Pedagogy of Teaching Value Management in Postgraduate Construction and Property Program

As value management (VM) has been increasingly applied to enhance value in public construction projects, the core subject entitled “Value Management for Construction and Property” is being offered to postgraduate students in the Department of Building and Real Estate at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Under the new outcome-based curriculum, the learning outcomes, pedagogy of teaching VM, and activities of the VM workshops for the subject are described in this paper. The results of a questionnaire survey of the students’ feedback on the performance of the workshops for the academic year 2007–2008 are presented and discussed. Students believed that value management workshops are essential in the curriculum. They expressed that it was a valuable experience to participate in the VM workshop which enabled them to have a better understanding of the subject. Some improvement is also recommended for future organization and management of workshops based on the lessons learned in these workshops.     

Behaviorally specific inhibition of sham feeding by amylin

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To present a model for a series of workshops designed to improve the ability of oncology nurses to understand and fulfill culturally based needs of racially and ethnically diverse patients with cancer. DATA SOURCES: Published literature and author experience. DATA SYNTHESIS: Most nurses work with patients from a variety of ethnic or cultural backgrounds yet know little of how this affects patients' cancer experiences. Four workshops were presented that focused on the most common ethnic groups in the geographic area. A content template was developed that worked well to ensure complete topic coverage. CONCLUSIONS: Workshops were well-received. Nurses identified barriers to care and interventions that are appropriate for diverse patient populations. The follow-up survey indicated that some anticipated program outcomes may not be feasible if attendees do not regularly work with target populations. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: The model can be modified for use in any geographic area. Such workshops should be repeated at regular intervals.     

Sensitivity-oriented versus didactically oriented in-service counselor training.

Compared the effectiveness of 2 different in-service training workshops for counselors. 18 male and 15 female secondary school counselors with a mean age of 37.3 yrs and mean counseling experience of 6.3 yrs served as Ss. 22 Ss were given a 16-hr Carkhuff-type refresher in facilitative interpersonal process plus 8 hrs either of sensitivity experiences or traditional didactic learning. 11 volunteers whose schedules could not be accommodated served as controls. Pre-post criteria of relationship skill were assessed in actual and simulated interviews. Results demonstrate the usefulness of Carkhuff-based training supplemented by group encounter as a professional-skills enhancer, and underscored the transferability of sensitivity training gains to counseling. It is concluded that the interpersonal learning that occurs in a sensitivity context may be a more valuable resource in real-life counseling situations than the learning effected by didactic materials. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Participatory and Collaborative Learning with TELD Courseware Engine

TELD stands for “Teaching by Examples and Learning by Doing.” It unifies what have been widely known as case method (CM), problem-based learning (PBL), and project-based learning (PBL) in business, medical, and engineering education, respectively. Two key premises of successful TELD are student participation and collaboration. It is usually resource intensive to accomplish these two premises. The number of teachers/tutors required to facilitate seminars and workshops within small groups is obviously greater than that to give formal lectures to large classes. This requirement restricts the adoption of the TELD method in educational establishments where resources are increasingly stretched already. The TELD courseware engine has been developed with an intention to overcome this limitation. A variety of facilities are provided for the groups and teams to plan their learning activities, to indicate the roles and responsibilities of team members, and to indicate when and what individual members should do and how they should integrate their findings through teamwork in the form of workshops or meetings. This paper discusses and explains these online TELD facilities for enabling student involvement and collaboration.     

Do workshops make a difference in improving the capability of physicians?

Continuing medical education (CME) activities have been shown to improve the capability and capacity of physicians for appropriate management of their patients. However, doubts have been raised about the role of workshops and seminars. This study is an attempt to find out whether workshops can improve the knowledge (capability) of practicing physician. Participants of 10 randomly selected workshops conducted in whole of Sindh were included for this study. A pre-test followed by post-test methodology used for 214 participants demonstrated that physicians' knowledge increased for some of the basic facts after attending the workshop. However, when their knowledge was assessed with some problem-solving approach, no significant (P < 0.05) change could be noted. It is recommended that workshops should be designed and conducted more carefully. Besides, some innovative approaches for CME should be compared with 'workshops' approach to determine their effectiveness.     

Developing a computer workshop to facilitate computer skills and minimize anxiety for early childhood educators.

