On-line interprofessional learning: Introducing constructivism through enquiry-based learning and peer review

Interest in on-line methods of learning has accelerated in recent years. There has also been an interest in developing student-centred approaches to learning and interprofessional education. This paper illustrates the issues in designing a large (more than 700 students), on-line, inter-professional module for third year, undergraduate students drawn from nine professional healthcare courses and from four campus sites. It uses an enquiry-based learning approach. The learning theories of Piaget, Vygotsky and Schön are integrated with the on-line frameworks of Salmon and Collis et al., together with conclusions drawn from the literature and our own experiences, to produce a design that encourages students to learn through participation, re-iteration, peer-review and reflection. Consideration is given to improving student motivation and attitudes towards change, both in the design and the delivery of the module. © Taylor & Francis Ltd

Assessing social presence in online discussion groups: A replication study

This paper argues that the emotional state of students' contributions need to be addressed in an online learning community. If feelings of fear, anger or isolation can lead to withdrawal or conflict then the potential for learning is reduced and a facilitator of an online course needs to manage these emotions at an early stage. Therefore, a validated method of assessment of emotional state is required. A method of assessing social presence - which includes emotional aspects - is tested through replication, amended and validated. The process refers to current literature around the nature of online facilitation and concludes with suggestions for monitoring the development of groups' social presence in this medium. © 2007 Taylor & Francis

Growth Rates of Infants Randomized to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or Intubation After Extremely Preterm Birth.

Objective To evaluate the effects of early treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on nutritional intake and in-hospital growth rates of extremely preterm (EPT) infants. Study design EPT infants (240/7-276/7 weeks of gestation) enrolled in the Surfactant Positive Airway Pressure and Pulse Oximetry Trial (SUPPORT) were included. EPT infants who died before 36 weeks of postmenstrual age (PMA) were excluded. The growth rates from birth to 36 weeks of PMA and follow-up outcomes at 18-22 months corrected age of EPT infants randomized at birth to either early CPAP (intervention group) or early intubation for surfactant administration (control group) were analyzed. Results Growth data were analyzed for 810 of 1316 infants enrolled in SUPPORT (414 in the intervention group, 396 in the control group). The median gestational age was 26 weeks, and the mean birth weight was 839 g. Baseline characteristics, total nutritional intake, and in-hospital comorbidities were not significantly different between the 2 groups. In a regression model, growth rates between birth and 36 weeks of PMA, as well as growth rates during multiple intervals from birth to day 7, days 7-14, days 14-21, days 21-28, day 28 to 32 weeks PMA, and 32-36 weeks PMA did not differ between treatment groups. Independent of treatment group, higher growth rates from day 21 to day 28 were associated with a lower risk of having a Bayley-III cognitive score Conclusions EPT infants randomized to early CPAP did not have higher in-hospital growth rates than infants randomized to early intubation

Optimization of adsorptive removal of α-toluic acid by CaO2 nanoparticles using response surface methodology

The present work addresses the optimization of process parameters for adsorptive removal of α-toluic acid by calcium peroxide (CaO2) nanoparticles using response surface methodology (RSM). CaO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical precipitation method and confirmed by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) analysis which shows the CaO2 nanoparticles size range of 5–15 nm. A series of batch adsorption experiments were performed using CaO2 nanoparticles to remove α-toluic acid from the aqueous solution. Further, an experimental based central composite design (CCD) was developed to study the interactive effect of CaO2 adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of α-toluic acid, and contact time on α-toluic acid removal efficiency (response) and optimization of the process. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the significance of the individual and the interactive effects of variables on the response. The model predicted response showed a good agreement with the experimental response, and the coefficient of determination, (R2) was 0.92. Among the variables, the interactive effect of adsorbent dosage and the initial α-toluic acid concentration was found to have more influence on the response than the contact time. Numerical optimization of process by RSM showed the optimal adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of α-toluic acid, and contact time as 0.03 g, 7.06 g/L, and 34 min respectively. The predicted removal efficiency was 99.50%. The experiments performed under these conditions showed α-toluic acid removal efficiency up to 98.05%, which confirmed the adequacy of the model prediction