„Duale Weiterbildung“: Duale Studienformate als Form der Hochschulweiterbildung?

Im Kontext der Hochschulweiterbildung spielen duale Studienformatebislang eine untergeordnete Rolle. Zwar wächstdas Angebot weiterbildender dualer Masterstudiengänge, dererstaunlich hohe Anteil beruflich Qualifizierter in dualenBachelorstudiengängen deutet allerdings darauf hin, dassdiese, wenngleich formal nicht als Weiterbildung verstandenund konzipiert, auch Potentiale für die hochschulischeWeiterbildung bieten können. Die dargestellten Befundeder Studie „Mobilisierung von Bildungspotenzialen für dieMINT-Fachkräftesicherung – der Beitrag des dualen Studiums“(Wolter et al. 2014) zeigen, dass sowohl Studierende alsauch Unternehmen duale Bachelorstudiengänge zur Höherqualifizierungnach einem beruflichen Abschluss nutzen unddass Unternehmensbindung und berufliche Sicherheit dabeieine zentrale Rolle spielen

"Stark trotz Corona". Challenging, but successful! Findings from Berlin on the Federal Government and Länder Programme "Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche"

Im Rahmen des von Bund und Ländern getragenen Aktionsprogramms „Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche“ wurden in den Jahren 2021 und 2022 Maßnahmen zum Abbau von Lernrückständen und psychosozialen Folgen der Corona-Pandemie gefördert. Der Beitrag präsentiert Ergebnisse und Erfahrungen der Umsetzung des Berliner Landesprogramms „Stark trotz Corona“ auf Basis von administrativen Daten zur Verwendung der Schulbudgets an allgemeinbildenden öffentlichen und beruflichen Schulen sowie einer qualitativen Befragung von Schulleitungen und Schulaufsichten. (DIPF/Orig.)In 2021 and 2022, the program set up by the federal government and the Länder “Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche“ [Catching up after Corona for Children and Adolescents] funded measures to reduce learning backlogs and psychosocial effects of the Corona pandemic. The paper presents findings and implementation experiences of the Berlin state program “Stark trotz Corona“ [Strong despite Corona] based on administrative data on school budgets for general public and vocational schools as well as a qualitative survey among school principals and school supervisors. (DIPF/Orig.

"Silent revolution?" The changing access to higher education for non-traditional students in Germany

Die Öffnung der Hochschulen in Deutschland für nicht-traditionelle Studierende hat in jüngster Zeit zunehmend an Aufmerksamkeit gewonnen. Welche bildungs- und arbeitsmarktpolitischen Debatten, hochschulrechtlichen Entwicklungen und Maßnahmen damit verbunden sind und inwieweit sich Letztere auch in der tatsächlichen Beteiligung nichttraditioneller Studierender an Hochschulbildung widerspiegeln, soll in diesem Beitrag näher betrachtet werden. (DIPF/Orig.)The opening of higher education institutions for non-traditional students in Germany has increasingly gained attention in recent years. This paper presents the debates on education and labour market policy, regulations on access to higher education as well as measures connected with this process and deals with the question to what extent the latter are reflected in the actual participation of non-traditional students. (DIPF/Orig.

Nach Bologna: Warum das Neue (manchmal) nicht in die Hochschule kommt. Das Beispiel Praxisphasen im Studium

Der Beitrag präsentiert Ergebnisse einer multiperspektivischen, empirischen Untersuchung zur curricularen Verankerung von Praxisphasen im Studium und beschreibt exemplarisch dabei auftretende praktische Umsetzungsprobleme. Die Ergebnisse, die im Rahmen des BMBF-Forschungsprojektes ProPrax mittels Dokumentenanalysen und Studierendenbefragungen ermittelt wurden, verweisen auf eine Diskrepanz zwischen den Forderungen nach Reformen (z. B. Beschäftigungsfähigkeit) und der Umsetzung im Hochschulalltag. Als mögliche Gründe dafür werden sowohl strukturelle als auch hochschulspezifische Aspekte diskutiert. Empfehlungen für eine Qualitätssicherung von Praxisphasen werden abgeleitet. 02.11.2011 | Wilfried Schubarth, Karsten Speck, Andreas Seidel, Corinna Gottmann, Caroline Kamm, Andrea Kopp & Maud Krohn (Potsdam und Oldenburg

Electronic Health Diary Campaigns to Complement Longitudinal Assessments in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis: Nested Observational Study

