Measuring the quality of an e-learning course

The EU Commission's learning action plan stresses the importance of ICT in education and quality assurance is part of the Bologna Declaration. General approaches to quality and to measuring quality are ISO, TQM and EFQM and Kirkpatrick for education. 2 popular quality measuring models are SEVAQ and SEEQUEL which are both based on EFQM and Kirkpatrick. In the project OLAREX a set of e-learning courses are developed to fulfill the project objectives: to enhance and modernize STEM curricula, foster students' creativity and motivation and develop professional e-didactic and technology competences and skills. The following quality assurance methods and tools are used: external and internal evaluation, comparative assessments, learners evaluation using questionnaires, informal discussions, observations and networking. A  SEEQUEL  revised  model  is  developed  by  the  external  experts  for  the external evaluation. The model is described in the paper. Part of the evaluation report is presented. In this report strong and weak points are formulated and needed improvements of the e-learning  courses are advised

Approaches to ‘vulnerability’ in eight European disaster management systems

Orru, K., Hansson, S., Gabel, F., Tammpuu, P., Krüger, M., Savadori, L., Meyer, S.F., Torpan, S., Jukarainen, P., Schieffelers, A., Lovasz, G. and Rhinard, M. (2022), Approaches to ‘vulnerability’ in eight European disaster management systems. Disasters, 46: 742-767. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12481While social vulnerability in the face of disasters has received increasing academic attention, relatively little is known about the extent to which that knowledge is reflected in practice by institutions involved in disaster management. In this study, we chart the practitioners’ approaches to disaster vulnerability in eight European countries: Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Estonia. The study draws from a comparative document analysis and 95 interviews with disaster managers and reveals significant differences across countries in terms of the ontology of vulnerability, its sources, reduction strategies, and the allocation of related duties. To advance the debate and provide conceptual clarity, we put forward a model for explicating different understandings of vulnerability along the dimensions of human agency and technological structures as well as social support through private relations and state actors.acceptedVersio

The engagement of informal volunteers in disaster management in Europe

Oliver Nahkur, Kati Orru, Sten Hansson, Pirjo Jukarainen, Miia Myllylä, Marco Krüger, Matthias Max, Lucia Savadori, Tor-Olav Nævestad, Sunniva Frislid Meyer, Abriel Schieffelers, Alexandra Olson, Gabriella Lovasz, Mark Rhinard, The engagement of informal volunteers in disaster management in Europe, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 83, 2022, 103413, ISSN 2212-4209, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103413. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221242092200632X)Informal volunteering is increasingly important in disaster management, but authorities remain cautious about collaborating with informal volunteers. Relatively little is known about the extent to which informal volunteers are integrated into European disaster management systems. We try to remedy this gap by examining Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Estonia, focusing on (1) the policies and institutional arrangements for integrating informal volunteers, (2) the methods and tools used for their engagement, and (3) the presumed benefits and challenges of involving volunteers in disaster management. 95 expert interviews combined with desk research and four online table-top exercises in 2019–2020 involving analysis of 11 disaster cases show that disaster management systems in these countries are taking modest steps toward opening traditional command-and-control structures to informal volunteers. In Sweden and Norway, where volunteering is more common, the engagement of informal volunteers is somewhat regulated, providing an opportunity to formally insure them. In Belgium and Italy, the engagement of informal volunteers is not encouraged, but formal volunteering is encouraged. In Germany, Hungary, Finland, and Estonia, it is done on an ad hoc basis. In most of the countries studied, campaigns to raise volunteers’ awareness of support possibilities are backed up by practical training that focuses primarily on first aid. In all countries, except Germany, social media has been used by disaster management authorities to inform, guide, or register informal volunteers on an ad hoc basis. The studied cases indicate that disaster response is more efficient when procedures for informal volunteer engagement exist.publishedVersio

