Developing a digital competence self-assessment toolkit for nursing students

As digital skills are the most transferable generic skills applicable to 90% of professions (European Commission, 2011) with a 95% of all businesses having access to the internet, the requirement for digital competence is likely to increase; therefore, the need for quantification and the establishment of appropriate indicators (metrics) in a generic format is a priority. This research presents the results of the development and testing of a self-assessment toolkit for the measurement of digital competence characteristics and attitudes, which was piloted with a group of first year nursing students. The survey self-assessment toolkit was derived from the early findings of Janssen’s and Stoyanov’s study (2012) that was part of the wider EU Digital Competence (DIGCOMP) project. Twelve digital competencies were identified, five statements per classification area were defined, and a six-point agreement scale was used; the usefulness of the toolkit was validated through examples of the types of the extracted results (digital competence maps) which were analysed and tested for the mapping of the digital competence characteristics of individuals and groups. The findings suggest that the DIGICOMP framework is applicable as a generic digital competence framework for professional practice. Parallel work of in-depth interviews has identified significant themes that can be investigated in relation to developing the work further in healthcare education; however, these results should be considered in the context of an indicative demonstration of the potentials and the limitations of the toolkit

A Qualitative Exploration of the DIGCOMP Digital Competence Framework: Attitudes of students, academics and administrative staff in the health faculty of a UK HEI

This paper reports upon findings of a series of semi-structured interviews with students, academics and administrative staff from a health care faculty in a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Exploring their experiences of mapping to the EU DIGCOMP Digital Competence Framework, a hermeneutic lens enables a more nuanced approach to attitudes towards Digital Competence (DC). One of the eight lifelong learning key-competences required for managers, doctors, nurses and other health-related professionals, DC is crucial to professional development. Defined by 14 themes, the findings express the participants’ experiences, knowledge and level of comprehension of the subject. Our findings indicate students are conflating digital social media skills with their skills for the workplace, resulting in over-confidence; academics raising concerns about work/private life balance offered by the affordances of handheld devices; administrative staff that are far more confident and managing a range of technology’s effectively. The research further reveals that the DIGICOMP framework is applicable as a generic framework for professional practice

Embedding Digital Competences in the Curriculum: A Case Study on Student-Experience of an Online Technology-enhanced, Activity-based Learning Design

Eight online study activities that included elements of digital competences identified by the European Union Digital Competence (DIGCOMP) framework were delivered via an institutional Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to examine whether the participants possessed the digital skills necessary for their studies and check whether the needed skills should be offered as a separated training course or be embedded in the normal curriculum. Designed along Gilly Salmon’s ‘e-Tivity’ model the activities were offered to 102 first-year Midwifery students as a part of their first-year study module taught by a number of tutors under the co-ordination of the module leader in two different campuses; the eight sessions comprised of: a) a pre-course bespoke, self-assessment questionnaire to establish the digital-competence potential across the groups and identify areas of interest, b) six technology-enhanced e-tivities representing short problem-based tasks on midwifery-related content aimed at revealing different aspects of digital competences and c) the final activity focussed on reviewing the student experience through short reflective diaries. The majority of the participants reported that they gained or refreshed skills, characterised the tasks as ‘interesting’, ‘enjoyable and motivating their learning’, and declared their preference for the use of multimedia. Some of them liked the honing of self-directed learning skills and only a small number reported that the activities did not stretch enough to enhance the already possessed skills. A few reported distracted by non-facilitated online delivery of the activities and required clarification about the depth and the breadth of the needed detail. The same participants often expressed positive and negative experiences deriving from technology-use, appreciation for the increase of communication channels on offer, referred to self-awareness, to the impact of new technological developments, the social media, and the impact of challenging tasks; however, others thought that technological skills could be time-consuming to manage and that the availability of technology did not necessarily result in its increased use in demanding situations. It was extensively agreed that training and support for the use of technology were very important. As to the provision of feedback positive experiences summarised the need for meaningful and timely feedback, while others complained about the lack of direct communication with the tutors and requested examples to enable their better understanding on the nature of the work that had to be done. Group work was appreciated as it allowed acquaintance with the peers, the sharing of knowledge and skills, the exchanging of ideas and other. Networking and socialising with colleagues were well received, group-work tasks were seen as an ice-breaker and team-formation dynamics were identified when people were asked to work together; difficulties in participation were reported only by those who lived far from the university campus. From a pedagogic perspective comments were positive for information and research literacies, information dissemination and critical evaluation of the sources; only few stated preference for a standardised list of resources. Although the VLE was found easy to use, some problems reported when dealing with video files. The utilisation of various digital devices mainly concerned the participants’ needed technological skills and at the beginning some felt discouraged by the quality of work their more technically able peers presented. In conclusion two factors should be carefully examined: a) the lack of protected time within the curriculum delivery to undertake the activities and b) the lack of an accreditation scheme

