What are the behaviours and attitudes of staff that make their students use Lecture Capture more?

This paper describes a realist evaluation of the Lecture Capture (LC) initiative at a top 10 University in the UK, for the academic year 2014/15. LC (sometimes referred to as Web Based Lecture Technologies in the literature) is an umbrella term used to describe the capturing of lecture content (video, audio and slides) and is a suite of technologies that include hardware, server software and systems, desktop applications and audio-visual devices. The evaluation utilised a full set of engagement analytics of LC usage and attendance data across a whole institution for an entire academic year. It also adopted a realist approach to theory building and testing using both implementation data and qualitative data from staff and students. The study involved four cycles of increasingly focused evaluation enquiry in order to illicit what works (and does not work), for whom, in which contexts and the reasons why. The investigation found that positive viewing outcomes were linked to particular staff attitudes and behaviours and not to specific disciplines, course content, departments or previous experience of using LC. The objective of this paper is to describe the methodology, approach and detailed findings for this part of the investigation. The Behaviour Change Wheel (Michie, Atkins and West 2014) is a useful tool for designing and classifying behaviour change interventions developed from 19 frameworks of behaviour change. It differentiates between intervention functions, policy categories and target behaviours modelled within capability, opportunity and motivation. The LC initiative under investigation was classified with an intervention function of ‘persuasion’, with a policy category of ‘guidelines’ and target behaviours classified as ‘psychological capability’, ‘social opportunity’ and ‘reflective motivation’. This tool has been used throughout the evaluation and also to provide recommendations for future LC intervention policy. The staff users, who have consistently high completion and cohort viewing rate across all of their courses, are more likely to come from departments where LC use by staff is firmly embedded in practice or are the first to use LC in their department. These staff are very experienced teachers, who were influenced by students to use LC and continue to use it because of positive feedback from their students. They pro-actively tell their students that the lectures are available online, with instructions on how to access them and regularly check the viewing figures. Ultimately, staff need to perceive the benefits themselves of using this technology and reflect on their own goals in its use. Gathering feedback from students will help to galvanize their personal opinion on the predominant usefulness of the technology for their discipline, their cohort and their pedagogical style and personal development. References: [1] Michie, Susan, Lou Atkins, and Robert West. The Behaviour Change Wheel - A Guide to Designing Interventions. UK: Silverback publishing, 2014

The need for evidence innovation in educational technology evaluation

More complex and chaotic methods are being adopted in the development of technology to enhance learning and teaching in higher education today in order to achieve innovation in teaching practice. However, because this type of development does not conform to a linear process-driven order, it is notoriously difficult to evaluate its success as a holistic educational initiative. It is proposed that there are five factors that impact on effective educational technology evaluation, which contributes to insubstantial evidence of positive outcomes, these being: premature timing; inappropriate software evaluation techniques and models; lack of shared understanding of the terminology or the semantics of education technology; the growing complexity of agile and open development; and the corporatisation of higher education. This paper suggests that it is no longer helpful for policy makers to evaluate whether educational technology project outcomes were successful or unsuccessful but instead they should use agile evaluation strategies to understand the impact of the product, process and outcomes in a changing context. It is no longer useful to ask the question, ‘did the software work?’ The key is for software developers and policy-makers to ask ‘what type of software works, in which conditions and for whom?’ To understand this, the software development community needs to look at adopting evaluation strategies from the social science community. For example, realist evaluation supplies context driven and evidence-based techniques, exploring outcomes that tend towards the social rather than technical. It centres on exploring the ‘mechanisms’, ‘contexts’ and ‘outcomes’ associated with an intervention and is a form of theory-driven evaluation that is the theory and reasoning of its stakeholders that is rooted in practitioner wisdom

Utilizing a realist evaluative research approach to investigate complex technology implementations: an e-learning lecture capture exemplar

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a theory-driven realist evaluative research approach to better understand complex technology implementations in organisations. Approach – An institution wide e-learning implementation of Lecture Capture (LC), within a UK University, was chosen and a realist evaluation framework was used, tailored for educational technology. The research was conducted over 4, increasingly focused, evaluation cycles combining engagement analytics, user interviews and theory to refine what works (or does not work), for whom, in which contexts and why. Findings - Despite explicit demand and corresponding investment, overall student engagement is lower than expected. Increased student use appears linked to particular staff attitudes and behaviours and not to specific disciplines or course content. The main benefits of LC are; providing reassurance to the majority, aiding revision and understanding for the many, and enabling catch-up for the few. Recommendations for future research are based on some unexpected outcomes uncovered, including; evolving detrimental student behaviours, policy development based on technological determinism and future learner-centred system development for next-generation LC technologies. Practical implications – The realist approach taken, and evaluation framework used, can be adopted (and adapted) for future evaluative research. Domain specific reference models, categorizing people and technology, supported analysis across multiple contexts. Originality/value – This study responds to a call for more theory-based research in the field of educational technology. We demonstrate that a theory-driven approach provides real and practical recommendations for institutions and allows for greater insight into the political, economic and social complexity of technology implementation

Bridging the edtech evidence gap: A realist evaluation framework refined for complex technology initiatives