BACKGROUND Electronic health diaries hold promise in complementing standardized surveys in prospective health studies but are fraught with numerous methodological challenges. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to investigate participant characteristics and other factors associated with response to an electronic health diary campaign in persons with multiple sclerosis, identify recurrent topics in free-text diary entries, and assess the added value of structured diary entries with regard to current symptoms and medication intake when compared with survey-collected information. METHODS Data were collected by the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Registry during a nested electronic health diary campaign and during a regular semiannual Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Registry follow-up survey serving as comparator. The characteristics of campaign participants were descriptively compared with those of nonparticipants. Diary content was analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 software (Pennebaker Conglomerates, Inc) and descriptive keyword analyses. The similarities between structured diary data and follow-up survey data on health-related quality of life, symptoms, and medication intake were examined using the Jaccard index. RESULTS Campaign participants (n=134; diary entries: n=815) were more often women, were not working full time, did not have a higher education degree, had a more advanced gait impairment, and were on average 5 years older (median age 52.5, IQR 43.25-59.75 years) than eligible nonparticipants (median age 47, IQR 38-55 years; n=524). Diary free-text entries (n=632; participants: n=100) most often contained references to the following standard Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count word categories: negative emotion (193/632, 30.5%), body parts or body functioning (191/632, 30.2%), health (94/632, 14.9%), or work (67/632, 10.6%). Analogously, the most frequently mentioned keywords (diary entries: n=526; participants: n=93) were "good," "day," and "work." Similarities between diary data and follow-up survey data, collected 14 months apart (median), were high for health-related quality of life and stable for slow-changing symptoms such as fatigue or gait disorder. Similarities were also comparatively high for drugs requiring a regular application, including interferon beta-1a (Avonex) and glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), and for modern oral therapies such as fingolimod (Gilenya) and teriflunomide (Aubagio). CONCLUSIONS Diary campaign participation seemed dependent on time availability and symptom burden and was enhanced by reminder emails. Electronic health diaries are a meaningful complement to regular structured surveys and can provide more detailed information regarding medication use and symptoms. However, they should ideally be embedded into promotional activities or tied to concrete research study tasks to enhance regular and long-term participation

Electronic Health Diary Campaigns to Complement Longitudinal Assessments in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis: Nested Observational Study.

BACKGROUND Electronic health diaries hold promise in complementing standardized surveys in prospective health studies but are fraught with numerous methodological challenges. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to investigate participant characteristics and other factors associated with response to an electronic health diary campaign in persons with multiple sclerosis, identify recurrent topics in free-text diary entries, and assess the added value of structured diary entries with regard to current symptoms and medication intake when compared with survey-collected information. METHODS Data were collected by the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Registry during a nested electronic health diary campaign and during a regular semiannual Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Registry follow-up survey serving as comparator. The characteristics of campaign participants were descriptively compared with those of nonparticipants. Diary content was analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 software (Pennebaker Conglomerates, Inc) and descriptive keyword analyses. The similarities between structured diary data and follow-up survey data on health-related quality of life, symptoms, and medication intake were examined using the Jaccard index. RESULTS Campaign participants (n=134; diary entries: n=815) were more often women, were not working full time, did not have a higher education degree, had a more advanced gait impairment, and were on average 5 years older (median age 52.5, IQR 43.25-59.75 years) than eligible nonparticipants (median age 47, IQR 38-55 years; n=524). Diary free-text entries (n=632; participants: n=100) most often contained references to the following standard Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count word categories: negative emotion (193/632, 30.5%), body parts or body functioning (191/632, 30.2%), health (94/632, 14.9%), or work (67/632, 10.6%). Analogously, the most frequently mentioned keywords (diary entries: n=526; participants: n=93) were "good," "day," and "work." Similarities between diary data and follow-up survey data, collected 14 months apart (median), were high for health-related quality of life and stable for slow-changing symptoms such as fatigue or gait disorder. Similarities were also comparatively high for drugs requiring a regular application, including interferon beta-1a (Avonex) and glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), and for modern oral therapies such as fingolimod (Gilenya) and teriflunomide (Aubagio). CONCLUSIONS Diary campaign participation seemed dependent on time availability and symptom burden and was enhanced by reminder emails. Electronic health diaries are a meaningful complement to regular structured surveys and can provide more detailed information regarding medication use and symptoms. However, they should ideally be embedded into promotional activities or tied to concrete research study tasks to enhance regular and long-term participation

Association of age and disease duration with comorbidities and disability: A study of the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Registry.

