Guide to using Evidence in Higher Education

This Guide to Using Evidence has been designed to, to support and encourage students and students’ association and union staff to actively engage with data and evidence. It offers an accessible introduction to a range of key ideas and concepts and a range of activities which allow readers to develop their own thinking and confidence in key areas. The ambition of its authors, QAA Scotland and the students who reviewed early drafts, is that students and students’ association and union staff will reach for this resource as they prepare for committees, devise new campaigns, deliver services, and do all of the other things they do to enhance students’ experiences and outcomes. Underpinning all of this is a belief that students themselves, the institutions they are working with, and the sector as a whole, are better served when students are, and are seen to be, agents in the ‘data landscape’, not just subjects of it. Engaging with this Guide will help students and students’ association and union staff to develop that sense of agency in themselves and foster it in others. This Guide is a product of a student-led project coordinated by QAA Scotland as part of the Evidence for Enhancement Theme (2017-20)

The Skills Framework at key stage 2: an evaluation of the impact of the non-statutory Sskills framework for 3 to 19-year-olds in Wales at key stage 2

1 The non-statutory Skills framework for 3 to 19-year-olds in Wales provides guidance on developing pupils’ skills in thinking, communication, ICT and number. The Skills framework is designed to underpin the National Curriculum Subject Orders and teaching and learning in all subject areas. 2 The Skills framework is not used well for planning progression in pupils’ skills. Few schools use the Skills framework as a starting point for planning their work. Most schools use the National Curriculum Subject Orders to plan schemes of work first and then identify opportunities for developing pupils’ skills afterwards. As a result, few schools are planning a ‘skills-based’ curriculum consisting of progressively more complex activities designed to develop pupils’ thinking, communication, ICT and number skills. 3 Although the Skills framework has increased teachers’ awareness of the importance of improving pupils’ skills, too often teachers plan the curriculum as separate subjects, without giving enough attention to how subjects, such as history or geography, provide a context for the development of literacy, numeracy and other skills. These skills do not form the core organising elements or backbone of teachers’ schemes of work. Consequently, there are not enough opportunities for pupils to use and develop their number, reading and extended writing skills across all of the curriculum. 4 Assessing or tracking pupils’ progress in skills is one of the weakest aspects of the schools visited. Teachers are not aware of pupils’ prio

What Factors of Working at a Private Mental Health Agency Affect a Mental Health Practitioner\u27s Quality of Life?

The purpose of this study is to take a closer look at what factors of working at a private mental health agency affect a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life. This overall research question was broke down into four research questions which are: How does work-life balance impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life, How does workplace culture impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life, How does job-related stresses impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life, and lastly, How does workplace supervision impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life. Using a quantitative design, a survey was administered to 41 mental health practitioners, and 40 surveys were returned. The findings in relation to the research questions indicated that stress from work does affect the relationship with a spouse or partner, the majority of practitioners are at least somewhat satisfied with their job, most caseloads felt about right or too high, the majority experience burnout sometimes, and lastly that they feel they receive enough quality supervision. Implications for social work from this survey is that agency structure should be examined, more specifically in the realm of amount of paperwork and time allotted to this; supervision more specific on how to separate work and family life while having stress from work which leads into another implication of more continuing education on self care

What Factors of Working at a Private Mental Health Agency Affect a Mental Health Practitioner\u27s Quality of Life?

The purpose of this study is to take a closer look at what factors of working at a private mental health agency affect a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life. This overall research question was broke down into four research questions which are: How does work-life balance impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life, How does workplace culture impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life, How does job-related stresses impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life, and lastly, How does workplace supervision impact a mental health practitioner\u27s quality of life. Using a quantitative design, a survey was administered to 41 mental health practitioners, and 40 surveys were returned. The findings in relation to the research questions indicated that stress from work does affect the relationship with a spouse or partner, the majority of practitioners are at least somewhat satisfied with their job, most caseloads felt about right or too high, the majority experience burnout sometimes, and lastly that they feel they receive enough quality supervision. Implications for social work from this survey is that agency structure should be examined, more specifically in the realm of amount of paperwork and time allotted to this; supervision more specific on how to separate work and family life while having stress from work which leads into another implication of more continuing education on self care

White Paper: Building a Continuum of End of Life Care in Whatcom County: An Assessment of the Financial Landscape

The goal of the End of Life Financial Issues and Sustainability Task Force was to design a care payment strategy which would support the phased build out of the full continuum of services needed to provide appropriate services and choice for End of Life in Whatcom County. In order to further develop and appropriately finance a full continuum of End of Life services, the following six principles should serve as a guide: services should be targeted both to those who are dying as well as those with a progressive, debilitating disease; dollars should follow patient needs, not program needs; financial support should be provided for non-medical services; payment models should support the most efficient use of financial resources; the financing system should be sustainable in the long-term; pilots and transition funding should be considered in the short-term. While the majority of medical services, including those in End of Life care, are reimbursed in a Fee-for-Service manner, other payment models such as pay for coordination, bundled payments, pay for performance, shared savings, and capitation may provide more innovative and patient-centered models for providing End of Life services. A number of existing clinical programs have shown promise in utilizing these innovative models to provide End of Life services, including Medicare Special Needs Plans, Partners in Palliative Care, and Life Passages. Elements of each of these models could be combined to develop a continuum of End of Life services in Whatcom County

Cochrane acute respiratory infections group's stakeholder engagement project identified systematic review priority areas

Objective: Cochrane acute respiratory infections (ARIs) group conducts systematic reviews of the evidence for treatment and prevention of ARIs. We report the results of a prioritization project, aiming to identify highest priority systematic review topics. Study Design/Setting: The project consisted of two phases. Phase 1 analyzed the gap between existing randomized controlled trials and Cochrane systematic reviews (reported previously). Phase 2 (reported here) consisted of a two-round survey. In round 1, respondents prioritized 68 topics and suggested up to 10 additional topics; in round 2, respondents prioritized top 25 topics from round 1. Results: Respondents included clinicians, researchers, systematic reviewers, allied health, patients, and carers, from 33 different countries. In round 1, 154 respondents identified 20 priority topics, most commonly selecting topics in nonspecific ARIs, influenza, and common cold. Fifty respondents also collectively suggested 134 additional topics. In round 2, 78 respondents prioritized top 25 topics, most commonly in the areas of nonspecific ARIs, pneumonia, and influenza. Conclusion: We generated a list of priority systematic review topics to guide the Cochrane ARI group's systematic review work for the next 24 months. Stakeholder involvement enhanced the transparency of the process and will increase the usability and relevance of the group's work to stakeholders

Dichotomy results for delay differential equations with negative Schwarzian

We gain further insight into the use of the Schwarzian derivative to obtain new results for a family of functional differential equations including the famous Wright's equation and the Mackey-Glass type delay differential equations. We present some dichotomy results, which allow us to get easily computable bounds of the global attractor. We also discuss related conjectures, and formulate new open problems.Comment: 16 pages, submitted to Chaos,Solitons,Fractal