Members Of Educational Community Research Articles

Experiencia docente en procesos de mejora de la eficacia escolar: la Ley de Subvención Escolar Preferencial en un establecimiento municipalizado de la comuna de La Florida

ResumenEl presente artículo da a conocer las principales condiciones bajo lascuales se desarrollan los planes de mejoramiento escolar adscritos a laLey de Subvención Escolar Preferencial al interior de un establecimientomunicipalizado, reconociendo tales aspectos a partir de la experiencia delos docentes y miembros del equipo de gestión que han sido partícipesde dichos procesos de cambio en los años 2013-2014. La investigaciónse efectuó en un centro escolar municipal ubicado en la comuna de LaFlorida, Región Metropolitana de Chile. Para reconocer las condiciones quepermean la implementación efectiva de los planes de mejora se considerópertinente utilizar un diseño cualitativo con un enfoque fenomenológico.Los hallazgos obtenidos permitieron indicar que, para la implementaciónde planes de mejoramiento educativo, es necesaria la existencia tantode condiciones organizacionales óptimas como también la existencia debuenas relaciones entre los miembros de la comunidad educativa. Además,adquiere relevancia el tipo de relaciones que posee el establecimiento con lasorganizaciones externas que apoyan y supervisan los procesos de cambio,ya que dichas entidades influyen en el funcionamiento de los planes demejoramiento escolar.Palabras clave: mejora de la eficacia escolar, experiencia docente,organización escolar, condiciones organizacionales.The experience of teaching in processesimproving school effectiveness: PreferentialSchool Subsidy Act in a public school of LaFlorida municipalityAbstractThis article shows the main conditions under which the school improvementplans are developed, attached to the Preferential School Subsidy Act within apublic school. It acknowledges these aspects from the experience of teachersand management staff involved in these processes of change in the years2013-2014. The research was carried out in a public school located in themunicipality of La Florida, Metropolitan Region, Chile. In order to recognizethe conditions that pervade the effective implementation of improvementplans, the use of a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach wasconsidered appropriate.Findings indicate to the need of optimal organizational conditions as wellas good relations among members of the educational community for theimplementation of plans for educational improvement. Furthermore, thetype of relationship among the school and external organizations supportingand monitoring the process of change is becoming increasingly relevant, asthese entities affect how school improvement plans work.Keywords: improving school effectiveness, teaching experience, schoolorganization, organization conditions.Experiência docente em processos de melhorada eficácia escolar: a Lei de Subvenção EscolarPreferencial num estabelecimento municipalizadodo município Da FloridaResumoO presente artigo descreve as principais condições onde se desenvolvem osplanos de melhora escolar associadas à Lei de Subvenção Escolar Preferencialao interior de um estabelecimento municipalizado, reconhecendo essesaspectos a partir da experiência dos professores e membros da equipede gestão que foram partícipes destes processos de mudança nos anos2013-2014. A pesquisa foi realizada numa escola municipal localizada nomunicípio de La Florida, Região Metropolitana de Chile. Para reconheceras condições que permeiam a aplicação efetiva dos planos de melhoria foiconsiderado pertinente usar um desenho qualitativo com uma abordagemfenomenológica.Os resultados obtidos permitiram indicar que, para a execução de planosde melhoramento educativo, foi necessária a existência de condiçõesorganizacionais óptimas, como também a existência de bons relacionamentosentre os membros da comunidades educativa. Além disso, torna-se relevanteo tipo de relações que possui o estabelecimento com as organizações externas que apoiam e acompanham os processos de mudança, já que estas entidadesafetam o funcionamento dos planos de melhora escolar.Palavras-chave: melhora da eficácia escolar, experiência docente, organizaçãoescolar, condições organizacionais.

A Study of Causes And Rate of Neonatal Mortality in A Teritiary Care Teaching Hospital

The first 28 days of life is known as neonatal period. Neonatal death is defined as the death of live birth during first 28 days of life. It is highly vulnerable period that the infants are susceptible to certain problems which lead to illness and death. About 40% of the 10 million deaths among children below 5 years occur during the neonatal period; this is twice as high as the number of deaths attributable to HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted between March 2014 and August 2014. It is a prospective observational study. Both male and female were included. All live neonates admitted to Neonatal Care Unit, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital were included in the study. Unknown babies also included in the study. Died neonates who brought to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital were excluded from the study. Cesarean deliveries in early term are more when compared to Normal and Assisted vaginal deliveries in early term. Major causes of deaths include LBW (62.16%) followed by sepsis (54.59%), RD (51.89%), HIE (22.16%) and Congenital abnormalities (15.13%). In LBW major causes of death include Sepsis (87.8%) followed by RD (83.5%) and preterm deaths (87.8%) are more when compared to term gestation (12.27%). Further much work is needed to educate community members about neonatal danger signs and to engage them in effective care-seeking behavior .The process of delivery should be made safe for the mother and neonate. We found LBW, Sepsis and RD to be the major cause's neonatal death. Keyword: Mortality, Low Birth weight, Sepsis, Respiratory distress

