STEM Teacher Professional Learning Through Immersive STEM Learning Placements in Industry: a Systematic Literature Review.

Over the past two decades, there has been an increased focus on designing STEM learning experiences for primary and second-level students. We posit that for teachers to design rich learning experiences for their students, they must first have the opportunity to develop their own STEM knowledge and competences, either during their pre-service teacher education or as part of their professional learning as in-service teachers. This systematic review of literature examines programmes which offer either pre-service or in-service teachers immersive learning experiences through placements in STEM roles in business or industry. A total of nine papers were identified in this review, featuring three unique programmes-one in the UK for pre-service teachers, and two in the USA involving in-service teachers. The findings indicate a variation in motivation and structures across the three programmes. The influence on teachers' personal and professional development, and their intentions to change their classroom practices or behaviours to incorporate more 'real-world' contexts into their STEM learning activities, inspired by their experiences in industry, is discussed. This study presents recommendations for the design and implementation of immersive learning placements in industry to support STEM teacher professional learning, as well as suggestions for further studies to examine the influence on their classroom practice.

Pre-service midwifery education in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: In response to a global call for more midwives, maternal health stakeholders have called for increased investment in midwifery pre-service education. Given the already long list of challenges and the increasing burden on health care systems due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to prioritize investment is acute, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. An important first step is to examine the current evidence. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature about pre-service midwifery education in sub-Saharan Africa. A search of studies published between 2015 and 2021 in French or English was conducted using six databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and African Index Medicus). RESULTS: The search yielded 3061 citations, of which 72 were included. Most were a mix of qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional, country-specific studies. Organized by pre-service educational domain, the literature reflected a misalignment between international standards for midwifery education and what schools and clinical sites and the larger administrative systems where they operate, reliably provide. Inadequate infrastructure, teaching capacity in school and clinical settings and clinical site environment were factors that commonly impede learning. Literature related to faculty development and deployment were limited. CONCLUSION: Schools, faculty and clinical sites are overwhelmed yet recommendations by key stakeholders for change are substantive and complex. Efforts are needed to help schools map their current status by pre-service education domain and prioritize where scarce resources should be directed. These results can inform research and investments in pre-service midwifery education in sub-Saharan Africa.

Lessons learned through crisis: the effect of Covid-19 on pre-service Technology Education teacher development.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced post-secondary institutions to shift their technical offerings to blended and/or remote delivery. The Pandemic was a catalyst for pre-service Technology Education programs, traditionally designed for face-to-face learning, to explore innovative pedagogical arrangements. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences and perceptions of pre-service teachers as they navigated their way through their Pandemic-impacted Technology Education Diploma program. In particular, pre-service teachers were asked about the challenges, benefits, and lessons learned through their lived experiences dealing with the re-organization for remote and blended learning in response to the various waves of the Covid-19 Pandemic. An exploration of the learner experience within pre-service Technology Education programs contributes to a growing body of literature that continues to offer meaningful insight on the institutional arrangements to cope with the limitations brought on by the Pandemic. Interviews from a purposeful sample of nine (N = 9) pre-service teachers was the primary data source within this qualitative study that sought to understand the following research question: How have institutional responses to Covid-19 impacted the experiences and perceptions of pre-service teachers enrolled in a re-organized Technology Education Diploma program? Thematic analysis was used to identify and explore recurring nodes within the data. The findings of this study suggest that the shift in instructional modality had significant impacts on how pre-service teachers experienced their Technology Education program. The reorganization delayed the development of peer relationships within the program cohorts and disrupted lines of communication.

A Study on Multimedia Integrated Pre-service Education to Learning Behavior and Competitiveness in Workplace of Employees in Hospitality.

The domestic situation of the past few years shows the practices of employees' unpaid leave and layoffs and the constant drain on capital, talent, and technologies in hospitality. Owners expect to reduce the losses to as low as possible by saving on human costs. Nevertheless, in face of such a changing environment, hospitality has to accumulate high-quality human capital through systematic investment, sensitive development, and continuous learning and growth to discover competitive advantages through the cultivation of human capital. The pre-service education of new employees could accelerate their familiarity with the operations of the company and their understanding of their job role and duties. More importantly, with good planning, it could make employees feel emphasized with and respected with the result of largely changing their thoughts and working habits. Aiming at supervisors and employees in hospitality in Zhejiang as the research objects, a total of 420 copies of our questionnaire are distributed, and 357 valid copies were retrieved, with a retrieval rate of 85%. According to the results to propose discussions, it is expected to generate systematic and proper education methods for the pre-service education in hospitality, promote the education effectiveness, and promote employees' capability and organizational performance.

