Faculty perspectives on rewards and incentives for community-engaged work: A multinational exploratory study

Universities around the world are grappling with the challenge of how to best recognise and support community-engaged teaching, research and scholarship. The status quo reveals two major problems: many faculty members express the sentiment that such work is often discounted, and there is a dearth of available information on faculty perspectives at non-US, especially non-Western, institutions. Understanding faculty needs and perceptions may help institutions improve reward systems and community research and engagement. Also, filling the information gap between the Global North and Global South may help policy-makers and educators make higher education more civically engaged and socially responsible. As a global coalition of universities moving beyond the ivory tower, the Talloires Network (TN) is uniquely positioned to provide support for and conduct research on community-engaged work. To better understand engaged faculty attitudes about rewards and incentives, TN launched a pilot survey involving 14 institutions in 11 countries. All of these institutions are members of TN, an international association of 368 institutions in 77 countries committed to strengthening civic engagement. Thirty-eight respondents were chosen based on diverse recruiting requirements. This exploratory study highlights some common opinions about what kind of faculty work is encouraged; whether institutional policies regarding engaged work exist; and how community-engaged work is perceived by colleagues. More importantly, this study contributes to the design and administration of larger surveys on community-engaged work

Chasing the Phantom Ship: Revisiting Interpretations of the Boca Chica No. 2 Shipwreck on the Texas Coast

Boca Chica Beach spans the south Texas coast in Cameron County for a distance of roughly 12 kilometers between Brazos Santiago Pass and the mouth of the Rio Grande River at the Texas and Mexican border. More than 165 historic ships have been reported lost along the south Texas coast in this general area and at least four, or portions thereof, have been discovered so far. The most well-known of the shipwreck remains is archeological site 41CF184, nicknamed Boca Chica No. 2, which has gained almost mythological status in the region as it has long been circumstantially linked to the Mexican warship Moctezuma; not-so-coincidentally one of the most famous shipwrecks in the region. Is Boca Chica No. 2 the famous warship, once believed to be a “phantom” because it so often eluded the Texian patrols? Evidence suggests otherwise but the significance of both the historic ship and the archeological site invite reexamination of this unresolved mystery

Chasing the Phantom Ship: Revisiting Interpretations of the Boca Chica No. 2 Shipwreck on the Texas Coast

Boca Chica Beach spans the south Texas coast in Cameron County for a distance of roughly 12 kilometers between Brazos Santiago Pass and the mouth of the Rio Grande River at the Texas and Mexican border. More than 165 historic ships have been reported lost along the south Texas coast in this general area and at least four, or portions thereof, have been discovered so far. The most well-known of the shipwreck remains is archeological site 41CF184, nicknamed Boca Chica No. 2, which has gained almost mythological status in the region as it has long been circumstantially linked to the Mexican warship Moctezuma; not-so-coincidentally one of the most famous shipwrecks in the region. Is Boca Chica No. 2 the famous warship, once believed to be a “phantom” because it so often eluded the Texian patrols? Evidence suggests otherwise but the significance of both the historic ship and the archeological site invite reexamination of this unresolved mystery

Spanish Edition: Chasing the Phantom Ship: Revisiting Interpretations of the Boca Chica No. 2 Shipwreck on the Texas Coast

La playa de Boca Chica se extiende aproximadamente 12 kilómetros a lo largo la costa sur de Texas, en el condado de Cameron, entre el paso de Brazos Santiago y la desembocadura del río Bravo (río Grande) en la frontera entre Texas y México. Se tienen noticias del naufragio de más de 165 barcos históricos a lo largo de la costa sur de Texas, de los cuales, al menos cuatro o parte de ellos, han sido descubiertos hasta el momento. El más conocido de estos naufragios es el pecio 41CF184, apodado Boca Chica No. 2, que ha adquirido un estatus casi mitológico en la región, ya que durante mucho tiempo se le ha vinculado de forma circunstancial al buque de guerra mexicano Moctezuma, el cual, no por casualidad, resulta ser uno de los naufragios más famosos de la región. ¿Es Boca Chica No. 2, el famoso buque de guerra que, en alguna ocasión, se consideró un “buque fantasma” debido a la frecuencia con la que eludía a las patrullas texanas? La evidencia sugiere lo contrario, pero la importancia, tanto de la nave histórica como del yacimiento arqueológico, invita a reexaminar este misterio no resuelto

Factors Affecting Implementation of the California Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration (CA-CORD) Project, 2013.

