Transforming the doctorate from residential to online: A Distributed PhD Learning Technologies

This article discusses a systemic change that expanded the doctorate in Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas to include a distributed option, delivered primarily online. It provides an overview of the development process from concept to initial implementation. The article examines the specific differences that make the online version different from its residential counterpart. We share both the challenges that emerged as well as suggestions for improvement that have come from our experience.     

Authentication, Privacy, and the Federal E-Government

As federal agencies move toward more sophisticated e-govern- ment offerings, they must consider both policy and operational requirements for electronic authentication (e-authentication). One important consideration in designing and deploying e-authentica- tion solutions is the balance between access, security, authentication, and privacy. Public law and government-wide policy encourage e-government and e-authentication simultaneously with privacy protection, creating policy and operational tensions for e-government efforts. A review of the relevant laws and policies and analyses of the privacy implications of authentication technologies indicates that federal agencies have at least two analytic frameworks for balancing privacy concerns with e-authentication. A framework offered in the 2003 National Research Council report Who Goes There? and the privacy impact analysis requirements of the E-Government Act of 2002 provide e-government projects with the tools for navigating the path between privacy and openness, required by both e-government law and policy.     

Low-cost,disposable microfluidics device for blood plasma extraction using continuously alternating paramagnetic and diamagnetic capture modes

Blood plasma contains biomarkers and substances that indicate the physiological state of an organism, and it can be used to diagnose various diseases or body condition. To improve the accuracy of diagnostic test, it is required to obtain the high purity of blood plasma. This paper presents a low-cost, disposable microfluidics device for blood plasma extraction using magnetophoretic behaviors of blood cells. This device uses alternating magnetophoretic capture modes to trap and separate paramagnetic and diamagnetic cells away from blood plasma. The device system is composed of two parts, a disposable microfluidics chip and a non-disposable (reusable) magnetic field source. Such modularized device helps the structure of the disposable part dramatically simplified, which is beneficial for low-cost mass production. A series of numerical simulation and parametric study have been performed to describe the mechanism of blood cell separation in the microchannel, and the results are discussed. Furthermore, experimental feasibility test has been carried out in order to demonstrate the blood plasma extraction process of the proposed device. In this experiment, pure blood plasma has been successfully extracted with yield of 21.933% from 75 μl 1:10 dilution of deoxygenated blood.     

Dyslexic and skilled reading dynamics are self-similar

The shape of a word pronunciation time distribution supplies information about the dynamic interactions that support reading performance. Speeded word-naming pronunciation and response time distributions were collected from 20 sixth grade Dutch students with dyslexia and 23 age-matched controls. The participants’ pronunciation times were modeled and contrasted with a lognormal inverse power-law mixture distribution. Identical contrasts were also conducted on the same participants’ response time distributions derived from flanker, color-naming, and arithmetic tasks. Results indicated that children with dyslexia yield slower, broader, and more variable pronunciation time distributions than their age-matched counterparts. This difference approximated a self-similar rescaling between the two group’s aggregate pronunciation time distributions. Moreover, children with dyslexia produced similar, but less prominent trends toward slower and more variable performance across the three non-reading tasks. The outcomes support a proportional continuum rather than a localized deficit account of dyslexia. The mixture distribution’s success at describing the participants’ pronunciation and response time distributions suggests that differences in proportional contingencies among low-level neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive processes likely play a prominent role in the etiology of dyslexia.     

Development to learning: semantic shifts in professional autonomy and school leadership

In the digital age, technology is playing an important role in changing the nature of professionalism. Newer forms of professional learning stand in contrast to more traditional forms of professional development. The shifting paradigm has implications for school leaders in all contexts. This study sought to qualitatively examine how a sample of eight school leaders worked to support professional learning in their school communities and leverage tools in areas such as content aggregation, media creation, blogging and social media. In one-on-one and focus group interviews, participants discussed how technology is changing professional learning in their context and reflected on how their leadership has evolved in response to perceived challenges. Findings suggest that school leaders are aware of the importance of supporting professional learning through multiple device platforms, online networks and opportunities to play, and experiment with technology. Current issues identified include the need to shift from “buyer” to “driver” mindsets and to respond to the increasing role of popular thinkers whose ideas are amplified through online channels, such as social media.     

‘Challenge and support’: the role of the critical friend in continuing professional development

Abstract

In this paper, the writer, a senior teacher in a comprehensive school, describes his role as a critical friend to two teachers who were undertaking self‐initiated action research projects as part of a school‐based, award‐bearing curriculum development scheme offered in conjunction with the local higher education institute (HEI). He concludes that such a relationship, in providing both challenge and support for colleagues who are attempting to improve practice, is a powerful vehicle for the professional development of teachers and has a positive impact on whole‐school development.     

What is it about education that makes us healthy? Exploring the education-health connection

Reviews of the evidence conclude that correlations exist between measures of education and physical health and that a substantial element of this correlation results from the effects of learning upon health. Closer examination reveals that the correlations between education and health change across levels of education, and depend upon when during the life course education is experienced, the type of health condition and the national context. The purpose of this paper is to investigate these variations with a view to developing fuller understanding of the mechanisms through which learning affects physical and psychological health. Such an understanding throws light upon the importance of context in relation to the impacts of education upon health.