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Immersive learning practices (ILPs) in higher education are multidisciplinary in nature and varied in levels of integration into the student learning process. They appear in a variety of higher education programs such as teacher education, social work, law, and health sciences, and in practices such as service-learning, study away, internships, and foreign-language instruction. Based on observations of teaching and data from an open-ended survey and semi-structured interviews with post-secondary educators from three different countries, this study theorizes that immersive learning practices are composed of six distinct underlying theoretical components that work in combination. These six components can be used to describe, define, compare, and design different types of structured ILPs. This study suggests that ILPs are pedagogically distinct from other forms of engaged and experiential learning.

This paper presents a reliable tool for measuring transformative learning in undergraduate social work education, the Social Work Transformation Survey (SWTS). The SWTS was developed from a qualitative theoretical model and translated into quantitative scales. The study collected data from 248 undergraduate students from eight countries who participated in a transnational project using creative journaling to facilitate transformative learning. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the internal structure of the SWTS. We then confirmed the measures' reliability, and subsequently the effectiveness of creative journaling practices as a pedagogy for facilitating transformative learning in social work students. This paper highlights the potential of combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches to develop educational evaluation tools for higher education settings and presents one specific measure for transformative learning.

Critical reflection (CR) is regarded as essential for learning in higher education. Many instructors want students to reflect deeply and critically, but lament perceived deficiencies in students' value and understanding of CR. This qualitative study explored four undergraduate courses across disciplines to appraise how instructors' perceptions of CR compared to the perceptions of their students. We uncovered similarities and differences in how instructors and students define, engage, identify, and value CR. Our findings reveal tensions around how to explain CR to students, and around different methods and meanings across disciplines and contexts with implications for practice. The findings suggest that although facilitating CR remains a challenging and often-nebulous endeavor, both instructors and students value the process and the gap may not be as insurmountable as commonly perceived.

With the Program for International Student Assessment and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study surveys, competency assessment became an important policy instrument in the school sector; only recently has international competency measurement gained attention in higher education with the Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) feasibility study. As AHELO showed, measurement of competencies in higher education is a complex and multidimensional task, which poses great methodological challenges. These challenges arise out of the high diversity of degree courses, study programs, and institutions of higher education. Nevertheless, we need to address these challenges immediately if we aim to create evidence-based high-quality educational systems. This paper overviews the field of international research on competency measurement in higher education. Our analyses revealed a substantial lack of research in this area. Nonetheless, existing studies and assessment practices in various countries provide orientation on how to model competencies based on curricular and professional requirements, design assessments following the assessment triangle, and validate them comprehensively.

In a pedagogical method increasing in popularity, students of all levels--from elementary to post graduate--are likely to be asked to engage in debate with peers. How they understand the purposes and values of argumentive discourse is likely to affect its effectiveness. The 3 studies presented here involve junior high school, senior high school, and university students in the United States and China, and are based on their responses to scenarios involving either the opportunity for or necessity of argumentive discourse in cases where a difference of viewpoints exists. The results reveal that many, and in some cases most, students do not appreciate the value of such discourse as having the potential to enhance individual or collective understanding. Comparisons of participants from different populations, however, indicate cultural, as well as developmental, differences, although evidence appeared of individual malleability in relation to cultural patterns. (Contains 6 tables.)

This study analyzed in-service teachers' and literacy coaches' perceptions of Round Robin Reading to begin developing an understanding of the persistence of this practice in public schools in the United States. Surveying 80 teachers and 27 literacy coaches using an open-ended instrument, we found that many teachers continued to use Round Robin Reading for a variety of reasons. Teacher-given reasons for using Round Robin Reading included covering content, managing classroom behavior, improving fluency, and assessing students' literacy development. Distinct differences in knowledge of fluency research were identified in teachers who used and did not use Round Robin Reading in their teaching. Based on this research, we consider that professional development aimed at supplanting Round Robin Reading in instruction and focused on meeting teachers' instructional goals is essential; it appears that simply reviewing research that indicates Round Robin Reading is an ineffective practice is insufficient, in and of itself, to change practice. (Contains 6 tables.)

