Recordkeeping research tools in a multi-disciplinary context for cross-jurisdictional health records systems

An Australian Research Council project, Electronic Health Records: Achieving an Effective and Ethical Legal and Recordkeeping Framework, brought together experts in recordkeeping, privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, torts, medical law and ethics to address concerns with a major networked Australian health record initiative. The research required developing innovative research tools and understandings, which provides an exemplar for methodologies to address multiple-disciplinary concerns and priorities that set a precedent for future inter-disciplinary collaborative projects concerned with the analysis and design of such systems. This article provides an analysis of the research design, methods, tools and findings of the project which operated within a records continuum framework.

Ethical considerations in distance education

Abstract

Most treatments of the concept of interaction in distance education have been based on Moore's (1989) discussion of three types of interaction: learner‐content, learner‐instructor, and learner‐learner. However, these previous discussions have failed to consider the interaction that occurs between the learner and the technologies used to deliver instruction. This article presents the concept of learner‐interface interaction and recommends instructional design strategies that will facilitate students' acquisition of the skills needed to participate effectively in the electronic classroom.     

Impact of severity of autism and intervention time‐input on child outcomes: comparison across several early interventions

In this article, written by Phil Reed and Lisa Osborne, both from Swansea University, the impact of severity of autism, and the time‐input of the treatment programme, on the outcome effectiveness for four early interventions for individuals on the autism spectrum was explored. The four interventions studied were applied behaviour analysis (ABA), special nursery, an adapted portage intervention, and a local authority approach. Sixty‐six children (aged from two years six months to four years) were studied over nine months, in terms of their intellectual, educational and adaptive behavioural functioning. Children undergoing the ABA approach demonstrated greater gains in functioning (especially in educational functioning). There were differences in the way that autism severity and intervention time‐input impacted on the different early intervention programmes. For special nursery, portage and local authority approaches, the gains made by the children were inversely related to the severity of their autism and directly related to time‐input. In contrast, the converse was true for the ABA approach. These data are discussed with respect to their implications for choosing an intervention strategy for a child on the autism spectrum.     

Educational patterns in lifelong learning settings

Education involves interactive processes in which symbolization plays a major role. Poetry promotes a unique approach to symbolization that is characterized by (a) fostering creativity within the realm of meaning, and (b) generating the development of sensibility. Despite these important educative functions, poetry has never been recognized as part of the core curriculum in schools. However, poetry has continuously managed to promulgate its educative functions from the periphery of schools. The focus of this paper is on the aspects of critical thinking the poetry of two Persian poets has fostered not only in the Iranian audience but also in a larger community since the 11th century.