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Social service providers are critical in supporting domestically sex trafficked persons. However, little is known about how these providers identify sex trafficked persons. This study aimed to explore this vital but poorly understood first step to addressing sex trafficked clients' needs, asking: How do social service providers in Ontario, Canada identify domestically sex trafficked adolescents and adults? Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with diverse social service providers from across Ontario. Participants' responses to open-ended questions were then analyzed thematically. Findings revealed that providers recognize sex trafficked persons using both commonly reported as well as unique indicators suggestive of sex trafficking, drawing on existing tools and skills developed through or adapted from work with other service populations. However, few had access to formalized practices or resources within their workplace to aid in identifying sex trafficked persons specifically and, as such, many relied on ad hoc processes. While resourceful, this approach can unintentionally perpetuate myths and stereotypes about sex trafficked persons and contribute to missed opportunities for identification. To better support sex trafficked persons, it is recommended that social service providers are provided with tailored training and resources related to identification while adopting and using reflexivity in their everyday practice to combat unconscious biases, beliefs, and attitudes. The work undertaken by social service providers could also be enhanced by knowledge gained from future research designed to evaluate the utility of the sex trafficking indicators and processes for identification described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to many adverse health effects, victims of domestic violence are frequently seen in the health care system. Yet, health care providers may lack the training to assist them. Online curricula can be an effective instructional tool. Our competency-based, serious video game, Responding to Domestic Violence in Clinical Settings, was designed to address health care providers' knowledge gaps through 17 modules, each a half hour in length. Nearly 9,000 participants completed at least one module; nursing students completed the most modules, approximately five hours of instruction. This serious video game-based curriculum is useful in helping health providers and students learn about Domestic Violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive, serious problem detrimental to the health of untold numbers of women. In addition to physical injuries that may be sustained, IPV has been significantly associated with mental health challenges including substance use problems. The problems are complex, highly correlated with each other, and bidirectional in nature. Although as many as 50% of women in mental health and between 25% and 50% of women in substance abuse treatment programs report IPV, frontline workers in all three sectors state they lack the training to address these co-occurring problems. Objective: To determine what frontline IPV, mental health, and substance use workers need to know in order to provide appropriate care to women experiencing co-occurring IPV, mental health and/or substance use problems. Design: Using Scholars Portal OVID, Medline and OVID PsycINFO and combinations of significant terms, we conducted a scoping review of articles published between 2005 and 2014. Results: An initial 4017 records were retrieved (3484 from Scholars Portal, 272 from Medline, 261 from PsycINFO). After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 35 articles were reviewed. Of these, 14 examined the relationships among IPV, mental health, and substance use; 7 focused on IPV and mental health; 14 looked at IPV and substance use. Conclusions: Although education and training frequently figured among the recommendations in the reviewed articles, specific content for proposed education or training was lacking. The most frequently occurring recommendations focused on the need to develop better collaboration, coordination, and integration across IPV, mental health and addiction treatment services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we explore Sri Lankan Tamil immigrant women's views on factors contributing to intimate partner violence (IPV). We conducted eight focus groups with young, midlife, and senior women and women who experienced IPV. Three main themes emerged: postmigration sources of stress and conflict, patriarchal social norms that dictated gendered behavior, and individual male attributes and behaviors. Study participants recognized gender inequality and financial dependence as contributing factors and the role of women in promoting marital harmony. Findings suggest that pre- and postmigration factors need to be considered in the prevention of IPV in newcomer communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses three technologies used in an adult continuing education Masters programme: blogging, learning objects and e-portfolios. My reflections on their use and on the literature underpinning their use form the basis of the discussion. All three of these technologies were used to promote self-directed learning, reflection and learner choice in the activities undertaken. Although these technologies were very successful for our students, the paper concludes that adult learners who take an online Masters programme are not typical of all adult learners, much less all adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the practice of blended learning as well as its broad interpretations. Significantly, the article reflect activity in a range of different education situations: (1) the elementary classroom, (2) corporate training; and (3) mechanisms to help teachers implement communication technologies. A study describes a blended learning solution of the higher education campus. The notion of blended learning expands to include the combination of formal and informal learning. Another study focuses on staff development using a blend of workshops and online discussion. The problem of plagiarism is also discussed in further studies. Significantly, innovative technologies are often in a blended format.

Explores the relevance of learning objects for open and distance learning (ODL). Focus of electronic learning on reusable learning objects; Importance of digital learning objects in ODL; Growth of distance education.

Full employment is often recommended as the most reliable route out of poverty for low-income families, particularly families led by a lone mother. In combination with current fiscal and social policy shifts, this has led to changes in the way social assistance is administered, including requirements that those who receive assistance become gainfully employed once their children are a certain age--an age that varies across jurisdictions. In this study we interviewed 95 employed and unemployed Canadian lone mothers with young children about the relationship among family life, paid employment, and childcare. The paper describes the complex interrelationship of ideals of mothering, the meaning and value of paid work, and the role of reliable childcare for a sub-sample of employed lone mothers. The results indicate two key time periods when lone mothers weigh the benefits of paid work against other needs and values. The first occurs prior to employment and involves contemplating paid work, deciding to become an employee, and absorbing a shift in thinking about what it means to be a mother. The second occurs within the first year of paid work and involves a reconsideration of those issues and either a recommitment to employment or a temporary withdrawal from the labor force. Contributors to and influences on both of these periods are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an interview with John Slater, director of Learning Programmes and Technology at e-University in Great Britain. Background of e-University; Benefits from e-University; Aim of e-University; Overview of the curriculum covered in e-University.

In this paper we investigate some of the ways that cultural and linguistic differences manifest themselves in global online learning environments. We start from the position that the providers of educational opportunity across national and geographic boundaries have a responsibility to consider how their materials and practices can help to promote cross‐cultural understanding. We discuss some of the negative implications of taking a ‘centre and periphery’ view of participants in an internationally‐marketed online MA program, but offer some data on student performance to justify using that perspective to initiate a more in‐depth investigation of their experience of cross‐cultural interaction during the courses. We present some of the outcomes of a qualitative study of student talk about these issues, and identify the topics of ‘cultural otherness’, ‘perceptions of globality’, ‘linguistic difference’, and ‘academic convention’ as focal constructs around which their experiences could be recounted. We discuss how to interpret these narratives, in terms of our aim of promoting cross‐cultural understanding through online education, and also in terms of action needed to address perceived inequalities in the educational opportunity offered by the courses as they stand. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT Technology has introduced a new dimension into resource based learning, with the opportunities for flexibility in time and place offered by delivery of course material either through CD-ROM or the Worm Wide Web (WWW), and the potential for access to a wide variety of diverse information sources. Many projects are currently experimenting with courses using these delivery media. This paper describes part of an action research project in which a study of student perspectives on assessment for a resource based UK Open University course highlights those aspects of assessment which appear to support student learning effectively. The feedback has been used to refine three of the assignments, as a way of fine tuning the course pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article follows the trail of a perennial problem in the written work of pupils studying GCSE French, and suggests a CALL solution. Examiners’ Reports show that the standard of verb use is in decline, while the literature reveals that verb learning has inherent difficulties. Interviews with pupils reveal startling misconceptions. A critique of current CALL methodology in this domain is followed by proposals for a new approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reviews the report `Adult Learning in a New Technological Era,' by S. Ehrmann.