Using 1980/81 and 1990/91 census data from Australia, Canada, and the United States, we estimate the effects of time in the destination country on male immigrants' wages, employment, and earnings. We find that total earnings assimilation is greatest in the United States and least in Australia. Employment assimilation explains all of the earnings progress experienced by Australian immigrants, whereas wage assimilation plays the dominant role in the United States, and Canada falls in between. We argue that relatively inflexible wages and generous unemployment insurance in countries like Australia may cause assimilation to occur along the quantity rather than the price dimension. (Contains 4 tables and 11 footnotes.)

Background: Because the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role is relatively new, little is known about the success of CNL graduates. Our aim was to describe the career path of CNL graduates and to measure satisfaction 2 to 10 years after graduation. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used to assess career trajectory and self-reported satisfaction with work, life, and educational preparation in a sample of 109 CNL graduates from one university. Online data collection was used, resulting in participants from across the United States. Results: Respondents were primarily Direct Entry CNL graduates. The majority (95%) were still working full- or part-time in nursing. Most (over 90%) were satisfied or extremely satisfied with their decision to become a nurse. Life satisfaction was high: the Satisfaction with Life Scale mean score was 24.9 (SD = 5.67). Conclusion: These results help describe CNL career trajectories and provide useful suggestions for education and practice. This information can help build the business case for the CNL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To describe the development and implementation of a structured patient identification model for medication therapy management (MTM) services within traditional dispensing activities of a community pharmacy to facilitate pharmacist-provided completion of MTM services.Design: A daily clinical opportunity report was developed as a structured model to identify MTM opportunities daily for all MTM-eligible patients expecting to pick up a prescription. Pharmacy staff was trained and the standardized model was implemented at study sites.Setting and Participants: One hundred nineteen grocery store-based community pharmacies throughout Ohio, West Virginia, and Michigan.Outcome Measures: A structured patient identification model in a community pharmacy consists of reviewing a clinical opportunity report, identifying interventions for MTM-eligible patients, and possibly collaborating with an interdisciplinary team. This model allows pharmacists to increase MTM cases performed by providing a structured process for identifying MTM-eligible patients and completing MTM services.Results: The development and implementation of a structured patient identification model in the community pharmacy was completed and consists of pharmacists reviewing a clinical opportunity report to identify MTM opportunities and perform clinical interventions for patients. In a 3-month pre- and post-implementation comparison, there was a 49% increase in the number of MTM services provided by pharmacists (P < 0.001).Conclusion: A structured patient identification model in the community pharmacy was associated with an increase in the amount of MTM services provided by pharmacists. This method could be a useful tool at a variety of community pharmacies to solve challenges associated with MTM completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S Civil Rights Act Title VII and confusion in the U.S courts' ability to regulate sex-based employment discrimination. Topics discussed include issues the interpretation of Title VII to offer legal protections to transgendered people, the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's decision in case Mia Macy v. Eric Holder to extend Title VII to include gender identity and the history of the development of claims filed by transgendered workers under Title VII.

