Gary Poole

Harnessing ICT Potential: The Adoption and Analysis of ICT Systems for Enhancing the Student Learning Experience

– This paper aims to examine how effective higher education institutions have been in harnessing the data capture mechanisms from their student information systems, learning management systems and communication tools for improving the student learning experience and informing practitioners of the achievement of specific learning outcomes. The paper seeks to argue that the future of analytics in higher education lies in the development of more comprehensive and integrated systems to value add to the student learning experience., – Literature regarding the trend for greater accountability in higher education is reviewed in terms of its implications for greater “user driven” direction. In addition, IT usage within higher education and contemporary usage of data captured from various higher education systems is examined and compared to common commercial applications to suggest how higher education management and teachers can gain greater understanding of the student cohort and personalise and enhance the learning experience much as commercial entities have done for their client base. A way forward for higher education is proposed., – If the multiple means that students engage with university systems are considered, it is possible to track individual activity throughout the entire student life cycle – from initial admission, through course progression and finally graduation and employment transitions. The combined data captured by various systems builds a detailed picture of the activities students, instructors, service areas and the institution as a whole undertake and can be used to improve relevance, efficiency and effectiveness in a higher education institution., – The paper outlines how academic analytics can be used to better inform institutions about their students learning support needs. The paper provides examples of IT automation that may allow for student user‐information to be translated into a personalised and semi‐automated support system for students.

Ten‐year reflections on mentoring SoTL research in a research‐intensive university

This study focuses on an examination of mentoring SoTL research from the 10‐year implementation of an 8‐month mixed‐mode international faculty certificate program on SoTL leadership at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Data suggest that faculty members, especially those unfamiliar with social science methodologies, experienced significant research challenges when investigating SoTL in complex institutional/curricula/classroom settings. Effective mentoring for SoTL, as part of a community of practice, influenced positive research outcomes. For example, through a community of practice, SoTL mentors performed professional, facilitation and agency roles to engage individual faculty members in SoTL research. A community of SoTL researchers helped to address key epistemological, methodological and ethical challenges faced by individual faculty members when conducting SoTL research in diverse disciplinary contexts. Cette étude porte sur le mentorat de la recherche SoTL débutant dès la mise en œuvre, il y a 10 ans, d’un certificat international en mode mixte portant sur le leadership SoTL à la University of British Columbia, au Canada. Les données indiquent que les enseignants, particulièrement ceux n’étant pas familiers avec les méthodologies provenant du domaine des sciences sociales, ont fait face à des défis considérables en matière de recherche alors qu’ils effectuaient des recherches de type SoTL dans des environnements institutionnels/curriculaires/de classe complexes. Un mentorat efficace pour le SoTL, s’inscrivant dans une communauté de pratique, a mené à des résultats de recherche positifs. A titre d’exemple, par l’entremise d’une communauté de pratique, les mentors SoTL ont joué des rôles professionnels, de facilitation et de motivation de façon à impliquer, sur une base individuelle, des enseignants dans des projets de recherche SoTL. Une communauté de chercheurs SoTL a contribué à affronter les principaux défis épistémologiques, méthodologiques et éthiques auxquels faisaient face les enseignants lors de leurs recherches SoTL au sein de divers contextes disciplinaires.

Nurturing social responsibility through community service-learning: Lessons learned from a pilot project

Background: Community service-learning (CSL) has been proposed as one way to enrich medical and dental students’ sense of social responsibility toward people who are marginalized in society. Aim: We developed and implemented a new CSL option in the integrated medical/dental curriculum and assessed its educational impact. Methods: Focus groups, individual open-ended interviews, and a survey were used to assess dental students’, faculty tutors’ and community partners’ experiences with CSL. Results: CSL enabled a deeper appreciation for the vulnerabilities that people who are marginalized experience; students gained a greater insight into the social determinants of health and the related importance of community engagement; and they developed useful skills in health promotion project planning, implementation and evaluation. Community partners and faculty tutors indicated that equal partnership, greater collaboration, and a participatory approach to course development are essential to sustainability in CSL. Conclusions: CSL can play an important role in nurturing a purposeful sense of social responsibility among future practitioners. Our study enabled the implementation of an innovative longitudinal course (professionalism and community service) in all 4 years of the dental curriculum.

Social support for patients with prostate cancer: The effect of support groups

Abstract Questionnaires were administered to 234 patients with prostate cancer (142 attended support groups, 92 did not) to determine their sources of emotional, informational, and practical support and the relationship between their satisfaction with this support and their self-reports of coping and quality of life. Attenders were significantly more likely to cite other patients as sources of all three types of support. Furthermore, attenders cited fellow patients as their most helpful source of informational support, whereas nonattenders cited medical staff. Satisfaction with social support was significantly correlated with coping and quality of life. No significant differences were found between attenders and nonattenders regarding coping, quality of life, or satisfaction with the three types of support. The results are interpreted according to individual differences in how the patients satisfied their needs for support.

