Grete Oline Hole

Teaching and Learning Community Work Online: Can E-Learning Promote Competences for Future Practice?

This article presents a case study of an online course in Community Work and the learning outcomes for an international group of students participating in the course. Examples from the process of, and results from the development of virtual-learning material are presented. Finally, the students’ learning experience and competences achieved by the use of innovative learning material and ICT communication tools are presented.

Educating change agents: a qualitative descriptive study of graduates of a Master’s program in evidence-based practice

BackgroundHealth care professionals are expected to build decisions upon evidence. This implies decisions based on the best available, current, valid and relevant evidence, informed by clinical expertise and patient values. A multi-professional master’s program in evidence-based practice was developed and offered. The aims of this study were to explore how students in this program viewed their ability to apply evidence-based practice and their perceptions of what constitute necessary conditions to implement evidence-based practice in health care organizations, one year after graduation.MethodsA qualitative descriptive design was chosen to examine the graduates’ experiences. All students in the first two cohorts of the program were invited to participate. Six focus-group interviews, with a total of 21 participants, and a telephone interview of one participant were conducted. The data was analyzed thematically, using the themes from the interview guide as the starting point.ResultsThe graduates reported that an overall necessary condition for evidence-based practice to occur is the existence of a “readiness for change” both at an individual level and at the organizational level. They described that they gained personal knowledge and skills to be “change-agents” with “self-efficacy, “analytic competence” and “tools” to implement evidence based practice in clinical care. An organizational culture of a “learning organization” was also required, where leaders have an “awareness of evidence- based practice”, and see the need for creating “evidence-based networks”.ConclusionsOne year after graduation the participants saw themselves as “change agents” prepared to improve clinical care within a learning organization. The results of this study provides useful information for facilitating the implementation of EBP both from educational and health care organizational perspectives.

Dynamic Content Manager --- A New Conceptual Model for E-Learning

In this paper a conceptual model for e-learning, which uses elements from learning Objects and Concepts Maps, is introduced. The learning material is divided into atomic units and organized in graphs called Knowledge Map, Learning Map and Student Map. Such a structure provides an easy-to-use navigation interface for existing learning material. Any course content created is stored in a repository for future reference. The model is used to structure a course in geometry for post-graduate teacher students. In teacher education one has to account for the ability to transfer knowledge to students, in addition to the assimilation of knowledge. The established model is therefore discussed in a learning or didactical context.

Study Abroad from Home

Dieser Beitrag konzentriert sich auf die internationale Zusammenarbeit, die im Hinblick auf die Entwicklung von virtuellen Lehrveranstaltungen in der vergleichenden Sozialen Arbeit seit dem Jahr 2004 stattgefunden hat. Von zentraler Bedeutung erwiesen sich in diesem Zusammenhang die Steigerung der E-Learning-Kompetenzen von Dozenten/-innen und Studierenden sowie die Zusammenarbeit in der Lehrplanentwicklung und die Erstellung von virtuellen Lernmaterialien. Aufgezeigt werden im Beitrag auch die besonderen Chancen von virtuellem Austausch und die moglichen Ertrage fur Studierende und Lehrende. Die durch VIRCLASS gesammelten Erfahrungen fuhrten ab 2008 zu einem neuen Projekt, welches darauf abzielt, einen virtuellen Campus fur die Soziale Arbeit in Europa zu schaffen und neue Kurse zu entwickeln. Heute werden von der Vereinigung Online-Kurse fur eine internationale Gruppe von Studierenden angeboten.