In het herstellen en behouden van zinvolle bezigheden voor mensen met een lichte of matige vorm van van de ziekte van Alzheimer is doelstelling van groot praktisch belang. De studies gericht op dit doel hebben vertrouwd op de verschillende strategieën van zelfmanagement van instruction cues. Zeven studies werden gevonden die plaats hadden in de periode 2008-2012 (dat wil zeggen, de periode waarin onderzoek op dit gebied daadwerkelijk vorm heeft gekregen). Die strategieën bestaan uit het gebruik van (1) verbale signalen aangeboden via audiorecorders, (2) visuele signalen aangeboden via computersystemen, en (3) een combinatie van verbale en visuele signalen gepresenteerd via computersystemen. Dit artikel geeft een overzicht van de hiervoor genoemde strategieën en bespreekt de resultaten daarvan, hun algemene doeltreffendheid, op prestaties en stemmingen, en hun geschiktheid en bruikbaarheid. Thema's voor toekomstig onderzoek werden eveneens onderzocht. ABSTRACT Helping people with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease restore and maintain constructive occupations is an objective of great practical importance. Studies targeting this goal have relied on different strategies for self-management of instruction cues. Seven studies were identified in the period 2008- 2012 (i.e. the period in which research in this area has actually taken shape). These strategies consist of the use of (1) verbal cues presented via audio recording devices, (2) pictorial cues presented via computer-aided systems and (3) combinations of verbal and pictorial cues presented via computer-aided systems. This paper reviews these strategies and discusses their outcomes, their overall effectiveness on performance and mood, and their suitability and practicality. Issues for future research are also examined.
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Little is known about the effect of diverging pedagogies on the development of interactional oral skills in a foreign language. In a controlled study, we evaluated three newly developed instructional programmes that were situated in the same training context, but that differed in instructional focus and type of task. These were compared to the effects of business-as-usual instruction. Multilevel analysis revealed that all experimental groups outperformed the ‘business-as-usual’ control group on oral interaction skills (N = 199), with similar results for the programmes. Positive effects were found on interaction skills for trained contexts of use only. No transfer was found to tasks in other contexts of use. We conclude that receiving contextualised oral interaction instruction is beneficial to the development of pre-vocational learners’ interaction skills.
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Little is known about the effects of different instructional approaches on learner affect in oral interaction in the foreign language classroom. In a randomized experiment with Dutch pre-vocational learners (N = 147), we evaluated the effects of 3 newly developed instructional programs for English as a foreign language (EFL). These programs differed in instructional focus (form-focused vs. interaction strategies- oriented) and type of task (pre-scripted language tasks vs. information gap tasks). Multilevel analyses revealed that learners’ enjoyment of EFL oral interaction was not affected by instruction, that willingness to communicate (WTC) decreased over time, and that self-confidence was positively affected by combining information gap tasks with interactional strategies instruction. In addition, regression analyses revealed that development in learners’ WTC and enjoyment did not have predictive value for achievement in EFL oral interaction, but that development in self-confidence did explain achievement in EFL oral interaction in trained interactional contexts.
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Aims: To assess the effectiveness of a variety of physical treatments in the management of tension-type headache (TTH) in children. Methods: This review is reported in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines and was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42014015290). Randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials that examined the effects of all treatments with a physical component in the management of TTH in children and compared these treatments to a placebo intervention, no intervention, or a controlled comparison intervention were included. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) criteria for bias assessment and the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group criteria were used to assess the quality of the body of evidence. The outcome measures were pain, functioning, and quality of life. Only RCTs were included in the meta-analyses. Results: An initial search produced 10,464 published articles. Of these, 17 were relevant trials, including 1,815 participants. The overall GRADE rating of the included studies was moderate, and 11 of the 17 studies could be used in the meta-analyses. The effectiveness of physical treatments in terms of a reduction of pain of 50% or more showed a risk ratio (RR) of 2.37 (95% CI: 1.69 to 3.33). Relaxation training was the most evaluated intervention and proved to be significantly effective (RR: 3.00 [95% CI: 1.94 to 4.63]). In children having TTH combined with temporomandibular disorders, occlusal appliances were effective (RR: 2.58 [95% CI: 1.37 to 4.85]). Conclusion: This review supports the use of physical treatments to reduce pain in children with TTH.
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Teachers are expected to tailor their instruction to accommodate differences between students, in order to give all learners the opportunity to develop to their full potential. This is also called differentiated instruction (DI), and it requires teachers to continually monitor students’ progress towards the lesson goal and adjust their instruction accordingly. This is a complex skill for many teachers that they do not always implement. The goal of this dissertation was to research how educators can be supported in providing differentiation. In Study 1 we observed secondary school teachers with strong DI skills in their classrooms and interviewed them afterwards to analyse their decision-making processes. The findings of this study informed the design and implementation of a professional development program in Study 2, which was based on a whole-task approach where the participant teachers work on authentic tasks that require the integration of skills and knowledge, increasing the likelihood of transfer to practice. The impact of this professional development program on teachers’ DI practices was examined in Study 3, both from the teacher and student perspective. Results from both perspectives showed that all teachers made more intentional adaptations. To explore whether the findings of the first three studies were transferable to another context, we shifted the focus to students with hearing and/or communicative impairments (HCI). Instead of a single teacher, often a team of professionals has joint responsibility for HCI students’ education. In Study 4, we researched what providing DI and interprofessional collaboration in the HCI context looks like, by conducting a systematic literature review and an exploration of practice through focus group sessions. We found that there are four phases (preparing a lesson series, preparing a lesson, enacting a lesson, and evaluating the lesson) and five principles (work in a goal-oriented way, monitor continually, challenge all students, adapt the instruction, and stimulate self-regulation) that could be identified in DI across various educational contexts. The four phases and five principles can be used as a framework to support educators in improving their DI skills and thus making good, informed decisions that allow all their students to realise their learning potential.
