Using learning analytics to assess student engagement and academic outcomes in open access enabling programmes

Curriculum design, teaching methods, assessments and range of academic support need to be inclusive in Open Access Enabling courses. The findings of this study confirm a correlation between student access to online learning materials and a positive impact on grades in science courses. More specifically, students who frequently use the online learning system to access materials have better assessment and exam results.     

Discourse Analysis and Multimodal Meaning Making in a Science Classroom: Meta-Methodological Insights from Three Theoretical Perspectives

Research in Science Education - This article provides rich insights into the process of data generation for discourse analysis from three separate studies of the video recordings of a single...     

Evaluating course evaluations: the need to establish what is being measured

The study attempted to assess the validity of measures commonly used for course evaluations. Activity and attitudinal measures were included and these were related to two different control groups. The study was completed with a sample of teachers who attended a course dealing with child abuse repeated 23 times with groups of approximately 25 teachers. It was found activities undertaken after the course were more a reflection on how little effort was required to carry them out than on the effectiveness of the course. Attitude measures tended to make it appear the course had an effect. The type of control group used for comparison purposes had a marked effect on whether the course appeared to have been effective. The need to consider these factors as influential variables when interpreting data from course evaluations was stressed.     

Where do we stand? Views of racial conflict by Vietnamese American high-school students in a black-and-white context

This article, based on qualitative research, authorizes the voices and views of Vietnamese immigrant students regarding racial dynamics at an urban public high school. Though not included in public or school-based discussions about race relations following a violent clash between white and black students, Vietnamese students reported experiencing social exclusion and racial conflict as a daily reality in school. The informants mapped the roots of racial conflict in school as a struggle over space, including the classroom, hallways, cafeteria, gym, and bathrooms. The students also demonstrated a significant commitment to the school and expressed a desire to be included in efforts to improve race relations and the quality of life within the school. Their perspectives and experiences challenge the validity of the dominant black-and-white paradigm that defines the public understanding of race relations in the school, the city, and the society.     

Ex vivo expansions and transplantations of mouse bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells

To examine the effects of co-culture with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on expansion of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and the capacities of rapid neutrophil engraftment and hematopoietic reconstitution of the expanded cells, we expanded mononuclear cells (MNCs) and CD34⁺/c-kit⁺ cells from mouse bone marrow and transplanted the expanded cells into the irradiated mice. MNCs were isolated from mouse bone marrow and CD34⁺/c-kit⁺ cells were selected from MNCs by using MoFlo Cell Sorter. MNCs and CD34⁺/c-kit⁺ cells were co-cultured with mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under a two-step expansion. The expanded cells were then transplanted into sublethally irradiated BDF1 mice. Results showed that the co-culture with MSCs resulted in expansions of median total nucleated cells, CD34⁺ cells, GM-CFC and HPP-CFC respectively by 10.8-, 4.8-, 65.9- and 38.8-fold for the mononuclear cell culture, and respectively by 76.1-, 2.9-, 71.7- and 51.8-fold for the CD34⁺/c-kit⁺ cell culture. The expanded cells could rapidly engraft in the sublethally irradiated mice and reconstitute their hematopoiesis. Co-cultures with MSCs in conjunction with two-step expansion increased expansions of total nucleated cells, GM-CFC and HPP-CFC, which led us to conclude MSCs may create favorable environment for expansions of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. The availability of increased numbers of expanded cells by the co-culture with MSCs may result in more rapid engraftment of neutrophils following infusion to transplant recipients. Project supported by NIH-Blood, Heart & Lung (National Institute of Health, USA, IR 01 4L70593-01) and Zhejiang Provincial Science Foundation (No. 011103397), China     

Expecting penises in Chatroulette: Race,gender, and sexuality in anonymous online spaces

ABSTRACT

As a femme woman of color, I employ critical autoethnography based on my participant observation within Chatroulette for a qualitative study on how online impressions through web cameras with strangers are formed in quick bursts of time. Chatroulette’s anonymity adds interesting context for impression creation in an online environment that emphasizes ocularcentrism of the embodied self. This article adds to methodologies of self-care for the qualitative researcher by positioning the issue of self-care in the online field, where “regular” interactions based on race, gender, sexuality, and more may leave autoethnographers from marginalized communities especially vulnerable. This study complicates the conceptual boundaries of “audience,” “participation,” and “observation” for online autoethnographic research. This research contributes to impression formation theory by focusing on the importance of the body in immediate, one-time impression constructions with conversational partners online. Race, gender, and sexuality impact online communication, even when a word is not even said.     

Student-Created Curricular and Co-Curricular Pathways Toward Participation in a Diverse Democracy

This study explored the ways in which undergraduate students intentionally navigate complex curricular and co-curricular choices in preparation for engaging in a diverse democracy. Our study examined these choices among students at a university that lacks formal structures to facilitate these choices. Four curricular and co-curricular pathways that exemplify particular forms of the student experience across disciplines emerged and are discussed.