Quality of pre-service midwifery education in public and private midwifery schools in Afghanistan: a cross sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Midwives are the key skilled birth attendants in Afghanistan. Rapid assessment of public and private midwifery education schools was conducted in 2017 to examine compliance with national educational standards. The aim was to assess midwifery education to inform Afghanistan Nurses and Midwives Council and other stakeholders on priorities for improving quality of midwifery education. METHODS: A cross-sectional assessment of midwifery schools was conducted from September 12-December 17, 2017. The Midwifery Education Rapid Assessment Tool was used to assess 29 midwifery programs related to infrastructure, management, teachers, preceptors, clinical practice sites, curriculum and students. A purposive sample of six Institute of Health Sciences schools, seven Community Midwifery Education schools and 16 private midwifery schools was used. Participants were midwifery school staff, students and clinical preceptors. RESULTS: Libraries were available in 28/29 (97%) schools, active skills labs in 20/29 (69%), childbirth simulators in 17/29 (59%) and newborn resuscitation models in 28/29 (97%). School managers were midwives in 21/29 (72%) schools. Median numbers of students per teacher and students per preceptor were 8 (range 2-50) and 6 (range 2-20). There were insufficient numbers of teachers practicing midwifery (132/163; 81%), trained in teaching skills (113/163; 69%) and trained in emergency obstetric and newborn care (88/163; 54%). There was an average of 13 students at clinical sites in each shift. Students managed an average of 15 births independently during their training, while 40 births are required. Twenty-four percent (7/29) of schools used the national 2015 curriculum alone or combined with an older one. Ninety-one percent (633/697) of students reported access to clinical sites and skills labs. Students mentioned, however, insufficient clinical practice due to low case-loads in clinical sites, lack of education materials, transport facilities and disrespect from school teachers, preceptors and clinical site providers as challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Positive findings included availability of required infrastructure, amenities, approved curricula in 7 of the 29 midwifery schools, appropriate clinical sites and students' commitment to work as midwives upon graduation. Gaps identified were use of different often outdated curricula, inadequate clinical practice, underqualified teachers and preceptors and failure to graduate all students with sufficient skills such as independently having supported 40 births.

Measuring motivational interviewing self-efficacy of pre-service students completing a competency-based motivational interviewing course.

Background: Improving health outcomes requires health care practitioners to work collaboratively with clients to make healthy lifestyle changes. Motivational interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based approach found to evoke and support behavior change. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine changes over time in pre-service professional students' confidence in their MI skills after a 15-week interprofessional MI course. Methods: Students (N = 22) completed a newly developed 24-item Motivational Interviewing Confidence Survey (MICS pre and post participation in the course). Summary statistics, initial scale reliability assessment and t-tests were carried out. Results: MICS was a reliable measure (Cronbach's a = 0.98) and detected significant changes in students' self-perceived skill set. Using t-tests, significant differences were noted in pre- and post-assessments in students' confidence in their skills; students (p values<0.001) demonstrated significant gains in confidence on 23 of 24 MICS items. Conclusion: After participating in the course, students' confidence in their MI skills improved significantly. Adding pre-service training in MI may increase future healthcare practitioners' confidence in their MI skills and improve their capacity to engage in individually tailored, client-driven practice.

A Canadian Massage Therapy Education Environmental Scan.

BACKGROUND: Massage therapists have been a part of Canadian's health care since 1919. The profession has gone through great change over the past 100 years including adjustments to entry-to-practice education. An important recent change was the implementation of massage therapy (MT) education program accreditation. In light of the likely disruption as a result of programs becoming accredited, a scan of the current state of MT education in Canada was undertaken. METHODS: An environmental scan informed by seminal medical education efforts was used to describe the thoughts and opinions of MT education stakeholders in Canada. Specifically, stakeholders were interviewed regarding the current state of MT education and their comments were analyzed for common themes. RESULTS: Twenty-one stakeholders participated. Four themes were constructed: variation, isolation, stagnation, and accreditation. Variation is described as the impact of differences in content and quality of the education provided in MT colleges. Isolation is described as the feeling of the participant being separated, or disconnected, from the regulator, accreditor, or colleagues due, at least in part, to a lack of communication or networking opportunities. Stagnation is described as a lack of activity, growth, or development within MT education. Participants talked about accreditation, both as a solution for some of the challenges previously mentioned, and as a potential challenge in itself. CONCLUSIONS: Several challenges to MT education were described by stakeholders that they hoped would be remedied by national MT program accreditation. Despite some limitations, this environmental scan forms a baseline for stakeholder views on massage education in Canada upon which future comparisons can be made. While the environmental scan results are most useful when applied to the MT in Canada context, stakeholders in other countries may also find them interesting and valuable when considering challenges facing their own education programs.

