In the Northwest Territories, there is a growing demand for knowledge about the effectiveness of land-based programs (GNWT Social Services Research Agenda, 2017). Project Jewel is a community-driven, land-based healing program in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) that is run by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). My thesis, which is written in the two-publishable paper format, presents community-based research with Inuvialuit in the ISR. In paper one, we used postcolonial theory, a decolonization framework, and critical Inuit studies to approach an examination of how an evaluation of Project Jewel could promote cultural safety. The findings enabled us to create an evaluation framework that included centring the land, building relationships, working with words and pictures, and promoting benefits while minimizing harms through aftercare as elements identified by Project Jewel participants and staff that would enhance the likelihood of the evaluation being culturally safe. In paper two, we used the same methodology and theoretical approach to examine the elements of success and benefits of participation in Project Jewel. The findings identified that the elements of success for Project Jewel included Inuvialuit cultural practices, local programming, distraction and judgement free environment, confidentiality, and comfort and support. The benefits of participating in Project Jewel included (re)connection to land, culture, identity and heritage, strengthened systems of social support, and enhanced skills and self-esteem. Together, the two papers contribute to the further development of land-based programs for Inuvialuit in a way that is determined and led by Inuvialuit and their values. They demonstrate that land-based programs like Project Jewel can contribute to processes of decolonization and healing among Inuit that hold implications for improving/supporting positive health and wellbeing.

Student Number : 9110316P - M Ed research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / This study seeks to establish if teaching Grade 7 Algebra accords with Outcomes Based Education [OBE] in a sample of three state primary schools in a province, South Africa. Following the methods of illuminative evaluation the researcher looked for ‘matches’ and ‘mismatches’ between what was planned in an OBE text with what ‘actually happens’ in classroom teaching to gauge if the shift to outcomes has taken place in teaching Mathematics in these schools, and make recommendations to improve. Data was collected using document analysis to establish how percentages was planned to be taught by teachers and using naturalistic observations with follow-up probing interviews to establish how this teaching actually took place in classrooms. The data was checked by questionnaire data seeking the views of educators doing this teaching. The data showed 5 Patterns in this teaching, one only according with planned OBE teaching, 2 other Patters where teaching was more-or-less as intended, and 2 further Patterns where teaching failed to accord with the OBE text. Just over half the teachers or 58% of the sample seemed to have shifted to OBE, and less than half or 42% of educators seem not to have done so. Primary amongst the findings is that educators failed to teach Mathematics conceptually first as planned, preferring in a variety of ways to omit conceptual explanations by way of introduction to lessons in favour of ‘guiding examples’, ‘group work’ and ‘report back’, ‘teacher and learner assessment’ and ‘concluding exercises’, the six categories which emerged for teaching in these lessons. The study recommends primarily that educators re-claim teaching Mathematics conceptually first, and prior to completing examples and giving exercises to learners. It concludes that fewer educators than expected seem to have shifted towards OBE teaching in these Mathematics classrooms, 6 years into the national innovation, C 2005.

MSc Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / PURPOSE: The purpose of this two-phased study was to determine the performance of undergraduate nursing students in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials using a validated evaluation instrument. RELEVANCE: to determine the effectiveness of the PBL learning approach relative to the South African student. Phase 1 led to the validation of an instrument and Phase 2 evaluated the performance of nursing students in PBL tutorials using the validated instrument. PARTICIPANTS: Phase 1 participants included academic experts (n=8) selected by means of purposive, maximum variation sampling. Phase 2 participants included the total population of undergraduate nursing students (n=53) and facilitators (n=6). METHODS: A quantitative research approach was used to inform the overarching design that was descriptive and comparative in Phase 2 of the study. Phase 1 employed statistical techniques for instrument validation and refinement. Phase 1 data were collected in three round of a Delphi survey. After completion of the first two rounds a rating instrument with a 4-point (0-3) rating scale was developed referred to as the Tutorial Performance Rating Instrument. During the third and final round of the Delphi survey ‘weighting’ of each main-item, sub-items and the rating scale took place, incorporating the Subjective Judgement Model using pair-wise comparisons on linear visual analogue scales. ANALYSIS: Relative weights were determined and following statistical analysis ratio scales were developed creating a unique ‘weight’ to each item and the rating scale. This ‘weight’ was represented in a percentage allowing each main-item construct and each sub-item to be placed in a hierarchy from highest to lowest percentage. Calculation on a student assessment would become time consuming and subject to error if done manually. A computer-based program referred to as the Tutorial Performance Evaluator was developed to carry out all the calculations of the percentages allocated to the items and rating scale. A replica of the Tutorial Performance Rating Instrument was built into the programme. In Phase 2 of the study a self-assessment and facilitator-assessment on each student’s tutorial performance first-to fourth-year was carried out using the Tutorial Performance Rating Instrument. Following a one on one meeting between the student and the facilitator consensus agreement was reached on an acceptable rating against each item on the evaluation instrument. The latter was entered into the computer and a percentage for each main-item construct and a total percentage was calculated efficiently and accurately in 20 seconds. RESULTS: The results showed that first-year students struggled in all aspects of the PBL tutorial. Furthermore they did not possess the skills required for self-assessment. A small group of the second-year students struggled in the tutorials but were better able to carry out a self-assessment. The third-year students showed a slight drop in score when compared with the second-year students and this could be attributed to the new subjects introduced in the third-year of study. There was a substantial improvement in the results achieved by the fourth-year students in all the aspects of the PBL tutorial and showed a good correlation in carrying out a self-assessment when compared with the facilitator assessment. iv RECOMMENDATIONS: This was a cross-sectional study and a longitudinal study should be carried out in future research to assess the individual’s progress from first-to fourth-year in the PBL approach to learning. Greater academic support should be given to first-year students or alternatively the ‘at risk’ students should be given a foundation course to assist them with communication skills and learning skills.

