Yes / Older adults use their smartphones to learn new material but few studies examined their learning with the presence of a chatbot in a smartphone. We developed a three-week self-paced learning module on three topics (chatbot, QR scanner, Google Drive) using their smartphone. Our aims were to examine participants’ self-paced learning accuracy while exploring older adults acceptance of the chatbot. Twelve participants participated in this study (Mage: 64.75 years) for three weeks at their homes individually. Results showed that they had low accuracy for the chatbot but higher accuracy for the other two. Qualitative analyses indicated that participants disliked the chatbot and that good clarity in our instructional videos and slides may have contributed to the low acceptance for the chatbot. Our findings indicated that self-paced learning is feasible with slides and videos only, and to create more chatbot-related assessments to increase chatbot usage. / Newton Fund Institutional Links grant ID: 331745333. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 04 Sep 2024.

Research in the last decade has focused on the impact of the caregiver role (Cantor, 1983), the nature of caregivers (Brody, 1981, 1983), and the stress and burden associated with caregiver (Zarit, Todd and Zarit, 1986). Health professionals working with caregivers have attempted to focus on interventions to reduce feelings of burden and to increase effective coping. Evaluation of educational interventions to reduce caregiver stress and burden has been a recent research focus. Unfortunately, research has shown that it is altruistic to believe that caregiver stress and burden can be alleviated by educational interventions. Family caregivers are faced with the task of learning about the nature and complexity of dementia and the unusual behaviours which accompany Alzheimer's disease. A resource booklet, written to assist caregivers to learn about the disease, about management strategies and about their own feelings may be more effective than interventions to reduce stress. The evaluation focused on whether the resource booklet would provide information which family caregivers would perceive to be relevant and useful. The evaluation was conducted using a convenience sample of ten caregivers. Two time intervals were used to collect information on caregivers' reactions to the resource booklet; one week following the initial reading of the booklet and 4-6 weeks post-reading. A written questionnaire at time one, and follow-up telephone interviews at time two, were used to measure caregivers' reactions to the booklet. Results indicated that the information in the booklet was useful in assisting caregivers to manage care, and that the caregivers found the booklet easy to read and the format acceptable. / Thesis / Master of Science (Teaching)

Belt conveyor accidents are mainly attributed to negligence of safety procedures during maintenance work. Entanglement, falling from heights, & collapse of structure or loose materials are the main cause of accidents. While performing maintenance tasks such as cleaning, installation and repair, belt alignment and so on (Lucas et. al. 2007). Current industry safety programs provide general guidelines for safety training, but do not require any specific training program structure (Shultz, 2002 and Shultz, 2003). For example MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) only requires 24 hours of training. Typically this training is broken down into four hours of training before the employee starts work, the remaining 20 hours has to be performed within the first sixty days of work (Goldbeck, 2003). The information collected through site visits showed that in addition to completing MSHA safety training requirements companies try to reinforce safety issues through daily and weekly safety meetings on job sites. Due to lack of a required safety training structure, every company is independent in terms of their training format that they follow to train their new and experienced work force. As a result, safety engineers depend heavily on in-house safety programs (e.g. audio-video presentations) to deliver the required training hours specified by MSHA for miners. Based on a review of current training methods this research identifies four problems; existing training methods to educate miners about dangers involved in conveyor belt environments are mainly passive, safety related information in scattered in various media such as images, videos, paper manuals, etc., access to information in current format is difficult, and updating information is difficult. This research addressed these identified problems by devising a new approach of learning to augment existing methods of training and evaluate the potential of this concept as a safety-training tool. Research has shown that individuals have their own learning style in which they can increase their retention and stimulate their cognitive learning. The proposed work addresses issues relative to passive vs. active learning and classroom-based vs. self-paced training by developing and implementing an interactive multimedia-based safety-training tool called the Digital Safety Manual (DSM). After the DSM was developed it was put through a series of usability evaluation and subjective analysis to measure the potential of the concept. The evaluation and subjective analysis involved both the novice and expert users. The results that were yield after the evaluations and subjective analysis shows that the DSM has more learning advantages than the typical training methods and it can be used as a supplementary training method to complement the current approaches of training. / Master of Science

Educational changes in Ontario, initiated by the Hall-Dennis Report, resulted in a public perception of declining educational standards in the 1970's. Ministry of Education Guidelines, which were implemented in an attempt to remedy this, created a major disruption in our grade nine and ten science programmes. The grade ten Life Science course had become fragmented and the classes polarized between bright and slow students. Traditional teaching methods were no longer functioning well and, as a result, students were poorly motivated. In this project, the Life Science curriculum is restructured to improve continuity of subject matter and student motivation. The major innovation is an individualized unit on invertebrate diversity. This modular unit is designed for self-paced mastery learning. The six modules of this unit are based on the Personalized System of Instruction (P.S.I.). Optional activities are incorporated into each module to challenge and motivate industrious students. The means of evaluation of the new curriculum unit are outlined and various criteria for the success of the project are specified. / None / Master's of Science in Teaching (MST)