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Evaluation, quantifying and minimising the carbon footprint of inhalational anaesthesia in operation theatres at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
No full textBackground: Inhalational anaesthetic agents, particularly Nitrous, have significant global warming effects. We are uniquely positioned to minimise our carbon footprint through the change of conduct of practice. To quantify the local significance, we undertook an audit of CHW’s inhalational anaesthetic usage over the past 12 months to quantify both the carbon footprint (in equivalent tonnes of CO2) and the monetary cost of our inhalational anaesthetics. The Nitrous carbon footprint was significantly greater than that of the volatile agents, and the financial cost was not insignificant. This data highlights the potential for significantly reducing our department’s carbon footprint by minimising Nitrous use and limiting fresh gas flows. A significant portion of this consumption likely occurs at the point of gas induction which creates a point of practice change that could have significant reductions in overall gas usage.
Aims: Minimising the carbon footprint of inhalational anaesthesia at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead (CHW), Creating a database (DB) for ongoing access to anaesthesia/surgical data for future research purposes.
Methods: Physiological data, anaesthetic volatiles, Nitrous, and medical air used in all anaesthesia-induced operations were captured, anonymised and restored in a DB using anaesthetic machines and electronic monitors in surgical wards at CHW from 15.10.2021-15.10.2022.
Results: Recent rationalisation in volatile anaesthetic consumption at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNS) achieved a 12-month change of 66% reduction in eCO2 and 165,000 in direct cost savings each year
The impact of app engagement in an intervention addressing parents’ fussy eating concerns
No full textBackground: Although fussy eating is a developmentally normal behaviour, it is a source of anxiety and concern for up to half of parents of young children. Concern for fussy eating mediates parents’ use of nonresponsive feeding practises, which have poor, long-term health outcomes for children. However, few interventions have been developed for this population.
Aims: This randomised controlled feasibility trial evaluated a web app to improve feeding practices of parents concerned for fussy eating.
Methods: A web app was co-designed with parents of toddlers concerned about fussy eating. The final app included a food offer tracker, information about fussy eating/feeding strategies, recipes, and SMS. Participants were recruited via Facebook and randomised to intervention (n=25, received app access for 6 weeks) or control (n=26, wait-listed). T-tests evaluated pre/post differences in parent feeding practices and child eating behaviours; app engagement impact on outcomes was investigated with linear regression.
Results: No pre/post differences were found in the control group. Parents in the intervention reported significant decreases in children’s food fussiness (p = 0.04, Cohen D = 0.40) and aggressive mealtime behaviours (p = 0.01, Cohen D = .55). Higher app engagement predicted decreased parental concern for fussy eating (R2 = 0.77, F = 24.48, p = 0.03) and increased structured parent feeding practises (R2 = 0.52, F = 6.71, p = 0.0004).
Conclusions: A web app co-designed with parents to address their fussy eating concerns has potential to improve their feeding practices. A larger trial is warranted to examine long-term impacts
The Politics and Poetics of the Women’s Millennial Workplace Novel: The Trope of Burnout in Kikuko Tsumura’s There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job (2015) and Ling Ma’s Severance (2018)
Get PDF“The “burnout novel” is flourishing” stated Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in her piece in the Guardian, 15 May 2021. Cosslett is certainly not the first reviewer who recently noticed a resurgence in contemporary fiction, mostly written by women, on the discontents of contemporary work culture. Exploring the politics and poetics of the contemporary women’s burnout novel, I will address the extent to which literary burnout in women’s contemporary workplace novels is a trope belonging to an aesthetic of ‘capitalist realism’ – reconfirming it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism – or a catalyst of an imagination of a more sustainable, possibly more caring world, that lies beyond the end of capitalism. Analysing Kikuko Tsumura’s There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job (2015) and Ling Ma’s Severance (2018) I will address how current scholarship on the contemporary culture of overwork, stress, and burnout could benefit from ideas of care (work) and studies of capitalism’s care crisis in recent cultural theory and women’s literature, which have thus far been largely side-lined, or not properly considered
The Ghosts of Capitalism in Kathrin Röggla’s wir schlafen nicht (2004) and Isaac Rosa’s La habitación oscura (2013)
Get PDFThe deregulation and flexibilization of the labor market at the center of the neoliberal employment policies and the post-Fordist dissolution of previous management strategies based on direct control mechanisms and on stable labor-capital relationships have often been deemed as liberating measures for workers. However, the psychological toll on workers of unregulated labor markets and job conditions, ineffective measures on unemployment, the constant fear of job loss and the increased accountability for their performance has manifested itself in the form of anxiety, sleeplessness, self-exploitation or a profound pessimism and a retreat from communal forms of resistance.
