Educational Pathways Research Articles

Aspiring physicians program: description and characterization of the support processes for an undergraduate pathway program to medicine

ABSTRACT Latinx physician rates are lower than non-Latinx white physicians. Many pathway programs to careers in medicine have been established for underrepresented students, yet few focus on premedical college education or undergraduate pathway programs, which marks a critical junction in the commitment to and preparation for application to medical school. Moreover, little is known about the program components which prepare and support learners. Framed by Swail’s Model for Persistence and Achievement, we characterize how a given program’s components impact support and growth for participating students. Using the process step of the Context, Input, Process, and Product evaluation model, we conducted focus groups at the end of the program, with four cohorts of student participants between 2019 and 2022. Focus groups identified strengths and limitations in content and delivery to improve program effectiveness and plan for the future of a program. We used thematic analysis, following an inductive approach, to analyze data from transcribed focus groups. A total of 66 of 81 (81.5%) students participated in focus groups. Students described that supportive program components include long-term mentorship and advising that builds trust, academic preparation for medical school, early exposure to clinical career exploration, tools to articulate students’ personal narrative, methods to recognize and address challenging situations in the professional environment, community leadership development, and leveraging health policy and advocacy to empower students to create systems change within communities. Our findings affirm and provide a needed account of program components known to be contributors to student success in undergraduate pathway programs. Our evaluation also characterizes additional supportive processes not discussed elsewhere. Our findings contribute to knowledge about development and implementation of undergraduate pathway programs and the components by which these programs create opportunities for success among underrepresented students aspiring to careers in medicine.

PhD-prepared WHNPs and the generation of women’s health science

The authors discuss the importance of creating opportunities for WHNPs and WHNP students to learn about options in research, have mentorship from WHNPs with PhD degrees, and explore new educational pathways to support PhD education.

Data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) in Germany: Educational Pathways of Students in Grade 5 and Higher

The German National Educational Panel Study investigates individual competences and educational trajectories in a longitudinal multi-cohort study design. The third of the six starting cohorts focuses on paths through lower into upper secondary level and beyond. The representative sample includes about <em>N</em> = 6,112 students from fifth grade attending regular or special schools. Students were initially sampled in 2010 and, subsequently, received follow-up interviews and competence tests each year resulting, as of yet, in a total of 12 measurement waves. Additionally, important context persons (i.e., parents, teachers, and heads of schools) were included in the assessment design. The longitudinal nature of the data provides rich opportunities for research on the development of competences through secondary school.

Persepsi Mahasiswa Prodi Perpustakaan dan Sains Informasi Fakultas Teknologi Informasi terhadap Layanan Sirkulasi Perpustakaan O. Notohamidjojo UKSW

The university is a learning implementing agency for senior secondary education in the formal education pathway. This is in line with the definition of higher education as stipulated in Law Number 20, Article 19 (1) of 2003. Basically all libraries are collaborative processes, namely institutions that provide information services to users. However, each type of library has a determining interpretation in its development so that there is a difference from other libraries. The academic library is an example of the many classifications of libraries. The research method used in this research is a descriptive method with a quantitative approach. The purpose of this research was to find out students' perceptions of SWCU O. Notohamidjojo Library Circulation Services. The results of the research that have been explained from the discussion in the previous chapter, conclusions were obtained regarding students' perceptions of circulation services at the SWCU O. Notohamidjojo University Library.

Where Do I Start? A Pathway for Personal Growth for Faculty Committed to Creating Inclusive Classrooms

ABSTRACTThis commentary offers insights into how accounting faculty can begin to create more inclusive, equitable experiences for students. Many faculty are well intentioned and desire to improve the student experience but may not know where to start. We introduce a pathway of reflection, education, and action that we believe can help faculty get started on this process. Reflection is the process of assessing one’s own identity, influences, biases, and personal experiences with diversity and privilege. Education involves seeking out information and experiences that can enhance cultural competence, particularly around gaps identified through reflection. Action refers to practical steps taken to make classrooms more inclusive, including classroom management and curricular changes. We draw upon professional experiences in academia and personal knowledge as authors with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to guide faculty interested in beginning to develop more inclusive classrooms.

Determinants of Professional Success – About the Beliefs of Primary School Students

The paper focuses on the issue of professional success and its perception. The study, carried out using the diagnostic survey method, covered 1099 respondents – students atprimary schools, residing in a medium-sized city in Poland. It solved the following research problems: How do youth perceive life and professional success? What associations do male and female students of primary and secondary schools have about post-primary education(vocational/trade school, technical vs. comprehensive school)? What educational pathways do students perceive as prestigious and not prestigious, as enabling professional success and preventing the same? Which professions do students at primary schools perceive as prestigious and non-prestigious? What, in young people’s opinion, are the conditions conducive to professional success? What is the youth’s self-esteem in terms of opportunities to achieve professional success? How do selected socio-demographic characteristics differentiate the perception of professional success, its determinants, and self-esteem concerning the chances of achieving it? An alarming fact is that the beliefs of nearly half the students from the present research sample appear to be that to achieve success, it is necessary to have connections or luck. This arouses concern because, in the expectation of chance, luck (in case of lack of connections) students may adopt a passive attitude inthe context of creativity and in fact “moving forward (without their active participation)” in their educational and professional careers.