Electronic Communication Channel Use and Health Information Source Preferences Among Latinos in Northern Manhattan.

Understanding key health concepts is crucial to participation in Precision Medicine initiatives. In order to assess methods to develop and disseminate a curriculum to educate community members in Northern Manhattan about Precision Medicine, clients from a local community-based organization were interviewed during 2014-2015. Health literacy, acculturation, use of Internet, email, and text messaging, and health information sources were assessed. Associations between age and outcomes were evaluated; multivariable analysis used to examine the relationship between participant characteristics and sources of health information. Of 497 interviewed, 29.4 % had inadequate health literacy and 53.6 % had access to the Internet, 43.9 % to email, and 45.3 % to text messaging. Having adequate health literacy was associated with seeking information from a healthcare professional (OR 2.59, 95 % CI 1.54-4.35) and from the Internet (OR 3.15, 95 % CI 1.97-5.04); having ≤ grade school education (OR 2.61, 95 % CI 1.32-5.17) also preferred information from their provider; persons >45 years (OR 0.29, 95 % CI 0.18-0.47) were less likely to use the Internet for health information and preferred printed media (OR 1.64, 95 % CI 1.07-2.50). Overall, electronic communication channel use was low and varied significantly by age with those ≤45 years more likely to utilize electronic channels. Preferred sources of health information also varied by age as well as by health literacy and educational level. This study demonstrates that to effectively communicate key Precision Medicine concepts, curriculum development for Latino community members of Northern Manhattan will require attention to health literacy, language preference and acculturation and incorporate more traditional communication channels for older community members.

Northern innovation in rabies prevention and control: The Weeneebayko Area Health Authorities (WAHA) dog population management pilot project.

Remote northern communities in Ontario face unique challenges in rabies prevention and control. With large, free-roaming dog populations at high risk of exposure to rabies from wildlife, and a lack of regular access to veterinary services and vaccinations, these communities run a higher risk of human exposure to rabies than southern regions of the province. To provide the baseline data on a novel approach to controlling the dog population in the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA) in northern Ontario, implemented as part of a sustainable, humane and cost-effective pilot project to manage dog population numbers and improve public safety. In 2015, WAHA launched a large-scale two-year regional project that involved microchipping all dogs in the region to quantify and monitor population levels, vaccinating them with canine core vaccinations (including rabies) and piloting the use of an injectable ganodotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist contraceptive implant in female dogs. The Project's objectives included control of dog population numbers, reducing aggressive behaviours in community dogs, reducing the risk of rabies in communities, improving the health of community dogs and educating community members about the importance of dog population control. In 2015, 513 dogs were microchipped and vaccinated as part of the WAHA Project: 211 females and 301 males. Seventy-six intact, free-roaming females were given the contraceptive implant, 113 females were identified as previously spayed and only 22 females were either too young or too small (toy breeds) to receive an implant. While the final outcomes of the WAHA Project are still pending, preliminary findings, including dog population demographics and observed dynamics, support the feasibility of contraceptive implants in female dogs as a primary intervention to quickly and cost-effectively reduce dog population numbers in remote northern regions and reduce the risk of rabies transmission.

Addressing the role of medical students using community mobilization and social media in the Ebola response.

Health professions education in the 21st century should incorporate both community mobilization and social media strategies. First, community mobilization facilitates change by educating community members with evidence-based, high-quality and up-to-date health information and empowering their active participation in target health initiatives. Second, advancements in technology and globalization foster the development of innovative communication technologies used as a key tool in the ‘roll out’ of community health initiatives during epidemics such as Ebola virus disease. In August 2014, medical students of Sierra Leone and Guinea used these dual health promotional strategies in the Kick Ebola Out campaign to educate community members about transmission of the Ebola virus and preventive measures, as well as to reduce perceptions related to stigma or fear of disease transmission. In this report, we describe how medical students, who are trained in basic and clinical sciences, evidence-based practices, and social determinants of health, can serve as human resources for health and facilitate dynamic communication strategies to educate and empower both medical students and community members for local or national health initiatives.

