The challenges of participatory research with 'tech-savvy' youth

This paper focuses on participatory research and how it can be understood and employed when researching children and youth. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretically and empirically grounded discussion of participatory research methodologies with respect to investigating the dynamic and evolving phenomenon of young people growing up in networked societies. Initially, we review the nature of participatory research and how other researchers have endeavoured to involve young people (children and youth) in their research projects. Our review of these approaches aims to elucidate what we see as recurring and emerging issues with respect to the methodological design of involving young people as co-researchers. In the light of these issues and in keeping with our aim, we offer a case study of our own research project that seeks to understand the ways in which high school students use new media and network ICT systems (Internet, mobile phone applications, social networking sites) to construct identities, form social relations, and engage in creative practices as part of their everyday lives. The article concludes by offering an assessment of our tripartite model of participatory research that may benefit other researchers who share a similar interest in youth and new media

We Enter a Time of Calamity: Informed and ‘Informated’ Youth Inside and Outside Young Adult Fiction

Young people's interactions with new media and communication technologies are currently popular subjects of debate and analysis in academia, the media and young adult science fiction. But while academic research increasingly highlights the complexity and individuality of the relationships between young people and new media technologies, pop culture artefacts such as recent young adult science fiction and the news media often resort to oppositional portrayals, particularly of what I will call 'informed' versus 'informated' youth. In such binaries, the informed young person is one who uses information and technology for personal growth and social transformation. Its opposite is the 'informated' young person. Hardt and Negri (2000) use the term 'informatization' to refer to the post-industrial economic processes of the postmodern era (p. 280), but I am using the term here to evoke the sense of being inflated, bloated or overloaded with information. The informed young person may be depicted positively in young adult fiction and the media, but its nemesis has become a fearsome spectre, reflecting popular anxieties and fears about the Information Age. The informated young person has access to unlimited information but is not informed, can communicate effortlessly across time and space but has nothing to say, and is surrounded by an ambient network of peers but remains isolated, alone and adrift. In this paper, I aim to explore how recent science fiction and other pop culture artefacts have depicted the relationships between young people and ICTs (information and communication technologies), especially in light of relevant scholarly research in order to ascertain the relevance such portrayals might have for young people's lived experiences

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Going live: Building academic capacity in blended learning using web-conferencing technologies

This paper reports on a current initiative at Queensland University of Technology to provide timely, flexible and sustainable training and support to academic staff in blended learning and associated techno-pedagogies via a web-conferencing classroom and collaboration tool, Elluminate Live!. This technology was first introduced to QUT in 2008 as part of the university‘s ongoing commitment to meeting the learning needs of diverse student cohorts. The centralised Learning Design team, in collaboration with the university‘s department of eLearning Services, was given the task of providing training and support to academic staff in the effective use of the technology for teaching and learning, as part of the team‘s ongoing brief to support and enhance the provision of blended learning throughout the university. The resulting program, ―Learning Design Live‖ (LDL) is informed by Rogers‘ theory of innovation and diffusion (2003) and structured according to Wilson‘s framework for faculty development (2007). This paper discusses the program‘s design and structure, considers the program‘s impact on academic capacity in blended learning within the institution, and reflects on future directions for the program and emerging insights into blended learning and participant engagement for both staff and students

Using real-time authentic online learning scenarios to teach criminal intelligence analysis

Criminal intelligence is an area of expertise highly sought-after internationally and within a variety of justice-related professions; however, producing university graduates with the requisite professional knowledge, as well as analytical, organisational and technical skills presents a pedagogical and technical challenge to university educators. The situation becomes even more challenging when students are undertaking their studies by distance education. This best practice session showcases the design of an online undergraduate unit for final year justice students which uses an evolving real-time criminal scenario as the focus of authentic learning activities in order to prepare students for graduate roles within the criminal intelligence and justice professions. Within the unit, students take on the role of criminal intelligence analysts, applying relevant theories, models and strategies to solve a complex but realistic crime and complete briefings and documentation to industry standards as their major summative assessment task. The session will demonstrate how the design of the online unit corresponds to authentic learning principles, and will specifically map the elements of the unit design to Herrington & Oliver’s instructional design framework for authentic learning (2000; Herrington & Herrington 2006). The session will show how a range of technologies was used to create a rich learning experience for students that could be easily maintained over multiple unit iterations without specialist technical support. The session will also discuss the unique pedagogical affordances and challenges implicated in the location of the unit within an online learning environment, and will reflect on some of the lessons learned from the development which may be relevant to other authentic online learning contexts

