Active-learning pedagogies have been repeatedly demonstrated to produce superior learning gains with large effect sizes compared with lecture-based pedagogies. Shifting large numbers of college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty to include any active learning in their teaching may retain and more effectively educate far more students than having a few faculty completely transform their teaching, but the extent to which STEM faculty are changing their teaching methods is unclear. Here, we describe the development and application of the machine-learning-derived algorithm Decibel Analysis for Research in Teaching (DART), which can analyze thousands of hours of STEM course audio recordings quickly, with minimal costs, and without need for human observers. DART analyzes the volume and variance of classroom recordings to predict the quantity of time spent on single voice (e.g., lecture), multiple voice (e.g., pair discussion), and no voice (e.g., clicker question thinking) activities. Applying DART to 1,486 recordings of class sessions from 67 courses, a total of 1,720 h of audio, revealed varied patterns of lecture (single voice) and nonlecture activity (multiple and no voice) use. We also found that there was significantly more use of multiple and no voice strategies in courses for STEM majors compared with courses for non-STEM majors, indicating that DART can be used to compare teaching strategies in different types of courses. Therefore, DART has the potential to systematically inventory the presence of active learning with ∼90% accuracy across thousands of courses in diverse settings with minimal effort.
SAMRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Background: As part of the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative in South Africa, the Bukhali health promotion intervention is being implemented by community health workers (CHW's) with young women in urban Soweto. The perspectives of these CHW's have not been fully explored.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted to describe CHW's perspectives and experiences of delivering the Bukhali intervention.
Background: Transition from pediatric to adult healthcare and services is an important event in the life course of all youth, including youth living with medical complexity. Data from the National Survey of Children's Health indicates less than 20 % of youth receive health care transition services. The goal of our study was understanding the support, tools and resources that facilitate successful health care transition of young adults living with medical complexity.
Background: Participation and inclusion of service users in health governance impact the quality of care and citizen well-being. In developing countries, such as Kosovo, disadvantaged groups are particularly important due to deep exclusionary structures and multiple systemic barriers to participation and care provision.
Purpose: To investigate the effects of three interventions on social participation in decision-making in several primary healthcare sites among the population and particularly vulnerable groups, i.