In Kathrin Röggla’s novel wir schlafen nicht (2004), the demands of flexible capitalism have reached uncanny repercussions. The coercive mechanisms that arise through the subjection to neoliberal working rules have turned the workers into ghosts alienated from themselves, who in search of better and secure job positions have exploited themselves to the verge of mental collapse, barely staying awake through caffeine abuse and other stimulant substances. On a formal level, forms of unrealistic linguistic patterns like the exclusive use of indirect speech or the absence of the interviewer’s questions evoke the impression of a ‘ghost novel’. Thus, the desire to achieve professional excellence and stability in a post-Fordist neoliberal job market seems to come at the cost of mental health, physical well-being, and one’s one identity.
In Isaac Rosa’s La habitación oscura (2013), the crisis of capitalism has created a different type of ghosts. Following the financial crisis in 2008 and the detrimental effects it had on the Spanish economy, the protagonists of Rosa’s novel have decided to temporarily isolate themselves from the outside world in a dark room. They gradually become spectres of a reality they are trying to escape. The four walls of the dark room are not enough to protect them from the harsh economic conditions, and their desire to create a closed community prevents them from actually engaging with larger communities outside, capable of articulating an enduring and organised resistance
Precarious Lives: The Deepening Pathologies of Neoliberalism in French Cinema (1980 to the Present)
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Understood as a politico-epistemological program rather than simply free-market fundamentalism, as a particular production of subjectivity that constitutes individual subjects as ‘human capital’ rather than simply a way of governing economies or states, neoliberalism has led to the profound destruction of social bonds and to the production of economic, social, and political vulnerability and precarity. Precarity – referring to the rise in flexible and precarious forms of labour, the growth of the knowledge economy, the reduction of welfare state provisions, the suppression of unions, and the association of migration with illegality – has become one of the buzz words in studies of neoliberalism’s restructuring of the global economy and of the entire human sensorium. The recent volume Insecurity1 encapsulates the dominant understanding of precarity and precariousness as the default state of life today, the logic governing the present cultural, economic, political, and social life in the West. This article identifies several dominant narrative motifs in French films made between the 1980s and 2020s that take precarity and precaritization as their subject, and draws attention to an important shift in attitudes to work and class struggle, a shift indicative of the deepening pathologies of neoliberalism. 
Teachers’ perceptions of socio-cultural practices on students’ academic achievement in North Pentecost, Vanuatu
Get PDFThis study investigated teachers’ perceptions of sociocultural factors affecting students’ academic achievement in Zone Five North Pentecost, Vanuatu. A qualitative study, it sees its forty-five participants as ‘a culture-sharing group’, documenting their attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and their shared approaches towards sociocultural and classroom practices in relation to students’ academic work. Teachers’ perceptions from both etic and emic perspectives within their cultural and social context, and their meanings and processes were investigated. Based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning the argument proposes that learning happens through interaction within the socio-cultural context. All contexts are complex with intertwining systems of collective behaviours and simultaneous interactions with the environment. Diverse sociocultural factors affecting academic achievement were identified including kava as a socio-cultural keystone, religious responsibilities of community members, domestic commitments towards families and wider communities and traditional formalities such as bolololi (Traditional pig-killing ceremony), mateana (funerary ceremonies) and lagiana (marriage). These aspects of daily interactions among Zone Five communities influenced the relationship between teaching and learning pedagogies. Despite setbacks to learning, teachers suggested the urgent need for a culturally inclusive curriculum to assist students to acquire important communal values, understand their spiritual and cultural phenomena, live sustainably with their environment and maintain a healthy life while adhering to the virtues of citizenship and governance
Does the Proportion of Marks for Wet Laboratories Affect the Overall Mark, Grade, and Failure Rates?
Get PDFStudents have higher marks in programs with a higher proportion of marks allocated to ongoing assessment (tutorials, assignments) than exams. However, there has been little attention to how the allocation of marks to wet laboratories affects the academic performance of students in university courses. The aim of this study was to analyse how the allocation of marks to examination and wet-laboratory-related assessment affected the performance of students in a biochemistry course. The students were from four programs: pharmacy, biomedical science, medical laboratory science, and nutrition. The methods were (i) comparing the marks for the exam and laboratories, (ii) determining any association between these marks and academic outcomes by regression line analysis, and (iii) undertaking modelling to determine the effects of changing the allocation of marks on passing and failing rates. Overall, and for each cohort of students, the results were similar. Students who completed the course had much lower marks in the exam than in the laboratories. Regression line analysis of the marks in the exam versus laboratories showed (a) a poor line fit and (b) the correlation coefficient was moderate. A high percentage of students passed the course (90%). Modelling showed that increasing the marks for the exam decreased the number of students passing the course to as few as 51%. Thus, the allocation of marks to wet laboratories can have a major effect on the percentage of students who pass courses. The question of whether students who fails exams should pass courses/programs needs to be given further consideration
Perceptions of an assessment literacy module to improve academic judgement – a pilot study
Get PDFExpectation differences between assessors and students regarding assignment marking often results in student dissatisfaction accompanied by student complaints, indicating that despite following assignment task briefs and marking criteria, students’ desired grades were not achieved. The Assessment Literacy Module (ALM) is an online grading tool designed to promote student development of evaluative judgement. The ALM allows evaluation of sample assignments – with students being the assessor – guided by assignment marking standards that convey how assessment criteria relate to the assignment outcome; a process that often highlights discrepancies in student academic judgement. Our pilot study surveyed staff (N = 13) and students (N = 105) to gauge perceptions of the impact of the ALM on the student learning experience. Students from eight subjects in Bioscience, Science and Biomedicine, across all three undergraduate levels, indicated that they now have a better understanding of their assessment criteria (85.7%), that they found the ALM helpful in preparing their assignments (87.6%), and that they are more confident with their assessment quality (78.1%). Staff indicated that they perceived students were able to use the feedback comments on the sample assignments to better understand assignment rubrics (69.2%), and that students who used the ALM had better comprehension of assessment expectations (84.6%)
Creating SAFE spaces for online learning in enabling maths courses
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Transition Maths is a foundational maths unit offered fully online in pre-degree programs at the University of Tasmania, as well as through Open Universities Australia. The unit aims to prepare non-traditional and underrepresented students (such as first-in-family or of low socio-economic status) for tertiary study. Many of our students lack access to technology and established support networks; they often lack core mathematical skills and frequently recount previous negative experiences of formal maths education. These are both risk factors for maths anxiety (Khasawneh & Gosling, 2021).