What is a learning designer? Support roles and structures for collaborative E-Learning implementation

Im Zuge der fortschreitenden Digitalisierung setzen sich Universitäten weltweit damit auseinander, wie man Online-Studienangebote und Blended-Learning-Szenarios nachhaltig planen und implementieren kann. Dabei stellt sich die Frage, welche Supportstrukturen und -rollen notwendig sind, um Lehrende in diesem Veränderungsprozess effektiv zu unterstützen. Während die Diskussion über die Professionalisierung von universitären E-Learning-Supportrollen im deutschsprachigen Raum weniger ausgeprägt scheint, hat sich im angelsächsischen Raum die Rolle des „Learning/Educational Designers“ (Australien), „Instructional Designers“ (USA) oder „Educational Technologist“ (GB) etabliert. Sie fungiert als Schnittstelle zwischen Didaktik und Technik und unterstützt in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Lehrenden die verschiedenen Facetten der Implementierung von E-Learning-Angeboten. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen kurzen Abriss der Literatur zum Thema E-Learning-Support und geht dann auf die Rolle sowie die verschiedenen Verantwortungsbereiche von Learning Designern ein. Mögliche Organisationsmodelle ebenso wie Faktoren erfolgreicher Zusammenarbeit werden ebenso angesprochen. Abschließend werden weiterführende Forschungsfragen und Zukunftsperspektiven aufgezeigt. Der Artikel basiert auf den Ergebnissen eines Reviews des Learning-Design-Supportmodelles an der Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australien). (DIPF/Orig.

Just Google it! Students constructing knowledge through internet travel

As knowledge is the new economy, young people increasingly navigate information flows across multiple modalities to access, acquire, and construct knowledge. With the advent of Web 2.0 or the 'read/write web' (Achterman, 2006, p. 19), applications such as the Google suite and Wikipedia have become the standard service for information seekers and creators. Hailed as inherently participative, democratising and liberating, Web 2.0 enables travel along vast information scapes (Appadurai, 1996), and provides a platform for engagement and participation in national and international conversations. This paper arises from an ARC Discovery grant. We analyse data from focus group discussions with students aged between 12 and 17 years from two regional and two urban independent secondary schools in Queensland. We examine what students have to say about their engagement with Wikipedia and Google in relation to completing school assignments. Specifically we focus on how students talk about ollaborative knowledge sources, how they value knowledge from these sources, and how they perceive and mitigate the potential problems and risks of such knowledge. We begin the paper by providing a description of conflicting viewpoints about the information potential and capabilities of Web 2.0 and the skills and knowledge that may be needed by young people traversing multiple information scapes. Our discussion highlights the ways that students encounter a variety of epistemic forms, and their attitudes to and engagement with the information sources they use. We conclude by raising several pedagogical considerations, namely, (i) the significance for teachers and students to understand the different forms of information sources/tools that are increasingly available through web 2.0 platform, and the varying potential or value of these tools for information access and knowledge co-construction; (ii) the ways in which students traverse information scapes across both online and offline networks to access, acquire and share new knowledge; and (iii) the investments (personal, social, technological) required to access the vast knowledge networks available to students

We Enter a Time of Calamity: Informed and 'Informated' Youth Inside and Outside Young Adult Fiction

Young people's interactions with new media and communication technologies are currently popular subjects of debate and analysis in academia, the media and young adult science fiction. But while academic research increasingly highlights the complexity and individuality of the relationships between young people and new media technologies, pop culture artefacts such as recent young adult science fiction and the news media often resort to oppositional portrayals, particularly of what I will call 'informed' versus 'informated' youth. In such binaries, the informed young person is one who uses information and technology for personal growth and social transformation. Its opposite is the 'informated' young person. Hardt and Negri (2000) use the term 'informatization' to refer to the post-industrial economic processes of the postmodern era (p. 280), but I am using the term here to evoke the sense of being inflated, bloated or overloaded with information. The informed young person may be depicted positively in young adult fiction and the media, but its nemesis has become a fearsome spectre, reflecting popular anxieties and fears about the Information Age. The informated young person has access to unlimited information but is not informed, can communicate effortlessly across time and space but has nothing to say, and is surrounded by an ambient network of peers but remains isolated, alone and adrift. In this paper, I aim to explore how recent science fiction and other pop culture artefacts have depicted the relationships between young people and ICTs (information and communication technologies), especially in light of relevant scholarly research in order to ascertain the relevance such portrayals might have for young people's lived experiences

