Annual Planning for Academic Leaders

Annual Planning for Academic Leaders Have the days of the Academic Master Plan gone by the wayside? It seems like yesterday that we were all excited to craft these guiding documents that had the exciting acronyms of AMP (our future is electrifying!) or MAP (our guide to our destination!). But were they ever used? Somewhere in my file cabinet is a pristine copy of a MAP that was created several years before I arrived. A consultant guided the creation of this document that was hundreds of pages long, and it has done nothing but accumulate dust. If not a MAP, then what? I prefer to use an annual work plan (I am still working on a clever name). In the annual plan we identify our tactics for the year, and we also record additional projects we may choose to take on in following years. We identify how each tactic aligns with the strategic plan, and our college wide annual focus goals (a topic for a different article)

The Importance of Automaticity Development in Mathematics

This study examined whether students were reaching automaticity with single digit multiplication facts. A fourteen question interview was used to collect data. The first three questions asked the student basic information about themselves and their current math teacher. The next seven questions were math facts. The math facts chosen for the interview were a range of difficulty, starting with a simple problem like 1 x 9 and increasing in difficulty to 6 x 9. The last four questions were open-ended with the intent of gaining insight into whether the students were using strategies to complete the problems or if they were showing automaticity. The study took place in one elementary school and one middle school. The participants were students from 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade. There were nine students from 3rd grade. Four were male and five were female. Ten students were from 5th grade. Four were male and six were female. Five students were from 8th grade. Three were male and two were female. The findings from this study are consistent with research included in this study in that students are continuing to struggle with single digit multiplication problems

Adopting a Citizen Science approach to develop cost-effective methods that will deliver annual information for managing small-scale recreational fisheries: The Southwest Recreational Crabbing Project

Fishing for the blue swimmer crab, Portunus armatus, represents an iconic Western Australian recreational fishing experience. State-wide integrated surveys of boat-based recreational fishing conducted by the Department of Fisheries, Western Australia (DoF) in 2011/12 and 2013/14 reported that three times more blue swimmer crabs were caught than any other recreational species (Ryan etal., 2013; Ryan et al., 2015)

Qualitative Analysis of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program’s 24-hour Dietary Recall

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) uses a group 24-hour dietary recall (Gr24HDR) to measure changes in diet quality. Participant perceptions of the tool can guide implementation practices used by EFNEP Extension staff. Focus group (FG) sessions were conducted in five states and transcripts analyzed following a framework analysis approach. According to FG participants, a range of factors, condensed into six themes with potential interactions, influence Gr24HDR including implementation processes and community settings. Findings inform overarching considerations EFNEP staff may take when collecting Gr24HDR data in the field to improve the evaluation process for participants

Purdue Conference on Active Nonproliferation

Design a small modular reactor that is easily transportable for use in disaster relief as well as remote military outposts. A rail shippable reactor gives quick and easy transportation from one part of a country to another. The reactor must have a three MWe production capacity to ensure the reactor has the performance to power larger government facilities, such as hospitals and water treatment plants. The reactor must have enough fuel for a six-month minimum fuel cycle. Atmospheric cooling only provides the ability to reject heat to the atmosphere, minimizing the weight requirements. Uranium fuel will have a maximum of 19.75% enrichment, to minimize proliferation concerns with the reactor