Poliisikoulutus muuttui korkeakoulututkinnoksi: Opinnäytetyön ohjaaminen ja opinnäyteprosessin tuottamat työelämätaidot tutkinnonuudistuksen alkuvaiheessa

Refereed article The job description of the police officer has transformed due to changes in the society and related new expert requirements; this new reality has, additionally, placed demands on the educational system calling for a re-evaluation and a structural change. Consequently, the police degree became a bachelor level degree in 2014 and now includes a 15 credit point thesis. This article aims to review the thesis process through the pilot thesis project that took place between 2011 and 2013, particularly, from a mentoring perspective. The data consists of the involved mentors’ interviews. According to the data, at the eve of the educational reform the police training culture is still typified by a fairly strong hierarchical structure. Among the future challenges identified was the augmentation of student responsibility and self-direction during both the thesis process and the studies on the whole. Furthermore, the teachers’ focus was mostly on the students’ timely progress and the final product, instead of the thesis process which had less emphasis. Although, the teachers acknowledged the potential for the thesis to develop some generic work life skills for example, the pilot project left room for improvement in this regard. In order for the thesis process to truly and significantly promote professional growth, its potential should be better acknowledged. It also requires a more systematic analysis of the process and a change in both the teacher’s role and in the teaching culture.Artikkeli on läpikäynyt referee-menettelyn Yhteiskunnallinen muutos ja sen myötä yhä enemmän asiantuntijatyöksi muuttuva poliisin ammatti ovat edellyttäneet poliisikoulutuksen uudelleen arviointia ja rakenteellista muutosta. Poliisin perustutkinto muuttui ammattikorkeakoulututkinnoksi vuonna 2014. Samalla opintojen osaksi tuli 15 opintopisteen laajuinen opinnäytetyö. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan Poliisiammattikorkeakoulussa 2011–2013 toteutetun opinnäytepilotin kautta poliisin perustutkinnon opinnäyteprosessia ohjaamisen näkökulmasta. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu ohjaajahaastatteluista. tutkimusaineiston perusteella poliisikoulutusta luonnehtii koulutusuudistuksen alkuvaiheessa melko hierarkkinen oppilaitoskulttuuri. Kehittämisen haasteiksi tunnistetaan muiden muassa opiskelijoiden oman vastuullisuuden ja itseohjautuvuuden lisääminen – myös opintojen ohjaamisen osalta. Opinnäytepilotissa ohjauksen painopiste oli prosessin ohjaamisen sijaan produktissa (so. valmiissa opinnäytteessä) ja opiskelijan edistymisen kontrollissa. Vaikka ohjaajat tunnistivat opinnäyteprosessin mahdollisuudet kehittää mm. tulevaisuuden yleisiä työelämätaitoja, pilottikokeilu jätti tämän tavoitteen osalta vielä toivomisen varaa. Opinnäyteprosessin mahdollisuuksien näkeminen laajemmin nimenomaan poliisin ammatillista kasvua tukevana prosessina näyttää edellyttävän opinnäyteprosessin systemaattisempaa analyysia, mutta osaltaan myös muuttuvan opettajan roolin arviointia ja jopa koulutuskulttuurin muutosta

Health and Social Care Educators' Competence in Digital Collaborative Learning: A Cross-Sectional Survey

The ongoing change from traditional pedagogy to digital collaborative learning requires a new mode of teaching, learning, and educators' responsibilities. For competence in digitally mediated teaching, educators need understanding of how to provide appropriate digital environment to learn collectively and individually. The aim of this study was to describe and explore health and social care educators' perceptions of their current level of competence in digital collaborative learning and identify distinct educators' profiles. Data were collected via cross-sectional survey from educators in 21 universities of applied science and eight vocational colleges in Finland using an instrument covering two subdimensions: educators' competence in fostering construction of knowledge in digital collaborative learning, and supporting students in individualized collaborative learning. The data were analyzed by statistical methods. Three significantly differing clusters of educators' profiles were identified, and a significant association between type of current work organization and their self-reported competence in digital collaborative learning was found. The vocational college educators rated their competence in fostering construction of knowledge in digital collaborative learning as significantly lower than higher education educators. There were also remarkable differences in competence in supporting students' individual collaborative learning. To provide such support, sufficient competence in teaching in digital learning environment is essential, and our study highlights clear needs to enhance this competence

Social- and Health Care Educators’ Cultural Competence

Introduction and aim: Cultural differences have significant impacts on classroom behaviours and communication in teaching. The aim of this study is to explore social and healthcare educators’ cultural competence in transcultural education. Methodology: Data was collected from semi-structured focus group interviews at universities of applied sciences and vocational colleges. Inductive content analysis was used in the analysis process. Results: Educators’ cultural competence in transcultural education emerges as generic categories: transcultural education, educatorship and ethical attitudes, and underpins by the sub-categories: language and linguistics, different learning styles, integrating multicultural students, cultural knowledge and sensitivity, collaborating and cooperating, self-awareness and openness, and respecting and caring. Conclusion: Cultural competence represents a core competence for social-and health care educators. Educators need to know students’ background, master different learning styles, be flexible in their pedagogical approaches and have an open and ethical attitude.  </p

Qualitative study of social and healthcare educators' perceptions of their competence in education

