Modes Of Education Delivery Research Articles

The Unique Governance Challenges of Graduate Contract-Cohort Programs

One of the most significant trends that will affect management education in the 21st century is the relationships that will develop between universities and organizations in the area of employee education. Organizations recognize the importance of graduate management education. One model is for a number of employees to obtain their graduate degrees from various programs of differing quality at universities across the country. A recent and growing trend is for organizations to seek the benefits that come from a group of their employees sharing the same high-quality, graduate-level leadership and management experience. The purpose of this article is to point out challenges in this form of university-corporate partnership both for future research and for other universities that may enter into this type of relationship. These partnerships seem to be increasing, and our experience has been that they represent an excellent way for management education to be conducted.We have found the challenges, however, to be unique and novel compared with any other educational delivery mode.

Increasing Access to Diabetes Education using a Group Follow-Up Counselling Program: A Pilot Study

Funder requirements motivated diabetes educators to create an innovative program to increase access of service using group counselling. Group counselling has the potential to improve clinical indicators and enhance diabetes knowledge, while allowing for more efficient and cost-effective methods of delivery. Secondary objectives included bridging the gap between diabetes management and social isolation, while enhancing client’s quality of care. Weekly sessions were offered to client’s living with pre-diabetes or T2DM managed with diet and/or oral medications. Each session was a 1-hour group discussion where participants were given the autonomy to decide on the topics discussed in each session. Following this discussion, 15-minute individual appointments were offered to clients for direct contact with their diabetes educator. Access to care for follow-up clients was improved, as evidenced by decreased in wait times by an average of 1.5 weeks. Qualitative data collection and facilitator observations revealed an unintended result of a natural progression from group programming to a support group grounded discussion. The cohesion amongst participants fostered community and an openness to discuss topics that normally would not arise in individual appointments and a confidence to become leaders in their self-care. It is speculated that by virtue of the clients sharing the commonality of having diabetes, the stigma of having diabetes was lessened. A significant proportion of clients are able to access this efficient mode of diabetes education delivery. Other client groups, such as language-specific groups, could benefit from using this group model.

OP0100-HPR Educational Needs Among Health Professionals Working with Systemic Sclerosis: An International Survey Conducted on Behalf of the Eular Scleroderma Health Professionals Network (EUSHNet)

BackgroundDue to the rarity and complexity of systemic sclerosis (SSc), expertise among health care providers on the available and effective treatment modalities for people with SSc is fragmented. The overarching...

Practice-based simulation model: a curriculum innovation to enhance the critical thinking skills of nursing students

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe the Practice-Based Simulation Model (PBSM) as a pedagogical framework that enables the integration of simulation in a way that ensures critical thinking skills are explicitly taught as part of the processes and outcomes of students’ learning. Setting: The PBSM is an innovative pedagogical strategy that offers greater flexibility; one that can be applied to various types of educational contexts and delivery modes, while simultaneously ensuring desired learning outcomes. Primary argument: The use of simulation has been gaining popularity because of its capacity to provide effective experiential learning as a method of enhancing learners’ critical thinking skills. Despite ample literature that highlights the need for the integration of simulation into nursing curricula, there are few papers demonstrating simulated learning experiences that are underpinned by sound pedagogy. This paper asserts that simulated learning experiences need to be integrated into a curriculum underpinned by sound pedagogy, such as the PBSM, in order to ensure that learning facilitates the development of the critical thinking abilities deemed essential for nursing. Conclusion: The PBSM demonstrates an example of effective integration of simulation into a curriculum, and highlights the importance of the integral relationship of simulation as a key component of curriculum.

Development of ODL in a newly industrialised country according to face-to-face contact, ICT, and e-readiness