This paper proposes that some children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States have undiagnosed Lyme disease and different testing criteria used by commercial laboratories may be producing false negative results. Two testing protocols will be evaluated; first, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) approved two-tiered Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) or Immunofluorescence Assay (IFA) followed by an IgM and/or IgG Western Blot test. Second, a clinical diagnosis (flu like symptoms, joint pain, fatigue, neurological symptoms, etc.) possibly followed by a Western Blot with a broader criteria for positive bands [1]. The hypothesis proposes that the former criteria may be producing false negative results for some individuals diagnosed with an ASD. Through an online survey parents of 48 children who have a diagnosis of an ASD and have been diagnosed with Lyme disease were asked to fill out the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) before they started antibiotic therapy and after treatment. Of the 48 parents surveyed 45 of them (94%) indicated their child initially tested negative using the two-tiered CDC/IDSA approved test. The parents sought a second physician who diagnosed their child with Lyme disease using the wider range of Western Blot bands. The children were treated with antibiotics and their scores on the ATEC improved. Anecdotal data indicated that some of the children achieved previously unattained developmental milestones after antibiotic therapy began. Protein bands OSP-A and/or OSP-B (Western Blot band 31) and (Western Blot band 34) were found in 44 of 48 patients. These two bands are so specific to Borrelia burgdorferi that they were targeted for use in vaccine trials, yet are not included in the IDSA interpretation of the Western Blot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) receives more prior art submissions by patent applicants than its patent examiners have the capacity to process. Although applicant prior art submissions are highly likely to contain references material to prosecution, evidence suggests that overburdened examiners often fail to utilize references submitted by applicants in their examination of patent applications. The information overload suffered by patent examiners has deleterious effects on patent quality, since examiners fail to identify and apply the references most relevant to the examination of patent applications. The vision of patent examiners as perfect filters of patentability and of information as always benefiting the public good is both idealistic and unrealistic. Despite their expertise, patent examiners are human and fallible, vulnerable to the effects of information processing overload and the cognitive biases attendant to decision-making by a boundedly rational actor. Failing to address these problems will likely result in frustrated applicants, overburdened patent examiners, and reduced patent quality. This Article proposes to solve both the plague of inequitable conduct allegations in litigation and the administrative burdens of complying with the duty of disclosure by reframing disclosure obligations for the information age. Reframing the duty of disclosure in this fashion would require no modifications to statutory provisions, few alterations to administrative rules and regulations, and only modest changes to existing case law. Thus, the approach suggested in this Article is both legally conservative and administratively feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines issues concerning information overload at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It aims to address both the impact of inequitable conduct allegations in litigation as well as the administrative burdens of complying with the duty of disclosure through reframing disclosure obligations for the information age. Topics such as patent quality and the limits of the law are discussed.

In this article, we present the results of interviews with past presidents of NACADA (the National ACademic ADvising Association), who responded to nine questions about the strengths, achievements, challenges, and obstacles faced during their presidencies. The presidents also had an opportunity to discuss a critical incident, people who were helpful, and the possible future for advisors and the association. The academic advising association grew out of a need felt by administrators and advisors throughout the country. These interviews suggest that NACADA has flourished because it was the right idea at the right time and headed by selfless leaders who championed its cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study to develop a quantitative algorithm that identifies the specific linear sequence of K-12 benchmarks containing information potential for a subject of Project 2061 strand maps. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1989 was tasked to identify key science concepts for science literacy in K-12 students in the U.S. The most recent AAAS science literacy document is titled "Atlas of Science Literacy" in 2001, in which half of those science concepts or benchmarks are organized into a set of 50 flow charts. Moreover, identifying these benchmarks are important as they represent the shortest and most efficient topical K-12 science-learning path.

The article addresses the legality of using victim impact statements that compare the lives of victims and defendants in capital punishment cases in the U.S. It examines whether victim impact statements are prejudicial and could render a fundamentally unfair trial to the defendant in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. It describes how courts in the country have dealt with the use of such victim impact evidence and discusses some Supreme Court cases related to victim impact statements.

Presents a transcript of the opening plenary session of the 11th Annual National Alzheimer's Disease Education conference in Chicago, Illinois on July 21, 2003. Comparison between the quality of life provided for advanced dementia patient Auguste Dieter in 1902 and dementia patients in the U.S. in 2001; Emphasis on the need for funding research for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease; Experiences of several elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease who are members of a support group for people with memory loss.

Presents a synopsis on Edward Albee and his career accomplishments. Involvement with American theater; Highlights from some of his plays; Impact on the viewer.

