Nursing Care Preferences among Filipino Elderly: A Conjoint Analysis

While nursing care has been investigated in the context of patient satisfaction, health care delivery, nursing skill, and patient centered care, elderly patients’ nursing care preferences have not been fully explored nor identified from the lens of utility analysis. This study is a purposive sample of 300 Filipino geriatric patients from the regions of Calabarzon and National Capital Region (NCR) participated and were asked to rank cards from 1 to 12 relative to the following five attributes: waiting response time, nursing uniform, empathetic capacity through time spent and eye contact, and nursing skill based on their preferences. Results of conjoint analysis via Sawtooth Software 18 indicated that nurse attire was the most important attribute (57.26%) while empathetic capacity through eye contact was least important to Filipino elderly (2.27%). Significant differences were found in the respondents’ profile. Among the given attributes, nursing uniform had the most impact in determining an elderly choice of services. Conversely, eye contact had minimal importance. In the health care setting, utilization of this study would allow nursing care to refocus nursing care delivery to maximize satisfaction and hospital loyalty. Future research may explore the cultural and regional differences in terms of preferences among the elderly.     

The value of literacy practices

The concepts of literacy events and practices have received considerable attention in educational research and policy. In comparison, the question of value, that is, ‘which literacy practices do people most value?’ has been neglected. With the current trend of cross-cultural adult literacy assessment, it is increasingly important to recognise locally valued literacy practices. In this paper we argue that measuring preferences and weighting of literacy practices provides an empirical and democratic basis for decisions in literacy assessment and curriculum development and could inform rapid educational adaptation to changes in the literacy environment. The paper examines the methodological basis for investigating literacy values and its potential to inform cross-cultural literacy assessments. The argument is illustrated with primary data from Mozambique. The correlation between individual values and respondents’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics is explored.     

Hip-hop as a resource for understanding the urban context A review of Christopher Edmin’s: Science education for the hip-hop generation, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2010

This review explores Edmin’s “Science education for the hip-hop generation” by documenting how he frames hip-hop as a means to access urban student culture. He argues that hip-hop is more than a mere music genre, but rather a culture that provides young people with ways of connecting to the world. Two primary ideas emerged as central to his work. First, he contends that students develop communal relationships and collective identities based on the common experiences expressed in hip-hop. Second, he identifies how the conscious recognition of institutional oppression serves a central feature in urban schools. Emdin’s rich, and personal call for a greater understanding of hip-hop culture provides the text with an unmatched strength. He skillfully uses personal narratives from his own experience as well as quotes and references from hip-hop songs to make the nuances of hip hop transparent to science educators. Conversely, the limitation of this text is found in its unfulfilled promise to provide pragmatic examples of how to engage in a hip-hop based science education. Emdin’s work is ultimately valuable as it extends our current knowledge about urban students and hip-hop in meaningful ways.     

Who pays for journal publishing? The user’s point of view

Scientists are users of science journals in two senses—to enter their own work and to learn of others—but are rarely the direct purchaser of them. The health of research is inextricably bound up with the learned journal. Muck is contributed by scientists to their journals in invisible ways, such as refereeing and editing. The creation of an archive of information is the primary service the journal supplies. Libraries pay for its entry into the system; research organizations and university faculties must recognize that this cost has to be met. The views expressed here are those of a publisher as well as of a user.     

Improving Spoken and Written English: From research to practice

This paper will argue that skills development need be neither low-level nor mechanistic, but can be concurrent with, rather than detracting from, any typical English studies curriculum. It contextualises an innovative approach to teaching and learning, which has been developed at Anglia Polytechnic University over 3 years (January 1997 to December 1999). In particular, it describes a practical course entitled Varieties of Speaking and Writing, which aims to raise the standard of students' language awareness and use through the study of a variety of extracts from literary and non-literary writing. It addresses some fundamental pedagogical issues: how to improve undergraduate writing skills; how to train and assess undergraduates' speaking skills; and how to ensure that the acquisition of these advanced skills is relevant and enjoyable to undergraduates studying English Literature. Skills development viewed this way embraces fundamentally sound pedagogical principles, which are concerned with encouraging student autonomy and an appetite for life-long learning.     

A Portable Computer Loan Scheme: towards new resourcing strategies in a Faculty of Education

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a small scale research project to pilot the loan of portable computers to students and staff for use on or off‐campus. The purpose of the research is to identify organisational procedures and associated problems, find out how these portable computers are used, and whether or not they are an effective and efficient use of resources. Take‐up of the scheme in its first phase indicates popularity with students and positive outcomes. Very high use was recorded and many students report that use in their own time and in the atmosphere of their own surroundings encourages greater self‐confidence in information technology. They also consider that access to the portables has proved significant, with the quality of their work enriched. Such experiences raise important questions about the organisation of computing facilities and focus issues beyond the viability and economics of portable computer loan schemes. Within the outcomes of the project, there should be useful data pointing to the need to develop imaginative policies and funding models whereby each student can own or have ready access to their own personal computer. An important outcome of this could be the increased use of information technology by initial teacher education students, resulting in a corresponding increase in the transference of confidence, and use of information technology by children and other teachers in school.     

The trend of reading standards re‐assessed

For over a century there have been frequent criticisms of the standard of educational attainment in England and Wales and, in many instances, it has been alleged that a decline has taken place. In contrast, the little factual evidence that is available indicates a considerable improvement over this period, but a reversal of the trend may have occurred between the national reading surveys of 1961 and 1971. Findings from the Medical Research Council's National Survey of Health and Development suggest that figures from the 1961 national reading survey overestimated the standard of reading of 15‐year‐olds and that there was no significant decline during the 1960s. Demands for changes in educational policy and practice, which rest on the presumption of falling standards, have little justification.