362 research outputs found
The impact of the NCEA on teacher collegiality
This study looks at the impact that the National Certification of Educational
Achievement (NCEA) has had on teacher collegiality in New Zealand. It is an
exploratory study using an in case and cross case method, located in four
secondary schools with a range of demographics. I was interested in gathering
the information from teachers in three key roles: Assistant teacher, Head of
Department and Principal's Nominee, finding out what their views were on the
change that the NCEA has bought to their professional lives and the impact made
on their collegiality. The literature reviewed shows there is an international
appreciation of the value of collegiality in schools but there is a fragile nature of
collegiality that challenges its strength. The complexity of school culture and the
symbiotic relationship between it and collegiality contributes to challenge of the
management and development in secondary schools. The findings showed the
teachers in this study considered there to have been a deepening in collegiality as
a result of increased sharing of material, professional communication through
moderation and professional development, and a heightened respect for
professional practice and understanding of personalities. There are threats from
reduced socialisation, workload, loss of autonomy and the fragility of collegiality.
These elements have created a shift in school culture. How teacher collegiality
can best be supported using this assessment policy has been explored with
features involving school organisation and increasing deep collegial activities
such as collegial observation, marking, moderating and review being identified as
beneficial
How to ... be reflexive when conducting qualitative research
Reflexivity can be a complex concept to grasp when entering the world of qualitative research. In this article, we aim to encourage new qualitative researchers to become reflexive as they develop their critical research skills, differentiating between the familiar concept of reflection and reflective practice and that of reflexivity. Although reflection is, to all intents and purposes, a goalâoriented action with the aim of improving practice, reflexivity is a continual process of engaging with and articulating the place of the researcher and the context of the research. It also involves challenging and articulating social and cultural influences and dynamics that affect this context. As a hallmark of highâquality qualitative research, reflexivity is not only an individual process but one that needs to be considered a collective process within a research team, and communicated throughout the research process. In keeping with our previous articles in this series, we have illustrated the theoretical concept of reflexivity using practical examples of published researchPeer reviewe
Landscape through the Lens : a panorama of the significance of background in screen odysseys
En ofta förbisedd aspekt inom filmkonsten Àr hur
landskapet kan samspela med och inverka pÄ
handlingen och manifestera huvudkaraktÀrernas
kÀnsloliv.
Uppsatsen syftar till att skapa en djupare förstÄelse
för den roll landskapet spelar i film utifrÄn en
detaljstudie av tvÄ personligt utvalada roadmovies;
Ă
terkomsten (A. Zvyagintsev, 2003) och The Straight
Story (D. Lynch, 1999).
Jag redogör för hur landskapsbilden har utvecklats
ur bildkonsten sedan Ärhundraden tillbaka, lÄngt
innan kinematografins uppkomst.
UtifrÄn mina studier har jag utvecklat och sammanstÀllt
en samling metoder och frÄgestÀllningar som
anvÀnds för att tydligare beskriva och ge svar pÄ
vilken roll landskapet spelar i de tvÄ filmerna - och
som i förlÀngningen kan tillÀmpas pÄ film i allmÀnhet.
Undersökningen visar att det finns en mÀngd
moment inom film för att signalera en allegorisk
avsikt till publiken; vissa mer konventionella och
nÀrmast schablonmÀssiga medan andra Àr subtila
och fungerar som en allegorisk bestÄndsdel i filmberÀttandet.
Precis som mÀnniskan prÀglar landskapet, prÀglar
landskapet ocksÄ mÀnniskan i en slags vÀxelverkan
i de studerade filmerna. Landskap ger oss möjlighet
att skapa mening i filmiska hÀndelser och det kan
symbolisera och uttrycka det som inte kan sÀgas
i ord. Landskapet kan understryka och förstÀrka
kÀnslor som yttras och har förmÄgan att Äterspegla
vÄra allra innersta subjektiva upplevelser av
vÀrlden.An often overlooked aspect of cinematic art is how
landscape can interact with and shape narrative
and manifest the emotions of the protagonists.
This essay aims to create a deeper understanding
of the role that landscape plays in film based on a
detailed study of two road movies: The Return (A.
Zvyagintsev, 2003) and The Straight Story (D. Lynch,
1999).
