Researching mobile learning: overview, September 2006 to September 2008

This is the summary of the report, which brought together the findings from the third phase of a two-year development and research project that focused on the impact of one-to-one personal ownership of mobile devices. Two areas emerged from the analysis as important in relation to impact, namely students' use of and attitudes to their mobile devices and the professional development of teachers

Workplace Engagement Around Stewardship and Recyling in a Healthcare Setting

The healthcare industry is second only to the food industry in overall waste production, and there are many opportunities to mitigate the environmental impacts of waste through waste reduction and recycling programs in healthcare. Beaumont Royal Oak is a 1,000-bed hospital in Southeast Michigan that is part of an eight-hospital, non-profit health system called Beaumont Health. Beaumont Royal Oak is unique in that it has a voluntary training program that educates employees on environmental stewardship in the work place. The Green Officer program is administered by a Green Team made up of leaders in the hospital. In addition to running the Green Officer training program, the Green Team also implements other environmental stewardship initiatives at the hospital. While the Green Team had been successful in recruiting 483 employees to undergo the Green Officer certification program at Royal Oak, as of January 2015, they lacked information about whether Green Officer’s attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors differed from non-trained employees. At the same time, data on the hospital’s waste management revealed that the hospital’s recycling rate was lower than other hospitals with dedicated stewardship programs. This master’s project attempted to answer two questions: (1) how do Beaumont Royal Oak staff perceive and engage in environmental stewardship in the work place, and (2) how can Beaumont Royal Oak increase its recycling rate? To help us answer the second question, we used the Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) framework to give us guidance on how to address recycling in particular. The framework helped us focus on identifying barriers and benefits to recycling and engagement in environmental stewardship. We employed a wide variety of methods, including site visits, a literature review, an online survey, and employee interviews to answer our two questions. Our survey formed the crux of our data collection process and the findings from it provided the foundation for our recommendations. We used Qualtrics software to design our 10-minute, online survey which we distributed to both Green Officers and non-Green officers within the hospital. The goals of this survey instrument were two-fold: one, to gather data about environmental stewardship among employees at Beaumont Royal Oak, and two, to identify reasons why employees were not recycling at Beaumont Royal Oak. The first half of our survey measured whether there were differences between the environmental behavior and attitudes reported by Green Officers and non-Green Officers, while the second half narrowed in on recycling and measured employee knowledge and awareness of recycling procedures, self-reported recycling behaviors, and employee perceptions of barriers to recycling. We conducted our analysis based on a sample of 294 responses, composed of 116 GOs and 178 non- GOs. Based on our analysis, we saw that attitudes towards the hospital’s work in environmental stewardship were positive across all employees suggesting ample support for future stewardship programming. Green Officers, however, reported practicing environmental stewardship behaviors in the work place more often than their colleagues who are not Green Officers. This finding suggested that Green Officers are a key group to include in developing and rolling out behavior change interventions. The second portion of the survey focused on recycling, and for all items that we asked about, we found that Green Officers recycle them more frequently than employees who have not been trained. Our survey findings demonstrated that Green Officers are also more knowledgeable about what is recyclable in the hospital. However, across both groups we found that there was a lower level of knowledge about how recycling worked in the hospital. When we asked about barriers to recycling, we found that non- Green Officers reported finding recycling more difficult than Green Officers. They consider it more inconvenient, they are more confused about labels, and they do not feel it is as worthwhile as their Green Officers counterparts do. They also reported feeling less encouragement from supervisors and colleagues to recycle. The barriers identified by respondents demonstrated a need for greater communication about how the recycling program works and how the hospital is performing over time. The physical infrastructure of the recycling bins could also use greater standardization, while still keeping unique needs for different types of workspaces in mind. Based on our site visits, survey, literature review, and interviews, we created six recommendations that fit into three themes: convenience, awareness and knowledge, and motivation. These six recommendations are to increase bin availability, standardize bin appearance, inform employees how and where to recycle, tap into effective communication channels, renew commitments regularly, and to recognize recycling leaders for their efforts. A summary table of recommendations is shown in Section 7.3. After describing our recommendations, we provide guidance to Beaumont for completing the final steps of the CBSM process. This includes piloting, evaluating, and adjusting strategies, then scaling them up across the hospital. In conclusion, this project helps the Beaumont RO Green Team understand the current state of attitudes, knowledge, and engagement regarding environmental stewardship and recycling. After investing heavily in training hundreds of GOs, a feat unique in healthcare organizations across the country, there is still much more to do to help GOs succeed in helping their peers be better stewards at work. This project contributes to the small body of knowledge surrounding healthcare professionals’ opinions on environmental issues. This is an important contribution because healthcare professionals are trusted members of the community and can be strong environmental leaders with the right support and direction.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117634/1/Masters Project Beaumont Sustainability Final Report.pd

