Human Rights Advocacy Evaluation in the Global South: A Critical Review of the Literature

Advocacy evaluation has emerged in the past 20 years as a specialized area of evaluation practice. We offer a review of existing peer-reviewed literature and draw attention to the scarcity of scholarly work on human rights advocacy evaluation in the Global South. The lack of published material in this area is concerning, given the urgent need for human rights advocacy in the Global South and the difficulties of conducting advocacy in contexts in which fundamental human rights are often poorly protected. Based on the review of the literature and our professional experiences in human rights advocacy evaluation in the Global South, we identify themes in the literature that are especially salient in the Global South and warrant more attention. We also offer critical reflections on content areas not addressed in the existing literature and conclude with suggestions as to how activists, evaluators, and other stakeholders can contribute to the development of a field of practice that is responsive to the global challenge of advocacy evaluation.

Game-Based Learning in Pharmacy Education

Game-based learning (GBL) involves adding game elements to non-game activities to encourage engagement. Pharmacy curricula are required to incorporate active learning to meet accreditation standards. The literature supports that well-designed GBL holds the attention of students and improves knowledge in some instances. Furthermore, these adaptable experiences can be leveraged for a variety of content areas in pharmacy education. Some activities utilized by educators require large amounts of technological expertise, while others involve minimal use of technology. The incorporation of technology can create highly immersive experiences for learners; however, there are barriers (e.g., financial and technology prowess) to implementation compared to simpler designs. One area of GBL that is not well defined in the literature is how to adequately assess student learning outcomes. Most current studies describe subjective attitudes and confidence or assess content knowledge through objective pre- and post-tests. In the future, more defined and connected methods for assessment—such as active demonstrations within the game—will be needed to better incorporate GBL into pharmacy curricula. Based on the collective evidence in the literature, some GBL activities may serve as useful tools to improve pharmacy student engagement and learning.

A Systematic Review of Research Syntheses for Students with Mathematics Learning Disabilities and Difficulties

The purpose of this document is to provide readers with the coding protocol that authors used to code 36 research syntheses (including meta-analyses, evidence-based reviews, and quantitative systematic reviews) focused on mathematics interventions for students with learning disabilities (LD), mathematics learning disabilities (MLD), and mathematics difficulties (MD). The purpose of the systematic review of mathematics intervention syntheses was to identify patterns and gaps in content areas, instructional strategies, effect sizes, and definitions of LD, MLD, and MD. We searched the literature for research syntheses published between 2000 and 2020 and used rigorous inclusion criteria in our literature review process. We evaluated 36 syntheses that included 836 studies with 32,495 participants. We coded each synthesis for variables across seven categories including: publication codes (authors, year, journal), inclusion and exclusion criteria, content area focus, instructional strategy focus, sample size, methodological information, and results. The mean interrater reliability across all codes using this coding protocol was 90.3%. Although each synthesis stated a focus on LD, MLD, or MD, very few students with LD or MLD were included, and authors’ operational definitions of disability and risk varied. Syntheses predominantly focused on word problem solving, fractions, computer- assisted learning, and schema-based instruction. Syntheses reported wide variation in effectiveness, content areas, and instructional strategies. Finally, our results indicate the majority of syntheses report achievement outcomes, but very few syntheses report on other outcomes (e.g., social validity, strategy use). We discuss how the results of this comprehensive review can guide researchers in expanding the knowledge base on mathematics interventions. The systematic review that results from this coding process is accepted for publication and in press at Learning Disabilities Research and Practice.

Addressing the call: A review of food justice courses in Canada and the USA

To address inequality's root causes both within and beyond the food chain, food justice scholars have called for explicit integration of trauma/inequity, land, labour, exchange, and governance into post-secondary education food studies and related fields. This paper explores how instructors of food justice courses (identified by key-word internet search) in Canada and the United States are designing their courses. We collected course syllabi from fifteen institutions to determine key themes related to course content based on weekly topics and readings, resulting in the identification of 16 thematic content areas. We identified seven thematic areas related to course goals (n=49) and eight thematic areas related to learning outcomes (n=123). To clearly distinguish between themes represented in the syllabi, we embedded course goals and learning outcomes into the Understanding by Design instructional design framework, which demonstrates how course goals can be separated into the categories of transfer and meaning, and learning outcomes into declarative and procedural knowledge. We examine content areas in relation to food justice scholarship, focusing on what is present, underrepresented, and absent. In consideration of the Understanding by Design framework, we discuss the need for established goals within which to situate food justice courses, challenges of course scope, value of scaffolding goals and outcomes across programs, and future directions for aligning potential indicators of understanding and identifying effective learning activities. The intended outcome of the paper is to provide current and prospective instructors with greater clarity on how food justice is being taught in order to increase our collective effectiveness in developing student capacities in the field.

Successful Problem Solving in Genetics Varies Based on Question Content

Student and expert problem solving in genetics was characterized by analyzing written step-by-step processes in four different content areas. A few processes that were associated with correct answers differed depending on content area, but reasoning was consistently predictive of successful problem solving across all content areas.