Negotiations of language(s) and inequalities in transnational family biographies

Families that live in a new environment after having fled or migrated go through transformation processes that are connected to various challenges and possibilities. The focus of this paper is on negotiations of language policies in family biographies and family language practices, comparing cases of migrant families who arrived to Switzerland in different legal contexts of migration. The article addresses how these transnational families negotiate the meaning of (family) languages against the background of hegemonic language and migration policies. Questions of how these policies are experienced and dealt with and in what ways they do enable or disable possibilities for action are addressed using a qualitative analysis of narrative family interviews and participant observations in transnational families that now live in German-speaking Switzerland. On the basis of the analyses of interview transcriptions and field notes, I show how families deal with experiences of social and educational inequalities in the context of transnational pathways of education and how these are negotiated in the families. Language learning appears not only as an (un)available possibility, but it also requires one to return to the status of a student. At the same time, it is accompanied by a deep struggle for identity and belonging.

Student Physical Therapists' Orientation to Postprofessional Education and Perceptions of Strain: Identification of 4 Subgroups of Students Based on Cluster Analysis.

Determining why physical therapists choose certain pathways to expertise is not well understood. Developing an understanding of these different choices is important for the physical therapy profession and the future of postprofessional education. Pathways to expertise as a physical therapist have evolved over the history of the profession, including the most recent emergence of residency education. Regardless of the path taken, physical therapists have a societal duty to be lifelong learners. The decision on which path to pursue is influenced by many factors, including financial stress, personal factors, and relational obligations. Developing an understanding of these different pathways and barriers for physical therapists is essential if the physical therapy profession is to advance with the evolving needs of society. Participants were from a stratified purposive sample of Doctor of Physical Therapy Students (n = 124) across the eastern, central, and western regions of the United States. This study was a secondary analysis using hierarchical cluster analysis based on students' orientation toward lifelong learning and future professional engagement, self-rated likelihood of pursuing various postprofessional education pathways, and perception of personal and interpersonal strains as a barrier to postprofessional education. The cluster analysis resulted in a 4-cluster solution representing different student subtypes: clinically oriented average learners; resilient, clinically oriented lifelong learners; academically oriented lifelong learners; and strain-limited, clinically oriented lifelong learners. Results from this study describe important differences in how student physical therapists view postprofessional education and the pathways they choose to pursue. Factors such as lack of awareness and the perception of personal or interpersonal strain may influence these decisions. Understanding postprofessional education decision making of student physical therapists is of particular interest to the physical therapy profession given the current debates related to student debt and the necessity of residency education. Further research is needed to understand how to increase awareness and diminish barriers to quality postprofessional education for physical therapists.

Ancestral Computing for Sustainability: Centering Indigenous Epistemologies in Researching Computer Science Education.

This article offers Ancestral Computing for Sustainability (ACS) to dismantle the logics of settler colonialism that affect accessibility, identities, and epistemologies of computer science education (CSE). ACS centers Indigenous epistemologies in researching CSE across four public universities in the United States. This paper describes Ancestral Computing for Sustainability and explores reflections of two students engaging as researchers in ACS inquiry. Drawing on Indigenous methodologies and Participatory Action Research, they share their reflections as co-researchers in ACS through storywork. These critical reflections include their relationship to computing, observations of the interdependent work within ACS, ethics and sustainability, and their experiences within the focus groups. The article ends with recommendations for furthering ACS as a decolonial approach that centers Indigenous epistemologies in CSE. Recommendations for CSE education include Ancestral Knowledge Systems and adding sustainability as a topic within computing education pathwaysand building student-faculty relationships based on trust is recommended to foster students' academic and personal growth within CSE education and research.

Rethinking Postsecondary Access and Engagement for Low-income Adult Learners Through a Community Hub Partnership Approach

This paper draws upon a case study of a campus-community partnership program in Ontario that delivers tuition-free college courses to low-income adult learners in community hub locations. By co-locating college classrooms in existing neighbourhood gathering places (i.e., a community centre and a public library), our research explores whether integrating college capacity and resources in community hub locations can help increase the accessibility of post-secondary education. In doing so, we address a gap in the research in exploring how community hubs provide a support structure that can help boost the motivation of low-income adult learners and better facilitate their pathway to a post-secondary education. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of interview data, we (a) analyze partners’ perspectives on the community hub–based approach in bolstering the accessibility of higher education, (b) reflect on the process of campus-community engagement underpinning the partnership structure, and (c) critically assess the efficacy of the community hub model in connecting learners with an educational pathway.