WPI’s global and off-campus IQPs, rich with real-world sponsors/projects and increasingly diverse teams, require that both faculty and students navigate a network of ambiguous situations and relationships. Despite the increasing adoption of project-based learning as a preferred educational model across higher education, and the prevalence of project-based work in STEM careers, research on how to best prepare students and faculty to identify and navigate ambiguity inherent to project-based learning is limited. Seeking to fill this important gap, this graduate thesis advances a pilot qualitative study focused on how students in domestic and off campus IQPs experience and navigate ambiguity in their IQPs. The thesis presents preliminary grounded theory regarding the types of ambiguity experienced by students, how students navigate through the ambiguity, and elements that appear to impact a student’s success in that navigation.

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Burns can represent devastating injuries surgically, psychologically and socially. A multidisciplinary team approach to patient management is requisite to successful patient management. Burns education is currently under-represented in national undergraduate surgical curricula with a resultant graduating workforce with sub-optimal burns management knowledge. There is therefore a drive to improve burns education nationally. In order to develop burns teams to perform with skill and efficiency, it is important to develop and advance their technical and non-technical skills. Simulation has proven to be a powerful modality to augment surgical training. Recreating authentic clinical challenges is crucial in optimising simulation-based team training. The majority of such team-based simulation takes place in dedicated simulation facilities or centres which are static and can be costly. This thesis presents eight peer-reviewed publications that chronologically represent a thematic series of publications in simulation and surgical education with an ultimate focus on burns education. The theoretical framework explores simulation strategies in light of educational theory, culminating in the development of "The Burns Suite" (TBS); a novel modality to advance the delivery of interprofessional burns education. TBS represents a low-cost, high-fidelity, portable, immersive simulation environment. It facilitates the delivery of an interprofessional realistic burn resuscitation scenario based on "advanced trauma and life support" (ALTS) and "emergency management of severe burns" (EMSB) principles. Scenarios were refined utilising expert opinion through cognitive task analyses. Participants considered TBS experience authentic due to its high psychological and social fidelity. This thesis contributes to burns surgical education by providing a better understanding of educational theory underpinning successful simulation and facilitating its interprofessional delivery via TBS. This approach can facilitate the design of future simulation scenarios that provide unique educational experiences where team members can learn with and from other specialties and professions in a safe, controlled environment. Addressing economic and practical limitations of current immersive surgical simulation is important. The low-cost approach of TBS has major implications for surgical education as a whole, particularly given increasing financial austerity. This thesis proposes that alternative, complex, and challenging scenarios and/or procedures can be recreated within TBS, providing a diverse educational immersive simulation experience that can be extrapolated into other surgical specialities and interprofessional arenas.

acase@tulane.edu / Introduction: The Home-based Management of Malaria (HMM) is a cornerstone of malaria control in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and is recommended by WHO to provide prompt access to antimalarial treatment for children in under-served areas. Although HMM has been shown to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality with chloroquine, it has not been examined previously in the era of artemisinin-based combination therapies. The objectives of this study were to determine whether HMM reduced: 1] the time from when a mother or guardian realized her child was ill to the time when the child was brought for treatment and 2] malaria morbidity in children less than 5 years of age. Methodology: This cross-sectional retrospective study (2008-2014) was performed in intervention villages (receiving HMM) and control villages (not receiving HMM) to examine the effectiveness of HMM. Key Results: More mothers and guardians were informed about the malaria control activities performed (98% vs. 24%) in intervention than control villages (p < 0.001). Consistent with that result, mothers and guardians in intervention villages sought care for their sick children earlier than mothers in control villages (p < 0.001) and were more likely to obtain treatment from community health workers (CHWs) in their home villages. In contrast, more children were referred for malaria treatment to health posts and health centers from control than intervention villages (p < 0.001). Likewise, more children with complicated malaria were referred for treatment from control villages (p < 0.001), although those conclusions were limited by the small numbers of complicated (severe) malaria cases. Conclusions: These results indicate HMM shortens the time mothers wait before taking their children to receive treatment. Because more children with uncomplicated or complicated malaria are referred for treatment from control than intervention villages, these results indicate that the availability of HMM treatment in the child’s home village reduces morbidity (the risk of severe malarial disease). However, additional studies with larger numbers of subjects will be necessary to determine if HMM reduces mortality. / 1 / Ibrahima SECK

