University students are increasingly demanding that traditionally taught courses are converted to an online platform. While quality standards are in place for the format and organization of online courses, professors often are left wondering what activities contribute to learning engagement for their online students. The research question driving this study was, what activities contribute to learning engagement for online students? To investigate this question, an online survey was conducted in one state university of all students taking an online course during the spring semester. With responses from 417 students and using three standardized scale variables for learning engagement, as well as two open-ended questions, course components related to strong learning engagement were identified and examined. Initial findings indicated a statistically significant moderate correlation of learning engagement with the use of higher-order learning and reflective and integrative learning techniques. Specifically, students who reported being highly engaged connected ideas from other courses, changed their understanding of a topic or concept, found connections between their learning and societal problems, and had fun. A regression model using these variables, along with control variables of student age, gender, and out-of-school work, resulted in an R2 of 0.484, suggesting that almost half of the variance in learning engagement can be explained via this model. Further analysis of the qualitative data identified certain aspects of online discussions and assignments as engaging, such as discussions and interactive assignments that are not merely “fun” from a student perspective but also integrate previous learning and connect to current social issues. This includes prompting students with thought-provoking questions that relate to “real-world” situations and inviting students to share diverse opinions as well as develop personal perspectives.
Or how we can learn to change the conversation and prevent powers from “organizing the discontent” By Leigh E. Rich When Drs. Silvia Camporesi, Mark Davis, and Maria Vaccarella (2017) approached the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry about a symposium on “Public Trust in Expert Knowledge” as well as a panel session at the October 2016 […]
Digging through boxes of bygone beliefs and brooding about the burgeoning of bioethics By Leigh E. Rich I recently unearthed a box long lost in the back of my closet, a box that has travelled with me across several states and too many years. I don’t think of myself as a pack rat by any […]
Tuberculosis, justice, and futuristic dinosaurs By Leigh E. Rich I was born of disease. Not in the same circumstances as too many still today and so many others in the past, but my existence—or at least key narratives from life courses entwined with my existence—are rooted in disease. Had it not been for the “Spanish […]
There is often a mismatch between patients’ desire to be informed about errors and clinical reality. In closing the “disclosure gap” an understanding of the views of all members of the healthcare team regarding errors and their disclosure to patients is needed. However, international research on nurses’ views regarding this issue is currently limited. The objectives of this study involved exploring nurses’ attitudes and experiences in hospitals in two German-speaking cantons in Switzerland concerning disclosing errors to patients and perceived barriers to disclosure. Nurses generally thought that patients should be informed about every error, but only a very few nurses actually reported disclosing errors in practice. Indeed, many nurses reported that most errors are not disclosed to the patient. Nurses identified a number of barriers to error disclosure that have already been reported in the literature among all clinicians, such as legal consequences and the fear of losing patients’ trust. However, nurses in this study more frequently reported personal characteristics and a lack of guidance from the organisation as barriers to disclosure. Both issues suggest the need for a systematic institutional approach to error disclosure in which the decision to inform the patient stems from within the organisation and is not shouldered by individual nurses alone. Our study suggests that hospitals need to do more to support and train nurses in relation to error disclosure. Such measures as hospitals establishing a disclosure support system, providing background disclosure education, ensuring that disclosure coaching is available at all times, and providing emotional support for all parties involved, would likely go a long way to address the barriers identified by nurses.
Old reflections on the New Archaeology (and musings on anthropology, art, bioethics, and medicine) By Leigh E. Rich Perhaps my favourite class as a graduate student in anthropology was an elective taught by the chair of our department, an immensely affable man who, despite his stature in the discipline and successes as a scholar, was […]
Jon Stewart, Neil Postman, and “understanding the politics and epistemology of media” By Leigh E. Rich Right after completing my doctorate, I took a job as a political reporter. The pay was lousy, the position had little to do with the health sciences, and the newspaper, though respected, wasn’t big enough to compete with the […]
Corporate (and political and scientific) social responsibility By Leigh E. Rich and Michael A. Ashby PHIL: Oh, God, Lem. You’re using science for no good. We took an oath we would try to do that less (Better Off Ted 2009a, “Bioshuffle,” episode 109). The American sitcom Better Off Ted (whose second and final season was […]
Editorial for the 12(1) issue of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry By David M. Shaw and Leigh E. Rich This special issue of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry focuses on global health and associated bioethical concerns. As a concept, global health broadens the focus from national public health situations to the international sphere and concerns […]
Bioethics for prisoners? By Leigh E. Rich and Michael A. Ashby With some exceptions, it appears that the non-incarcerated world spends little time, if any at all, thinking about how prisoners are treated, whether during detainment or incarceration, after release, or when being put to state-sanctioned death. Of course, in part this is understandable, as […]
Bioethics, literature, and method By Michael A. Ashby and Leigh E. Rich Why do we listen to songs and watch soap operas, and some of us even try to read poetry? Why do we love stories, joke about serious issues, and listen in on other people’s conversations? Why are we sad when a good book […]
Significant political, public health, and human rights implications for failing to provide prisoners with adequate care By Leigh E. Rich and José de Arimatéia da Cruz There are significant ethical, public health, and human rights implications for failing to provide detainees and prisoners with adequate safety and health care, particularly with regard to infectious diseases […]