I give an account of the development of the depiction
of landscape, which began centuries before the
birth of cinematography.
On the basis of my studies, I have developed and
compiled a collection of methods and questions
that are employed to more clearly describe and explain
the role landscape plays in the two films â and
that by extension can be applied to film in general.
The investigation shows that there are a multitude
of ways in which films announce allegorical intention
to the audience; some are conventional and
virtually stereotypical while others are subtle and
act as allegorical components of the film narrative.
In the films studied, there is an interplay in which
landscape makes an impression on people just as
people make an impression on landscape. Landscape
allows us to create meaning in film narratives
and can symbolize and express what cannot be said
in words. Landscape can highlight and reinforce
expressions of emotion and is capable of reflecting
our innermost subjective experiences of the world
WITS: Women, Information Technology and Scholarship in the 1990s
The collective FemTechNet produced this video about a group at the University of Illinois in the 1990s known as WITS, Women, Information Technology, and Scholarship. Four former WITS membersâJenny Barrett, Leigh Estabrook, Gail Hawisher, and Angharad Valdivia--discuss with Sharon Irish the role of WITS on campus and in the broader IT world. Filmed in September 2013 in Urbana-Champaign.Center for Digital Inclusion, School of Information SciencesOpe
Parental decision making about safer sleep practices: A qualitative study of the perspectives of families with additional health and social care needs
Introduction: Despite a decline in Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy in the UK since 2004, inequalities have widened with higher rates among families from deprived backgrounds and those known to child protection services. Almost all cases involve parents who had engaged in unsafe sleeping practices despite awareness of safer sleeping advice. Objective: To understand the perspectives surrounding safer sleep of families supported by statutory child protection agencies, and use behavior change theory to inform how approaches to providing safer sleep advice to these families may be modified. Participants and setting: We interviewed 14 mothers, 2 fathers and one grandmother, who had recent contact with child protection services in northeast England. Methods: In-depth, semi-structured interviews, with purposive sampling. The COM-B model (Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation) structured our analysis. Results: Parents described how anxiety, sleep deprivation, settling infants, illness, and a desire to bond with infants influence their decision making about sleep. Parents valued credible, trusted sources and understanding how safer sleep practices protect infants. Responses to questions about âout of routineâ situations suggested social pressures surrounding routines and âgood parentingâ may preclude parents from acknowledging risks and planning for these situations. Conclusion: Open conversations tailored to the needs of families, focused upon understanding why and when parent(s) do or do not follow safer sleep guidance seem a promising way of promoting safer sleep practices. Safer sleep discussions with these families are likely to be best delivered as part of wider infant care by professionals who have an established and continuing trusting relationship with parents. While advice and information should be provided by any professional in contact with the family with the necessary expertise, sensitive conversations around sleeping practices, particularly co-sleeping, may be more easily facilitated by professionals where the statutory responsibility for safeguarding is less apparent
QUALZICE: A QUALitative exploration of the experiences of the participants from the ZICE clinical trial (metastatic breast cancer) receiving intravenous or oral bisphosphonates
BACKGROUND: This qualitative sub-study aimed to explore the experiences of participants on the National Cancer Research Institute ZICE clinical trial, a randomised trial assessing two types of bisphosphonate treatment in breast cancer patients with bone metastases. Participants in the clinical trial were randomly allocated to receive either zoledronate, delivered by an intravenous (IV) infusion at clinic, or oral ibandronate, taken at home.METHODS: Qualitative research interviews were conducted with participant groups organised by treatment and location. Interviews covered experiences and understanding of bisphosphonate treatment, the experience of the delivery mechanisms (IV or oral), side effects and benefits, and quality of life issues. The analytic framework was interpretative phenomenological analysis.RESULTS: This paper reports on one of four superordinate themes: participants' experience of the ZICE trial, which explores the participants' experiences with clinical trial-related processes. Results show that participants were generally satisfied with their randomised treatment, although most participants had an initial preference for oral bisphosphonates. Some difficulties were reported from participants for both interventions: needle phobia, poor veins, difficulty with swallowing and gastric side effects, but pain control was improved with both modes of delivery. However, the infused bisphosphonate was reported to lose effectiveness after three weeks for some participants, whereas the oral bisphosphonate was reported to give consistent pain control. Geographical location and distance to travel made little difference to convenience of access to clinic as the reported lengths of travel time were similar due to traffic congestion in the urban areas. Most participants understood the trial processes, such as randomisation, and information about bisphosphonates but some participants showed little understanding of certain aspects of the trial. Some participants reported difficulties in accessing dental treatment due to their dentist's perceptions of bisphosphonate treatment.CONCLUSIONS: In trials of medicinal products, especially when testing for non-inferiority, participants' preferences and idiosyncrasies in relation to treatments should not be assumed. This study has shown that in a trial context, participants' views can usefully add to the main trial outcomes and they should be taken into account when prescribing in the real world.