Understanding the Landscape of Behavioral Health Pre-service Training to Inform Evidence-Based Intervention Implementation.

Reports on the behavioral health workforce highlight the need to enhance evidence-based capacity; evidence-based interventions incorporated into pre-service graduate curricula (coursework and fieldwork) are needed to meet this goal. Improving educational practices across pre-service settings will require understanding of and careful attention to the contextual factors that exert pressure on curricula. The authors believe efforts to change educational practices can be enhanced by application of implementation science principles. This Open Forum delineates the key contextual factors that influence pre-service education, highlights gaps in the literature, and proposes an agenda for future research at the intersection of behavioral health workforce development and implementation science.

A critical participatory pedagogical approach to enabling life orientation students to develop social literacy through HIV education.

HIV education is an important component of the life orientation curriculum, since an intersectional understanding of HIV provides an entry point to appreciate the interrelatedness of various social injustices. Yet, our interaction with predominantly white and privileged pre-service life orientation students led us to believe that they did not perceive HIV education as something that was relevant to their personal or professional lives. Their rigid, stigmatising belief systems and "othering" attitudes prevented them from embodying the inclusive and life-enhancing values that life orientation is supposed to develop. This paper explains how we used iterative cycles of reflection and action to enable 86 student teachers of life orientation to interrogate their misconceptions about HIV education and its applicability for their professional and personal contexts. Students were able to acknowledge their prejudices and privileges, which in turn created a willingness to engage with HIV education and to embody their learning to bring about change in their daily interactions. The knowledge generated from this study indicates how a critical, participatory pedagogical approach to HIV education can develop the social literacy of students to enable them to live out the life-enhancing values that underpin the life orientation curriculum.

Blending virtual with conventional learning to improve student midwifery skills in India.

India's state of Bihar has suboptimal quality of pre-service training for auxiliary nurse midwives. To address this, state government of Bihar implemented a blended training model to supplement conventional classroom teaching with virtual training. A 72-hour virtual training package with updated content on key maternal and newborn health practices was developed for final year students and broadcasted from one instructor location simultaneously to two auxiliary nurse midwives training centres. This pre-post intervention study compared skills of two auxiliary nurse midwife student cohorts. Eighty-five students from pre-intervention cohort of academic year 2012-13, received only conventional teaching during the final year. The 51 students in the post-intervention cohort from successive academic year 2013-14, received a combination of the both conventional and virtual training. The two cohorts were objectively assessed on identified midwifery skills. A passing score was set at achieving 75% or higher. The students exposed to blended learning scored 32.57 points (p = <0.001) more than their counterparts, who received only conventional teaching. In the post-intervention cohort, 55% students (N = 28) passed as compared to none in the pre-intervention cohort. We found blended learning approach effectively improved access to quality training, and identified key midwifery skills of auxiliary nurse midwife students from remote locations.

Identifying gaps in the practices of rural health extension workers in Ethiopia: a task analysis study.

BACKGROUND: Health extension workers (HEWs) are the frontline health workers for Ethiopia's primary health care system. The Federal Ministry of Health is seeking to upgrade and increase the number of HEWs, particularly in remote areas, and address concerns about HEWs' pre-service education and practices. The aim of this study was to identify gaps in HEWs' practices and recommend changes in their training and scope of practice. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive task analysis was conducted to assess the work of rural HEWs who had been in practice for six months to five years. One hundred participants were invited from 100 health posts in five regions of Ethiopia. HEWs self-reported on 62 tasks on: frequency, criticality (importance), where the task was learned, and ability to perform the task. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, were computed for each variable. Task combinations were examined to identify tasks performed infrequently or for which HEWs are inadequately prepared. RESULTS: A total of 82 rural HEWs participated in the study. Nearly all HEWs rated every task as highly critical to individual and public health outcomes. On average, most HEWs (51.5%-57.4%) reported learning hygiene and environmental sanitation tasks, disease prevention and control tasks, family health tasks, and health education and communication tasks outside of their pre-service education, primarily through in-service and on-the-job training. Over half of HEWs reported performing certain critical tasks infrequently, including management of supplies, stocks and maintenance at the facility and management of the cold chain system. Almost all HEWs (95.7-97.2%) perceived themselves as competent and proficient in performing tasks in all program areas. CONCLUSION: HEWs were insufficiently prepared during pre-service education for all tasks that fall within their scope of practice. Many learned tasks through in-service or on-the-job training, and some tasks were not learned at all. Some tasks that are part of expected HEW practice were performed infrequently, potentially reducing the effectiveness of the Health Extension Program to provide preventive and basic curative health care services to communities. Findings should alert policy makers to the need to review HEWs' scope of practice, update pre-service education curricula and prioritize in-service training modules.

