Curricular Constraints Research Articles

Listening "At the Bedside": Podcasts as an Emerging Tool for Medical Ethics Education.

Medical ethics education is crucial for medical students and trainees, helping to shape attitudes, beliefs, values, and professional identities. Exploration of ethical dilemmas and approaches to resolving them provides a broader understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which medicine is practiced, as well as the ethical implications of medical decisions, fostering critical thinking and self-reflection skills imperative to providing patient-centered care. However, exposure to medical ethics topics and their clinical applications can be limited by curricular constraints and the availability of institutional resources and expertise. Podcasts, among other Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAMed) resources, are a novel educational tool that offers particular advantages for self-directed learning, a process by which learners engage in asynchronous educational opportunities outside of traditional academic or clinical settings. Podcasts can be readily distributed to wide audiences and played at any time, reducing barriers to access and offering a level of flexibility that is not possible with traditional forms of education and is well-suited to busy schedules. Podcasts can also use real voices and storytelling to make the content memorable and eminently human. This paper describes the development, production process, and impact of Core IM's "At the Bedside," a podcast focusing on issues in medical ethics and the medical humanities, intending to supplement standard bioethics curricula in an accessible, relevant, and engaging way. The authors advocate for broad incorporation of podcasts into medical ethics education.

Strengthening Teacher Agency: Supporting the Orchestration of Ethical Dilemmas With EthicApp

Developing ethical reasoning as a competence is gaining relevance in higher education settings influenced by the current demands of society. One approach to achieve this competence is to propose realistic ethical dilemmas to the students. Nevertheless, educators need help in integrating ethics education effectively in higher education due to curricular constraints and a lack of supportive structures. EthicApp is a social platform that aims to support teachers in designing and enacting learning scenarios to foster ethical reasoning. However, the introduction of a new tool such as EthicApp may have undesired consequences for teachers’ agency. The notion of teacher agency is complex and not sufficiently studied in Technology Enhanced Learning contexts. For this reason, we propose to study the implications of the use of EthicApp for teacher agency in the light of the metaphor of orchestration. The metaphor of orchestration in TEL offers a holistic approach to studying how teachers integrate technologies into their practice. This paper presents preliminary findings from a case study in which three higher education teachers orchestrated learning designs supported by EthicApp. Early findings indicate that, although managing the learning scenarios in real-time was perceived as demanding, EthicApp empowered the participant teachers to design innovative learning scenarios, raise awareness, and inform the adaptation of the learning scenarios.

Teachers' perceptions and implementations of global Englishes and Frenches in language classrooms

AbstractAn important first step to globalizing and decentralizing foreign language education is to clarify current language teachers' perceptions of language varieties and how these perceptions influence their pedagogy. The present study looked at English and French language classrooms in K‐12 and university settings in the United States to compare attitudes around varieties of two dominant global languages with colonial legacies through an anonymous questionnaire completed by 36 language teachers. The study aimed to understand to what extent English and French language teachers drew on the linguistic diversity of the respective languages and if there was a connection between received ideas and attitudes around varieties and approaches taken in language classrooms. Findings suggest that language teachers were influenced by their own language learning histories, leading to a misalignment between teaching beliefs and pedagogical practices. Additionally, language teachers were subject to curricular constraints that influenced their teaching practices around language varieties. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Stepping Back: How Should Pass/Fail Scoring Influence Step 1 Timing?

Although most students complete Step 1 before clerkships, some institutions delay the exam until after clerkships. The change to pass/fail grading adds additional complexity that should be considered when deciding about exam timing. Both early and late administration may affect learning outcomes, learner behavior, student well-being, and residency match success. Step 1 completion before clerkships promotes learning outcomes (e.g., integration and mastery of foundational material), may encourage students to focus on the curriculum, and may better prepare students for clinical science exams (CSEs). However, delaying the exam ensures that students maintain foundational knowledge and may encourage clinical educators to demonstrate basic science illustrations. An early Step 1 may affect learner behavior by allowing clerkship students to focus on clinical learning. The associated National Board of Medical Examiners performance report may also be used for Step 2 and CSE preparation. However, delaying Step 1 allows greater scheduling flexibility based on developmental milestones. Administration of Step 1 before clerkships removes a significant stressor from the clinical year and decompresses the residency application period. However, a delayed Step 1 reduces the pressure on students to engage in numerous extracurricular and research activities to distinguish themselves due to the pass/fail change. An early Step 1 exam may also lead to improved CSE performance, which is often linked to clerkship honors criteria, an increasingly valuable distinction for residency match success after the change to pass/fail. In contrast, delaying Step 1 is associated with higher first-time pass rates, which may be especially important for students at risk for failure. Medical educators and students should collaboratively approach the question of Step 1 timing, considering these factors within the context of the medical school program, curricular constraints and priorities, and students' individual needs and goals.