Early childhood educators (n=133) were assigned to 1 of 3 instructional conditions (direct, guided discovery, or no-exposure control) to assess the impact of computer workshops on their level of computer anxiety, computer knowledge, and comfort with computer technology. Groups were matched for computer experience and anxiety, early childhood education (ECE) experience, and ECE center. The direct and guided discovery groups attended a 3-hr hands-on workshop covering hardware, software, and Internet material. Immediately after the workshops, computer anxiety was lower and comfort with computer technology increased. Six months later, the control group had reduced computer anxiety, but the other groups maintained greater knowledge and comfort. Direct instruction reduced computer anxiety slightly but did not promote the acquisition of information of the guided condition. Overall, workshops provided gains that could translate into more effective and efficient computer use in the classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Outreach to K–12 Teachers: Workshop in Instrumentation, Sensors, and Engineering

During the summer of 2007, The Workshop in Instrumentation, Sensors, and Engineering (WISE) introduced 20 middle and high school teachers to hands-on engineering design in an intensive 2-week residential workshop at Polytechnic University. Teachers were introduced to sensors, instrumentation, and engineering in a planned and integrated learning environment. Guided training consisting of lectures, tutorials, structured engineering workshops, and discussions exposed the teachers to foundational elements of engineering through the use of sensors and computerized data acquisition, which were presented as vital tools to be used in engineering and science education and profession. By the end of the WISE project, participants completed 70 h of in-class professional development. In addition, learning continued into the evenings and weekend, as participants took part in activities that exposed them to contemporary engineering concerns and projects. These supplemental activities provided an additional 15 h of professional development. Exposure to a hands-on, technology-rich, multidisciplinary learning experience in the workshop has prepared the participating teachers to provide their students with enriched learning opportunities and stimulate them to seek higher achievement in science and mathematics. Participating teachers accorded the workshop an overall score of 8.8 (out of 10) in the project evaluation.     

Psychotherapy: Research, practice, and public policy: How to avoid dead ends.

Contends that false and unrealistic expectations of psychotherapy continue to be held by theoreticians, practitioners, legislators, and policymakers. Regardless of whether psychotherapy is defined as a form of medical treatment, psychological treatment, or education, it is characterized by the creation of an interpersonal context and therapeutic learning. Because the variables involved in human functioning are highly complex and intertwined, attempts to attribute segments of the outcome variance to single technique variables may result in the kind of weak effects that are common in the research literature. It is suggested that the therapist's skill and outcome should not be confounded. The therapist's skill relates to the mediation of a corrective emotional (or growth) experience. Research and clinical literatures can provide signposts and general guidelines, but each clinician must learn the requisite skills through intensive and prolonged supervision. The greatest value of psychotherapy research lies in the advancement of knowledge. Public policy must take account of existing research results, but policymakers should adopt a broader view of the therapeutic enterprise; the issue revolves around the value society is willing to place on positive mental health and its maintenance. (81 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning to choose: Cognitive aging and strategy selection learning in decision making.

Decision makers often have to learn from experience. In these situations, people must use the available feedback to select the appropriate decision strategy. How does the ability to select decision strategies on the basis of experience change with age? We examined younger and older adults' strategy selection learning in a probabilistic inference task using a computational model of strategy selection learning. Older adults showed poorer decision performance compared with younger adults. In particular, older adults performed poorly in an environment favoring the use of a more cognitively demanding strategy. The results suggest that the impact of cognitive aging on strategy selection learning depends on the structure of the decision environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Solomon effect in learning disabilities diagnosis: Can we learn from history?

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act; IDEIA, 2004) has been reauthorized, and new parameters for defining learning disabilities (LD) have been established that provide more flexibility for corresponding state and local regulations. The field now has a unique opportunity to shape the practice of LD diagnosis and should consider important conceptual, theoretical, empirical, economic, legal, and practical issues related to LD diagnosis. This article highlights five key recommendations for the diagnostic definition of learning disabilities: (1) the definition needs to be unambiguous; (2) it must be universally accepted across professions, researchers, and governmental entities; (3) it must incorporate clearly defined subtypes of learning disabilities; (4) it must be empirically supported; and (5) it must point to valid, reliable, and cost-effective procedures for the identification of children with and without learning disabilities. Consideration of these points may help the field to avoid repeating past mistakes and returning to the folly of poor LD diagnostic practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Details of teaching, learning and training in laparoscopic surgery

The authors discuss the specific details of teaching, learning and training in laparoscopy in 6 main sections, on the basis of their experience gained through basic and advanced courses held for approximately 480 participants at the courses organised at the Department of Experimental Surgery of the University Medical School of Debrecen, between 1989 and 1996. The 6 section cover the following: 1. Why these courses are needed? 2. Who should participate in them? 3. When courses should be held (continuously for beginners, at an appointed time for advanced participants, and chances for training should be provided at any time, according to demand) 4. What should be taught? 5. Where teaching and training should take place (surgical learning/training centres) and 6. What methods of teaching should be used.     