The influence of training programs on career aspirations: evidence from a cross-sectional study of nursing students in India.

BACKGROUND: Nurses form the largest share of India's health workforce. This paper explores the relationship between nurses' pre-service education and labor market aspirations. It investigates supply-side factors shaping students' career plans and studies the influence that nurse training institutes have on students' transition into the workforce. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 266 nursing students and training administrators at 42 training institutes was conducted in 2014 in two Indian states, Bihar and Gujarat. Piloted questionnaires were used to collect information on the cost and quality of training programs, the background of students, and their career aspirations. Descriptive analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS: A multivariate model on students' post-graduation plans indicated that students whose institutes provided training in non-technical skills, such as communication and teamwork, were less likely to aim for public sector employment upon completing their training. Similarly, students who joined their training institute because they believed it to be the best place to access job opportunities were less likely to have intentions to seek public sector jobs. Students attending institutes that organized job fairs were also more likely to want to study further or seek private sector employment rather than seeking public sector employment. On the other hand, studying in Bihar and belonging to historically disadvantaged social groups (deemed Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by the Constitution of India) were factors positively associated with plans to seek public sector employment. CONCLUSIONS: This study helps explain some of the supply-side factors driving the preference for public sector employment among nurses in India by highlighting the influential role of caste, state-level characteristics, and training programs on nursing students' post-graduation plans. It demonstrates that the strong preference for government jobs among nursing students is linked to the limited role training institutes play in connecting students with other potential employers. In addition, the study indicates that training in non-technical skills, such as communication, makes students more open to pursuing private sector jobs and advanced training programs.

Establishing midwifery in low-resource settings: guidance from a mixed-methods evaluation of the Afghanistan midwifery education program.

BACKGROUND: The shortage of skilled birth attendants has been a key factor in the high maternal and newborn mortality in Afghanistan. Efforts to strengthen pre-service midwifery education in Afghanistan have increased the number of midwives from 467 in 2002 to 2954 in 2010. OBJECTIVE: We analyzed the costs and graduate performance outcomes of the two types of pre-service midwifery education programs in Afghanistan that were either established or strengthened between 2002 and 2010 to guide future program implementation and share lessons learned. DESIGN: We performed a mixed-methods evaluation of selected midwifery schools between June 2008 and November 2010. This paper focuses on the evaluation's quantitative methods, which included (a) an assessment of a sample of midwifery school graduates (n=138) to measure their competencies in six clinical skills; (b) prospective documentation of the actual clinical practices of a subsample of these graduates (n=26); and (c) a costing analysis to estimate the resources required to educate students enrolled in these programs. SETTING: For the clinical competency assessment and clinical practices components, two Institutes for Health Sciences (IHS) schools and six Community Midwifery Education (CME) schools; for the costing analysis, a different set of nine schools (two IHS, seven CME), all of which were funded by the US Agency for International Development. PARTICIPANTS: Midwives who had graduated from either IHS or CME schools. FINDINGS: CME graduates (n=101) achieved an overall mean competency score of 63.2% (59.9-66.6%) on the clinical competency assessment compared to 57.3% (49.9-64.7%) for IHS graduates (n=37). Reproductive health activities accounted for 76% of midwives' time over an average of three months. Approximately 1% of childbirths required referral or resulted in maternal death. On the basis of known costs for the programs, the estimated cost of graduating a class with 25 students averaged US$298,939, or US$10,784 per graduate. KEY CONCLUSIONS: The pre-service midwifery education experience of Afghanistan can serve as a model to rapidly increase the number of skilled birth attendants. In such settings, it is important to ensure the provision of continued practice opportunities and refresher trainings after graduation to aid skill retention, a co-operative and supportive work environment that will use midwives for the reproductive health skills for which they were trained, and selection mechanisms that can identify the most promising students and post-graduation deployment options to maximise the return on the substantial educational investment.

'Midwives are the backbone of our health system': lessons from Afghanistan to guide expansion of midwifery in challenging settings.