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Even learners with good language ability do not automatically engage in interactional encounters in the foreign language. Affective factors, such as speakers’ willingness to communicate (WTC), self-confidence and enjoyment of oral interaction play an important role in this (e.g. Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; MacIntyre, 2002). Little is known, however, about the effects of different instructional approaches on learner affect in oral interaction in the foreign language classroom. In a randomized experiment with Dutch pre-vocational learners (N = 147), we evaluated the effects of three newly developed instructional programmes for English as a foreign language (EFL). These programmes differed in instructional focus (form-focused vs interaction strategies-oriented) and type of task (pre-scripted language tasks vs information gap tasks). Multilevel repeated measures analyses revealed that learners’ enjoyment of EFL oral interaction was not affected by instruction, that WTC decreased over time, and that self-confidence was positively affected by combining information gap tasks with interactional strategies instruction. In addition, regression analyses revealed that development in learners’ WTC and enjoyment did not have predictive value for task achievement in EFL oral interaction, but that development in self-confidence did explain task achievement in trained interactional contexts. These results suggest that it is worthwhile for practitioners to address the development of self-confidence in their language lessons, and that they could do so my combining the use of information gap tasks with interactional strategy instruction that includes compensation-and meaning negotiation strategies.
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Decisions and business rules are essential Components of an organization. Combined, these components form a basis for securing the implementation of new laws, regulations and internal policies into processes, work instructions and information systems. To ensure proper implementation, business rule types must be taken into account, as the functions per type may be different. The current body of knowledge on decision and business rule management offers some insights into different types of business rules, however, these types are often presented as a secondary focus of a contribution or set in stone without proper evidence supporting these claims. This study therefore aims to explore the different business rule types utilized in the body of knowledge as well as practice. This will form a basis to determine possible overlap and inconsistencies and aid in establishing the functional differences between the defined business rule types. By applying a literature review, semi-structured interviews and secondary data analysis, we observed that the current body of knowledge shows serious diffusion with regards to business rule types, the same holds for practice. Therefore, future research should focus to research these differences in detail with the aim to harmonize the proliferation of business rule types.
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Author supplied: "Abstract Software Architecture Compliance Checking (SACC) is an approach to verify conformance of implemented program code to high-level models of architectural design. Static SACC focuses on the modular software architecture and on the existence of rule violating dependencies between modules. Accurate tool support is essential for effective and efficient SACC. This document describes a test approach that may be used to determine how accurate a tested SACCT-tool is with respect to dependency analysis and violation reporting. This technical report is intended as a test manual and describes how a SACCT-tool can be tested. Two separate tests are described: the Benchmark test, and the FreeMind test."
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There is a wide range of literature suggesting that implicit learning is more effective than explicit learning when acquiring motor skills. However, the acquisition of nursing skills in educational settings continues to rely heavily on detailed protocols and explicit instructions. This study aimed to examine the necessity for comprehensive protocols in the acquisition of nursing skills. In the context of bandaging techniques, three studies were conducted to investigate whether students who practiced with an instruction card containing minimal instructions (implicit group) performed comparably to the students who practiced with a protocol containing step-by-step instructions (explicit group). Study 1 was designed to determine whether both groups performed equally well in applying a bandage during training. Study 2 and 3 were designed to determine if both groups performed equally well during a retention and transfer (multitasking) test, administered after a series of three training sessions. In comparison with the explicit group, the implicit group demonstrated comparable performance with their practice attempts in Study 1 and performed equally well during the retention and transfer test in Study 2. Furthermore, several results from Study 3 indicated better performance of the implicit group. In conclusion, the use of protocols with explicit step-by-step instructions may not be essential for the acquisition of nursing skills. Instead, instructional methods that facilitate implicit learning may be preferable, as students in the implicit group demonstrated at least comparable performance in all studies and tended towards greater consistency when multitasking.
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This thesis explores the opportunities for developing and assessing learners’ EFL oral skills in pre-vocational classrooms in the Netherlands. The thesis contains four studies. First, we evaluate the oral interaction practice offered in EFL coursebooks. In the second study, we explore ways to assess individual ability in oral interaction in a reliable and valid manner. Studies three and four report on two experimental studies. Study three investigates the effects of instructional programs on learners’ interactional ability, and study four investigates the effects of these programmes on the affective measures willingness to communicate, enjoyment and self-confidence. Additionally, this study explores the relationship between these affective variables and task achievement in oral interaction tasks. The thesis furthermore contains a summary and discussion of the main outcomes, suggestions for future research and for educational practice.
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