Medication safety : exploring interventions to support vulnerable patients taking high-alert medications

University of Technology Sydney. Graduate School of Health.Ensuring patient safety around high-risk medications such as oral anticoagulants is a global challenge. Several patient-focused interventions have been used to support vulnerable patients such as older persons taking oral anticoagulants. However, limited research has been done to support those with limited health literacy, and those from cultural and linguistic diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to identify the limitations in health literacy, warfarin knowledge gaps, patient’s and carer’s needs and preferences for medicine information about oral anticoagulants. A double-sided A4 size Warfarin action Plan leaflet was developed, and feedback was obtained from patients and their carers. Several benefits of the action plan were highlighted such as its concise format and understandable content, the use of visuals and how it was interactive. The action plan also addressed the knowledge gaps of patients and carers who had been using warfarin for several years, highlighting the need for regular follow up and education. An unexpected finding was that the WAP had a positive impact on behaviour. Based on the findings from the feedback on the WAP leaflet and knowledge gaps about NOACs, web-based education materials were assessed to see if they would also have a similar benefit in terms of understandability and actionability. The majority of materials were understandable, however, were not actionable. These findings suggest that there is a need for high quality NOAC medicines information that are actionable. Overall, this thesis highlights the beneficial role of the written WAP leaflet in supporting older persons taking oral anticoagulants and their carers. The implications of this leaflet is that it could also be used for NOACs and be provided to patients and their carers in a variety of settings such as the hospital and home

EMBEDDED SOCIAL LEARNING IN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING

Online social networking has deeply penetrated university campuses, influencing multiple aspects of student life. We investigate the impacts of individual online social networking engagement (e.g., on Facebook) from a pedagogical standpoint. Based on social learning theory, we argue that online social networking engagement leads university students to attain positive learning outcomes (self-esteem development, satisfaction with university life, and performance). We further argue that three attributions of social learning (self-efficacy belief, social acceptance and acculturation) bridge individual online social networking engagement with desired learning outcomes. Results from a survey accompanied by focus group discussions demonstrate the substantial impact of university student online social networking on social learning processes and outcomes

GAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE BY INTEGRATION OF BUSINESS STRATEGY & COPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY (A Study of an American Investment Management based in Singapore)

Investment management industry is a highly competitive. Due to the financial crisis, the once highly preferred investment tool, is now subjected to scrutiny from investors and regulators. The lost in consumer confidence has caused an impact on the investment performances. This study will address the question on how an investment management can utilise CSR to gain competitive advantage. Research results shows there is low CSR initiatives by companies in Singapore. The low activity rate is due to the country’s infrastructure and government’s intervention which reduces the need of its business to contribute. Employees are sceptical of CSR activities since it takes up time and is no value adding to their job. However, later findings show that if the right type of CSR strategies is use, it will create the company with a more attractive position in the industry and higher retention rate. This dissertation will be a study of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the context of an investment management based in Singapore

Using International Videoconferencing to Extend the Global Reach of Community Health Nursing Education

Travel abroad provides college students with a unique learning experience. When plans to take undergraduate community health nursing students from the United States to Haiti were cancelled due to health and safety concerns, faculty piloted international videoconferencing with a nursing program in Haiti as an alternative. During this semester‐long course, students in both countries assessed a local community using the Community as Partner framework and compared findings during videoconferences with their international peers. Despite communication challenges such as language barriers and limited internet access in Haiti, evaluative data suggests that all students valued learning with their nursing student peers in another country. For future international videoconferencing endeavors, especially with under‐resourced communities, we provide recommendations in the following categories: 1) Building relationships with a partner school, 2) Technology, 3) Pedagogy, and 4) Facilitating interactions between students.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133614/1/phn12272_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133614/2/phn12272.pd