Design Guidelines for Graduate Program Social Media Use

Social media provides a promising platform for members of informal and formal educational communities to build community, collaborate, and support institutional goals such as student recruitment. Despite burgeoning research on the educational uses of social media, we are not aware of any to guide graduate program social media use. In order to contribute a framework for the use of social media platforms associated with graduate programs and to provide direction, guidance, and cohesion to a social media initiative began with our graduate program, we conducted a design-based research project. We describe the design guidelines that comprise the framework—establish why, establish how, be authentic, respect privacy, coordinate channels, and engage volunteers—and provide examples of each from our practice and references to prior research. We conclude with potential benefits and promising directions for future research and practice on graduate program social media use.

Poverty Simulations: Building Relationships Among Extension, Schools, and the Community

Poverty simulations can be effective experiential learning tools for educating community members about the impact of poverty on families. The project described here includes survey results from three simulations with community leaders and teachers. This project illustrated how such workshops can help Extension professionals extend their reach and impact by engaging coalitions and volunteers and building community partnerships with school systems and community leadership groups.

The Mini Report: a Practical Tool to Address Lung Cancer Disparities in Rural Communities.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective way to address cancer disparities in medically underserved populations. Our research demonstrates how CBPR principles were used to develop lung cancer and risk factor mini reports for a network of community coalitions in the Illinois Delta Region, a predominately rural region with high lung cancer disparities in southern Illinois. An academic-community partnership, including a community-based medical school, state public health department, and a healthcare system, used CBPR principles to translate epidemiological, behavioral, and demographic data into understandable, comprehensive, yet concise mini reports for each coalition. A cyclical and iterative process was used to draft, revise, and optimize these mini reports to raise awareness about lung cancer disparities in the community and to provide information to help guide the development of interventions that address these disparities. The use of CBPR principles was a successful way to create mini reports about local lung cancer disparities and risk factors that were usable in individual communities. Local coalitions used the mini reports to educate community members at local meetings, to guide strategic planning, and to disseminate information through their respective websites. Additionally, the process of creating these reports built trust among academic-community partners and provided additional avenues of engagement, such as the involvement of an academic partner in the strategic planning process of a local coalition. Using CBPR processes is an effective way to translate epidemiological data into a community-friendly format to address cancer disparities.

Toward a Village Consciousness

School-to-prison pipeline research and scholarship point to a need for parent and community involvement in addressing school discipline policies and culturally sensitive approaches to reducing disparities in school discipline. The Parent Empowerment Program (PEP) was formed to raise awareness about these disparities and to educate community members about alternatives to suspension and expulsion. This study examined how the cultural heritage of PEP’s members informed the organization’s work, particularly its expression of a village consciousness, and how it influenced the interventions for which the group advocated. Through this study, I showed that the African American cultural heritage informed the foundation of the organization and the core ideology of the organization’s members. The group also identified interventions to prevent suspension and expulsion that resonated with their cultural position, particularly ways to support positive behavior in the home.

Behavioral Education in the 21st Century

Behavior analysis significantly impacted education in the 20th century with many procedures for improving behavior, management, and instruction. Today, 21st century education is grappling with other goals that behavior analysis can also address, especially the need to broaden its focus from knowledge acquisition to real-world application, communication, and problem solving. Recent developments in flipped classroom approaches are ripe for behavior analysis technology, as are socially engaged approaches such as project-based learning. I outline a generative instruction approach to application and activity-driven education that improves social interaction, and thinking, reasoning, and problem solving in the classroom. Current interests in broader approaches to improving schools by addressing poverty and economic inequality with interventions that foster nurturing environments and prosociality also provide opportunities for applying behavior analysis, particularly community school experiments. We should hitch a ride on all these fronts to remain relevant and productive members of educational communities in the 21st century.

Factors Effecting E-Learning Preference: An Analysis On Turkish University Students From Government and Private Institutions

Informationand communications technology has become an important tool in education. The use of online e-learning by members of educational communities isincreasing, and this seems to bean accelerating tendency that will go on for the coming years. So it isimportant to identify and address students’ preferences or their anxieties ine-learning, to offer beneficial programs. Although Turkish educational system,especially in universities, is also taking action parallel to this globaltrend, there is only limited research on the subject. Present study aims tofill this gap, andto identify effective factors while highlighting theircontributions on e-learning preferences of university students. The sample ofthe study consist 606 university students from both government and privateinstitutions which enables group comparisons. Results indicate ‘reduction intraining costs’ and ‘time flexibility of the programs’ are the most valuedfactors to prefer e-learning. On the other hand,having courses and the exams on the internet was not found to be muchfavorable. With respect to demographic variables such as age, gender,private/government university, department, and grade (the year at theuniversity) group differences were identified. Based on the findings,suggestions were presented.