Squeezed in: Writing Instruction Over Time

The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of writing instruction across time and grade bands. We used quantitative and qualitative analyses of teacher interviews and video records of classroom instruction of English language arts writing instruction in 97 fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms in 2010 and 2018. Video records showed a decline in writing instruction across time and grade bands. Teacher lessons focused on the first five Common Core Writing Standards with little attention to the latter five. The lessons included aspects of a writing process approach that used instructional scaffolding, models, student practice, and teacher feedback. Lessons were less likely to include the use of authentic texts, text analysis, and student discussion. Teacher interviews pointed to curricular constraints, a view of writing as peripheral, and comfort with teaching writing as hindrances to quality writing instruction. These findings demonstrate a need for curricular and instructional resources to support teachers in offering consistently quality writing instruction.

Clinical experiences of staff and students in transitioning from in-person to blended teaching.

This paper describes some of the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic from a study conducted with a group of clinical teachers and undergraduate dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences (FoDOCS) at King's College London about the use of a combination of remote, online and in-person teaching methods that resumed from June 2020. In the narrative research, participants shared their experiences delivering online clinical workshops and their previous experiences delivering face-to-face sessions online, both during and before the pandemic. We conducted remote interviews with the participants via video conferencing, which were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis. Narrative accounts revealed commonalities organised into seven themes, highlighting some of the challenges encountered during the pandemic and providing insights into addressing different curricular constraints and concerns when utilising various delivery modes during emergency situations, such as pandemics. In our study, we concluded that students and teachers benefit from dissociating clinical learning from clinical treatment sessions to focus on the educational intent and content before applying them chairside with patients. Throughout the course, students and teachers were challenged by a lack of engagement. In addition, it is important to examine the online fatigue highlighted by both students and teachers and identify ways to improve time, literacy, and facilitation to create a more conducive learning environment.

What Do So‐Called Critical Race Theory Bans Mean for Elementary Literacy Instruction?

AbstractIn recent years, a number of states in the United States have enacted educational policies, often referred to as “critical race theory” bans, that aim to restrict teaching about race and racism in schools. This study examines how current and future elementary literacy educators interpreted and intended to respond to one such law in Tennessee. Drawing theoretically on policy sociology and critical race theory policy analysis, we qualitatively analyzed data generated in focus groups with 18 prospective and practicing teachers. Our findings illustrate the restrictive effects of the policy on elementary literacy instruction, caused partially by teachers interpreting the policy as substantially impeding their ability to engage students in critically reading, writing, and talking about race and racism. Further, findings demonstrate how this new policy intersected with and exacerbated existing curricular constraints in elementary literacy classrooms, including developmental discourses and neoliberal standardization, reinforcing normative whiteness by producing further impediments to elementary literacy instruction as a space to develop critical consciousness about race. This study contributes to emerging literature on the effects of divisive concepts legislation, as well as situating this current legislative wave within existing policy contexts of restriction.

Assessing barriers to participation in environmental education field trips in the Congaree Biosphere Reserve

Environmental education (EE) is instrumental in developing environmentally literate citizens with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to support sustainable development. In the case of EE school field trips in the USA, these experiences also foster learning and skill development that supports meeting state and national educational standards. However, despite the importance of EE field trip programs, not all schools participate. This study explored the barriers to accessibility to EE field trips by conducting semi-structured interviews with EE providers and administrators of middle schools in the Congaree Biosphere Reserve (CBR), South Carolina, USA. We also used geospatial information systems to investigate accessibility spatially. Results suggest that aspatial barriers such as curricular constraints, capacity to plan and lead field trips, costs, and transportation influence participation. The results also suggest that these aspatial barriers are often interlinked and that access to EE field trips is disproportionately allocated to students in private education and urban settings and that rural, poor, minority, underperforming, and English as Second Language students face additional hurdles. We discuss a range of potential solutions to overcoming these barriers that reduce participation in EE field trips in the CBR.

Asset-based Community "Response": A Model Promoting Effective Student- Community Engagement in Disaster Scenarios.

