Addressing the English language needs of international nursing students

This paper addresses the English language needs of the international nursing student, and outlines the factors requiring the most immediate attention. A strategic direction that could be taken for the implementation of an English language intervention will be suggested. The paper will begin by reviewing the research on the language needs of international nursing students, followed by an investigation of the academic demands on the international cohort, especially considering the students’ lack of time for extra study. Drawing from the research, a focus on specialised vocabulary (in both spoken and written forms) is suggested as a preparatory strategy for students. This is because vocabulary learning is a core language activity that is key to the reception of knowledge, and essential to the preparation of the student for engagement in the classroom and the clinical placement setting. The paper provides further evidence that validates a focus on vocabulary, referring to how vocabulary breadth is a better predictor of academic success than IELTS (yet problematises any simple applications of this finding, both in terms of the important role of the IELTS test and the complicated processes underpinning vocabulary acquisition). Finally, some key recommendations are given at the end of the paper

Improving the identification of medication names by increasing phonological awareness via a language-teaching computer game (Medicina)

This study tests the effectiveness of a language-teaching computer game called Medicina that seeks to improve the ability of English as a Second Language (ESL) nursing students to hear and identify medication names in class and clinical placement. This aim is achieved through a hypothesised improvement in phonological awareness and an increase in listening skills. The study uses a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods to ascertain the degree to which the aims of Medicina is achieved and the validity of the theoretical assumptions. It will be shown that significant improvements in listening skills were gained, with very large effect sizes. Some influence from memorisation and exposure to word form was also found. Finally, qualitative comments reveal the personal impact the game has on listening ability and the wider educational experience. Throughout the chapter, qualitative and quantitative data are used to evaluate the contribution of a computer game in a health education context

Research-based design of a medical vocabulary videogame

This article discusses the research-based design choices and general rationale underpinning the creation of a video game called Medicina. This game is designed to broadly foster better language skills among international nursing students with English as a second language (ESL) and more specifically to teach confusable medication names while also improving reaction time to verbal orders. Research shows that the learning of vocabulary is important to language learning. Without adequate vocabulary knowledge, it is difficult for an international student to interact in professional and university settings. This situation is compounded by the expectation that students will learn key vocabulary incidentally through academic pre-readings, despite the research demonstrating this to be an inefficient and inadequate method of learning. Moreover, medication names are low-frequency vocabulary. Thus, the international student who seeks to enter the health profession encounters the task of learning a large subset of language but without the amount of exposure theorised as being necessary to it. The article will outline how the language-learning video game is designed to encourage rapid discrimination of word form and give multiple exposures to both written and spoken medication names. It concludes with a summary of the preliminary testing of the game and a brief summary of the findings

Soil Organic Carbon Quantity and Distribution in Frost Boils in a Canadian High Arctic Polar Semi-desert Ecosystem

High Arctic soil organic carbon (SOC) stores are a key component in the global C cycle and are locally important for nutrient cycling in the polar deserts that dominate these regions. Compared to other Arctic regions, we know relatively little about the quantity and distribution of polar desert SOC. Unique frost-driven soil processes in polar deserts result in patterned ground features such as frost boils wherein, SOC-rich patches may develop via diapirism. The objective of this research was to determine whether these patches act as important nutrient sources for vascular plants and how subsurface patches of SOC associated with diapirism contribute to the polar desert carbon pool. I investigated SOC in 560 frost boils across two polar semi-deserts in the Canadian High Arctic using a field portable visible and near-infrared spectrophotometer. I found frequency of subsurface SOC patches was linked to broad differences in vegetation community. To determine if diapirs provide an enhanced source of plant-available nutrients we used natural abundance and enriched isotope 15N techniques to trace the flow of N through the soil-plant system. When diapir patches were available, the dominant deciduous shrub Salix arctica increased its subsurface (i.e., diapir) N uptake, often had greater % cover, and plant root biomass doubled within-diapir. Plant uptake of enriched 15N injected into C-rich soil patches was 2.5 fold greater in diapir than in non-diapir frost boils, also confirming that S. arctica is able to access N when these patches are present. My best estimate of SOC stored in the active layer of High Arctic polar semi-deserts is 8.14 ± 0.45 Pg SOC, or ~73% of SOC stored in the top 30 cm of all High Arctic soils. When subsurface SOC patches were detected in frost boils, those frost boils contained nearly double the SOC compared to those without patches and on average 40% of the SOC was found within the patch. Thus, despite diapiric frost boils representing only 35% of frost boils, they contribute disproportionately to High Arctic C storage

