Globalization and social work education : an initial international inquiry.

With an increasing awareness of a global-local reality, social work research and theorizing on globalization is limited but growing. From a multinational perspective, the purpose of this dissertation was to contribute to the emerging professional discourse through (a) an examination of definitions and dimensions of globalization and (b) and an exploration of the impact of globalization on social work education. Perspectives on globalization were collected on a newly designed and translated survey from 46 social work educators from schools and social work in China, Germany, Russia, and the United States of America. Descriptive analysis and the coding of themes were used to develop a baseline of information about the social work educators\u27 impressions and experiences with globalization. Although there were many differences in the personal demographics and professional characteristics of the sample, the findings indicated that the social work educators had similar definitions, attitudes, and responses to globalization and its impact on social work education. The implication of these results is that globalization is a common reality for social work educators regardless of location or individual background. Overall, the social work educators found globalization to be a relevant topic for curricula and an influence on the future of social work education. The social work educators were more ambivalent about the effects of globalization on their teaching methods and on their roles within academic institutions

Active Learning Using Student Recorded Monologues

This paper will detail the planning, execution and feedback of an initiative to promote active learning and improve student speaking and writing using student recorded monologues. After determining the goals of the project, a rubric was created to clarify these goals and assessment criteria for both students and instructors. A 15-lesson unit was then developed based on four personal narratives. For each narrative, students completed a series of preparation activities before producing both written and spoken versions of their narratives and uploading these in the form of online assignments. Students were encouraged to review the rubric before, during, and after work on their texts. Feedback from students and instructors on completion of the program indicated that the goals were clear and relevant, there was a high level of student engagement with the unit, and that the rubric was an effective tool for guiding the learning process

Investigating the potential impact of stakeholder preferences in Passivhaus design

Low-energy buildings have a major role to play in achieving carbon emission reduction targets. The Passivhaus standard is driven by improved thermal comfort and has stringent targets for limiting energy consumption. Such constraints can be difficult to achieve with aesthetically pleasing results. In early stage building design, decisions are often made based on preferences, without assessing their impact on energy performance. Multi-criteria decision-making provides a technique of evaluating competing criteria using a robust framework. However, existing research in building performance focusses on quantitative measures, leaving a research gap in the subjective area of design preferences. This paper applies a modelling technique that incorporates user preferences, alongside quantitative building performance measures, by applying multi-criteria decision-making to a Passivhaus case study. Potential building forms are evaluated using dynamic simulation, then the impact of stakeholder preferences is assessed

Stakeholder decision making in Passivhaus design

The design and construction of a building is inherently complex and a myriad of decisions must be made during the design and planning process. No single stakeholder (architect, client, building physicist) has complete knowledge and visibility of the consequences of each decision and each stakeholder group is driven by different objectives. Those aspiring to construct low-energy buildings, and Passivhaus in particular, are subject to numerous constraints, relating to building performance, site restrictions and planning policy (amongst others) and seemingly innocuous small changes to the design can divert decision- makers from their aims. Multi-criteria decision making provides a method of attempting to satisfy numerous, often conflicting objectives, in order to reach the ‘optimum’ solution, and therefore provides a means to combine these varied goals. Existing research in the sphere of building performance simulation often focuses on its application to quantitative criteria. This paper proposes incorporating stakeholder preference modelling in multi-criteria decision making by first analysing stakeholder goals, to gain a greater understanding of their motivation and decision paths, within the context of Passivhaus construction in the UK

Editorial: Charting flexible pathways in open, mobile and distance education

This editorial offers an overview of extended papers presented at the biennial DEANZ2016 conference held at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, from 17–20th April, 2016. In tandem with the conference theme, There and back: Charting flexible pathways in open, mobile and distance education, this special issue highlights think pieces from the three keynote speakers and five papers that offer insights into developments and practices in open, flexible, and distance learning contexts. As such, the collection is a rich repository of ideas and research that contribute to our interrogation of how digital technologies influence teaching and learning and work in a range of New Zealand and international educational contexts

Shared Modular Course Development: A Feasibility Study

This project evaluated the viability of shared course development (SCD) and identified the necessary baseline mechanisms, principles, policies, and procedures for future joint course development collaborations. Although collaborative course design is still relatively new in Ontario, our institutionally-based project teams identified and researched a number of successful examples from Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These successful models demonstrated the transformative possibilities of blended learning, expanded course variety, maintained or enhanced the breadth of course offerings, and reduced institution-specific development costs while maintaining delivery autonomy. They also focused on enhancing student learning and produced momentum for instructional improvement and course re-design among collaborating institutions. This report concludes that there is considerable value to the development of collaborative institutional cultures in and of itself, and that collaborative capacity will become an increasingly important core competency in the more differentiated and change-oriented university sector that is emerginghttps://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ctlreports/1000/thumbnail.jp

