scholarly journals Tailored Blended Learning for Foundation Year Chemistry Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Shannon Chamberlain ◽  
Daniel Elford ◽  
Simon J. Lancaster ◽  
Francesca Silve
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
Peer Instruction ◽  
Asynchronous Learning ◽  
Audience Response ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
East Anglia ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Wide Range

The chemistry foundation year at the University of East Anglia is a diverse cohort with a wide range of prior educational experience and confidence levels. A flexible learning program combining extensive online materials intended for asynchronous study and face to face peer instruction is provided. Study is divided into weekly topics. Students are directed to take a short introductory quiz at the beginning of the week, feedback on which allows them to tailor the extent of asynchronous learning to their own needs. All students attend a highly interactive synchronous teaching session which utilises active learning to develop their conceptual understanding. The week concludes with a reflective formative test. Measures of student activity on the online platform and audience response technology in the lecture theatre provide a quantitative picture of engagement with tailored blended learning, while semi-structured interviews provide qualitative insight into the student perception.

Colleague curriculum wins bronze for Barclays

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-16
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Describes a blended-learning program at Barclays bank that won bronze in the 2015 Learning Awards. Design/methodology/approach – Examines the reasons for the program, the form it takes and the results it is achieving. Findings – Explains that the program, named Colleague Curriculum, is designed to create a learner-led blend of learning for more than 135,000 Barclays employees. Practical implications – Highlights the program’s flexibility, which helps to ensure that it is suitable for a wide range of employee skills and cultures. Social implications – Sites the learning program in the context of Barclays’ Transform program, a long-term journey of change which aims to make the bank the partner of choice for all its stakeholders. Originality/value – Reveals how technology can help to transform an organization’s learning.

scholarly journals Experiences and Perceptions of Postgraduate Students about a Blended Learning Program in Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (I) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Asma Shahid Kazi ◽  
Shagufta Moghal
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
Commute Time ◽  
Access Cost ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Ease Of Access

The current age is recognized for its rapid technological advancements in every field. This study adopts a qualitative exploratory methodology to investigate the experiences and perceptions of the students of one department of a public sector university in Lahore, Pakistan, which used blended learning for better student access and ease in communication. It looks at the technological challenges faced by the students, and factors which provide insight to improve the blended learning program and help replicate the model for other departments. A sample of 11 postgraduate students was selected for semi structured interviews; the results showed both negative and positive perceptions towards blended learning classrooms. The positive side highlighted the ease of access, cost efficiency, flexible environment and less commute time for the learners, while the negative aspects pointed out issues such as repeated technical issues, lack of transparency in student performance and lack of opportunity for student participation

Location-thinking, value-thinking, and graphical forms: combining analytical frameworks to analyze inferences made by students when interpreting the points and trends on a reaction coordinate diagram

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander P. Parobek ◽  
Patrick M. Chaffin ◽  
Marcy H. Towns
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Rate ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Reaction Rates ◽  
Reaction Coordinate ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Analytical Frameworks ◽  
Chemical Representations

Reaction coordinate diagrams (RCDs) are chemical representations widely employed to visualize the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters associated with reactions. Previous research has demonstrated a host of misconceptions students adopt when interpreting the perceived information encoded in RCDs. This qualitative research study explores how general chemistry students interpret points and trends on a RCD and how these interpretations impact their inferences regarding the rate of a chemical reaction. Sixteen students participated in semi-structured interviews in which participants were asked to interpret the points and trends along provided RCDs and to compare relative reaction rates between RCDs. Findings derived from this study demonstrate the diversity of graphical reasoning adopted by students, the impact of students’ interpretations of the x-axis of a RCD on the graphical reasoning employed, and the influence of these ideas on inferences made about reaction rate. Informed by analytical frameworks grounded in the resources framework and the actor-oriented model of transfer, implications for instruction are provided with suggestions for how RCDs may be presented to assist students in recognizing the critical information encoded in these diagrams.

