Query: education project evaluation

title: Evaluation of Sino Foreign Cooperative Education Project Using Orthogonal Sine Cosine Optimized Kernel Extreme Learning Machine
abstract: This study aims to propose an efficient evaluation model for Sino foreign cooperative education projects, which can offer a reasonable reference for universities to deepen reform and innovation of education and further enhance the level of international education. The core engine of the model is the kernel extreme learning machine (KELM) model integrated with orthogonal learning (OL) strategy optimization. The introduction of the OL mechanism is to further strengthen the optimization capabilities of the basic SCA, which is devoted to promoting the KELM model to select the optimal parameter combination and feature subset and further enhance the KELM evaluation capability of Sino foreign cooperative education projects. To examine the performance of the proposed method, OLSCA is evaluated on 23 benchmark problems, comparison with eight other well known methods. The experimental results have shown that the proposed OLSCA is prominently superior to existing methods on most functional problems. Meantime, OLSCA KELM is compared against other machine learning approaches in dealing with the evaluation of education projects of Sino foreign cooperation. The simulation results illustrate that the presented OLSCA KELM obtains better performance of classification and higher stability on all four indicators. Therefore, it is evident that the presented OLSCA KELM can be an effective solution for the evaluation of Sino foreign cooperative education projects.

title: Process Evaluation of a Faith Based Multicomponent Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Stroke Risk in Mexican Americans in a Catholic Church Setting: The SHARE (Stroke Health and Risk Education) Project
abstract: Church based stroke prevention programs for Hispanics are underutilized. The Stroke Health and Risk Education (SHARE) project, a multicomponent cluster randomized trial, addressed key stroke risk factors among predominantly Mexican Americans in a Catholic Church setting. Process evaluation components (implementation, mechanisms of impact, and context) are described. Partner support promoted positive health behavior change. Motivational interviewing calls were perceived as helpful, however, barriers with telephone delivery were encountered. Intervention exposure was associated with theory constructs for targeted behaviors. We conclude that health behavior interventions to prevent stroke can be successfully implemented for Mexican Americans within a Catholic Church setting, with parish priest support.

title: Can a Community Led Intervention Offering Social Support and Health Education Improve Maternal Health? A Repeated Measures Evaluation of the PACT Project Run in a Socially Deprived London Borough
abstract: Social adversity can significantly influence the wellbeing of mothers and their children. Maternal health may be improved through strengthened support networks and better health literacy. Health improvement at the population level requires optimizing of the collaboration between statutory health services, civic organizations (e.g. churches, schools) as well as community groups and parents. Two key elements in improving community engagement are co production and community control. This study evaluated a co produced and community led project, PACT (Parents and Communities Together) for mothers in a deprived south London borough. The project offered social support and health education. Intended effects were improvements in mental health, health literacy, and social support, assessed by standardized measures in a pre post design. Sixty one mothers consented to take part in the evaluation. Significant improvements were found in mental health measures, in health literacy, for those with low literacy at baseline, and in overall and some specific aspects of social support. Satisfaction with the project was high. We found that the project engaged local populations that access statutory health services relatively less. We conclude that community organized and community led interventions in collaboration with statutory health services can increase accessibility and can improve mothers' mental health and other health related outcomes.

title: Project OPUS: Development and evaluation of an electronic platform for pain management education of medical undergraduates in resource limited settings
abstract: Pain is a very frequent symptom that is reported by patients when they present to health professionals but remains undertreated or untreated, particularly in low resource settings including Nigeria. Lack of training in pain management remains the most significant obstacle to pain treatment alongside an inadequate emphasis on pain education in undergraduate medical curricula, negatively impacting on subsequent care of patients. This study aimed to determine the effect of a 12 week structured e Learning course on the knowledge of pain management among Nigerian undergraduate medical students.  Prospective, multisite, pre post study conducted across five medical colleges in Nigeria. Structured modules covering aspects of pain management were delivered on an e Learning platform. Pre and post test self assessments were carried out in the 12 week duration of the study. User experience questionnaires and qualitative interviews were conducted via instant messaging to evaluate user experiences of the platform. User experience data was analysed using the UEQ Data Analysis Tool and Framework Analysis.  A total of 216 of 659 eligible students completed all sections of the e Learning course. Participant mean age was 23.52 years, with a slight female predominance (55.3% Across all participants, an increase in median pre and post test scores occurred, from 40 to 60 (Z 11.3, p<0.001, effect size 1.3) suggestive of increased knowledge acquisition relating to pain management.  Learning is a valuable approach to delivering pain education alongside identifying factors to address in future iterations.  Learning approaches to pain management education can enhance traditional learning methods and may increase students' knowledge. Future iterations of e Learning approaches will need to consider facilitating the download of data and content for the platform to increase user uptake and engagement. The platform was piloted as an optional adjunct to existing curricula. Future efforts to advocate and support integration of e Learning for pain education should be two fold; both to include pain education in the curricula of medical colleges across Nigeria and the use of e Learning approaches to enhance teaching where feasible.