The Rural Superintendency and the Need for a Critical Leadership of Place

This article examines how school superintendents and parents in high-needs rural districts conceptualized educational quality. Specifically, this comparative case study of two rural school superintendents presents a contextualized understanding of rural superintendents’ and other educators’ mainstream views of educational quality, parents and other rural community members’ place-based views, and the tensions among these. Primary data sources featured interviews with two superintendents and their constituents, including Board of Education members, principals, teachers, parents, and community members. Findings indicated that both superintendents worked to create an aspirational culture in which education was the way out of poverty for their students, aspirations that were frequently at tension with community values. This article concludes with a proposed critical leadership and pedagogy of place that may help superintendents navigate these tensions.

Diagnosing the thesis scandal in academic community

Events that occurred in 2013 as a result of illegal assignment of academic degrees, acquired the nature of scandal. According to the author, thesis scandal has provided a deeper understanding of the essence of processes both in the scientific and educational community and in the whole socio-humanitarian sphere of Russian society. The scandal, which affected many deputies of the State Duma, governors of some Russian regions and senior government officials, has attracted attention of Russian political leaders and the general public. It uncovered many shortcomings of existing approaches to the determination of qualification level of the research and education community's members, the viability of the universities; revealed the real challenges to the successful development of science and higher education. Thesis scandal showed values which define the state of social and humanitarian spheres of Russian society, the relations within the scientific and educational community and the results of reforms in it. Analyzing the situation in domestic science, the problems specific to the Russian scientific and educational community, the author is not limited to the conclusion that this scandal has deep socio-cultural reasons. The author has to declare, that forced borrowings of alien norms and principles for domestic science, promising to come to the fore in the future, today turn into the traditional desire to take the lead on the "top-down" indicators.

Self‐organized learning environments and the future of student‐centered education

Children are able to achieve sophisticated learning without teachers. Such is the main message of the “hole in the wall” tests that have led to the concept of “self-organized learning environments” (SOLEs) 1. “Hole in the wall” refers to “computers set up in public places such as streets and playgrounds for unsupervised use by children.” There have been numerous trials developed in remote places in countries such as India, Bhutan, and the Republic of Central Africa, in which “kiosks” with computers connected to the internet have been set up for whoever wishes to use them. In a number of experiments, this “minimally invasive education” has been demonstrated to result in surprising learning achievements in children, in subjects such as English language, computer processing, and molecular biology 2. What is fascinating about the concept is that all learning happens with no teaching by teachers. Remarkably, test performances of students who have learned in SOLE may match those of students who have learned in schools, suggesting that schools and SOLEs can result in identical learning 3. Sugata Mitra, the author of the experiments provides several lines of argument to the benefit of SOLE that also apply to higher education. He considers that schools are obsolete as they prepare citizens to fulfill certain specific and defined professional roles. Given the fast pace in which professions change nowadays, even the most dynamic schools may be preparing graduates to work in the past. Another strong argument is that nowadays, students access learning materials not from what teachers select as study materials, but too often through individual browsing with mobile devices and tablets. Students are often excited with what “the cloud” has to offer, and relatively unexcited with what the school has programmed for them. There is a social networking explosion happening today. Students are often learning online with one another, as members of educational communities. Dr. Mitra's last argument is that we may be running into a future in which one who knows the information is not as well prepared to succeed as one who is proficient in accessing and quickly incorporating reliable information into pre-exiting knowledge: “knowing is obsolete.” Learning, according to Dr. Mitra, is a product of a self-organizational educational process. “It is not about making learning happen, it is about letting it happen.” Within a SOLE paradigm, power would shift decisively to students, as all choices—study resources, examples that might be used in class, criteria to be applied to measure a certain course proficiency—would be made by students. What may the SOLE paradigm offer to paradigms of student-centered education? Student-centered education is about teachers investing in the development of the learners' potential rather than in selecting the absolute chunks of content to pass on to students. It is about using teaching strategies that consider the students' needs and interests, confer more power to students, assign new roles for the teacher and, last but not least, make students take responsibility for their own learning. The student-centered paradigm emerged as an alternative to the so called “traditional” or “teacher-centered” instruction. Even though the two paradigms are fundamentally different, they share important characteristics. Both paradigms depend on a physical infrastructure—the school, the university—where teachers and students meet in classrooms, rely on teachers to define the course's program—outcomes, objectives, content, curriculum, and so forth—and assessments. Even though the two paradigms see the teachers and students very differently, the existence of the two roles is quintessential for both: teachers must teach somehow so students can learn. This is true for any of the established student-centered educational approaches—such as Team Based Learning, Peer Instruction, or Problem Based Learning. None considers the possibility of no teaching delivered by teachers or that of no teachers at all. The SOLE projects and derived research show that children who were not educated with computers may learn by themselves, if they are given access to the world wide web. If this is possible for children in remote countries, what can students actually achieve if we let them take full responsibility for developing their learning?

