The Promise of Open Educational Resources

This whitepaper defines OER, discusses what underlies the open educational resources movement and the current status of open educational resources, presents MIT's OpenCourseware project as a case-study, and concludes with future visions for teaching and learning, challenges, and observations

The Association Between Child and Youth Mental Health Service Urgency and Exposure to Childhood Interpersonal Trauma

Children/youth with a history of maltreatment experience a variety of different developmental, psychiatric and health problems and ensuring there is streamline access to services is imperative to their recovery. Yet, there are few reports of standardized methods for directing and prioritizing risk for children seeking services. The current study,utilizingretrospective data collected from theinterRAIChild and Youth Mental Health Screener (ChYMH-S), aimed to address this gap and explore the relationship between childhood maltreatment and mental health screening outcomes. A sample of 4-18-year-olds (N= 19,645) was studied to explore how differences in maltreatment history, gender, and legal guardianship impacted service prioritization. The findings suggest children/youth who are exposed to some form of interpersonal trauma are more likely to have mental health issues requiring urgent follow-up service. Findings also reveal that gender and legal guardianship impact service urgency. Discussion investigates implications to policy and clinical practice, along with suggestions for future research

Good Foundations: An Analysis of the Configurations of Factors Affecting Success in Non-Traditional Students on a Foundation Programme

Good Foundations: An Analysis of the Configurations of Factors Affecting Success in Non-Traditional Students on a Foundation Programme Abstract In the last decade, there has been a strong focus on educational policies to improve social mobility with universities required to demonstrate through their Fair Access Agreements what action they are taking with regard to making Higher Education available to underrepresented groups. The literature review presented here used the ideas of Bourdieu to examine which groups are underrepresented in Higher Education and to explore to what extent this underrepresentation may be attributed to poor initial education, recruitment bias on the part of institutions or an alienation on behalf of the learner with the dominant culture found in Higher Education. Some of the different approaches to widening participation were considered, focusing on the role of Foundation Programmes in order to site the programme analysed in this thesis in the range of widening participation activity generally and the national Foundation Programme sector specifically. The literature on graduateness and academic thinking skills was explored as a way of articulating a desirable outcome for degree preparation in a research intensive university. This then led to an examination of the issues around teaching and learning for non-traditional students. The research described in this thesis was conducted on the factors affecting successful outcomes for students studying on the Foundation Programme at Durham University using both available audit-style demographic and academic outcome data for seven cohorts of Foundation students and a more in-depth analysis of one cohort. The data were analysed using the relatively novel approach of Qualitative Comparative analysis as this case-led approach retains the nuances within the data and allows for the variety of different combinations of factors within individual students. The results show that there were a range of combinations of factors leading to a successful outcome for students, that previous qualifications were not necessary for success, but that attitudinal factors, as measured using a Conscientiousness Index, were important. A link was established between an ability to use concepts of evidence, a high average score on the Foundation Programme and achievement of a good honours degree. The implications of the results were then considered in respect of taking a deficit approach to remedy gaps in initial education, aspects of recruitment policy for non-traditional students and managing diversity of learner identity

The effect of polyphenol-rich Interventions on cardiovascular risk factors in haemodialysis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

End-stage kidney disease is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular-specific mortality. Polyphenol-rich interventions may attenuate cardiovascular disease risk factors; however, this has not been systematically evaluated in the hemodialysis population. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, the following databases were searched: Cochrane Library (http://www.cochranelibrary.com/), MEDLINE (https://health.ebsco.com/products/medline-with-full-text), Embase (https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/embase-biomedical-research), and CINAHL (https://www.ebscohost.com/nursing/products/cinahl-databases/cinahl-complete). Meta-analyses were conducted for measures of lipid profile, inflammation, oxidative stress, and blood pressure. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias tool and quality of the body of evidence was assessed by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. Twelve studies were included for review. Polyphenol-rich interventions included soy, cocoa, pomegranate, grape, and turmeric. Polyphenol-rich interventions significantly improved diastolic blood pressure (Mean Difference (MD) −5.62 mmHg (95% Confidence Interval (CI) −8.47, −2.78); I2 = 2%; p = 0.0001), triglyceride levels (MD −26.52 mg/dL (95% CI −47.22, −5.83); I2 = 57%; p = 0.01), and myeloperoxidase (MD −90.10 (95% CI −135.84, −44.36); I2 = 0%; p = 0.0001). Included studies generally had low or unclear risks of bias. The results of this review provide preliminary support for the use of polyphenol-rich interventions for improving cardiovascular risk markers in haemodialysis patients. Due to the limited number of studies for individual polyphenol interventions, further studies are required to provide recommendations regarding individual polyphenol intervention and dose

Creating a Foundation for Open Knowledge: Technology Assessment of Web-based Learning

Presentation that covers:* Problems of Access and Quality of Academic Content* Basic Strategy and Assumptions including Theory of Action* Hewlett Grantees and Demonstrations* Challenge