IntroductionEcological approaches to health behavior change require effective engagement from and coordination of activities among diverse community stakeholders. We identified facilitators of and barriers to implementation experienced by project leaders and key stakeholders involved in the Imperial County, California, Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration project, a multilevel, multisector intervention to prevent and control childhood obesity.MethodsA total of 74 semistructured interviews were conducted with project leaders (n = 6) and key stakeholders (n = 68) representing multiple levels of influence in the health care, early care and education, and school sectors. Interviews, informed by the Multilevel Implementation Framework, were conducted in 2013, approximately 12 months after year-one project implementation, and were transcribed, coded, and summarized.ResultsRespondents emphasized the importance of engaging parents and of ensuring support from senior leaders of participating organizations. In schools, obtaining teacher buy-in was described as particularly important, given lower perceived compatibility of the intervention with organizational priorities. From a program planning perspective, key facilitators of implementation in all 3 sectors included taking a participatory approach to the development of program materials, gradually introducing intervention activities, and minimizing staff burden. Barriers to implementation were staff turnover, limited local control over food provided by external vendors or school district policies, and limited availability of supportive resources within the broader community.ConclusionProject leaders and stakeholders in all sectors reported similar facilitators of and barriers to implementation, suggesting the possibility for synergy in intervention planning efforts

Validation of actigraphy for sleep measurement in children with cerebral palsy

OBJECTIVES: Sleep issues are common in children with cerebral palsy (CP), although there are challenges in obtaining objective data about their sleep patterns. Actigraphs measure movement to quantify sleep but their accuracy in children with CP is unknown. Our goals were to validate actigraphy for sleep assessment in children with CP and to study their sleep patterns in a cross-sectional cohort study. METHODS: We recruited children with (N = 13) and without (N = 13) CP aged 2-17 years (mean age 9 y 11mo [SD 4 y 10mo] range 4-17 y; 17 males, 9 females; 54% spastic quadriplegic, 23% spastic diplegic, 15% spastic hemiplegic, 8% unclassified CP). We obtained wrist and forehead actigraphy with concurrent polysomnography for one night, and home wrist actigraphy for one week. We developed actigraphy algorithms and evaluated their accuracy (agreement with polysomnography-determined sleep versus wake staging), sensitivity (sleep detection), and specificity (wake detection). RESULTS: Our actigraphy algorithms had median 72-80% accuracy, 87-91% sensitivity, and 60-71% specificity in children with CP and 86-89% accuracy, 88-92% sensitivity, and 70-75% specificity in children without CP, with similar accuracies in wrist and forehead locations. Our algorithms had increased specificity and accuracy compared to existing algorithms, facilitating detection of sleep disruption. Children with CP showed lower sleep efficiency and duration than children without CP. CONCLUSIONS: Actigraphy is a valid tool for sleep assessment in children with CP. Children with CP have worse sleep efficiency and duration

An analysis of lecture video utilization in undergraduate medical education: associations with performance in the courses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing numbers of medical schools are providing videos of lectures to their students. This study sought to analyze utilization of lecture videos by medical students in their basic science courses and to determine if student utilization was associated with performance on exams.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Streaming videos of lectures (n = 149) to first year and second year medical students (n = 284) were made available through a password-protected server. Server logs were analyzed over a 10-week period for both classes. For each lecture, the logs recorded time and location from which students accessed the file. A survey was administered at the end of the courses to obtain additional information about student use of the videos.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a wide disparity in the level of use of lecture videos by medical students with the majority of students accessing the lecture videos sparingly (60% of the students viewed less than 10% of the available videos. The anonymous student survey revealed that students tended to view the videos by themselves from home during weekends and prior to exams. Students who accessed lecture videos more frequently had significantly (p < 0.002) lower exam scores.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that videos of lectures are used by relatively few medical students and that individual use of videos is associated with the degree to which students are having difficulty with the subject matter.</p