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, medical students organized grass-roots volunteer initiatives to address community-level needs. These required community partnerships and extra-institutional resources to effectively operate. Due to curricular constraints, these efforts often lacked familiarity and working knowledge of existing university infrastructure on how to engage with established community partnerships and resources. The authors call for institutions to capitalize upon the response experience gained by medical students during the pandemic. This includes 1) formally integrating the infrastructure and community relationships established by student COVID-19 volunteer initiatives into existing university community-engagement systems, and 2) incorporating asset-based community development (ABCD) into medical student curricula as a framework for community engagement and disaster response. A case study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center presents student COVID-19 response initiatives, their outcomes, and how their approach emulated the ABCD model. The ABCD model asserts that communities should use asset mapping to identify the skills and resources of community members, rather than using deficiency-oriented approaches. Further, the case study demonstrates how the use of an established ABCD model could have contributed to a more effective and efficient COVID-19 student response. Experiences at University of Nebraska Medical Center support the value of using a modified ABCD model to facilitate community relationships related to rapid health response. Formal integration of the ABCD model within a university's centralized office of community engagement will increase access and foster town-gown reciprocal relationships, empowering students, academic health centers, and surrounding communities in times of crisis and calm.

SigPrep: Open Source Web-Based Prework for Signals and Systems [SP Education

An introductory course in signals requires a wide background of prerequisites covering complex numbers, series, calculus, and basic mathematical logic. Students often fail to engage with the material and find the course difficult because they do not recall the prerequisites. Time and curricular constraints usually limit in-class review. To address these issues, we present SigPrep, a set of open source, web-based preparatory modules for introductory courses in signals. SigPrep is designed as a preclass assignment that students can do independently at a self-set pace. SigPrep is designed in WeBWorK, a widely used platform for free, open source problems for science and math classes. Using WeBWorK features, SigPrep provides students instant feedback and linkages to relevant external e-learning resources as a refresher for concepts in which they fail to exhibit adequate proficiency. Instructors are also able to track students? progress and performance. We outline the pedagogical design of SigPrep, which provides problems of particular relevance and applicability covering prerequisites for signals classes. Finally, we share results and feedback from our own experience with using SigPrep as part of our teaching of an introductory class on signals.

A national study on the state and status of physical education in South African public schools

ABSTRACT Background: In 2016, the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) selected South Africa as a pilot country for policy reforms in Quality Physical Education (QPE). Purpose: This initiative required a national research project on the ‘state and status of physical education in South African public schools’. The South African Physical Education Association was formed and 27 researchers from nine public universities undertook a two-year national study. Method: The strategic and evaluative approach utilised mixed methods for data collection in 61, purposefully selected, schools in all nine provinces, and across all school types (e.g. rural/urban, socio-economic status (SES), primary and secondary schools, and schools for learners with special educational needs) (LSEN). Semi-structured interviews were conducted from 66 school leadership representatives, 112 Heads of Departments (HODs) and 38 Governing Body members. Focus group discussions were held with 232 physical education (PE) teachers (including HODs) and 601 students, whilst researchers observed PE lessons and photographed facilities and equipment to capture the type and quality thereof. Questionnaires were completed by 56 HODs, 175 PE teachers, 1333 primary and 1348 secondary school students. Findings: The results show a preference for a sport-focused pedagogical approach, followed by a health-focused and life skill/value-based approach, whilst self-learning (non-teaching) happens in many poorly resourced (low quintile) schools. The ‘state’ of PE was firstly reflected in the quality of teaching associated with teachers’ qualifications. PE was taught by 25.1% specialist physical educators, 62.3% (non-specialist) classroom teachers and 14.9% of classes were outsourced to external service providers (NGOs and community volunteers for low quintile schools and expert coaches contracted by higher quintile schools). Teachers reported curricular constraints, the lack of content knowledge and poor didactical competencies as major challenges. Budget constraints and the lack of access to physical resources including the location of some facilities. The latter was exacerbated by the focus on academic performances and poor parental support. Main recommendations for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) included requests for curriculum reform and awarding PE as subject stand-alone-status, equitable resource provision among different school types and (in-service) professional development of teachers. Conclusion: It was evident that the implementation of QPE was compromised by multiple constraints and would require more than mere policy reform. Meaningful change requires strategic interventions by all stakeholders and at all levels of engagement. There are many learnings related to a large-scale study in which many researchers participated.