Team-building in vocational rehabilitation: the Horizon Telecentre project

This report concerns an ambitious project which created a functionally independent team of young people with physical disabilities who had no previous experience of employment. The aim of the project was to expand the training opportunities for people with disabilities through the provision of team-building. The team was brought together in order to run a self-financing office bureau business in Athens, providing services to the local community. This project intended to find an innovative alternative to sheltered workshops, which are not found in Greece. A systemic and developmental approach to team-building was explored. The approach consisted of work-hardening, education, experiential learning, and providing the physical structures necessary for self-employment. The paper describes the approach with examples, and includes an evaluation by the trainees. The paper also identifies the importance of including a team-building approach within vocational rehabilitation.     

Planning infant learning programs

Based on a review of the literature, a theoretical basis for planning learning programs for infants is presented. The prerequisites for effective programming include attention to the characteristics of the learning environment, the infant or learner, and the stimulus-response mechanism. The goals of such a program include provision of sensorimotor experience and promotion of infant attachment to a mother or mother-surrogate as a basis for establishing a sense of security and competency in the infant. The parent must be taught to recognize the infant's best periods of alertness, develop sensitivity to the infant's signals, and utilize appropriate stimulation routines in interactive patterns in order to create an environment most conducive to cognitive development. Specific program content may be varied within the theoretical framework to fit the needs of special children and their families.     

Integrating advice and experience: Learning and decision making with social and nonsocial cues.

When making decisions, people typically gather information from both social and nonsocial sources, such as advice from others and direct experience. This research adapted a cognitive learning paradigm to examine the process by which people learn what sources of information are credible. When participants relied on advice alone to make decisions, their learning of source reliability proceeded in a manner analogous to traditional cue learning processes and replicated the established learning phenomena. However, when advice and nonsocial cues were encountered together as an established phenomenon, blocking (ignoring redundant information) did not occur. Our results suggest that extant cognitive learning models can accommodate either advice or nonsocial cues in isolation. However, the combination of advice and nonsocial cues (a context more typically encountered in daily life) leads to different patterns of learning, in which mutually supportive information from different types of sources is not regarded as redundant and may be particularly compelling. For these situations, cognitive learning models still constitute a promising explanatory tool but one that must be expanded. As such, these findings have important implications for social psychological theory and for cognitive models of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

An acculturation model for ethics training: The ethics autobiography and beyond.

An integrated theme for ethics courses and workshops can be very valuable to psychologists engaged in ethics training. The model of ethical acculturation (M. M. Handelsman, M. C. Gottlieb, & S. Knapp, 2005) can serve as a framework for ethics training at undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education levels. The authors outline several advantages of focusing on the process of acculturating to the ethics of psychology rather than having students simply memorize ethics principles and standards. They discuss several pedagogical activities used to implement the acculturation theme and to help students become more active participants in their learning. Examples from student papers and course discussions highlight the ways these techniques aid in the teaching, learning, and assessment of learning in professional ethics training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching and Learning: The Critical Balance in Effective Education

This lecture addresses the balance between teaching and learning and explores the notion that “we teach too much and our students learn too little.” Research in the areas of teaching and learning, in addition to personal experience in construction education, are used to show how appropriate teaching styles and a learner centered approach can be combined to improve learning and reinforce the belief that the true goal of education should be to produce self-motivated, independent lifelong learners. Data from an informal study of student perceptions are presented to show that much is achieved when faculty make it possible for students to be independent active learners and accept responsibility for their own learning.     

Children As Subjects in Psychological Research.

Comment on children as subjects in psychological research. I should merely like to point out that psychologists must regularly concern themselves with the possible implications of many of our common experimental procedures. We must be aware not only of the obvious effects of frustration, of our responsibility for "picking up the pieces"--even for searching for the pieces--but we must try to envisage what it does to a child's view of adults, his attitudes toward teachers, etc. to be subjected to some of the rewards or some of the "praise and reproof" of our learning experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision-making in clinical practice: how do expert nurses, midwives and health visitors make decisions?

Decision-making is an essential and integral aspect of clinical practice. Preparation for clinical decision-making is haphazard and unplanned, in part because the process of making clinical decisions is not fully understood. This is one study of how expert nurses, midwives and health visitors make clinical decisions. The project involved a literature review and a series of workshops with expert practitioners to uncover the decision-making process in clinical practice. The study found that decision-making is an essential attribute of the expert practitioner, must be based on sound knowledge, may involve risk-taking and can only flourish in a supportive environment. Most importantly, clinical decision-making must take place within the context of a philosophy of care. Without such a philosophy, decisions will be arbitrary, uninformed and probably unsafe.     

Resistance to brief therapy.

Comments that N. A. Cummings's (see record 1986-22651-001) discussion on dismantling the health system should be required reading for all psychological health-care providers. Types of resistance are discussed that must be overcome by therapists learning and practicing short-term therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)