The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

The culture of education

Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness

Self-Directed Learning, A Guide for Learners and Teachers

The third way: the renewal of social democracy

Pre-registration nurse education in pharmacology: is it adequate for the roles that nurses are expected to fulfil?

This study examined how the introduction of peer mentorship in an undergraduate health and social welfare programme at a large northern university affected student learning. Using an ethnographic case study approach, the study draws upon data collected from a small group of mentors and their mentees over a period of one academic year using interviews, reflective journals, assessment and course evaluation data.
Analysis of the data collected identified a number of key findings: peer mentorship improves assessment performance for both mentee and mentor; reduces stress and anxiety, enhances participation and engagement in the academic community, and adds value to student outcomes.

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Peer mentorship and positive effects on student mentor and mentee retention and academic success

This article presents an overview of the diary as a popular method for data collection in nursing and health research. The context for using diaries as a data collection tool is considered and the nature and purpose of the diary and its relationship with health care are examined. The author reflects on different types of diary and their use in data collection, and explores the advantages and disadvantages of using a diary approach to data collection in health care.

Use of diaries in research.

Recently, within the higher education system in the United Kingdom, there has been close examination of the way institutions teach and assess students. This scrutiny has been intensified by central government with the proposed introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The anticipated TEF demands that higher education institutions evaluate their teaching and learning practices and think of new ways to develop excellent student experience. Self-determined learning has resurfaced as a popular approach in the higher education sector. At the centre of self-determined learning is the concept of heutagogy. This approach enables the student to apply what they have learned in an education setting and relate it to the workplace. The aim of this paper is to critically explore the theoretical framework behind the self-determined learning approach. The authors of this paper argue that, from a social science perspective, a determined learning approach is in the best place to provide a contemporar...

Determined learning approach: Implications of heutagogy society based learning

Nursing philosophy is fundamentally based on an ethos of holistic care. However, spiritual aspects of care are often neglected. There are questions about how spirituality is currently approached and to what extent student nurses feel competent in assessing and delivering spiritual care in practice. A literature review (1993-2017) was performed, using a systematic approach. From the themes identified in the literature review, five major knowledge and practice gaps were noted in nurse education. These were: lack of ontological integration; lack in phenomenological understanding; lack of support and environmental constraints; curriculum structure and unprepared Faculty. Developing competency to deal with spiritual issues in nursing education is still a challenge. Issues of conceptual clarity and articulation around the ontological and phenomenological aspects of nursing must be addressed to prepare nurses to provide truly holistic care, including spiritual and existential issues. Adequate preparation, environmental support for both nursing educators and students, and explicit representation of spirituality in the nursing curriculum will facilitate this. An emphasis on the philosophical underpinnings of nursing care is needed to rebalance existing nursing education to embrace caring for spiritual needs as part of holistic care.

Michael Snowden

Papers

Pre-registration nurse education in pharmacology: is it adequate for the roles that nurses are expected to fulfil?

Peer mentorship and positive effects on student mentor and mentee retention and academic success

Use of diaries in research.

Determined learning approach: Implications of heutagogy society based learning

Spirituality in Nursing Education: Knowledge and practice gaps