BACKGROUND: over the last decade Afghanistan has made large investments in scaling up the number of midwives to address access to skilled care and the high burden of maternal and newborn mortality. OBJECTIVE: at the request of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) an evaluation was undertaken to improve the pre-service midwifery education programme through identification of its strengths and weaknesses. The qualitative component of the evaluation specifically examined: (1) programme strengths; (2) programme weaknesses; (3) perceptions of the programme's community impact; (4) barriers to provision of care and challenges to impact; (5) perceptions of the recently graduated midwife's field experience, and (6) recommendations for programme improvement. DESIGN: the evaluation used a mixed methods approach that included qualitative and quantitative components. This paper focuses on the qualitative components which included in-depth interviews with 138 graduated midwives and 20 key informants as well as 24 focus group discussions with women. SETTING: eight provinces in Afghanistan with functioning and accredited midwifery schools between June 2008 and November 2010. PARTICIPANTS: midwives graduated from one of the two national midwifery programmes: Institute of Health Sciences and Community Midwifery Education. Key informants comprised of stakeholders and female residents of the midwives catchment areas. FINDINGS: midwives described overall satisfaction with the quality of their education. Midwives and stakeholders perceived that women were more likely to use maternal and child health services in communities where midwives had been deployed. Strengths included evidence-based content, standardised materials, clinical training, and supportive learning environment. Self-reported aspects of the quality education in respect to midwives empowerment included feeling competent and confident as demonstrated by respect shown by co-workers. Weaknesses of the programme included perceived low educational requirement to enter the programme and readiness of programmes to commence education. Insecurity and geographical remoteness are perceived as challenges with clients' access to care and the ability of midwives to make home visits. KEY CONCLUSIONS: the depth of midwives' contribution in Afghanistan - from increased maternal health care service utilisation to changing community's perceptions of women's education and professional independence - is overwhelmingly positive. Lessons learned can serve as a model to other low resource, post-conflict settings that are striving to increase the workforce of skilled providers.

Educação a Distância (EaD) em Física Médica / Distance education within medical physics / Educación a Distancia (EaD) en Física Médica

A formação inicial e continuada de profissionais de física médica possui características peculiares por ser uma área interdisciplinar, de evolução tecnológica constante. Em países como o Brasil, existem barreiras como: pequeno número de profissionais, geograficamente mal distribuídos, baixos recursos financeiros, e poucas opções em termos de acesso à informação, dificultando a incorporação e disseminação de novas técnicas que impactam na qualidade do atendimento em saúde. Esta revisão da literatura se propôs a avaliar o papel da EaD na educação de físicos médicos, retratando sua aplicabilidade mediante a identificação de experiências relevantes. Os trabalhos mostram que a EaD tem características interessantes para a área, tais como alta efetividade pedagógica e eficiência econômica, possibilitando o uso massivo de recursos multimídia, com grande abrangência geográfica e de forma gerenciável. Portanto tem potencial para superar as barreiras e suprir carências da área.

Pre-service and in-service education relating to medical physics have peculiar characteristics since this is an interdisciplinary field with constant technological evolution. In countries like Brazil, several barriers exist, such as small numbers of professionals who are geographically poorly distributed, low financial resources and few options for information access, thereby hindering and delaying the incorporation and dissemination of new techniques that could have an impact on healthcare quality. This literature review evaluated the role of distance education within medical physics, and portrayed its applicability through identifying relevant experiences. Studies have shown that distance education within this field presents interesting characteristics, such as high pedagogical effectiveness and economic efficiency, which enables massive use of multimedia resources with wide geographical coverage, in a manageable way. Therefore, distance education has potential to overcome the barriers and meet the needs.

La formación y la educación continua de profesionales en física médica tiene características únicas, es un campo interdisciplinario, donde la tecnología está en evolución constante. Países como Brasil, tienen barreras como: número reducido de profesionales, geográficamente distribuidos de forma desigual, escasos recursos financieros y pocas opciones en términos de acceso a información, dificultando la incorporación y difusión de nuevas técnicas que afectan la calidad de atención en salud. Esta revisión de literatura evalúa el papel de EaD en la educación de físicos médicos, retratando su aplicabilidad mediante identificación de experiencias relevantes. Artículos muestran que EaD tiene características interesantes para la física médica, como alta eficacia pedagógica y eficiencia económica, permitiendo uso masivo de recursos mediáticos, con amplia cobertura geográfica y de forma manejable. Por lo tanto, la herramienta tiene potencial para superar los obstáculos y satisfacer las necesidades del área.