To see, meet and adapt – an interview study about physiotherapists’ pedagogical approach to dementia

Background Physiotherapists need to use pedagogical approaches and strategies in their work. However, there is no previous definition of what a pedagogical approach in physiotherapy means neither in general nor specifically to dementia. The purpose of this study was therefore to gain greater insight into physiotherapists’ pedagogical approach to dementia by investigating physiotherapists’ views and working methods in contact with older people with dementia, relatives, and nursing staff in elderly care. Methods This was a qualitative study with an inductive approach. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 15 physiotherapists with experience of working with older people with dementia in elderly care. The interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results The term “pedagogical approach” could sometimes be experienced as “vague” or “hard to grasp”. Our research nonetheless identified one overarching theme To see, meet and adapt which is based on insights from the interviews grouped in to five categories. This theme can be seen as an expression of the physiotherapists’ pedagogical approach in contact with older people with dementia, relatives, and nursing staff. It captures the participants’ desire to always see the person in front of them, meet them where they are and adapt their own way of working accordingly. Creating a trusting relationship was described as important and made it easier for the participants to adapt their working methods. The participants’ adaptations could apply to the way they communicated with people with dementia, and how they organized tutoring/education of relatives and nursing staff to maximize learning. Learning through experience and reflection was described as a key to advancing the pedagogical approach and the participants experienced their own learning as constantly ongoing. Conclusions This study provides increased understanding into physiotherapists’ pedagogical approach in contact with older people with dementia, relatives, and nursing staff in elderly care and shows that learning through experience and reflection can contribute to the development of the pedagogical approach. Thus, opportunity for reflection should be accommodated in the physiotherapists’ work. The importance of more pedagogical education for physiotherapists both in bachelor and master level were also highlighted. Increasing mobility and physical activity in older people with dementia is important since physical inactivity and sedentary behavior is common. Future research may be directed at further exploring physiotherapists’ pedagogical approach in tutoring/education of nursing staff, with the aim of increasing physical activity among older people with dementia.

iEthics: An Interprofessional Ethics Curriculum

This article discusses the development, content, implementation, and evaluation of an interprofessional ethics curriculum that has been integrated as a required component of learning in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC), along with 12 other health professional programs. We start by giving a background and rationale for the development of the integrated ethics (iEthics) curriculum, led by UBC Health, and provide an overview of the pedagogical approach used, curriculum model, and content. We outline the way in which the iEthics curriculum has been implemented in the Faculty and share findings from program evaluations. In the discussion section, we reflect on our experience as facilitators for the interprofessional workshops and link these experiences with the findings from the program evaluations. These reflections highlight the way in which the iEthics curriculum has been successful in meeting the desired outcomes of learning in terms of the interprofessional delivery, and provide insights into how the findings from the iEthics evaluation informed other modules in the integrated curriculum and its implementation in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Towards a Multilingual Preschool Policy

The effects of immersive strategies and the benefits of a multilingual language policy have been extensively explored in the literature; however, it is valuable to look at the actual application of a multilingual policy. Putting linguistic-educational research into practice by implementing a transformative pedagogical approach is characterized by a process of trial and error, which has remained understudied. This chapter aims to fill this gap by adopting a case study approach that focuses on the implementation of a multilingual/cultural policy at a preschool in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. More than half of the children attending the preschool come from a multilingual background. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, consisting of observations, participations, interviews, and focus group discussions with different stakeholders, this chapter analyzes the mechanisms behind the preschool's switch from negatively undergoing multilingualism to positively engaging with it.

Effects of Video Length on a Flipped English Classroom

Although the flipped pedagogical approach has been exhaustively explored, the effect of video length remains sparsely studied. Through a mixed design, videos, and three ratio scales, this study determined the effect of video length on English proficiency, student engagement, and satisfaction in a flipped English classroom in China. We concluded that: (1) The short video (shorter than 5 minutes)-assisted English flipped classroom could lead to significantly higher English proficiency, student engagement, and satisfaction than the flipped classroom assisted with medium videos (10–20 minutes); and (2) The medium video-assisted English flipped classroom could lead to significantly higher English proficiency, student engagement, and satisfaction than the flipped classroom assisted with long videos (longer than 30 minutes). Designers of videos could make every effort to provide short videos to improve English proficiency, engagement, and satisfaction. They could also seriously consider a scale, a mobile platform, quizzes, pictures, and multimedia in the future design and innovation of videos.

Designing a Pathway to Digital Fluency

This chapter addresses the need for developing digital fluency skills in higher-education students in order to best prepare them for real-world success. The pathway to digital fluency is complex and requires a reimagined, collaborative approach to learning design. This chapter considers the elements of authentic learning as a means of developing students' digital fluency and proposes learning design as a pathway to action for teacher-developed authentic learning activities. The chapter begins by exploring the concept of digital fluency in order to develop a definition that informs pedagogical approach. Approaches to digital fluency development are examined through digital literacy and authentic learning frameworks. The pedagogical approach is further examined and conceptualized through the process of learning design. Considerations are presented at the end of each section to illustrate relationships between digital fluency, authentic learning, and learning design, and to allow for further exploration of concepts within unique contexts.

Compensation and Work Discipline on Teachers’ Performance: A Multifactorial Design

The purpose of this study is to measure the links between compensation and work disciplines towards the teachers’ performance. Underlying the concept of Human Resources Management (HRM) education, this study investigates the effect of the two aforementioned variables on the teacher’s pedagogical approach, classroom activities, and teaching strategies using technology. This research was conducted using a quantitative approach, specifically a multifactorial design. The sample of this current study was 53 people. The data was gathered through test and questionnaires. The data analysis used was a descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that simultaneously the compensation and work discipline variables had a positive and significant effect on the teachers’ performance, and partially compensation and work discipline had a positive and significant effect on the teachers’ performance. The multiple linear regression equation is Y = 20.789 + 0.299X1 + 0.271X2. Meanwhile, the results of the descriptive analysis show that the variables of compensation, work discipline, and teachers’ performance are in a good criteria.

Defining English Medium Instruction: Striving for comparative equivalence

English Medium Instruction (EMI) has been defined as ‘the use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English’ (Macaro, 2018, p. 19). This definition has proved to be controversial but has underpinned the work of our research group, from whose collective perspective this article is written. Debates have centred on the role that English language development plays in EMI contexts, and whether this current definitional scope is too narrow in its exclusion of English medium educational practices in Anglophone settings. Pecorari and Malmström (2018), for example, observe that some members of the EMI research community interpret EMI more broadly to include ‘contexts in which English is a dominant language and in which English language development is supported and actively worked for’ (p. 507). Similarly, Baker and Hüttner (2016, p. 502) state that excluding Anglophone contexts from EMI is ‘unhelpful’ by failing to include the experiences of multilingual students in Anglophone universities who learn through their second language (L2). A focus on multilingualism is also one of the driving forces behind the emergence of new terminology that seeks to shift focus towards the contexts of education, rather than instruction and pedagogy. Dafouz and Smit (2016), for example, prefer the term English-Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings (EMEMUS), because the ‘label is semantically wider, as it does not specify any particular pedagogical approach or research agenda’ (p. 399).

A Review: Language Awareness from the Perspective of Vocabulary Variation and Change

Language awareness refers to the consciousness of what language is and how language works. The process of establishing or developing language awareness should be a discovery of language use by learners themselves, maybe under the guidance of teachers. In this way, language awareness is considered not only as a linguistic term, but also a pedagogical approach. Just like society, change is also constant in the world of language. This paper aims to provide a reflection on language awareness from the angle of vocabulary variations and changes.