PEDAGOGICAL CONTEXT
Our teaching approach is grounded in adult learning theory (Tate, 2012) and evidence-based practices (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014) that lead to efficient learning for time poor students. We provide a rich suite of resources with a coherent structure and clear workflow for familiarity of process which assists with reducing anxiety. The workflow is closely aligned with weekly online contact sessions to enable real-time interactions which are designed to nurture a growth mindset where mistakes are celebrated as learning opportunities for all, rather than being seen as a failure of the individual. This has been shown to assist students with anxiety or depression to better cope with the stresses of university life (Dweck, 2017; p.38). We also use a differentiated instruction model and assessment framework to empower students to select the difficulty level at which they wish to work.
LEARNING MODEL
To overcome the isolation which can arise in online learning environments we focus on building relationships of trust through multimodal communication, both synchronous and asynchronous. We use team-teaching to create a learning community where participants have shared goals, space, and agency to decide how best to go about their learning (Hord, 2009). Activity-based sessions encourage group work and peer collaboration, and the presence of two teachers enables timely assistance, helping us to sustain the lively learning environment. Self-reflection is promoted at regular waypoints to ensure students achieve mathematical fluency and avoid the ‘illusion of knowing’ (Oakley, 2014).
REFLECTION
With a focus on open communication and relationship building we create safe spaces for effective online mathematics learning. Students report increasing confidence and they specifically acknowledge how motivated they became with our online team-teaching approach.
REFERENCES
Brown, P., Roediger, H., & McDaniel, M. (2014) Make it stick, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
Dweck, C. (2017) Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential, London: Robinson.
Hord, S. (2009). Professional Learning Communities. Journal of Staff Development, 30(1), 40-43.
Khasawneh, E., & Gosling, C. (2021). What impact does maths anxiety have on university students?, BMC Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00537-2
Oakley, B. (2014) A mind for numbers: How to excel at maths & science, New York: TarcherPerigee.
Tate, M. (2012) “Sit & get” Won’t grow dendrites brain, London: SAGE Publications
Two-staging a comeback: A review of two-stage exams from 1996 to 2022
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Two-stage examinations are an alternative to a traditional examination, where an individual examination is followed by a group examination, often on the same questions. With pandemic remote learning leading to a re-assessment of examination formats, we investigated previous research on two-stage exams to understand how these assessments have been delivered and received by students, and we make suggestions based on this research and our own experience for how to deliver these exams in a large-cohort introductory biology unit. This research was published in the International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Educations (IJISME; Lee et al., 2022).
AIMS
We aimed to investigate trends in how two-stage exams were set, their discipline context, student performance and the student experience in studies published in the last ~25 years.
DESIGN AND METHODS
We performed a narrative literature review of research papers involving the use of two-stage examinations in STEM, from 1996 to 2022. We extracted from the 39 included studies data about the discipline, the weighting and timing of the group component, the type of questions asked, how groups were formed and the cohort size. We also extracted data on the student’s response: whether scores were higher in the group component, whether the exam improved understanding or retention, whether students favoured the format and whether stress was alleviated.
RESULTS
Trends were identified, with most surveyed exams using multiple-choice questions that were the same in the individual and the group component. Student feedback was very positive, and group component marks were almost always higher than individual component marks. However, results varied on improved understanding and reduction in stress, and few studies tested these factors.
CONCLUSIONS
Two-stage exams are well received by students, and group exams increase performance relative to individual exams. Further research is needed into measurable beneficial effects from the format. We provide our suggestions for implementing these examinations in a large introductory biology unit.
REFERENCE
Lee, T. R. C., Pye, M., Lilje, O., Nguyen, H. D., Hockey, S., de Bruyn, M. and can den Berg, F. T. (2022) Two-stage examinations in STEM: A narrative literature review. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 30(5), 73-90