Using mindfulness to teach perception

Using the philosophy of mindfulness is an innovative way to teach about perception. By participating in a mindfulness awareness practice, engaging in an activity with all your senses and being in the moment without judgment, students learn about the concepts of perception and mindfulness; analyze their personal perception process before and after the activity; and reflect individually and in group discussion on how mindfulness can change the perception process.

Courses: Any course where perception and the perception process are taught including: Introduction to Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural Communication, and Health Communication.

Objectives: Students will (a) learn about the concepts of perception and mindfulness, (b) apply their knowledge by participating in a hands-on mindfulness awareness practice, (c) analyze their personal perception process before and after the activity, and (d) reflect individually and in group discussion on how mindfulness can change the perception process.     

A mentoring programme based on competency development at a Spanish university: an action research study

This article describes an action research (AR) project for designing and implementing a structured mentoring programme in a Spanish university. A student affairs unit, a team of researchers, faculty-mentors and student-protégés worked together on three cycles of AR. The result is a programmatic mentoring programme for the development of non-technical personal and professional competencies for undergraduate students. This paper describes the original situation that sparked the project, the iterative process followed, the tools and guides developed and the final programme designed. In addition to the increase in the level of satisfaction perceived by the entire university, the paper outlines the five critical factors that emerged from the AR project: the competency development process, programme value added, trust between mentors and protégés, the prominence of the student-protégé in the improvement plans and the continuous improvement culture generated.     

Peer Feedback Improves Students’ Academic Self-Concept in Higher Education

Research in Higher Education - Peer feedback has been shown to be an effective strategy to improve academic achievement. However, little evidence is available about the effects of peer feedback on...     

Equitable access: Information seeking behavior,information needs,and necessary library accommodations for transgender patrons

This study highlights the unique accommodations integral to welcoming transgender library patrons. Research shows transgender people have unique needs which differ from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) individuals, and experience substantial barriers to obtaining quality library service. Most studies in the past exploring the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender library users focused exclusively on LGBQ users. This study surveyed adult transgender individuals (n = 102) with an online questionnaire. The majority of participants were white, designated female at birth, and under 40 years old. Survey respondents needed libraries to make accommodations for them to feel safe (p < 0.001). The top 5 accommodations needed were recent transgender literature, gender identity or expression as part of library nondiscrimination policy, gender neutral, single-stall bathrooms where a key did not need to be requested, recent LGBQ literature), and an established remote process for name change.     

Successful immunological treatment of gallbladder cancer in India―Case report

INTRODUCTION In cancer patients, tumor immunity is generally impaired. However, tumor immunity may occur in-vivo as circulating tumor-specific antibodies, with cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) having been identi- fied in cancer patients (Disis et al., 1997; Albert et al., 1998) suggesting that effective anti-tumor responses may be elicited through immunotherapeutic strategies. In recent years, a number of clinical trials have proved the safety and feasibility of using human dendritic cell…     

Superior Detection of Faces in Male Infants at 2 Months

Females generally attend more to social information than males; however, little is known about the early development of these sex differences. With eye tracking, 2-month olds’ (N = 101; 44 females) social orienting to faces was measured within four-item image arrays. Infants were more likely to detect human faces compared to objects, suggesting a functional face detection system. Unexpectedly, males looked longer at human faces than females, and only males looked faster and longer at human faces compared to objects. Females, in contrast, looked less at human faces relative to animal faces and objects, appearing socially disinterested. Notably, this is the first report of a male face detection advantage at any age. These findings suggest a unique stage in early infant social development.     

PASS cognitive processes,phonological processes,and basic reading performance for a sample of referred primary‐grade children

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among cognitive processing, phonological processing and basic reading skill performance. Cognitive theorists propose that Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) processes are related to various phonological skills. A sample of 62 Primary Grade children referred for reading problems were administered measures of cognitive processes (Cognitive Assessment System), phonological processes (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing) and basic reading achievement (Woodcock‐Johnson Tests of Academic Achievement‐III). Findings indicated that some cognitive processes were significantly related to phonological processes as well as basic reading skills. The strongest relationships were found between phonological memory and successive processes and between phonological awareness and basic reading performance.     

Patterns of Instructional-design Factors Prompting Reflective Thinking in Middle-school and College Level Problem-based Learning Environments

Reflective-thinking skills are important in problem-based learning environments as they help learners become deeply engaged in learning. The literature suggests several instructional-design factors (e.g., environment, teaching methods, scaffolding tools) that may prompt reflection in learners. However, it is unclear whether these factors differ based on age or developmental stage. The results of this study indicate that middle-school students perceive the learning environment factor as more important to prompting their thinking, while college students perceive the scaffolding methods factor as more important. While the elements clustered into two factors, most college students disagreed with their helpfulness in prompting reflective thinking, a finding opposite to that obtained for middle-school students. Different patterns were also found between learners’ perceptions of the most helpful elements within each factor. Based on these results, suggestions are given for designing developmentally and age-appropriate PBL learning environments that support reflective thinking.     

Careers guidance services in a changing Europe

Current initiatives designed to develop stronger international co-operation between guidance services within the European Community are outlined. The implications of extending the Community to cover other European countries are discussed. The issue is raised of whether a common European approach to guidance is likely to emerge, and whether it is likely to differ from American approaches. Adapted and updated version of a paper presented at the International Conference of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance held at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, on 9–13 September 1991.