title: Evaluation of the Spring Seedling Project Zhaotong Program: A study of a novel continuing medical education program for rural doctors in China
abstract: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Spring Seedling Project Zhaotong program, a novel continuing medical education program, to improve the knowledge and skills of rural doctors in China.  An uncontrolled single group pre and post intervention design based on quantitative and qualitative methods.  Zhaotong is a prefecture level city located in Yunnan, China.  A total of 1866 country doctors practising in Zhaotong were enrolled.  The Zhaotong program consisted of three stages: remote education, workshops conducted in Zhaotong and field training in Shanghai.  The effectiveness of the remote education and Zhaotong workshop stages was assessed based on differences between pre and post training test scores. Qualitative comments were collected to assess the experience of country doctors following the Shanghai field training stage.  In total, 1866 country doctors (46.9% males; mean age: 38.2 9.2 years) participated in the program. The average score of the post training test was higher than that of the pre training test, both online (P .001) and offline (P .001) In regard to the Zhaotong workshops, with the exception of incisions/suturing, the average scores of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, gynaecological examinations and child growth/development were improved after training (P .001) Qualitative analysis showed that Shanghai field training enhanced understanding of general practice, with the majority of country doctors indicating that they would apply what they learned in daily practice.  This study introduced an comprehensive form of continuing medical education for rural doctors in Zhaotong and proved the effectiveness of this program and also provided a reference point for the future development of continuing medical education.

title: An Experimental Education Project for Consultations of Older Adults during the Pandemic and Healthcare Lockdown
abstract: To develop a mentor supervised, interprofessional, geriatric telemedicine experiential education project in response to the COVID 19 pandemic.  Medical and pharmacy students collaborated via remote consultations to address the coexistence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy in geriatric patients. In depth interviews of students and patients as well as Likert scale based telephonic survey were performed for a comprehensive evaluation of the project's significance.  To date, 49 consultations have been conducted. Remote consultations performed by medical and pharmacy students working collaboratively were beneficial for both students, participants.  This experimental education project provided students with authentic challenges while simultaneously delivering care to the older adults who are susceptible to disruption of care associated with the pandemic. Further development and expanded implementation of such approaches may be a post pandemic practice to provide more accessible care for senior patients while incorporating interprofessional education.

title: A realist evaluation of student use of a virtual reality smartphone application in undergraduate legal education
abstract: This paper provides a realist evaluation of the Open Justice virtual reality (VR) smartphone app, designed to develop presentation skills for students on an undergraduate legal education module. This work addresses two research questions: what proportion of students engaged with the Open Justice app, and what worked for whom in what circumstances and why? Questionnaire and interviews were conducted and analysed using a realist evaluation approach. This approach is particularly pertinent to the evaluation of how emerging educational technologies are used, as it can point to the potential affordances of a technological intervention, in addition to assessing its current use. In keeping with the realist evaluation approach, data analysis was completed using the context?mechanism?outcome framework. The findings suggest that more than half of students did not engage with the app during their studies, but this was not surprising as it was a pilot project into using VR with our students and such innovations can be difficult to manage in distance education contexts. Those who did engage with it recognised the potential of immersive VR to contribute to legal skills development, but they found the application of the technology, in this context, to be of limited use. By utilising a realist evaluation framework, this study contributes to the emerging field of programme theory based evaluations of educational technology, which might form the basis of further research. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Smartphone based virtual reality technology has developed exponentially and is now widely and cheaply available. Smartphone based virtual reality technology has the potential to develop professional skills, and thereby provide a useful addition to experiential learning pedagogies. This is of particular relevance to the development of professional legal skills in the context of clinical legal education. Realist evaluation methodology is increasingly common in health literature to evaluate the impact of education programmes. What this paper adds This is the first empirical study of the use of VR technology to develop professional skills in a distance learning setting. This is the first paper to use realist methodology to evaluate virtual reality technology in legal education. It provides a granular analysis of particular contexts and user responses that can facilitate or inhibit learner engagement with VR technology. Implications for practice and/or policy It provides an analysis of VR used to support teaching and learning, where the students are distance learners?this highlights issues and challenges to be overcome. It provides an evidence base to inform the development of, and further research into, smartphone based virtual reality for legal education settings. It provides a detailed example of how realist methodology can be utilised to evaluate educational technology in real world settings.

