratified random sampling was applied to calculate the number of students to represent each program. Lastly, a sample size of 420 was determined based on the ratio of the number of students in each institution to the total number of populations, were selected through convenience sampling. For analysis of data, Confirmation Factor Analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized. The analysis showed that intention to use has the strongest effect on actual system use. Furthermore, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and social influence except performance expectancy were found to positively affect the intention to use u-learning. Hence, policymakers, universities executives, and educators are recommended to consider these factors to ensure technology adoption success