AISAP Professional Pathways Innovations

Over the past 5 years (2016-2021) the Association of Independent School Admission Professionals (AISAP) has engaged in a process of expanding their professional learning and credentialing opportunities for membership. Beginning in 2016, AISAP decided to leverage recent innovations in learning sciences, digital badging, and credentialing to greatly increase the professional learning and assessment experience of its membership. Thus, AISAP embarked upon a process of developing a robust micro-credentialing program and an online credentialing exam which are authentic, accurate, accessible, and add value to participants. This case study provides an overview of the institutional context and purpose of these solutions and then details the process of designing, implementing, and continuously improving these solutions. The case also includes a number of lessons learned and accompanying resources which may be relevant to other organizations considering, or in the midst of, developing similar solutions.

A constructivist-based proposal for bioinformatics teaching practices during lockdown

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks have caused universities all across the globe to close their campuses and forced them to initiate online teaching. This article reviews the pedagogical foundations for developing effective distance education practices, starting from the assumption that promoting autonomous thinking is an essential element to guarantee full citizenship in a democracy and for moral decision-making in situations of rapid change, which has become a pressing need in the context of a pandemic. In addition, the main obstacles related to this new context are identified, and solutions are proposed according to the existing bibliography in learning sciences.

Employing User-Centered Design and Learning Science Theory to Enhance Remote Delivery of Diabetes Education and Survival Skills at Hospital Discharge

Learning diabetes mellitus (DM) survival skills is critically important, especially for those newly diagnosed upon discharge. COVID-19 has created new educational challenges, as DM self-management education and support is difficult to deliver remotely and can be time intensive. Content and format have not been re-designed for remote delivery; however, learning sciences research can help us create effective remote education strategies. We conducted interviews with users to identify critical needs in assuming immediate DM self-care at discharge from the hospital. We then mapped these user needs to relevant learning science theories to inform potential re-designs for remote delivery of DM education and survival skills at discharge. We conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with “users,” which included 18 participants (8 minority; 6>65 years): patients newly diagnosed with DM at discharge (N=6 [33%]), their caregivers (N=4 [22%]), and laypersons new to DM (N=8 [45%]). Users were asked about their discharge needs, laypersons about perceived needs. Three investigators performed iterative rounds of inductive coding of the transcripts (using MAXQDA software), utilizing a constant comparative method to identify codes describing dominant user needs. Learning science theory was applied to identify potential re-designs for remote delivery. Dominant user needs during hospitalization included being overwhelmed with DM self-care information (6/12 sessions) and difficulty organizing self-care equipment (5/12 sessions). Dominant user needs at home included remembering DM self-care steps (6/12 sessions), understanding correct insulin dosing (9/12 sessions), feeling fearful injecting insulin (9/12 sessions), with some noting difficulty in tracking glucose (4/12 sessions) and confusing insulin types (4/12 sessions). When learning science theory was applied, analysis mapped to three discrete educational strategies, most dominant of which is the spiral design approach—cycles of teaching the same topic but with increasing complexity. This design follows the pre-teaching principle—curriculum-based conceptual overview of self-care. Self-care at home mapped to the need for segmented learning and goal directed practice and feedback, with the potential need for behavioral therapies to reduce fear. Learning sciences has demonstrated that learning complex procedures and concepts, such as DM self-care, requires time, repetition, and continued support. With short hospital stays and the complexity of learning DM self-care, patients cannot gain needed knowledge structures to organize the information received during hospitalization. This study suggests specific learning science strategies for the design of an effective remote delivery of DM education and skills.