Revisiting CLIL: Background, Pedagogy, and Theoretical Underpinnings

This state-of-the-art article reviews the literature on content and language integrated learning (CLIL) – enseignement d’une matiere par l’integration d’une langue etrangere (EMILE) – through an analytical lens. Since its inception in the 1990s, CLIL has evolved and become part of the educational literature as a dual-focused and multi-dimensional educational approach. CLIL is not only about using an additional language (AL) (e.g., foreign, autochthonous, heritage, second language) as a medium to teach subject content. The approach also aims to build and reinforce learners’ knowledge of other disciplines while using the language creatively to solve problems and develop critical thinking. Some research evidence has indicated that CLIL practices vary according to context, curricular constraints, and available teaching force. This multi-dimensionality and diverse implementations of CLIL have led to misunderstandings and what CLIL is and is not have been the topic of countless debates. An accurate description of CLIL would not be possible without understanding its historicity and the reasons for its emergence. CLIL now represents an approach that integrates language and content teaching in a variety of language learning and bilingual education contexts. CLIL was not created out of thin air. Its creation was influenced by a multitude of factors such as (a) the historical, political, epistemological and societal influences of the 1980s, (b) research on second language acquisition, (c) current theories of learning and, (d) educational philosophies on languages and approaches to language teaching that drew on postmodern views that emerged in the 1980s.

Performing Society: Pursuing Creativity and Criticality in Secondary ELA

As an English Language Arts teacher, I have experienced cost-effective approaches replacing the actual “arts” of ELA (Trend, 1992). This article explores how Surrealist-oriented pedagogies could restore imaginative freedom and deconstruct conceptual barriers (normative standards, curricular constraints, and status quo power relations) in secondary ELA. I will also examine how we can use Surrealism as a political and pedagogical model to treat societal problems mirrored in ELA classrooms. Surrealist-oriented pedagogies could enable students to experiment with social issues and develop senses of agency and voice that reflect awareness of contemporary society while simultaneously building their ELA skills.

Elementary ESOL and content teachers’ resilient co-teaching practices: a long-term analysis

ABSTRACT New York State adopted regulations that mandate collaboration among ESOL and content teachers in integrated periods where ELLs are mainstreamed into general education classes. We documented trends in elementary and ESOL teachers’ co-teaching practices across 3 years of state policy implementation. Findings revealed that even with limited co-planning time, teams of co-teachers developed enduring resilient practices. It was apparent that there was no “right” co-teaching model. What seemed to work was more organic types of structures based on the co-teachers’ ability to share and implement ideas together. Trends in ELLs’ NYSESLAT scores indicated a decrease in the number of students performing at the lowest proficiency levels with a simultaneous increase in the number of students performing at higher proficiency levels. In spite of positive findings, persistent barriers in the form of insufficient co-planning time and curricular constraints impeded co-teaching to fully thrive in the district. Without systemic and consistent structures to place co-teaching and co-planning at the center of ESOL and content area teachers’ collaboration, the success of co-teaching was highly dependent on interpersonal relationships and individual motivations. Meaningful transformation of co-teaching practices for ELLs should be the responsibility of all stakeholders, not only teachers.

Becoming Inquirers: A Review of Research on Inquiry Methods in Literacy Preservice Teacher Preparation

ABSTRACT Inquiry models of teaching and learning have a long history in education. With a focus on contemporary (2000–2018) empirical research, this systematic review of literature focuses on the question: What is known about how inquiry is used and framed in literacy preservice teacher preparation? Findings suggest that inquiry is an effective tool for preservice teacher learning, and although there are challenges (i.e. time, resources, preservice teachers’ preconceived ideas about curriculum, and curricular constraints), preservice teachers can learn to enact inquiry-based teaching methods with transformative possibilities.

Why Content and Cognition Matter: Integrating Conceptual Knowledge to Support Simulation-Based Procedural Skills Transfer.

Curricular constraints require being selective about the type of content trainees practice in their formal training. Teaching trainees procedural knowledge about "how" to perform steps of a skill along with conceptual knowledge about "why" each step is performed can support skill retention and transfer (i.e., the ability to adapt knowledge to novel problems). However, how best to organize how and why content for procedural skills training is unknown. We examined the impact of different approaches to integrating why and how content on trainees' skill retention and transfer of simulation-based lumbar puncture (LP). We randomized medical students (N = 66) to practice LP for 1h using one of three videos. One video presented only the how content for LP (Procedural Only). Two other videos presented how and why content (e.g., anatomy) in two ways: Integrated in Sequence, with why content followed by how content, or Integrated for Causation, with how and why content integrated throughout. Pairs of blinded raters scored participants' retention and transfer LP performances on a global rating scale (GRS), and written tests assessed participants' procedural and conceptual knowledge. Simple mediation regression analyses showed that participants receiving an integrated instructional video performed significantly better on transfer through their intervention's positive impact on conceptual knowledge (all p < 0.01). Further, the Integrated for Causation group performed significantly better on transfer than the Integrated in Sequence group (p < 0.01), again mediated by improved conceptual knowledge. We observed no mediation of participants' skill retention (all p > 0.01). When teaching supports cognitive integration of how and why content, trainees are able to transfer learning to new problems because of their improved conceptual understanding. Instructional designs for procedural skills that integrate how and why content can help educators optimize what trainees learn from each repetition of practice.

