Collaborative Peer Learning Research Articles

Scan With Me: A Train-the-Trainer Program to Upskill MRI Personnel in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

PurposeAccess to MRI in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains among the poorest in the world. The lack of skilled MRI personnel exacerbates access gaps, reinforcing long-standing health disparities. The Scan With Me (SWiM) program aims to sustainably create a network of highly skilled MRI technologists in LMICs who will facilitate the transfer of MRI knowledge and skills to their peers and contribute to the implementation of highly valuable imaging protocols for effective clinical and research use. MethodsThe program introduces a case-based curriculum designed using a novel train-the-trainer approach, integrated with peer-collaborative learning to upskill practicing MRI technologists in LMICs. The 6-week curriculum uses the teach-try-use approach, which combines self-paced didactic lectures covering the basics of MR image acquisition (teach) with hands-on expert-guided scanning experience (try) and the implementation of protocols tailored to provide the best possible images on their infrastructures (use). Each program includes research translation skills training using an established advanced MRI technique relevant to LMICs. A pilot program focused on cardiac MRI (CMR) was conducted to assess the program’s curriculum, delivery, and evaluation methods. ResultsForty-three MRI technologists from 16 LMICs participated in the pilot CMR program and, over the course of the training, implemented optimized CMR protocols that reduced acquisition times while improving image quality. The training resources and scanner-specific standardized protocols are published openly for public use in an online repository. In general, at the end of the program, learners reported considerable improvements in CMR knowledge and skills. All respondents to the program evaluation survey agreed to recommend the program to their colleagues, while 87% indicated interest in returning to help train others. ConclusionsThe SWiM program is the first master class in MRI acquisition for practicing imaging technologists in LMICs. The program holds the potential to help reduce disparities in MRI expertise and access. The support of the MRI community, imaging societies, and funding agencies will increase its reach and further its impact in democratizing MRI.

Roles of ambiguity tolerance and learning effectiveness: Structural equation modeling evidence from EFL students’ perceptions of factors influencing peer collaboration

Ambiguity tolerance reflects learners’ abilities to accept unpredictable and unfamiliar contexts in language learning without frustration and discomfort. However, it has yet to be thoroughly explored when associated with engagement, motivation, and peer collaboration collaborative learning in course of English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. Relying on questionnaire survey data, this study adopts structural equation modeling techniques based on 1,200 Chinese high school students’ responses. The findings ascertain that engagement and volition significantly and positively predict ambiguity tolerance and learning effectiveness. Additionally, ambiguity tolerance predicts learning effectiveness. For peer collaborative learning, ambiguity tolerance and learning effectiveness are also critical predictors. They significantly and positively predict collaborative learning willingness. Moreover, ambiguity tolerance predicts peer feedback acceptance but not sensitivity to peer pressure. Learning effectiveness significantly and negatively predicts sensitivity to peer pressure, but its impact on peer feedback acceptance is insignificant. Dominant strategies for high school English learners to cope with unfamiliar and uncertain contexts are external help-seeking from dictionaries and instructors. The findings in this study contribute to educational research on psychological mechanisms behind ambiguity tolerance, language education in high school, learning effectiveness, and collaborative learning. As such, this study encourages continued efforts to explore such topics and the consideration of ambiguity tolerance in teaching practice.

NURTURING SELF-REGULATED AND PEER COLLABORATIVE LEARNING SKILLS IN STUDENTS WITHIN ONLINE MODE: EXPLORING A TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

The prevalence of online education with the help of advanced digital tools invites universities to foster self-regulated and peer-collaborative learning skills (SRL & PCL) among students. The main objectives of the study were; exploring the insights of teachers for fostering (SRL & PCL) in online learning, tracing difficulties for teachers to stimulate (SRL & PCL), and examining current online teaching practices of teachers that facilitate (SRL & PCL). In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 teachers of public sector universities in Punjab. The suitability & trustworthiness of the interview protocol was confirmed by seeking expert opinion. The qualitative data were analyzed with the help of N-Vivo. The Study concluded that teachers believed (SRL & PCL) skills are immensely needed to nurture SRL and PCL in students in the online teaching[1]learning process. Some challenging factors for teachers were found to be high in intensity like being un-motivated, having low self-efficacy, peer conflicts, the environment of educational institutions, lack of planning skills, support facilities, unsuitable educational equipment, and lack of orientation towards (ICT) skills. The practices of teachers to facilitate (SRL & PCL) included; the use of motivation and emotional drive, promoting the use of collaborative tools, improving self-talk & feedback, promoting reflective dialogues, and promoting peer sharing and active learning. The study also recommended the ways for teachers to nurture SRL and PCL skills in students within online mode.

