Jannes Eshuis

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Personalised Recommender Systems in Learning Networks

In view of the professional development concept, learning can no longer be considered to be part of childhood and youth alone, but is becoming a lifelong achievement. Professional development no longer remains limited to the context of a regular school or university campus, but is becoming integrated into workplace learning and personal development, where formal and informal learning activities are intertwined. Professionals find themselves placed at centre-stage, which means that no longer a teacher or teaching institute is responsible for the learning process but that they now are responsible for their own learning processes (Longworth 2003; Shuell 1992). Taking up on this responsibility, professionals need to become self-directed (Brockett and Hiemstra 1991), and might be performing different learning activities in different contexts at the same time. On the one hand learners are becoming free to decide what, when, where and how they want to learn, and on the other hand they are forced to be responsible for their own professional competence development. Open image in new window

A model for new linkages for prior learning assessment

Kalz, M., Van Bruggen, J., Giesbers, B., Eshuis, J., Waterink, W., & Koper, R. (2008). A Model for New Linkages for Prior Learning Assessment. Campus Wide Information Systems, 25(4), 233-243. [See also http://hdl.handle.net/1820/1679 ]

Awareness Can Change a Society: The Link Between Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence in the Netherlands

There is a growing awareness of the relationship between animal abuse and domestic violence. In the Netherlands, the topic was unknown until research in 2009 (Enders-Slegers & Jansen) revealed that 60 % of the interviewed veterinarians for pet animals (N = 108) in the Netherlands noticed animal abuse in their practices. In one-third of the cases they supposed or were sure that other forms of violence occurred in the family as well (child abuse, partner abuse). A second research project (Garnier and Enders-Slegers, Huiselijk geweld en dierenmishandeling in Nederland. Rapport Kadera aanpak huiselijk geweld. Retrieved September 10, 2015, from http://www.kadera.nl, 2012) with female pet owners in the Dutch general population (N = 111) and with female pet owners in women’s shelters (N = 51) affirmed these findings. The results show that animal cruelty occurs significantly more often among battered women compared to women in the general population. One-third of the women reported that the partner (or ex-partner) threatened to hurt the pet and 55 % reported that the partner had hurt or killed the pet. The research findings of both studies are discussed in this chapter, as are the social developments following upon the growing awareness in Dutch society of this relationship of violence. Such developments include, for instance, the formal obligation of veterinarians to report animal abuse, the development of foster care for animals from violent families and animal police, and the embedding of “animal abuse” in risk assessment questionnaires.

Anthrozoology in the Netherlands: Connecting Science and Practice

Since the first serendipitous findings on the beneficial effects of animals in therapeutic settings, researchers have been investigating the contribution of pets to the quality of life of their owners, and their positive influence on the physical, psychological and social aspects of people’s lives. Animal-assisted interventions (AAI)—that is, any kind of therapy, coaching, counseling or educational program, or other activity undertaken with the aid of animals (IAHAIO, IAHAIO white paper. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.iahaio.org, 2014)—are therefore increasingly used in healthcare, particularly in hospitals and nursing homes, as well as in psychiatric institutions and supported living facilities. AAI can be found in several different disciplines and settings, including psychology, psychiatry, nursing care, speech therapy, physiotherapy, as well as in assistance and coaching trajectories (Banman, Journal of Pastoral Care, 49, 274–278, 1995; Bardill and Hutchinson, Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 10(1), 17–24, 1997; Fine, Handbook on animal-assisted therapy: Foundations and guidelines for animal-assisted interventions (4 ed.). London: Academic Press, 2015). Although AAI are recognized across the world, it is worth noting that local ethical and legal regulations, as well as awareness of the science behind AAI, vary from country to country. The cooperation between practitioners and scholars seems inevitable; however, it is yet to take place in many societies. This chapter discusses the example of the Netherlands, where the establishment of the community of practitioners and academics from the field of Anthrozoology has recently taken place and its development is in progress.

A Validation Scenario for a Placement Service in Learning Networks

In this chapter we describe a scenario for the validation of a placement service in Learning Networks. In Chap. 12 of this volume we described placement in Learning Networks as a case of Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL). We explained that placement in Learning Networks cannot assume the availability of data or metadata that allow for a direct or indirect coupling of data, such as competence descriptions, to the outcomes of learning activities. Even though such data may be available, their semantics are unknown, since there is no controlled vocabulary in Learning Networks. Open image in new window .