EVALUATION OF A DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE IN GERIATRIC INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMING

approach are advantageous in a rapidly changing health care system where managed care and integrated services are of increasing importance. A statewide Geriatric Education Center, in cooperation with faculty from multiple disciplines at a state-supported major medical college and other nationally known experts in this area, developed a graduate level distance learning course to enhance awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary teaming. Evaluation results documented an increase in the skills important to effective interdisciplinary team functioning. Greater improvements in attitude toward health care teams occurred among students employed in jobs where they worked primarily with older adults. Pre-training and post-training motivational differences were also found to distinguish students engaged in direct care, geriatric employment. Results are discussed in relation to other evaluation studies in this area and the advances likely to be documented with increased recognition of the benefits in employing geriatric interdisciplinary teams.     

THE FAMILIES WHO CARE PROJECT: MEETING THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND RURAL FAMILY CARE GIVERS DEALING WITH DEMENTIA

Successful educational outreach to address the informational needs of African American and rural families dealing with dementia requires a concerted strategy that fosters trust and conveys a genuine commitment to the targeted communities. The Families Who Care project formed a partnership that included majority and minority institutions of higher education, state and local human services organizations, and two chapters of the Alzheimer's Association. These advisory groups were asked to identify the educational needs of family caregivers and guide the implementation of a train-the-trainer effort in Virginia. The results of strategic planning sessions are detailed, and analyses of evaluation data point to racial and cultural differences in the project's effect on participating family caregivers. Conclusions support increasing the availability of cultural competence training for those who provide services to diverse caregiving families. elders and their families and communities through the development and dissemination of culturally relevant materials emphasizing both the established facts about {Alzheimer's disease and related disorders} and the efficacy of seeking treatment''(Advisory Panel on Alzheimer's Disease, 1992, p. 50). There is a similar need to train family caregivers of rural elders with dementia, whose informational and service needs     

La autonomía como objetivo de la educación: implicaciones de la teoría de Piaget

RESUMEN

Para Piaget el fin de la educación debe ser el desarrollo de la autonomía, tanto en el terreno moral como en el intelectual. Esto significa desarrollar la capacidad de pensar críticamente por sí mismo. Tanto los valores morales como los conocimientos intelectuales no deben ser interiorizados por los niños, sino construídos desde el interior a través de la interacción con el medio. La educación actual refuerza la heteronomía de los niños y les impide desarrollar su autonomía, que es una tendencia natural en el hombre de base biológica. Algunos principios de enseñanza de una educación que tenga como objetivo el desarrollo de la autonomía son: reducir el poder de adulto del profesor; inducir al niño a intercambiar y coordinar sus puntos de vista con otros niños y con el profesor de igual a igual; incitar a los niños a tener una mentalidad activa y a tener confianza en su propia capacidad de descubrir cosas.     

Using scenarios to design complex technology-enhanced learning environments

Science Created by You (SCY) learning environments are computer-based environments in which students learn about science topics in the context of addressing a socio-scientific problem. Along their way to a solution for this problem students produce many types of intermediate products or learning objects. SCY learning environments center the entire learning process around creating, sharing, discussing, and re-using these learning objects. This instructional approach requires dedicated instructional designs, which are supplied in the form of what are called pedagogical scenarios. A SCY pedagogical scenario presents the learning process as an organized assembly of elementary learning processes, each associated with a specific learning object and a tool for creating this learning object. Designing a SCY learning environment is basically a two-step procedure: the first step is to select one of the available scenarios, and the second step is to define the domain content. The SCY technical infrastructure then handles the instantiation of the scenario as a SCY computer-based learning environment. In this article we describe the SCY pedagogical design scenarios and report on our experiences in designing four different SCY learning environments.     

Leaving the Academic Library

A survey was distributed to former academic librarians to determine why they left the field and which career they pursued afterward. Results suggest that former academic librarians are unhappy with administration, image, and salary. Time spent as librarians helped individuals in their new careers.     

Other Ways to Wisdom: Learning Through the Senses Across Cultures

Most of us in the Western world are accustomed to learning about the world primarily through our senses of sight and hearing. Despite a few interesting experiments in the education of the "lower" senses, smell, taste and touch have not been accorded a place in mainstream Western education. These senses tend to be associated either with "savagery" or sensualism. When we look across cultures, however, a different sensory picture emerges, in which each of the senses has a vital role to play in the acquisition of knowledge of the world. The example is taken of the Desana people of the Colombian rainforest. For the Desana the sound of every bird call, the colour and scent of every flower, the taste of every fruit is imbued with a message about the social and cosmic order. The Desana remind us in the modern West that knowledge does not just come from books and computers, it comes from the full-bodied experience and interpretation of our environment.     

Anatomical Sciences Education Vol. 4, Issue 5, 2011 Cover Image

Drawing session from an art and anatomy workshop for medical students at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and art students at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A current trend in medical education is to integrate aspects of the humanities into the medical school curriculum. In this issue of ASE, Dr. Charleen Moore and her colleagues describe an art and anatomy workshop that uses drawing exercises to increase observational skills, to foster the development of humanistic sensitivities, and to emphasize the emotional aspects of dealing with mortality. (Photograph by Penelope Borchers).