We examine the political and personal effects of disaster volunteerism with participants of the New Orleans Rebirth Movement (NORM) using four waves of pre- and postsurveys and qualitative analysis of participant journals. Significant increases are found in internal political efficacy, desire to be active in politics, and value placed on social…

The main attributes of the American Political Science Annual (APSA) Research Conference, and other similar regional conferences, have not changed in decades. These structures and incentives are governed more by authority and tradition than by careful consideration of how best to create stimulating and engaging environments for teaching and…

This article presents the findings of a study concerning the use of deliberation as a tool for classroom instruction. Utilizing deliberative polling as the basis for this project, we wanted to determine whether this form of discourse will have an impact on student knowledge, opinions about a policy issue, and levels of engagement. The use of pre-…

Recent investigations into the UK National Health Service revealed doctors' failures to act with compassion and professionalism towards patients. The British media asked questions about what happens to students during their learning that influences such behaviour as doctors. We listened to 200 medical students' narratives of professionalism…

Many faculty in today's academic medical centers face high levels of stress and low career satisfaction. Understanding faculty vitality is critically important for the health of our academic medical centers, yet the concept is ill-defined and lacking a comprehensive model. Expanding on previous research that examines vital faculty in higher…

The choice of tools with which to select medical students is complex and controversial. This study aimed to identify the extent to which scores on each of three admission tools (Admission GPA, UMAT and structured interview) predicted the outcomes of the first major clinical year (Y4) of a 6 year medical programme. Data from three student cohorts…

Today's healthcare can be characterised by the increasing importance of specialisation that requires cooperation across disciplines and specialities. In view of the number of educational programmes for interdisciplinary cooperation, surprisingly little is known on how learning arises from interdisciplinary work. In order to analyse the learning…

The drive to quality-manage medical education has created a need for valid measurement instruments. Validity evidence includes the theoretical and contextual origin of items, choice of response processes, internal structure, and interrelationship of a measure's variables. This research set out to explore the validity and potential utility of an…

There is a lack of information on the use of multi-source evaluation to assess trainees' interpersonal and communication skills in Oriental settings. This study is conducted to assess the reliability and applicability of assessing the interpersonal and communication skills of family medicine residents by patients, peer residents, nurses, and…

Interprofessional education (IPE) for health and social care students may improve attitudes toward IPE and interprofessional collaboration (IPC). The quality of research on the association between IPE and attitudes is mediocre and IPE effect sizes are unknown. Students at a college in Toronto, Canada, attended an IPE workshop. A comparison group…

Using contemporary literary sources, we explore the powerful ideological framework that normalises prescription dependency as part of everyday life, focusing upon the treatment of mood disorders. Through a literary critical methodology, we read novels by American hyperrealists such as Bret Easton Ellis, David Foster Wallace and Rick Moody as…

World-wide, universities in health sciences have transformed their curriculum to include collaborative learning and facilitate the students' learning process. Interaction has been acknowledged to be the synergistic element in this learning context. However, students spend the majority of their time outside their classroom and interaction does not…

The educational environment has been increasingly acknowledged as vital for high-quality medical education. As a result, several instruments have been developed to measure medical educational environment quality. However, there appears to be no consensus about which concepts should be measured. The absence of a theoretical framework may explain…

Science education in a developing country is pivotal in the developmental process. Bhutan, like other developing countries, places great importance in institutionalising a relevant and challenging science curriculum for all of its school-aged children. A number of factors have made the review of the science curriculum in Bhutan a priority…

This position paper addresses some enduring, as well as emerging issues, associated with the crucial question of benchmarking understandings about nature of science (NOS) for precollege science education. The question of benchmarking NOS understandings is revisited in light of the often cited, continuing debates among historians, philosophers, and…