IDENTIFYING THE DIMENSIONS OF THE SCHOOL CLIMATE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

The school climate is a significant factor in the development of students’ cognitive, emotional and social competencies. Starting from the fact that the quality of educational work largely depends on the school climate, the aim of this research was to identify the factors influencing the development of a positive school climate, and to determine the differences in the perception of its dimensions in relation to gender and student success. The sample for this research consisted of 216 primary school students in the Republic of Serbia. An instrument composed of 43 items was used in the research. Factor analysis identified 6 factors that affect the school climate: support and consistency in the work of teachers, student autonomy, the academic support of teachers, negative peer relationships, disciplinary rigor and collaborative peer learning. The students’ perception of the dimensions of the school climate was influenced by school success and the gender of the students. This research offers a comprehensive theoretical perspective for all researchers for whom the field of school climate is at the center of interest, as well as potential solutions in terms of improvement in educational practice.

E-PORTFOLIO AS A MULTI-LAYERED ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT IN ENHANCING COLLABORATIVE WRITING SKILLS AMONG SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

Alternative assessment is traditionally viewed as a method of evaluating students’ performance and as a formal testing method of gauging students’ performance. However, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, alternative assessment has influenced the way students learn through collaborative peer learning. This exploratory case study design integrated e-portfolio and oral presentation as an alternative assessment in measuring students’ learning performance and concur that alternative assessment provides a pathway to learning through collaborative learning in writing. The sample comprised 25 students who were from a tertiary institution undertaking an English course. By creating an e-portfolio in Google classrooms, students uploaded their written evaluative commentary of the tasks and uploaded their video recording of their oral presentations, in addition to providing their reflection and feedback on their learning experience while undergoing the alternative assessment. The e-portfolio was employed as an alternative assessment in order to measure students’ writing skills by facilitating, compiling and archiving their work using an analytical rubric. The tasks were tailored to equip students with reasoning and critical thinking skills along with key toolkits in producing evaluative commentary and group oral presentation. The quantitative data in the form of students raw score and the qualitative data from students’ written reflection and feedback were thematically. The findings of the study revealed five themes (boost confidence, enhanced communication skills, encouraged collaborative learning and teamwork and novel learning experience) that support its role as an innovating learning tool among second language learners of English in enhancing their writing skills. Additionally, students were able to explore their learning by making connections and thinking critically through collaborative learning tasks. The study concludes that e-portfolio as an alternative assessment could potentially lead to deep learning when tasks are effectively integrated in multi-layers to promote learning.

ESOL teacher educators’ learning initiatives and perceived learning needs: still a pending task

ABSTRACT Even though international research has offered a rich account of teacher educators’ professional learning, it has overlooked the implications of the disciplines they teach for their professional learning engagement. Therefore, it is timely to examine teacher educators from different fields of expertise to offer a more specific and subject-related understanding of their professional learning involvement. This study investigates the initiatives that Chilean university-based ESOL teacher educators engage in to continue learning and their perceived professional learning needs. Data are drawn from a national web-based survey and a focus group. The results suggest that individual formal learning opportunities that are highly valued, and sometimes prescribed, by higher education institutions are predominant. Their professional learning needs, however, relate mainly to promoting collaborative peer-learning, advancing knowledge about diversity in the classroom and technology literacy, and enhancing their research skills and practice in language teaching. This study highlights the importance of identifying these needs as a foundation to design learning opportunities that meet the demands of the profession and the particularities of each discipline. Recommendations to enhance their continuous education towards a view of professionalism that recognises their ability to manifest ideas and agency to effect change are discussed.

Technology-enhanced learning in designing for uncertainty

In this talk, we discuss the affordances of digital technologies to facilitate student-determined learning when delivering practical or ‘hands-on’ courses. We also examine the constraints that affect the learner experience when courses designed for face-to-face classes suddenly move online.
 We use a case study of how a practical multimedia undergraduate journalism paper was moved from face-to-face to online delivery mid-way through the semester after an outbreak of Covid-19 in New Zealand led to a sudden imposition of a level-4 lockdown in 2021.
 The case study demonstrates how the delivery of courses designed within a heutagogical frame work can successfully be adapted at a time of crisis while maintaining the learning outcomes required. Our experience provides empirical discussion points on teaching a practiced-based activity such as journalism, where restricted mobility can in fact lead to student-initiated opportunities for growth rather than being a hindrance. 
 Our approach from the start of the academic year was to develop our students’ digital capabilities and guide them towards being agents of their own learning (Hase & Kenyon, 2007; Blaschke & Hase, 2019). We were aware that the situation with the Covid-19 outbreak was evolving in New Zealand, and government instructions could require our university to move courses online at short notice. Therefore, this case study should not be considered as a pure example of “emergency remote teaching” (Hodges et al. 2020).
 The design took a social constructivist approach (Lockey, Conaghan, Bland & Astin, 2020; Vygotsky, 1930-34/1978) that included experiential learning and reflection to increase students’ independence and preparedness. It then built on this using connectivism principles (Siemens, 2004) to link the individual to the class, including employing collaborative peer learning.
 Our planning took account of less successful attempts to engage students online (Cowie & Sakui, 2019) as well as the lessons we learned during the lockdown in 2020. We considered student engagement, student access to the required technologies and their level of digital competence would be our greatest challenges (Greenhow & Lewin, 2021).
 Learning strategies we employed included mirroring the culture and emerging practices professional journalists were applying under Covid-19 lockdown. Strategies were developed in an online classroom environment that fostered expert-like thinking that enabled student-determined activities, founded upon small group collaborations and play-based learning. We encouraged a high level of flexibility in our student-lecturer interactions, and regular discussions around wellness evolved organically. We found students sought increased opportunities to engage with others, as many students were away from home and without a social support system.
 
 When designing the course, we conceptualised our role as “designers of learning experiences” (Cochrane & Munn, 2020, p. 2). Hence we modelled emerging journalistic practices through the increased application of social media technologies, and embedded critical analysis via peer review in a way that achieved a higher level of engagement among the students than had been experienced in previous journalism papers. Practical outcomes included the production of weekly multimedia news bulletins \modelling broadcasting industry newscasts that were published on a purpose-built website, and student e-portfolios supported by multimedia exegeses.

Mediating epistemological access through asynchronous online discussion forums during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for re-imagining online collaborative self-directed peer engagement and learning

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated the burgeoning of online learning and asynchronous online discussion forums in higher education due to restrictions on face-to-face teaching and learning interactions. Previous research on asynchronous online discussion forums focused on the processes that enhance or limit discussion threads and how discussion posts develop students’ reflection and critical thinking skills. Although asynchronous online discussion forums are regarded as spaces for interactive learning, very little is known about how they facilitate epistemological access and enable collaborative peer learning interactions during periods of disruption such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study explores voluntary asynchronous online discussion forum participation in a non-credit bearing course from a unique angle of mediating epistemological access to online learning. This study draws on connectivist theory as a theoretical framework in a digital age where the student is in control of engagement interaction and information exchange. The central research question posed is how does an asynchronous online discussion forum mediate epistemological access to online learning and facilitate collaborative self-directed peer learning during the COVID-19 pandemic? The present study is underpinned by an inductive qualitative exploratory case study approach. A total of 2 146 discussion posts from 1 348 students across five faculties were downloaded from the learning management system and analysed using thematic analysis. This study indicates that epistemological access using a technology-mediated tool, is best facilitated through agency at the institutional, the instructor and the student level. The findings show that despite academic and technological challenges an online discussion forum enables epistemological access, interactive exchange of information and the formation of collaborative peer learning communities. In an age of digital inequalities, this study provides a starting point to uncover ontological barriers to epistemological access to online learning and signals the importance of integrating epistemological access, pedagogy and technology. This article concludes with implications for re-imagining the design of online multi-modal pedagogy to mediate online collaborative self-directed peer engagement and learning.

Collaborative health systems ECHO: The use of a tele-education platform to facilitate communication and collaboration with recipients of state targeted response funds in Pennsylvania

Background: The opioid epidemic continues to erode communities across Pennsylvania (PA). Federal and PA state programs developed grants to establish Hub and Spoke programs for the expansion of medications for opioid use disorders (MOUD). Employing the telementoring platform Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes), Penn State Health engaged the other seven grant awardees in a Collaborative Health Systems (CHS) ECHO. We conducted key informant interviews to better understand impact of the CHS ECHO on health systems collaboration and opioid crisis efforts. Methods: For eight one-hour sessions, each awardee presented their unique strategies, challenges, and opportunities. Using REDCap, program characteristics, such as number of waivered prescribers and number of patients served were collected at baseline. After completion of the sessions, key informant interviews were conducted to assess the impact of CHS ECHO on awardee’s programs. Results: Analysis of key informant interviews revealed important themes to address opioid crisis efforts, including the need for strategic and proactive program reevaluation and the convenience of collaborative peer learning networks. Participants expressed benefits of the CHS ECHO including allowing space for discussion of challenges and best practices and facilitating conversation on collaborative targeted advocacy and systems-level improvements. Participants further reported bolstered motivation and confidence. Conclusions: Utilizing Project ECHO provided a bidirectional platform of learning and support that created important connections between institutions working to combat the opioid epidemic. CHS ECHO was a unique opportunity for productive and convenient peer learning across external partners. Open dialogue developed during CHS ECHO can continue to direct systems-levels improvements that benefit individual and population outcomes.

Developing the education research capability of education-focused academics: building skills, identities and communities

ABSTRACT This article critically investigates the impact of a program of professional learning for education-focused academics (EFAs) in an Australian university, focused on developing their education research capability. The ‘Higher Education Research’ (HER) program employed a three-pronged strategy: skills development workshops; sustained small group mentoring; and a small-scale education research study. The aim of the program was to support the university to improve the quality of education by fostering the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The program was completed by two cohorts of EFAs, in 2014 and 2017. The design of the program was informed by literature showing the value of SoTL in developing the quality of university teaching and the importance of collaborative peer learning structures in supporting SoTL activities. Using Engeström’s activity theory and Lave and Wenger’s conception of peripheral participation in communities of practice, the study analysed quantitative and qualitative data collected immediately after the HER program and focus group interview data collected at least two years later, to examine the impact over time of the HER program on the participants’ careers and identities. This article focuses on five major themes that emerged from the data: struggle – personal-professional struggles experienced by academics in negotiating a shift from their cognate discipline to education as a discipline; identity – changes in identity that academics experienced through participating in the HER program; social relations – factors that contributed to the social experience of learning and developing as a researcher in a complex socio-cultural context; leadership – ways in which the HER program helped participants to develop as leaders; and criticality in educational practice – ways in which academics came to see their work as university educators in more critical terms. The article concludes with recommendations for cross-faculty programs that build higher education educators’ skills and knowledge through researching teaching and learning.

The Influence of Culture on Collaborative Learning Practices in Higher Education

Abstract Objective: This study systematically identifies the various pertinent cultural dimensions and the group processes involved in collaborative peer learning before empirically exploring their associations among a sample of university students. Methodology: Twenty statements encompassing various cultural dimensions that could possibly influence students’ preferences towards collaborative peer learning practices were incorporated into a survey. The data were collected from 147 multicultural students studying applied sciences in Finland. Chi-squared test of independence was used to test the association between the cultural dimension scores for students and their stated preferences for collaborative learning practices. Findings: A major finding of this study is that learners from diverse cultural backgrounds have differing modes of engaging in the eight separate collaborative learning processes. The findings clearly reveal that students from cultures that are hierarchical, collectivist, less bound by rules, and traditional are less likely to have any prior familiarity with peer-learning methods. It seems relatively clear that the power distance and collectivism dimensions have the greatest impact on shaping the preferences of students for collaborative peer-learning methods. Value Added: Very few studies have looked at how the cultural backgrounds of students can influence their use of, and preferences towards, collaborative peerlearning methods. This study identifies key processes in collaborative learning practices, which are shaped by culture as communication, decision-making, leadership, evaluation, trust building, the expression of disagreement, scheduling, and persuasion within a peer group. Recommendations: This study found that Hofstede’s framework might be too constraining when understanding how culture shapes a student’s preferences towards collaborative peer learning in the educational context. It would be even more fruitful to develop an altogether endogenous framework that is more suitable for exploring the influence of culture on learning and education. Such a model should identify the various dimensions of culture beyond those of national identity and consider how they jointly influence attitudes towards collaborative learning rather than considering them in isolation. This model should also take a more dynamic approach towards both culture and learning.

Peer Collaborative Learning for Online Knowledge Distillation

Traditional knowledge distillation uses a two-stage training strategy to transfer knowledge from a high-capacity teacher model to a compact student model, which relies heavily on the pre-trained teacher. Recent online knowledge distillation alleviates this limitation by collaborative learning, mutual learning and online ensembling, following a one-stage end-to-end training fashion. However, collaborative learning and mutual learning fail to construct an online high-capacity teacher, whilst online ensembling ignores the collaboration among branches and its logit summation impedes the further optimisation of the ensemble teacher. In this work, we propose a novel Peer Collaborative Learning method for online knowledge distillation, which integrates online ensembling and network collaboration into a unified framework. Specifically, given a target network, we construct a multi-branch network for training, in which each branch is called a peer. We perform random augmentation multiple times on the inputs to peers and assemble feature representations outputted from peers with an additional classifier as the peer ensemble teacher. This helps to transfer knowledge from a high-capacity teacher to peers, and in turn further optimises the ensemble teacher. Meanwhile, we employ the temporal mean model of each peer as the peer mean teacher to collaboratively transfer knowledge among peers, which helps each peer to learn richer knowledge and facilitates to optimise a more stable model with better generalisation. Extensive experiments on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100 and ImageNet show that the proposed method significantly improves the generalisation of various backbone networks and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Exploring Challenges of Online Education in COVID Times

This work is an attempt to explore aspects of online teaching and its related impact from the perspective of stakeholders in education. The paper outlines faculty experience and effectiveness in the online teaching environment, perspective requisition of students, and the support and resource building called for from academic leaders. We use observations, viewpoints, practical steps taken or needed by higher education institutions and universities in India. The primary and secondary data are content analysed and are further informed by literature. We state that academic leadership, collaborative peer learning, know-how of digital technology and online learning tools, training of faculty, dean review, readiness of students and discourse are important to create an ecosystem for effective online teaching. The article highlights the need of long-term perspective from academic leaders and the significance of blended teaching for faculty, in response to readiness in uncertain times. This paper reflects on the need for educational institutes to respond to the pandemic by building resources and factors and taking actions that result in an effective learning environment. They need to ensure training of all stakeholders and availability of technology and related resources, along with building a community for peer learning.

Preparing Student Study Guides through Peer Collaboration in the Technological Era

Incorporating active learning exercises into large lecture courses is particularly challenging, especially when it comes to examination preparation materials. Traditionally, study guides are used as a tool to guide student learning and review pertinent information. However, instructor produced review guides limit active participation of students in the study process, and the independent reading and review of study materials has previously been shown to fall short of being inclusive for students. Here I describe a tool used in a large introductory biology lecture for the implementation of peer produced study guides. The activity includes in-person peer discussion followed by online peer collaboration to design a study guide of potential exam materials, incorporating the advantages of both active learning and the use of study guides. This format provides a platform for students of diverse learning backgrounds to actively participate in the development and refinement of study materials. I conclude by discussing the assessment, secondary advantages, and adaptability of this tool and teaching strategy. <em>Primary image:&nbsp;</em>Peer Studying and Online Learning. This image represents the combination of peer collaborative learning and the use of online resources for study. The image is not copyrighted and was downloaded for the copyright free site &ldquo;Unsplash.&rdquo;

Collaborative peer feedback and learning analytics: theory-oriented design for supporting class-wide interventions

Although dialogue can augment the impact of feedback on student learning, dialogic feedback is unaffordable by instructors teaching large classes. In this regard, peer feedback can offer a scalable and effective solution. However, the existing practices optimistically rely on students’ discussion about feedback and lack a systematic design approach. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework of collaborative peer feedback which structures feedback dialogue into three distinct phases and outlines the learning processes involved in each of them. Then, we present a web-based platform, called Synergy, which is designed to facilitate collaborative peer feedback as conceptualised in the theoretical framework. To enable instructor support and facilitation during the feedback practice, we propose a learning analytics support integrated into Synergy. The consolidated model of learning analytics, which concerns three critical pieces for creating impactful learning analytics practices, theory, design and data science, was employed to build the analytics support. The learning analytics support aims to guide instructors’ class-wide actions toward improving students’ learning experiences during the three phases of peer feedback. The actionable insights that the learning analytics support offers are discussed with examples.

Collaborative peer feedback and learning analytics: theory-oriented design for supporting class-wide interventions

Collaborative peer feedback and learning analytics: theory-oriented design for supporting class-wide interventions

Peer Leader Reflections on Promoting Discussion in Peer Group-Learning Sessions: Reflective and Practiced Advice through Collaborative Annual Peer-Advice Books.

As research has shown, collaborative peer learning is effective for improving student learning. Peer-led team learning (PLTL) is one well-known collaborative-group approach in which groups are facilitated by trained undergraduate peer leaders. This paper contributes to the literature on peer-leader training by examining how peer leaders for a large introductory science course translate their training into practice during their sessions. By conducting qualitative analysis on annual advice books written by emergent peer leaders, we examined the practiced advice and strategies of these peer leaders as they facilitate PLTL groups in a university-level general chemistry course. These advice books are passed on to future peer instructors, creating a community of practice between new and more experienced peer leaders. From the analysis, we discovered that peer leaders focus on developing robust student–student discussion during complex problem solving by 1) creating a community-oriented social and intellectual environment, 2) adapting their tactics and the collaborative-learning strategies to balance different personalities and promote equal participation among all students, and 3) modifying collaborative group approaches when facilitating their sessions. Also, in their correspondence across cohorts, peer leaders provided near-peer support to one another. These annual books disseminate practiced advice between peer-leader generations and are used during new peer-leader training.

Effect of Peer Collaboration Learning Strategy on Basic Science and Technology Students’ Achievement in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

This study examined the effect of peer collaboration learning strategy on Basic Science and technology students’ achievement in Nasarawa state, Nigeria. The study employed non-equivalent group pre-test, post-test quasi experimental design. The population of the study was 638 upper basic school levels. A simple random sampling technique was used to sample 128 students from six co-educational schools within Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two research questions with two correspondent hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was Basic Science and Technology Achievement Test (BSTAT) which was pilot tested using Kuder-Richardson (K-R, 20) formula to determine its reliability coefficient and this was found to be 0.99. Descriptive statistics of means and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions and inferential statistics of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significant level. The results of the study showed that, Peer Collaboration Learning Strategy enhanced students’ achievement in Basic Science better than Demonstration method. There was a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught Basic Science using peer collaborative learning strategy and those taught using demonstration methods and there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught Basic Science and Technology using peer-collaborative learning strategy. The study, therefore, recommended among others that Basic Science and Technology teachers should not only use peer collaborative strategy to teach students the subject matter but should also allow them to interact with one another, so that the students can take charge of how they learn.

Effect of a Standard vs Enhanced Implementation Strategy to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing in Nursing Homes

Suspicion of urinary tract infection (UTI) is the major driver of overuse and misuse of antibiotics in nursing homes (NHs). Effects of interventions to improve the recognition and management of UTI in NHs have been mixed, potentially owing to differences in how interventions were implemented in different studies. An improved understanding of how implementation approach influences intervention adoption is needed to achieve wider dissemination of antibiotic stewardship interventions in NHs. To compare the effects of 2 implementation strategies on the adoption and effects of a quality improvement toolkit to enhance recognition and management of UTIs in NHs. This cluster-randomized hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation clinical trial will be performed over a 6-month baseline (January to June 2019) and 12-month postimplementation period (July 2019 to June 2020). A minimum of 20 Wisconsin NHs with 50 or more beds will be recruited and randomized in block sizes of 2 stratified by rurality (rural vs urban). All residents who are tested and/or treated for UTI in study NHs will be included in the analysis. All study NHs will implement a quality improvement toolkit focused on enhancing the recognition and management of UTIs. Facilities will be randomized to either a usual or enhanced implementation approach based on external facilitation (coaching), collaborative peer learning, and peer comparison feedback. Enhanced implementation is hypothesized to be associated with improvements in adoption of the quality improvement toolkit and clinical outcomes. Primary outcomes of the study will include number of (1) urine cultures per 1000 resident days and (2) antibiotic prescriptions for treatment of suspected UTI per 1000 resident-days. Secondary outcomes of the study will include appropriateness of UTI treatments, treatment length, use of fluoroquinolones, and resident transfers and mortality. A mixed-methods evaluation approach will be used to assess extent and determinants of adoption of the UTI quality improvement toolkit in study NHs. Knowledge gained during this study could help inform future efforts to implement antibiotic stewardship and quality improvement interventions in NHs. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03520010.

A computational thinking course accessible to non-stem majors

We describe the content, pedagogy and technology of a computational thinking course. While open to students in all majors, in practice the course serves students in predominantly non-STEM majors. We have seen the positive impact on student motivation of the data science context used in the course and the pedagogical value of the cohort model of collaborative peer learning. The technology includes a scaffolded programming environment for accessing curated real-world data sets.