Therapy discontinuation in a primary care psychological service: why patients drop out

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisan Ghaemian ◽  
Mahdi Ghomi ◽  
Miles Wrightman ◽  
Colm Ellis-Nee
Keyword(s):  
Drop Out ◽  
Treatment Withdrawal ◽  
List Type ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Group Settings ◽  
Psychological Therapies ◽  
Psychological Service ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Therapy Services

Abstract The present study aimed to explore patients’ experience with an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service, and to investigate the reasons for discontinuing their treatment. A qualitative approach was adopted using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews carried out with 818 patients attending for treatment in Talking Change from November 2015 to January 2019, retrospectively. The five main themes that emerged from the study were: ‘Felt better’, ‘Issues with group settings’, ‘Therapeutic alliance breakdown’, ‘Miscommunication’ and ‘Impracticalities’. The qualitative study uncovered a wide range of reasons for people who had dropped out from their treatment. The findings mainly emphasised general dissatisfaction and inconvenient appointments. However, improvement in symptoms of depression and anxiety was also identified as a key factor among patients who discontinued their treatment. This recovery is known as ‘progress withdrawal’ in which patients withdraw from treatment early due to good therapeutic progress. We present clinical and procedural implications arising from these themes. Key learning aims (1) To explore what can cause discontinuation of therapy. (2) To obtain the experience of people who have received treatment and dropped out from Talking Change Psychological Therapy services. (3) To explore whether people recovered as part of the treatment withdrawal and what may have helped towards that recovery.

scholarly journals Social work support for employment of people with learning disabilities: Findings from the English Jobs First demonstration sites

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Stevens ◽  
Jess Harris
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Case Record ◽  
Wide Range

Summary This article brings together two key themes in recent public policy in England affecting social work practice: the value of having a paid job for social inclusion and increasing self-worth, and the personalisation of public services. The article draws on a mixed method evaluation of Jobs First, which was a government-funded demonstration site project that aimed to show how personal budgets (a key mechanism for personalisation) could be used by people with learning disabilities, often with their families, to purchase employment support. The evaluation involved secondary analysis of case record data and 142 semi-structured interviews with a wide range of participants (we mainly draw on 79 interviews with professionals for this article). Jobs First is placed within the frame of Active Labour Market Policy. Findings The attitudes of social workers to Jobs First were broadly positive, which was an important factor supporting employment outcomes. However, social workers’ involvement was often limited to a coordinating role, undertaking basic assessments linked to resource allocation and ensuring that support plans, which had often been developed by non-social work practitioners, were ‘signed off’ or agreed by the local authority. Applications The study points to important elements of the role of social workers in this new field of practice and explores potential tensions that might emerge. It highlights a continuing theme that social workers are playing more of a coordinating, managing role, rather than working directly with individuals to support their choices.

The Management of Teaching in Online and Blended Learning Applied in the Project “Modern Competences of Academic Teachers – the Key to Modern Higher Education Institutions” – Acronym MOCAT

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-401
Author(s):  
Roxana Stefanescu ◽  
◽  
Mariana Iatagan ◽  
Cristian Uta
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Teaching Competencies ◽  
Training Materials ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Academic Teachers ◽  
Academic Teacher

The management of teaching is connected and could be increased by using a wide range of different methods especially when we refer to Online and Blended learning. In the first part, the paper is aiming at reviewing the literature regarding the concepts and benefits of Online and Blended learning. Based on this considerations, 8 partner universities from 8 countries jointly developed the Project “Modern competences of academic teachers – the key to modern Higher Education Institutions (HEI)” – Acronym MOCAT. The paper underlines the goals and achievements of the MOCAT project that proposes a conceptual process to increase the management performance in teaching. The paper shows in an organized manner the main deficiencies that are altering the teaching competencies of academic teachers and in connection with this, the project offers solutions to improve the methodological competency of the teachers regarding the development and use of modern approaches. The outcomes of the project consist in the development and implementation of a Multicultural Model of an Academic Teacher Competencies and in 10 online courses that represent modern training materials in the field of teaching methodology. In the end are exposed the way the results of the project can be evaluated in time as well as the anticipated effects of the project implementation.

