Precarious school level scalability amid network level resilience: insights from a multilevel multiscale model of scalability

Meeting Theme: Toward Justice: Culture, Language, and Heritage in Education Research and PraxisThis paper presents the scalability analyses of two teacher networks in Hong Kong supported by university researchers. The Learning Community Projects (LCP, 2001-2012) promoted knowledge building pedagogy (Scardamalia 2002) using Knowledge Forum® for online discussions and networked with the Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP). Learning 2.0 (L2.0 for short) was a local network that provided a Moodle-based online learning platform and pedagogical design support to teachers for implementation of Liberal Studies, a new school subject stipulated as compulsory in the education reform process for nurturing critical thinking and lifelong learning skills during 2008 to 2012. Funding for both projects ended in 2012. All network activities in LCP ended, but a number of the L2.0 schools still sought to maintain the pedagogical practices and the online platform using their own resources. This paper proposes a multilevel multiscale model for analyzing the architecture for learning in the specific contexts of three teachers, two connected with LCP and one with L2.0. The analysis reveal that different raison d’être for the SUNG projects, system level involvement, school level conditions and how the learning technology relate to the wider technologic environment interact, leading to the different scalability outcomes observed. The implications of these findings and the utility of the analytic model are discussed.postprin

Supporting teacher learning for pedagogical innovation through collaborative co-design: issues and challenges

This study reports on an in-depth analysis of two teachers’ implementation of one collaboratively designed curriculum unit in the context of the school’s participation in an e-learning initiative to integrate ICT use in the grade 5 General Studies curriculum. The analysis reveals significant differences in the actual implementation as well as in the students’ learning outcomes achieved. While both teachers ventured beyond their comfort zone to provide more opportunities for student interactions and explorations, the enacted implementations reflect differences in the learning goals they targeted and their knowledge of practice. Visualizations of learning analytics did not trigger further exploration among teachers, though these reveal strong links between learning outcomes and the enacted curriculum. Findings raise questions about collaborative instructional design as a model for organizing teacher learning for pedagogical innovation, and the paper proposes design principles and further research to better facilitate innovation-focused professional development.published_or_final_versio

Endurance, resistance and resilience in the South African health care system: case studies to demonstrate mechanisms of coping within a constrained system

BACKGROUND: South Africa is at present undertaking a series of reforms to transform public health services to make them more effective and responsive to patient and provider needs. A key focus of these reforms is primary care and its overburdened, somewhat dysfunctional and hierarchical nature. This comparative case study examines how patients and providers respond in this system and cope with its systemic demands through mechanisms of endurance, resistance and resilience, using coping and agency literatures as the theoretical lenses. METHODS: As part of a larger research project carried out between 2009 and 2010, this study conducted semi-structured interviews and observations at health facilities in three South African provinces. This study explored patient experiences of access to health care, in particular, ways of coping and how health care providers cope with the health care system’s realities. From this interpretive base, four cases (two patients, two providers) were selected as they best informed on endurance, resistance and resilience. Some commentary from other respondents is added to underline the more ubiquitous nature of these coping mechanisms. RESULTS: The cases of four individuals highlight the complexity of different forms of endurance and passivity, emotion- and problem-based coping with health care interactions in an overburdened, under-resourced and, in some instances, poorly managed system. Patients’ narratives show the micro-practices they use to cope with their treatment, by not recognizing victimhood and sometimes practising unhealthy behaviours. Providers indicate how they cope in their work situations by using peer support and becoming knowledgeable in providing good service. CONCLUSIONS: Resistance and resilience narratives show the adaptive power of individuals in dealing with difficult illness, circumstances or treatment settings. They permit individuals to do more than endure (itself a coping mechanism) their circumstances, though resistance and resilience may be limited. These are individual responses to systemic forces. To transform health care, mutually supportive interactions are required among and between both patients and providers but their nature, as micro-practices, may show a way forward for system change

The Anti-Tumor Effect of HDAC Inhibition in a Human Pancreas Cancer Model Is Significantly Improved by the Simultaneous Inhibition of Cyclooxygenase 2

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with no satisfactory treatment to date. In this study, we tested whether the combined inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) may results in a better control of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The impact of the concomitant HDAC and COX-2 inhibition on cell growth, apoptosis and cell cycle was assessed first in vitro on human pancreas BxPC-3, PANC-1 or CFPAC-1 cells treated with chemical inhibitors (SAHA, MS-275 and celecoxib) or HDAC1/2/3/7 siRNA. To test the potential antitumoral activity of this combination in vivo, we have developed and characterized, a refined chick chorioallantoic membrane tumor model that histologically and proteomically mimics human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The combination of HDAC1/3 and COX-2 inhibition significantly impaired proliferation of BxPC-3 cells in vitro and stalled entirely the BxPC-3 cells tumor growth onto the chorioallantoic membrane in vivo. The combination was more effective than either drug used alone. Consistently, we showed that both HDAC1 and HDAC3 inhibition induced the expression of COX-2 via the NF-kB pathway. Our data demonstrate, for the first time in a Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) model, a significant action of HDAC and COX-2 inhibitors on cancer cell growth, which sets the basis for the development of potentially effective new combinatory therapies for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients.Peer reviewe

The use of a hazard-based duration model for imputation of missing personal income data

This paper suggests using a proportional hazard model to predict personal income, for the purpose of imputing missing income data in household travel surveys. The model has a hazard function that comprises two multiplicative components: (1) a non-parametric baseline hazard function that is dependent only on the income level and (2) a function that is dependent only on the other personal attributes of the survey respondents (excluding income). To estimate and validate the model, data is drawn from a travel characteristics survey conducted in Hong Kong in year 2001. The model is found to have a much higher accuracy when compared with a conventional ordered probit model based on the assumption that the logarithm of income is normally distributed. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2009.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Tools for learning design & learning analytics for teaching as an evidence-based design profession

Invited presentatio

Effectiveness of a cultural-specific music intervention in managing agitation among elderly with dementia in Hong Kong

Conference Theme: Behavioral Medicine at a Crossroads: 21st Century Challenges and Solution