Focus on nursing point-of-care tools: application of a new evaluation rubric

Objective:Point-of-care tools (PoCTs) provide evidence-based information on patient care and procedures at the time of need. Registered nurses have unique practice needs, and many PoCTs are marketed to support their practice. However, there is little reported evidence in the literature about evaluating nursing-focused PoCTsCase Presentation:The investigators developed a rubric containing evaluation criteria based on content, coverage of nursing topics, transparency of the evidence, user perception, and customization of PoCTs for supporting nursing practice. The investigators selected five PoCTs cited in the literature and of interest to local nursing leadership: ClinicalKey for Nursing, DynaMed, Lippincott''s Advisor and Procedures, Nursing Reference Center Plus, and UpToDate. Application of the rubric found Lippincott had the highest coverage of diagnoses, while ClinicalKey for Nursing had strong content focused on interventions and outcomes. Nursing Reference Center Plus provided the most well-rounded coverage of nursing terminology and topics. DynaMed and UpToDate were more transparent with indicating conflict of interest, but both had lower coverage of nursing terminology, content, and care processes.Conclusion:None of the five PoCTs strongly met all of the evaluated criteria. The rubric developed for this study highlights each PoCT''s strengths and weaknesses that can then be used to inform the decision-making process based on priorities and budget. The investigators recommend licensing a nursing PoCT and a PoCT like DynaMed or UpToDate to provide comprehensive, evidence-based, patient care coverage and to meet the diverse information needs of nurses.     

Multilevel Factors Affecting College Students’ Perceived Knowledge Transferability: From the Perspective of Self-Determination Theory

Promoting students’ ability to transfer or apply their knowledge and skills to real-life situations is critical in higher education. The current study was designed to test the likelihood that the constructs based on self-determination theory (SDT) framework help understand college students’ perceived knowledge transferability. A total of 3783 undergraduates from 301 classes participated in this study. The results of a series of multilevel modeling analyses indicated that (a) competence satisfaction and identification were the most salient factors influencing students’ perceived knowledge transferability; (b) the SDT-related variables together explained 64.2% of the between-student variance in perceived knowledge transferability; (c) after controlling for student-level covariates and SDT-related variables, 7.9% of the variance in perceived knowledge transferability was caused by between-class differences, and 19.6% of it could be explained by course fields and course levels. Our results, which provide evidence of multilevel factors influencing college students’ perceived knowledge transferability, have implications for promoting transfer in higher education.

     

Online Plagiarism Training Falls Short in Biology Classrooms

Online plagiarism tutorials are increasingly popular in higher education, as faculty and staff try to curb the plagiarism epidemic. Yet no research has validated the efficacy of such tools in minimizing plagiarism in the sciences. Our study compared three plagiarism-avoidance training regimens (i.e., no training, online tutorial, or homework assignment) and their impacts on students’ ability to accurately discriminate plagiarism from text that is properly quoted, paraphrased, and attributed. Using pre- and postsurveys of 173 undergraduate students in three general ecology courses, we found that students given the homework assignment had far greater success in identifying plagiarism or the lack thereof compared with students given no training. In general, students trained with the homework assignment more successfully identified plagiarism than did students trained with the online tutorial. We also found that the summative assessment associated with the plagiarism-avoidance training formats (i.e., homework grade and online tutorial assessment score) did not correlate with student improvement on surveys through time.     

Investigating the Role of Problem Severity and Channel Publicness on the Sophistication of Support-Seeking Messages on Social Network Sites: A Replication Study

Oh and LaRose (2016) contended that problem severity and channel publicness shape support seekers’ goals, time spent composing messages, and the sophistication of those messages. The current study seeks to replicate and extend Oh and LaRose’s study to produce a more accurate understanding of the factors that influence the sophistication of support-seeking messages online. Support seekers’ goals varied according to the severity of a stressor and the publicness of a channel, and the amount of time people spent composing a message influenced its sophistication. We extend the original study by examining associations that were not initially tested. Time spent composing messages mediated the influence of problem severity on the quality of people’s messages, and this effect was moderated by channel publicness.     

The Larger Project within Fantasy Literature: the Lewis/Pullman Divide

This article deals with Philip Pullman's insistence on the importance of the creative power of stories in education and the need for children to think deeper about texts than the surface plot; the suitability for fantasy literature to be used for this ‘larger project’ and the current power of children's fantasy, leading to Pullman's winning of the Whitbread Prize; and Pullman's vehement rejection of links between His Dark Materials and C.S. Lewis's Narnia books. Both series are influenced by Paradise Lost but read from their own religious position: Lewis is the conservative traditionalist and Pullman the liberal reformer. In both, Christian allegory is used to encourage deeper readings of the works. Ultimately, Pullman's criticism of Narnia draws attention to similarities between the two series and the power of both to provoke challenging questions rather than straightforward answers.     

Discrepant SAT Critical Reading and Writing Scores: Implications for College Performance

Despite the similarities that researchers note between the cognitive processes and knowledge involved in reading and writing, there are students who are much stronger readers than writers and those who are much stronger writers than readers. The addition of the writing section to the SAT provides an opportunity to examine whether certain groups of students are more likely to exhibit stronger performance in reading versus writing and the academic consequences of this discrepant performance. Results of this study, based on hierarchical linear models of student performance, showed that even after controlling for relevant student characteristics and prior academic performance, an SAT critical reading–writing discrepancy had a small effect on 1st-year grade point average as well as English course grades in college. Specifically, students who had relatively higher writing scores as compared to their critical reading scores earned higher grades in their 1st year of college as well as in their 1st-year English course(s).     

Invisible and Indispensable: Parttime Teachers in California Community Colleges

Abstract

Although parttime instructors constitute a substantial portion—often a majority—of community college faculties, they are accorded a low status on campus, with less than half the salary and none of the benefits of fulltime faculty members. This study points up a number of misconceptions that administrators have been using to justify discriminatory treatment of parttime teachers.     

Technology User Groups and Early Childhood Education: A Preliminary Study

This article presents a preliminary examination of the potential of Technology User Groups as a professional development venue for early childhood education professionals in developing operational and functional competence in using hardware and software components of a Technology toolkit. Technology user groups are composed of varying numbers of participants having an interest in technology, and are led by one or more skilled facilitators who meet with participants across time to help them acquire and demonstrate new technology skill sets. A series of these groups were conducted with seven early education professionals serving young preschool children who were at risk or who had disabilities. The impact of these technology user groups was examined using self-reports subsequent to individual participation. Specific data were collected regarding the types of technologies that had been used, and the types of classroom instructional products that had been created and implemented in classrooms using the technologies. A discussion of the value of technology user groups is presented.