Blended learning: Barriers and drawbacks for English language lecturers at Vietnamese universities

2021 ◽  
pp. 204275302110482
Author(s):  
Thi Nguyet Le ◽  
Bill Allen ◽  
Nicola F Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Barriers ◽  
Teaching Time

Although blended learning (BL) has emerged as one of the most dominant delivery modes in higher education in the 21st century, there are notable barriers and drawbacks in using BL for English language teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities. This study reports on research into the use of BL, conducted through semi-structured interviews with 30 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturers from 10 different universities across the two major cities of Vietnam. The findings revealed that EFL lecturers identified eight groups of barriers and four groups of drawbacks to the successful implementation of BL. The most significant barriers included: lack of infrastructure and technology, institutional policies and support; lack of knowledge, experience and investment in using BL; lack of technological competence and information technology (IT) skills and lack of teaching time to employ web-based technologies and online resources in classrooms. Meanwhile, the most crucial drawbacks were: lecturers’ workload, ineffective use of BL, time consumption and demotivation. The authors point to the underlying factors contributing to these barriers and drawbacks and make implications for how some of these can be effectively addressed through constructive changes to policy and practice.

scholarly journals Older Adults’ Perception of Their Needs in Tehran: A Cry for Emotional and Social Support

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Sima Ghasemi ◽  
Nastaran Keshavarz Mohammadi ◽  
Farahnaz Mohammadi Shahboulaghi ◽  
Ali Ramezankhani
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Instrumental Social Support ◽  
Wide Range

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION: </strong>Background and purpose: Human’s longevity has increased with advances in health and better management of communicable diseases. Therefore, the number of older adult is increasing in developed and developing countries. A glimpse at studies reveals that identifying elderly’s health needs has been mainly based on the experts’ understanding, while older adult themselves have rarely expressed their own opinions. This study aimed to better understand Tehran, Iran elderly’s perception of their own health needs.</p><p><strong>METHODS: </strong>In this qualitative study, with purposeful sampling, data was collected by conducting deep semi-structured interviews with elderlies aged 60-84 years, residing at their private houses. After 19 interviews, the data achieved saturation. The content of the interviews was analyzed through content-analysis approach.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Data analyses led to extracting main categories of needs in different domains. The main health needs in physical health domain included: having a healthy lifestyle, independence and safety. Regarding elders’ mental health, coping with their aging, inner tranquility; regarding their spiritual health, the need to have a meaning in life and faithfulness in religion were identified as main groups of needs. And the most important among their main social health needs were the needs for emotional and social support, social involvement and instrumental social support. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Although, a wide range of physical, mental and social needs were raised, some were more important. Fulfilling the emotional needs in social health had the highest frequency among the needs expressed by the contributors. Following that with a notable difference were the frequencies of having a healthy lifestyle, independence and inner tranquility. This means that attempts to address elderly health needs should avoid focusing mainly or even only on disease related needs and serious attention should be paid to their emotional and social needs.</p>

scholarly journals The most problematic symptoms of prion disease – an analysis of carer experiences

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (08) ◽  
pp. 1181-1190
Author(s):  
Liz Ford ◽  
Peter Rudge ◽  
Kathy Robinson ◽  
John Collinge ◽  
Michele Gorham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Prion Disease ◽  
Prion Diseases ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Disease Stage ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Behavior

ABSTRACTObjectives:Prion diseases are rare dementias that most commonly occur sporadically, but can be inherited or acquired, and for which there is no cure. We sought to understand which prion disease symptoms are most problematic for carers, to inform the development of outcome measures.Design:Self-completed questionnaire with follow-up of a subset of participants by structured interview.Setting:A nested study in the UK National Prion Monitoring Cohort, a longitudinal observational study.Participants and measurements:71 carers, of people with different prion diseases with a wide range of disease severity, identified 236 of their four most problematic symptoms by questionnaire which were grouped into ten domains. Structured interviews were then done to qualitatively explore these experiences. Eleven family carers of people with prion disease were selected, including those representative of a range of demographics and disease subtypes and those who cared for people with prion disease, living or recently deceased. Interviews were transcribed and formally studied.Results:The six most problematic symptom domains were: mobility and coordination; mood and behavior; personal care and continence; eating and swallowing; communication; and cognition and memory. The prevalence of these symptoms varied significantly by disease stage and type. A formal analysis of structured interviews to explore these domains is reported.Conclusions:We make suggestions about how healthcare professionals can focus their support for people with prion disease. Clinical trials that aim to generate evidence regarding therapies that might confer meaningful benefits to carers should consider including outcome measures that monitor the symptomatic domains we have identified as problematic.

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