Understanding the use of Educational Technology Among Faculty, Staff, and Students at a Medical University

A college of health professions at a medical university located in the southeastern United States is striving to increase the use of educational technology among faculty, staff, and students. A strategic planning group was formed and charged with enhancing the use of educational technology within the college. In order to understand the current state of technology use, perceptions of technology, and training needs, surveys and focus groups were conducted. Based on the qualitative and quantitative data obtained, a conceptual model illustrating levels of technology use and factors that influence use was developed.     

Modelling activities integrating construction and simulation supported explanatory and evaluative reasoning

ABSTRACT

Model-based instruction offers numerous benefits to students, including increased content knowledge and critical thinking. This study explored the differences in the knowledge outcomes and reasoning processes employed by undergraduate students in an introductory biology lab as they constructed, revised, and simulated a computational model of a prokaryotic gene regulatory system. We analysed post-lesson conceptual models (n?=?335) and audio-recorded small group discussions (n?=?10) of students that either constructed and revised a computational model and then investigated a pre-constructed computational model or only investigated a pre-constructed computational model to determine the impact of constructing and revising a computational model. No significant differences were found between the mental models of students who constructed and revised a computational model and those who only simulated a pre-constructed computational model. However, this study demonstrated that constructing and revising a model before simulating it offered additional benefits to students by fostering deeper cognitive reasoning processes. Constructing and revising a model elicited more explanatory and evaluative reasoning and prompted students to discuss the underlying mechanisms of the biological system.     

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.     

All Social Welfare Policy Is Rational

Social work's professional commitment to working toward social justice for vulnerable groups is well known. However, as a profession, social work has been criticized for proposing professional perspectives that may be interpreted by some as political indoctrination. The purpose of the current study was to examine social work students' perceptions of political debate in the classroom. An additional goal was to examine whether students believed that colleagues who hold certain sociopolitical beliefs should be prohibited from receiving a social work degree. Four hundred and ninety-seven undergraduate and graduate social work students from 10 programs were surveyed. Results show that a majority of respondents were comfortable with the discussion of sociopolitical content in the classroom. Nevertheless, students who self-identified as politically conservative were more likely to report that they perceived the classroom environment as less open and hence less conducive to debate. Finally, overt racism was identified as the only attitude that should prohibit someone from receiving a social work degree. Implications for social work education are discussed.     

Ground reaction forces, kinematics, and muscle activations during the windmill softball pitch

The aims of the present study were to examine quantitatively ground reaction forces, kinematics, and muscle activations during the windmill softball pitch, and to determine relationships between knee valgus and muscle activations, ball velocity and muscle activation as well as ball velocity and ground reaction forces. It was hypothesized that there would be an inverse relationship between degree of knee valgus and muscle activation, a direct relationship between ground reaction forces and ball velocity, and non-stride leg muscle activations and ball velocity. Ten female windmill softball pitchers (age 17.6 ± 3.47 years, stature 1.67 ± 0.07 m, weight 67.4 ± 12.2 kg) participated. Dependent variables were ball velocity, surface electromyographic (sEMG), kinematic, and kinetic data while the participant was the independent variable. Stride foot contact reported peak vertical forces of 179% body weight. There were positive relationships between ball velocity and ground reaction force (r = 0.758, n = 10, P = 0.029) as well as ball velocity and non-stride leg gluteus maximus (r = 0.851, n = 10, P = 0.007) and medius (r = 0.760, n = 10, P = 0.029) muscle activity, while there was no notable relationship between knee valgus and muscle activation. As the windmill softball pitcher increased ball velocity, her vertical ground reaction forces also increased. Proper conditioning of the lumbopelvic-hip complex, including the gluteals, is essential for injury prevention. From the data presented, it is evident that bilateral strength and conditioning of the gluteal muscle group is salient in the windmill softball pitch as an attempt to decrease incidence of injury.     

Covering urban vice: the New York Times, "white slavery," and the construction of journalistic knowledge

Communication scholars have analyzed how such pivotal historical and political events as war, assassination, and the rise and fall of nations and political regimes have functioned to shape and shore up the legitimacy of particular news institutions. This paper explores the role played by an early twentieth-century sex-related social and moral panic over “white slavery” in transforming news practices. Beginning in 1907, stories proliferated in the U.S. mass media of White women kidnapped and sold into prostitution organized bands of immigrants, often alleged to be conspiring with top city officials. diachronic textual analysis of New York Times coverage of a 1910 white slavery investigation finds that reporters initially drew from a stock of sentimental narratives describe the investigation's findings. However, as the investigation grew increasingly problematic, the Times developed a detached orientation toward its object, similar to that demanded of professional journalists today. I examine how the Times engaged paradigm repair and significant historical revision to account for and defend its earlier articles on this controversial phenomenon.     

Reconceptualise a dynamic framework of the learning constructs in higher education

This paper reconceptualised the interrelated learning constructs in higher education based on the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST). The university students' learning experience before, during and post the Emergency Online Learning (EOL) was investigated to explore the dynamic changes among the learning constructs in higher education. A case study of a Chinese university was conducted, and one hundred and ninety-three university students participated in the questionnaire. The data collected from this empirical research identify different hierarchical constructs of the conceptualised learning environment and reconceptualise the period of system reformation influenced by the EOL. The key findings include the identifications of the attractors and repellors framed by the DST and the impact on the changes in the learning constructs. The results of this paper contribute to further understanding of the university constructs' changes to better plan and support students' active learning in higher education.