Reframing Assessment

FM10120 Studying Film is a core first-year undergraduate module in Film Studies. The module is designed for a large cohort of students (approximately 150) emolled on the BA Film and Television Studies. As such, it is intended to introduce students to key aspects of the study of film, including issues around representation, formal analysis, geme, audiences, stardom, moral debates and narrative. It lays the foundations for undergraduate study in the second and third years (as well as postgraduate study), so it is clearly important that the module both facilitates the future growth of the students' knowledge and helps them to develop key skills that will not only help them in their current and future studies, but will also ideally help them in their future working lives

The Spatial Politics of the Voice in Patrick Keiller’s Robinson in Ruins (2010)

This article engages with the ways in which Vanessa Redgrave’s voice-over operates in spatial terms in Patrick Keiller’s film Robinson in Ruins. It argues that through a combination of omniscient authority, self-reflexive irony, and the mannered vocal performance of the role of a fictional character, Redgrave’s voice-over ultimately evokes an uncontainable presence. Writers such as Michel Chion and Mary Ann Doane have considered film voice-overs as ‘disembodied’ phenomena, but the paper demonstrates that the fluid play of presence and absence in Redgrave’s disembodied voice-over in Robinson in Ruins – but also the grain of this voice, its performative qualities, and its evident display of traces of an enduring star persona – informs, in very complex ways, the free and open concept of place and spatiality that the film explores and articulates. Through its recounting of Robinson’s story, its setting out of innumerable historical facts, and its focus on off-screen as well as on-screen images, Redgrave’s fluid voice-over constructs a complex, highly politicized sound territory; a shifting sonic space referred to below as a phonotope. By exploring this example in detail one can show how we might benefit from paying attention to the spatial properties of voices on film, by drawing, in particular, on insights drawn from cultural geography

Blended, Deep and Active Learning

The issue I want to address in my first teaching cycle is how to guarantee that as many of my students as possible can grow to understand a key'threshold concept' in Film Studies - , genre'. I will be giving a lecture on genre for the third year undergraduate module Studies in Literanj Adaptations. This lecture will fall within the sixth week of a twelve-week module. I want to employ formative assessment techniques during this lecture in order to gauge how well students have already engaged with 'genre' as a key 'threshold concept' (Meyer and Lad 2003; 2005; Land et al. 2005). Basically speaking, a 'threshold concept' can alter the way in which a student thinks about an academic subject

Information Technology and the Muddiest Point - Using Podcasts for Active Learning

As stated in the report on the second teaching cycle above, FM10120 Studying Film is a core first-year undergraduate module in Film Studies in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at Aberystwyth University. The module is designed for a large cohort (approximately 150 students), and is intended to introduce students to key aspects of the study of film, including issues surrounding representation, formal analysis, genre, audience, stardom, moral debates and narrative. Because the module performs a very important role in introducing students to the academic study of film, there are areas that we just do not have the time to cover in as much detail as we might like to across the twelve weeks that the module spans. So I wanted to come up with an idea to allow students to engage with aspects of Film Studies outside of timetabled sessions. I also wanted to develop a teaching methodology which might also allow the students on the module to'distance' learn key topics and or ideas and to learn these topics/ideas in their own time. I was keen to employ new media and information technologies in order to accomplish this. But I also wanted to develop a teaching technique to do this which would also compliment our current teaching provision on the module

Learning Analytics in UK HE 2017 A HeLF Survey Report

This report presents the analysis of the Heads of eLearning Forum (HeLF) survey on Learning Analytics in UK Higher Education (HE) in 2017. It is an update on the Learning Analytics survey undertaken 2 years ago in 2015

Measurement of HbA1c in multicentre diabetes trials - should blood samples be tested locally or sent to a central laboratory: an agreement analysis (vol 17, pg 517, 2016)

Background Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is an important outcome measure in diabetes clinical trials. For multicentre designs, HbA1c can be measured locally at participating centres or by sending blood samples to a central laboratory. This study analyses the agreement between local and central measurements, using 1-year follow-up data collected in a multicentre randomised controlled trial (RCT) of newly diagnosed children with type I diabetes. Methods HbA1c measurements were routinely analysed both locally and centrally at baseline and then at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months and the data reported in mmol/mol. Agreement was assessed by calculating the bias and 95 % limits of agreement, using the Bland-Altman analysis method. A predetermined benchmark for clinically acceptable margin of error between measurements was subjectively set as ±10 % for HbA1c. The percentage of pairs of measurements that were classified as clinically acceptable was calculated. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the agreement within centres. Treatment group was not considered. Results Five hundred and ninety pairs of measurement, representing 255 children and 15 trial centres across four follow-up time points, were compared. There was no significant bias: local measurements were an average of 0.16 mmol/mol (SD = 4.5, 95 % CI −0.2 to 0.5) higher than central. The 95 % limits of agreement were −8.6 to 9.0 mmol/mol (local minus central). Eighty percent of local measurements were within ±10 % of corresponding central measurements. Some trial centres were more varied in the differences observed between local and central measurements: IQRs ranging from 3 to 9 mmol/mol; none indicated systematic bias. Conclusions Variation in agreement between HbA1c measurements was greater than had been expected although no overall bias was detected and standard deviations were similar. Discrepancies were present across all participating centres. These findings have implications for the comparison of standards of clinical care between centres, the design of future multicentre RCTs and existing quality assurance processes for HbA1c measurements. We recommend that centralised HbA1c measurement is preferable in the multicentre clinical trial setting

