Competencies in Geriatric Nursing: Empirical Evidence from a Computer-Based Large-Scale Assessment Calibration Study

Valid and reliable standardized assessment of nursing competencies is needed to monitor the quality of vocational education and training (VET) in nursing and evaluate learning outcomes for care work trainees with increasingly heterogeneous learning backgrounds. To date, however, the modeling of professional competencies has not yet evolved into procedures that would meet large-scale assessment (LSA) standards in VET. To empirically test a proposed structural model for client-directed nursing competence and to estimate psychometric properties of a newly developed video- and computer-based test (CBT) to inform subsequent LSA in nursing VET, 402 final-year nursing students from 24 German schools responded to a 77 item CBT. Multi-dimensional IRT modeling was employed to test the subdomain structure and estimate students’ competencies in geriatric nursing. The standardized CBT measures nursing students’ client-directed care competence with acceptable precision (WLE?=?0.76) and does so across the whole range of observed proficiency levels. Structural validity was supported by substantive contributions of test items from all proposed process-oriented subdomains, practice field scenarios, as well as items with and without reference to emotional demands. However, it was not possible to empirically separate the diagnostic, practical or communicative subdomains, probably reflecting parallel, recursive and hierarchical care processes in complex care situations. On average, students in our sample attained 45 % of the maximum test score so it is a demanding assessment of nursing competence. An extensively piloted, valid and reliable CBT is suggested to assess nursing students’ client-directed care competencies at the end of the third year of the VET program.     

Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Their Emotional State,Relationships with Parents,Challenges, and Opportunities During the Early Stage of the Pandemic

Early Childhood Education Journal - This article presents a study about the impact of COVID-19 on childcare center educators in Quebec (Canada). Regulated childcare services were closed...     

Physics Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Geometric Optics: Revisited Analysis

Journal of Science Education and Technology - In this study, we used a research tool for measuring students’ conceptual understanding in optics, the Geometrical Optics Conceptual...     

Family-School Cooperation: An Online Survey of Parents and Teachers of Young Children in Spain

Early Childhood Education Journal - Given the closure of schools due to the global confinement resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, family-school cooperation has become a priority in most...     

Educational Interventions to Improve Dental Anatomy Carving Ability of Dental Students: A Systematic Review

This systematic review aimed to identify the level of impact of educational strategies for teaching tooth carving on the carving ability of undergraduate dental students. The PubMed-NCBI, Cochrane-CENTRAL, LILACS, Ibecs, BBO, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in May 2019, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two-arm non-randomized studies of interventions (NRSI) addressing educational interventions toward the dental carving of undergraduate students. Studies from the year 2000 until the search date, written in English, Portuguese, and Spanish were included. Study screening and data extraction were performed in duplicate and blinded. The data were presented narratively, considering the dental carving ability of students the primary outcome. The risk of bias was assessed using the RoB tool 2.0 and ROBINS-I, and the level of evidence was determined with GRADE. Of 3,574 studies, 6 were included, with 3 RCTs and 3 NRSIs. Very low level of evidence was provided from the NRSIs that flipped classroom (1 study; n = 140) and a student-driven revised module (1 study; n = 264) improved the carving ability of students. Additionally, there was moderate evidence of online complementary material (1 RCT; n = 30) and reinforcement class improving the carving ability of students (1 RCT; n = 29). The replacement of traditional classes by an instructional DVD (1 RCT; n = 73) and assessment of carving projects through digital systems (1 NRSI; n = 79) did not enhance the carving ability of students. Study design, risk of bias, and imprecision downgraded the level of evidence. There was a very low to moderate evidence on the effectiveness of student-driven educational approaches and complementary classes of dental anatomy in improving the dental carving ability of students.     

Early tracking and different types of inequalities in achievement: difference-in-differences evidence from 20 years of large-scale assessments

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Research to date on the effects of between-school tracking on inequalities in achievement and on performance has been inconclusive. A...     

Perception of career barriers: The importance of gender and ethnic variables

Differences of gender and ethnicity were examined in terms of the perception of barriers to career development. The Perception of Career Barriers Inventory (IPBC) was administered to a sample of 457 ninth grade students in Portuguese state schools. Gender differences were found, with girls generally scoring higher and in particular on some specific scales. African ethnic participants score higher than Portuguese participants across all the IPBC scales. These findings are more obvious with African participants born in Africa than with those born in Portugal. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

The illusion of scholastic incompetence and peer acceptance in primary school

This paper reports results from two studies aimed at examining whether perception of social acceptance and actual social acceptance differ according to the presence of an illusion of scholastic incompetence. Results of both studies conducted in Belgium and in Quebec (respectively 179 and 543 participants) show that children’s illusion of scholastic incompetence is linked to a negative perception of social acceptance. However, according to the evaluation by peers, social acceptance of those children is similar to the others. This suggests a generalization of the negative bias of self-evaluation to both academic and social domains. The discussion proposes further variables that could improve the understanding of the origin of the illusion of incompetence.     

When learning from animations is more successful than learning from static pictures: learning the specifics of change

The results of three meta-analyses show that the effectiveness of learning from animations, when compared to learning from static pictures, is rather limited. A recent re-analysis of one of these meta-analyses, however, supports that learning from animations is considerably more effective than learning from static pictures if the specifics of the displayed changes need to be learned. In order to further validate this finding as well as to clarify the educational strengths and weaknesses of animations and static pictures, an experimental study with three groups was conducted. Overall, 88 university students participated in the study. One group of learners (n?=?30) watched a single picture of a gear mechanism, one group of learners (n?=?28) watched four pictures, and one group of learners (n?=?30) watched an animation. All groups had to identify specific motions and spatial arrangements covered by the gear mechanism. While learners who watched the animation exhibited the best performance with respect to the identification of motions, learners who watched the pictures showed the best performance with respect to the identification of spatial arrangements. The effect sizes are large. The results of the study help to clarify when animations and when static pictures are most suitable for learning.

     

The viralization of online education: Learning beyond the time of the coronavirus

PROSPECTS - In response to the global crisis resulted from the spread of the coronavirus in Brazil, many schools and universities suspended face-to-face classes and began to offer remote classes...