Service–Learning in Undergraduate Nursing Education: Where is the Reflection?

Service–Learning is recognized as a valuable pedagogy that involves experiential learning, reflection, and reciprocal learning. Reflection is a critical component because it assists students to develop critical thinking and social awareness as they reflect upon their experiential learning with community partners. Although there is a proliferation of literature about service–learning, upon closer examination, it is apparent that some authors do not place emphasis on reflection when reporting on service–learning projects. This begs the question, “Where is the reflection?” The purpose of this article is to provide an overview and describe misrepresentations and exemplars of service–learning. After providing an overview of service–learning, examples of how service–learning is misrepresented in the literature are discussed. Exemplars of service–learning are also cited. Calling attention to how service–learning is reported in the literature will increase awareness about the need to critically evaluate articles for evidence of reflection

Service Learning in Undergraduate Nursing Education: Strategies to Facilitate Meaningful Reflection

Service learning is recognized as a valuable pedagogy involving experiential learning, reflection, and reciprocal learning. Students develop critical thinking and social awareness by using the crucial activity of reflecting upon their experiential learning with community partners. The purpose of this paper is to demystify the process of reflection by identifying best practices to enhance reflection and offering suggestions for grading. By understanding “the what” and “the how” of reflection, educators can implement service learning experiences designed to include the essential component of reflection. Strategies for facilitating meaningful reflection are described including descriptions of what students should reflect upon and how to initiate reflection through writing, reading, doing, and telling. Grading rubrics are suggested to facilitate evaluation of student reflection. When properly implemented, service learning encourages students to be good citizens of the world. By using best practices associated with reflection, students can be challenged to think critically about the world and how their service can achieve community goals

A Unified Algebraic Framework for Fuzzy Image Compression and Mathematical Morphology

In this paper we show how certain techniques of image processing, having different scopes, can be joined together under a common "algebraic roof"

CoproductMV-Algebras, Nonstandard Reals, and Riesz Spaces

AbstractUp to categorical equivalence,MV-algebras are unit intervals of abelian lattice-ordered groups (for short,l-groups) with strong unit. While the property of being a strong unit is not even definable in first-order logic,MV-algebras are definable by a few simple equations. Accordingly, such notions as ideals and coproducts are definable for anyMV-algebraAas particular cases of the general algebraic notions. The radical RadAis the intersection of all maximal ideals ofA. AnMV-algebraAis said to be local iff it has a unique maximal ideal. Then, by Hoelder's theorem, the quotientA/RadAis isomorphic to a subalgebra of the real unit interval [0,1]. Using nonstandard real numbers we give a concrete representation of those totally orderedMV-algebrasAwhich are isomorphic to the coproduct ofA/RadAand 〈RadA〉, the latter denoting the subalgebra ofAgenerated by its radical. As an application, using several categorical equivalences we describe theMV-algebraic counterparts of Riesz spaces, also known as vector lattices

Girl Scout Badge Day as a Service Learning Experience

Acquiring clinical experiences for students is a major challenge for nurse educators. One of the most difficult areas in which to secure clinical experiences is pediatric nursing; yet, nurse educators have a responsibility to create innovative strategies to assure that students have experience with pediatric clients. The purpose of this paper is to describe Girl Scout Badge Day (GSBD), a teaching strategy rooted in service learning. The strategy incorporates the three essential elements that distinguish service learning from other learning: experiential learning, reflection, and reciprocal learning. During this clinical experience, students provide health promotion education to scouts who subsequently earn badge requirements. Students are provided experiential learning as they implement the role of the teacher and reflect on the core values of nursing. In this paper, the specifics of implementing GSBD are presented and lessons learned are discussed. Benefits for students, scouts, troop leaders, and faculty are identified and improvements are suggested

The effect of a perioperative nursing elective on nursing career paths

Nurse educators play a role in addressing the growing perioperative nurse shortage in the United States by implementing strategies to entice new graduates to this specialty. The purpose of our study was to determine if an undergraduate perioperative nursing elective influenced the career choices of nurses four to nine years after they graduated from a baccalaureate nursing program in the midwestern United States. Using a descriptive study design, 23 of 50 nurses responded to a survey about positions they have held since graduating and the influence of a perioperative nursing elective on their career choices. Twenty- six percent of nurses in this sample went on to work in the perioperative specialty, and the majority indicated they continued to consider perioperative nursing as a career choice. Considering the potential long- term effects of this strategy, incorporating a perioperative nursing elective into nursing school curricula could be helpful to address the shortage of perioperative nurses

Professor Ivan Damjanov, the Third Recipient of Tomas Kent Award from the Group for Research in Pathology Education

The Group for Research in Pathology Education (GRIPE) was founded in 1971 by Tom Kent, M.D. of the University of Iowa as an organization devoted to promoting excellence in teaching pathology to medical students. A few years ago, the Executive Board of GRIPE decided to recognize the pioneering work of Dr. Kent by giving an award in his name (for details see http://peir.path.uab.edu/griper). This prestigious award was established to formally recognize outstanding academic pathologists for their lifetime contributions to the field of pathology education. The first recipient of the Tom Kent Award was Dr Stanley L. Robbins, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, author of the leading textbook of pathology in the United States (USA), widely used throughout the world. The second recipient was Dr Emanuel Rubin, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the author of the innovative pathology textbook, in which he has pioneered the use of conceptual color drawings, diagrams and algorithms in the teaching of pathology. The third recipient of the Tom Kent Award is Dr Ivan Damjanov, Professor of Pathology, The University of Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas. Since Ivan Damjanov is a graduate of the University of Zagreb, we were pleased to accept the invitation of Dr. Matko Marusic, Editor-in-Chief of the Croatian Medical Journal, and briefly outline the contributions of Ivan Damjanov to pathology practice, research and education, both in the USA and Croatia