Designing for successful diffusion: A faculty-based approach to enhancing staff use of technologies for effective teaching and learning

The use of learning management systems and other technologies to support teaching and learning in higher education contexts is becoming ever more important, especially as universities move towards increasing offerings to students over the internet. However, as many researchers have found, academic staff engagement with educational technologies has been relatively marginal, with innovations not always diffusing to the majority. In any faculty, staff are likely to have a varying range of technological and techno-pedagogical competencies and differing motivations for using educational technologies and e-learning principles. This paper reviews contemporary research on technology adoption in higher education contexts which has informed the design of a current faculty-based project to address the emerging demands of the twenty-first century higher education landscape by enhancing staff use of technologies for effective teaching and learning

To steal past watchful dragons: cultural hegemony and ideology transmission in children's fantasy literature 1900-1997

This study examines the ways in which children's fantasy fictions transmit ideologies, and how the matter of these ideologies and the manner of their transmission relate to adult-child power relations. It begins from the premise that the relationships between childhood and adulthood are political and problematic, both conceptually and in the lived experiences of children and adults. This idea has been the focus of increasing scholarly interest in recent years, particularly with regards to its potential impact on understandings of children's literature. Yet while many researchers have acknowledged that children's literature fulfils a socialising function and some have explicitly theorised that children's literature does transmit ideologies, the mechanics of how such transmission might occur remains underexplored.\ud \ud This study uses Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony to understand the politics of adult-child relations and Louis Althusser's work on ideology and interpellation to suggest how ideologies may be reproduced. This study contends that children's literature is a cultural institution existing within an adult hegemonic system, a communiqué from a group in power to a subordinate and potentially resistant group. As an Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) according to Althusser's definition, it seeks to support the status quo by socialising children within the hegemonic system, both to accept a current subordinate position and also to learn the values and knowledge required to maintain the hegemony over time. Applying Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony to children's literature also raises the question of how the literature overcomes the potential ideological resistance or counter-consciousness that children may have towards the adult hegemony and its ideologies.\ud \ud The central hypothesis of this study is that children's fantasy literature transmits ideologies to implied child readers using a specific interpellative mechanism I define as a Trojan Horse mechanism. The term "Trojan Horse" evokes the Trojan Horse of Greek mythology, a construction designed to slip past Troy's defences, appearing innocuous but concealing and carrying oppositional elements. In a similar way, the Trojan Horse mechanism uses hailing devices that evoke signs of childhood, adult-aligned ideologies and values which aim to socialise the child reader within the adult hegemony, and strategies by which those ideologies are concealed in the text. This kind of covert ideological transmission was described by one famous children's author, C.S. Lewis using the phrase, to "steal past those watchful dragons" ("Sometimes" 37).\ud \ud In order to test this hypothesis, the study examines eight texts of fantasy literature published between 1900 and 1997, aimed at an implied readership of children aged between approximately six and fourteen years. These texts are, in chronological order: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy (1911), Enid Blyton's The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair (1937), C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising (1973), Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (1995), and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997).\ud \ud Trojan Horse mechanisms were evident in all of the texts in the study, which suggests that these ideological structures may be intrinsic to the nature of children's fantasy literature in the twentieth century. However, due to the texts' differing contexts of production, plot structures and ideological foci, no two texts executed Trojan Horse mechanisms in exactly the same way. Hailing devices focused on physical markers of childhood, the representation of children's cultural artefacts, play or peer interactions, or ideas such as child empowerment and evasion of adult supervision. Concealed ideologies usually supported the existing adult hegemony by naturalising good child behaviour and children's dependence on adults, and by creating an apprenticeship space in the text where the values and knowledge of adulthood within the system could be learned and practised. One text of the group created a different ideological arrangement, using the structure of the Trojan Horse mechanism to critique hegemonic assumptions and offer a more radical apprenticeship. Analysis of the texts also revealed additional ideologies transmitted within the Trojan Horse mechanism and often related to adult-child power relations, including ideologies of gender, race, religion and imperialism.\ud \ud Significant avenues for future research include broadening the scope of analysis in order to discover whether the findings are relevant across the corpus of children's literature, as well as determining whether more recent texts from the twenty-first century extend the trends noted in this study's texts. Furthermore, an analysis of the ways that children read and understand the texts may assist in ascertaining the extent to which child readers internalise, ignore or reject the attempted socialisation of Trojan Horse mechanisms