Chinatown Anti-Displacement Community Research Project Report

The Greater Chinatown area in Chicago (see Figure 1 for map) is rapidly changing because of recent public and private investments. The area continues to attract great interest by developers because of its proximity to downtown, public transportation rail infrastructure, bicycle shares, and its vibrant ethnic culture. Consequentially, Greater Chinatown’s popular real estate market creates concerns about the implications of gentrification (economic and cultural) and potential displacement of existing communities. Community advocates, policymakers, and scholars nationwide point to the displacement in lower-income and ethnic communities resulting from urban revitalization. In particular, Chinatowns across the nation have become part of the public discourse when discussing gentrification and fights against displacement. This is evidenced in the last few years by media outlets, such as the Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, New York Times, City Labs, Next City, New York Magazine, BuzzFeed, Hyperallegic, amongst others, all reporting concerns about gentrification in Chinatowns

Open Research Pilot case studies: promoting greater openness in research

In the second blog in our series marking the end of the Open Research Pilot (a two-year initiative involving University of Cambridge research groups, University Research Support, and Wellcome Trust’s Open Research Team), Dr Laurent Gatto tells us about his group’s involvement with the project. His particular Open interests during this time have been how to influence the research community in general towards greater openness

Open Research Pilot case studies: research integrity and reproducibility

This is the third blog in our series marking the end of the Open Research Pilot (a two-year initiative involving University of Cambridge research groups, University Research Support, and Wellcome Trust’s Open Research Team). Professor David Savage tells the Research Support Team how he is concerned with how to improve and ensure research integrity and reproducibility

Open Research Pilot case studies: sharing image data

January 2017 saw the launch of the Open Research Pilot Project. This two-year initiative comprised four volunteer University of Cambridge research groups, University Research Support, and Wellcome Trust’s Open Research Team. The aims of the project were to perceive what is needed for researchers to make openly available, and be rewarded for, all outputs of the research process (e.g. along with traditional publications, other outputs include negative results, protocols, source code)

Open Research Pilot case studies: sharing all research outputs and future sustainability of data repositories

In this final blog from the researchers involved in the Open Research Pilot, the Jefferis group discuss their participation. During this time, their open interests have been focused particularly on how to share all outputs from the research process, and on issues around sustainability of data repositories into the future

Open Research Pilot project: reflections from the Research Support Team

In the fifth blog in the series from the end of the Open Research Pilot, the project’s latest Research Support team, Georgina Cronin, Dr Debbie Hansen and Dr Lauren Cadwallader, reflect on their individual contributions and thoughts about the pilot. The team’s knowledge and skills include those related to open access and research data management as well as general research librarian and scholarly communication support

Obstetrician-assessed maternal health at pregnancy predicts offspring future health

Background: We aimed to examine the association between obstetrician assessment of maternal physical health at the time of pregnancy and offspring cardiovascular disease risk.<p></p> Methods and Principal Findings: We examined this association in a birth cohort of 11,106 individuals, with 245,000 person years of follow-up. We were concerned that any associations might be explained by residual confounding, particularly by family socioeconomic position. In order to explore this we used multivariable regression models in which we adjusted for a range of indicators of socioeconomic position and we explored the specificity of the association. Specificity of association was explored by examining associations with other health related outcomes. Maternal physical health was associated with cardiovascular disease: adjusted (socioeconomic position, complications of pregnancy, birthweight and childhood growth at mean age 5) hazard ratio comparing those described as having poor or very poor health at the time of pregnancy to those with good or very good health was 1.55 (95%CI: 1.05, 2.28) for coronary heart disease, 1.91 (95%CI: 0.99, 3.67) for stroke and 1.57 (95%CI: 1.13, 2.18) for either coronary heart disease or stroke. However, this association was not specific. There were strong associations for other outcomes that are known to be related to socioeconomic position (3.61 (95%CI: 1.04, 12.55) for lung cancer and 1.28 (95%CI:1.03, 1.58) for unintentional injury), but not for breast cancer (1.10 (95%CI:0.48, 2.53)).<p></p> Conclusions and Significance: These findings demonstrate that a simple assessment of physical health (based on the appearance of eyes, skin, hair and teeth) of mothers at the time of pregnancy is a strong indicator of the future health risk of their offspring for common conditions that are associated with poor socioeconomic position and unhealthy behaviours. They do not support a specific biological link between maternal health across her life course and future risk of cardiovascular disease in her offspring.<p></p&gt