Professionals of different disciplines, including chemists and chemical engineers, engage in water research, even though they might not have been extensively trained in it during their studies. We ...describe a project-centred master level subject “Water as a Hydrogeological, Ecological, and Analytical System”, which, by focussing on waterbodies instead of a particular aspect of water quality, merges total analytical process with water research and, by a considerate choice of chemical parameters, enables students to apply water-research-specific data-treatment techniques, including the Piper and Stiff diagram, to discuss water genesis, processes in water, and influences on waterbodies. Agile management, initiated in computer engineering in 2001, is believed to contribute to better products in a shorter time. We demonstrate how its incorporation into the organisational scheme helped students self-organise, handle their projects, and collaborate within and between groups. Student’s expressions confirm their overall satisfaction, motivation, and that the omission of the final classical exam had no adverse effects on the learning outcomes. Their consent with different benefits of the project-centred collaborative approach and their self-efficacy beliefs, respectively, expressed as mean values in a five-grade Likert scale ranged from 4.26 to 5.00 and from 4.32 to 5.00. Regarding the students’ time investment, the project-centred approach as the mean grade 3 confirmed is not recognised as an easier way. We provide partially self-calculating, self-notifying Excel spreadsheet tables to ease the implementation of water research data-treatment techniques, which help students collaborate and discuss their subject extensively.
The article presents a case study of experience sharing between the EU universities and the EU neighborhood area - Belarus. The aim of this study is to facilitate the Bologna process joining by the ...Belarusian higher education system and, in particular, to consider challenges related to the labor market in the field of physics specialties due to upcoming changes in the qualification of university graduates. Before joining the Bologna process, the Ministry of Education has set the proportions of 5- and 6-year graduates specializing in physics as 90% and 10%. The enhancement of cooperation between HEI and labor market is essential to perform successful transfer to the Bologna-like 4-year higher education system. Of particular importance is the organization of master students internship and practice in order to meet the labor market needs.
To explore key motivational factors of Jordanian nurses to undertake a Master's degree and explore perceived impact on practice.
In Jordan, there are postgraduate educational programmes offering a ...Master's degree in clinical nursing for registered nurses. These programmes are intended to prepare nurses to practise at an advanced level as potential clinical nurse specialists. Little is known about the motivation of nurses to undertake such Master's degree preparation programmes and their perceived impact on practice.
Using an ethnographic design, narratives from semi-structured interviews with participants (n=37) from five Jordanian hospitals and two public universities were collected and thematically analysed.
Four main themes emerged from the data: self development; broadening career opportunities; developing practice; and the perceived impact of Master's level nurses on practice.
The majority of Jordanian nurses chose to undertake a Master's degree because of a desire for self and practice development. The majority of participants referred to M-level nurses in terms of knowledge transfer, highlighting their clinical teaching and in-service education activities. M-level nurses were also associated with managerial and supervisory roles in clinical practice. Controversy over the impact of M-level nurses in enhancing patient care is not limited to the Jordanian setting. Future research needs to focus on comparative studies between nurses with M-level qualifications and experienced nurses without either M-level qualifications or specialist courses to establish if there is any significant relationship between practice performance and educational preparation and experience. Evaluation research could be undertaken for the purpose of developing measurable and observable criteria related to educational and skill based outcomes.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Zahran Z., Curtis P., Lloyd‐Jones M. & Blackett T. (2012) Jordanian perspectives on advanced nursing practice: an ethnography. International Nursing Review59, 222–229
Aim: This study aimed to ...explore how different groups of participants perceived the concept of advanced nursing practice in Jordan.
Background: In Jordan, there are postgraduate educational programmes offering a Master's degree in clinical nursing for registered nurses. Intended to prepare nurses to practise at an advanced level as potential clinical nurse specialists in critical care, community health nursing and maternal newborn nursing, little was known prior to this study about the development of advanced nursing roles for nurses in Jordan and the drivers behind their establishment.
Methods: Using ethnographic design, narratives from semi‐structured interviews and non‐participant observation with participants from five Jordanian hospitals and two public universities were collected and analysed according to thematic analysis.
Findings and discussion: Four themes emerged from the data: core competencies, specific practice area vs. generic practice, beneficiaries of advanced nursing practice and drivers for educational change. The findings are similar to those found in other countries and highlight the need for a consensual understanding between nurse educationalists, professional bodies and employers about what advanced nursing practice in Jordan should be, so that a common framework can be identified.
Conclusion: Paralleling the lack of consistency in understanding of advanced nursing practice in the broader literature, participants described a number of different elements of advanced practice that are relevant to the specific context of contemporary Jordanian nursing.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The aim of this article is to raise discussion on the internationalisation possibilities of master’s students who study while working. The objective of the article is to describe and share ...experiences on how to make the development of students’ internationalisation competence possible through collaboration with representatives of different cultures during a one-week intensive course. Internationalisation is an essential component in the competence-based curriculum of master’s level social and healthcare education. On the other hand, it has been a difficult task for adult students to enhance their internationalisation competence when they pursue studies alongside work. In addition, internationalisation in master’s level education has been a key feature both in Finland and in Russia. An intensive course is one educational method to share students’ existing professional know-how in an international multi-professional student group and to enable adult students’ mobility. This paper describes a one-week intensive course which was carried out in St. Petersburg, Russia in autumn 2008. The course was evaluated by the adult students and their teachers participating in the course. The intensive course increased the degree of transparency and compatibility between higher education and advanced professional education qualifications gained in postgraduate healthcare education in the partner organisations. It seems that an intensive course is a good pedagogical method for enhancing the internationalisation competence of adult students.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Fit for purpose: the relevance of Masters preparation for the professional practice of nursing. A 10‐year follow‐up study of postgraduate nursing courses in the University of Edinburgh
Continuing ...education is now recognized as essential if nursing is to develop as a profession. United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) consultations are currently seeking to establish appropriate preparation for a ‘higher level of practice’ in the United Kingdom. The relevance of Masters level education to developing professional roles merits examination. To this end the results of a 10‐year follow‐up study of graduates from the Masters programme at the University of Edinburgh are reported. The sample was the entire cohorts of nurses who graduated with a Masters degree in the academic sessions from 1986 to 1996. A postal questionnaire was designed consisting of mainly closed questions to facilitate coding and analysis but also including some open questions to allow for more qualitative data to be elicited. The findings indicated clearly that the possession of an MSc degree opened up job opportunities and where promotion was not identified, the process of study at a higher level was still perceived as relevant to the work environment. This applied as much to the context of clinical practice as to that of management, education or research. The perceived enhancement of clinical practice from a generic Masters programme was considered a significant finding. Also emerging from the data was an associated sense of personal satisfaction and achievement that related to the acquisition of academic skills and the ultimate reward of Masters status. The concept of personal growth, however, emerged as a distinct entity from that of satisfaction and achievement, relating specifically to the concept of intellectual sharing, the broadening of perspectives and the development of advanced powers of reasoning.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
This paper describes how nursing informatics content will be integrated into the education of Advanced Nursing Practitioners at Masters level. Changes in health care, especially the need to deliver ...evidence based nursing care and the growing amount of health data, information and knowledge, require well educated Advanced Nurse Practitioners to lead the nursing profession. The nursing informatics content for this level of nursing education is described and compared with national and international curriculum guidelines, including Nightingale work.
Three papers concern master's-level education in clinical psychology and the integration of MA degree practitioners in the profession. Topics include (a) a review of the MA controversy, (b) a role ...definition for MA psychologists as "psychological specialists," and (c) education and training proposed for that role. (23 ref)