Digital competences in Nordic teacher education

We investigate how digital competences are being integrated into teacher education (TE) across the Nordic countries - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland in this article. We make the case that there has been an expansion of the agenda for digital competences in education. Digital competences have developed from an information and communication technology perspective to also include a critical, social, and creative understanding of digital technologies and computing competences. Methodologically, we make use of doc-ument analyses, qualitative questionnaires, and interviews with participants in the field. With an emphasis on Danish TE, we explore how TE in the Nordic countries has responded to this agenda on policy and institutional levels. We suggest that the Danish approach to the expanded agenda can augment tendencies and challenges in Nordic responses to digitalisation in TE. A key finding is that Nordic countries respond to the expanded agenda in different ways regarding policy regulation, content areas, and how digital com-petences are organised and distributed on a local level. Tendencies and challenges identified across Nordic countries are valuable to ensure the continual development of teachers’ digital competences.

PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A closer look at the reach, use, and potential impact of this updated mobile health app in the general public (Preprint)

BACKGROUND With widespread smartphone ownership, mobile health (mHealth) apps can expand access to evidence-based interventions for mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research to evaluate new features and capabilities in these apps is critical but lags behind app development. The initial release of PTSD Coach, a free self-management app developed by the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DoD), was found to have a positive public health impact. However, major stakeholder-driven updates to the app have yet to be evaluated. OBJECTIVE We sought to characterize the reach, use, and potential impact of PTSD Coach Version 3.1 in the general public. As part of characterizing use, we investigated the use of specific app features, which extended prior work on PTSD Coach. METHODS We examined naturalistic usage of PTSD Coach during a one-year observation period between April 20, 2020 and April 19, 2021, using anonymous in-app event data to generate summary metrics for users. RESULTS During the observation period, PTSD Coach was broadly disseminated to the public, reaching approximately 150,000 total users and 20,000 users per month. On average, users used the app three times across three separate days for 18 minutes total, with steep drop-offs in use over time; a subset of users, however, demonstrated high or sustained engagement. Over 60% of users accessed one or more main content areas of the app (i.e., Manage Symptoms, Track Progress, Learn, or Get Support). Among content areas, features under Manage Symptoms (including coping tools) were accessed most frequently, by over 40% of users. Users who provided initial distress ratings (44.3% of users, n = 56,971) endorsed relatively high momentary distress (M = 6.03, SD = 2.52, on a 0-10 scale), and use of coping tool modestly improved momentary distress (M = -1.38, SD = 1.70). Among users who completed at least one PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5; 13.7% of users, n = 17,589), PTSD symptoms were largely above clinical threshold (M = 49.80, SD = 16.36). Among users who completed at least two PCL-5s (3.9% of users, n = 4,989), PTSD symptoms decreased from the first to last assessment (M = -4.35, SD = 15.29), with approximately a third of these users (n = 1,585) experiencing clinically significant improvements. CONCLUSIONS PTSD Coach continues to fulfill its mission as a public health resource. Version 3.1 compares favorably with Version 1 on most metrics related to reach, use, and potential impact. Although benefits appear modest on an individual basis, the app provides these benefits to a large population. For mHealth apps to reach their full potential in supporting trauma recovery, future research should aim to understand the utility of individual app features and identify strategies to maximize overall effectiveness and engagement.

Analysis of Plant Species in Elementary School Textbooks in South Korea

Background and objective: This study was conducted to find out the status of plant utilization in the current textbooks by analyzing the plants by grade and subject in the national textbooks for all elementary school grades in the 2015 revised curriculum in Korea. Methods: The data collected was analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel to obtain the frequency and ratio of collected plant data and SPSS for Windows 26.0 to determine learning content areas by grade and the R program was used to visualize the learning content areas. Results: A total of 232 species of plants were presented 1,047 times in the national textbooks. Based on an analysis of the plants presented by grade, the species that continued to increase in the lower grades tended to decrease in the fifth and sixth grades, the upper grades of elementary school. As for the number and frequency of plant species by subject, Korean Language had the highest number and frequency of plant species. The types of presentation of plants in textbooks were mainly text, followed by illustrations and photos of plants, which were largely used in first grade textbooks. In addition, as for the area of learning contents in which plants are used, in the lower grades, plants were used in the linguistic domain, and in the upper grades, in the botanical and environmental domains of the natural sciences. Herbaceous plants were presented more than woody plants, and according to an analysis of the plants based on the classification of crops, horticultural crops were presented the most, followed by food crops. Out of horticultural crops, flowering plants were found the most diversity with 63 species, but the plants that appeared most frequently were fruit trees that are commonly encountered in real life. Conclusion: As a result of this study, various plant species were included in elementary school textbooks, but most of them were horticultural crops encountered in real life depending on their use. Nevertheless, plant species with high frequency have continued a similar trend of frequency from the previous curriculums. Therefore, in the next curriculum, plant learning materials should be reflected according to social changes and students' preference for plants.