LMDA Review, volume 8, issue 1 (sic)

Contents include: From the President, A Note on this Newsletter, A Call for Volunteers, Conference News: ATHE and LMDA, LMDA at ATHE: The Probable Conversion of a Skeptic, 1998 LMDA Conference, The 1997 LMDA Conference at Yale University: Looking Back, To My Colleagues (II), LMDA Advocacy Caucus, and Regional Vice-Presidents. Issue editor: Michele Volanskyhttps://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1014/thumbnail.jp

The E-Design Assessment Tool: an evidence-informed approach towards a consistent terminology for quantifying online distance learning activities

Online distance learning (ODL) continues to expand rapidly, despite persistent concerns that student experience is poorer and retention lower than for face-to-face courses. Various factors affect ODL quality, but the impact of recommended learning activities, such as student interaction activities and those involving feedback, have proven difficult to assess because of challenges in definition and measurement. Although learning design frameworks and learning analytics have been used to evaluate learning designs, their use is hampered by this lack of an agreed terminology. This study addresses these challenges by initially identifying key ODL activities that are associated with higher quality learning designs. The learning activity terminology was tested using independent raters, who categorised the learning activities in four ODL courses as ‘interaction’, ‘feedback’ or ‘other’, with inter-rater reliability near or above recommended levels. Whilst challenges remain for consistent categorisation, the analysis suggests that increased clarity in the learning activity will aid categorisation. As a result of this analysis, the E-Design Assessment Tool (eDAT) has been developed to incorporate this key terminology and enable improved quantification of learning designs. This can be used with learning analytics, particularly retention and attainment data, thus providing an effective feedback loop on the learning design

LMDA Review, volume 8, issue 1

Contents include: From the President, Jayme Koszyn, Blaulapalooza in Imilwaukee, Notes from Avignon: Diary of a Francophile Theatre Junkie, 1997 Conference News, Canadian Regional News, A Letter to My Colleagues from Lynn M. Thomson, ATHR Group Meets, Proposes Panel for New \u27Turgs, Regional News: The Chicago Gang Meets Again, Member News, and Regional VP\u27s.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1015/thumbnail.jp

LMDA Review, volume 11, issue 1

Contents include: Advocacy Guidelines,LMDA Members Meet with the NEA, Update The Elliot Hayes Award,Update Script Exchange, Presentation Of Elliott Hayes Award to Rebecca Rugg, To Lynn Thomson, Conference Panels and Sessions, Conversations About Digital Dramaturgy, Key Note, Dramaturg As Generator, Multi-Authorship: Too Many Cooks?, Desperately Seeking Research, On Copyright, The Dramaturg As Advocate For The Arts On City, State/Provincial, And National Levels, Entrances And Exits, The (New Play) Workshop\u27s The Thing, Anne Cattaneo On Commissioning New Work, LMDA Regions And VPs, News From Canada, News from Baltimore, News from Chicago, The Past Two Years, and On, Notes to Fellow LMDA Members, Spotlight on Early Career Dramturgs, Dramaturgy Opening Arena Stage, Internship at the Women\u27s Project, Literary Residency in New York, Dramaturgy/Literary Management Internship at Arena Stage, Job Opening at UCSD, A Note to LMDA Members, Unity Fest 2001 Call for Scripts, Call for Directors, Actors, Dramaturgs, and Call for Updates to the LMDA Guide to Programs in Dramaturgy.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1022/thumbnail.jp

LMDA Review, volume 10, issue 1

Contents include: Photo of Conference Participants Annual Conference 1999, Send in your Ballot, A Note to Ourselves, Increase in Dues and New Annual Membership Expiration Date, LMDA Archive, LMDA Administrator; LMDA Interns, Mid-Year Meeting, Early Career Dramaturg Program, Elliot Hayes Award 2000, Report on Canadian Caucus, Script Exchange, Report on the Dramaturgy Focus Group ATHE 1999, Elliot Hayes Award Winners Lue Douthit and Michel Volansky, Acceptance Speech Lue Morgan Douthit, Elliot Hayes Award Presentation to Michele Volansky for Space, On the Elliot Hayes Award Michele Volansky, Day One of the Conference, Day Two of the Conference, Day Three of the Conference, Day Four of the Conference, The Advocacy Caucus Presentation at the Conference, Final Thoughts, Conference 1999 Many Thanks, Arthur Ballet and the Office for Advanced Drama Research, Spotlight on Early Career Dramaturg Vanessa Porteous, A Working History of LMDA The Early Years, From Academia to Arena A Dramaturg\u27s Education in the Real World, Tony Creamer and Death of a Salesman, Two Moments, Jobs and Projects, Scriptseeker.com, LMDA Online Listserv Instructions, Note from James Magruder, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas Bibliography 1999, Noted with Pleasure, and Internship Questionnaire.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1020/thumbnail.jp

