Comparing Disaster News on Twitter and Television: an Intermedia Agenda Setting Perspective

Intermedia agenda setting predicts a high degree of convergence between news media agendas. However, the rise of social media forces a re-examination of this expectation. Using the 8.8-earthquake of February 27, 2010 in Chile as a case study, this article compares which topics were covered by professional journalists on broadcast news and Twitter, analyzing both cross-sectional and longitudinal trends. A positive, reinforcing influence was found among the journalistic agendas of TV and Twitter. However, counter to the idea that social media are echo chambers of traditional media, it was found that Twitter influences TV news more so than the other way around. Thus, the study provides an early lens into the agenda setting function of social media among television news professionals, and its findings are consistent with Twitter succeeding among journalists due to its provision of valuable information.     

Labor Market Returns for Graduates of Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Latinos have become the largest minority group in American postsecondary education, a majority of whom attend two- or four-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). However, little is known about labor market outcomes as result of attending these institutions. Using a unique student-level administrative database in Texas, and accounting for college selectivity, we examine whether attending an HSI influences labor market outcomes ten years after high school graduation for Latino students in Texas. We find no difference in the earnings of Hispanic graduates from HSIs and non-HSIs. This analysis represents one of the first to examine the labor market outcomes for Latino students in this sector of education accounting for critical factors that include a student’s high school and community context.     

Unmasking “ignorance”

ABSTRACT

Recent years have seen rising public talk around voting access and voter suppression, particularly as linked to marginalized and disenfranchised populations. In this reflection, we assess varied such public conversations and identify an interesting narrative encapsulating both those arguing voter suppression as a rising concern and those minimizing such claims. Organized around “ignorance,” this metanarrative does the rhetorical work of containment.     

A Research Preparatory Program for First-Year College Students: Student Selection and Preparation Lead to Persistence in Research

Undergraduate research experiences may increase persistence in STEM majors. We describe a research program that targets first-year students selected for their curiosity and attitudes towards science. We explain the implementation of the program over 3 years and present evaluation data using a group of matched controls. Participants and controls pursued STEM degrees at equivalent rates, but participants were significantly more involved in research. Initial laboratory interest and mentor pairing may have played a role in this finding. Female participants, particularly those with male laboratory mentors, engaged in more research than men.     

Multicultural Career Counseling: Ten Essentials for Training

In the past 20 years, several changes have taken place within the field of counseling and psychology with regard to practice and research with individuals from racial/ethnic groups. At the same time, the United States population has experienced a dramatic shift in its composition. Both have contributed to transformations in graduate training. This article will highlight salient aspects from the multicultural literature regarding culturally competent practice and apply it to the training of vocational counselors.     

Automatic laboratory-based strategy to improve the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in primary care

Introduction

To study the pre-design and success of a strategy based on the addition of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in the blood samples of certain primary care patients to detect new cases of type 2 diabetes.

Materials and methods

In a first step, we retrospectively calculated the number of HbA1c that would have been measured in one year if HbA1c would have been processed, according to the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Based on those results we decided to prospectively measure HbA1c in every primary care patient above 45 years, with no HbA1c in the previous 3 years, and glucose concentration between 5.6-6.9 mmol/L, during an 18 months period. We calculated the number of HbA1c that were automatically added by the LIS based on our strategy, we evaluated the medical record of such subjects to confirm whether type 2 diabetes was finally confirmed, and we calculated the cost of our intervention.

Results

In a first stage, according to the guidelines, Hb1Ac should have been added to the blood samples of 13,085 patients, resulting in a cost of 14,973€. In the prospective study, the laboratory added Hb1Ac to 2092 patients, leading to an expense of 2393€. 314 patients had an HbA1c value ≥ 6.5% (48 mmol/mol). 82 were finally diagnosed as type 2 diabetes; 28 thanks to our strategy, with an individual cost of 85.4€; and 54 due to the request of HbA1c by the general practitioners (GPs), with a cost of 47.5€.

Conclusion

The automatic laboratory-based strategy detected patients with type 2 diabetes in primary care, at a cost of 85.4€ per new case.Key words: type 2 diabetes, HbA1c, diagnosis, preanalytical phase, test request appropriateness, costs, cost analysis     

Developing and Enacting Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Voices of New Teachers of Color

ABSTRACT

A group of preservice and first year teachers share their experiences as new teachers of Color entering the profession in urban public schools. Specifically, these novice teachers discuss the transition from an urban education teacher preparation program into the classroom and their successes and challenges enacting culturally relevant pedagogy. Findings showcase understanding self, community, and collaboration among critical pedagogues and navigating theory and practice as emergent themes. These new teachers speak to the journey of becoming the teachers they want to become and the challenges they encounter in public K-12 schools. Implications are presented to highlight the power and passion of these new teachers and how we, as critical scholars, must learn from them and work with them as we seek to disrupt the dominant, middle class, white discourse in teacher education programs and educational research.     

Beginning teachers’ induction in Chile: the perspective of principals

This case study investigated the role of school principals in the induction of beginning teachers in Copiapó, Chile. Building upon group and individual interviews, and review of extant literature, the following findings were established: (a) principals in this study expect beginning teachers to be fully formed as classroom teachers; (b) principals were unlikely to talk about induction practices that might help beginning teachers to learn pedagogical strategies for classrooms; and (c) principals’ induction practices focused on the symbolic role that principals play as the highest authority within the school which has little practical influence on helping beginning teachers to develop their pedagogy. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Student perceptions of the cell biology laboratory learning environment in four undergraduate science courses in Spain

Cell biology is an academic discipline that organises and coordinates the learning of the structure, function and molecular composition of cells in some undergraduate biomedical programs. Besides course content and teaching methodologies, the laboratory environment is considered a key element in the teaching of and learning of cell biology. The aim of this study was to determine students’ opinions about the quality of the teaching and learning environment in cell biology laboratory practice. For this study, we used a short form of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI), which we adapted and translated into Spanish. The questionnaire, administered to students enrolled in four undergraduate programs, consisted of 24 questions divided into four scales: integration of content, clarity of laboratory rules, cohesion between students and teachers, and quality of laboratory infrastructures and materials. The results suggested that (1) students positively assessed the learning environment provided for cell biology practice, (2) the short Spanish form of the SLEI was a valid, reliable instrument for evaluating student satisfaction, laboratory activities, the degree of cooperation between students and teachers, and theoretical and practical organisation of content and (3) the questionnaire detected differential perceptions of the learning environment based on gender and the program studied.