PBNM systems have been proposed as a feasible techology for managing massive scale applications including telecommunication service management. What is not known is how this class of system performs under carrier-scale traffic loads. This research investigates this open question and concludes, subject to the considerations herein, this technology can provide services to large scale applications. An in depth examination of several inferencing algorithms is made using experimental methods. The inferencing operation has been implicated as the major source of performance problems in rule based systems and we examine this. Moreover, these algorithms are of central importance to current and future context-aware, pervasive, mobile services. A novel algorithm, JukeBox, is proposed that is a correct, general and pure bindspace conjunctive match algorithm. It is compared to the current state of the art algorithm - Rete. We find that Rete is the superior algorithm when implemented using the hashed-equality variant. We also conclude that IO is an important cause of PBNM system performace limitations and is perhaps of more significance than the implicated inferencing operations. However, inferencing can be a bottleneck to performance and we document the factors associated with this. We describe a generally useful policy system benchmarking procedure that provides a visible, repeatable and measurable process for establishing a policy server's service rate characteristics. The service rate statistics, namely (mu) and (sigma), establish the limitations to policy system throughput. Combined with the offered traffic load to the server, using the statistic (lambda), we can provide a complete characterisation of system performance using the Pollaczek-Khinchine function. This characterisation allows us to make simple design and dimensioning heuristics that can be used to rate the policy system as a whole.

This study concerns school based evaluation; evaluation of a school or some aspect of its operation which is carried out by the teachers and other interested members of the school community. When the decision to evaluate and the control of the evaluation are at the school level a complex, dynamic situation is created. The teachers in the school concurrently have roles as evaluators and as those being evaluated, as well as continuing in their other normal teachers' roles. The history of educational evaluation in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Australia is traced. An outline is given of the developments in the more traditional methods based on measurement of achievement of objectives on the one hand, and on the 'informed judgement of experts' on the other. It is suggested that improvements in both methods have led to a constructive method of evaluation with its roots in both traditions. Some checklists and guidelines for planning evaluations are also reviewed. Interviews were carried out in an A.C.T. high school which had completed an evaluation almost a year earlier. Twenty people were interviewed: some teachers, some parents and a member of the Evaluation and Research Section of the A.C.T. Schools Office. All had been involved with or affected by the evaluation. If an evaluation is initiated and controlled at the school level many new complexities are introduced into the situation. The process of the evaluation becomes of paramount importance. The way the evaluation is initiated and planned, the way information is collected and analysed, and the way decisions are arrived at are uppermost in participants' minds. Probably the early stages are the most crucial in establishing the climate and structure for the evaluation, and in developing participants' skills. The effects on staff relationships, staff/parent relationships and the general climate of the school are what the participants are most aware of. There usually are outcomes of a school based evaluation arising from recommendations, but these often are more subtle than those of a traditional evaluation by outsiders. Changes may also occur during the evaluation, rather than at the end after the presentation of a report as was more traditionally the case. There is a place for school based evaluation in Australian schools, but it should be recognised as a complex process which may involve participants in new roles in an extremely dynamic situation.

These two studies investigated maternal engagement and retention in a voluntary, home-visiting program. The program screened families at the birth of their first child for risk characteristics associated with poor child and family outcomes. Higher risk families were offered regular home visits and support for up to 5 years. In the first study, a two-level hierarchical general linear model (HGLM) was used to examine the impact of poor community health and maternal isolation on mother's active engagement in the program, following initial enrollment. Data came from 4,057 mothers with firstborn infants, who enrolled in the Oregon Healthy Start (OHS) home-visiting program from 1995 through 1998. At the time of this study OHS was operating in 15 Oregon counties. Results showed that living in a county characterized by poor community health, or maternal isolation from supportive family and friendship networks, significantly reduced the likelihood of mothers actively engaging in home visits after enrollment. Hispanic mothers were significantly more likely to engage in services than mothers of other ethnicities. In the second study, a three-level hierarchical general linear model (HGLM) was used to investigate the impact of community violence, home visitor attributes, and maternal attributes on maternal retention in the OHS home-visiting program. Data came from 1,093 mothers with firstborn infants, served by 71 home visitors, residing in 12 communities being served by the OHS program prior to February 2000. Results showed that mothers who lived in communities that displayed higher levels of community violence were less likely to remain in the OHS program. Mothers were more likely to remain in the program when served by home visitors who received more active supervision. Mothers who were older were more likely to remain in the OHS program than were younger mothers. Hispanic mothers were more likely to remain in the OHS program than were mothers of other ethnic groups. Each study presents the implications for programmatic application. / Graduation date: 2002