Objective: Previous studies have examined possible long-term effects of antenatal corticosteroids, but not by the presence of neonatal brain lesions. This study of long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of antenatal corticosteroid exposure among preterm, very-low-birth-weight infants investigated whether the effects are differential by the presence of neonatal brain injury.Study Design: Prospective cohort study of cognition, behavior, and cerebral palsy in 251 children (ages 6-8 years) born at < or = 32 weeks of gestation. This sample included 91 children with abnormal neonatal cranial ultrasound findings and 106 children who had been exposed to antenatal corticosteroids.Results: In children with abnormal cranial ultrasound findings, a complete course of antenatal corticosteroids was associated with an 8.7-point advantage in IQ (95% CI, 1.8, 15.6; P = .016), controlling for confounding factors. Both verbal and nonverbal cognitive scores were increased in a dose-response manner. The advantage was greater for infants born at < or = 28 weeks of gestation and in those with ventriculomegaly. In children with normal cranial ultrasound scans, cognitive function was not related to antenatal corticosteroid exposure. No statistically significant associations were observed between antenatal corticosteroid exposure and either childhood behavioral scores or cerebral palsy.Conclusion: Antenatal corticosteroids appear to confer substantial long-term benefits on cognition of very-low-birth-weight infants with cranial ultrasound abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the factors to be considered in addressing the problems related to the facilitation of educational access to social networks for the arts in the U.S. According to the authors, art educators must look closely at social movements that affect arts in education and the basic concepts of art in schools after a long period of complacency about how the arts have been structured in public schools. It is said that the questions of finances and facilities and the cultural expectations of all the people in the community must also be considered.

Investigates the age distribution of men and women in magazine advertisements between 1960 and 1979 in the U.S. Preservation of ageism; Portrayal of a positive evaluation of youth; Confusion of the social nature of assigning value.

The article comments on the state of arts in the U.S. society and education system. It observes that the mass participation in arts is being institutionalized after a random growth over a century. It suggests that though arts in the U.S. education system are now more popular but they still lack general acceptance. It comments that public spaces and situations should also be considered as the place for learning of arts. It opines that interaction between arts and community should be increased.

San Diego County's emergency medical services (EMS) agency has developed and implemented an EMS information system comprising multiple databases that supplement each other and is utilizing this system to integrate EMS with other health services, to conduct EMS research, and to support prevention activities. Central to this system is a custom-designed wide area network that electronically links emergency receiving hospitals, ambulance providers, emergency medical dispatch centers, and the Medical Examiner's office with EMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to trace the development of thinking in sociology with regard to applied sociology and social action involvement, with an emphasis on the development of the Weberian concept of a value-free sociology and the rise of the radical sociology movement as necessary for an understanding of the present involvement of sociology and sociologists in social action. August Comte and Saint-Simon, the founding fathers of sociology, were both social engineers; Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, championed particular social reforms. The American founding fathers of sociology were social-problem-oriented, the first sociology courses in America dealt with the relief of various social pathologies, and one of the first professional journals was entitled "The Journal of Applied Sociology" (now, revealingly enough, "Sociology and Social Research"). After this period, however, sociologists espoused an uncritical "social progress" sociology. Furthermore, until the great Depression of 1930, they were, for the most part, esoteric theorists rather than empirical researches. Recent years have witnessed a return to the earlier traditions. During the past decade, for instance, some sociologists have become publicly involved and professionally identified with the recurrent social problems of American society.

Background: Pay-for-performance (P4P) models are being adopted by many health care payers, including Medicare, for payment of physician services. To receive financial Incentives In P4P programs, physicians are encouraged to attain recognition or credentialing from an agency, such as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Objective: To explore the potential roles of a community pharmacy-provided diabetes services in collaboration with physicians and to assist them in becoming acknowledged by the NCQA Diabetes Physician Recognition Program. Summary: KDI Health Solutions pharmacists have demonstrated success in the management of diabetes through the Asheville Project and the Diabetes Ten City Challenge. Continued pharmacists' efforts may focus on expanding current disease state management programs, community pharmacy diabetes education programs, and collaborative practices with physicians. Studies are currently being conducted to assess physician willingness to use pharmacists as part of the NCQA recognition process. Conclusion: Collaboration of physicians and pharmacists may improve diabetes standards of care and aid physicians In becoming NCQA-recognized providers. NCQA-recognized physicians can align themselves with current and future P4P programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]