PACE-IT: designing blended learning for accounting education in the challenging context of a global pandemic

This paper describes the design of a blended learning intervention to enhance the student learning experience, incorporating innovative technologies and pedagogies within introductory accounting. The design-based research (DBR) methodology involved 68 learners in the participatory design of the intervention across three design iterations. Emerging from the design process, a framework informed by the key themes of Pedagogy, Autonomy, Collaboration, Engagement, Interaction and Technology (PACE-IT) was conceptualised, tested and developed. This study presents the PACE-IT model which offers guidelines to practitioners who seek to design blended learning to provide students with a rich and meaningful learning experience. The emergence of COVID-19 underscores the relevance of these findings. PACE-IT provides direction to accounting educators working within an unfamiliar educational context, today and in the future, where there is an imperative to develop new approaches to accounting education that combine face-to-face with online interaction and learning. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Information Redlining: The Urgency to Close the Digital Access and Literacy Divide and the Role of Libraries as Lead Interveners

This article positions equitable access to information as a matter of social justice and questions how the library and information science sector might work more intentionally and systemically to close the pervasive information retrieval and navigation gaps that disproportionately disenfranchize lower-income and/or majority Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Though much attention since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has rightfully been paid to the need for more robust broadband infrastructure in the United States, this article links the persistent disparities in digital literacy instruction, possession of digital devices, and access to consistent wireless internet technology as critical and profoundly race and class-biased components of connectivity. Hall describes the intentional/unintentional lack of recognition or inaction regarding whole groups of people being denied this access as “information redlining,” and suggests that not only can libraries play a leading role in disrupting it, but also that libraries are the essential link in any comprehensive national response. © 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The use of oxygen hoods in patients failing on conventional high-flow oxygen delivery systems, the effects on oxygenation, mechanical ventilation and mortality rates in hypoxic patients with COVID-19. A Prospective Controlled Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: Efforts to meet increased oxygen demands in COVID-19 patients are a priority in averting mechanical ventilation (MV), associated with high mortality approaching 76.4-97.2%. Novel methods of oxygen delivery could mitigate that risk. Oxygen hoods/helmets may improve: O2-saturation (SaO2), reduce in-hospital mechanical ventilation and mortality rates, and reduce length of hospitalization in hypoxic Covid-19 patients failing on conventional high-flow oxygen delivery systems. METHODS: DesignProspective Controlled Cohort Study. SettingSingle Center. ParticipantsAll patients admitted with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were reviewed and 136/347 patients met inclusion criteria. Study period3/6/2020 to 5/1/2020. 136 participants completed the study with known status for all outcome measures. Intervention or exposureOxygen hoods/helmets as compared to conventional high-flow oxygen delivery systems. MAIN OUTCOME(S) AND MEASURE(S): 1) Pre and post change in oxygen saturation (SaO2). 2) In-hospital Mechanical Ventilation (MV). 3) In-hospital Mortality. 4) Length of hospitalization. RESULTS: 136 patients including 58-intervention and 78-control patients were studied. Age, gender, and other demographics/prognostic indicators were comparable between cohorts. Oxygen hoods averted imminent or immediate intubation/MV in all 58 COVID-19 patients failing on conventional high-flow oxygen delivery systems with a mean improvement in SaO2 of 8.8%, p < 0.001. MV rates were observed to be higher in the control 37/78 (47.4%) as compared to the intervention cohort 23/58 (39.7%), a difference of 7.7%, a 27% risk reduction, not statistically significant, OR 95%CI 0.73 (0.37-1.5). Mortality rates were observed higher in the control 54/78 (69.2%) as compared to the intervention cohort 36/58 (62.1%), a difference of 7.1%, a 27% risk reduction, not statistically significant OR 95%CI 0.73 (0.36-1.5). CONCLUSION: Oxygen hoods demonstrate improvement in SaO2 for patients failing on conventional high-flow oxygen-delivery systems and prevented imminent mechanical ventilation. In-hospital mechanical ventilation and mortality rates were reduced with the use of oxygen hoods but not found to be statistically significant. The oxygen hood is a safe, effective oxygen-delivery system which may reduce intubation/MV and mortality rates. Their use should be considered in treating hypoxic COVID-19 patients. Further research is warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04407260.