Calibration of ALMA as a phased array: ALMA observations during the 2017 VLBI campaign

We present a detailed description of the special procedures for calibration and quality assurance of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations in Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) mode. These procedures are required to turn the phased ALMA array into a fully calibrated VLBI station. As an illustration of these methodologies, we present full-polarization observations carried out with ALMA as a phased array at 3mm (Band 3) and 1.3mm (Band 6) as part of Cycle-4. These are the first VLBI science observations conducted with ALMA and were obtained during a 2017 VLBI campaign in concert with other telescopes worldwide as part of the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA, April 1-3) and the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT, April 5-11) in ALMA Bands 3 and 6, respectively.Comment: 39 pages, 20 figures, 10 tables, accepted by PAS

Development of a National Pain Management Competency Profile to Guide Entry-Level Physiotherapy Education in Canada

Background National strategies from North America call for substantive improvements in entry-level pain management education to help reduce the burden of chronic pain. Past work has generated a valuable set of interprofessional pain management competencies to guide the education of future health professionals. However, there has been very limited work that has explored the development of such competencies for individual professions in different regions. Developing profession-specific competencies tailored to the local context is a necessary first step to integrate them within local regulatory systems. Our group is working toward this goal within the context of entry-level physiotherapy (PT) programs across Canada. Aims This study aimed to create a consensus-based competency profile for pain management, specific to the Canadian PT context. Methods A modified Delphi design was used to achieve consensus across Canadian university-based and clinical pain educators. Results Representatives from 14 entry-level PT programs (93% of Canadian programs) and six clinical educators were recruited. After two rounds, a total of 15 competencies reached the predetermined endorsement threshold (75%). Most participants (85%) reported being “very satisfied” with the process. Conclusions This process achieved consensus on a novel pain management competency profile specific to the Canadian PT context. The resulting profile delineates the necessary abilities required by physiotherapists to manage pain upon entry to practice. Participants were very satisfied with the process. This study also contributes to the emerging literature on integrated research in pain management by profiling research methodology that can be used to inform related work in other health professions and regions

Efficiency and safety of varying the frequency of whole blood donation (INTERVAL): a randomised trial of 45 000 donors

Background: Limits on the frequency of whole blood donation exist primarily to safeguard donor health. However, there is substantial variation across blood services in the maximum frequency of donations allowed. We compared standard practice in the UK with shorter inter-donation intervals used in other countries. Methods: In this parallel group, pragmatic, randomised trial, we recruited whole blood donors aged 18 years or older from 25 centres across England, UK. By use of a computer-based algorithm, men were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 12-week (standard) versus 10-week versus 8-week inter-donation intervals, and women were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 16-week (standard) versus 14-week versus 12-week intervals. Participants were not masked to their allocated intervention group. The primary outcome was the number of donations over 2 years. Secondary outcomes related to safety were quality of life, symptoms potentially related to donation, physical activity, cognitive function, haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and deferrals because of low haemoglobin. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN24760606, and is ongoing but no longer recruiting participants. Findings: 45 263 whole blood donors (22 466 men, 22 797 women) were recruited between June 11, 2012, and June 15, 2014. Data were analysed for 45 042 (99·5%) participants. Men were randomly assigned to the 12-week (n=7452) versus 10-week (n=7449) versus 8-week (n=7456) groups; and women to the 16-week (n=7550) versus 14-week (n=7567) versus 12-week (n=7568) groups. In men, compared with the 12-week group, the mean amount of blood collected per donor over 2 years increased by 1·69 units (95% CI 1·59–1·80; approximately 795 mL) in the 8-week group and by 0·79 units (0·69–0·88; approximately 370 mL) in the 10-week group (p<0·0001 for both). In women, compared with the 16-week group, it increased by 0·84 units (95% CI 0·76–0·91; approximately 395 mL) in the 12-week group and by 0·46 units (0·39–0·53; approximately 215 mL) in the 14-week group (p<0·0001 for both). No significant differences were observed in quality of life, physical activity, or cognitive function across randomised groups. However, more frequent donation resulted in more donation-related symptoms (eg, tiredness, breathlessness, feeling faint, dizziness, and restless legs, especially among men [for all listed symptoms]), lower mean haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and more deferrals for low haemoglobin (p<0·0001 for each) than those observed in the standard frequency groups. Interpretation: Over 2 years, more frequent donation than is standard practice in the UK collected substantially more blood without having a major effect on donors' quality of life, physical activity, or cognitive function, but resulted in more donation-related symptoms, deferrals, and iron deficiency. Funding: NHS Blood and Transplant, National Institute for Health Research, UK Medical Research Council, and British Heart Foundation