Competent educators are needed to ensure that social and healthcare professionals are effective and highly competent. However, there is too little evidence-based knowledge of current and required enhancements of educators' competences in this field. The aim of this study was to describe social and healthcare educators' perceptions of their competence in education. The study had a qualitative design, based on interviews with educators and rooted in critical realism. Forty-eight participants were recruited from seven universities of applied sciences and two vocational colleges in Finland, with the assistance of contact persons nominated by the institutions. The inclusion criterion for participation was employment by an educational institution as a part-time or full-time, social and/or healthcare educator. Data were collected in the period February-April 2018. The participants were interviewed in 16 focus groups with two to five participants per group. The acquired data were subjected to inductive content analysis, which yielded 506 open codes, 48 sub-categories, nine categories and one main category. The educators' competence was defined as a multidimensional construct, including categories of educators' competences in practicing as an educator, subject, ethics, pedagogy, management and organisation, innovation and development, collaboration, handling cultural and linguistic diversity, and continuous professional development. Educators recognised the need for developing competence in innovation to meet rapid changes in a competitive and increasingly global sociopolitical environment. Enhancement of adaptability to rapid changes was recognised as a necessity. The findings have social value in identifying requirements to improve social and healthcare educators' competence by helping educational leadership to improve educational standards, construct a continuous education framework and create national and/or international curricula for teacher education degree programs to enhance the quality of education. We also suggest that educational leadership needs to establish, maintain and strengthen collaborative strategies to provide effective, adaptable support systems, involving educators and students, in their working practices

E-cigarettes and urologic health: a collaborative review of toxicology, epidemiology, and potential risks

Context: Use of electronic cigarettes (ECs) is on the rise in most high-income countries. Smoking conventional cigarettes is a known risk factor for urologic malignancy incidence, progression, and mortality, as well as for other urologic health indicators. The potential impact of EC use on urologic health is therefore of clinical interest to the urology community. Objective: To review the available data on current EC use, including potential benefits in urologic patients, potential issues linked to toxicology of EC constituents, and how this might translate into urologic health risks. Evidence acquisition: A Medline search was carried out in August 2016 for studies reporting urologic health outcomes and EC use. Snowballing techniques were also used to identify relevant studies from recent systematic reviews. A narrative synthesis of data around EC health outcomes, toxicology, and potential use in smoking cessation and health policy was carried out. Evidence synthesis: We found no studies to date that have been specifically designed to prospectively assess urologic health risks, even in an observational setting. Generating such data would be an important contribution to the debate on the role of ECs in public health and clinical practice. There is evidence from a recent Cochrane review of RCTs that ECs can support smoking cessation. There are emerging data indicating that potentially harmful components of ECs such as tobacco-specific nitrosamines, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals could be linked to possible urologic health risks. Conclusions: ECs might be a useful tool to encourage cessation of conventional cigarette smoking. However, data collection around the specific impact of ECs on urologic health is needed to clarify the possible patient benefits, outcomes, and adverse events. Patient summary: While electronic cigarettes might help some people to stop smoking, their overall impact on urologic health is not clear. While electronic cigarettes might help some people to stop smoking, it is not clear if they may be bad for urologic health

Integrated high-content quantification of intracellular ROS levels and mitochondrial morphofunction

Oxidative stress arises from an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their removal by cellular antioxidant systems. Especially under pathological conditions, mitochondria constitute a relevant source of cellular ROS. These organelles harbor the electron transport chain, bringing electrons in close vicinity to molecular oxygen. Although a full understanding is still lacking, intracellular ROS generation and mitochondrial function are also linked to changes in mitochondrial morphology. To study the intricate relationships between the different factors that govern cellular redox balance in living cells, we have developed a high-contentmicroscopy-based strategy for simultaneous quantification of intracellular ROS levels and mitochondrial morphofunction. Here, we summarize the principles of intracellular ROS generation and removal, and we explain the major considerations for performing quantitative microscopy analyses of ROS and mitochondrial morphofunction in living cells. Next, we describe our workflow, and finally, we illustrate that a multiparametric readout enables the unambiguous classification of chemically perturbed cells as well as laminopathy patient cells

Opettajan muuttuva rooli

Terveystieteiden opettajankoulutus merkitsee laaja-alaista osaamista. Suomessa perinteet ovat pitkät. Yliopistotasoinen koulutus alkoi 1985 Kuopion yliopistossa eli nykyisessä Itä-Suomen yliopistossa.</p

Height determination techniques for the next national height system of Finland - a case study

Precise levelling is known for its accuracy and reliability in height determination, but the process itself is slow, laborious and expensive. We have started a project to study methods for height determination that could decrease the creation time of national height systems without losing the accuracy and reliability that is needed for them. In the pilot project described here, we study some of the alternative techniques with a pilot field test where we compared them with the precise levelling. The purpose of the test is not to evaluate the mutual superiority or suitability of the techniques, but to establish the background for a larger test and to find strong and weak points of each technique. The techniques chosen for this study were precise levelling, Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) levelling, which included static Global Positioning System (GPS) and Virtual Reference Station (VRS) measurements. This research highlighted the differences of the studied techniques and gave insights about the framework and procedure for the later experiments. The research will continue in a larger scale, where the suitability of the techniques regarding the height systems is to be determined