Text Selection: Perceptions of Novice Vs. Veteran Teachers

ABSTRACTUsing a mixed-methods approach, this article reports survey findings regarding the factors secondary English-language-arts teachers in the United States reported as influential to their text selection and examines how those factors varied by years of teaching experience. Teachers’ department was the most cited influence regardless of years’ experience. Findings with statistical significance, supported by the qualitative data, include discrepancies in perceived curricular constraints between novice and veteran teachers as related to parental, administrative, and school board influence on text selection. Implications for the teacher preparation classroom, including building skills and confidence in curricular choices, are examined.

An economical strategy for early medical education in ultrasound

BackgroundA movement to include ultrasound training in undergraduate medical education is slowly taking place. However, many educational institutions are hesitant to include formal ultrasound training as a part of their curricula due to curricular time constraints, high cost of ultrasound equipment, and a lack of sufficient faculty skilled with ultrasound. We suggest that an economical ultrasound training strategy is needed to resolve these obstacles and enable hesitant medical programs to include ultrasound training.MethodsTwenty-eight first year medical students volunteered to attend extra-curricular ultrasound training sessions covering topics related to 11 commonly used sonographical imaging categories. Study assessments included subjective pre/post-training skill evaluation surveys, and objective numerical scores awarded by the session instructor during real-time evaluation of each participant’s performance in obtaining each target ultrasound view.ResultsA Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test was performed to evaluate the difference between pre-training and post-training survey questions. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Moreover, following analysis the p value for all test was found to be < 0.0001. Of the 308 total ultrasound-related tasks attempted collectively by all 28 participants, only 7 (2.3%) tasks were deemed unsuccessful by an instructor.ConclusionsThe training program presented in this study requires one faculty member, a single ultrasound machine, and time to conduct six 30-min training sessions with small groups of students over 4 weeks. Many medical schools are concerned that they don’t have adequate time or resources to include ultrasound training in their curricula. Our intention is to negate these concerns by providing a simple and practical training method that is both temporally and fiscally economical.

Native-Culturism in University of Jordan Students’ Cognitions about Literature

This study explores the extent to which Jordanian university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ cognitions about literature are shaped by the concepts of ‘linguistic imperialism’, ‘native-speakerism’, and ‘native-culturism’. A survey is carefully designed by the researchers and electronically distributed to 100 students enrolled in the English language programs at the University of Jordan. The survey includes both objective and subjective questions in order to more fully understand students’ cognitions (i.e., knowledge, beliefs, and thoughts, following Borg’s (2003) conceptualisation) for better reliability in establishing arguments and reaching conclusions. Analysis of objective data is quantitatively conducted and statistically presented using a program called Qualtrics, an online survey tool, and subjective data are qualitatively analysed and consequently categorized into themes for better interpretation. Results show that most students are cognizant of the concepts of ‘linguistic and cultural imperialism’ when it comes to their preferences towards literature but report some obstacles to being exposed to ‘non-core’, ‘periphery’ literary texts. Some of these obstacles are the limited access to Arabic literature and curricular constraints. The study primarily concludes that more awareness of cultural diversity on the part of students and teachers is needed to improve their practices in language pedagogy and literary studies..

Mollenhauer’s Representation: The Role of Preservice Teachers in the Practices of Upbringing

Our recent research study investigated an international field experience for preservice teachers, labelled as a service-learning internship, a term often used to refer to a student teacher in a Bachelor of Education (BEd) program. Relying on what we know to be advantages and benefits of similar international field experiences for preservice teachers to frame our investigation, we explored the impact of a service-learning internship upon beginning teachers, particularly as it related to their professional growth as teachers. To gain insight into teacher education, we drew on the work of Mollenhauer (2014) to critically examine the foundations of how we prepare teachers in our BEd program. Analysis of questionnaire responses, tracked by a digital discussion forum via Moodle™, revealed two dominant themes: (a) gaining a deeper understanding of children, and (b) learning to be flexible regardless of curricular constraints. Results from this study might be of interest to those who share a similar interest in international field experiences, teacher education, and pedagogy. Keywords: pedagogy, Bildung; teacher education; international; field experience; service learning; global teaching