<p>A large number of unqualified and under-qualified in-service teachers are holding back socio-economical development in South Africa, a newly industrialized country. Open and distance learning (ODL) provides an innovative strategy and praxis for developing and newly industrialized countries to reach their educational and socio-economical objectives through professional development and training. In order to examine factors which affect the success of ODL offered by the North-West University in South Africa, a qualitative and quantitative research approach is used. Factors examined include face-to-face classroom contact, the implementation and use of ICTs, and e-readiness. The relationships between these factors are also discussed. A questionnaire was administered to 87 teacher-students in four Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programs to collect quantitative data regarding aspects of their classes and the e-readiness of students. This data was qualitatively elaborated upon by three semi-structured, open-ended focus-group interviews. Besides descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank-order correlations (<em>r</em>) were determined between variables pertaining to negative feelings towards face-to-face classroom contact, ODL as students’ choice of delivery mode, and students’ positive attitude towards information and communication technology (ICT). Combined quantitative and qualitative findings were used to evaluate the effectiveness of contact classes as well as the e-readiness of students towards the attainment of ODL development Phase D. This phase refers to UNESCO’s description of ICT implementation, integration, and use. Relationships (Spearman’s rank-order correlations) between ODL, as teacher-students’ choice of educational delivery mode, and aspects of their e-readiness suggest that the e-readiness of teacher-students is implicit to their choice of ODL as educational delivery mode for professional development.</p>

The Physiotherapy eSkills Training Onlineresource improves performance of practical skills: a controlled trial

BackgroundE-learning is a common and popular mode of educational delivery, but little is known about its effectiveness in teaching practical skills. The aim of this study was to determine whether the Physiotherapy eSkills Training Online resource in addition to usual teaching improved the performance of practical skills in physiotherapy students.MethodThis study was a non-randomised controlled trial. The participants were graduate entry physiotherapy students enrolled in consecutive semesters of a neurological physiotherapy unit of study. The experimental group received the Physiotherapy eSkills Training Online resource as well as usual teaching. The Physiotherapy eSkills Training Online resource is an online resource incorporating (i) video-clips of patient-therapist simulations; (ii) supportive text describing the aim, rationale, equipment, key points, common errors and methods of progression; and (iii) a downloadable PDF document incorporating the online text information and a still image of the video-clip for each practical skill. The control group received usual teaching only. The primary outcomes were the overall performance of practical skills as well as their individual components, measured using a practical examination.ResultsThe implementation of the Physiotherapy eSkills Training Online resource resulted in an increase of 1.6 out of 25 (95% CI −0.1 to 3.3) in the experimental group compared with the control group. In addition, the experimental group scored 0.5 points out of 4 (95% CI 0 to 1.1) higher than the control group for ‘effectiveness of the practical skill’ and 0.6 points out of 4 (95% CI 0.1 to 1.1) higher for ‘rationale for the practical skill’.ConclusionThere was improvement in performance of practical skills in students who had access to the Physiotherapy eSkills Training Online resource in addition to usual teaching. Students considered the resource to be very useful for learning.

Non-government distance education funding: the need for equity in Australian schooling

This reflection outlines the problems associated with the Australian Government’s recurrent funding policy for non-government distance education. It demonstrates the policy’s inconsistencies with stated government educational policy and with commonly held expectations of fairness in a democratic society. A comparison of the current funding of non-government distance education to various long-standing educational delivery modes demonstrates that non-government distance education is yet to be appropriately funded by the Commonwealth. The discussion concludes by indicating that this emerging pedagogy is distinct from traditional schooling, that its students ought to be given the same educational opportunities as other Australian school students, and that the current policy ought to be redressed expeditiously.

Resource Use Patterns in a Distance Doctor of Ministry Population

Online and distance learning are delivery modes in theological education that prompt questions about a library's ability to serve non-resident or occasionally resident students. This bibliometric study of 23 Doctor of Ministry theses completed at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary between 2006 and 2010 includes data about the kind of resources that are being used by distance students. The data is analyzed longitudinally and also by overall sample. Percentages of items cited that are in the library holdings either in hard or e-versions are also provided. Preliminary recommendations are made about how the library might adapt to serve the research needs of distance students.

A Policy-into-Practice Intervention to Increase the Uptake of Evidence-Based Management of Low Back Pain in Primary Care: A Prospective Cohort Study