title: The Russian Excellence Initiative for higher education: a nonparametric evaluation of short term results
abstract: This research studies the short term effects of the Russian Excellence Initiative Project 5to100 on participating universities. To trace the effect, we develop a quasi experimental econometric methodology. A control group of universities comparable to the Project 5to100 universities at the starting point of the program's implementation was singled out using propensity score matching. Data envelopment analysis was conducted, and the Malmquist productivity index was calculated to trace how and why the efficiency of the "participants" and "non participants" of the Project 5to100 has changed due to the project. We also investigate the direct impact of the policy on the research productivity of universities, using the average treatment effect, and difference in difference approaches. The final step consists of an explanatory analysis of the factors apart from the policy potentially affecting efficiency scores. We find statistically significant positive effects of the policy both on the productivity and on the efficiency of the participating universities.

title: [Evaluation of the project for the introduction of bystander resuscitation in schools in North Rhine Westphalia]
abstract: Teaching of resuscitation measures is not mandatory in all schools in Germany. It is currently limited to individual, partly mandatory projects despite a low bystander resuscitation rate. For this reason, the Ministry for Schools and Education of North Rhine Westphalia initiated the project "Bystander resuscitation at schools in NRW" in March 2017.  The aim of this work was to evaluate this project.  All secondary schools in North Rhine Westphalia were invited to participate in the project. Medical partners from each administrative district took part, who carried out resuscitation training with existing concepts for teacher or student training. After a 3 year period, the evaluation was carried out using standardized questionnaires for school headmasters, teachers and students.  In total, more than 40,000 pupils from 249 schools in NRW could be trained in resuscitation within the project with 6 different concepts. Of the students 85% answered the questions regarding resuscitation correctly and overall felt safe in resuscitation measures. The one off investment requirement for all schools is roughly 4 6.5 million EUR and around 340,000 EUR in each budget year.  A legal constitution and funding are necessary for a nationwide introduction of resuscitation in schools. All established concepts are effective, therefore each school can use them exactly according to their needs, optimally in a stepped form. Training for teachers should focus on resuscitation.

title: Cross Site Process Evaluation Results for the Early Childhood Education Center Setting: CORD Study.
abstract: The Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration project aimed to deliver evidence based obesity prevention interventions to at risk families at three demonstration sites. The interventions were delivered in multiple settings, including early childhood education centers (ECECs) public schools, and primary care clinics. An evaluation center conducted cross site process, impact, and sustainability evaluations. Results of the cross site process evaluation for the ECECs will be described.  Reach (proportion of the target population who participated) dose delivered (materials and interventions that were distributed) and fidelity (proportion of planned intervention components delivered) were assessed at two levels (researcher to provider and provider to family levels) Standardized data forms were completed by research team members at each demonstration site with assistance from the evaluation center.  The Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration project reached 5174 children and 390 teachers in 58 ECECs. The centers delivered an average of 3.9 hours of training to teachers. A total of 1382 different types of materials were distributed to providers, and from 1.3 to 4.3 hours of technical support were delivered to centers monthly. For fidelity at the researcher to provider level, 49.5% (n 370) of eligible teachers completed all training sessions. Considerable variations across demonstration sites in reach, dose delivered, and fidelity across were observed.  The Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration project reached large numbers of children, families, teachers, and ECECs. Maintaining intervention fidelity while reaching large numbers of at risk individuals proved to be a challenge.