The invisibility of academic reading as social practice and its implications for equity in higher education: a scoping study

ABSTRACT

While the importance of academic language and literacies in students’ meaningful participation in higher education has been well-explored, studies have focused on writing rather than reading. There has been a significant silence in the literature around what constitutes reading in higher education, the sociocultural complexities of reader engagement with text, and contemporary understandings of situated experiences regarding reading practices in the disciplines, especially for traditionally under-represented student groups. Scholarly interest in academic literacies, and reading in particular, has significant implications for the equity and widening participation agenda. To this end this article critically engages with research examining reading in tertiary education and describes a scoping study of scholarly work at the intersection of three domains: academic literacies, reading studies, and widening participation and equity in higher education. In asking questions of these three overlapping fields of inquiry, we map trends in existing academic literature, and argue for a research agenda that examines the experiences, perceptions and enactments of academic reading in the context of South African and Australian efforts to widen participation to higher education.     

Biochemical Basis of Heterogeneity in Acute Presentations of Propionic Acidemia

Propionic acidemia (PA), an uncommon organic acidemia has varied clinical and metabolic presentation causing difficulty and delay in the diagnosis. We report a case of PA in an infant who presented with failure to thrive, acute encephalopathy due to severe hyperammonemia without acidosis and fungal sepsis. The biochemical basis of severe hyperammonemia is discussed.     

Diagnostic Utility of Cord Blood Thyroid Stimulating Hormone in Congenital Hypothyroidism in the Era of Expanded Newborn Screening

Even in the era of expanded newborn screening, utility of cord blood thyroid stimulating hormone (cTSH) for diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) cannot be marginalised. This study was to assess the diagnostic utility of cTSH > 20 μIU/L for screening CH. Generation of new cTSH value was the main outcome measure, to increase specificity. Designed as a cross-sectional analytic study in the neonatal unit of teaching hospital, 1200 term neonates with birth weight ≥2500 g, with no perinatal complications were included. Newborn cTSH assay was done by chemi-luminescence. All screen positive were followed up on day five, 14 and 28 of life, to rule in or out CH (true or false positive). Positive predictive value and specificity were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was done to assess diagnostic accuracy of cTSH > 20 μIU/L and to ascertain new cut-off to reduce false positivity. Of 1200 newborns screened, 69 (5.8%) were screen positive and followed up. In five, CH was confirmed (true positive); one in 240 newborns required thyroxine therapy. False positivity was noted in 59. Recall and dropouts were 6.25 and 7.2% respectively. Median cTSH of screen, true and false positives were 28.8, 43.5 and 27.2 μIU/L respectively. Comparison of median values of cord blood (U = 59; p = 0.017) and day five serum TSH (U = 0.0; p < 0.001) among true and false positive subjects were statistically significant. Specificity calculated was 94.6% and positive predictive value 7.25%. ROC generated new permissible cTSH cut-off value of 30 μIU/L. In conclusion, an extended cTSH cut-off value of 30 μIU/L improves specificity.     

EvoBuild: A Quickstart Toolkit for Programming Agent-Based Models of Evolutionary Processes

Extensive research has shown that one of the benefits of programming to learn about scientific phenomena is that it facilitates learning about mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. However, using programming activities in classrooms is associated with costs such as requiring additional time to learn to program or students needing prior experience with programming. This paper presents a class of programming environments that we call quickstart: Environments with a negligible threshold for entry into programming and a modest ceiling. We posit that such environments can provide benefits of programming for learning without incurring associated costs for novice programmers. To make this claim, we present a design-based research study conducted to compare programming models of evolutionary processes with a quickstart toolkit with exploring pre-built models of the same processes. The study was conducted in six seventh grade science classes in two schools. Students in the programming condition used EvoBuild, a quickstart toolkit for programming agent-based models of evolutionary processes, to build their NetLogo models. Students in the exploration condition used pre-built NetLogo models. We demonstrate that although students came from a range of academic backgrounds without prior programming experience, and all students spent the same number of class periods on the activities including the time students took to learn programming in this environment, EvoBuild students showed greater learning about evolutionary mechanisms. We discuss the implications of this work for design research on programming environments in K-12 science education.     

Noises in the attic: The legacy of expectations in the academy

This process-video on the topic of graduate students and junior faculty of color in higher education represents musings around the issues that are involved in racism and the assumptions that are a part of that ideology. Using the lens of Critical Race Theory as described by Bell (1987), the conversations that took place in a video-recording studio were analyzed for themes that represent the experience of being "the fly in the milk," at a White academic institution. "How do we talk to whiteness?" is the central theme that organizes this discussion of the videotape "Noises in the Attic: Conversations with Ourselves. "The participants talk about alienation, as described in sections called "Noises," "The White Man's Scrapbook," "Between and Betwixt," and "Filling in the?" A realization that there is a need to understand that White people operate from a different perspective than nonwhite people rounds off the discussion of being a noise in the attic of the White academic environment.     

Making gazes explicit: facilitating epistemic access in the Humanities

This paper addresses the problem of curriculum design in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and more specifically the challenge of designing foundation courses for first-generation or ‘disadvantaged’ learners. Located in the social realist school of the sociology of education studies that builds on the legacy of Basil Bernstein, we emphasise the importance of knowledge and understanding the principles that generate ‘what counts’ in particular courses and disciplines. In order to operationalise this, we used Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory to uncover the knowledge/knower structures in eight first year courses in four of the most popular majors in a Faculty of Humanities. Our data sources were curriculum documents and exam papers in particular. The findings are presented and the ‘codes’, ‘gazes’ and ‘lenses’ for each set of courses delineated. The findings are being used to inform the design of a set of curriculum and pedagogic interventions that aim to offer powerful ways of knowing to novices in the Humanities and Social Sciences.     

Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorder with Secondary Mitochondrial Energy Production Defect: A Case Report

The presentation of long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders (FAOD), unlike short and medium-chain disorders can be with secondary defects in mitochondrial function along with typical features of FAOD. We report an infant with Reye-like presentation and acylcarnitine profile suggestive of very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency who had lactic acidosis and urine gas chromatographic pattern of mitochondrial defects.     

Negotiating meanings of gender justice: Critical reflections on dialogs and debates in a non-governmental organization (NGO)

In this paper, we reflect upon how dialogs and debates in a non-governmental organization (NGO) – CARE India in the context of a girls’ education project shaped staff members’ understandings of gender justice. As CARE India staff shared their experiences in the field, in the organization, and in domestic spaces during gender training sessions and other forums, their different politics in these spaces shaped how they translated global discourses of gender justice to produce fluid, contested, and contextual understandings. While these dialogs included the voices of diverse social actors in identifying the capabilities needed for gender justice in education, they were often reframed by local NGO actors.