BackgroundPersistent non-specific low back pain (nsLBP) is poorly understood by the general community, by educators, researchers and health professionals, making effective care problematic. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a policy-into-practice intervention developed for primary care physicians (PCPs).MethodsTo encourage PCPs to adopt practical evidence-based approaches and facilitate time-efficient, integrated management of patients with nsLBP, we developed an interdisciplinary evidence-based, practical pain education program (gPEP) based on a contemporary biopsychosocial framework. One hundred and twenty six PCPs from primary care settings in Western Australia were recruited. PCPs participated in a 6.5-hour gPEP. Self-report measures recorded at baseline and at 2 months post-intervention included PCPs' attitudes, beliefs (modified Health Care Providers Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale (HC-PAIRS), evidence-based clinical practices (knowledge and skills regarding nsLBP management: 5-point Likert scale with 1 = nil and 5 = excellent) and practice behaviours (recommendations based on a patient vignette; 5-point Likert scale).ResultsNinety one PCPs participated (attendance rate of 72%; post-intervention response rate 88%). PCP-responders adopted more positive, guideline-consistent beliefs, evidenced by clinically significant HC-PAIRS score differences (mean change = −5.6±8.2, p<0.0001; 95% confidence interval: −7.6 to −3.6) and significant positive shifts on all measures of clinical knowledge and skills (p<0.0001 for all questions). Self management strategies were recommended more frequently post-intervention. The majority of responders who were guideline-inconsistent for work and bed rest recommendations (82% and 62% respectively) at pre-intervention, gave guideline-consistent responses at post-intervention.ConclusionAn interprofessional pain education program set within a framework that aligns health policy and practice, encourages PCPs to adopt more self-reported evidence-based attitudes, beliefs and clinical behaviours in their management of patients with nsLBP. However, further research is required to determine cost effectiveness of this approach when compared with other modes of educational delivery and to examine PCP behaviours in actual clinical practice.

The Blended Design Studio: An Appraisal of New Delivery Modes in Design Education

The design studio is widely accepted as the core of curriculum because it aims to include many curricular topics within a project-based approach. Despite the importance of the studio in design education, it was observed that the delivery modes in studio teaching have not much evolved as a response to changing generations and developing technology. Having reviewed current trends in educational technology, this paper presents a framework for a blended design studio in which the strengths of traditional and online learning methods are combined. Among the new online learning tools Web 2.0 applications (such as Facebook, Blogs and Wikis) and learning management systems (such as Moodle, Blackboard, and WebCT) deserve particular attention. The uses of Web 2.0 applications and learning management systems in design studios have been very rare and are just emerging. This paper proposes a blended and social constructivist model for the design studio and presents the results of an empirical research in an exploratory case study which combined traditional design studio, a learning management system and social networking media. It is found that the blended studio suits well to the needs and preferences of new generation of design students who are often named as “digital natives”. The opportunities and challenges of using social networking media and learning management systems in design education context are discussed and suggestions are made for further experimentation and research.

A Template For Analyzing Costs Associated With Educational Delivery Modes

The purpose of this research was to develop, test, and apply a framework for determining cost of alternative educational course delivery modes. This study reviews and analyzes the costs associated with traditional education and compares it to those costs associated with video conference and online distance education at a single institution. The intended result of this study was to assist leaders in higher education in gaining a better understanding of the costs associated with three different delivery modes for undergraduate courses. Leaders should request and apply cost (and effectiveness) information when making decisions about the course delivery modes best suited to serve their academic communities. Whether the emergence of distance education spells the end of traditional campuses, as some maintain, or whether learning by distance represents, instead, a particularly powerful addition to a growing array of delivery options for higher education, the fact remains that distance education is already having a very real impact on higher education. Distance education through technology has created alternative models of teaching and learning, new job descriptions for faculty, and new types of providers of higher education. But many questions remain about the costs (and the effectiveness) of these delivery methods.

Early Sprouts: Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Preschool Children and Families

Objective: Apply nutrition informatics approach to process evaluation of Pennsylvania SNAP-Ed implementation. Use of Theory or Research: Process evaluation is an essential element of the PRECEDE-PROCEED planning model for health education. Target Audience: School-age students in SNAP-Ed-eligible schools in Pennsylvania. Description: Nutrition informatics, supported by information technology, allows cost-effective capture of detailed process evaluation data. An informatics-driven system reduces need for face-to-face data collection methods such as observation and interview. STARtracks, Pennsylvania SNAP-Ed’s informatics-based process evaluation mechanism, is an online reporting system for collecting nutrition education data from local partners. Detailed data collection is particularly salient to Pennsylvania SNAP-Ed school-age programming because communitybased partner staff have flexibility to select or tailor elements to meet local needs. STARtracks reports enable local administrators to delineate elements of nutrition education implemented by educators. State-level administrators use data for programmonitoring and refinement, federally mandated reporting, and strategic planning. Evaluation: Process evaluation data collected include delivery site, education reach and dosage, grade level, education delivery mode, objective taught, and curriculum/ materials used. In fiscal year 2009, STARtracks enabled data collection for more than 6million education contacts, delivered by 13 local partners in 21 counties to approximately 200,000 students. Conclusions and Implications: Application of informatics principles to SNAP-Ed process evaluation data collection provides an efficient mechanism to examine program implementation for a large statewide nutrition education intervention. This project is funded by the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Presence Relates to Distinct Outcomes in Two Virtual Environments Employing Different Learning Modalities

