Using an Open Software System (Sakai) to Develop Student Portfolios

E-portfolios are digital collections of artifacts that represent the achievements and reflections of individuals. They offer a unique view into student learning and allow educators and external accreditors to assess student progress towards established standards as well as reviewing their program’s performance in supporting that progress. Students benefit from assembling their e-portfolios through the process of reviewing their own work with a critical eye, choosing pieces of their work that best represent their abilities, and reflecting on the transformative nature of their University experience, both in class and through extra-curricular, service learning, internships and international activities. An e-portfolio provides a holistic view of a student’s personal growth and abilities that will serve them well in their career search or graduate school application. The challenge for an institution is to provide this learning and assessment resource in an accessible and affordable vehicle that is manageable for both faculty and students. Roger Williams University has crafted a strategy to utilize the Sakai open source course management system with its integrated e-portfolio tool set and a linked website to provide both e-portfolios and program assessment. This strategy will also be employed to propose a virtual accreditation of a professional program that will serve as a model throughout the University and the broader higher education community

Learning with and from others in clinical practice

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This empirical study is set against the backdrop of the contemporary acute healthcare landscape in Sydney, Australia. Patients who are admitted to hospital today present with chronic disease and multiple co-morbidities that create a complex and unpredictable work environment. As registered nurses practice in this context, they are confronted with a multitude of information sources, then required to administer several complex medications at a time together with managing the increased use of technology. The research reported in this thesis examines how and what registered nurses learn as they carry out everyday work in this dynamic environment. Adopting a qualitative, focused ethnographic approach, this study collected data at one single study site in the natural setting of an acute care medical ward. Nine registered nurses were observed when providing clinical care to their assigned patients on the ward. Throughout the observations, the researcher conducted informal discussions with the nurses to enrich understandings of what was observed. Resulting descriptive data from the observations were used as the basis for one-to-one, semi-structured interviews conducted immediately after each observation period. Drawing on contemporary theories of workplace learning, spatial theory and sociomateriality, this research shows that nurses drew on several strategies to learn from knowledge challenges that arose during practice. Each strategy involved creating different relationships between spaces, objects and other nurses in the ward. Further, nurses made practical meaning of patient information in sociomaterial ways using a clinical handover sheet. Practices based around the sheet allowed nurses to bring specific patient information and expertise into meaningful contact so they could act on knowledge challenges and continue patient care. Thus, learning was enabled for nurses because they rendered the clinical handover sheet as an epistemic or boundary object. Awareness of what nurses do during times of uncertainty and not knowing—together with understanding how nurses make practical meaning of patient information—is crucial for the profession. These findings are particularly important in the context of acute care, so that more experienced nurses can provide better support and assistance to their colleagues in order to sustain a safe and high standard of patient care

The Lakes and Streams Project: A curriculum for elementary and middle grades on a local environmental issue

This project covers the environmental issues of the proposed Lakes and Streams Project for the City of San Bernardino. The water history of San Bernardino, from the hot springs to the development of the current municipal water system, is also detailed. Two curriculum units teach students how to use environmental issue analysis skills. One focuses on the water history of San Bernardino and is aimed at grades three to five. The other immerses middle grade students directly into the Lakes and Streams issue

Multidimensional measurement within adult protective services: design and initial testing of the tool for risk, interventions, and outcomes.

This study describes the development, field utility, reliability, and validity of the multidimensional Tool for Risk, Interventions, and Outcomes (TRIO) for use in Adult Protective Services (APS). The TRIO is designed to facilitate consistent APS practice and collect data related to multiple dimensions of typical interactions with APS clients, including the investigation and assessment of risks, the provision of APS interventions, and associated health and safety outcomes. Initial tests of the TRIO indicated high field utility, social worker "relevance and buy-in," and inter-rater reliability. TRIO concurrent validity was demonstrated via appropriate patterns of TRIO item differentiation based on the type of observed confirmed abuse or neglect; and predictive validity was demonstrated by prediction of the risk of actual APS recurrence. The TRIO is a promising new tool that can help meet the challenges of providing and documenting effective APS practices and identifying those at high risk for future APS recurrence

Sepia: a Framework for Natural Language Semantics

Source code and technical descriptionTo help explore linguistic semantics in the context of computational natural language understanding, Sepia provides a realization the central theoretical idea of categorial grammar: linking words and phrases to compositional lambda semantics. The Sepia framework provides a language in which to express complex transformations from text to data structures, and tools surrounding that language for parsing and machine learning. Lambda semantics are expressed as arbitrary Scheme programs, unlimited in the semantic representations they may build, and the rules for transformation are expressed in Combinatory Categorial Grammar, though the details of grammar formalism may be easily changed. This report explains the major design decisions, and is meant to teach the reader how to understand Sepia semantics and how to create lexical items for a new language understanding task

Study of a unified hardware and software fault-tolerant architecture

A unified architectural concept, called the Fault Tolerant Processor Attached Processor (FTP-AP), that can tolerate hardware as well as software faults is proposed for applications requiring ultrareliable computation capability. An emulation of the FTP-AP architecture, consisting of a breadboard Motorola 68010-based quadruply redundant Fault Tolerant Processor, four VAX 750s as attached processors, and four versions of a transport aircraft yaw damper control law, is used as a testbed in the AIRLAB to examine a number of critical issues. Solutions of several basic problems associated with N-Version software are proposed and implemented on the testbed. This includes a confidence voter to resolve coincident errors in N-Version software. A reliability model of N-Version software that is based upon the recent understanding of software failure mechanisms is also developed. The basic FTP-AP architectural concept appears suitable for hosting N-Version application software while at the same time tolerating hardware failures. Architectural enhancements for greater efficiency, software reliability modeling, and N-Version issues that merit further research are identified

The Effect of Thin Film Adhesives on Mode II Interlaminar Fracture Toughness in Carbon Fiber Composites with Shape Memory Alloy Inserts

A single sheet of nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy (SMA) was introduced within an IM7/8552 polymer matrix composite (PMC) panel in conjunction with multiple thin film adhesives to promote the interfacial bond strength between the SMA and PMC. End notched flexure (ENF) testing was performed in accordance to ASTM D7905 method for evaluation of mode II interlaminar fracture toughness (GIIC) of unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites. Acoustic emissions (AE) were monitored during testing with two acoustic sensors attached to the specimens. The composite panels examined using scanning electron microscopy techniques after part failure. GIIC values for the control composite samples were found to be higher than those of samples with embedded SMA sheets. The presence of adhesives bonded to SMA sheets further diminished the GIIC values. AE values revealed poor bonding of the panels, with little to no signals during testing