Collaboration between Librarians and Learning Technologists to enhance the learning of health sciences students.

Collaboration between Librarians and Learning Technologists at Bournemouth University (BU) has been stimulated and cemented by Pathfinder funding from the Higher Education Academy. This paper will consider four case studies collected as part of the eRes Project that describe the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the School of Health and Social Care at BU. The project aimed to enhance the student learning experience in an increasingly electronic environment. This was achieved by developing and disseminating innovative pedagogical frameworks, bringing together learning activities and academically led quality e-resources within the unit of study. An e-reading strategy which encompasses models for resource discovery and e-literacy was developed, drawing on the experiences and findings of the case studies. Issues considered in this paper will include accessing academic electronic reading materials and using a social bookmarking tool integrated within BU’s virtual learning environment with students studying away from the main campus. Additionally the paper will consider how technology can be used to motivate students, especially in large groups and how it can be used to engage students with a subject perceived as “dry” or “difficult”. The rich possibilities of health science materials can be exploited more fully using new technologies embedded within the curriculum

Phenytoin dosing and serum concentrations in paediatric patients requiring 20 mg/kg intravenous loading

Introduction Phenytoin has complex pharmacokinetics. The intravenous loading dose of phenytoin for children in status epilepticus has recently been increased from 18 to 20mg/kg. There are no data on the clinical effectiveness and safety of this new dose. Methods The use of intravenous loading doses of phenytoin was audited over 27 months to evaluate the pharmacokinetic, clinical and toxic effects of the new dose in clinical practice. Serum phenytoin concentrations were compared with both dose (weight-adjusted) and time. Results Serum phenytoin concentrations were measured on 48 occasions from 41 children (39 retrospective and 9 prospective), of which 24 were within 60-180 (median 105) minutes following completion of infusion of the loading dose. Use of estimated weights meant patients received between 15.5 and 27.5mg/kg (78-138% expected dose). Supra-therapeutic serum concentrations (>20µg/ml were present in 5/24 (20.1%) (after doses based on actual weight in three, and estimated weight in two patients). Three adverse effects consistent with phenytoin toxicity were noted in children with supra-therapeutic concentrations. Two errors in dose prescriptions were found. Conclusion The majority of serum phenytoin concentrations were in the therapeutic range. Estimating weight in children for the 20mg/kg intravenous loading dose of phenytoin is often clinically necessary but inaccurate, resulting in up to 138% of the expected and recommended dose in this cohort

The Diagnostic and Prognostic Accuracy of Five Markers of Serious Bacterial Infection in Malawian Children with Signs of Severe Infection

Early recognition and prompt and appropriate antibiotic treatment can significantly reduce mortality from serious bacterial infections (SBI). The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of five markers of infection: C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1), CD163 and high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1), as markers of SBI in severely ill Malawian children.Children presenting with a signs of meningitis (n = 282) or pneumonia (n = 95), were prospectively recruited. Plasma samples were taken on admission for CRP, PCT, sTREM-1 CD163 and HMGB1 and the performance characteristics of each test to diagnose SBI and to predict mortality were determined. Of 377 children, 279 (74%) had SBI and 83 (22%) died. Plasma CRP, PCT, CD163 and HMGB1 and were higher in HIV-infected children than in HIV-uninfected children (p<0.01). In HIV-infected children, CRP and PCT were higher in children with SBI compared to those with no detectable bacterial infection (p<0.0005), and PCT and CD163 were higher in non-survivors (p = 0.001, p = 0.05 respectively). In HIV-uninfected children, CRP and PCT were also higher in children with SBI compared to those with no detectable bacterial infection (p<0.0005), and CD163 was higher in non-survivors (p = 0.05). The best predictors of SBI were CRP and PCT, and areas under the curve (AUCs) were 0.81 (95% CI 0.73–0.89) and 0.86 (95% CI 0.79–0.92) respectively. The best marker for predicting death was PCT, AUC 0.61 (95% CI 0.50–0.71).Admission PCT and CRP are useful markers of invasive bacterial infection in severely ill African children. The study of these markers using rapid tests in a less selected cohort would be important in this setting