Young people’s presents and futures, and the moral obligation to be enterprising and aspirational in times of crisis

In this paper we reference a recent OECD report, Dream Jobs? which argues that education systems should guide young people’s aspirations for their futures in ways that counter negative misalignment with the jobs of the future. We situate an analysis of this report in the development of our concept of global grammars of enterprise (GGE) to analyse the vocabularies and norms that structure contemporary obligations for young people to be ‘enterprising’ and ‘aspirational’ in the context of multiple crises. In developing this critical sociological analysis we tell the stories of three young people from a larger project in Melbourne (AUSTRALIA), that reveal the complexity of young people’s presents, and the relationships of these presents to young people’s aspirations. Deploying Appadurai’s concept of the capacity to aspire, and Foucault’s work on the care of the self, we argue that in GGE the vocabulary of aspiration can be understood as a ‘moral disposition’ that young people should develop to relationships between presents and futures. In the context of multiple crises, we suggest that young people’s aspirations should be re-imagined as a complex and ambivalent mélangé of hopes, despair and desires that is only partly concerned with their education and employment pathways.

The Power of Mentoring Black CEGEP and University Students

Aim/Purpose: This article takes a deep dive into the positive and long-lasting effects of mentoring Black CEGEP and college students through an autoethnographic approach where I share my life experience relating to mentoring and representation. In my attempts to relate to and understand the educational pathways of Black students in Quebec and the United States, I conducted a deep dive into my educational journey since I have experience being a student in both education systems. Background: The hypothesis for this text is that Black persons who receive continuous mentoring throughout their CEGEP and college careers have a higher chance of graduating college and attending a graduate studies program than those who do not receive mentoring. Methodology: The use of autoethnography as a qualitative research method arose to create a connection between my educational experience, the state of many Black students in Quebec’s educational system and the possibility of what their lives could become if matched with caring mentors. The use of autoethnography allowed me to deeply self-reflect on the intersections between my educational pathway without and with mentoring and the current research findings regarding the trend of Black students who do not receive consistent mentoring. Findings: Regarding the educational pathway and experience of Black students in Montreal, there is a recurring theme—the lack of grace and communication of options for the future regarding Black students. This paper will deeply dive into the subject. Impact on Society: The power of mentoring has been linked to self-efficacy and retention. There are clear benefits to creating mentoring programs to help CEGEP and university students learn leadership skills, get acquainted with post-secondary education, and fall in love with the continuous journey of academic and personal growth and elevation.

Enhancing Self-Management of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tubes Through the Implementation of a Standardized Education and Assessment Pathway: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Intraduodenal infusion of levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube with jejunal extension is a treatment option to reduce motor and nonmotor complications in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease when oral therapy no longer provides sufficient benefit. Medication management is of central focus; however, there was no standardized patient education on stoma-site care and tube maintenance, leading to the development of stoma-site complications. As a quality improvement (QI) initiative, a standardized education and assessment pathway was developed and implemented in an urban academic outpatient clinic to enhance patient self-management and reduce stoma-site complications. A retrospective chart review was conducted to establish baseline incidence of cutaneous stoma-site complications. QI interventions were implemented using a rapid-cycle improvement model. Routine stoma assessments by a nurse who specializes in wound, ostomy, and continence care were implemented at set points, and patient education on PEG tube care and maintenance was reinforced at each session. Results demonstrated a significant reduction in moderate-to-severe tube and stoma-site-related complication. Implementation of a similar standardized education and assessment pathway in patients with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes may lead to a decrease in stoma-site-related complications and overall better patient self-management.

Between the village and the city: the in-betweenness of rural young people in East Indonesia

From the perspective of a remote village in eastern Indonesia, this article examines the consequences of rural young people’s changing aspirations. Markedly different from their parents’ generation is how many rural youth pursue university degrees in larger cities and aspire for ‘modern’ work. Drawing on household survey and ethnographic interview data, I show how shared ideas about ‘success’ for the future push many young people from poor and middle-income households into similar pathways for university education and work. Then, I use the lenses of doxa, habitus and emergent aspirations to study how these aspirations are made, shared and altered. These concepts and data illustrate why rural young people’s capacity to aspire remains heavily informed by place, and help explain why many young people pursue the same, but limited, educational pathways. The greater significance is how many rural youth do become educated but also seem underprepared for their potential rural futures.