HIV vaccine preparedness studies in the non-organization for economic co-operation and development (non-OECD) countries

Abstract HIV vaccine development remains an urgent priority. Vaccine preparedness studies to assess feasibility are an important precursor to HIV vaccine trials. Studies such as these have taken place in many non-Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (non-OECD) countries using diverse cohorts. This article is a systematic review of retention rates and willingness to participate (WTP) in HIV vaccine trials. Studies took place in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, India, Russia, Thailand, and several sub-Saharan African countries. Studies generally reported recruitment of high-risk individuals. Of 33 studies we identified, retention was assessed in 16 studies, and the 12-month retention ranged from 77 to 85%. Willingness to participate was assessed in 21 studies. Willingness to participate ranged from 23 to 100%, and increased knowledge was associated with an increased WTP. Vaccine preparedness studies have taken place using diverse cohorts in the non-OECD countries. In general, retention rates and WTP have been adequate to conduct HIV vaccine trials. Educational programs to improve knowledge about HIV vaccines may contribute to better follow-up and an increased WTP in these countries.

A Learning‐centred Faculty Certificate Programme on University Teaching

Learning‐centred education (LCE) has the potential to meet the diverse needs and circumstances of a multidisciplinary faculty cohort enrolled in a certificate programme on teaching and learning by engaging participants in a learning community, and by drawing upon a wide range of appropriate teaching strategies to facilitate learning and development of student abilities. Action research design was employed to examine the theory‐practice relationship of LCE within the UBC Faculty Certificate Programme on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Research data, both quantitative and qualitative, collected over a 12‐month period, suggest that a multidisciplinary faculty cohort exhibits diverse learning styles, and that individual faculty members are at different stages in developing a scholarly approach to teaching and learning. Furthermore, data suggest that LCE can be used to organise a faculty certificate programme around teaching and learning issues relevant to university faculty and that some structuring of the LCE environment can assist in the attainment of course learning outcomes while engaging faculty as active participants in their personal developmental process.

Motivators of enrolment in HIV vaccine trials: a review of HIV vaccine preparedness studies

Abstract HIV vaccine preparedness studies (VPS) are important precursors to HIV vaccine trials. As well, they contribute to an understanding of motivators and barriers for participation in hypothetical HIV vaccine trials. Motivators can take the form of altruism and a desire for social benefits. Perceived personal benefits, including psychological, personal, and financial well-being, may also motivate participation. The authors performed a systematic review of HIV VPS using the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews, Medline, PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar. The authors independently searched the literature for individual HIV VPS that examined motivators of participation in a hypothetical HIV vaccine trial, using the same search strategy. As the denominators employed in the literature varied across studies, the denominators were standardized to the number of respondents per survey item, regardless of their willingness to participate (WTP) in an HIV vaccine trial. The authors retrieved eight studies on social benefits (i.e., altruism) and 11 studies on personal benefits conducted in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, as well as 19 studies on social benefits and 20 studies on personal benefits in the non-OECD countries. Various different forms of altruism were found to be the major motivators for participation in an HIV vaccine trial in both the OECD and the non-OECD countries. In a large number of studies, protection from HIV was cited as a personal motivator for participation in a hypothetical HIV vaccine trial in the OECD and the non-OECD countries. Knowledge of motivators can inform and target recruitment for HIV vaccine trials, although it must be remembered that hypothetical motivators may not always translate into motivators in an actual vaccine trial.

Brief Report: Cognitive Functioning and Academic Achievement in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Pain

OBJECTIVE To examine the patterns of cognitive functioning and academic achievement in children and adolescents with chronic pain attending a tertiary-care interdisciplinary pain service. METHODS The standardized psychoeducational testing results of 57 children and adolescents with chronic pain aged 8-18 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS On average, participants scored higher in general intelligence, verbal ability, nonverbal reasoning, word reading, and math reasoning than the general population. The level of academic achievement for most participants was consistent with their intellectual ability. CONCLUSIONS In this clinical sample with complex, disabling pain, the group mean data do not indicate overall cognitive impairment, or a single atypical achievement pattern. Future research will need to look beyond cognitive and achievement scores to explore the links between school functioning and chronic pain in children.

Cognitive factors and willingness to participate in an HIV vaccine trial among HIV-negative injection drug users.

This cross-sectional study involving a cohort of injection drug users (IDU) examined the relationship between cognitive factors (HIV treatment optimism, self-efficacy and knowledge of vaccine trial concepts) as well as risk factors for seroconversion, and willingness to participate (WTP) in a preventive phase 3 HIV vaccine trial. Willingness to participate overall was 56%. In a multivariate analysis, for a 20-unit increase in a 100-point composite scale, self-efficacy was positively related to WTP (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=1.95, 95% CI=1.40-2.70). HIV treatment optimism and knowledge of vaccine trial concepts were unrelated to WTP. Aboriginal ethnicity (AOR=3.47, 95% CI=1.68-7.18) and a higher educational level (>or=high school) (AOR=1.96, 95% CI=1.07-3.59) were positively related to WTP. This study provides information on WTP for an HIV vaccine trial. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

Innovation in collaborative health research training: the role of active learning.

This paper describes and discusses the essential pedagogical elements of the Partnering in Community Health Research (PCHR) program, which was designed to address the training needs of researchers who participate in collaborative, interdisciplinary health research. These elements were intended to foster specific skills that helped learners develop research partnerships featuring knowledge, capabilities, values and attitudes needed for successful research projects. By establishing research teams called “clusters”, PCHR provided research training and experience for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, as well as for community health workers and professionals. Pedagogical elements relied on active learning approaches such as inquiry-based and experience-based learning. Links between these elements and learning approaches are explained. Through their work in cluster-based applied research projects, the development of learning plans, and cross-cluster learning events, trainees acquired collaborative research competencies that were valuable, relevant and theoretically informed.