Cognitively-Engineered Multisensor Data Fusion Systems for Military Applications

The fusion of imagery from multiple sensors is a field of research that has been gaining prominence in the scientific community in recent years. The technical aspects of combining multisensory information have been and are currently being studied extensively. However, the cognitive aspects of multisensor data fusion have not received so much attention. Prior research in the field of cognitive engineering has shown that the cognitive aspects of any human-machine system should be taken into consideration in order to achieve systems that are both safe and useful. The goal of this research was to model how humans interpret multisensory data, and to evaluate the value of a cognitively-engineered multisensory data fusion system as an effective, time-saving means of presenting information in high- stress situations. Specifically, this research used principles from cognitive engineering to design, implement, and evaluate a multisensor data fusion system for pilots in high-stress situations. Two preliminary studies were performed, and concurrent protocol analysis was conducted to determine how humans interpret and mentally fuse information from multiple sensors in both low- and high-stress environments. This information was used to develop a model for human processing of information from multiple data sources. This model was then implemented in the development of algorithms for fusing imagery from several disparate sensors (visible and infrared). The model and the system as a whole were empirically evaluated in an experiment with fighter pilots in a simulated combat environment. The results show that the model is an accurate depiction of how humans interpret information from multiple disparate sensors, and that the algorithms show promise for assisting fighter pilots in quicker and more accurate target identification

A pedagogy-driven approach to the design of a medical abbreviations videogame: Brevissima

Made available with permission from the publisher.This paper explores the development of a computer-assisted language learning game which teaches medical abbreviations. We use a pedagogy-driven approach which starts from a detailed specification of the language needs as they exist in a particular context, followed by the appropriate method and related techno-logical solutions. Preliminary feedback is pro-vided from an anonymous survey of student opinions about the game

Medicina: methods, models, strategies

The School of Nursing & Midwifery at Flinders University provides dedicated support for the English language needs of over 500 international students. As part of a strategic plan to deal with communication difficulties among these students, a series of language-learning initiatives are being implemented. One of these is a game called Medicina, which has already undergone the full cycle of development, testing, and release. This game familiarizes students with confusable and common medication names. It also aims to improve phonological awareness through a focus on word form. This chapter discusses the creation of Medicina from inception through to dissemination, detailing the stages, challenges, and lessons learned in the process, in the hope of informing other educators of the level of commitment involved in a digital game-based project

Sustaining motivation for Japanese kanji learning: Can digital games help?

Made available with permission from the publisher.Educational digital games are often presented at Technology in Language Education conferences. The games are entertaining and are backed by research detailing how games can improve the learning experience through active critical learning, learner interaction, competition, challenge, and high learner motivation. The authors, inspired by such presentations, were interested in creating digital games to mitigate problems of demotivation in a beginner Japanese kanji (non-alphabetic script) class at Auckland University of Technology but found there was no body of research on digi-tal games for learning non-alphabetic scripts. This paper contributes to filling this gap by describing the creation of three digital games for kanji learning. Difficulties were experienced during the development of the games and these are described with reference to the divide, discussed in gaming literature, between the type of digital games being showcased at conferences and the reality for teachers wishing to emulate the practice by developing their own digital games. Questionnaire responses and the game-related journal entries of three cohorts of learners were analysed, and teacher reflections on the action research project were used to answer the questions “Should we be leaving this field to the experts?” and “Other than high-end multi-level curriculum-centred digital games, are there different gaming scenarios worth exploring?

How high school training for work in blue-collar communities helps manufacture workplace gender inequality.

In states in the Rust Belt and the Southeast, many high schools emphasize courses related to local blue-collar work in order to better prepare students for careers in local industries. In new research, April Sutton, Amanda Bosky and Chandra Muller find that such emphases are often at the expense of college-preparation courses, which in turn has a knock-on effect for female employment rates. Women who are raised in blue-collar communities, and thus who missed out on college preparation courses, face a much bigger wage gap than those who attended high-school elsewhere

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