Creating a Positive Police and Community Response to Homelessness

CCH policy brief that examines how police and our communities respond to homelessness, particularly homeless people on the street

Records management capacity and compliance toolkits : a critical assessment.

This article seeks to present the results of a project that critically evaluated a series of toolkits for assessing records management capacity and/or compliance. These toolkits have been developed in different countries and sectors within the context of the e-environment and provide evidence of good corporate and information governance. Design/methodology/approach - A desk-based investigation of the tools was followed by an electronic Delphi with toolkit developers and performance measurement experts to develop a set of evaluation criteria. Different stakeholders then evaluated the toolkits against the criteria using cognitive walkthroughs and expert heuristic reviews. The results and the research process were reviewed via electronic discussion. Findings - Developed by recognised and highly respected organisations, three of the toolkits are software tools, whilst the fourth is a methodology. They are all underpinned by relevant national/international records management legislation, standards and good practice including, either implicitly or explicitly, ISO 15489. They all have strengths, complementing rather than competing with one another. They enable the involvement of other staff, thereby providing an opportunity for raising awareness of the importance of effective records management. Practical implications - These toolkits are potentially very powerful, flexible and of real value to organisations in managing their records. They can be used for a "quick and dirty" assessment of records management capacity or compliance as well as in-depth analysis. The most important criterion for selecting the appropriate one is to match the toolkit with the scenario. Originality/value - This paper aims to raise awareness of the range and nature of records management toolkits and their potential for varied use in practice to support more effective management of records

Blogs for Workplace Assessment

Students out on work placement undertake a period of writing individual reflective blogs (4 x weekly blog @ 400 words per blog) to capture their experiences and reflections on experiences. Assigned to small groups, they also are required to interact with the blogs of peers though reflective comments. Students are also encouraged to read as many blogs written by their peers (outside their assigned group) and comment if they wish. Marking is across several desired outcomes (see rubric). Feedback is provided after the first blog which is not marked. Feedback is via a comment on the student blog. All students c

Learning in the Science Lab: a New Approach

This project aimed to improve the laboratory learning experience for undergraduate science students, focusing initially on first and third year cohorts, through specific objectives. Firstly, to incorporate novel teaching and assessment methods, including student led laboratories, in-house produced instructional videos, „Clickers‟ audience response devices, and pre-practical on-line MCQ assessments. Secondly, to develop timely feedback mechanisms, including peer review, tutor face to face and audio feedback, online automatic feedback, and report checklists. Finally, to imbed transferable skills into the laboratory including group work, communication skills (written and oral), organisation & project planning, health & safety, and preparedness for laboratories, final year projects & placement. Pedagogical evaluation was through anonymous multiple choice questionnaires and independent academic facilitated discussion forums. The main benefits are students who are better prepared, both for basic undergraduate laboratories and for independent research-based final year projects; continuity in the development of transferable skills; improved assessment quality though constructive alignment and appropriate feedback; and improved student satisfaction through engagement and feedback. The key recommendations arising from this study are; to encourage preparedness for practical sessions, harnessing technology to engage students through interesting pre-practical activities; to encourage an improved culture of feedback, including mechanisms such as podcasts, which also „feed-forward‟; and to encourage a culture where value is added to modules by actively incorporating transferable skills into all student activities and assessments, rather than a bolt on approach

Work Placement Blogs to Harness Diverse Learning Experiences, Provide Timely Assessment and Feedback, and Foster a Community of Learning

Students on work placement will have very different experiences from each other; however they are generally not connected to their peers, but working with professionals under the guidance of a work placement co-ordinator. Therefore during work placement they are not formally supported by peers and cannot learn from the diverse range of activities their peers will experience. The aim of this project is to enhance the student experience while on work placement by introducing a blog assessment. The implementation of work placement blogs will allow work placement experiences to be shared with the whole class. Feedback mechanisms are discussed, along with assessment strategies which actively promote student interaction with their peers. This ensures that all students have the potential to learn from their own reflections, from each other’s experiences, from tutor feedback on peer blogs, from the process of peer review and through broadening the curriculum by connecting the “class room” setting to “real life working environment”. Overall this assessment allows more efficient achievement of learning outcomes that all work placement modules share. For example, blogs can help to develop further students’ personal and employability skills such as critical thinking and analysis through reflection, writing skills, communication, professionalism, listening and giving/accepting constructive criticism through the discussions with each other. In addition, all of these important student graduate attributes can be further enhanced and developed through directed discussions with the lecturer using blogs

Improving the Undergraduate Laboratory Learning Experience Through Redesigned Teaching and Assessment Strategies Integrating Transferable Skills and Focusing on Feedback.

This project aimed to improve the laboratory learning experience for undergraduate science students, focusing initially on first and third year cohorts, through specific objectives. Firstly, to incorporate novel teaching and assessment methods, including student led laboratories, in- house produced instructional videos, “Clickers” audience response devices, and pre-practical on-line multiple choice questionnaires (MCQ) assessments. Secondly, to develop timely feedback mechanisms, including peer review, tutor face-to-face and audio feedback, online automatic feedback, and report checklists. Finally, to embed transferable skills into the laboratory including group work, communication skills (written and oral), organisation and project planning, health and safety, and preparedness for laboratories, final year projects and placement. Pedagogical evaluation was through anonymous MCQ and independent academic facilitated discussion forums. The main benefits were students who are better prepared, both for basic undergraduate laboratories and for independent research-based final year projects; continuity in the development of transferable skills; improved assessment quality through constructive alignment and appropriate feedback; and improved student satisfaction though engagement and feedback. The key recommendations arising from this are study are: to encourage preparedness for practical sessions; harnessing technology to engage students through interesting pre-practical activities; to encourage an improved culture of feedback, including mechanisms such as podcasts, which also “feed-forward”; and to encourage a culture where value is added to modules by actively incorporating transferable skills into all student activities and assessments rather than a “bolt on” approach

Gathering Together: Engaging Students with Remote Access to Live Lectures

In Summer 2014, Dr. Vale ran a pilot summer session of a second year engineering course at the University of Guelph. To provide accessibility for students who were away from campus (for example, due to co-op), the lectures were live streamed using Adobe Connect (audio and screen capture, but no room video). A live chat was also implemented, enabling active class participation for those students accessing the course remotely. Approximately 20 students attended live and 40 attended remotely. An REB was obtained, and the class was surveyed to assess the effectiveness of the remote access to the lectures, the influence of employment on taking the course, efficacy of holding courses during the summer semester, and the impact of this method of delivery on their learning. From this investigation, increased attendance to lectures showed improved student performance, regardless of the method of attendance. Overall, the students appreciated the remote access and the online in-class chat forum and found that this method of delivery was complimentary to the traditional in-class lecture format. Some tips and tricks to implementing and using the technology and some of the challenges of engaging students both remotely and in class will also be discussed. Attendants are encouraged to bring their laptops for participation in a live online chat