Safety Culture in the Maternity Units: a census survey using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire

Background: Patient safety has been a priority for many societies and health care systems in the last decades. Identification of preventable risks and aversion of potentially unsafe situations and fatal complications in maternity units is life saving. The explicit need to focus on quality of care underpins the aim of the study to initially evaluate the safety culture and teamwork climate in the public Maternity Units of the 5 Regional Hospitals in Cyprus as measured by a validated safety attitudes tool. Methods. Data were collected from 140 midwives working in the public sector all over Cyprus by the Greek Version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-Labor version. Results: One hundred and six (75.71%) registered midwives completed the questionnaire fully. The median of total work experience as a registered midwife was 3 years (IQR: 2-18.25); whereas the median of total working experience in the nursing and maternity units was 5 years (IQR: 2-21.75). Experienced midwives rated the following domains higher: team work, safety climate, job satisfaction and working conditions as opposed to the midwives with less experience. Additionally those with a longer working life in the current maternity units rated these domains higher: safety climate, job satisfaction and working conditions as opposed to the less experienced midwives. Conclusions: The high mean total score on team work and safety climate in the more experienced group of midwives is a predominant finding for the maternity units of Cyprus. In Cyprus where facilities are small in size and midwives know each other, share more responsibility towards patient safety. It could be suggested that younger midwives need more support and teamwork practice to enhance the safety and teamwork climate towards self-confidence

Using Webquests in a Museum-based Multiliteracies Dynamic Learning Intervention: Ubiquitous Learning Made Possible?

Today’s emerging technological achievements seem to be moving towards the realization of ubiquitous learning as described by Weiser (1991). Nevertheless, ubiquitous learning is not preconceived or a priori; the number of possibilities offered by such learning can only happen through strategies and practices that re-conceptualize the content, processes and human relationships of teaching and learning. Bearing the previous in mind, the aim of this paper is to report on the findings from a doctoral thesis on students’ multimodal experiences resulting from engagement in the creation of a student-generated virtual museum. Drawing from the literature, analysis and evaluation of the qualitative research methodology this paper addresses how engagement with an online educational tool such as WebQuests impacts upon pupils’ multimodal awareness, and its potentials to support ubiquitous learning. To facilitate understanding a learning framework based on multimodal literacies, the theory of communities of practice and museum based pedagogy is presented in brief. Following this, the findings of the intervention are discussed in the context of the case study undertaken with a group of primary aged students to determine the extent to which the intrinsic characteristics of ubiquitous learning could be served by the affordances of the WebQuest method within the learning framework implemented

Using Webquests in a Museum-based Multiliteracies Dynamic Learning Intervention: Ubiquitous Learning Made Possible?

Today’s emerging technological achievements seem to be moving towards the realization of ubiquitous learning as described by Weiser (1991). Nevertheless, ubiquitous learning is not preconceived or a priori; the number of possibilities offered by such learning can only happen through strategies and practices that re-conceptualize the content, processes and human relationships of teaching and learning. Bearing the previous in mind, the aim of this paper is to report on the findings from a doctoral thesis on students’ multimodal experiences resulting from engagement in the creation of a student-generated virtual museum. Drawing from the literature, analysis and evaluation of the qualitative research methodology this paper addresses how engagement with an online educational tool such as WebQuests impacts upon pupils’ multimodal awareness, and its potentials to support ubiquitous learning. To facilitate understanding a learning framework based on multimodal literacies, the theory of communities of practice and museum based pedagogy is presented in brief. Following this, the findings of the intervention are discussed in the context of the case study undertaken with a group of primary aged students to determine the extent to which the intrinsic characteristics of ubiquitous learning could be served by the affordances of the WebQuest method within the learning framework implemented

Using Webquests in a Museum-based Multiliteracies Dynamic Learning Intervention: Ubiquitous Learning Made Possible?

Today’s emerging technological achievements seem to be moving towards the realization of ubiquitous learning as described by Weiser (1991). Nevertheless, ubiquitous learning is not preconceived or a priori; the number of possibilities offered by such learning can only happen through strategies and practices that re-conceptualize the content, processes and human relationships of teaching and learning. Bearing the previous in mind, the aim of this paper is to report on the findings from a doctoral thesis on students’ multimodal experiences resulting from engagement in the creation of a student-generated virtual museum. Drawing from the literature, analysis and evaluation of the qualitative research methodology this paper addresses how engagement with an online educational tool such as WebQuests impacts upon pupils’ multimodal awareness, and its potentials to support ubiquitous learning. To facilitate understanding a learning framework based on multimodal literacies, the theory of communities of practice and museum based pedagogy is presented in brief. Following this, the findings of the intervention are discussed in the context of the case study undertaken with a group of primary aged students to determine the extent to which the intrinsic characteristics of ubiquitous learning could be served by the affordances of the WebQuest method within the learning framework implemented