University of Nebraska Omaha

About: University of Nebraska Omaha is a education organization based out in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 4526 authors who have published 8905 publications receiving 213914 citations. The organization is also known as: UNO & University of Omaha.

“Grounded” Technology Integration: Instructional Planning Using Curriculum-Based Activity Type Taxonomies

Abstract: technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpck or tpack) – the highly practical professional educational knowledge that enables and supports technology integration – is comprised of teachers' concurrent and interdependent curriculum content, general pedagogy, and technological understanding. teachers' planning – which expresses teachers' professional knowledge (including tpack) in pragmatic ways-is situated, contextually sensitive, routinized, and activity based. to assist with technology integration, therefore, we suggest using what is understood from research about teachers' knowledge and instructional planning to form an approach to curriculum-based technology integration that is predicated upon teachers combining technologically supported learning activity types selected from content-keyed activity type taxonomies. in this article, we describe this approach to curriculum-based technology integration, illustrating it with overviews of and examples from six curriculum-based learning activity types taxonomies that have been developed to date. We invite our readers to vet and use these materials, which are available on the activity types Wiki (http://activi-tytypes.wmwikis.net/). as Bruner, dewey, and schwab first noted decades ago, school curriculum content is knowledge from multiple disciplines that has been translated to and transformed within social contexts, especially schooling (deng, 2007). thinking – and therefore learning – differs quite dramatically by discipline (donald, 2002). given its disciplinary roots, knowledge for effective teaching within each curriculum-based content area is similarly differentiated ; knowing how to teach high school-level history differs quite dramatically from knowing how to teach first-grade reading or middle-school algebra. this specialized professional knowledge is what shulman (1986, 1987) termed pedagogical content knowledge: in part, the discipline-specific knowledge necessary to teach effectively in different content areas. Mishra and koehler (2006, 2008) have extended the construct of peda-gogical content knowledge to include the technological knowledge necessary to teach effectively with digital tools and resources in different content areas. they note that knowledge of educational technologies' characteristics and operation is insufficient when planning to use the tools to assist stu-dents' learning. instead, these authors argue, teachers' pedagogical content knowledge must expand to include how to select and use a broad range of educational technologies appropriately within different content areas and teaching approaches. this technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpack) is complex, interdependent, situated, dynamic, and influenced by many contextual factors. during instructional planning, teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge is operationalized, in part, through the learning activities that they select, combine, sequence, and redesign (harris, 2008). learning activities are differentiated, in large measure, by content area (stodolsky, 1988). " Grounded " Technology Integration 575 …

Robotic surgery training and performance: identifying objective variables for quantifying the extent of proficiency.

Abstract: To understand the process of skill acquisition in robotic surgery and to allow useful real-time feedback to surgeons and trainees in future generations of robotic surgical systems, robotic surgical skills should be determined with objective variables. The aim of this study was to assess skill acquisition through a training protocol, and to identify variables for the quantification of proficiency. Seven novice users of the da Vinci Surgical System engaged in 4 weeks of training that involved practicing three bimanual tasks with the system. Seven variables were determined for assessing speed of performance, bimanual coordination, and muscular activation. These values were compared before and after training. Significant improvements were observed through training in five variables. Bimanual coordination showed differences between the surgical tasks used, whereas muscular activation patterns showed better muscle use through training. The subjects also performed the surgical tasks considerably faster within the first two to three training sessions. The study objectively demonstrated that the novice users could learn to perform surgical tasks faster and with more consistency, better bimanual dexterity, and better muscular activity utilization. The variables examined showed great promise as objective indicators of proficiency and skill acquisition in robotic surgery.

Comparison of gait patterns between young and elderly women: an examination of coordination

Abstract: This study investigated intralimb coordination during walking in young and elderly women using the theoretical model of dynamical systems. 20 women, 10 Young (M age = 24.6 yr., SD = 3.2 yr.) and 10 Elderly (M age = 73.7 yr., SD = 4.9 yr.), were videotaped during free speed gait and gait perturbed by an ankle weight. Two parameters, one describing the phasing relationship between segments (mean absolute relative phase) and the other the variability of this relationship (deviation in phase), were calculated from the kinematics. Two-way analysis of variance (age and weight) with repeated measures on weight indicated that during the braking period the weight increased the mean absolute relative phase between the shank and the thigh and decreased it between the foot and the shank. The Elderly women had significant smaller values for the mean absolute relative phase between the shank and the thigh during the braking period. For the same period, deviation in phase increased for the segmental relationship between...

Keeping the beat: use of rhythmic music during exercise activities for the elderly with dementia.

Abstract: Involving people with dementia in group exercise activities often presents a challenge. The effects of a recorded instrumental musical accompaniment was evaluated on participation in a series of 14 exercise activities with a group of nursing home residents with dementia. All exercise sessions, specifically designed by physical therapists for older adults, were lead by an activity aide and consisted of a series of seated exercises. Direct observations of resident behavior were conducted over a 25-week period in a reversal experimental design. Results showed increased levels of participation during the experimental condition observations where rhythmic music accompanied the exercise activities. The music intervention was most successful on those generally most willing to participate in social activities.