Photonovels: An Innovative Approach to Address Health Disparities and Sustainability

Medically underserved and underrepresented communities have high rates of health disparities. In the greater Tampa Bay area, communities of color are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases such as cancer. In response to these concerns and as part of a lay health advisory program being implemented by the Center for Equal Health, a University of South Florida/H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute partnership, our group created a photonovel, an educational tool which explains topics using a graphic novel style. The photonovel was designed to educate community members about prostate cancer and was compared to standard cancer educational materials currently used for cancer outreach. We found that our photonovel served as an effective health education tool to address cancer health disparities in medically underserved and underrepresented populations in Tampa Bay.

Raw Material Management of Community Incense Production through Sufficiency Economy Philosophy

Abstract The main purposes of this research are to study the way of using Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in raw materials production management and the knowledge transfer to the community. Data are collected from in- depth interview, observation, and training session. The knowledge from this research is transferred to the community by narration, demonstration, inquiry and handout. A significant result shows that using local raw materials and ingredients from herb to make sure of sources, safety and cost reducing. Regarding knowledge transfer, two-way communication with personal media or opinion leaders is the suitable way to educate community members.

Language awareness of the Multicultural background Korean Language Education Community members

Language awareness of the Multicultural background Korean Language Education Community members

Abstract ED03-03: Translating research into practice: Results of the WINCART Center Biospecimen Pilot Study and community outreach efforts.

Abstract ED03-03: Translating research into practice: Results of the WINCART Center Biospecimen Pilot Study and community outreach efforts.

Crossing cultures: US student teacher observations of pedagogy, learning, and practice in Plymouth, UK schools

International internships can assist pre-service teachers in beginning to build a repository of successful strategies for learning and becoming members of the global educational community. These include school settings and scheduling; use of curriculum and resources; instructional skills and strategies, including lesson planning; and classroom management, including management of student behaviours. The current study examines the reflections of 56 undergraduate teacher education students from Florida who took part in a three-week international internship in Plymouth, UK. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the areas in which the experience had an impact on their pedagogical awareness. Specifically, the research question was: ‘How does the short-term study abroad internship impact pre-service teachers' perceptions or understanding of: professional school relationships, and classroom management and structure?'

An Integrative Review of Comprehensive Sex Education for Adolescent Girls in Kenya

The purposes of this article are to identify and review comprehensive sex education programs (CSEPs) available to adolescent females in Kenya, East Africa, to discuss barriers to implementing CSEPs in Kenya, and to highlight the role of nurses in improving and institutionalizing available CSEPs in Kenya. Integrative review. A systematic search of six databases and other Internet sources was conducted to identify CSEPs currently available to adolescent girls in Kenya. Five CSEPs were identified. The CSEPs were evaluated using established criteria. All of the CSEPs were well designed and almost all were implemented with fidelity. Four of the five CSEPs met all of the criteria for well-designed CSEPs with only one showing lack of sustainability. Tuko Pamoja (We Are One) shows promise for wider implementation. CSEPs are a valid intervention leading to the reduction of teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections. The reach of the identified CSEPs varies, and sustainability is challenging due to lack of government and community support, lack of funding, and unsustainable teaching modalities. Nurses can serve as liaisons between adolescents, the community, and the Kenyan government in promoting CSEPs. Nurses should be more readily utilized in educating community members and policy makers about the need for CSEPs in all Kenyan high schools. Nursing students can also be utilized in their community health role to teach curricula of CSEPs. Nurses should advocate for all adolescents to access reproductive health services and for all healthcare providers to provide comprehensive reproductive health care to them.