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN13914201. Main ZICE MREC: 05/MRE09/57. CRUK E/04/022.</p
CrossĂą Network Directory Service: Infrastructure to enable collaborations across distributed research networks
IntroductionExisting largeĂą scale distributed health data networks are disconnected even as they address related questions of healthcare research and public policy. This paper describes the design and implementation of a fully functional prototype openĂą source tool, the CrossĂą Network Directory Service (CNDS), which addresses much of what keeps distributed networks disconnected from each other.MethodsThe set of services needed to implement a CrossĂą Directory Service was identified through engagement with stakeholders and workgroup members. CNDS was implemented using PCORnet and Sentinel network instances and tested by participating data partners.ResultsWeb services that enable the four major functional features of the service (registration, discovery, communication, and governance) were developed and placed into an openĂą source repository. The services include a robust metadata model that is extensible to accommodate a virtually unlimited inventory of metadata fields, without requiring any further software development. The user interfaces are programmatically generated based on the contents of the metadata model.ConclusionThe CNDS pilot project gathered functional requirements from stakeholders and collaborating partners to build a software application to enable crossĂą network data and resource sharing. The two partnersĂą one from Sentinel and one from PCORnetĂą tested the software. They successfully entered metadata about their organizations and data sources and then used the Discovery and Communication functionality to find data sources of interest and send a crossĂą network query. The CNDS software can help integrate disparate health data networks by providing a mechanism for data partners to participate in multiple networks, share resources, and seamlessly send queries across those networks.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149237/1/lrh210187.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149237/2/lrh210187_am.pd
Starting the conversation: land issues and critical conservation studies in post-colonial Africa
This thematic issue brings together the scholarly fields of critical conservation studies and African land issues, a relationship largely unexplored to date. The alienation of land for conservation purposes, introduced to Africa under colonial rule and still taking place today, has fundamental impacts on the politics of land and land use, and is contested in contemporary nation-states - including those that are attempting to implement land restitution and reform. The contributors explore these issues in a range of African contexts. Three key themes are identified: the problematic constructions of âcommunityâ by outside agencies; spatial exclusion and the silencing of local voices; and the neoliberalisation of conservation spaces. In contributing to new perspectives on these themes, this thematic issue shows how discourses and practices of conservation, increasingly shaped by neoliberalism, currently impact on land ownership, access and use. It further highlights some important historical continuities. These trends can be observed in transfrontier conservation areas, on state-owned land used for conservation and âgreenâ initiatives, but also on private land where conservation is increasingly turned to commercial purposes.International Bibliography of Social Science
Not All Cavities Are Treated Equal: Increasing Access to Preventive Dental Care in Texas
The purpose of this report is to examine oral health care for children in Texas. United Ways of Texas is concerned with the disproportionate levels of access that low-income children face. This research team was charged by United Ways to:
Develop appropriate measures of access to preventive dental care for children
Analyze the geographic and socioeconomic patterns of such access measures in Texas
Calculate the expected benefits and costs of expanding access
There are significant disparities in access to oral health care for children in Texas. These disparities are frequently based on income levels, ethnic status, and if a child lives in an urban or rural area. Because disparity continues to exist among Texans, this report offers the following recommendations to improve access to dental care.
To support these recommendations, this report will:
1. Describe the importance of children's oral health.
2. Show disparities that exist among children.
3. Describe the types of preventive care that can improve children's oral health.
4. Demonstrate that preventive care can be cost-effective.
5. Identify barriers to access in Texas through literature and researchUnited Ways of Texa
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