Delivery Of Education Programs Research Articles

Planning for a Pandemic Influenza Outbreak: Roles for Librarian Liaisons in Emergency Delivery of Educational Programs

ABSTRACT In February 2006, two librarians at the University of Minnesota's Bio-Medical Library were asked to participate in a task force at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health (SPH). The charge from the dean of SPH was to determine how the school could continue to deliver its educational programs in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak. This paper will outline the work of the task force, discuss its recommendations, and offer ideas on how other librarians can work with their liaison areas to plan for a similar project.

Cross-Cultural Delivery of e-Learning Programmes: Perspectives from Hong Kong

The growing popularity of e-learning may pose one of the greatest challenges currently facing traditional educational institutions. The questions often asked are how, rather than whether, to embrace this new form of instructional delivery and how to create an appropriate learning environment for the learners. Educational institutions in Hong Kong have the option of adopting programmes or learning materials developed in other parts of the world for local learners, or not. Such an approach of acquiring learning materials is not without risks in terms of the suitability of materials embedded with cultural contents ‘foreign’ to local learners, or in terms of the suitability of assumptions in the communication context. What are the issues involved in the globalization of education through e-learning? This paper explores – from a critical-dialectical perspective – the implications of globalization on educational policy through cross-border delivery of educational programmes by e-learning, with particular attention given to the threat of cultural imperialism. The paper concludes that Hong Kong seems to be coping with ‘cultural imperialism’ rather well because of its unique history of being a cross-road for East and West, and also with some recommendations to e-learning providers to mitigate the potential damage of cross-cultural delivery of e-learning.

Implementing schools of surgery

The past year of surgical education and training has been characterised with transformations of curricula, recruitment, regulation and organisational structures. As part of the organisational structure of the postgraduate deaneries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, schools of surgery have been established or are emerging and are the means of delivery of the new training systems. In Scotland a different organisational structure has emerged with similar purpose, a surgical specialties training board. The establishment of these schools has been varied based on existing local training committee structures and the needs and funds of the deanery. At their heart is high-level deanery and College collaboration enabling the delivery of high-quality education and training programmes in a coordinated manner by local surgeons.

The role of language and culture in open learning in international collaborative programmes

In the context of internationalisation, the delivery of higher education programmes increasingly combines open learning with collaborations among people of diverse languages and cultures. In this paper we argue that while the literature on international education focuses on mapping modes of delivery in international education, there is also a need to recognise that it is these modes, together with language and culture, which mediate the delivery of programmes. Drawing on data from a case study of collaboration between an Australian university and an educational institution in Malaysia, we argue that international education per force involves collaboration and that this collaboration is mediated.

What the Research and Literature Say about the Delivery of Educational Leadership Preparation Programs in the United States

What the Research and Literature Say about the Delivery of Educational Leadership Preparation Programs in the United States

Physiotherapy education in Australia

Physiotherapy university education commenced in Australia more than 100 years ago. In 2007, baccalaureate and graduate entry programmes are available in 14 universities. Rigorous educational standards set by the universities must also meet the Australian Physiotherapy Council requirements before programmes are accredited and their graduates are eligible for registration to practice. Academic and clinical physiotherapists have contributed to the development of these national standards and continue to work collaboratively in the delivery of educational programmes where clinical education is an integral component of all degrees. Physiotherapy graduates are broadly representative of Australia's multicultural community although with a higher percentage of women. There are about 1100 graduates annually joining a workforce of about 16,000 physiotherapists. Australian physiotherapists have enjoyed autonomous primary care practice for more than 30 years. A wide range of specialist areas is open to them, supported by extensive continuing education and formal university programmes leading to postgraduate doctoral and masters degrees in clinical practice and research.

Going the Distance to Train Teachers for Students with Severe Disabilities: The University of Utah Distance Teacher Education Program

Research indicates that there is a significant and chronic shortage of highly-qualified special education teachers nationally. Although the shortages of highly-qualified teachers are pervasive across all disability categories they are particularly significant in the area of severe disabilities. This is especially true in rural and remote areas. The general conclusion of researchers is that the most effective way to address the chronic shortage of special education teachers in rural and remote communities is to identify, recruit, train, and support individuals from the local area. However, this necessitates the development and delivery of comprehensive distance education programs. This article describes the evolution of the distance education programs in the Department of Special Education at the University and the current program in place to help alleviate the critical special education teaching shortage in rural and remote areas.

