Disconnected Youth and Gangs in the United States

描述（由申请人提供）：本计划的目的是为人力服务专业人员开发，制作和评估基于能力的多媒体，电子学习课程。整个计划将在网络上提供一个2.5小时，六个模块的电子学习课程，为用户提供基于家庭或机构的技术，以接受高质量和全面的继续教育课程。使用者可透过他们的家庭机构或个人报名参加课程，以增进他们对失联青年、帮派及帮派相关活动的认识。该课程旨在满足新员工和老员工的培训要求。在第一阶段，我们将为六个模块中的第一个模块制定内容和措施，涉及评估与帮派有关的风险和家庭参与所需的信息，以处理与社会脱节的青少年。重点将是帮助人类服务工作者制定与涉及帮派的家庭和儿童合作的战略。迄今为止，在人类服务领域，针对潜在或活跃的帮派成员的危险青年，以及向这些个人及其家庭提供有效服务的工作一直很差。在许多社区内，针对与社会脱节的青年和帮派的大部分服务（如果不是全部的话）都是由执法部门提供的，现有社区人类服务提供团体的合作和参与有限。一旦以网络形式开发和测试，课程可以很容易地随着新的社区、州和联邦信息和政策的变化而更新。该项目将开发和测试美国在线学习课程“断开连接的青年和帮派”的第一个模块。评价的目的是了解如何使用培训材料，确定成功的领域和改进的机会。因此，该项目的评估计划侧重于满意度和知识的基本问题。满意度——涉及对材料的满意度，网站的外观和感觉，材料使用过程中的参与程度，以及在电子学习课程中导航的便利性。满意度、材料的相关性和知识的获得将通过开放式问题和李克特量表（带有定义锚点的七点量表）的组合来评估，该量表旨在评估与满意度相关的情感维度。知识获得——知识将被客观和主观地衡量。知识将通过专注于能力/学习目标的简短、直接的评估来客观地衡量。本研究采用前测/后测，采用对照组设计。在第二阶段，我们将开发剩余的五个相关学习模块，并将前沿的用户/产品业务开发方法纳入未来的电子学习课程，这些课程将源于人类服务交付领域内消费者开发的概念。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this project is to develop, produce, and evaluate a competency-based multimedia, eLearning course for human service professionals. The overall program will be used to deliver a 21/2 -hour, six-module, eLearning course on the web, providing users with a home or agency-based technology for receiving a high quality and comprehensive continuing education course. Users will register for the course through their home agencies or individually to advance their knowledge of disconnected youth, gangs, and gang related activities. The course will be designed to meet new-worker and recurrency training requirements. In Phase I, we will develop content and measures for the first of six modules on dealing with disconnected youths in relation to information needed to assess gang related risks and family involvement. The emphasis will be on helping human service workers develop strategies for working with gang involved families and children. To date, within the human services field, there has been poor targeting of at-risk youths who are potential or active gang members and provision of effective services to these individuals and their families. Within many communities, most if not all services geared towards disconnected youth and gangs are undertaken by law enforcement with limited collaboration and involvement of existing community-based human services delivery groups. Once developed and tested in web-format, the course can be easily updated as new community, state and federal information and policies change. The project will develop and test the first module of a Disconnected Youth and Gangs in the US eLearning course. The purpose of the evaluation is to understand how the training materials are used, identify areas that are successful and opportunities for improvement. Accordingly, the evaluation plan for this project focuses on fundamental issues of satisfaction and knowledge. Satisfaction - pertains to satisfaction with the materials, the look and feel of the website, level of engagement during use of the materials, and ease of navigation within the eLearning course. Satisfaction, relevance of material, and knowledge gain will be assessed with a combination of open-ended questions and Likert scales (seven-point scales with defined anchors) constructed to rate affective dimensions associated with satisfaction. Knowledge gain - knowledge will be measured objectively and subjectively. Knowledge will be measured objectively by a short, direct assessment focused on the competencies/learning objectives. A pretest/posttest with comparison group design will be used in the study. In Phase II, we will develop five remaining related learning modules and incorporate a cutting edge user/product business development approach for future eLearning courses that will originate with concepts developed by consumers within the field of human services delivery. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed training modules will be developed to enhance the competencies of those professionals who work with youths and their families. The modules are specifically planned to provide practical training that incorporates adult learning and experiential theories to address the shortage of a competent stable workforce. The proposed eLearning course will directly address the increasing number of disconnected youths needing services and the lack of qualified human services staffs that work directly with children and families.