Editorial: Charting flexible pathways in open, mobile and distance education

This editorial offers an overview of extended papers presented at the biennial DEANZ2016 conference held at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, from 17–20th April, 2016. In tandem with the conference theme, There and back: Charting flexible pathways in open, mobile and distance education, this special issue highlights think pieces from the three keynote speakers and five papers that offer insights into developments and practices in open, flexible, and distance learning contexts. As such, the collection is a rich repository of ideas and research that contribute to our interrogation of how digital technologies influence teaching and learning and work in a range of New Zealand and international educational contexts

Observations and properties of candidate high frequency GPS radio sources in the AT20G survey

We used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to obtain 40 GHz and 95 GHz observations of a number of sources that were selected from the Australia Telescope Compact Array 20 GHz (AT20G) survey . The aim of the observations was to improve the spectral coverage for sources with spectral peaks near 20 GHz or inverted (rising) radio spectra between 8.6 GHz and 20 GHz. We present the radio observations of a sample of 21 such sources along with optical spectra taken from the ANU Siding Spring Observatory 2.3m telescope and the ESO-New Technology Telescope (NTT). We find that as a group the sources show the same level of variability as typical GPS sources, and that of the 21 candidate GPS sources roughly 60% appear to be genuinely young radio galaxies. Three of the 21 sources studied show evidence of being restarted radio galaxies. If these numbers are indicative of the larger population of AT20G radio sources then as many as 400 genuine GPS sources could be contained within the AT20G with up to 25% of them being restarted radio galaxies.Comment: 21 pages, 24 figures, Table 1 truncated at 11 column

Regional and organ-level responses to local lung irradiation in sheep

Lung is a dose-limiting organ in radiotherapy. This may limit tumour control when effort is made in planning to limit the likelihood of radiation-induced lung injury (RILI). Understanding the factors that dictate susceptibility to radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis will aid in the prevention and management of RILI, and may lead to more effective personalized radiotherapy treatment. As the interaction of regional and organ-level responses may shape the chronic consequences of RILI, we sought to characterise both aspects of the response in an ovine model. A defined volume of left pulmonary parenchyma was prescribed 5 fractions of 6 Gy within 14 days while the contralateral lung dose was constrained. Radiographic changes via computed tomography (CT) were documented to define differences in radio-exposed lung relative to non-exposed lung at d21, d63 and d171 (n = 2), and at d21, d147 and d227 (n = 2). Gross and histologic lung changes were evaluated in samples derived at necropsy examination to define the chronic pulmonary response to radiation. Irradiated lung demonstrated reduced radio-density and increased homogeneity as evidenced from texture based radiomic feature analysis, relative to the control lung. At necropsy, the radiation field was readily defined by pallor on the pleural surface, which was also evident on the cut surface of fixed lung specimens. The degree and homogeneity of pallor reflected the sparse presence of erythrocytes in alveolar septal capillaries of radiation-exposed lung. These changes contrasted with dilated and congested microvasculature in the contralateral control lung. Referencing data to measurements made in control lung volumes of sheep experiencing acute RILI indicated that interstitial collagen continues to deposit in the radio-exposed lung field. Overall lung vascularity increased during the chronic response, as evidenced by increased expression of endothelial cell marker (CD31); however, vascularity was consistently decreased in irradiated lung and was negatively correlated with lung collagen. Other organ-level responses included increased expression of alpha smooth muscle actin (ASMA), increased numbers of proliferating cells (Ki67 positive), and cells expressing the dendritic cell-lysosomal associated membrane protein (DC-LAMP) antigen. The chronic response to RILI in this model is effected at both the whole organ and local lung level. Whilst the long-term consequences of exposure to radiation involved the continued deposition of collagen in the radiation field, organ-level responses also included increased vascularization and increased expression of ASMA, Ki67 and DC-LAMP. Interrupting the interplay between these aspects may influence susceptibility to pulmonary fibrosis after radiotherapy. We advocate for the importance of large animal model systems in pursuing these opportunities to target local, organ-level and systemic mechanisms in parallel within the same subject over time