Presence in virtual learning environments (VLEs) has been associated with a number of outcome factors related to a user's ability and motivation to learn. The extant but relatively small body of research suggests that a high level of presence is related to better performance on learning outcomes in VLEs. Different configurations of form and content variables such as those associated with active (self-driven, interactive activities) versus didactic (reading or lecture) learning may, however, influence how presence operates and on what content it operates. We compared the influence of presence between two types of immersive VLEs (i.e., active versus didactic techniques) on comprehension and engagement-related outcomes. The findings revealed that the active VLE promoted greater presence. Although we found no relationship between presence and learning comprehension outcomes for either virtual environment, presence was related to information engagement variables in the didactic immersive VLE but not the active environment. Results demonstrate that presence is not uniformly elicited or effective across immersive VLEs. Educational delivery mode and environment complexity may influence the impact of presence on engagement.

Quality of Basic Education Provided by Rural Community and Regular Schools in the Northern Province of Zambia

Community schools provide an alternative mode of education delivery in Zambia. They have helped in making basic education accessible to many school goingage children. In addition, community schools have helped in strengthening relationships between schools and surrounding communities; and pupils do not have to travel long distances to schools. Considering that both regular and community basic schools play a very important role in the provision of education, the study sought to establish the quality of education in 12 selected rural basic schools belonging to both categories in the Northern Province of Zambia. Although the fi ndings indicated that all stakeholders felt that some learning was taking place, it was clear that neither community nor regular basic schools provided what may be referred to as good quality education. However, the picture emerging from the fi ndings was that the situation in regular basic schools was slightly better than that found in community schools. Suggestions from respondents on ways of improving the quality of basic education included, among other things, rehabilitating of existing infrastructure, building new classroom blocks and enough teachers’ houses, provision of adequate desks as well as teaching and learning materials, deployment of an adequate number of trained teachers, and running of regular inservice training courses.

Orthopaedic In-Training Examination Performance: A Nine-Year Review of a Residency Program Database

The Orthopaedic In-Training Examination (OITE) provides an objective way for both the residency program and the resident to monitor progress. This longitudinal descriptive study tracks the OITE performance of 16 residents from one orthopaedic surgery residency program over nine years (1997-2005). Domain comparisons are made to national averages (N > 3000) by mean difference and split middle celeration line assessment trend analysis to evaluate program strengths and weaknesses. Further evaluation by postgraduate year (PGY) is made of domains that were deemed to be in need of moderate attention. Resident performance for the medically related issues, rehabilitation, and sports medicine domains were deemed acceptable. Resident performance on the orthopaedic science, orthopaedic diseases, hip and knee reconstruction, spine, and shoulder and elbow domains were deemed to be in need of minor attention. Musculoskeletal trauma, pediatric orthopaedics, foot and ankle, and hand domains were deemed to be in need of moderate attention. Further analysis of these domains by PGY revealed less positive slopes for the pediatric orthopaedics and musculoskeletal trauma domains, and a negative slope for the hand domain between PGY-3 and PGY-4, each indicative of lower domain-specific OITE scores than the national mean. A similar, less positive slope was identified between PGY-2 and PGY-3 for the foot and ankle domain. A longitudinal descriptive review of orthopaedic surgery resident OITE performance enables the departmental education committee to identify curricular content areas that require attention, select the most efficient modes of educational information delivery, facilitate learning through the application of innovative educational technologies, establish measurable educational program goals, and more prescriptively allocate personnel and equipment resources.