BACKGROUND While comorbidities increase with age, duration of multiple sclerosis (MS) leads to disability accumulation in persons with MS. The influence of ageing vis-a-vis MS duration remains largely unexplored. We studied the independent associations of ageing and MS duration with disability and comorbidities in the Swiss MS Registry participants. METHODS Self-reported data was cross-sectionally analyzed using confounder-adjusted logistic regression models for 6 outcomes: cancer, type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension, cardiac diseases, depression, and having at least moderate or severe gait disability. Using cubic splines, we explored non-linear changes in risk shapes. RESULTS Among 1615 participants age was associated with cardiac diseases (OR 1.05, 95% CI [1.02, 2.08]), hypertension (OR 1.08, 95% CI [1.06, 2.10]), T2D (OR 1.10, 95%CI [1.05, 1.16]) and cancer (OR 1.04, 95% CI [1.01, 1.07]). MS duration was not associated with comorbidities, except for cardiac diseases (OR 1.03, 95% CI [1.00, 1.06]). MS duration and age were independently associated with having at least moderate gait disability (OR 1.06, 95% CI [1.04, 1.07]; OR 1.04, 95% CI [1.02, 1.05], respectively), and MS duration was associated with severe gait disability (OR 1.05, 95% CI [1.03, 1.08]). The spline analysis suggested a non-linear increase of having at least moderate gait disability with age. CONCLUSIONS Presence of comorbidities was largely associated with age only. Having at least moderate gait disability was associated with both age and MS duration, while having severe gait disabity was associated with MS duration only

The Real-World Experiences of Persons With Multiple Sclerosis During the First COVID-19 Lockdown: Application of Natural Language Processing

BACKGROUND The increasing availability of "real-world" data in the form of written text holds promise for deepening our understanding of societal and health-related challenges. Textual data constitute a rich source of information, allowing the capture of lived experiences through a broad range of different sources of information (eg, content and emotional tone). Interviews are the "gold standard" for gaining qualitative insights into individual experiences and perspectives. However, conducting interviews on a large scale is not always feasible, and standardized quantitative assessment suitable for large-scale application may miss important information. Surveys that include open-text assessments can combine the advantages of both methods and are well suited for the application of natural language processing (NLP) methods. While innovations in NLP have made large-scale text analysis more accessible, the analysis of real-world textual data is still complex and requires several consecutive steps. OBJECTIVE We developed and subsequently examined the utility and scientific value of an NLP pipeline for extracting real-world experiences from textual data to provide guidance for applied researchers. METHODS We applied the NLP pipeline to large-scale textual data collected by the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis (MS) registry. Such textual data constitute an ideal use case for the study of real-world text data. Specifically, we examined 639 text reports on the experienced impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown from the perspectives of persons with MS. The pipeline has been implemented in Python and complemented by analyses of the "Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count" software. It consists of the following 5 interconnected analysis steps: (1) text preprocessing; (2) sentiment analysis; (3) descriptive text analysis; (4) unsupervised learning-topic modeling; and (5) results interpretation and validation. RESULTS A topic modeling analysis identified the following 4 distinct groups based on the topics participants were mainly concerned with: "contacts/communication;" "social environment;" "work;" and "errands/daily routines." Notably, the sentiment analysis revealed that the "contacts/communication" group was characterized by a pronounced negative emotional tone underlying the text reports. This observed heterogeneity in emotional tonality underlying the reported experiences of the first COVID-19-related lockdown is likely to reflect differences in emotional burden, individual circumstances, and ways of coping with the pandemic, which is in line with previous research on this matter. CONCLUSIONS This study illustrates the timely and efficient applicability of an NLP pipeline and thereby serves as a precedent for applied researchers. Our study thereby contributes to both the dissemination of NLP techniques in applied health sciences and the identification of previously unknown experiences and burdens of persons with MS during the pandemic, which may be relevant for future treatment

„Duale Weiterbildung“. Duale Studienformate als Form der Hochschulweiterbildung?

Im Kontext der Hochschulweiterbildung spielen duale Studienformate bislang eine untergeordnete Rolle. Zwar wächst das Angebot weiterbildender dualer Masterstudiengänge, der erstaunlich hohe Anteil beruflich Qualifizierter in dualen Bachelorstudiengängen deutet allerdings darauf hin, dass diese, wenngleich formal nicht als Weiterbildung verstanden und konzipiert, auch Potentiale für die hochschulische Weiterbildung bieten können. Die dargestellten Befunde der Studie „Mobilisierung von Bildungspotenzialen für die MINT-Fachkräftesicherung – der Beitrag des dualen Studiums“ (Wolter et al. 2014) zeigen, dass sowohl Studierende als auch Unternehmen duale Bachelorstudiengänge zur Höherqualifizierung nach einem beruflichen Abschluss nutzen und dass Unternehmensbindung und berufliche Sicherheit dabei eine zentrale Rolle spielen. (DIPF/Orig.