Credentialling: Educational Pathways in Design

The Future of Design Education described forces influencing degree study in higher education as a credential for design practice. Student debt and the challenges of increasingly diverse learners are two factors that determine college degree attainment. Paired with increasing consumerist interests by students, institutions, and governments for job preparedness and gainful employment, a college degree is viewed by many as a credential. By contrast, alternative credential programs offer design study that is shorter, more flexible, less expensive, and fit-to-purpose rather than one-size-fits-all. As credentials, they vary in standards for competency validation and how employers perceive them. Statistics show that most alternative credential students already hold a degree and are employed, suggesting that reskilling and upskilling are among the primary motivations for enrollment. At the same time, national and state governments show interest in micro-credentialling as the number of non-traditional learners grows and the nature of work changes rapidly. The article argues that although both types of credentialling respond to similar economic and social conditions, they have unique roles as educational pathways to work in design.

Enhancing Self-Management of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tubes Through the Implementation of a Standardized Education and Assessment Pathway: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Enhancing Self-Management of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tubes Through the Implementation of a Standardized Education and Assessment Pathway: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Staffing rural emergency departments in Ontario: The who, what and where.

The emergency department (ED) in rural communities is essential for providing care to patients with urgent medical issues and those unable to access primary care. Recent physician staffing shortages have put many EDs at risk of temporary closure. Our goal was to describe the demographics and practices of the rural physicians providing emergency medicine services across Ontario in order to inform health human resource planning. The ICES Physician database (IPDB) and Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) billing database from 2017 were used in this retrospective cohort study. Rural physician data were analysed for demographic, practice region and certification information. Sentinel billing codes (i.e., a billing code unique to a particular clinical service) were used to define 18 unique physician services. A total of 1192 physicians from the IPDB met inclusion as rural generalist physicians out of a total of 14,443 family physicians in Ontario. From this physician population, a total of 620 physicians practised emergency medicine which accounted for 33% of their days worked on average. The majority of physicians practising emergency medicine were between the ages of 30 and 49 and in their first decade of practice. The most common services in addition to emergency medicine were clinic, hospital medicine, palliative care and mental health. This study provides insight into the practice patterns of rural physicians and the basis for better targeted physician workforce-forecasting models. A new approach to education and training pathways, recruitment and retention initiatives and rural health service delivery models is needed to ensure better health outcomes for our rural population.

Developing educational and career pathway frameworks in the floristry industry

Developing educational and career pathway frameworks in the floristry industry

Genomics education for medical specialists: case-based specialty workshops and blended learning

Aim: To develop and evaluate genomics education programs for health professionals to expedite the translation of genomics into healthcare. Methods: Our co-design team of genetic specialists, expert medical specialist peers, and genomics educators developed two continuing genomics education programs for health professionals: stand-alone, specialty-specific workshops and a generic blended learning course, combining online learning with workshops. Both programs referenced adult learning theories; workshops included case-based learning and expert peer-led discussion. Longitudinal surveys evaluated changes in confidence and understanding of genomic testing processes and clinical practice. Results: We delivered eleven specialty workshops (414 attendees) and a blended learning course comprising four self-directed online modules (61 users) and workshops (71 attendees) for mixed-specialty groups with adult, pediatric, or oncology cases. Surveys (214 workshops; 63 blended) showed that both programs significantly increased confidence and understanding of genomic testing processes. Blended learning participants showed additional gains in confidence after attending a workshop following online learning. Workshop discussions with experts were valued, particularly regarding interpreting and applying results. At follow-up, gains in confidence and understanding were maintained for both programs and 81% of respondents had performed a new genomics activity in clinical practice. Conclusion: Scalable education is needed. Our results suggest that specialty-specific genomics education may not be required to meet the needs of multiple specialties across a health system. Online learning can meet foundational learning needs but may not be sufficient to apply learning to practice. Blended learning offers flexible, continuing education pathways for dispersed national audiences as genomics becomes increasingly used across varied specialties.

Student perspectives on creating a positive classroom dynamic: science education in prison

Detailed student perspectives on their involvement in prison education are limited in published literature, yet such contributions are invaluable to education practitioners wanting to create inclusive learning environments. This article focuses on the student experience of taking part in a science outreach programme teaching science in prison in England, which was designed to build confidence in students who face challenges in accessing education pathways. Here, former students share their experiences of the programme, as well as other education courses in prison, and offer guidance on best practices for those engaging in outreach or research with the prison population. In particular, their reflections highlight that by creating and maintaining an environment that is accessible, inclusive and relatable, students from all backgrounds are able to engage in course content, and overcome hidden barriers to accessing education. Furthermore, based on their lived experience, the students offer practical advice with regard to improving future access to education in prison. The aim of this article is to give a voice to students in prison about their education experience, highlighting which aspects of this outreach programme (and other education courses) were impactful for them.