An Innovative Approach to Orient Nursing Students

Limited resources force facilities to think beyond traditional approaches to teaching. It is vital for nursing leaders to be pioneers in the delivery of educational programs and to orient students to provide safe, competent care to clients. This research focuses on the use of a self-paced computer orientation program to facilitate the transition of nursing students into the clinical area. The data support a decrease in traditional classroom orientation time and reveal satisfaction among students.

A self-learning educational framework for online delivery

AbstractToday virtual educational programs with online delivery are in abundance and continue to grow rapidly. The need for this is due to varied stakeholders and open job market across the globe. This has been partly aided by the rapid pace of development in internet technology, such as web-based education management systems. The development and delivery of online project management education programs has emerged to a new era in catering the global needs without restricting to a geographical location.This paper presents a research based self learning framework, to ensure participants addressing and meeting project challenges with their inherent professional and managerial skills. Flexible delivery and self-learning mechanisms have proven to be one of the best learning approaches among professional project managers within dynamic corporations. The framework put forward in this paper has been developed specifically for project management education at a higher level than commonly available. Progressive lear...

Conceptualising Intercultural Effectiveness for University Teaching

This article focuses on one specific aspect of internationalisation in higher education: better understanding intercultural effectiveness so that university teachers can facilitate related student learning. It adopts an “actionable” definition of internationalisation to suggest ways to improve processes associated with the design, delivery, assessment, and evaluation of educational programs for the benefit of students from all backgrounds. Key terms and concepts are operationally defined, conceptual and applied issues are clarified, and some practical strategies are offered for staff who may be interested in improving international and intercultural dimensions of teaching in higher education.

Students' Perceptions of Study Modes

This paper reports on a survey of how Australian undergraduate students perceive the benefits of broad study modes: face‐to‐face classes, web‐based study, and print‐based study. Two benefit types were identified through factor analysis: engagement and functionality. Respondents rated face‐to‐face classes highest on engagement and print‐based study highest on functionality. However, they distinguished only marginally between the engagement and functionality benefits of print‐based and web‐based study. Two variables associated with differences in students’ perceptions of study modes were attendance mode and student tenure. The findings raise questions about the learning and marketing rationales for offering web‐based delivery of educational programmes at the expense of both the traditional face‐to‐face experience and the traditional “distance” experience in Australia using print materials.

The training and education of nurses working in stroke care

The National Clinical Guidelines for Stroke (2004) recommend that patients are cared for by staff who have expertise in stroke rehabilitation and access to relevant educational programmes. However, they provide only limited information as to the content and delivery of such programmes and recommend that such decisions are made at a local level. This must inevitably lead to the duplication of efforts and variations in standards and content across national services. This literature review hopes to identify how the content and delivery of educational programmes for nurses on stroke units meet the needs of their role, impact on their practice and influence patient outcomes. It is expected that the findings will be valuable in the development of ongoing training programmes and may contribute to a cohesive approach at national level.

Seeing the unseen

PurposeThis article describes one way for committee chairs, program administrators, and/or task force leaders to effectively galvanize an educational program change process. In particular, it introduces and describes the successful use of an assumptions audit (AA) to expose, challenge, reinforce, and/or discard a variety of educational program design and delivery assumptions under‐girding one top‐ranked, MBA program's required first year.Design/methodology/approachFrom a case study perspective, this paper chronicles the actual process pursued by a faculty committee chair, to successfully and effectively initiate an educational program review and change process. The paper also roots the AA in the literature on creativity, teams, educational administration, and organizational development.FindingsAs a result of the insights provided by the AA, a successful educational change process was launched with high collegiality amongst the change team and with high clarity regarding avenues of change to pursue and not to pursue, all of which led to much less angst, debate, and elapsed time in bringing about an agreed – on set of program changes.Practical implicationsOthers seeking to productively, expeditiously, and collegially embark on an educational change process should find the AA idea and process useful.Originality/valueThe reasons for, the steps followed, and the results of a novel assumptions audit (AA) are presented. The AA process is described in sufficient detail that others can easily undertake their own version.

Study of Nursing Mothers

The participation of women in a higher education program depends on the extent to which the program takes into consideration the special needs of women—issues that have long plagued women’s participation in education programs. In this study, we found that issues like childcare have not received any special consideration in the delivery of part-time higher education programs. This paper argues that university administration should review its present arrangements with regard to the participation of nursing mothers, for example, in part-time academic work. Efforts should be made to make daily academic activities nursing-mother friendly—reviewing the timetable to provide baby time-out and allowing for fewer daily academic activities; providing adequate daycare for children; and providing special counseling to alleviate the childcare and learning stress faced by nursing mothers.

