Am I a Teaching Artist or an Administrator?

James Miles writes about his transition from teaching artist to administration. Is it for everyone?     

Storytime with Fresh Professor,Part One

I wasn't always the Fresh Professor. At one point, I was just another starving actor, trying to make a living. But stories change over time, as do professional desires.     

What Does a Modern Anatomist Look like? Current Trends in the Training of Anatomy Educators

Anatomical sciences are foundational to the health professions, yet little is known about the qualifications of anatomy educators at the graduate and professional level in the United States. Moreover, there is concern that the number of qualified anatomy educators being trained may be insufficient to meet the growing demand posed by new and expanded programs in medicine and allied health specialties. The authors surveyed anatomists from across the country to (i) characterize the educational credentials of current anatomy educators and (ii) assess the perceived need for education-focused postdoctoral positions or formal mentorships to prepare anatomists for teaching-intensive faculty positions. To probe the survey responses more deeply, one-on-one interviews were conducted with eight individuals selected to represent a diverse sample of respondents in terms of institution, gender, and academic rank. Results indicate that 30–40% of educators at the graduate level and approximately 60% of those at the undergraduate level lack graduate coursework in histology, embryology, and neuroanatomy. Forty-five percent of respondents had completed a postdoctoral fellowship. Eighty-six percent replied “yes/maybe” to the question of whether an anatomy education postdoctoral fellowship would benefit doctoral graduates. The top 3 reasons for this recommendation were to (i) establish independent educational research, (ii) improve a publication record, and (iii) gain additional teaching experience. Notable weaknesses of education-focused postdoctoral training were related to finances, fear of exploitation, and undervaluing of teaching. Moving forward, postdoctoral fellowships and other forms of postgraduate training may represent a key strategy for training anatomists in the current educational climate. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000–000. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

A social status perspective of network utility over electronic channels in academic communities

Early research on the social implications of e-mail has promoted the role of electronic communication channels in fostering social equality and reducing gaps between the social classes. Follow-up studies, however, suggest that people continue to rely on social cues in electronic communication as a way of dealing with uncertainties and reducing feelings of discomfort associated with unfamiliar contexts. Based on a review of the Social Cognitive Theory, social status and electronic communication literatures, along with the results of a previous qualitative study, we propose a formal model that indicates how self-perceptions of social status are related to the use of e-mail and the acquisition of social resources over electronic channels. The model is tested using data collected from 206 faculty members in a major U.S. university. The empirical results support the proposed model implying that self-perceptions of social status influence social assertiveness, which in turn reinforces the use of e-mail to seek help and acquire social resources from others. The use of e-mail for the acquisition of social resources is associated with a socially diverse network whose contacts are perceived to acquire valuable information and to extend instrumental support for career development. Implications are drawn for both theory and practice.     

Sensitivity to rime unit frequency and children's early word‐reading strategies

The current work examines children's sensitivity to rime unit spelling–sound correspondences within the context of early word reading as a way of assessing word‐specific influences on early word‐reading strategies. Sixty 6–7‐year‐olds participated in an experimental reading task that comprised word items that shared either frequent or infrequent rime unit correspondences. Retrospective self‐reports were taken as measures of strategy choice. The results showed that the children were more accurate in identifying word items that shared a common rime unit (consistent items) when compared with those containing infrequent rime units (unique and exception items). Moreover, while nonlexical (phonological) attempts were most frequently applied across all word types, these resulted in lower levels of accuracy, especially for the exception word items. The current data support the argument that children are increasingly sensitive to rime unit sound–spelling correspondences during the early stages of their word reading and the nature of these word‐specific orthographic representations shape their reliance on using particular lexical or non‐lexical‐based word‐reading strategies.     

Validation of a videogrammetry technique for analysing American football helmet kinematics

ABSTRACT

Professional American football games are recorded in digital video with multiple cameras, often at high resolution and high frame rates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a videogrammetry technique to calculate translational and rotational helmet velocity before, during and after a helmet impact. In total, 10 football impacts were staged in a National Football League (NFL) stadium by propelling helmeted 50th percentile male crash test dummies into each other or the ground at speeds and orientations representative of concussive impacts for NFL players. The tests were recorded by experienced sports film crews to obtain video coverage and quality typically available for NFL games. A videogrammetry procedure was used to track the position and rotation of the helmet throughout the relevant time interval of the head impact. Compared with rigidly mounted retroreflective marker three dimensional (3-D) motion tracking that was concurrently collected in the experiments, videogrammetry accurately calculated changes in translational and rotational velocity of the helmet using high frame rate (two cameras at 240 Hz) video (7% and 15% error, respectively). Low frame rate (2 cameras at 60 Hz) video was adequate for calculating pre-impact translational velocity but not for calculating the translational or rotational velocity change of the helmet during impact.     

Sleepy and hostile: The effects of REM sleep deprivation on shock-elicited aggression

Two studies were conducted to assess the effects of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation on shock-elicited aggression. REM deprivation periods of 0, 24, 48, and 72 h were used in the first study, while 48-, 72-, 96-, and 120-h periods were used in the second study. Both studies indicated that increases in REM deprivation (up to 96 h) resulted in increases in the number of aggressive responses. A decrease was shown by the 120-h group. A drive-energization or motivational-effects model is suggested.