D5.4 Training platform

<p>The INSPIRE Training platform is a dedicated online learning platform and is delivered as part of work package 5, Technical and logistical infrastructure. As part of this work package, Europa Media has committed to develop and manage the in-house virtual training platform.</p><p>One of INSPIRE's main goals is to host Open Training Units (OTUs) for individuals interested in the topic of developing Gender Equality Plans. The main target of the OTUs are change agents in research performing organisations.</p><p>The visual adaptation and setup of in-house training platform is done by EM and is linked with the INSPIRE online infrastructure via T5.3. Users will see the INSPIRE website and the INSPIRE learning platform as one single platform.</p><p>Considering the foregoing, the current document titled "Adapted and operable online training platform", aims at introducing the reader to the INSPIRE's online training platform and its design (Chapter 1), providing meaningful information about its structure and functionalities (Chapter 2), and finally, discussing its future development (Chapter 3).</p&gt

Mechanisms behind COVID-19 scepticism among socially marginalised individuals in Europe

Homeless and materially disadvantaged people are considered particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. So far, there is no systematic knowledge about how the homeless and materially disadvantaged people perceive the risks of COVID-19 and what factors influence the development of sceptical views and underestimation of dangers posed by the virus. The aim of our study is therefore to: (1) Explore COVID-19 risk perception of socially marginalised individuals, focusing on their assessment of the probability of getting infected by the virus and the perceived harmful consequences of the disease; and (2) examine the factors influencing COVID-19 risk beliefs of these individuals. We use cross-sectional survey data with 273 participants from eight countries and data from 32 interviews and five workshops with managers and staff of social care organisations in ten European countries. Our results indicate that among survey participants, 49% can be labelled COVID-19 sceptics with regard to probability of getting infected, and 38% with regard to harmful consequences of the disease. We find that COVID-19 scepticism is related to low levels of all types of social capital, low trust in information from authorities and being a minority. However, the most important predictor is the respondents’ general lack of concern about health risks. Additionally, the qualitative data indicates the multifaceted nature of COVID-19 scepticism, as it may relate to the origins of COVID-19, the probability of infection, its consequences and protective measures, among others. Improved understanding about factors influencing COVID-19 scepticism in these groups contributes to a better understanding of the information disorder during crises, and the ways in which this could be managed through policies against marginalisation, including in disaster risk reduction.</p

Handling false information in emergency management: A cross-national comparative study of European practices

Sten Torpan, Sten Hansson, Mark Rhinard, Austeja Kazemekaityte, Pirjo Jukarainen, Sunniva Frislid Meyer, Abriel Schieffelers, Gabriella Lovasz, Kati Orru, Handling false information in emergency management: A cross-national comparative study of European practices, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 57, 2021, 102151, ISSN 2212-4209, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102151 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921001175)During emergencies, exposure to false information can increase individual vulnerability. More research is needed on how emergency management institutions understand the effects of false information and what are the various approaches to handling it. Our document analysis and 95 expert interviews in eight European countries – Ger-many, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Norway, Finland, and Estonia – show that approaches vary consider-ably: some have instituted central management of identifying and tackling false information while others prioritise the spreading of accurate information. A review of national practices and an analysis of recent crisis cases show that both approaches may be necessary. The diffusion of false information is strongly affected by the lack of timely and verifiable information from governments. We also find that in several countries, the emergence of false information is often associated with malicious foreign influence activities. Our study contributes to a better understanding of how the effects of false information are mitigated by the emergency management sys-tems in Europe.publishedVersio

Ancient human tooth samples used for TB paleomicrobial research

International audienc

Resilience in care organisations:challenges in maintaining support for vulnerable people in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid‐19 pandemic has challenged the resilience of care organisations (and those dependent on them), especially when services are stopped or restricted. This study focuses on the experiences of care organisations that offer services to individuals in highly precarious situations in 10 European countries. It is based on 32 qualitative interviews and three workshops with managers and staff. The four key types of organisations reviewed largely had the same adaptation patterns in all countries. The most drastic changes were experienced by day centres, which had to suspend or digitise services, whereas night shelters and soup kitchens had to reorganise broadly their work; residential facilities were minimally affected. Given the drastic surge in demand for services, reliance on an overburdened (volunteer) workforce, and a lack of crisis plans, the care organisations with long‐term trust networks with clients and intra‐organisational cooperation adapted easier. The outcomes were worse for new clients, migrants, psychologically vulnerable people, and those with limited communicative abilities

Effects of once-weekly exenatide on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo