Practice Learning Opportunities Research Articles

Thematic Group Supervision to support Practice Learning Opportunities in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

Within this article we reflect on the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) Workforce Learning Development Improvement Service’s response to Covid19, and the need to support social work students commencing their Practice Learning Opportunity/placement (PLO) within Adult Services in August 2020. It was recognised that the global response to the Covid19 pandemic generated a landscape of significant change and innovation for both the Workforce Learning Development and Improvement Service within the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) and students who were due to commence their PLOs within BHSCT for a period of practice learning from August – December 2020. The article explores how the Workforce Learning Development Improvement Service across in Adult Services within the BHSCT responded to meet changing need for social work students, BHSCT practice teachers (practice educators) and the operational context within which social workers practiced. The initiative, now consolidated within the student experience of their Practice Learning Opportunity (PLO) within BHSCT, is audited annually, and this article explores the learning from the initial audits in December 2020 and June 2021, as well as the ongoing changes embedded within the teams as we emerge from the Covid19 pandemic.
 Within this article we reflect on the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) Workforce Learning Development Improvement Service’s response to Covid19, and the need to support social work students commencing their Practice Learning Opportunity/placement (PLO) within Adult Services in August 2020. It was recognised that the global response to the Covid19 pandemic generated a landscape of significant change and innovation for both the Workforce Learning Development and Improvement Service within the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) and students who were due to commence their PLOs within BHSCT for a period of practice learning from August – December 2020. The article explores how the Workforce Learning Development Improvement Service across in Adult Services within the BHSCT responded to meet changing need for social work students, BHSCT practice teachers (practice educators) and the operational context within which social workers practiced. The initiative, now consolidated within the student experience of their Practice Learning Opportunity (PLO) within BHSCT, is audited annually, and this article explores the learning from the initial audits in December 2020 and June 2021, as well as the ongoing changes embedded within the teams as we emerge from the Covid19 pandemic.

How a learning skills course addressed transition, diversity and inclusion, and a sense of belonging for mature students seeking entrance to university: reflections of a Canadian learning specialist

Universities across Canada offer bridging programmes for mature students who would not otherwise have access to post-secondary education. The College of Arts at the University of Guelph developed their Academic Transition Program to support these students, with the cornerstone of the programme being a learning skills course, launched in Autumn 2022, that students must complete in order to be accepted into an undergraduate programme. In the Canadian context, it is unusual for a learning specialist to act as course developer for the creation of an undergraduate credit course. This presentation shares a reflection on the theories that underpinned the course creation, most notably Kolb’s (1984) theory on experiential learning, Baxter-Magolda’s (1999) theory of self authorship, and the learning gained after wearing many hats – learning specialist, course developer, and sessional instructor. The presentation explored: The tripartite arrangement developed to create the course. Ways in which the course addressed students’ transition to university. Considerations around diversity and inclusion. How the coursework supported a sense of belonging. Feedback from the students’ experience of the course. What was learned when the course was made available to traditional undergraduate students from first through fourth year. How this course intersects with the Canadian model of learning support. Sharing examples of course content, including weekly reflection questions. Lessons learned and plans for the future of the course, including alternative formats. Making learning strategies explicit can support mature students’ level of success in higher education (Erb & Drysdale, 2017). This course combined theoretical and practical learning skill applications and opportunities to develop a sense of belonging for a diverse cohort of mature students.

The impact of mentoring interventions to support newly qualified social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the early cessation of practice learning opportunities for social work students across Northern Ireland and an expedited graduation to enable them to join the workforce. The article reports on a small-scale service evaluation of the Assessed Year in Employment Mentoring Programme in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust. The programme provided additional support to newly qualified social workers as they transitioned from student to professional. Focus groups facilitated with 11 Assessed Year in Employment social workers highlighted the positive impact of mentoring, with emphasis on the importance of formal, accessible and effective organisational support during the transitional period. Recommendations call for continued facilitation of mentoring for future cohorts of Assessed Year in Employment social workers in order to cultivate a supportive organisational climate and strengthen the workforce.

Towards an Intelligent Model for Evaluating Serious Games

Serious games are effective educational tools used in higher education to provide practical learning opportunities to students. However, few research works have focused on evaluating serious games as a project for developing a tool dedicated to use in a formative context. This document proposes an intelligent evaluation model that not only allows for the evaluation of serious games but also facilitates their integration into teaching practice. The model is designed around four dimensions, and their measurement criteria are well defined. Fuzzy decision-making methods were used to weight the criteria, and supervised machine-learning algorithms were considered to minimize the evaluator’s bias. The proposed model provides a more objective and consistent solution for evaluating serious games, reducing the impact of evaluators’ biases and subjective preferences on the weightings of the different evaluation dimensions. The multi-output support vector regression (M-SVR) model can be used flexibly and adapted to different contexts and applications, offering a more effective and reliable solution for evaluating serious games.

Professionalising ECCE in South Africa is not child’s play! Determining skills gaps and implications for future sector development

ABSTRACT In line with international trends in early childhood care and education (ECCE) recognising the importance of early learning, the Department of Basic Education in South Africa has pledged to professionalise the sector, increase access and improve quality. From a systemic point of view, professionalisation of the sector will require collaboration on multiple levels between various stakeholders working in different systems to bring about simultaneous improvement in conditions of employment, resource provision, and infrastructure development. To aid the government in supporting skills development in this sector, particularly for those servicing the most indigent populations, we employed a multi-method design to determine critical skills gaps and how they could best be addressed. Data were gathered through online questionnaires, a desktop review and focus group and individual interviews. Thematic analysis revealed the need for managerial training, practical learning opportunities for practitioners, the necessity for more home-based ECCE services and systemic improvement. Based on the findings, we make suggestions of how key stakeholders could partner to best address these needs.

Social work teaching and learning in the era of COVID-19: Lessons for the future

In 2020, the UK and Ireland, and indeed most countries across the globe, found themselves unprepared to deal with a worldwide pandemic (BASW, 2020; Mellish et al., 2020). Indeed, in the UK and Ireland, health and social care workers had to respond to unprecedented situations and adapt quickly and extensively to the health, social and economic dimensions of the crisis (Egan et al., 2020; BASW,2020). It is timely, then, to consider the role of the social worker and the impact on social work training for undergraduate students in light of the changes that have taken place as a result of the global pandemic. The COVID-19 restrictions led to the rise of new forms of social engagement and interaction, as well as the need for professionals, including social workers, to develop new digital skills. This paper will draw on the findings from an online survey (using qualitative and quantitative question sets) conducted with 30 undergraduate social work students in 2021. The survey explored student experiences of online teaching during their ‘preparation for practice learning’ module and the extent to which this online teaching prepared them for their practice learning opportunity (PLO) that followed during a time of strict COVID-19 measures, including social distancing. Recent research has been conducted that highlights the benefits of blended learning (online and face-to-face) as a strong pedagogical approach (Finlay et al., 2022; Karma et al., 2021). As we transition back to face-to-face teaching and learning, this paper will consider the implications of online learning for social work students, analyse the benefits and limitations of this to the learning and practice environment and capture the lessons to hold on to for the future.

Is teaching and learning in Chinese higher education classrooms internationalized? Perspectives from international students in China

ABSTRACT While China has emerged as a leading host country for international students, it reinforces its determination to build a global knowledge system by integrating Chinese and Western epistemological traditions in teaching and learning to promote epistemic justice. The study aims to explore international students’ challenges to current approaches to teaching and learning in Chinese higher education institutions in relation to the internationalization of curriculum. The study employed a qualitative exploratory design and collected data using semi-structured interviews with 30 international students at two prestigious Chinese universities. Based on the thematic analysis, the results highlight that international students struggle with issues such as Chinese language-dominated instruction, lack of discussion and autonomy in the classroom, limited engagement with domestic (Chinese) students and insufficient practical or hands-on learning opportunities. These findings are analysed against common standards required for the internationalization of teaching and learning. These findings have implications for classroom pedagogy in higher education institutions in China to sustain the interest of international students.

Mapping blended learning in social work practice education to national standards - a Hybrid Placement Model Teaching and Learning Resource

In Ireland as elsewhere, the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing public health restrictions, gave rise to an unprecedented crisis in health and social care service provision, leading to cessation of student social work placements in March 2020. The Hybrid Placement Model Teaching and Learning Resource was developed to ensure that quality practice-based placements could resume and continue to be viable during subsequent phases of the Covid-19 pandemic. Combining four elements of onsite practice, off-site practice, online practice, and reflective practice the model provided a ‘road map’ that supported both practice teachers and students as they navigated placements within this context. Through provision of a user-friendly diagram and detailed practical examples of blended learning opportunities mapped to each of the eighty-three national standards of proficiency, the resource enabled practice teachers and students to visualise a range of practice learning opportunities that could be undertaken as part of a blended placement and provided assurance that blended learning met regulatory requirements.
 In this article the authors discuss the context and rationale for the model and describe its four integrated components. The usefulness of the model in supporting optimal learning on hybrid placements is addressed and its potential post Covid-19 restrictions is considered.

Exploring the application of self-directed and cooperative learning in information systems education: a critical analysis

Learning is a continuous process of acquiring knowledge. Information systems (IS) is a sub-discipline of computing discipline with a focus on providing theory and practical teaching and learning opportunities and experience for students in the area of managing computing resources in an organization and society at large. The application of self-directed and cooperative learning in information systems (IS) education has been an area of interest for researchers and educators. Self-directed learning emphasizes the learner's autonomy, while cooperative learning emphasizes collaboration and communication among learners. This paper presents a critical analysis involving self-directed and cooperative learning in IS education through a rapid review of the application of these learning approaches in IS teaching and learning. This study used a rapid review in searching, identifying, and analyzing relevant peer-review papers in critically analyzing the application of self-directed and cooperative learning in IS teaching and learning process. The analysis was done through a systematic approach reviewing relevant literature and identifying the benefits, challenges, and implications of self-directed and cooperative learning in IS education. The data analysis followed a rapid review approach to reaching the findings. The study revealed the meaning of SDL and CL and their application in IS teaching and learning process. The study also found different models that encourage the application of SDL and CL in IS teaching and learning process. The paper concludes with recommendations for IS educators and suggestions for future studies.

Co-Constructive Patient Simulation as an Experiential Tool for Continuing Professional Development in Healthcare

ABSTRACTIn this commentary, we examine how to use the recently developed educational method called Co-constructive Patient Simulation (CCPS) to improve continuous professional development in healthcare. CCPS invites learners to participate in the creation of meaningful simulated scenarios while fostering reflection-in/on/for-action and community-building. By participating in the creation of the simulated scenarios, learners guarantee that the challenges addressed by the learning activities are aligned with their developmental stages and needs. Additionally, as learners may invite supervisors to take the “hot seat” during the simulation session, the CCPS approach allows learners to witness how supervisors would handle situations perceived as challenging. This exchange of roles creates an opportunity for camaraderie, as supervisors expose themselves and assume a vulnerable position. This camaraderie facilitates educational bonding and community building. As a result, in this participatory and co-creative approach to simulation, experts become the facilitators of a learner-centred activity, which increases motivation and allows tailored and contextualised learning. This co-constructive approach to simulation adds to the repertoire of more traditional CPD strategies by fostering spontaneity and authenticity. It integrates learning opportunities in clinical practice, amplifies learner’s critical reflection and autonomy, and harnesses real-life challenges to offer meaningful solutions to lifelong learning. The democratic environment optimised by experts joining the activity and sharing their vulnerabilities with trainees further catalyzes the creation of a community for teaching, learning, and shared development.

Bildende Kunst und fremdsprachliches Lernen: (Selbst-)Portraits und ihr besonderes Potenzial für die Entwicklung von Empathiefähigkeit

This article takes an important step towards improving the theory and practice of foreign language teaching with (self-)portraits. It discusses their teaching potential and impact on students’ empathy towards cultural identities. The first part presents the current state of the art of working with pictures in the foreign language classroom. Then, this article approaches paintings from the perspective of arts education and explores avenues through which art can teach students foreign language competences including their ability to empathize with other cultures. Empirical studies which evaluate to what extent art works may contribute to language learning and developing empathy will be considered. This paper highlights current trends in the teaching of visual literacy and introduces the idea of working with (self-)portraits in foreign language education. In addition, it examines how practical learning opportunities can be created by analyzing visual input (here: a self-portrait of the painter Frida Kahlo) and how the students’ creation of their own portraits can be a meaningful tool in the language classroom. By doing so, the interplay of students’ personality traits and foreign language learning while working with fine arts will be discussed.

Does Professional Development Effectively Support the Implementation of Inclusive Education? A Meta-Analysis

Inclusive education is a reform aimed at educating all students in general classrooms, independent of diversity features such as special educational needs, giftedness, or migration. Its successful implementation requires teachers with professional knowledge about inclusive education, skills to address the diverse needs in the classroom, and positive beliefs toward inclusive education. Teachers are provided with professional development opportunities, but are these effective in improving their learning process and positively impacting students’ behavior? We conducted a meta-analysis to address this question. The screening of 12,050 search results revealed 342 eligible studies with more than 155,000 participants and 1123 effects from four outcome categories: teachers’ knowledge, skills, and beliefs and students’ behavior. We observed positive, though varying, effects on all four outcome categories: large effects on teachers' knowledge regarding inclusive education (g = 0.93), moderate effects on teachers’ skills (g = 0.49), small effects on teachers’ beliefs (g = 0.23), and small-to-moderate effects on student behavior (g = 0.37). We also examined factors that might explain the differences in the strength of training effects. The data suggest that long-term training with high practical relevance and active learning opportunities facilitates transfer to schools.

ИНТЕГРАЦИЯ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И ПРОИЗВОДСТВА ПРИ ПОДГОТОВКЕ СПЕЦИАЛИСТОВ ЯЗЫКОВОЙ СЛУЖБЫ В КИТАЕ

The article explains the importance of industry-education integration in language services by providing students with practical language learning and application opportunities that improve their language and intercultural communication skills and meet the needs of real-world industry. The difficulties and challenges faced by the education, training and talent development system in China are analyzed. The economic benefits from the integration of education and production are described, allowing businesses to better gain a foothold in the international market, increase their competitiveness and achieve sustainable development. Strategies and measures are proposed to closely integrate language services and talent development through collaboration with industry.

Teaching Digital Electronics during the COVID-19 Pandemic via a Remote Lab.

Practical knowledge is essential for engineering education. With the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges have arisen for remote practical learning (e.g., collaborations/experimentations with real equipment when face-to-face offerings are not possible). In this context, LabEAD is a remote lab project that aims to provide practical knowledge learning opportunities for Brazilian engineering students. This article describes how engineering project management methods consisting of application domains, requirement identification, technical solution specification, implementation, and delivery phases, were applied to the development of an Internet of Things (IoT) remote lab architecture. The distributed computing environment allows integration between students’ smartphones and IoT devices deployed in campus labs and in student residences. The code is open-source for facilitated replication and reuse, and the remote lab was built in six months to enable six experiments for the digital electronics lab during the COVID-19 pandemic, covering all the experiments of the original face-to-face offering. More than 70% of the 32 students preferred remote labs over simulations, and only 2 were not approved in the digital electronics course offered remotely.Student perceptions collected by questionnaires showed that they could successfully specify, develop, and present their projects using the remote lab infrastructure in four weeks.

Practical learning opportunities and changes in teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs: Does the development of bachelor student teachers’ competence differ before and during COVID-19?

This article investigates changes in student teachers’ teacher self-efficacy beliefs (SEBs) as part of their competence development during their three-year bachelor’s program and how these changes can be explained through practical learning opportunities. Using two bachelor’s student teacher cohorts who studied during and prior to COVID-19, differences in the development of their competence are analyzed longitudinally over three time points. Unexpectedly, no increase in SEBs was observed; rather, a significant decline was identified, with little practical relevance for the cohort who had studied before and medium practical relevance for the cohort who studied during the pandemic. At the end of their bachelor’s program, students in the cohort who studied before the pandemic reported slightly higher levels of SEBs than those who had to study during the pandemic. A path model indicates that studying during the pandemic negatively impacted both practical learning opportunities and changes in student teachers’ SEBs, whereas practical learning opportunities positively impacted SEBs changes. The findings’ implications for practical learning opportunities in initial teacher education are discussed.

Hāth se sīkhna: geographies of practical learning and India’s agricultural skills agenda

A significant challenge of skill development in the Global South is providing meaningful opportunities for practical learning. While previous studies have explored this as a pedagogical challenge, in this paper, I take a geographical perspective, arguing the barriers to practical learning extend beyond pedagogy and often relate to socio-economic conditions. I draw on a study of a new agricultural skill development scheme in the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in north India. Trainees enrolled in the scheme expressed strong desires for opportunities to ‘learn by hand’ (hāth se sīkhna), which training rarely provided and which were often availed in informal settings. The extent to which trainees found useful practical learning opportunities varied based on gender, caste and locality. Drawing on theories of communities of practice, I argue that the desired practical learning was marred not only by the inability or unwillingness of trainers to provide practical classes, but also by regionally specific factors, such as administrative constraints, local agrarian structure and regional patriarchies. This suggests that coordinating effective forms of practical learning requires regional-level strategies that are attentive to social and economic context.

Pediatric practicums in undergraduate nursing programs: an integrative review.

Practicum Placements are the signature andragogy used in undergraduate nursing programs to bring about knowledge consolidation. Little is known, however, about the types of pediatric practicum placements utilized by nursing programs to provide practical learning opportunities in child health to their students. The purpose of this integrative review is to identify and appraise existing literature on practical pediatric practices in undergraduate nursing education. Searches were conducted using the main relevant databases and search engines. Of the numerous articles retrieved, screened, and reviewed, 15 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results were then analyzed using thematic analysis. Two overarching themes were identified: (1) Adaptation, and (2) Learning. Findings revealed that most nursing programs utilize alternative placement sites to meet the learning need of their students. These sites provided students with the opportunities to care for children and adolescents, and engage in a variety of health promotion and teaching activities.

A Critical Analysis of Calculations of Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) at Dynamic Corporation

ABSTRACT In 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a standards update on current expected credit losses (Accounting Standards Update 2016-13; FASB Codification® Topic 326). While the update does not change the debits and credits associated with current expected credit losses (CECL), it does significantly change the calculations associated with estimates of current expected credit losses. Additionally, given that most textbooks simply provide inputs for the calculations associated with estimates of current expected credit losses, most accounting curricula do not cover the most important changes found in the update. This case provides students with a hypothetical situation in which to analyze and understand these issues. Specifically, the case requires students to critically analyze a series of current expected credit loss calculations, research authoritative guidance, and conclude regarding the appropriateness of the calculations of the actors in the case. Results indicate that students perceive significant practical learning opportunities from the case.

ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ МЕТОДОВ МАШИННОГО ОБУЧЕНИЯ ПРИ РЕШЕНИИ АНАЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАЧ В МЕТАЛЛУРГИЧЕСКОЙ ОТРАСЛИ

Background. 
 Machine learning is a promising field for organization in the age of development of high-tech methods of management and organization of the company. As a rule, this term is used in relation to artificial intelligence, namely, machines that could learn independently. Thus, the main goal of this work is to assess the prospects for using these methods for solving various problems in a corporation.
 Methods. 
 The article introduces the main methods of machine learning, their analysis, linear and non-linear learning methods are given, their use in practice is indicated, and the key advantages of using a trained artificial intelligence in a company are identified.
 Result. 
 As a result, the author proposes ways of using machine learning methods in a firm, analyzes their advantages and disadvantages, identifies the problems of implementing artificial intelligence learning opportunities in practice.

Enhancing the inpatient ward learning environment: A practical guide.

Inpatient ward placements are rich with practical learning opportunities for medical students; however, many such opportunities go overlooked and underused. Newly qualified doctors often feel underprepared for work on wards; improving student experience on ward placements can address this. Although this requires an active effort from both students and clinical educators, it is not arduous and has mutual benefit: improving medical education while simultaneously reducing staff workload. Here, we present a guide for both teachers and students highlighting three key areas of ward learning that may be improved: strategies to drive active learning, integration of students into the ward team and underutilised resources to develop a patient-centred approach.