An Annual Employee Education Calendar as the Capstone of Educational Assessment, Planning, and Delivery

Staff development educators can better control their workload and provide a more comprehensive employee education program when the organization adopts a formal five-step process that culminates in the publication of an annual employee education calendar. This article describes the five steps of organization-wide learning needs assessment, resource allocation, priority setting, documentation of the educational plan, and calendar development, including elements and timelines. The annual calendar reflects involvement of staff throughout the facility in the identification, planning, and delivery of education programs. Its publication enhances staff and supervisors' awareness of learning opportunities. Its longer-range perspective assists managers and employees to better plan to meet learning needs and improves participation in staff development activities.

Issues And Challenges Of Instructional Technology Specialists In Alberta Colleges

Under pressure to become more cost effective and competitive in the delivery of educational courses and programs, Alberta colleges have identified the integration of communication and information technologies as an appropriate response to these fiscal demands. This requires highly skilled computer and communication technologists who are both technology specialists and pedagogical experts. Twenty-eight Instructional Technology Specialists at fourteen Alberta colleges responded to a written survey. Follow-up interviews were held with seven respondents. Respondents perceived the college’s administration as lacking understanding of the implications of integrating technology into teaching and uncertain about ongoing funding for projects. As Instructional Technology Specialists they brought a variety of backgrounds and experiences to their work. They provided a broad range of services and maintained currency through ongoing formal and informal professional development. For these IT Specialists, their concerns are about growth and a better balance between the technical and pedagogical aspects of technology.

Responding to crises in transnational education: new challenges for higher education

This paper is based on a case study of an Australian university involved in the delivery of transnational programs in an educational environment that has been increasingly characterized by commercial considerations. The researchers conducted focus group interviews with both general and academic staff to ascertain the personal, academic and administrative issues affecting the delivery of educational programs in Asia that arose as a result of one particular crisis in 2003: the SARS epidemic. The findings indicate that both administrative and academic staff felt personally and professionally challenged by the complexity of the issues involved in interrupting the pattern of transnational teaching. Potentially conflicting rationales emerged through the focus group discussions, with administrative staff expressing concern with maintaining services, while lecturers articulated a preoccupation with the safeguarding of assessment standards.

Starting at the beginning: Early childhood literacy intervention as a strategy for reducing adult illiteracy

It is estimated that approximately one third or 8.7 million adults over 20 years of age in South Africa may be functionally illiterate. As a signatory to the Framework for Action for achieving Education for All by 2015, South Africa committed to the goal of achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015. The goal of reducing illiteracy is thwarted by problems in delivery of adult basic education and training (ABET) programmes as well as challenges faced by learners participating in programmes. In addition, the existing pool of adult illiterates is likely to increase over time as the children currently unable to access schooling, or receiving minimal or inadequate schooling reach adulthood. This article proposes a multi-faceted approach that includes a focus on curtailing illiteracy in children by improving the quality of early literacy instruction, and introducing intervention in families and communities to promote early literacy development.

Web‐enhanced alternative teacher licensure

College and university teacher education programs are increasingly required to integrate technology into teacher preparation in response to the requirements of national accreditation groups like the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Delivery of teacher education programs through pure distance education methodologies still has critics. A Web‐enhanced approach, with on‐campus courses and Web‐based information and/or testing as a supplement, is suggested as a compromise. An alternative teacher licensure program in career and technical education at Ohio State University uses this approach extensively, with positive results. This case study explores the use of an alternative teacher licensure program, defines the components of a Web‐based curriculum, and illustrates the benefits and challenges of a Web‐enhanced teacher education program. Student and faculty issues and reactions are outlined, along with strategies for integrating Web‐based activities into courses. Suggested future plans for continuing to infuse technology into teacher education are also discussed.

The Organization of Public Service Provision

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of how the responsibility for the delivery of social services, including health, education, and welfare programs, should be divided between state and central governments. We combine a random voting model and the incomplete contracts paradigm to formalize the trade‐off between central and state responsibility for service delivery, and find that authority should rest with the party for whom the marginal impact of the service on re‐election chances is greater. This in turn means that, other things equal, states with lower than average health, education, or welfare status should be given responsibility for service delivery, while authority in states with above average indicators should reside with the central government. Also, we show that there is no presumption that states that are given authority for service delivery should necessarily be granted expanded tax authority.