Browsing by Person "Williams, K."

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Early Years Centres for pre-school children with primary language difficulties: what do they cost, and are they cost-effective?
(Taylor & Francis (Informa Healthcare), 2006-01) Law, James; Dockrell, J. E.; Castelnuovo, E.; Williams, K.; Seeff, B.; Normand, Charles
Background: High levels of early language difficulties raise practical issues about the efficient and effective means of meeting children’s needs. Persistent language difficulties place significant financial pressures on health and education services. This has led to large investment in intervention in the early years; yet, little is known about the actual and relative costs of early years provision. Aims: To profile the different costs incurred by two Early Years Centres (EYCs) partially funded by the charity I CAN and children receiving what might be termed ‘routine’ NHS speech therapy to provide an analysis of cost efficiency and equity. Methods & Procedures: Costings for service provision for 91 children (mean age 2;9) were collected. The activity of staff at each site and the cost of staff allocated to services were computed. Data on other resources were also collected. Outcomes & Results: The cost per child per session was on average £12. Despite the longer course of intervention in the first centre (10 compared with 6 weeks), the cost of the course per child was of the same order (£245 compared with £253). The annual cost of the early years provision per child was higher relative to the costs of the NHS provision, £645 compared with £181 in one EYC (A) and £462 compared with £173 in the other (B). When the cost of standard nursery provision was factored in, the difference in annual costs was rather less, with £5298 for the early years provision (EYC A) relative to £4276 in the comparison group. By contrast, the annual cost of early provision rises to £5926 relative to £8861 in the comparison group (EYC B).
Engaging staff and students in the development and deployment of a departmental website : a review
(Australasian and New Zealand Association for Medical Education, 2004-11) Peacock, Susi; Adamson, S.; McKenzie, Jane; Williams, K.
Introduction: This paper discusses the development, deployment and evaluation of a website for an academic department, built around a customised webtemplate. We draw upon a two-year, co-ordinated initiative between the Dietetics, Nutrition and Biological Sciences Department and the Centre for Academic Practice at Queen Margaret University College. Initially we provide a brief overview of the issues involved in using web-based technologies from the student and staff perspective. We then describe the process of setting up the site and present the results of the evaluation. Results and Conclusions: We address the emergent issues raised by the project. For staff these include ease of use and the provision of a variety of support mechanisms. These are critical for long-term engagement and sustainability since they reduce the risk of distancing staff from their materials and encourage ownership of the website. Students use the website for preparation for lectures, as signposts for further research and reflection. Key barriers relate to access, systems stability and commitment of support departments. To address such concerns an institutional approach is proposed to provide long-term support.