Future Schooling in Uganda

For the past decade, most countries have been striving to achieve universal primary education consistent with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal on education. Indeed the recent Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO 2006) shows that most countries are on the way to achieving EFA by the year 2015. Perhaps this is what has forced the academia to shift the debate to what future classrooms would look like, for example, the role of Information Communications Technology (ICT) and possible future virtual learning environments. This paper examines schooling in Uganda at all levels of education, and highlights the changes that will take place in the next two decades thereof. The analysis is based on a study of key policy documents including the Poverty Eradication Action Plan, the Government White Paper on Education, the report of the Ministry of Education’s comprehensive analysis of basic education in Uganda, the Education Sector Strategic Plan, as well as empirical data generated from the study of schooling in one of Uganda’s disadvantaged communities. The paper describes the changes that will take place including the focus on non-formal education, the dual centralisation and decentralisation system, curriculum review embracing skills training, homeschooling as a complementary mode of primary and secondary education delivery, and distance online learning at the tertiary level.

New teaching and learning experience with mixed reality technologies

Current technologies, especially digital media have developed very fast in the last ten years, bringing changes to our lives and presents new challenges, opportunities and new requirements which are different from conventional delivery modes in education. Mixed reality (MR) technologies, with the features of immersive and tangible interaction, have been explored in education, which provide a more 'engaging' experience to learners. In this article, we will introduce a MR classroom developed for a local primary school in Singapore that includes two modules – solar system and plant system, and a MR exhibition about evolution, which was a public exhibition in the Singapore Science Centre. This novel, interesting learning experience is provided by combining tangible interactions and MR technologies. To identify and address usability and usefulness issues, a study on our MR classroom was conducted. Participants were surveyed on their perceptions towards the MR classroom systems. Preliminary results seemed to indicate participants' intention to use MR for learning, and it was influenced directly by perceived usefulness, and indirectly through perceived ease of use and social influence.

Awareness of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services at an Academic Health Center

The study's objectives were to (a) determine the level of familiarity of faculty and students at an academic health center with the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS), (b) identify faculty's and students' interest and preferred method of learning Medical Spanish, and (c) determine their aptitude for working with medical interpreters. A survey was developed, piloted, and sent via e-mail to all faculty members (n = 1,025) and students (n = 1,956) currently affiliated with or enrolled at the Medical College of Georgia. Reminder e-mails were sent after 2 weeks, and responses were accepted for 1 month. The total response rate for faculty members was 29% (300/1,025), and that for students was 44% (871/1,956). Nearly 22% of the responding faculty and 23% of the responding students reported that they were less than familiar with the National Standards for CLAS. Both faculty (46%) and students (70%) were willing to spend time learning Medical Spanish. Web-based instruction was the preferred educational delivery mode for those who completed the survey; however, 18% of faculty and 5% of students strongly disagreed with this point. When questioned about how often interpreters services are used, the rates for faculty and students ranged from 34% to 39%. These results suggest that a void exists in understanding the National Standards for CLAS and that there are varying levels of willingness to learn medical Spanish.

“Active Student Involvement and a Real Struggle with Ideas”: Small Group Teaching in Social Work Education?

The present article examines the strengths of small group teaching within the context of the professional and ethical requirements of social work education. It outlines some of the strategies adopted to ensure that reliance on this mode of educational delivery contributes to the excellence of practice knowledge and teaching standards to which universities commit and which professional associations and clients expect. Small group teaching continues to be perceived as an integral component in the preparation for professional social work practice and has important functions in the mentoring and socialisation of beginning practitioners. It would be valuable, in the light of developments in technology-assisted educational modes of delivery, to further research the relative impact of face-to-face teaching and its alternatives, given contemporary pressures upon both tertiary institutions and social work students.

Teaching by videoconference: a commentary on best practice for rural education in health professions

This article offers a primer on how to get started in videoconferencing, focusing on practical approaches to technical and protocol issues. The technical capabilities of videoconferencing systems, linked with initiatives supporting greater rural access to broadband, means videoconferencing is expanding rapidly as a health education tool. Forethought allows the purchase of the most appropriate equipment, reducing costs overall and increasing the functionality of the system. Adherence to simple matters, including etiquette, ensures the experience is enjoyable as well as educational. Consideration should be given to the role of videoconferencing in expanding the social as well as academic opportunities for rural clinicians and students. Videoconferencing is a useful adjunct to traditional educational delivery modes, and can enable quality education opportunities that would be prohibitive due to time, travel, and cost constraints.