Purpose - There are five factors acting as a barrier to effective evaluation of educational technology (edtech) these being: premature timing, inappropriate techniques, rapid change, complexity of context and inconsistent terminology. The purpose of this investigation was to identify new evaluation approaches that will address these and reflect on the evaluation imperative for complex technology initiatives. Design/methodology/approach - An initial investigation, of traditional evaluative approaches used within the technology domain, was broadened to investigate evaluation practices within social and public policy domains. Realist evaluation, a branch of theory-based evaluation, was identified and reviewed in detail. The realist approach was then refined, proposing two additional necessary steps, to support mapping the technical complexity of initiatives. Findings - A refined illustrative example of a realist evaluation framework is presented including two novel architectural edtech domain reference models to support mapping. Practical implications - Recommendations include building individual evaluator capacity; adopting the realist framework; the use of architectural edtech domain reference models; phased evaluation to first build theories in technology ‘context’ then iteratively during complex implementation chains; and community contribution to a shared map of technical and organisational complexity. Originality/value - This paper makes a novel contribution by arguing the imperative for a theory based realist approach to help redefine evaluative thinking within the IT and complex system domain. It becomes an innovative proposal with the addition of two domain reference models that tailor the approach for edtech. Its widespread adoption will help build a shared evidence base that synthesizes and surface ‘what works, for whom, in which contexts and why’ benefiting educators, IT managers, funders, policy makers and future learners

Building Social & Emotional Competence in Early Education Classrooms through Art Therapy

This research project qualitatively explores how teachers address social-emotional learning and how educators understand and implement SEL and art therapy in early education. This research aimed to explore how art therapy theories can support teachers in their efforts to create socially and emotionally competent early education classrooms. Data collected included anonymous surveys from current kindergarten through third-grade teachers. Through data analysis, several findings suggest that art therapists, mental health practitioners, and teachers can benefit from collaboration in increasing access and training with SEL practices. These findings open new doors for further inquiry into art therapy and SEL

Exploring the relationship of sleep, cognition, and cortisol in sickle cell disease

Background: Neurocognitive impairment is common in people with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and evidence is accumulating that sleep disturbances play a role. The interaction between cortisol and sleep in the general population is associated with cognition as well as general wellbeing but there are few data in SCD. We aimed to understand the relationship between cortisol and sleep in individuals with SCD and explored associations with cognition. Methods: Forty-five participants of black heritage (SCD: N = 27, 9–29 years, 16 females; Controls: N = 18, 11–25 years, 13 females) were recruited from the community between 2018 - 2020. Participants completed standardized questionnaires about their sleep behaviour and wore actigraphy MotionWatch8 for 7 nights to assess nocturnal sleep patterns. Salivary cortisol samples were taken on wakening and 3 times after 14:00. Cognition was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for children and adults. Results: People with SCD took longer to fall asleep and experienced greater wake bouts, mobile minutes and fragmented sleep compared to controls. Although non-significant, people with SCD experienced lower morning cortisol, with a flattened diurnal cortisol ratio compared to controls. Interestingly, SCD participants, but not controls, with low diurnal variation scored lowest on processing speed (PSI) and perceptual reasoning index (PRI). A moderator analysis revealed that the effect of morning cortisol and diurnal cortisol ratio on PRI by group health (i.e., SCD and healthy controls) depended on sleep quality. Discussion: Sleep and cortisol may play a crucial role in the expression of cognitive difficulties seen in SCD. This should be considered for the development of interventions to optimise cognitive functioning and sleep. This, in turn, could positively impact on secretion of cortisol and general health in SCD

Prospectus, January 20, 1987

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1987/1001/thumbnail.jp

Ozone loss derived from balloon-borne tracer measurements and the SLIMCAT CTM

Balloon-borne measurements of CFC-11 (on flights of the DIRAC in situ gas chromatograph and the DESCARTES grab sampler), ClO and O3 were made during the 1999/2000 winter as part of the SOLVE-THESEO 2000 campaign. Here we present the CFC-11 data from nine flights and compare them first with data from other instruments which flew during the campaign and then with the vertical distributions calculated by the SLIMCAT 3-D CTM. We calculate ozone loss inside the Arctic vortex between late January and early March using the relation between CFC-11 and O3 measured on the flights, the peak ozone loss (1200 ppbv) occurs in the 440–470 K region in early March in reasonable agreement with other published empirical estimates. There is also a good agreement between ozone losses derived from three independent balloon tracer data sets used here. The magnitude and vertical distribution of the loss derived from the measurements is in good agreement with the loss calculated from SLIMCAT over Kiruna for the same days

In Situ Fabrication and Repair (ISFR) Technologies; New Challenges for Exploration

NASA's human exploration initiative poses great opportunity and great risk for manned missions to the Moon and Mars. Engineers and Scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) are continuing to evaluate current technologies for in situ resource-based exploration fabrication and repair applications. Several technologies to be addressed in this paper have technology readiness levels (TRLs) that are currently mature enough to pursue for exploration purposes. However, while many technologies offer promising applications, these technologies must be pulled along by the demands and applications of this great initiative. The In Situ Fabrication and Repair (ISFR) Element will supply and push state of the art technologies for applications such as habitat structure development, in situ resource utilization for tool and part fabrication, and repair and non-destructive evaluation W E ) of common life support elements. As an overview of the ISFR Element, this paper will address rapid prototyping technologies, their applications, challenges, and near term advancements. This paper will also discuss the anticipated need to utilize in situ resources to produce replacement parts and fabricate repairs to vehicles, habitats, life support and quality of life elements. Overcoming the challenges of ISFR development will provide the Exploration initiative with state of the art technologies that reduce risk, and enhance supportability

Compendium of Current Single Event Effects Results for Candidate Spacecraft Electronics for NASA

Sensitivity of a variety of candidate spacecraft electronics to proton and heavy ion induced single event effects is presented. Devices tested include digital, linear, and hybrid devices